Funeral Dream Meanings

(see also Burial)

Your own funeral may appear in dreams because you are anxious about your health or for some reason preoccupied with thoughts of approaching death.

If so, probably no good will come from trying to put death out of your mind. Death is something that needs to be taken into consideration in finding a meaning and a direction for your life. Such thinking may bring about a change of values; greater tranquillity; a nearer approach to your true self.

Feelings about one’s own death; very occasionally warning about health of person buried. One’s own funeral: it is a common dream to watch one s own funeral. It depicts your own philosophy about your end. May also remind you of what you want to do while alive; desire for sympathy from family; retreat from world; a feeling of deadness in life. Bury­ing yourself: leaving an old way of life or self behind. Some­one else’s funeral: a wish they were dead; a wish to be rid of them. Often unconsciously used as an easy way out of a rela­tionship—to fantasise them dead. It avoids the responsibility of making your wishes known.

See second example under death. Parents’ funeral: difficulties with, or move towards in­dependence; exploring the feeling of their loss; repressing or letting go of the painful past.

See buried; death.

See also death and rebirth under archetypes.

Attending a funeral in your dream may represent the completion of old psychic or spiritual ties with someone. In rare circumstances it may foretell of a death of someone close such as a friend or relative It may suggest that it is time to say good-bye to someone you love.

If the funeral in your dream is your own. it may comment that you have suffered a significant loss from which it may be difficult to recover.

Symbolic of death or the end of something, Job 21:33 NLT

You are processing a major change or transformation. While a funeral centers on someone who has died, the event is designed for the living.

A powerful ritual, a funeral helps people process the death of someone close to them in a collective procedure that acknowledges the loss and marks the beginning of a new chapter in their lives without the deceased. In a dream in which you are at a funeral, the identity of the deceased will play an important role in your interpretation. By examining the person as a character aspect of yourself, you can consider what part of your psyche no longer serves you and has been sacrificed. In this case, only half the transformation is complete, because funerals mark a death and not the rebirth that inevitably follows.

A common dream with this symbol involves the dreamer discovering that the funeral he or she is attending is his or her own.

If this is the case, then the transformation that is taking place is more generalized and may connect to a developmental stage in life or a change of a large-enough magnitude as to imply a death of self. Another potential interpretation of this dream connects to feeling a lack of passion or life force in your current circumstances.

(See Death.)

1. Burying the past;

2. Death to self;

3. A new beginning about to be resurrected; Rom. 6:4.

Something that has ended; see “dead”

As a ritual that marks the end of life, a funeral is a rite of passage. Spiritually in dreams it signifies that we can put behind us matters that belong to the material world and can move into a more spiritual life. In allowing others the opportunity to honour their memories, they may make their own adjustments to a change of status. When we appreciate that the funeral is a wake, the symbolism is literally of coming awake to the validity of other realms.

Psychological / emotional perspective: Dreaming of our parents’ funeral indicates a move towards independence, or of letting go of the past, which may be painful. We may need to let our childhood – or childhood experiences – go, and mark that by some ritual or ceremony, being prepared to take responsibility for our own lives.

A teenager will often dream of a parent’s funeral, as they themselves pass into adulthood.

Material aspects: To dream of being at a funeral indicates that we need to come to terms with our feelings about death and our attitude to loss. This may not simply be our own death but our issues over the death of others. It may also indicate a time of mourning for something that has happened in the past. This ritual perceived in dreams can allow us to move forward into the future.

To dream of our own funeral can indicate a desire for sympathy. It may also indicate that a part of us is dead and we have to let it go.

Gives gender-specific: In a woman’s dream when a relationship ends she may need the finality of such a dream image to allow her to come to terms with the break-up. In a man’s dream a funeral may highlight his own emotional make-up and perhaps his feelings of inadequacy in such a situation.

Universal Landscape: Processing a major change or transformation.

Dreaming Lens: Were you at a funeral in your dream? Whose was it? Did you know the deceased? What was the mood and atmosphere like? Was it your own funeral? Where was it located? Was there a religious element to the funeral?

Personal Focus: While a funeral centers on someone who has died, the event is designed for the living. A powerful ritual, funerals help people process the death of someone close to them in a collective procedure that acknowledges the loss and marks the beginning of a new chapter in their lives without the deceased.

Funerals are often very somber occasions where people feel they have to behave in an appropriately solemn manner. This restraint can limit the level of authenticity at such events. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are many cultures in which gregarious expressions of joy are employed to deal with the feelings of grief.

