People can get pretty scared when they dream of death. Maybe they die in the dream, or they see a dead body, or witness a murder. They wake up asking “why did I dream such a terrible thing?” It’s helpful to work with this kind of dream to unwrap its meaning. Death is usually symbolic in dreams, and it can be powerful to work with death dreams.
What might death symbolise in a dream?
Death in dreams often symbolises change – massive, irreversible transformation. This does not have to be a “bad” thing! Life is in constant flux. We move and change and reinvent ourselves, and so does every other living being.
Death can also symbolise a spiritual transition; something moves from one state to another, just as we do when we leave the physical body at death and transition to a non-physical existence.
Dead bodies can represent discarded parts of the self, or the shedding of old behaviours. One woman dreamed she found four dead bodies in the basement. The dream bothered her when she woke up from it, but when we worked together on the dream, she realised she hadn’t felt scared or horrified in the dream, but accepting. In a flash of insight, she understood that these corpses represented old, discarded parts of herself that she no longer needed. Still, to honour the dream and acknowledge her former selves, she re-entered the dream in her mind’s eye, and created a caring ritual in which she respectfully laid the bodies to rest. This felt cathartic and deeply meaningful to her.
Murder in dreams can be symbolic of forced change – someone is having change forced upon them, a change they are vehemently against. If you dream someone is murdered, try viewing each part of the dream (each person, object, scene) as part of yourself, your inner psyche. Ask yourself: is there anywhere in my life where I am feeling forced to do something I really don’t want to do? You may find that one part of you is forcing you to act against your gut instincts, or you may identify a situation that resonates with that feeling of being forced to do what doesn’t feel right.
It’s valuable to do this deep dreamwork to unwrap what the dream is trying to communicate with us. Dreams are honest mirrors – they won’t lie to us. They won’t let us go on fooling ourselves into believing we are happy when we are not. They will show us, often with strong, emotionally-laden images, exactly how we feel. While this can be unpleasant in the short-term, these dreams have a higher purpose – they come to help us to become whole. They come to encourage us to live an authentic, conscious life.
Carl Jung said: “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.” But it’s the kind of helpful pain that propels us into a much better space. The kind that expands our hearts and allows compassion for ourselves and others to flood in. The kind that wakes us up to who we are, why we are here, and what we need to do next.
What does it mean when we dream of deceased loved ones?
It can be very touching and beautiful to meet a deceased loved one in a dream. They often appear in vibrant health and we can exchange words of love, or a hug. This is wonderful and healing.
But some bereavement dreams can be disturbing; there is a sense of unfinished business, even an argument, or the deceased loved one chases the dreamer or appears unhappy.
It’s important to work with these dreams. We can heal our relationships even when the other person has died. Dreamwork can help us to release past pain and paralysing emotions such as grief, betrayal, and loss. Dream Therapy gives many techniques for doing this releasing work. A dream re-entry where we engage again with the deceased loved one, with my Lucid Writing method, can be illuminating and bring us healing resolution.
To help people experiencing loss, I have created a new video & audio course. “Reunite With Lost Loved Ones: Meditations to Heal Grief & Connect With Peace, Joy & Guidance” helps you to keep the lines of communication open between you and the people or animals you love who have died. Special launch discount of 20% off when you enter the code word BELOVED at checkout.
Is it really my deceased loved one, or merely a psychological projection of them?
There are many accounts about a dead parent or sibling turning up in a dream to offer information the dreamer could not have otherwise known – the unexpected death of another family member, for instance, or an announcement that the dreamer has a dangerous illness. Sometimes the person appears in a dream on the night of their own death, to let the dreamer know they have transitioned. The dreamer then wakes up to learn the news of the death. On some occasions, the dreamer simply has an unshakeable, visceral sense that their loved one was really there with them.
Other times, the deceased loved ones in our dreams are psychological projections created by our memories and knowledge of who they were, their attitude, mannerisms, and energy. These dreams can also be deeply moving and illuminate an aspect of our relationship with them.
Death dreams as an invitation to examine life
A death dream may be seen as an invitation to examine what death means to us. Death is so often linked to fear in Western culture, yet the only sure thing in life is that one day we will die. It’s interesting to ask ourselves honestly about our relationship with our own death. Are we apprehensive? Terrified? Curious? What do we really think happens after we die?
