When a Dream Is More Than a Dream: Analyzing a Visit from the Other Side
What are dreams? At their simplest, they are the images, thoughts, and feelings that occur during sleep. Most are what we might call "ordinary dreams"—reflections of our waking lives that are relatively forgotten by morning.
But then, there are the "extraordinary dreams." These are the ones that possess a special vividness and intensity, the ones that are difficult to forget because they provide profound experiences and insights. They are, as researcher Stanley Krippner described them, "strange and unusual, yet precious and beautiful".
In this post, I want to share a complete analysis of an extraordinary dream I experienced that falls into a specific category: a spiritual and visitation dream, in which the dreamer is visited by a spirit, a religious figure, or a deceased loved one.
My Extraordinary Visitation Dream
A few months after a friend named Adrian passed away, he appeared in my dream.
I was on a different, unknown planet that was red and orange, almost like Mars. Strange creatures were everywhere, walking around like people in a busy downtown city, with streets, sidewalks, and buildings. I felt nervous and scared.
Suddenly, a golf cart pulled up, and Adrian was inside. He gave me a tour of this world, telling me about the people and places, and stopping to say hi to those he knew. Everyone sounded pleasant and friendly, even if their appearances were disturbing. Throughout the dream, Adrian kept reassuring me that this new world was safe and the people were amazing.
Visitation dreams like this often support the grieving process and tend to occur more frequently right after a death. But what does the dream actually mean? Let's look at it from two major psychological perspectives.
A Transpersonal (Jungian) Analysis
Carl Jung believed that dreams present the "unvarnished truth about the individual". From a transpersonal perspective, dreams are part of a larger picture that extends beyond our personal identity and taps into a shared, collective unconscious made up of universal archetypes—symbolic images we all unconsciously understand.
Through this lens, my dream reflects the Innocent Archetype. The core desire of the Innocent is to get to paradise, to be happy, and to be safe. Unconsciously, I wanted to know that Adrian was okay, safe, and happy. In the dream, he appeared in his newfound paradise, reassuring me that he was exactly that.
A Psychodynamic (Freudian) Analysis
Sigmund Freud, on the other hand, suggested that dreams are a manifestation of our unconscious mind, with both an obvious (manifest) and a hidden (latent) meaning. To understand a dream, you must pay close attention to the symbols it contains to yield hidden messages.
From a psychodynamic view, I would explore the personal significance of the dream's symbols:
Mars, the color red, and aliens: To me, these are things I perceive as scary and unknown.
The city: This is familiar and reminds me of home.
The golf cart: This symbolizes retirement and enjoying life.
Putting it together, the dream suggests that Adrian has "retired" from Earth and is now enjoying his life in a new, faraway realm—one that I find scary simply because of its unfamiliarity.
Conclusion
At the time, I was confused about why Adrian was in my dream, driving me around in a golf cart. But after analyzing it, I understood the message being sent. This dream showed me that I can still communicate with friends who have passed. It brought me a sense of hope I didn't even know I needed, soothing my confusion and curiosity about the wellbeing of his soul.
References
Bulkeley, K. (2016). Big Dreams: The science of dreaming and the origins of religion. Oxford University Press.
Christina. (2020). The psychology of dreams. Owlcation.
James, L. (2016). Carl Jung's psychology of dreams and his view on Freud. Acta psychopathol. 2:29.
Krippner, S., Bogzaran, F., and Percia De Carvalho, A. (2002). Extraordinary dreams and how to work with them. State University of New York Press.
Lewis, J.E., and Krippner, S. (2016). Working with dreams and PTSD nightmares: 14 Approaches for psychotherapists and counselors. Praeger.
Suni, E. (2020). Dreams. Sleep foundation.