If your dream involves either one of these extremes, consider how a recent life change may be impacting the authenticity of your expression. If your behavior at the funeral in the dream was inappropriately or contrary to the expectations of those in attendance, you might want to investigate areas of your life where the expectations of others are causing you difficulty.

In a dream where you are at a funeral, the identity of the deceased will play an important role in your interpretation. By examining them as a Character Aspect, you can consider what part of your psyche no longer serves you and has been sacrificed. In this case, only half the transformation is complete because funerals mark the death and not the rebirth that inevitably follows.

A common dream with this symbol involves the dreamer discovering that the funeral they are attending is their own. If this is the case, then the transformation that is taking place is more generalized and may connect to a developmental stage in life or a change of large enough magnitude as to imply a death of Self. Another potential interpretation of this dream connects to feeling a lack of passion or life force in your current circumstances. (See also Grave).

To dream of your own funeral represents some circumstance that you’ve been dealing with. You could be trying to bury some emotions or aspects about yourself, but your dream is telling you to pay attention to them. You could be hiding from a situation and hoping that it passes.

If you are close to death, then a funeral could indicate your fears and concerns about your own demise.

To dream that you are attending someone else’s funeral suggests that you are putting a past relationship where it belongs: in the past. You may be releasing negative emotions you’ve kept for so long.

If the funeral is for an unknown person, then your dream is telling you to set aside some part of your past so that a new experience or person can enter. You should think about what aspect of your life you should part with.

To dream about your living parent’s funeral indicates that you need to break free of your parents’ control. This dream could offer you the strength and confidence needed to gain your own freedom and independence.

People often dream about watching their own funerals.

This usually indicates that part of one’s life—or perhaps old ways of seeing things—have died. Alternatively, it can mean that one feels like some aspect of one’s life is dead. Someone else’s funeral in a dream can represent the unconscious desire to see that particular person dead, or a fear that someone might die.

Symbol: Dreaming about a funeral indicates a profound shift in your personality. It might symbolize fear of your own death (or that of a loved one), or letting go of old guilt feelings, or social isolation.

Vision: Don’t be afraid if you dream about your own funeral: it promises a long and healdiy life—the result of the shift mentioned above. Dreaming about the funeral of a friend who is still alive means problems with a friend and maybe a fight. Dreaming about the funeral of a stranger: good luck and joy for you, but bad luck for a friend or acquaintance.

See Death.

Depth Psychology: The funeral is an indication that something inside you is in the process of’dying”: feelings, hopes, wishes, an experience, etc.

The process will be liberating; you will know you have overcome something and left it behind.

To see or participate in a funeral, is a sign that you’re trying to bury something. This could be a secret, a fear, or some kind of worry. It’s also a sign that your feelings are repressed. As funerals are so often serious and sombre, it suggests a general sadness in all you do. Look at your waking life and what is making you feel so drained. Make a list of all the things you can do that lift your spirits and make a point of doing at least one of them every day.

News of the death of someone not close to you.

The death will indirectly benefit you.

An unexpected inheritance.

See also Burial.

Joining the funeral prayers in a dream means fostering brotherhood with people on God’s path. Walking by a funeral procession in a dream is interpreted to represents a hypocrite who destroys or kills an evil person. Ifone sees himself laid in a coffin though no one carries it in a dream, it means that he will be imprisoned.

If one’s coffin is carried by a group of people, it means that he will support and serve a man of authority, then collect a financial reward for his support. Involuntarily following a funeral procession in a dream means serving a non-religious person in authority. Sitting on top of a coffin in a dream means increase in one’s wealth.

If one sees himself lifted and placed in a coffin in a dream, it means that people will appoint him to a leadership position. Ifone sees a group of people performing a funeral prayers and crying over the loss of the deceased in a dream, it means that the conclusion of his life will be commendable. Otherwise, if they express no sorrow for his loss or cry over him, but instead criticize him in the dream, it means that the conclusion of his life will be contemptible.

If a merchant, a governor or a leader sees himself sitting over a coffin that is moving freely by itself in the dream, it means taking a trip by sea. Ifone sees the coffin flying in a dream, it means that a great man of knowledge will die in that town and people will not know of it, or that a known person will die in a foreign land or on the way to or back from a pilgrimage.

If a funeral reachs the cemetery in a dream, it means that people will surly regain their rights.

If one sees a large number of coffins scattered in a specific locality in a dream, it means that the people of that community will break into violence, adultery and evildoing. Carrying a coffin in a dream means earning unlawful income.

