Edgar Cayce was a man who had thousands of documented near-death experiences through the method of hypnosis. Cayce is also considered to be the father of holistic medicine by JAMA, the prestigious medical journal. Cayce was a wonder to the medical community because of his ability to diagnose and specify a treatment for gravely ill people often hundreds of miles away while in the state of hypnosis. In this state, Cayce was able to obtain virtually an unlimited amount of knowledge on an unlimited number of subjects. One of these subjects was dreams. Cayce was able to astound people by interpreting their dreams and giving them insight into their psyche, lives and even past lives. Cayce revealed that dreams are actually journeys into the spirit world. You can learn more at the How to Interpret Your Dreams page.

Edgar Cayce once said, "Dreams, visions, impressions, to the entity in the normal sleeping state are the presentations of the experiences necessary for the development, if the entity would apply them in the physical life. These may be taken as warnings, as advice, as conditions to be met, conditions to be viewed in a way and manner as lessons, as truths, as they are presented in the various ways and manners."

Each night the average person spends approximately ninety minutes in a dream state. Some of us can remember all or most of our dreams, and others have trouble remembering even a snippet from one of our nightly sojourns.

The dream state is an experimental playground which gives you a chance to explore and express emotions without the usual inhibitions you may display in your waking life. Dreams provide an avenue of expression for that part of yourself that knows both your history and your potential as a spiritual being. They are another way the universe provides guidance about relationships, careers, and health problems. Through dreams you may find answers to your spiritual questions and even receive encouragement to some challenge in your life. While some dreams may allow you to release bottled emotions from your day's activities, others can lead to profound insights in a psychological or spiritual way.

However, Carl Jung said dreams are "the main source of all of our knowledge about symbolism." This means that the messages you receive from your dreams are expressed symbolically and must be interpreted to find their true meanings.

Mark Thurston, executive director for Edgar Cayce's research foundation and author of the book, Dreams: Tonight's Answers for Tomorrow's Questions, says, "A dream symbol is the very best way for your unconscious self to communicate to your conscious self. The particular image chosen - be it an object, a person, an animal, or whatever - has shades of meaning and personal associations that make it the best communicator of some truth about yourself."

Ancient Chinese tradition held that it is your spiritual soul which creates your dreams and leaves the body to travel to other realms and meet other souls. They and other ancient cultures, including the Greeks, erected dream temples for seekers to find guidance about their lives. Many times purification rituals as well as other rites of preparation were performed by the seeker prior to entering the temple and the dream state. Upon awakening, the seeker consulted with the temple dream interpreters.

Cayce believed that our dreams serve several functions. Somatic dreams - dreams referring to the body - are extremely important to be mindful of. Very often dreams will offer solutions to health problems. For example, one man was plagued with food allergies for many years, but was unable to find the source of his discomfort. Then one night he went to bed and he dreamed of a can of coffee. He quit drinking coffee and his symptoms disappeared.

Jung says that rarely do the symbols in dreams have just one meaning. And when interpreting the messages in your dreams, he suggests going with your first hunch, relying on your intuitive abilities, before applying more rational methods of dream interpretation.

Cayce also believed that deceased friends and family members do occasionally visit us in our dream state. These occurrences may offer direct communication with those people or allow us to resolve our feelings about their death. The person may also represent some aspect of ourselves.

One man reports that occasionally he hears a voice in his dreams. This voice usually is loud and strong and is not associated with any characters in his dreams. "Typically, I'm told something very specific to do or not to do," he relates. "I know this is God speaking to me - loud and clear. And I know I'd better listen."

Morton Blumenthal, who received more dream interpretations from Cayce than anyone else - in fact, more readings than anyone else - often reported dreams of a disembodied "voice," which offered counsel. Cayce usually indicated this was input from the Creative Forces, God. For example, in one dream, Blumenthal dreamt of a figure leading him by the hand, and a voice which said, "The Lord will lead you - but you must ..." He had forgotten the rest of what was said to him, but Cayce interpreted it as follows:

"As in this, as is seen, again and again, the entity receives that reassurance of the higher forces guiding, guarding, and directing the entity in its actions, as it were, with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night."

Blumenthal also had a fascinating dream in which God came to visit him. To the dreamer's surprise, God was a modern businessman. Cayce's interpretation pointed out that God was someone with whom we can "do business." God is not only transcendent but also actively involved in human affairs. It was a powerful message and, in a sense, a wonderful revelation from the divine.

