A Visit from the Other Side

As the Moon in Sagittarius transited into my fourth house last night, themes of family began to emerge.

The fourth house is an important one for most of us—it rules early home life and especially the family and parental figures. I have two natal planets in my fourth house: Uranus and Neptune. It’s important for me to note that my natal Neptune falls in the fourth house as it is another planet (in addition to the Moon) that rules dream life.

Dreaming of loved ones who have passed away is something I think a lot of us are interested to know more about. Grief is powerful. And it feels like it consumes our entire being when we are deep in it. How is it possible for a loved one to be here one moment…and just simply gone the next? How are our human brains supposed to comprehend that concept? It’s completely overwhelming. Furthermore, there’s no cure for grief. There’s no magic medicine that makes it disappear. There is only time. And time never moves so slowly as it does when you are grieving.

*~*Sending love and light to all those grieving in this moment*~*

Unfortunately, I do not have a solid method to reliably summon a loved one into our dreams. Trust me—I wish I did. I have had experiences where a loved one visited me when I needed it, but I think it was more on their terms. Funny how that works…

There are definitely things you can do to try and invite your loved ones in. Just being open to receiving their spirit is the best intention you can set. If you are in the process of grieving, you are probably thinking of them often. That is sometimes enough to trigger a dream. Extra steps you can take: keep a picture of your loved one near you when you sleep; build a small altar in their honor near your bed—you can include flowers, crystals, anything that reminds you of their smell. Our olfactory senses retain so many strong memories! And, of course, you can talk to your loved ones often.

Last night, I dream of my Papaw. He is my mother’s father, and this is actually the second time he has visited my dreams this year.

I am in the big house, and the downstairs is full of people; there’s a party or something going on down there. I go upstairs to the bedroom on the left side. There are three spirits following me—two masculine energies and one feminine—and I just cannot shake these energies. It’s like they won’t leave me alone. There is a shower in the bedroom. I step in and begin to bathe. A bee starts flying around me, harassing me like the spirits. It stings me, and I crush it. (Usually, I do not actually kill things in my dreams, and I would never kill a bee in real life. So, this was a bit of a new thing for me. This shows how threatened I was feeling in that moment.)

I don’t know what to do in this moment—I’m at a loss. I begin to pray. (Now—I am not a religious person these days. Spiritual, yes. But I was raised Roman Catholic, and a lot of that upbringing still lingers in my psyche. I find that in dream desperation, I often start to pray if I cannot wake myself up because I don’t know what else to do.) Not only do I just pray in general, but I actually start to specifically recite the “Hail Mary” prayer.

Then, my Papaw appears.

He doesn’t say anything at all. He walks into the bedroom, and just kind of clears away the spirits.

Then he leaves. And I wake up.

This morning, I get out of bed and walk into my bathroom. I wash my face and brush my teeth. Normal morning routine. But I see something out of the corner of my eye—something is flying around the bathroom. It’s flying around my head. It lands on the shower door.

It’s a beautiful moth.