Funeral
This can reflect concerns about death, perhaps because someone close has died and confronted you with death. Death is an important aspect of your life, and dreams use such a dream to explore the subject, and find greater wholeness and healing. See: What Happens When I Die? Death.
Sometimes we dream of seeing someone we know buried when we want them out of our life. So this is a reminder that we want to make a break in a relationship.
Very occasionally we dream of the funeral of a close relative or friend, and this is because we have an intuitive realisation about their coming death.
People often dream of witnessing their own funeral. This is because we all wonder about death, and so sometimes practice it in our dreams. Seeing someone else buried might be a hidden wish to ‘get rid of them’. Very occasionally it is a premonition about the person’s health. A funeral may also represent the end of something in your life, like a relationship, or mourning for someone dead. Feelings about one’s own death. Very occasionally a warning about health of person buried, or wanting the buried person out of one’s life.
Example: During my teens I was engaged to be married when I found a more attractive partner and was in considerable conflict. Consistently I dreamt I was at my fiancé’s funeral until it dawned on me the dream was telling me I wanted to be free of him. When I gave him up the dreams ceased.
Dreaming about a funeral can also be saying that something that is now dead in your life needs to be laid to rest.
A funeral gathering can also be a time when people concentrate on the passing of the person, and it can be a wonderful experience of lifting them. See Babs
One’s own funeral: It is a common dream to watch one’s own funeral. It depicts your own philosophy about your end. May also remind of what you want to do while alive; desire for sympathy from family; retreat from world; a feeling of deadness in life.
Burying yourself: Leaving an old way of life or old self behind.
Someone else’s funeral: A wish they were dead; a wish to be rid of them. It is often unconsciously used as an easy way out of a relationship – to fantasy them dead. It avoids the responsibility of making your wishes known. See: Second example under death.
Parents funeral: Difficulties with or move toward independence; exploring the feeling of their loss; repressing or letting go of the painful past. See: burial; death; death and rebirth under archetypes; death and dreams; death is there life afterwards?
On witnessing and experiencing a friend (Chris’s) mothers funeral.
In describing this I have to say first that I did not go to your mother’s funeral with any sense of seeking an experience or looking for some sort of insight into what was going on. I went to be with you as your friend. And, as you know, the service was far from inspiring. The priest was stumbling over what he was reading, didn’t remember your mother’s name, and so there was some level of irritation with most of us because of what was happening.
So I wasn’t moved by the ceremony. I was there involved in what was going on around me. But suddenly it seemed that something opened in me and I could see or sense that all the people there, although they were not attempting to do what I was now sensing, were producing something by their very presence as a group. The funeral itself, the fact that everybody was there to be part of your mother’s funeral, acted as some sort of focus. It focussed their attention, their feelings and their thoughts as a lens might do. It focused all their mental and emotional energy on your mother’s spirit. I saw her lifted, buoyed up by it because in life she was crippled by Alzheimer’s. I suppose it would be right to say it was almost like she was brought awake by it also. So she was energised and lifted up to be with her chosen spiritual love, who was Christ. And what I had thought to be a funeral became a wedding as she was united with her love. That was a very wonderful thing to see.
So I believe funerals should not be a time of sorrow, but a rejoicing in the new state of life the dead experience.
Useful questions and hints:
What am I feeling in the dream, and where do those feelings appear in waking life?
Have I actually really confronted death with my feelings and seen it as part of life?
Is there a suggestion here of still trying to be, or failing to be, independent of parents or partner?
What do I want to achieve or do before I die?
See Secrets of Power Dreaming – Dreaming of Death – Talking with the dead – Edgar Cayce
Comments
Hi Tony,
I had a disturbing dream last night.
I attended two of my husband’s friends’ funerals and then my friend’s husband’s funeral. In all of them I was fairly upset and feel saddened for the loved ones left behind.
I also saw a trail of red ants at one of the funerals.
What does this mean. Please help.
