Memories, feelings, guilt’s, that haunt you. A ghost in a dream can be an expression of parts of you that have been ignored or held back, as in the following dream:
There was an eerie atmosphere about the place. Then we heard footsteps upstairs, and knew it was a ghost. The eerie atmosphere increased and increased, and the footsteps could be heard coming down the steps of the stairs. We decided to go and have a look at the ghost, despite the fact we were somewhat scared. But when we looked up the stairs we saw it was a youngish woman who was dwarfed in stature, and very unhappy. This was why she haunted the place, and had materialised. I put my arm around her shoulder, and made her feel loved, and led her into the kitchen, where we talked to see if we could help her. The whole eeriness had disappeared.
Some dream ghosts are also an attempt to communicate with things like husks of what was at one time alive, such as hurtful experiences, or events that at one time were deeply felt but that have been emptied of hurt and real influence, but still affect you as habit patterns.
A dream ghost can also be a sign of fantasies, hopes, longings you have given time to in the past and so filled with life and sexual energy, and they now influence you in the present. So the dream ghost can be an influences you from the past, or an expression of things you don’t want to acknowledge about yourself. For instance English society doesn’t want to admit or face the prostitution and crime surrounding it, so we dream of awful ghostly images that haunt us.
Robert Van de Castle points out that in his work with people, whenever he has helped them investigate a ghost dream, it has always led back to the childhood experience of a parent coming to the bedroom and lifting them or moving them to prevent bed wetting. He says the ghost is invariably the mother, and the robber figure is the father.
Of course a few dreams about ghosts are about a real meeting with a dead relative or person. In such dreams it is usually very clearly a message or feeling being communicated.
Ghost of a living person: A sense of their thoughts or presence influencing you, or you are haunted by desire for them, or a resentment or feeling about them. In other words there influence in your life is still acting on you in an often hidden way.
A ghost that feels solid: You are ‘touching’ aspects of your mind or awareness that exists beyond preconceived ideas and beliefs.
Useful questions:
Does this represent a particular old memory, fear, or piece of the past that ‘haunts’, or keeps coming back to me?
Does it indicate dread of the unknown? If so what is it you dread?
Do I have doings from the past that I have tried to bury or forget about?
See also: Spirit, Hallucination.