The following is an excerpt from the excellent A.R.E. book entitled Cayce on Dreams.

During the dreaming state of sleep, we experience the different levels of consciousness and receive input from the different dimensions of the spirit world. Through dreaming, we have special access to our spirit within. According to the Cayce readings, there is not a question we can ask which cannot be answered from the depths of our inner consciousness when the proper attunement is made.

A dream may be of a physical, mental, or spiritual nature and may deal with all manner of psychic manifestations. These include telepathy, clairvoyance, prophetic visions, out of body traveling, remembrance of past lives, communication with beings in other dimensions including deceased friends and relatives, spirit guides, angels, Christ, and even the voice of God. Dreams can also give invaluable information on the status of the body.

All subconscious minds are in contact with one another. Through the subconscious, dreams may place us in attunement with those in the physical plane or those in the spiritual plane. We may be visited in the night by discarnate entities for many reasons: they may seek to give us assurance about their well-being in other planes of existence; they may come seeking our aid through prayer; they may come to bring us information which may be very helpful or limited; or they may come to influence us with their own desires or perspectives, which may be helpful or harmful. For example, there are dream reports of deceased relatives appearing and giving instructions about where to find a will or a lost object.

The events we experience in the third-dimension are, as it were, a "past condition" because this dimension is simply a projection or a reflection of what is being built at another higher level. Therefore, when we tune into these higher levels, as we may in dreams, we become aware of what is being built, and what may be projected into the physical in the future. Nothing of importance happens to us that is not foreshadowed in our dreams. Which is not to say that all dreams are precognitive or that the exact detail of everything we experience is given earlier in dreams. However, the word "foreshadowed" suggests that we may glimpse and be warned of what we are building now which may come into manifestation later. We call these dreams "precognitive" or "prophetic."

Just as the angels spoke to people in dreams in the times of the Bible, the spirit world still speaks to people to this day. Some people came to Cayce with dreams of Christ. None was told that it was simply his imagination, but all were assured they were indeed in touch with him.

There is no dimension of human life, whether social, financial, emotional or physical, mental or spiritual with which the dream may not on occasion deal. Dreams may encourage or reprimand, instruct or deceive, inspire or seduce, guide or confuse. The potential for an immense array of experiences in consciousness is always there. What we actually receive depends upon our attitudes, motivations, the measure of our attunement, and the extent to which we have made applicable what was received in earlier dreams and in waking experiences.

Many people came to Cayce to have their dreams interpreted. An example was the dream of a young man about his father-in-law, who had recently taken his own life. In the dream a voice commented, "He is the most uncomfortable fellow in the world," and then the dreamer was shown his own baby crying for food. The image was to convey the dead man's hunger for guidance and spiritual sustenance, said Cayce. The next night the dreamer heard the man's own voice, together with "a wandering impression of restlessness." The voice said, "I seek rest. I want to leave and be with my family down there." Again Cayce said the dream contact had been authentic, showing the dreamer how much his prayers were needed for the father-in-law, who was still an "earthbound" discarnate. He added that the reason the discarnate was turning towards people in Earthly life was that "the lessons are learned from that plane, see?" It was a point Cayce often made, that souls who had once entered the Earth had to learn their final lessons in the Earth, where will is called into play in a fashion different from existence on other planes.

Yet, contact between the dead and the living can be joyous. Sometimes it occurs because the dead want to show the living what death is like, to take away their fear and grief. Exploring the possible reality of such contact, one dreamer had her side pinched by a discarnate friend, so vividly that she screamed in fright, while another had his toe pulled when he asked for it - and did not ask again. One dream took a man inside the brain of a woman dying of cancer, a relative, and showed him precisely what a relief death was, when it finally came. A later dream also showed him how a soul feels when awakening to consciousness after death. Discarnates are not only rewarded by recognition from the living, they can experience the joy of teaching the living. They can also, in relatively unusual cases, work directly with the living for the fulfillment of worthy causes. The dead differ from the living only in this respect: they are in a permanently subconscious state because the conscious mind of the physical body no longer exists. But the body is an expendable shell, and all else is intact. On the astral level of existence, the subconscious mind replaces the conscious mind of the soul, and the superconscious replaces the subconscious.

