Visitation Dreams, have any of you experienced one?

I tend to think they are figments of my own longing

I believe this to be true of the many "visitation" dreams I have had of my grandmother. As a child and young woman some of my happiest and most contented hours were spent sitting chatting to her while we both did a piece of sewing, crochet or handwork of some kind.

My grandmother died before I applied to uni as a mature student. However the day I graduated I had a "waking dream" of her sitting on the front row looking proud as I went up to collect my diploma.

There were many secrets in our family which I often think about at night in bed when its quiet. These are the times when I am most likely to have a "visitation" from grandma.

I have very vivid dreams these days. I’ve lost so many dear friends over the past few years and my dreams are full of them.

Manifestations of wish fulfillment, nothing more.

My mum told me she had nodded off on the sofa, and woke to see her late sister, surrounded by a sort of glow.
She said her sister looked beautiful and serene.

Several times.
When I was in ICU a few years ago, my parents appeared( while I was still unconscious) and walked with me, taking my hands, down a long corridor, then they pointed back the way we had come and I understood that I had to go back and that my time to die (which was a real possibility) had not come.
I found it hugely comforting and 100% believe the spirit lives on. There have been other examples but that was the most poignant one for me.

So, is a visitation a dream, or something that happens, or someone you see when awake, please?

I have had some of these experiences too. I don’t tell people because they think you are imagining things but perhaps a lot of us are like that and the experiences are more common than I thought.

Maw and Stormystar lovely posts.
It was such a vivid dream for me and I felt so comforted afterwards.
I do hope we all get to experience it at least once in a lifetime.

I regularly dream that Paw is still with me - having been together for all our adult lives it seems perfectly normal but I do also remember a vivid dream not long after he died that he was still alive and my one thought as I emerged from my dream, was that somehow I would have to go through losing him again.
I also had a distinct sensation one night of somebody’s back up against mine in bed - no, not the dog, Hattie didn’t go in for that unlike Rosie who regularly snuggles up. Again I didn’t find it strange just comforting.
My one other experience was again within 6 months of his death, watching the introduction to a Glyndebourne streaming of an opera (I forget which) in a local cinema where the camera panned round the opera goers enjoying their picnics in the gardens. I clearly saw him in his DJ and Panama hat sitting at a table with people I didn’t recognise. I have seen the same clip more than once since and he’s not there. There’s no way it was him as we haven’t been to Glyndebourne since the 80’s an this was definitely filmed quite recently.
Doesn’t stop me looking and hoping to catch a glimpse though.

in the literature on near death experiences,there are lots of the deceased visiting people around the time of death.Ive had one 4 years ago,very surreal.

I have, they are so real

Yes Taichinan in the betwixt and between state in the twilight zone our brainwaves are in alpha or theta, and our rational awake state is switched off, so all kinds of experiences become possible. The Angel is a symbolic representation of this Liminal space between god and humanity, often called a messenger. “ now we see as through a glass darkly then we shall see face to face” I love this mystery of life and as I’m growing older the veil seems to be more transparent, and often I sense the presence of departed loved ones, and think if only I had turned my head faster I would see them. Ive experienced many things inexplicable or explainable from the logical brain but The heart knows what the heart knows!

Oh I'm glad you do find something to help you.
I do hope you'll get a visitation (if you believe in them) at some point, though.

Hi MissA ,

I open my bible at random and usually find that the verse is consoling .

Sometimes , I concentrate on the Psalms .

I lost my husband of forty years, just over five years ago. He collapsed, out of the blue, and was rushed to hospital. The diagnosis was pneumonia affecting both lungs and he was sedated and placed on a ventilator while they did further tests. A few days later a CT scan revealed a large tumour on his lung - inoperable and the cause of the infection. The consultant recommended ending life support, as he was rapidly deteriorating and he died the same day. It all happened so fast - it was 12 days from admission to hospital to his passing away.

I was devastated and couldn’t get to grips with it at all- going over and over our final conversations and beating myself up about what more I could have done.

A few days after he died I was in bed - around 2am, wide awake and weeping. The TV was on in the corner of the room - in those first weeks I couldn’t seem to settle without it for company for some reason. I know I was awake because I was reaching over for a tissue off the bedside table when I felt a presence in the room. The mattress depressed as though someone was sitting down on the edge of the bed. I couldn’t see anything, but I sort of knew something or someone was there - it was calming, almost reassuring. It lasted a few minutes and then I felt the mattress move again, as though someone had got up from the bed. And then it was gone.

