Why Do People Dream?
Most people know that dreams contain messages and responses from your unconscious mind about what happens during the day. It is widely accepted that dreams are a way for the unconscious mind to communicate with you – that part of you that holds unconscious feelings, thoughts, fears and reactions. The unconscious mind will give you stress dreams to help you to process traumatic and stressful events. It will give you intelligent insights into situations from time to time so that you can solve problems.
Are all Dreams from The Unconscious Mind?
Some of the insights, a-ha moments and solutions you get in dreams WILL be from the unconscious mind – but not all of them. Some dreams are your own spirit (or Higher Self) talking to you. The Higher Self is the wisest part of you, so it sees much further than the unconscious mind can. Because of this, it gives you spiritual and practical insights that go way beyond what your conscious mind (or even your unconscious mind) knows.
To illustrate this, I’ll begin by telling you about one of my most memorable dream experiences.
The Strangest Dream I ever had
When I was eighteen, I went to work in a hotel in France for the summer, with the aim of improving my French. While I was there, I had the strangest dream I’d ever had. This is what happened:
I was in Paris, outside a locked car which was parked in the street. Inside the car was an African baby. There was no air, water or food in the car and the baby was dying. There were many people around the car, some who wanted to rescue the baby, some were just observing. There was a sad, inevitable atmosphere in the dream – we were waiting for the baby to die and we could not prevent his death.
In the night, I woke up, feeling quite disturbed and haunted by the dream. When I went back to sleep, I dreamt of the same thing. It was so awful that I kept waking up. I tried to sleep a couple more times but each time, I returned to the same dream. And the very last time that I fell asleep, the baby was out of the car and someone was holding him. He died in their arms. After that, I gave up trying to sleep as I did not want to dream about it again.
I went into work really tired that morning and the radio was on, as usual. Literally the very first piece of news that I heard was that a baby of African origin had been found dead in a locked car in Paris, they thought he had been left there overnight and died of dehydration. Of course, when I heard that a shiver ran down my spine, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I got goosebumps (Ok, maybe not all at the same time, but suffice to say that I was freaked out!)
And I thought about the experience a lot over the next few days. I wondered what this experience was. Was it just a dream – a ‘coincidence’? Or was I actually there in Spirit?
If I was of a more skeptical mindset, I would probably have attributed my dream to a coincidence. But instead I concluded that my dream was somehow linked to the actual event. I felt haunted by the dream, in a way that a dream had not haunted me before. I felt some sort of connection to the baby.
Prior to that experience, I had never really thought too much about dreams – I had lots of weird dreams, sure, but I did not pay so much attention to the meaning of them or think they were ‘real’.
The Real Significance of Dreams
Later on, when I did my training in Soul Realignment, I learned that our dreams are real experiences, which take place on the astral planes. Some of them we have because we need to learn something from them. Others we don’t need to remember as much.
Here are three common activities that we do when we’re dreaming:
1. Learning through Role-playing
Have you ever had a dream that taught you a real lesson? When you wake up, you really ‘get’ it and something big clicks for you. Some of our dream experiences happen because there is a lesson contained within them, that we are meant to remember and take on board.
Here’s an example: if you’re someone who is very giving, to a fault, in your daily life, and you need to learn to balance giving with receiving, you could be in a dream situation where you experience direct negative consequences as a result of giving too much to others. And when you wake up, you realize that it doesn’t serve you to be the one who’s always giving and never receiving.
Sometimes your Spirit Guides can be involved in your role-playing, to help you to learn these lessons and at other times, you may see souls in your dreams whom you do not recognize. These souls are undoubtedly ‘Dream masters’ – souls who serve you by playing parts in your dreams, to help you to learn something. You could be a Dream master yourself – especially if you have lots of dreams that don’t make sense or have any lessons for you in them.
2. Consulting with Spirit Guides, Angels and other spiritual teachers
Some people aren’t skilled at connecting with their Guides or Angels because they’re too afraid to open up. The most un-scary way that your guides can pass on a message to you is in a dream, and they often do this, but not all of them are always remembered by the conscious mind. Sometimes guides can show you metaphors, sometimes you have conversations with them. Mine have even played songs to me to give me a certain message. If there is something which I am missing about any aspect of my life that I really ought to be seeing, I know that my guides will come to me in a dream and let me know about it.
