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What Does My Dream About Dead People Mean?
Many aspects of a dream contribute to the overall meaning of the dream. The colors, objects, situations, symbols, and the dreamer's associated feelings all influence the dream's meaning. Dreams reflect the dreamer’s mental, emotional, and physical state, and a dream's symbols and contexts reflect the dreamer’s beliefs and cultural influences.
Dreams mean many things to different people. Despite our differences, we often have similar dreams. But even if two people had the same dream, it might mean something completely different to each of them.
Still, as human beings we do sometimes share history, experience, attitudes, and emotions. And dreaming of dead people is a common experience, whenever you were born or wherever you live. So although only dreamers know what their dreams mean, this article discusses shared perceptions of the symbolism of dreaming of dead people.
The Meaning of Dreams of Dead People
In general, the dead people in our dreams are parts of our psyche attempting to communicate with us. This is likely a part of our subconscious from which we dissociate. This is a wise, quiet part of us that often appears not to even exist.
Aspects of the dead live on within us. Dreaming of a deceased loved one can be healthy but can also be negative and it is important to differentiate which it is for you. These types of dreams can be part of our growth or they can stunt our growth and keep us "stuck" on something.
We can grow from either type of dream (positive or negative). If this dream is keeping you stuck, you may need to resolve your feelings in your waking life and within the dream as well.
Resolving Your Feelings About Losing a Loved One
Dreaming of someone who has passed away may be a way for you to resolve your feelings about this loss. Oftentimes, people pass away before we are able to make amends or resolve an issue we had with them. Dreaming may help you to express unspoken feelings, put something right, or tie up loose ends. For example, the dream may help you forgive the person or yourself and as a consequence get peace and healing for yourself.
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Something in Your Life Reminds You of a Quality the Deceased Person Possessed
If you are not attempting to resolve feelings associated with this person's death in your dream, you are likely to be dreaming of the person because they represent a quality that is important to you right now. Think about who you have dreamed about and begin to describe them. Is this person the opposite of you? Is this person very much like you? Did this person possess traits you had always wanted to emulate? Did this person have qualities that turned you off or you feared you possessed? This dream is likely more about your answers to these questions rather than the person who has passed away. Since death dreams tend to represent ending something or starting something new, it is possible the quality represented by the person is something you no longer want or need.
A friend once dreamed of one of her ex-coworkers who was no longer alive. She could not understand why she had started to dream of this woman so vividly, since they had never been very close and she had not passed away recently. Once the friend described the ex-coworker as someone who was always obsessed with weight loss and appeared to have a possible eating disorder, she was able to associate the dream with her own lifestyle and diet. She admitted she was beginning to obsess too much with her weight. She was worried she was spending too much time fixated on this and felt it was becoming unhealthy. The dream confirmed her fears and she began to seek a more balanced outlook.
You May Need to Let Go of Something or End Something in Your Life
Death often represents the end of one thing and the beginning of something new. Dreaming of death in general may mean you need to stop or end something in your life. When you are dreaming of a specific person, you may need to let go of something or end something associated with that person. This could be your negative feelings associated with your loss or characteristics or activities they represent for you.
I had a dream of someone I did not know very well but who had passed away. I saw him as a very angry, lonely man. I was not sure why I had dreamt of him until I connected his anger with my own. I realized I had to let go of some anger I was feeling towards someone because it was beginning to push people out of my life.
You May Need to Resolve Something Associated With When This Person Passed
A dead person in our dream may not represent themselves as much as they may represent the time period in which we knew them or when they passed away. If you are dreaming of a loved one or acquaintance that has passed, ask yourself what was happening to you when this person was in your life and what was happening for you when they passed away. It is possible that the dream is really about something that coincided with this person's life or death. Perhaps you're currently dealing with issues or experiences similar to those of that time period.
I had a client describe dreams he was having of a high school friend. They had not stayed in touch and the person had passed away about six years ago. He could not figure out why he was dreaming of this person almost every night. As we discussed what was going on in his life then and when he saw this friend the most, he realized that he was experiencing similar feelings as that time in high school. He struggled with depression throughout high school and drank with his friends to escape life in general. He had recently started to drink again and was engaging in other forms of escape such as playing videos games for hours to the point where video games were interferring with his sleep, eating, and productivity.
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Messages Received From a Dead Person In a Dream
It is common to dream of receiving a message when dreaming of someone who has passed away. This message may relate to who or what the deceased person represents to you. The communication may be a message from your unconscious psyche or a wise aspect of yourself. The message has significant information for you although it may not be as it appears.
Take caution when receiving a negative message. Negative messages often reflect our own personal thoughts, fears, and worries and don't come from an outside source. Nevertheless, this is still an important dream and an important message. This dream may be showing us how harmful our fears and worries are to our emotional state and our decision-making in our waking life.
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