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1. Psychological Healing Dreams – Although these dreams can be disturbing, they differ from nightmares in that they represent situations from the conscious past and daily living. These dreams will often occur at times of stress or when important decisions arise. These dreams are not negative as they help heal and overcome negative emotions.
2. Belief Dreams – Dreams have played a part in shaping religions and belief systems across the planet. From Jacob’s dreams of angels in the Bible, to Mohammed’s dream inspiring his spiritual mission in the Quran, to the “dreaming” of the Australian Aboriginals. Subsequently, dream interpretation and analysis has been an ingrained component of human kind.
3. Problem-Solving Dreams – These dreams are designed to impart a message to the sleeper that will aid them in overcoming a problem in their conscious life. It is said that very often such messages are delivered by a messenger whose identity is of utmost importance in discerning the message.
4. Physiological Dreams – Some dreams are said to be direct reflections of our needs in the conscious world. For example, a dream where the sleeper is shivering in the snow may simply mean an extra blanket is required.
5. Dreams of Daily Life – Dreams that incorporate familiar faces and places do not necessarily reveal hidden symbolic messages from the subconscious. They are simply reflections of everyday life. These types of dreams can incorporate activities going on whilst we sleep. For example, a phone ringing may initiate a dream about communicating with a family member.
6. Compensatory Dreams – Some dreams reveal the “dark side” of our personality. This does not infer evil; it refers to what Jung described as the shadow-self. The parts of ourselves we repress. An example might be a Nun who dreams she is promiscuous. Such dreams are designed to balance our personality and give vent to emotions we would not usually seek to experience.
7. Recurring Dreams – Repeating dreams are signs that we are not paying attention to the message given. As such, ignoring the messages can lead to unresolved issues in our waking lives. The intent of the subconscious in these instances is to find a dream which impacts upon the dreamer in the most beneficial way. The subconscious may have tried numerous other attempts before implementing the dream that will be repeated. The subconscious does this because it believes it has found a means to “break through”, thus, repetition is used.
8. Lucid Dreams– Such dreams have been the subject of much research. In these dreams the sleeper is actually aware that they are in a dream state. The dream is so vivid it seems real, although events and characters will often be greatly exaggerated. Due to the sleeper being aware of dreaming he or she will often manipulate the outcomes. As such, it is thought these are not messages of deep symbolic value.
9. Psychic Dreams– Some consider there to be no such thing as psychic, including Prophetic Dreams. These are explained away as merely the subconscious absorbing information from the conscious world and making assumptions about likely behavior. When these behaviors are played out at a later date the conscious individual perceives they have predicted the future in a dream. However, this does not account for incidents where premonitions of unforeseen natural disasters and death have taken place.
10. Nightmares– These are the most emotionally draining of all dreams. They represent major issues in our waking lives that the subconscious drives the sleeper to acknowledge through fear. A great portion of people however ignore the cues and engage in the terror. It must be remembered that all dreams, even nightmares, are designed by the subconscious to help us.
In 1816, teenager Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her husband-to-be, Percy Shelley, visited the poet Lord Byron in Switzerland. Lord Byron’s residence, a villa on a lake, was often subject to stormy weather and as a result he and his guests were forced to take refuge indoors on occasion. Inside, Lord Byron and his guests would often sit and read to one another from a book containing ghost stories. Lord Byron seemed to gain much amusement from this and on this particular occasion he challenged his guests to write their own horror story and share it the next day. The following is Mary Shelley’s account of what transpired after Lord Byron’s request.
"When I placed my head upon my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think... I saw - with shut eyes, but acute mental vision - I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous Creator of the world. • ...I opened mine in terror. The idea so possessed my mind that a thrill of fear ran through me, and I wished to exchange the ghastly image of my fancy for the realities around. ...I could not so easily get rid of my hideous phantom; still it haunted me. I must try to think of something else. I recurred to my ghost story - my tiresome, unlucky ghost story! Oh! If I could only contrive one which would frighten my reader as I myself had been frightened that night! • Swift as light and as cheering was the idea that broke upon me. 'I have found it! What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted me my midnight pillow.' On the morrow I announced that I had thought of a story. I began that day with the words, 'It was on a dreary night of November', making only a transcript of the grim terrors of my waking dream." • This dream inspired Mary Shelley’s legendary novel, “Frankenstein”.