The last time they did this was last year, when I heard from an old school friend of mine that our high school Spanish teacher, Mr Owen, had passed away. I was sad and sorry for his family – he wasn’t even that old. But then shortly after hearing the news, I had a dream in which one of my guides informed me that Mr Owen wasn’t dead and that it was just a rumour.
I wanted to check, so I wrote to my old German teacher to ask her if she’d heard the same news. She replied to say that she rang Mr Owen and he was alive and well – so, it was a rumour, nothing more. Now I always pay attention when I remember having spoken to my guides about something in a dream!
If you don’t really make use of your guides or if you aren’t looking to develop your psychic abilities, it helps to intend to speak with your guides in your dreams. I say that firstly because it’s so easy for your guides to reach you when you’re asleep. They may even have some tips or instructions for you to contact them in your waking hours.
3. Helping other souls to cross over (Third Order work)
The Third Order is the spiritual order (group of spirits) which comes for you when you die, to help you to cross over to the other side. Some of us have worked in the Third Order in between our physical incarnations and if so, we bring our Third Order skills into the physical with us.
Obviously, when you’re in a physical body, you can’t work as a member of the Third Order. But I have read for quite a lot of people who belong to this spiritual order and a few of them have told me that they dream of helping spirits who are earthbound to cross over or of helping souls who are otherwise ‘stuck’ to set themselves free.
This could have been what I was doing in my dream about the African baby. Lately I often dream I’m helping stuck or earthbound souls. The souls that I dream about are very real to me. Maybe I should start demanding astral payment!
So, voila – three ways in which dreams can be very, very meaningful. Contrary to what you may have heard, dreams are not always about our subconscious mind talking to us – they are actually part of our connection to Source. And there’s no reason why we would not want to remember dreams, except of course, if we have unpleasant dreams. If this is the case, you could be travelling to the negative astrals.
The negative astrals are a pretty unpleasant place to visit and you will have nightmares and nasty dreams if you go there. If you’re often having disturbing dreams or nightmares, you could have a portal way open in your subconscious to the negative astrals.
To close the portal way, light a candle, sit quietly and focus on your breath for a few minutes, to slow down your vibration, then read the following prayer:
“Creator of all beings, Divine Archangels, my Astral Guide, my own personal team of Guides, Teachers and Angels, please close the portal way in my subconscious, that leads to the negative astrals, for all time, so that it may never be re-opened. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Please leave a comment if you have something to relate about your astral experiences!
If you’d like more information about interpreting dreams – how to do it, and how to avoid the common pitfalls of dream interpretation, check out this article I wrote: How to Interpret Dreams
Finally, if you’d like a process for asking your Spirit Guides for guidance in dreams, check out the article 5 Tips and Insights to Help you Work with Your Spirit Guides (It’s tip #5!)
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Interesting. So one of your specializations is the third order, I guess? Perhaps that is why you are not afraid of dealing with death scenes.
I had one of those dreams in which I met my spirit guide and learned a lesson. It happened before I started this spiritual development, and it finally made sense recently. Actually, I wrote about it on my blog recently, along with other things about dreams. Your article is a great supplement so I will link to you.
Blessings,
Akemi Gaines
Although I typically don’t remember my dreams, or even remember having dreams, there have been some which really stuck with me. Mostly they were either flying / ethereal dreams, or in a couple cases I had dreams which actually then happened to me on the following day.
I really enjoyed reading Robert Monroe’s books – he talks a lot about nighttime “school” for the spirit. I also attended the Gateway Voyage program from The Monroe Institute and had some very interesting experiences… certainly not explainable by traditional science!
Hey Anna
Wonderful article once again!
This has inspired me to master lucid dreaming and channelling. I’ve got the books and the resources. All I have to do is apply myself!
Thank you!
Yang
How many people actually are dream masters? A lot? A few? Is it rare?
Third Order:
Dont know if I am lunatic, but I believe to be a portal opener for earth bound souls. I feel strong connection with light tunnels and feel I can creat them real fast.
