Meaning of Dream about Death: The Dreamscape of Death - Meaning of dreams and dreaming about death

By Dawn Hill

When we dream of death, our emotions run high. Feelings of terror, anxiety or even liberation can dominate our mood upon waking. As with any other type of dream, there is no one answer for what the dream means. Generally speaking, however, dreams about death signify much needed change in our lives. Such dreams typically herald symbolic rather than literal death. In this way, death dreams let us know that some part of the self needs to be radically reworked, whether it be one's attitudes, emotions, or relationships.

Though these dreams may be frightening and may linger in our minds for days, they do come to us in service, challenging us to grow and evolve. Like all dreams, the best approach to those of death is to work with them creatively, looking within to ascertain what is no longer needed in our lives, and to determine the direction in which we should proceed.

What does death look like in a dream?

Last year, I had a dream about being courted by Brad Pitt. What does this celluloid heartthrob have to do with death? Since I'm not particularly a Brad Pitt fan, even while dreaming I was thinking, "Why is HE here?" I was left wondering why I had the dream at all. Though I rationalized and theorized to understand the dream symbols, my "a-ha" experience came the next day. I realized that Pitt was starring in "Meet Joe Black," a film in which he plays the character of Death.

When I made the connection, I had to laugh. I was getting reading to participate in a workshop on Death and Dying that very weekend. Upon enrolling in the workshop, I had even been warned to expect such a dream, for in the meditations and conscious journeys that I would undertake that weekend, I was in fact "courting" death on an archetypal and spiritual level. In return, death "courted" me in my dream in the form of Brad Pitt. In retrospect, the dream seems to be a great laugh from above (or perhaps within) that served the purpose of lightening my mood in the face of the serious inner work I was about to undertake.

By contrast, many dreams of death involve seeing ourselves under attack, perhaps being shot, stabbed, or otherwise injured. We may even dream of committing suicide. In my case, the "serious" dream came two weeks after my dreamscape encounter with Pitt. This second dream left me both shaken and awed!

In a photograph I see myself dead on the kitchen floor. I enter the photograph and am able to fly over the scene. At first I am intrigued, but then utterly horrified as I realize this is my own lifeless body before me. My grandfather who is also dead is next to me. I scream over and over again, hoping to find escape. I "wake up," yet then realize that I am still in the kitchen, still flying. I can see the clock on the microwave. It is shortly after 10 o'clock. I wake up again, yet this time I am truly awake and in my bed. It's morning.

This dream journey was so vivid and profound that I spent the next several days feeling as though I had actually died and been given a second chance at life. I wanted to be with friends and family and tell them that I loved them. I wanted to be out in the sunshine, breathing and moving. I wanted to live!

I searched intensely to understand the wisdom that this dream offered. Clearly, I was being given a wake up call to more fully embrace life. The location of the body in the kitchen was also an important clue. Here I was, dead in the place where we typically receive nourishment. Approaching the dream rather literally, several people suggested to me that the dream was a cue to take better care of my physical body. Some even suggested that the time on the clock may indicate a date of death. In fact, I had been experiencing odd bouts of fatigue around that time and several weeks later, a doctor did confirm that I needed to make some dietary changes. Yet these physical disturbances were minor. More important were the lingering effects of the dream that spoke to potential soul death.

Perhaps I was not whole. Perhaps there were aspects of my spirit that needed nourishment. I knew unquestionably that this was true. I had spent the previous year grieving over the loss of two major figures in my life, one of whom was my grandfather who appeared in the dream. Though I'd pushed to rebound without getting lost in my grief, I couldn't deny that I was still in mourning. This dream told me that it was time to let go.

In the months to follow, I sought new sources of "nourishment." I made a concerted effort to pursue new opportunities and new friends. Creatively, I experienced a burst of energy. Emotionally, I risked connecting more deeply with others, allowing myself to experience a vulnerability I'd not allowed during the mourning process. Consequently, these months turned out to be some of the most joyful and exciting I'd had in some time.

This isn't to suggest that my transition occurred overnight. I had been working in this direction for many months. Yet the dream gave me a final nudge, indicating that my soul needed more nourishment while reminding me just how precious the gift of life is. The dream was so intense that it did carry over into my waking life approach quite automatically. At night, I also began getting a flood of new dreams, ranging from visions of ethereal beings to lights in the sky. I was being reborn!

Aside from metaphoric death, is it possible to predict physical death in a dream? People who are themselves close to death more often dream of taking a journey or being reborn than they do of actually dying. Often the dying dream of moving to a new home, passing through gates, or ascending to higher realms. (This is by no means to suggest that all such dreams foreshadow physical death!) In this sense, dreams can be an effective and soothing tool for helping terminal patients form a visual image of the afterlife.

There also have been reports of people who have had nightmares on or around the time of a loved one's death. There is no steadfast rule to determining which dreams are precognitive and which are not, except to say that dreams that indicate a loved one's death typically cause the dreamer to wake with a sense of urgency, trauma, and even physical pain. More often than not, however, death dreams speak to our spirits and egos, not our flesh!

Some dreamers also experience contact with previously deceased friends and relatives in dreams. In my kitchen dream, the presence of my recently deceased grandfather clued me in to the message that it was time for me to move beyond mourning. Often deceased love ones will bring a verbal message to the dreamer, in encounters so vivid that they seem more like actual contacts than figments of nighttime imagination. In such instances, though you may be frightened, do try to inquire if the person has a message for you. Sometimes these figures in our dreams represent souls that are "stuck," left with some unresolved issue from their physical incarnation. They may be asking for our help. Other times, the information they bring may be pertinent to our own lives, offering us a bit of heavenly guidance.

Working with Death in Dreams

Here are some suggestions for exploring the meaning of death in your dreams:

1. Write the dream down! This is a rule for all dreams! Include as many details as possible, including physical sensations and your mood upon waking. Remember to phrase the dream in the present tense.

2. Ask the dream questions. For example, in the case of my death dream, I asked who gave me the photograph, why am I dead, why am I in the kitchen, why is my grandfather here, etc. You can literally say to the dream, "What are you telling me?!"

3. Continue the dream forward. Imagine how the dream might proceed. What happens next, and what happened just before? (You don't need to be asleep to do this.)

4. Share your dream with others. Ask for feedback. Sometimes the simple process of recounting a dream aloud will prompt a spontaneous clarification of the dream's meaning.

5. Collage, draw, or diagram the dream. Make a visual reference for the dream experience. Alternatively, physically reenact the dream.

6. Ask yourself what you need to let go of. What changes have you been avoiding? Do you have an attitude, relationship, or way of life that needs reexamining? Can you connect this with the dream elements? What instructions, if any, did you receive in the dream?

7. Honor the dream! Even if you can't completely decipher the dream symbols, take some action in waking life to acknowledge the experience of the dream. This task can be as simple or complex as you choose, from singing a song to selling the house. In my case, honoring the dream was both an immediate and ongoing process. Besides seeking new sources of nourishment physically, emotionally, and spiritually, I also threw out the outfit I was wearing in the dream. This was my way of saying that I'm no longer going to wear the clothes of a dead woman. I'm going to live!

Remember, our dreams are gifts, even (or perhaps especially) dreams that frighten us. If we acknowledge their messages, we will see how readily they transform our waking lives.

Please visit Dawn Hills website at http://www.crystalforest.homestead.com .