The most striking dream I had about my mother after her death was when she opened the covers and asked me to come under with her while she cuddled me to sleep. It wasn’t scary or sad, it was just something she would have done when I was a little girl and had come to her bedside to be settled after a nightmare. But since then, my parents, who’re both now deceased, come to me in my dreams often. It has inspired me to begin researching more about the meaning of these dreams.
According to the Baha’i faith, it’s a blessing to see dead people in your dreams.
In the Jewish faith, dreams have a sort of divine significance, where the dreamer receives an important message from the beyond. And according to psychotherapist Sigmund Freud, dreams are simply our subconscious methods of fulfilling our deepest desires. We miss someone and want to see them again, so we dream of them.
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Of course, the simplest interpretation of a dream about a deceased loved one could just be grief. Dream researcher Joshua Black says these kinds of dreams help us process our trauma and loss.
“One of the most interesting things is, when we lose a loved one or pet, the vast majority of the dreams we have about them are comforting,” professional dream analyst Lauri Loewenberg tells Mind Body Green. "When it's in the first couple of years after their death, and if it's someone you're very close to, it can still be connected to the grief. And it's really common.”
There are others, such as psychics, who believe that our deceased loved ones visit us in dreams to more easily communicate messages with us.
Dr. Anne Reith, founder and director of the Institute for Mediumship, Psychic, Astrological, & Reiki Training, writes that not every dream involving a loved one is a “visitation dream.” Those, she says, can be characterized by some very specific elements.
Reith says that the most essential characteristic of a true visitation dream is that it feels “real,” it must be extremely “vivid,” and it should be absolutely “memorable”—maybe for months or even years.
“The person (or animal) will almost always appear in the dream to be completely healthy and behaving in a loving manner. They will rarely appear sick or injured. They will never be angry, disappointed, depressed, or punishing. They will be whole, complete, and perfect because they are now reconnected with God/Source energy,” she writes.
She adds that although the deceased person may not speak, they will “communicate with the dreamer telepathically,” and most often, the message is one of “reassurance.” She says these dreams usually end with the dreamer feeling a “sense of peace and love.”
When it comes down to it, it’s the holidays, and I’m an orphan, so I believe I dream of my parents around this time because I miss having them around. All the traditions are associated with my childhood. My mother, who was Jewish, loved decorating the Christmas tree, wrapping gifts, and singing carols. My father, who was a fallen-away Catholic, loved eating my Christmas dinner. Whatever I cooked, it didn’t matter; he was happy.
Today, my holidays are spent with my son, his partner, my partner, and lots of friends. It’s not like it was when my parents were alive, but it’s still wonderful, even though I think I’ll miss them both forever.
As for the dream about my mom cuddling me as a child, my best guess is that it was what I needed at the time of her death over 20 years ago.
According to the Baha’i faith, it’s a blessing to see dead people in your dreams.
In the Jewish faith, dreams have a sort of divine significance, where the dreamer receives an important message from the beyond. And according to psychotherapist Sigmund Freud, dreams are simply our subconscious methods of fulfilling our deepest desires. We miss someone and want to see them again, so we dream of them.
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Of course, the simplest interpretation of a dream about a deceased loved one could just be grief. Dream researcher Joshua Black says these kinds of dreams help us process our trauma and loss.
“One of the most interesting things is, when we lose a loved one or pet, the vast majority of the dreams we have about them are comforting,” professional dream analyst Lauri Loewenberg tells Mind Body Green. "When it's in the first couple of years after their death, and if it's someone you're very close to, it can still be connected to the grief. And it's really common.”
There are others, such as psychics, who believe that our deceased loved ones visit us in dreams to more easily communicate messages with us.
Dr. Anne Reith, founder and director of the Institute for Mediumship, Psychic, Astrological, & Reiki Training, writes that not every dream involving a loved one is a “visitation dream.” Those, she says, can be characterized by some very specific elements.
Reith says that the most essential characteristic of a true visitation dream is that it feels “real,” it must be extremely “vivid,” and it should be absolutely “memorable”—maybe for months or even years.
“The person (or animal) will almost always appear in the dream to be completely healthy and behaving in a loving manner. They will rarely appear sick or injured. They will never be angry, disappointed, depressed, or punishing. They will be whole, complete, and perfect because they are now reconnected with God/Source energy,” she writes.
She adds that although the deceased person may not speak, they will “communicate with the dreamer telepathically,” and most often, the message is one of “reassurance.” She says these dreams usually end with the dreamer feeling a “sense of peace and love.”
When it comes down to it, it’s the holidays, and I’m an orphan, so I believe I dream of my parents around this time because I miss having them around. All the traditions are associated with my childhood. My mother, who was Jewish, loved decorating the Christmas tree, wrapping gifts, and singing carols. My father, who was a fallen-away Catholic, loved eating my Christmas dinner. Whatever I cooked, it didn’t matter; he was happy.
Today, my holidays are spent with my son, his partner, my partner, and lots of friends. It’s not like it was when my parents were alive, but it’s still wonderful, even though I think I’ll miss them both forever.
As for the dream about my mom cuddling me as a child, my best guess is that it was what I needed at the time of her death over 20 years ago.