Hi Chris – I love flying dreams, they are my most vivid dream memories too. I’ll have to read something by Robert Monroe, have had his books recommended to me a few times.
Yang – thanks! good luck with your lucid dreaming.
Akemi – thanks for the link! Your story about your guide was interesting. I don’t actually belong to the Third order, apparently, but I feel like I should do as I come into contact with lots of earthbound spirits.
M- Dream master is quite a common soul training among my clients.
Hi Julius – Yes, you’re definitely a lunatic !
Only joking, maybe portalway opening is part of your soul specialization.
Thanx. I am totally fond of opening portals!!!! It must be one of my soul specializations.
Also past years I thought I would be good in helping others to cross to the other side.
man, everyone’s so productive when they’re sleeping. guess i’m the slacker who dreams of things like cockroaches smoking dunhill’s and making real rainbows for christmas.
Just a question: If a negative entity is about to enter your chakra system while you’re asleep and your soul is in the astral plane, will that confrontation appear in my dreams? And if I do find myself in that situation, what can I do to repel the negative entity while this event takes place on a subconscious level? I am not a lucid dreamer yet. I’m asking that question because I rarely get nightmares or disturbing dreams in my lifetime — at the most just a few uncomfortable dreams and many weird or neutral ones. Thanks.
Cool – I am a portal opener
I love that!
Hi Ariff – funny dreams! I’m one to talk with the stuff I dream about…
Nina – Yes, the confrontation with a negative entity can appear in your dream if it’s attached or stalking you. But obvously not all dream confrontations mean a negative entity has attached. If you suspect a negative entity attachment, pay attention to how you feel, above all, when you wake up, because if a negative entity has attached, you’ll notice it at first like a subtle grey raincloud above you. I’m sure you don’t need to worry about it too much. Remember, energy flows where attention goes, so don’t waste too much energy fearing negative entity attachments.
Hi Anna!
I’ve only recently begun entering into the realms of unlocking spiritual truths. I have two questions for you with regards to dreaming.
1.) If dreams are real experiences occurring on the astral plane, how does Lucid Dreaming work with regards to that? Do we take control of our experience on the astral plane? And if we have full control over our dream/astral plane experience, how can we learn any lessons?
2.) How does hardcore, full-on meditation (like four hours straight) work? You keep your mind completely clear for four hours. How is that more restful than sleeping and dreaming, and what happens to our “astral plane” experience if we don’t dream?
Hi Ace,
In response to this question:
“If dreams are real experiences occurring on the astral plane, how does Lucid Dreaming work with regards to that? Do we take control of our experience on the astral plane?”
I have to admit I’m not an expert on lucid dreaming. But from what I understand about it, lucid dreaming is about more consciously directing what’s happening and what you’re learning in the astrals. Being in control doesn’t have to mean that you’re not going to learn the lessons the same. Also, we’re not always learning in the astral planes – sometimes we’re just exploring, enjoying or renewing ourselves.
“How does hardcore, full-on meditation (like four hours straight) work? You keep your mind completely clear for four hours. How is that more restful than sleeping and dreaming, and what happens to our ?astral plane? experience if we don?t dream?”
When you’re meditating deeply, that plugs us in more fully to Source and creates an opening to receive the vital life force that we can access from Source. We receive that through our Godspark, which is our connection back to Source. We also plug back into Source more fully when we’re asleep, in the astrals, whether we’re dreaming or not.
Hi Anna,
Quick Question: how can I dream in a higher plane? I have been paying closer attention to my dreams lately and I have come to realize that I’m dreaming in a lower plane. It is very similar to earth plane but in slow motion per se. Not sure if I’m making any sense here but I do remember that I woke up and thought whoa yah…low plane dream
Also, I thought I had identified my spirit guide but then i had a dream that she was leaving, she told me she had been ordered to leave. In my dream she always appeared as a service worker of some sort, in grocery lines etc but this time she was in my home and told me that “gepetto” told her to leave.
