This Is Why You Sometimes Dream About Death, According To Psychic Medium Mystic Michaela

What's worse than a nightmare? A nightmare that ends in death. Whether you succumbed to a blaze of fire, fell to your demise, or saw a family member crushed in a car wreck, dreams about death can be vivid and terrifying. You might be tempted to sling back coffee every night so you won't experience them again. And they may raise the question: Was that dream a sign that the unthinkable is about to happen?

Don't start writing your own obituary quite yet. While, sure, we'd all rather dream about winning the lottery, a death nightmare isn't always a bad thing. In an interview with The List, celebrity aura reader, psychic medium, and spirit guide Megan Michaela Firester, who goes by "Mystic Michaela," explained that dreams are symbolic, and can have multiple meanings — sometimes even positive ones. 

"Many times in readings I have clients coming to me with stories of death dreams and various circumstances surrounding them," Firester said. "I, too, have had these types of dreams, and I have learned through spirit and experience that the context of the dream is essential in deciphering its meaning. Because, they are often times not as literal as they appear to be."

Death, ultimately, is about the end of life, and a dream about death is also about an ending of sorts, according to Firester, who shares her insights about dreams on her Instagram. "Death in a dream is a metaphor for the termination of something," she said. "It can be the end of a chapter in life, the end of a relationship, or even the end to a career." See, the Grim Reaper isn't coming for you — you just really need to job hunt! Firester added that your death dream might not even be about a tangible thing, like a breakup or layoff. "It's a symbol that with this passing of an old version of yourself, new opportunities can form," she said.

How will you know how to interpret what, exactly, in your life is "dying," based on your dream? "Dreams which are about metaphorical death in your life are often times mixed with other odd dream imagery, they are more repetitive ... and they have more of an anxious feel to them than actually having an emotional experience," Firester explained.

Sometimes dreaming about someone else dying is even more terrifying than a nightmare in which you die. After all, you vividly see someone take their final breaths. But those dreams often have less to do with them, and more to do with you, Firester observed. "It can actually be symbolic of a similar characteristic you share in yourself coming to light and being ended within you," she explained. "I had a client tell me she was plagued by dreams of the death of her father. Growing up her father was very fearful of change and instilled that fear within his children. The dream of him dying was the death of that installation of fear, and the programming of her having to work at a job she hated."

The manner of the death in these dreams is key to interpreting their meaning, Firester noted. "In a symbolic death dream, the death which is violent and upsetting can mean this is a hard thing to close the door on," she said. "A bloody murder of a friend can symbolize you have to cut ties with the similar traits you share with her, and it's going to be kind of messy to do it. Whereas, a natural passing of a person in a dream — for example, your boss — can mean that the transition from one career to the next will be relatively peaceful and pain free."

While dreaming about death often does not mean that person is going to die, there are some dreams — which usually don't have death in them — that might suggest death is on the horizon, according to Firester. This happened to her, personally. "When I was 16, I had a dream experience, which felt very real, where my grandfather — who was ailing at the time — came to me, took me for ice cream, and told me goodbye," she recalled. "The next day, he died."

This type of dream is a classic dream that people may have when they subconsciously sense that the death of someone they love is imminent. "Dreams in which you are feeling someone preparing to actually transition, and are coming to tell you goodbye, feel very emotional, very real, and they feel completely lucid," Firester said. "Meaning, you feel awake while you have them. Also, they happen once — and they stick with you strongly in detail forever."