If a woman sees her own funeral in a dream it means that she will get married.

If she is married, it means payment of her debts.

A funeral crossing a marketplace in a dream means liquidation of merchandise. Paying tribute to a funeral in a dream means bidding farewell or paying respect to a travelling friend. Paying tribute to a passing funeral procession in a dream represents one’s concern for his own comfort.

If the deceased in the coffin points at the person seeing the dream, it means that the latter will conduct his funeral, and he will receive a reward for his service.

If he serves that funeral till the burial and the closing of the grave in a dream, it means that he will receive double that reward, the value of which reward is known only to God Almighty.

(Also see Cemetery; Death; Funeral prayers)

Frequent dream symbol. Something is supposed to die, to be put aside, to be completed to make room for the new, as in Baby, Birth.

(Here however, the emphasis is more on something “new” being about to happen). This symbol is similar to Abortion, Amputation. Differences are being buried, unrealistic wishes or tiresome, improper habits are being cast off. Possibly a relationship is dying, as in Death, Divorce, Abortion, Goodbye.

If it is your own funeral, it usually means that the old “you” is dying.

If you dream of your own funeral, you are giving up a part of yourself of an old way of acting. This dream often means that you are trying to ignore a situation that needs to be confronted and dealt with directly.

To dream that you are at somebody else’s funeral means you are burying an old relationship and closing the lid on the past. You may be letting go of old feelings you’ve been clinging onto.

If you dream you are attending a funeral for a parent who is still living in real life, you need to separate yourself from your parents’ restrictions.

The symbolic death may give you the courage you need to take the next step toward your independence.

1. Ending a situation or relationship.

2. Lucky in love.

3. A need to let go of some aspect of self and move on.

See Cemetery.

Dreams of a funeral represent transformation and your issues with death, completion, endings and sickness. Perhaps you are appreciating the preciousness of a person who has died, or who’s death you are preparing to morn.

If you dream of your own funeral, then this is a profound opportunity to recognize your value and worth, to make critical changes, and to align your life with your higher purpose. You are laying the past to rest, releasing grievances, resentments, disagreements, and coming to come to terms with something that has been unsettling. You are achieving completion, resolution, and finality, as well as processing your feelings about death and attachments to life. This dream is a wake up call to appreciate the gift of life.

See Death.

also see Mourning

1- To dream of being at a funeral indicates that we need to come to terms with our feelings about death. This may not necessarily be our own death but the death of others. It may also indicate a lime of mourning for something that has happened in the past and this time of mourning can allow us to move forward into the future.

To dream of our own funeral can indicate a desire for sympathy. It may also indicate that a part of us is dead and we have to let it go.

2- Dreaming of our parents’ funeral indicates a move towards independence, or of letting go of the past, which may be painful. We mav need to let our childhood or childhood experiences go and mark that by some ritual or ceremony.

3- Rites of Passage.

To see a funeral, denotes an unhappy marriage and sickly offspring.

To dream of the funeral of a stranger, denotes unexpected worries.

To see the funeral of your child, may denote the health of your family, but very grave disappointments may follow from a friendly source.

To attend a funeral in black, foretells an early widowhood.

To dream of the funeral of any relative, denotes nervous troubles and family worries.

Dreaming about funerals does not necessarily symbolize physical death for you or anyone else. It could instead symbolize an ending of a different kind. You may be burying relationships, conditions or even emotions that you no longer need and that are no longer conducive to your personal growth. On the other hand, this dream may symbolize the burying of sensitivities and emotions that are too difficult to cope with. It may reflect numbness or a feeling that is the opposite of aliveness, such as depression and emptiness. Either way, burying a person that is alive suggests some emotional turmoil. Please consider all of the details in this dream to find the appropriate message. Old dream interpretation books say that dreaming about funerals is a dream of the contrary. Instead of sadness, the dreamer will experience happiness and go to celebrations, such as weddings.

See Also: Coffin, Death 

Dreaming of a funeral symbolizes rebirth because every ending ultimately leads to a new beginning. It indicates pain relief and urges you to trust in the future. Therefore, although it apparently concerns a bleak picture, the truth is that dreaming of a funeral is associated with a positive message. Not surprisingly, it suggests that, from now on, you can bury everything about the past and look to the future. (See CEMETERY and DEATH)

Occasionally, these dreams are premonitory. For example, Abraham Lincoln predicted his own death days before being killed. He saw in dreams his own corpse in one of the White House’s rooms. However, most of the time, funerals in dreams represent the state of your mind.