Maybe it is my imagination, being that it was just a dream…any insight from you would be appreciated. Thank you
I will try to close the negative portal tonight following your instructions listed above
Hi Maria,
How are you feeling before you go to sleep? Are you stressed or fearful or feeling some other negative emotion? If your vibration is low when you’re going to sleep, you can take that low vibration with you into the astrals and your experiences will usually reflect that. Try to raise your vibration before you sleep – for example, relax your mind, let go of any stress or fear and if you read, make sure it’s positive, empowering stuff.
I studied how to Astral Travel and how to be conscious in the Astral Plane. I had heaps of time to do the exercises so I had some success in becoming conscious/lucid there. When you choose to awaken consciously in another dimension and you are definately on a path of Light you can be literally attacked by entities that choose to awaken in darkness. I learnt how to Astral Travel by doing courses withh the Gnostic Movement. I used to say the protective prayer/s and like magic you would see dark creatures/entities of all description be removed and then you would just see light and clouds. If you could maintain where you were and then choose to go somewhere else or ask your guides to show you where to go you would go there. Most times when that happened I would usually wake up. These days I don’t try to be conscious in the Astral Plane (4th dimension) as it doesn’t seem to be hugely helpful or necessary for my spiritual growth. Anna was spot on about the lower astral planes. Thanks for the advice on the prayer/request to ask guides etc to help us close up that part of our subconscious. I didn’t know that was possible. Also I think not to be too scared of dark entities as the Light is always more powerful than the darkness. On the rare occassion that I do experience going to the lower Astral areas – usually if I have a temperature or have eaten heavy food before sleeping – I just quicky say…”I ask for the prescence of the most holy and Divine Light and the living spirit of Truth”. That is so easy and I will say it even if I am back here awake and a bit scared in my bedroom. When we ask for the Light it always comes to help. The polite Light I call it as it will never be invasive or try to trick us like darkness attempts to. The real trick is to become conscious in much higher dimensions….where there is only pure Love/Light….aahh Bliss!
So glad I found your site Anna! I’ve been busily catching up on all the blogs I’ve missed since your site’s inception. Such great information you have on all your blogs!
Just wanted to share some dream experiences and get your insight. Throughout my 32 years of life, I would dream of insignificant things and at no distinct time frame (weeks, months, even years down the road), this dream would become reality and I would usually get the feeling first then the recollection of having seen it in my dream. I have no idea why this happens…it seems so insignificant to me. It could be as insignificant as looking at a piece of reading material or exchanging a conversation with someone.
Also, I frequently dream of flying which is so wonderful. Usually though once I touch the ground in my dream, I find it more difficult to fly again. Once, I dreamt that I was flying over a warehouse and wanted to investigate closer towards the ground but didn’t land because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to take flight again. As I was proceeding to fly back up to the sky, a shadow grabbed me at which time I woke up and started praying because it freaked me out!
Claire?s last blog post..Food
Hi Julius, One night at my psychometry/meditation group there was a collumn of Light that our teacher saw created in the middle of the circle. There was a lot of love in the group that night.
She doesn’t usually “see” things like this…but what she saw was earthbound souls slipping into the Light collumn. It made me think of your portals. I come across portals in my dreams at times….sometimes they are in the ocean. They enable me to move from one place/dimension to another very quicky.
Anna it is always so wonderful to read your blogs and website…so inspiring that so many souls are working hard to grow, heal and help others on their path. Love and Light to all. Elizabeth
Hi Claire, I get those dreams too! I believe they’re called precognitive dreams. You’d think you’d get them regarding a major future event or disasters but sometimes they can be about something mundane or insignificant. I’m not sure why they happen. Maybe it’s a preview of what you’re manifesting or maybe it’s a preview of the events you’ve already chosen for yourself.
Hi Elizabeth, Thanks for your comments! Love to you too.
I keep dreaming of my neighbor which was a good friend which passed away 2 years ago…She has 2 children..We are always in her bedroom when i dream of her but this last time she walked down her hallway into the kitchen..this is where she lived when she was a kid..the first and second and third dreams she always talked to me through a cell phone even know she was setting there in her room..first time my cousin was laying on bed and someone that i couldnt tell who it was, was setting on the chair..i have been having these dreams since she passed away…This last dream where she went into the kitchen, my mom was setting at the, table but she couldnt see her in my dream either, just me..Why do i keep dreaming of her like this , is she trying to tell me something or does she need help crossing over to the other side or what…
Hi Melissa, I can’t tell you for certain. But just a suggestion – maybe this is about you and not her? Does she represent something to you? Maybe she is in your subconscious mind right now for some reason? In my experience, when spirits need to talk to us or tell us something, they tend to make it clear in the dream and include some symbolism. If there is none of that in your dreams and you don’t get any clear messages from these dreams, maybe it’s memories of her going round in your subconscious and causing you to have these dreams? Just a thought.
