When I really started diving deep into my inner world and healing, I started having extremely vivid dreams, and sometimes will even lucid dream (which I had never done before). I chalk this up to a raised level of consciousness and awareness of my inner world and all that lies within it.
Honestly, half the time my dreams are freakin’ WILD. I wake up from them mind blown and even confused… we all know how dreams can be alllllll over the place. Most times they don’t make sense, yet they have still opened a new door for me I had no idea was even there to open (the beauty of our growth journeys). Now, I’m no dream expert nor am I versed in the art of dream interpretation, but I have come to realize that my vivid dreams can be used as a tool in my healing and growth.
A few nights ago I had a dream so vivid I could literally feel the emotions in it AND the physical sensations as if it was really happening. It was downright nuts. I woke up stunned, but also really curious as to what it meant. A lot went down that night in dream world, and there was one particular person in my dream who I hadn’t thought about in some time. It was clear as day as to who this person was, which isn’t always common when dreaming – but this time, their face was crystal clear.
At first, I didn’t know the meaning, I didn’t know what it could be suggesting, and there was even a separate part of the dream that was rather unsettling. I got up and did my typical morning routine – started by meditating and then pulling oracle cards. I am not kidding when I say the cards I pulled were so synchronistic with my dream. To the point where it helped me decipher what it meant. I can say with confidence that I wouldn’t have put together what I did without the cards I pulled. Two seemingly unconnected dreams from that night were actually in fact connected, and the unsettling one turned out to be symbolic and holding the meaning behind the one with said person from my past.
Now, I have used my vivid dreams to dive deeper into healing and growth before, but this particular night I wasn’t able to put my finger on it… until I pulled those cards. And it opened up a whole new door for me – it made me realize how truly symbolic our dreams are and how each and every vivid dream can hold a key to healing (though we may not always be able to pinpoint it, it’s still something to bring our awareness to – you never know what might help you put those puzzle pieces together).
I’m not going to detail my dreams for you, but just so you get an idea of what I mean by this, I’ll give you the cliff notes…
One of them included that person I was instantly able to recognize – it was like I consciously knew who it was even though I was dreaming (there may have been a minor amount of lucid dreaming tied in this night). We haven’t spoken in quite some time, and our relationship evaporated long before that. But in this dream, our relationship was at the beginning blossoming stages – you know, when you first start getting close to someone. Honestly, it shook me, because I’ve done work to let them go, and this indicated there was still something I was holding on to.
In the next dream, I was on a lake that was filled with alligators or crocodiles (or both, idk) and sharks, and there were these giant viscous birds that plucked sharks from the water. They caught one and ate it on the beach (lovely I know). But when I got back to the dock in which my boat and friends were at (these people were a little less decipherable in typical dream style), I looked over and it was Riley (my dog) lying on the beach (not eaten but not moving either… how seriously fucked up is that – now you can see the unsettling part). Naturally, I was like what the actual fuck was that all about when I woke up.
SO. Seemingly unconnected and undecipherable at first. Here is where the cards come in. From my animal spirit deck I pulled the crocodile card (actually it fell out as I was shuffling – I shit you not). That specific card has a message of going inward and pulling back from the external world. From my chakra deck I pulled the ‘Grief’ card which has a story about a woman losing her dog whom she loved so dearly… but here’s the thing… it goes on to talk about how grief is love without a place to go. Which made me realize that what happened with Riley in my dream didn’t actually have anything to do with him, but rather was a symbol for the grief I had never allowed myself to feel in regards to the relationship that had disintegrated between me and said person. LIKE HOW WILD IS THAT?!
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how true that actually was. I had never grieved, I never got closure, and our relationship just ended via radio silence. My wildly vivid dream showed me that I had healing to do around this person – that I had to allow myself to grieve the ending of our relationship and to feel emotions I had never allowed myself to feel.
Now, I know not everyone uses oracle cards, but that doesn’t mean your dreams can’t be used as a tool for healing. Pay attention to them, bring awareness to them, allow yourself to dive deeper into them – you can use a dream journal to write them down and work through them and see what comes up (or just do this in your normal journal). I have been able to use this tool without my cards before, but this event was mind blowing to me. Which I guess could also be taken as a push to get yourself some cards and allow the Universe to help you dive deeper… this is certainly not the first time my oracle cards have helped me uncover something I didn’t realize previously. The guidance that comes through those is fucking magical.
Here’s the catch though: You have to open up to yourself to use your vivid dreams as a tool for healing. You have to allow yourself in to your inner world, and start bringing awareness to what is unhealed within you, what may still be lingering, and what you never allowed yourself to feel. You have to be willing to see yourself… to really see yourself. If you’re closed off to your inner world or to getting to know yourself on a deeper level, this tool probably won’t be able to get you very far. It requires an open, questioning, curious, and aware mind (which you can cultivate).
Moral of this wild blog post: get curious about your dreams. Bring awareness to them, write them down and see if you can uncover a deeper meaning. Our minds are using dreams to process things and I have come to believe that as you begin your healing/growth journey, you start to process things you hadn’t allowed yourself to before – or things you weren’t yet able/ready to before. It’s bringing things up that are now asking to be seen and heard and healed. It’s showing you how to keep growing.
Use your dreams as not only a tool for healing and growth, but as a tool to get to know yourself better, to further build the relationship with yourself, and to go deeper into your inner world.
With endless love & good vibes,
Ash xx
