Dreams can be inspirational, incredibly clever and part of the problem-solving process. Indeed in many of the alternative healing methods, dreams are used to help cleanse, awaken and process feelings. However, history shows us that this application of dreams toward problem solving and healing is not a new idea. Dreams have offered creative solutions in the past. Some particularly interesting and aware dreams by “famous” people follow.
Robert Lewis Stevenson composed many of his novels from events he’d witnessed in his dreams. Of particular note is his novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a reworking of events that had taken place in several of his dreams. Stevens actually took this a step further by training himself to dream complete stories. Interestingly, he went yet another step forward by going back to his dreams on different nights and giving each one a different ending.
Then 19-year old Mary Shelley’s famous story “Frankenstein” came from a dream she had while visiting the poet Lord Byron in 1816. After reading ghost stories one evening, Byron had challenged his guests to each write their own spooky story.
Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge composed his popular poem Kubla Khan by directly transcribing it from a dream. The poem, however, remained incomplete. While he was writing the dream poem down, a visitor knocked on his door. By the time he had finished talking with the visitor and returned to his desk to finish his transcription, he realized he’d forgotten the remainder of the dream. He therefore put the interrupting visitor, as “the person from Porlock,” into his poem.
In the musical realm, both Mozart and Beethoven created symphonies from melodies first heard within the context of their dreaming minds.
Another composer, Tartini, dreamt that he was in a musical competition with the devil. As the devil played trills and improvised on his violin, Tartini, did the same in a desperate effort to win the contest. Upon waking, the composer put the song into a now famous composition called the “Devil’s Trill.”
From the Beatles’ Paul McCartney comes a dream he had in 1965 while filming the movie Help! in London. He recalled having a dream where he heard a classical string ensemble playing. “I woke up with a lovely tune in my head,” said Paul, “I thought, ‘That’s great, I wonder what that is?’ There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of the bed by the window. I got out of bed, sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor 7th – and that leads you through then to B to E minor, and finally back to E. It all leads forward logically. I liked the melody a lot, but because I’d dreamed it, I couldn’t believe I’d written it. I thought, ‘No, I’ve never written anything like this before.’ But I had the tune, which was the most magical thing!”
Aside from artistic creation, dreams have also helped with the quest for missing links in inventions and as solutions to problems. We’ll explore those next week.
25 thoughts on “Famous Dreams”
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Hi, Miss Krystal,
I have had this happen a lot to me. All sorts of things have come to me out of dreams. I also started to really notice it when I was in my teens. That’s when I had my first really strong precognitive dream.
I just always thought it was because I have really weird dreams in comparison to other people. My dad and my brother are the same way.
Here’s a weird one…I didn’t understand it at the time, but now I think I do. I had this dream a few years ago, when we first moved into the spot we are now. It lasted for what seemed like only 15 seconds or so.
I dreamed that I could see the outline of this person-shaped energy at the end of the bed. I immediately sat up and sprang out of the bed and straight at the energy. I hit it and was paralyzed. It was like being shocked only it wasn’t painful in anyway…more like being ‘buzzed’.
Too weird…LOL!
Cheers,
Lise 🙂
I had a dream last night about coffee.
I was making it, and I even saw myself pour it into my favorite mug.
But someone else started to drink it?
It was not me. It was a lady with round glasses, curly blonde hair and a gap in between her two front teeth. never seen her before. She took the coffee from me, smiled at me, drank some and walked away with it…So this is how my life goes….Eventually, I am going to meet this lady…I don’t where and how. But believe me, I know she is coming…For what? I don’t know. But I am sharing with all of you how things are revealed to me, in my dreams…..I have done this my entire life. I did not see the trend until I was a teenager…Does anyone else have this?? thank you so much.
Miss Krystal
Jacqueline x9472 in reply to Ariel X9775….
I do agree with you about being able to bring the past into the future, I believe we do this as well….
Blessings and Hugs,
Jacqueline x9472
Hey Corrine,
I love going to sleep at night because I always have interesting dreams. Most times it’s like watching a movie. I wish there was a way to tape them!
I’m amazed that you can sometimes dream about some clients before reading for them. Wow…
Hi Corrine!
Welcome!
You sometimes dream of what’s gonna happen tomorrow?? AWESOME! And NOT boring at all!! I bet most of us here wish WE could dream about tomorrow’s events!! (I know I do!) LOL!!
Hugs,
Fran
my dad was born in 1930. so shirley was his girl! he turned me on to her when i was just a little girl…i could not get enough of her….but that doll was a collector item, and someone snaked it from me. …
you have a little shirley temple…what a delight and how lucky you are…
she is just a doll.