An unhappy marriage and unhealthy children are predicted by a dream of seeing a funeral.

A woman who dreams of wearing black to a funeral is likely to have an early widowhood.

A long period of distress, either financial or otherwise, may be expected after dreaming of seeing or attending a funeral.

A dream of contrary.

To see or attend a funeral in your dream signifies cause for a happy celebration, probably news of an engagement or wedding; to dream of attending your own funeral indicates a relief from worry.

An ending (of a phase of life, a phase of a relationship, a job, an activity, etc.).

A recognition of the end of a phase, or even a celebration of one (such as a graduation).

Honoring or acknowledging a certain person (whether dead or alive).

Grief or loss.

A feeling of losing a person, relationship, activity, experience, a way of being, etc.

The idea of supporting someone who has experienced a loss or challenge.

See also: Dead Body; Dead Acquaintance; Coffin; Burying; Grave; Cemetery; Cremation; Hearse

Death of the old.

See Death, Burial.

If you are part of a funeral party led by an undertaker towards a grave, your unconscious may be suggesting the possibility of great change in your life. Bear in mind, too, that ill is rarely spoken of the dead at funerals, so perhaps you are in need of a confidence boost in waking life or perhaps you want your friends and family to appreciate you more.

If the funeral is your own, try to identify who the mourners were and what they said about you. In the realm of the unconscious, funerals are susceptible to much the same interpretation as dreams about death, so ask yourself whether you are worried about your health or whether there is something in your life or personality you need to lay to rest. The dream funeral may even have represented the end of a relationship or particular phase in your life.

An undertaker in a dream may represent an authority figure or someone in waking life who undertakes a difficult but necessary task for those who cannot do it themselves. Are you the undertaker carrying a burden of responsibility or, if someone else is the undertaker, are you trying to pass the burden to them? If you see a coffin or are about to be buried in your dream, it is likely that the change is already occurring. As well as being symbols of death, thereby denoting the end of a certain stage in life, dream coffins also represent loneliness, isolation and a sense of hopelessness. By featuring a coffin in a dream or depicting you in it, your dreaming mind may be suggesting that you feel unable to rise above the problems that are trying to bury you or box you in.

If your dreaming mind conjured up images of a burial, what life phase or feeling is about to be dead and buried for you in waking life? Dream cremations send the same message, although the symbol of fire and ashes does hint at potential and perhaps immediate rebirth.

The funeral of a relative or a great lord is a good dream; betokening either a wealthy marriage or a fortune through relatives (Artemidorus). A wish dream (Freud).

lucky numbers: 06-08-34-44-47-48

attending a best friend’s: support but do not ignite the situation.

brother or sister’s: prosperous days ahead.

clothed in black: are assuming too great a burden of responsibility.

enemy’s, an: scandal and underhanded practices.

friend’s: embarrassment in affairs.

mate’s: profound shift in emotional stability.

mother or father’s: are expecting an inheritance.

relative’s: death of a friend.

yours: letting go of past and accepting what it taught you.

bier, lying in a: sad rites performed in dismal surroundings.

friend: advancement in own position.

relative: wil receive a legacy.

black colors at a: ominous and unpleasant news wil arrive soon.

casket, ordering own: wil be married soon.

close friend to a cemetery, accompanying a: riches and fortune cannot replace lost love.

coffin and its litter, of a: wil adorn the casket of a friend.

condolences, expressing: sickness.

receiving: death through fortune.

eulogizing at a: your hypocrisy wil defeat you ultimately.

family to a, going with: congenial family turns sour over loss of a friend.

loved one, a: are envied by enemies.

hearse conveying the dead: worries smoothed away when bitter enemy is overcome.

at the church: prepare, old habits die hard.

driving a: increased responsibilities lead to a sudden trip.

laughing at a: your past has caught up with you.

someone: others are too involved in your life.

your: are unwil ing to be released from the past.

mortuary, being in a: difficult period from which you wil emerge triumphant.

mourning, attending a woman in: unhappy married life.

others to a, going with: good health.

own, attending: riches, happiness, legacies and a bril iant marriage.

pallbearer at a, being a: wil do something foolish.

procession, accompanying a: involved in approaching change.

unknown person to a cemetery: your mother controls your life.

pyre, building your own: have breached your ethics.

rainy during a: those absent wil have an adverse fate.

shroud covering the body: lack of perseverance and cohesive thought toward others.

sunny during a: the sunny relations wil be in good stead financial y.