Our dream selves return from travels into the future with information on what lies ahead for others as well as ourselves.

Where these dreams contain challenging material, it is vitally important to consider very carefully how and when to pass on the information in a way that can be helpful. It would not be helpful, for example, to call someone up and say, “I dreamed you had a heart attack” or “I dreamed you were killed in a road accident” – at least, not without further specific information. We are all suggestible, and to pass on a dream in this way could actually help to bring about its fulfillment. On the other hand, we do not want to fail to pass on information that could help someone to avoid that heart attack, or that road accident.

So how should we proceed?

• Watch out for projection. Make sure the dream truly involves someone else. After all, it’s your dream! The person who features in the dream could be the part of you that is like that person or (even more likely) a creature of your own projections. How can you tell that the dream is really about Aunty Jody, or Bob in Austin? Trust your feelings. Go back into the dream. Talk it through with a friend.
• Get more information. You want to know the date and location of that possible future event, for starters. Do a dream reentry* and look for time markers. What’s the weather like? How old are people in the dream? Try to see where this is happening.
• See if you can change the outcome, during a dream reentry. If your efforts at reshaping the story seem artificial, that is possibly a marker that the dream is likely to be played out unless action is taken in physical reality – starting with you getting a message through.
• Weigh the value of direct versus indirect approaches. To pass on a helpful message, you don’t necessarily have to pick up the phone and blurt out the information. Especially if the dream involves someone who is nervous about dreams (or the issue reflected in the dream) you might do better to offer counsel in an indirect way, possibly even via a mutual friend or family member – e.g., “Don’t you think it’s time to have your brakes checked?” There’s a story in Conscious Dreaming about how I passed on dream information about a serious threat to a toddler from a situation in a house I had never seen (in waking life) via a family friend who was able to check out what I had dreamed and then offer the necessary warning.
• Tell the facts of the dream, if you decide on the direct approach. Give the details of the dream, without fluff or apologies or efforts at interpretation.
• Help the recipient to work out an action plan, and reassure them that unwanted events foreseen in dreams very often can be changed.

These general guidelines apply to dreams about mass events that may contain warnings for whole communities, or the planet itself. We are all connected, and we dream for the benefit of humanity and our world.

* Dream reentry is a core technique of Active Dreaming. You’ll find complete practical guidance on how to reenter a dream (in a wide-awake lucid dream journey) in several of my books, including the new one, Active Dreaming and in my audio CD series Dream Gates: A Journey into Active Dreaming.

Wake. Photo by Savannah M. Caitlin.