Miss Krystal
Hi Lovely,
I believe R.L. Stevenson left some sort of writings about his process. But I’m unsure exactly what it was or where it is.
Much luv & lite,
Ariel
Hi Gina Rose,
Thanks again for your kind comments.
I am an artist too (in a parallel life) and sometimes find I go to bed with challenges, only to wake up with answers. They come to me during the day, not upon waking…
Much luv & lite,
Ariel
Hi Miss Krystal,
Thanks for your continued interest in dreams… 🙂
Ariel
Hi Jacqueline,
Since dreams come from our all-knowing core,(our unconscious selt), there is no reason that we cannot access the past when we dream. Some believe that we are already in the past/present/future now, that all worlds exist at once.
From what I know (& sense), we can access the past and become the past, or simply learn from the past.
Much luv & lite,
Ariel
You aren’t the first to make that comparison…take a closer look at the picture on my profile. They even have the same hair!
Hi, Jacqueline,
You could be right, but to me it always felt like a life I had left behind. Let me tell you more about it and then you can tell me what you think.
The dream wasn’t a nightmare, it was just really dark. I was never afraid during or after the dream–there was more of a lingering sadness than anything else. I was always excited when I had the dream again because it seemed to pick up where it left off and looked forward to having it again.
The setting was what made it seem dark to me. Outside it was always overcast and gray and there were always lots of dead leaves on the ground. All of the structures were made of gray stone. Inside, all of the furniture was threadbare and the carpet was worn. Everything was dark colored, mostly dark red. There was also nothing really separating inside from outside because there were no doors or windows anywhere.
The one contrast was always that I was wearing a long white dress (I had always assumed that it was a wedding dress). Sometimes I had white or light-colored flowers and a lace handkerchief. The man wore a dark suit and the skeleton’s bones had darkened with age and decay.
I was older in the dream than I was at the time, but still fairly young in age. I knew that I had lived in the house with my family, but none of them were ever there. I think they had all died and I had no recollection of them.
In the dream, there were always the same two ‘people’ with me, but they weren’t exactly people. One was a ghost and the other was a skeleton.
The ghost was the man who I was supposed to marry or had just married (I could never figure out which). I would always see him wandering around in the same courtyard where there was a crypt. He never spoke to me and, although I always wanted to, I could never touch him. I could just always feel what he was feeling: love, sadness, longing and loneliness. We had been separated from each other, but it was like we could not let go.
The other ‘person’ in the dream was the skeleton of a dead ancestor (although I don’t know male or female), someone who I had never known when he or she was alive. Strangely enough, this is the one who did all of the talking in my dreams.
When I wanted to talk or was being called upon to talk, I would go inside the old house to my bedroom. I would lay on my bed, the head of which was against an open space in the wall. The skeleton’s head was on the other side, separated from mine by a thin curtain (which was too small for the opening, so you could see the skeleton). I would then hear a voice that talked to me about a lot of different things, mostly about what I should expect to happen in my life. I don’t remember any of the exact words, but I can still hear the voice as it sounded in the dreams.
The dream was as real to me as the life I was living while I was awake. Even now, I can remember the dream as vividly as if I’d had it last night. I haven’t had this dream in a really long time (twenty years maybe), but I still remember it clearly. Honestly I wish I’d have it again, but it feels like somehow now that connection is no longer there. Although, I do still daydream about it…
It is a strange, sad and beautiful dream. I am open to hearing anyone’s interpretation of it! Please tell me what you think.
Thanks,
Lise 🙂
Hi Lise,
Very interesting, age 12….12 years old is the age when a child or pre-teen leaves the child behind and enters into adulthood, the teen age years a very uncertain time…sooooo I pose to you what if your nightmare was a possible fear to the upcoming, inexperienced teenage years then leading into adult hood…..Just a thought….
Blessings and Hugs!
Jacqueline x9472
Psychic Jacqueline x9472 said in reply to Phillip #9472….
Very interesting, Look! I think because of that life, it has made you so much stronger in this life, perhaps the anger that you died with switched to strength in this life, it could be a great blessing….
Or perhaps you or someone would have a choice to choose what they would like to do with that experience, look at it, stay in the anger or choose to accept it as a great lesson and live with the benefits of the experience…..
Glad you are here in this life with us…
Jacqueline x9472
P.S. — Just last night, I learned about a pirate named Calico Jack, and in his crew he had TWO women pirates, one of whom he had an affair with (he actually whisked her away, willingly, from her husband…) Her name was Anne Bonny.