And, just as importantly: are we happy with the way we are living this precious life of ours? What could we change for the better? Are we being as kind as we can to ourselves and others? How can we live a more lucid life, starting now?
Any of these questions can be explored in Lucid Writing, or during deep relaxation, just allowing images and impulses to arise spontaneously for insight and clarity.
Death in dreams can be a call to raise our level of consciousness; a call to wake up in life and live with greater passion and higher awareness. And that is a beautiful thing indeed.
Lucid Video Courses With Guided Meditations
My short course, Dream Love, Dream Healing has guided meditations to bring healing and love into your life. With the code HEART at checkout, it’s 25% off. When you get this course, you’ll also get 50% off “Lucid Mindset” 🙂
If waking up in life and in dreams appeals to you, this course focuses on building a lucid mindset using three golden tools. Lucid Mindset: Guided Meditations to Boost Your Lucidity With Tiger Power.
Image credit: BigCatsFacts.net
To read about lucid dreaming in the dying process, and near death experiences, see this post.
Dreams can help us when we are grieving the death of a loved one. In this video I explain how.
Work with your own dreams directly with Dr Clare Johnson on an Ocean Retreat or take her lucid dreaming video courses and guided meditations at your own pace.
I have been blessed with many dreams of my husband who passed 18 years ago. When I am in the dream nd I become aware that I m dreaming, I realize that he has passed on and he’s not really ‘here’. I become so sad that he’s not here that I wake myself up. Any suggestions on what steps I can take to continue the dream even though I realize it’s only a dream and he’s not here???
Hello Joy, I feel for you.
I would do a dream re-entry where you replay the dream movie (as explained on the course) and let it play out as a beautiful reunion dream. This has two excellent purposes, 1. it will give you a heartwarming connection with your husband, and 2. it is a rehearsal technique to remind your dreaming mind that next time this dream happens, you will stay in the dream and enjoy precious time with your husband.
Also you may like to check out my tips on how to stay lucid longer in dreams – on my blog, in my books, also youtube videos.
I wish you all the best 🙂
I’ve been having a lot of dreams about me deceased parents. Some of the dreams are like im a ghost watching them.They never really acknowledge that they can see me. In some of the dreams they both are very young.
Hi Cliff, this is common when we dream of deceased loved ones. I hope you feel okay within these dreams, and upon awakening from them too. Often deceased people appear as their much younger selves. For most, these dreams are a comforting reminder that our energy continues in some form after physical death. I have a video and audio class called Reunite with Deceased Loved Ones whcih focuses on this topic. I wish you the best.
Clare
Hey, I just found your blog after waking up from a lucid dream and saw this las post about death.
I had a dream about murdering someone, what does this categoey fall in? I killed a man that wanted my girlfriend, is it because of insecurity ane having fear of losing my girlfriend?
After I killed him, I put his body in my car and the dead mean walked next to me as a “ghost”.
Hi, death in dreams is often symbolic of change, or (in the case of killing someone else in a dream), the urge to repress something, such as strong emotions. As you intuit, in your case it could be linked to insecurity, fear of losing your girlfriend, jealousy, and so on. The dream subsequently showed that even if you “killed” the guy, he didn’t go away but haunted you. This may indicate that the insecurity issue needs to be addressed, not repressed or ignored. Interesting dream!
I have many strange lucid dreams which I direct sometimes. However I’ve been dreaming of being with dead people. Not related but they are just with me. Last dream was me looking to the right while I’m laying down and there is long line of people laying down who I believe are already dead. Then another time I see myself already dead, pale looking dressed in long white t shirt just looking at me. When I woke I wasn’t sure if I was still dreaming, awake or I was actually dead. Does this mean my death is near?
Hi Kar, death in dreams is often symbolic of transformation, the only way to discover what your own dream means is to work with it to unwrap it. Consider how you felt in this dream, as this may carry some clues as to the meaning. There are so many ways to work with a dream, there must be a blog post on this on my site somewhere. Or talk to a dream therapist.
Lucid wishes,
Clare