I’ve recounted this to various people - friends and family and they all indulge me, but I know they think it was a dream or illusion. But I know it was real. We never got to say a real goodbye. He was out of sedation the night before he died, and trying to communicate, but all I could do was tell him how much I loved him and to reassure him that all was well. I felt so guilty after he passed - for not telling him the truth and giving us the opportunity to say our goodbyes. I think that night was him doing just that - a final farewell before moving on to whatever comes next.

Those would be the times to try out lucid dreaming, or astral projection, if you're brave.

vampirequeen I'm led to believe that visitation dreams occur just as we are dropping off to sleep or are beginning to wake up, both times when our minds are most relaxed.

Grannynannywanny how lovely - and not silly at all. Reading all the posts it's obvious the huge comfort derived from these happenings. And yes, I truly believe that they are Real.

I was very ill with a high temperature and kept kicking off the covers. My grandma kept covering me up again. She sat and watched over me as I slipped in and out of sleep. Every time I opened my eyes she was there. The doctor phoned me to see how I was and I told him that Grandma was looking after me. He seemed somewhat bemused and asked how old she was. I told her that she was dead but was here atm. The next thing an ambulance came to take me into hospital. The doctor said it was a hallucination. My grandma is going to be so angry if she took the trouble to come and look after me only to be written off as a fever dream.

My husband was killed in a road accident. A couple of months later I was in church and became aware he was standing next to me, dressed in his RAF great coat, best peaked hat and officer's leather gloves. I could feel him there, but when I turned towards him he disappeared.
About 7 years later I woke one morning aware that I had had a significant dream but was unable to remember it and forgot all about it. Then later that morning I was doing some housework. When I lifted his framed photo to dust it I got what seemed like an electric shock and had immediate recall of the dream. I was visiting him in hospital (he was killed instantly in the accident, so I had never had to do that) and his bed was in the middle of a large lawned garden. He was paraplegic. When I had to leave I was concerned about leaving him alone with no way of contacting anyone should he need anything, so rushed off to get a mobile phone. By the time I came back with the phone he was up and moving very stiffly round his bed. "Look" he said. "I'm fine, so you don't need to worry about me. And anyway, you and I don't need mobile phones to keep in touch." It was so comforting, so loving and so him. 21 years on from that I still remember it so vividly.
On another occasion, about three months after my sister died, I was about to get out of my car to go in to visit my great niece and her family (my sister's granddaughter and great grandchildren) when my phone pinged with a message. Across the top of the screen was my sister's number. No message, just that, but wow!
I also sometimes, just as I'm dropping off to sleep, have visitations from people who I assume have recently died (not people I have known). One was particularly vivid. He was a young lad of maybe 19 or 20, a mop of curly hair and with freckles across his nose. "You know, I didn't want to die. I really really didn't want to die. But now I have, it's wonderful!" is what he said. It was such a vivid visitation that I couldn't forget it and often thought of him. Then a few years later I saw his photo! The lady I was with said he was her husband's young cousin who had committed suicide a few years ago (about the time of my visitation). His mother could never believe that he would have done that and always wondered if it was some sort of experiment that had gone wrong. My friend told her what I had told her, and I really hope it gave her a little comfort.
I'm sorry, this is maybe a little long, but it's good to get a chance to share these experiences.

My daughter had many over her chidhood ,the first was when she was @2 we woke to hear her chatting and pausing as if listening to an answer.When we went into her room she was annoyed because we had chased the wee girl away,I asked her who the wee girl was and she told me the wee girl who should live here but had to go away and sometimes she comes to see me and you..
We had lost her sister 16 months before she was born and she hadn't been told anything about her ,and no one else had spoken of her in DD 's presence
.I really wanted to believe it was true as I never saw my baby after she was born she was whisked away to a SCBU unit in the city and died 4 days later .I was in intensive care for much of that time and they wouldn't let me travel to see her.

I haven't but I believe my daughter had one when she was only seven. A couple of months after my mother's death my DD told me that grandma had sat on her bed and stroked her hair. She knew it was grandma because she could smell her (my mother always used Yardley's Rose soap). She said she was still sad but she knew that grandma didn't want her to cry anymore. I believe that my mother came to comfort not just a sad little girl but me too.

Yes, my husband.
The first dream he just stood and smiled. The second one, he came with an old friend, he brought me three pigeons! I felt a lovely sense of calm.
He smiled and said that I would be alright and that he wouldn't come again. I haven't seen him since.

Do you find any parts in your bible that might particularly relate to whatever is sressing you out at that time?

I can't help but think there must be a specific message she is telling you. (Well, I hope so, very much)

Hi Miss A ,
I think that she appears when I'm stressed out .
It is sad .
The only real comfort that I get is praying and reading my bible as she did .
She should have been a missionary .
So it's a reminder to do so the next day .