Kind regards,
Heena
I just woke up crying 5 minutes ago because I was dreaming of my ex- boyfriend’s funeral, we have a very very special relationship. He will do anything for me because he cares that much about me, and i think about him often of course because in everyday life will remind you of someone. I was depressed when we were no longer dating which was a few months over a year ago. I came at peace with the situation about 7 months ago. Ive never had a dream about him like this nor have I woken crying like this so I texted him letting him know that I love him but Any explanation of why this unexpected dream?
Hello,
I dreamt my father’s (who’s living currently at my sister’s house) funeral yesterday and it was very upsetting to see him like that. I saw him in a coffin and there were neighbors who came to pay their last respect to him and it was raining. My sister came and I was crying so loud and fainted in the dream when I regained consciousness I saw my fathers eyes were rolling and he opened his eyes and then I told my sisters who were around me that look he’s not dead see he is waking up. Then I saw him trying to sit and after that I don’t recall what happened. What could be the meaning of this?
Please could you tell me is this a warning that something bad is going to happen to him or our family? I am quite worried.
Many thanks in advance for your kind reply!
Dear Primerose – I do not see your dream as a warning that something bad is going to happen to your father or your family.
Your dream may reflect feelings that you may have repressed for some time and that needs to be released and perhaps explored.
Releasing these feelings is like letting go of control and eventually this approach brings new life to you and perhaps also to the relationship you have with your father.
Most of the time we edit or control what we allow ourselves to think or feel and dropping this form of judgment, if only for short periods while you open to the mystery you are, is important. At first it may cause some concern because you are unblocking part of the flow, and it may start pushing out some of the attitudes, past experiences and habits that have been blocking your greater flow. Usually those things would have been cleansed in the normal LifeStream, but unconscious tensions and resistances prevent the healing. This is why we have to consciously take in hand the work of dropping our self-control for periods of time as described in http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/
Anna 🙂
I had a dream i was looking in future and i saw a few graves of people i am good with. Later i was walking and saw my own funeral but only few of my close friends and my ex boyfriend were there. Then I started walking and came back to tell my ex bf that I can’t believe he came. He said he promised he would come and then i took his hand and we kissed and the feeling in dream was really weird. (I’m a girl btw if that means anything)
I kept having dreams of one of my parents funeral and sometimes i didn’t know what family members funeral it was for a few months. My little sister passed away a month ago. I just can’t get those out of my mind. Now I’m just having terrible nightmares of other things since my sister passed. I’m just super weirded out by the dreams before she passed away.
Dear Megan – I wonder if your little sister died suddenly and unexpectedly or if it was known that she had a terminal illness.
If she was ill then your dreams may reflect how you are exploring the possibility of the death of someone close to you, which then gives you the opportunity to learn to deal with it.
Dreams often stand in place of actual experience. So through dreams we may experiment with new experience or practice things we have not yet done externally. This function of what might be called ‘imagination’ is tremendously undervalued, but is a foundation upon which human survival is built; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/function-of-dreaming/
You do not express how you feel in these dreams where you are at the funeral of one of your parents or other people. Are you sad or angry? Do you cry? Are you able to cope with their death?
How old are you Megan?
Do you feel like describing one of your nightmares in detail? See example “how to write down a dream”; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/not-enough-information/
What are you “weirded out” about by the dreams before she passed away; what is your greatest fear?
Anna 🙂
I dreamt I was walking away from a funeral, lots of people were walking in the opposite direction to me to the funeral and I was feeling very sad but I don’t think I was sad about the person who had died. After a while I stopped and saw a £10 note on the ground which I knew was mine, as I went to pick it up someone (who happens to be an old colleague) who I didn’t realise was behind me also saw it and tried to get it and hit me hard in the face with a newspaper, it was such a thump it woke me up.
my friend is in the hospital very sick, i was dreaming that i was buying her a blouse and jeans and but them to the funeral place for them to put them on her. what does it mean
Hi Tony
I had a very powerful dream last night about a friend’s funeral. This friend is also my doctor and has looked after my family’s health for many years.
