[NewYork123]

Hello, I was just wondering if you believed that people that have passed away can visit you in your dreams? I have had a few dreams of my grandmother and I wonder if it was really her, or just my thoughts making her be there. I read somewhere that if the deceased person in your dream seems distant or different then it could be the devil playing tricks with your mind. But, if they are warm and comforting and seem normal then it really is them visiting. I had a few dreams that turned out the same I was crying hysterical in a grocery store (we used to always go grocery shopping) because she was there and I kept saying I need to call my mom I need to tell her you're here! And I would turn around and my deceased aunt (even more wierd) would give me a cell phone to call my mom).. but then I had another dream where I was so scared because I saw my grandmother and all these soldiers walking around a cemetery and no one else but me could see these people.. and my Grandmother seemed scary. So I was thinking maybe that was the devil playing tricks on me? Or is this just all my imagination and I am only dreaming about them because I think about it a lot? Can anyone relate?

[TexasParent]

The fact that you believe in the Devil suggests you have some fear based notions in your thinking. It would seem natural to me that at night when you sleep that your dreams are trying to make sense of your fears and other thoughts you have, that's what dreams are, they take your thinking and sprinkle it with some emotion and jumble them all around.

We are normally afraid when we remember our dreams or wake up while in one because we don't understand as the very least, at most they play out our very worst fears or have a way of making new ones.

The other fact that you believe in some reading about the Devil playing tricks on you suggests to me that you are a highly impressionable and emotional person rather than a logical one.

The fact that you are here looking for answers in addition to what you have posted suggests to me that you look outside yourself for almost all lifes questions and don't try to figure things out on your own.

It's time to take ownership of your own thoughts and dreams and figure themselves out for yourself. What do they mean to you? Nobody else can truly answer it for you. Dreams are personal and if it is to have meaning to you; it will only have meaning in the context of YOUR life, not somebody's opinion here.

Try to be objective rather than being lead around by your emotions, that way you will be less afraid to face the questions in your life.

[NewYork123]

I appreciate your answer, but I'm having a hard to time figuring out how you could tell that much about a person based on a few questions I had about some dreams. Yes I believe in the devil, but it does not scare me because of my faith in God and that I am a good person. I think about my fear of the devil maybe once every 3 months, it does not affect my life or my dreams. I never wake up afraid of my dreams, I wake up happy or sad and mostly confused at the meanings-never scared. I suggested a theory I read somewhere about the devil playing tricks-this doesn't mean I believe this is true, I just was mentioning it to see if anyone else has heard it. If I believed it was true and was impressionable, then I would not be asking anyone what they thought.

"the fact that you are here looking for answers in addition to what you have posted suggests to me that you look outside yourself for almost all lifes questions and don't try to figure things out on your own"
----how in the world did you get that conclusion? I believe this website is for discussions and questions. It would be one thing if I looked at someone's answer to my post and lived my life by it, all I'm looking for is opinions and thoughts from people who can relate to me. I know that no one else can be some sort of psychic and tell me what my dream means, all I'm wondering is if someone has had similar experiences.

I think going by your emotions is necessary a lot of times in life, logic doesn't always work I'm afraid--and I do know when to be logical thank you very much.

[arcura]

NewYork123,
Don't be upset with dreams of people who have passed away.
A great many people have them as I do.
There is the saying that if you dream about a person who has passed this life they want you to pray for them.
Dreams are filled with symbols and figuring them out is often difficult for a person.
Some people have written about such symbols and what they mean but the difficulty with that is that the same symbol may have a far different meaning to different persons.
Also the emotional state you are in during the day before a dream can have an effect on the dream particularly IF that emotion was unusually strong or rare.
Here is something else to think about and keep in mind as you fall asleep.
During your dreaming, if you successfully made the effort to change it and if does change then was is a dream, but if you could not change it then it was a vision.
However, in both cases (dream of vision) the symbols are for you to try to determine what they are or what they relate to.
Sometime certain people who have studied dream symbols can be helpful in guiding you to determine what the symbols in your dreams mean.
For instance, if you dream that you are naked with other people around it means that you are embarrassed about something, "but what" is for you to determine.
In your dream where you and your grandmother were shopping there are a number of symbols such as is it a grocery store or something else? Are you crying because you wanted your grandmother to buy something for you and she said “no”, or some other reason for wanting to go home?
What was the relationship between your grandmother and aunt during moral life?
Were they loving, or helpful, or argumentative, or agreeable or something else.
Determining that may be helpful.
Military people in a dream can be a symbol of many different situations depending on local in the dream and what you have experienced lately in the news or in person or something else or during your military service.
Trying to figure out what a dream means can be fun or troublesome, or frustrating, or frightening OR all of the above.
Good luck with yours. But do not be unduly troubled because you have such dreams or visions. They are quite normal with millions of people.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

[NewYork123]