Hi. Before i would fall asleep, I would ask to be of service while I slept. After a week of asking, I “dreamed” That I helped a little old lady cross over. I remember the smell and the humidity in her little mobile home and I was worried nobody would find her. When I realized They wanted me to help her I said I couldn’t do that and I was talked through it. I placed the souls of my feet to hers and we immediately went up this “tube”. At a certain point I had to stop but she kept going. I went to this void (no way to discribe it) and They told me I did a good job and that is what I’ve been asking for. I went back down that tube and when I got to the end I shot straight up in bed and cried (for 2 days). I did it one other time after that but don’t remember doing it any more.
Thanks Anna, that has helped me alot..I do think of her often..and yes she was a good friend that I grew up with..She did mean alot to me..like my little sister…But when I had the dream with my cousin laying on the bed and the guy setting on the chair in her room, I relized who the guy was and what she was telling me in the 2nd and 3rd dream. It was my uncle setting in the chair and she was telling me that it was his time to go to heaven..About a week after I had the same dream for the 3rd time, my uncle passed away..But now I’m having dreams of her going into the kitchen…I don’t know…Guess I’ll have to wait to see if I have another dream…But thanks alot this has been so helpfull to me reading on here and talking to people…Thanks again…
Hi Janet, it does sound like you’re a member of the third order with an experience like that.
I had a dream about Halle Berry and Gabriel the night before I found out they had broken up. In the dream they had been keeping my child I went to them to retrieve the child. The child was about three or four. It turns out that their relationship was about that old when it ended. I found it all kind of fascinating and weird that I would dream that. Why would I dream that? The only connection to them that I have is that I am also in an interracial relationship.
Hi france, it’s difficult to say. In my experience if there is a very clear message that you need to have right now, it is a very clear metaphor. But this one was a bit cryptic. Maybe it has some relevance to your relationship? What was the mood/emotional atmosphere in the dream? that usually holds some clues as to what it’s about for you, if anything.
I also wrote a post here on interpreting dreams, you might find it useful if you haven’t read it already: http://www.psychicbutsane.com/developing-psychic-abilities-spirit-world/how-to-interpret-your-dreams
I only just saw your answer to my question on that dream. I remember that the mood was laid back. I mean they were simply watching my child as though they had been babysitting. The kid was happy to see me. I dream a lot about children. I have wanted a little girl for twenty odd years and its never happened. I do have a son and he is in some dreams as of late but I recently had slept with a pillowcase he had designed when he was younger so I thought that was why. As far as children in my dreams they are always healthy, happy and eagar to see me. Not sure if that matters. I love kids.
I did have another question regarding astral planes. I have only seen that we travel in our dreams in about one other place online. Do you know of any books about it.=?? I am a researcher; I like to understand things. Thanks.
Thanks for this article, I also have sometimes had prediction dreams, well actually I tend to dream it at the time, I have dreamt of a friend in trouble and also sadly of a friend’s death which was pretty freaky.
But mainly my dreams are just random things from my day, the weirdest dream I ever had was about being trapped in a giant biscuit! Fun tho!
Just a quick tip, if you are looking to remember your dreams keep a dream journal everyday, and write the dreams as soon as you wake up. I did this for a bit many years ago and no I almost always remember my dreams
i have a sound relation with dreams,i meet them every night,they r with me from childhood,in age of 9 to 12, i use sleep wit my g.mother as i am scary about negative souls
i was in eight class my exam were going on i sleep at 10.00 first day at midnight i was sleeping a helicopter like thing came out from body i was num i cannot even shake the body this thing rotate wings whole house and few minute it enter my body then i have little movment from that time my dreams come true ie.. 80perc