Ian Wallace Interpretation:
Dream: You are surprised and delighted to encounter a loved one, even though you were absolutely certain that they had passed away in real life. Here they are as large as life, however, and speaking with you as if they were still alive. The loved one is someone who you had a very close connection with and often tends to be a close relative, such as a parent or grandparent. They may try to give you a message and although they are usually really pleased to see you, they may sometimes seem to be really angry with you.
Meaning: Dreaming of an encounter with a dead relative or loved one suggests that you are undergoing a transformation in your personal awareness in daily life. Although your loved one has passed away in waking life, you recreate them in your dreams using your memories of them and your experiences of their personal qualities. Your encounter with them usually indicates that you are becoming more aware of these characteristic qualities starting to appear in your behaviour patterns. If your father loved you with a wise and mature authority when he was alive, then his appearance suggests that you are becoming more comfortable with your wisdom and authority. If your grandmother was nurturing and affectionate, then an encounter with her shows your increasing capacity for loving and caring. If your loved one is trying to give you a message, then you are usually trying to communicate something to yourself in waking life. The nature of the message shows what you are trying to tell yourself and it often involves the discovery of a personal resource or talent you were unaware that you possessed. Although you may have had an excellent relationship with your loved one in waking life, it may surprise you to find them being angry and upset with you in your dream. Rather than them actually being angry with you, however, this shows that you are angry with your loved one for passing on and leaving you apparently abandoned and without them.
Action: This dream is reconnecting you with a part of yourself that you thought you had lost forever. It can often seem like your loved one has actually visited you in this dream but you are actually being reunited with what they really meant to you. One of the gifts your loved one gave you was the ability to see qualities in you that you often could not see yourself. Rather than always being resigned to just mourning their passing, it is time to embrace and embody all the qualities that your loved one illuminated for you.
Background: Losing a loved one is one of the saddest and most painful experiences we have to endure. It often seems as if our loved one contained part of us and we have lost that part of our identity forever. Even though they may no longer be here in this physical existence with us, however, they can still continue to connect us with the qualities that made us so special to them. Although losing a loved one is heart-achingly sad, we can continue to look to them for a much deeper love and inspiration.