Calico Jack was killed, and no one knows whatever fate befell Anne Bonny or her baby.
Hi Phillip,
I found your story about your recurring dream fascinating.
I recently became aware of a past life encounter with the help of psychic Jesse. It was the late 17th or early 18th century, and I was on a sailing vessel. I was somehow involved with the captain of this ship. (It also has to do with the reason I call you & Gina Rose so often!!) 🙂
I always dream about the water. Many times, it’s the same type of dream only in a different setting. In these dreams, I’m near the ocean, or some other body of water. I’m always looking out at the water, or walking by it. There is an element of being on vacation, or at a resort, in the dreams as well.
After reading your story, it hit me. Could I be having these dreams because of this past life on the high seas? As a young child, I used to love to pretend that I was a pirate, and I would collect pictures of old sailing ships.
This is all so cool and amazing. I wish I could delve deeper…
Hi,
Gina Rose~I agree with you about Jacqueline’s question. I find the idea of dreaming about past lives fascinating.
When I was about 12 years old, I had this very vivid and bizarre recurring dream. It wasn’t a nightmare, but it was very dark, like a story from Gothic literature. (That’s also about the age I started to read Edgar Allen Poe, which may have had something to do with it.) It seemed so real that I wondered if it had been at some point.
Maybe I need to work a little harder to put my dreams to good use! I have a lot of raw material to work with. I’ve never kept a dream journal because I can remember so many, but maybe I should start. I’m sure that there is a lot of great stuff that I’ve forgotten.
Cheers,
Lise 🙂
Jacqueline, hi sweety. I would like to add some input here I used to have a recurring dream. In this dream, I was wearing a long coat and I was standing on a train dock, waiting for a train. I am facing south and the train is coming from my right. This means the train is heading East. Somehow I just know this. The train is a coal burning locomotive. In the dreams, I never actually saw the train, yet I have a clear vision of it. I have had this dream at least 4 times, exactly the same. The last time I had this dream, it was a lucid dream. I knew it was a dream, and I was able to turn around and read the name on the train landing as to location. It read Kracow, which is Poland. When I saw this information began to pour in. I was a soldier in Hitler’s Wehrmacht, just a lowly grunt and it was 1943. I was on my way to the Eastern Front. I died there by artillery fire. I died angry. I have markers on my body today of the wounds that killed me in that life. This also explains why I was drawing swastikas all over the house when I was between 5 and 10 years old. Once I connected the dots, I never had this dream again. I hope this answers your question. I think it might. Not remembering our past is a mercy. We are to look to the present and ahead, never backwards. Yet at times we are given glimpses due to personality or situations that are connected to our past lives. The “threads” open up the neural pathways and now the downloading takes place on a conscious level beginning with our dreams. Remember, we carry it all, but accessing the information is somehow timed to work for us on a spiritual level. This is what I know to be truth. Blessings to you.
you child reminds me a little bit of shirley temple…she used to be my favorite as a kid…but someone took my doll!!
Miss Krystal
thank you, ariel for sharing your research and study with us. I find what you write very interesting…I can’t figure out why I have been sleeping so well lately-like a baby-I went from six hours to almost 9! I hope it lasts! Eversince the last eclipse-karmic residue? lol
Miss Krystal
Hi Ariel,
I’ve read for many famous artists, in film and music, …writers too…that get inspiration from their dreams…..
…very good article Ariel !!!!
Jacqueline’s question was a good one too…
Blessed Be )O(…gina Rose ext.9500
Those are some really great and interesting examples, Ariel! I only knew about Mary Shelley and how she came up with Frankenstein.
I have had a lot of ideas for stories come from dreams. Unfortunately, I haven’t done much with them. They are still mostly stuck in my head, waiting to be finished. I know that Mozart and Beethoven both composed everything in their heads and could not write it down before it was completely finished. Not that I have any modicum of their kind of genius, but I have to do the same thing. If something isn’t finished, then it comes out as absolute rubbish if I try to write it down.
That’s interesting that R.L. Stevenson trained himself to dream whole stories. Is there any documentation on how he did it?
Thanks for the interesting article!
Cheers,
Lise 🙂
Jacqueline 9472 said….
Once again Psychic Ariel another great article on Dreams….
I pose a question? Do you suppose that perhaps one may dream of a past life that was experienced, then the more someone dreams of the eppisode or incident the more it may activate a past life DNA Cell, then it is then therefore dreamed of more and have the ability to be brought into a reality.
Just a thought, Any ideas?
Jacqueline x9472