Hence, in dreams, we find that communication with those who have passed on is more logical than the average person is able to comprehend. The following are more excerpts from spirit communications in dreams as told to Edgar Cayce and interpreted: One man related to Cayce: "Both my mother and father (deceased) came to me and were so glad to see me, but then they told me my sister had committed suicide." Cayce replied in trance:

"This dream presents to the entity, through the mother and father both dead, the thoughts being entertained by the sister because of dissatisfaction to meet properly the conditions in her life. And as seen, the father and mother depend upon you to so instruct, to so direct, and to so counsel your sister. Give the sister spiritual counsel so that she may better understand, thereby enabling her to grow; otherwise, detrimental experiences will destroy her. Suicide is in her mind. Remember, too, that thoughts are deeds in the mental realm, and they increase or mar the activities of the Higher Self."

A woman related to Cayce this dream: "I dreamed my mother told me I should warn Aunt Helen against an accident between an automobile and a streetcar. My mother then became ill." Cayce replied in trance: "This is a warning. Tell Aunt Helen about it. If she observes the warning, and stays out of automobiles and streetcars until the waning of the moon, it will not happen. Warn her, then, for this is a direct communication from one in the spiritual plane to one in the physical plane. This attunement is made when the conscious mind is subjugated, as in meditation or in sleep, and an attunement with the universal forces is established. This is also an illustration of the ability of those in the spiritual plane to see the future."

Perhaps the most common dream experience in spirit communication, according to Cayce, is related by the message which in essence says, "I am fine and happy. Your grief, however, is holding me back and making me sad. You can help me greatly by trying to overcome your sorrow. You must stop grieving!"

Here are some tips from the Cayce readings to help you in the analysis of your dreams:

(1)  Keep a notebook beside the bed. Record your dreams as soon as possible after waking.

(2)  Suggest to yourself every night as you fall asleep, "I will remember my dreams."

(3)  If you wake during the night, write down the main symbols, and the entire dream will usually come back in the morning.

(4)  Practice keen observation in your dreams through self-suggestion prior to sleep.

(5)  Look for these components in your dreams: the setting, the people, the action, the color, the feeling, and the words.

(6)  Work on analyzing your dreams every day, otherwise their progression will be difficult to assess.

(7)  If dreams are illogical, three reasons are possible:

(8)  If you are unable to decipher an important dream, suggest to yourself, before your next sleep, that the dream repeat itself more clearly.

(9)  Nightmares, which bring with them an inability to move or cry out, usually indicate the wrong diet. To end the nightmarish dreams change your diet.

(10)  Dreams that are unchanged through the years indicate the dreamer's resistance to change.

(11)  Dreams of ill health can be either literal or symbolic warnings.

(12)  When a problem confronts you, ask by prayer for guidance to be sent to you through your dreams.

(13)  Be practical in your interpretations. Always look first for a lesson. What have you refused to face or been ignoring?

(14)  Observe carefully recurrent dreams, as well as the serially progressive ones. These often illustrate progress or failure.

(15)  Dreams are the reaction of the inner self to daytime activity and often show the way out of the dilemma. So relate them to current activity, because dreams may be retrospective as well as prospective.

(16)  Dreams come to guide and help, not to amuse. They direct your attention to errors of omission and commission and offer encouragement for right endeavors. They also give us the opportunity to pray for others and to help them bear their burdens.

(17)  If you receive an unusual message, reduce it to common terms. See if the symbolism of the Bible can be of help in interpreting the dream.

(18)  Look for past-life experiences in your dreams. These manifest themselves not only in color, but in the proper costume and setting of their period. They come to warn you against repeating the same old mistakes; to explain your relationship and reactions to certain people and places; to reduce your confusions; to enable you to better understand life.

(19)  Do not fear conversation with the so-called "dead" in dreams. If the communication is one-sided, it denotes telepathy. If both participate, it may be an actual encounter of bodiless consciousness.

(20)  Dreams are primarily about self. Only a few dreams relate to family, friends, and world events.

(21)  Watch for mental telepathy in dreams.

(22)  Remember, persistence is necessary to learn any new language, and dream symbols are the forgotten language of the subconscious.

(23)  Give daily thanks to God for all things and use daily prayer to improve the quality and reception of your dreams.