Fred, thank you for taking to time to read and answer my post. When I'm in the grocery store I usually hear her voice talking and I run over and I am crying because I can't believe that I am really seeing her- because I know she should be dead. So I'm crying tears of joy like "Wow! I can't believe I'm really seeing you! I can't believe you are really here!" And my aunt died of cancer, and they had a great relationship never had falling outs or anything. Who knows what it all means, I just like to maybe think that it is her visiting--even though it probably isn't what it is. You're right about the different visions and dreams, that's helpful. And at night before I sleep I sometimes pray that I will have a dream about my grandmother so it can be like I am actually talking and visiting with her. So since I probably am thinking about that a lot before I sleep, that is probably why I dream about it. Have you heard they say the last thing you think about before you sleep is what you dream about? I don't think it's always true but it does make some sense.

[arcura]

NewYork123,
Yes it does make some sense.
But in my case it seldom is true.
Once in awhile it is.
Thanks for the clarifications to my wondering about why you cried and about your aunt.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

[Alder]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your grandmother, NY.

I am not an authority on the devil, so I can't really speak to that. It is not unheard of that a spirit might disguise itself to appear to someone in the form of a different being that they would accept. However, that is not common. I am one who believes that those we love remain connected to us, even if they die, so I would say that yes, it is her coming to you.

Remember, though, that dreams are something your mind and brain create. Sigmund Freud suggested that we have a particular part of our brain (like the carburetor of a car, I guess), whose job it is to take stuff and weave it into dreams. As to what stuff, it can be any stuff--our memories, our desires, experiences we had the day before or years earlier. I also believe that the psychic part of ourselves, the part that can intuitively access connections that we are not taught to consciously plug into in our waking life in this culture, is also capable of feeding that raw material into the dreammaker in our minds.

In other words, your connection to your grandmother is real, your love for her is real. God is love, God transcends death, so love transcends death, right? On some level, you sense that connection, sense her presence. Your mind senses that, senses something real, and then turns it into a dream, fleshing it out with symbolic language and imagery. The phone is an obvious symbol of connection ("Can you hear me now? Good"). The grocery store is pretty literal--as you say it came into the dream because that was something you and she shared. The part with the soldiers is trickier. I would say this: Soldiers patrol borders. There is a border, a boundary, between life and death. There are some rules about what can come across. You are dealing with those, and with your concern about whether her coming into your dreams is a violation of rules, something that could risk allowing the devil in.

On the other hand, perhaps it is your grandmother herself who is learning the rules of her new existence. Maybe she doesn't like having to be on the other side of the border, and was a little peeved about it. The soldiers may not be literal soldiers (e.g. angels, devils, what have you). They may just be your mind's way of giving a recognizable image to the sense of an energy that can protect and defend, but also block or enforce.

So with regard to the dreams: Really her, yes, but made up in a dream by your imagination. It's both. I don't think it's the devil. But here's a way to make sure: The next time, in the middle of the dream, say "May Jesus bless you, grandma!" (Or if you are not Christian, whatever name of the Divine suits you). If it were the devil, he sure wouldn't like it! If it is your grandmother, she'll probably just say thank you, and bless you, too.

It might take you a few tries to do that in the dream--it's what we call a lucid dream, realizing at least a little bit that you are dreaming, and choosing your own actions in the dream. But just repeatedly visualize yourself doing that, especially before you go to bed. If you have the dream but don't succeed in doing that, then when you wake up, carefully and vividly re-imagine the dream and imagine yourself saying that. Do this several times. If you keep having the dream, and keep incubating a way to weave it in a positive way, sooner or later you will succeed.

What I suggest saying is only one suggestion, of course. You can say and do whatever seems right to you.

If you stop having the dream, that can mean your grandmother has settled herself into her new place--the connection is still there, she remains with you, but quiet, at peace, no dream needed. And it can mean that on your end your mind has gotten used to her new form of presence in your life and worked out exactly how to do it.

[arcura]

Alder,
Good post.
It's something to think about.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

[sendosha]

I absolutely believe that people who have passed away can visit you in dreams. I once had a dream with my grandmother and she said to me, "Don't be angry about the cats in the yard." A few days later I discovered a litter of kittens behind the shed in the yard. Apparently she was trying to warn me.

Lately I've been having dreams of my former friend's deceased brother. He died about 20years ago and I have not been friends with his sister for more than that. I don't know what it means and it is driving me crazy.

[N0help4u]

I believe they can visit you OR you could just be dreaming of them because of your feelings for them OR if you felt uneasy that it was trickery then maybe it could be a bad spirit.
As long as you feel comfort and not fear I would say it is your grandmother or your memories of her.

[arcura]

sendosha,
It is a belief by many that if you dream of or about someone who has passed away it means that you are being asked to remember them and to pray for them.
If you believe in an after life it isa thing that you can do for those no longer in a mortal body.
Peace and kindness,
Fred