I dreamt I arrived at his funeral on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The scene was very pretty – lots of greenery and flowers and sunshine. I was late for the funeral and had missed the proceedings and I simply walked out with the rest of the congregation. The scene was very peaceful.
As I was walking away I suddenly felt devastated when I realised that my friend had died from a sudden brain haemorrhage. In the dream, I remember thinking I’ll never see him again. I woke up in tears. Very powerful.
As an aside, I’ve been going through a tough time this year and this friend has been extremely helpful. He picked up some cancer in my stomach about six months ago and I have since been successfully treated.
Thanks
Terry
Dear Terry (male or female? http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/not-enough-information/ ) – Because of the context in which your friend’s funeral occurs in your dream, I do not feel this is a warning dream about your friend’s health.
What I see in your dream – and please explore it yourself as well http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-yoga/ and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson – is that you become aware of how you have missed a part of the process of letting go of your friend in the role of your life saviour.
When the realisation “hits you”, you are able to release the tears that are part of this process.
Your dream shows that while being confronted with cancer and therefore with death, you managed to use your illness to transform your inner world; “The scene was very pretty – lots of greenery and flowers and sunshine.”
The saviour archetype is a very powerful pattern or potential we may meet or draw upon in times of great change, of great personal uncertainty or indecision, or perhaps when we meet a life situation or a social situation in which we feel there is no way ahead or back. A new way is needed, an almost magical change is called upon, and this is met in the figure of the saviour.
Perhaps you projected this inner energy/pattern/potential on your friend who is also your doctor?
Can you acknowledge that it is also inside you and that it is okay to make room for another archetype now?
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetypes/
and perhaps
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-animus-jungs-view-of-the-male-in-the-female/
Anna 🙂
I was wandering I had a dream of a friend that I really don’t talk to anymore. He was killed in a car accident and I didn’t attend his funeral. In the dream he was laying in a casket and my mom rubbed his forehead and he took a deep breath and yawned. My mom in the dream say ohh that precious boy he got a lot of gas buildup from the wreck. He then opened his eyes squinting as you do when you wake a lights are in your eyes. He looked around at me and my mom and a guy was walking around never seen him before but he led me to a waiting room and I woke up. This had me feeling very in easy all day. Just wanting your take on things. Please respond to my email if possible.
Dear Curtis – “I was wandering I had a dream of a friend that I really don’t talk to anymore. He was killed in a car accident and I didn’t attend his funeral.”
What I have made of this part of your comment is that the friend is still alive in your waking life and he was killed in your dream only.
What I see in your dream – and please explore it yourself as well http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-yoga/ and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson – is that you become aware that you do not express a part of you (your potential).
This part is symbolised by the friend who died in your dream and to explore this symbol you can use “Being the dead friend” and I trust it will also be helpful to read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/characters-or-people-in-dreams/
Your inner mother – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/mother-mum-ma/#InnerMother – helps you to loosen up and to bring this precious part back to life again and the insight arises that there are many built up unconscious (explosive?) thoughts/energies that are caused by “the wreck.”
The wrecked car is a symbol of damage to your hopes, beliefs or motivations that enabled you to do things in life and achieve goals. It might also point to a sense of failure – failure to carry on with the normal everyday things like work and caring that one usually has enough ‘drive’ to move through each day.
So with whom or with which part of yourself did you “crash” in your life? http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/car/#Crashing
What do you feel when you are led into a waiting room? Did you feel uneasy there too? Could it be because you are not aware of what this part that was brought back to life might need to express? http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/peoples-experiences-of-lifestream/
Anna 🙂
I had a dream ofy own funeral
I’ve dreamed about my own death its been three times now! I’m concern, I can’t even pay attention to lot of things, I’m always stressing that I’m I going to die young?
i dreamed that one of my relative whom i know has died,what does it mean exactly plz help!.