Dreaming Beyond Death : A Guide to Pre-Death Dreams and Visions

Drawing from a rich understanding of dreaming in culture, history, psychology, and modern dream study, Kelly Bulkeley and Patricia Bulkley's Dreaming Beyond Death explicitly addresses three common aspects of pre-death dreams and offers interpretations that will aid both dying persons and their caregivers. Rev. Patricia Bulkley's experience with the transformative possibilities of pre-death dreams as a hospice counselor lend this book a deeply personal and human touch, while Kelly Bulkeley's insightful analysis and intellectual framework provide an understanding of the deeper meanings behind this type of dreaming. A final chapter provides resources and concrete methods for caregivers to respectfully guide a dying person through the dreaming process to a sense of peace.

Documented throughout time and across cultures, dreams experienced by those on the verge of death can offer profound insight into the process of dying and provide deep spiritual solace for the individual passing away. In Dreaming Beyond Death, Kelly Bulkeley and Patricia Bulkley bring together their diverse areas of expertise to create a guide to pre-death dreams that offers practical advice and provides a broader understanding of this phenomenon.

Drawing from a rich understanding of dreaming in culture, history, psychology, and through modern dream study, this book explicitly addresses three common aspects of pre-death dreams and offers interpretations that will aid both the dying person and the caregiver. Rev. Patricia Bulkley’s experience with the transformative possibilities of pre-death dreams as a hospice spiritual counselor lend this book a deeply personal and human touch, while Kelly Bulkeley’s insightful analysis and intellectual framework make it easy to understand the deeper meanings behind this type of dreaming. A final chapter provides resources and concrete methods for a caregiver to respectfully guide a dying person through the dreaming process and, ultimately, to a sense of peace.

Library Journal

Kelly Bulkeley, president of the Association for the Study of Dreams, and his mother, Patricia, a minister at the Hospice of Marin (CA), explore the dreams that patients in the final stages of terminal illness are likely to have in order to help those patients experience a good death-i.e., one that is peaceful, painless, and loving. While the book avoids adopting a particular religious perspective and sidesteps questions about the existence of life after death or the predictive power of dreams, it is infused with the sense that dreams-and human lives-are intrinsically meaningful. Though the book targets caregivers, there are some abrupt shifts in focus: the penultimate chapter addresses the dying person directly, and the final chapter seems to be intended for society at large. Nonetheless, this book would be an excellent addition to medical, seminary, and academic libraries.-Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Documented throughout time and across cultures, dreams experienced by those on the verge of death can offer profound insight into the process of dying and provide deep spiritual solace for the individual passing away. In Dreaming Beyond Death, Kelly Bulkeley and the Reverend Patricia Bulkley bring together their diverse areas of expertise to create a guide to pre-death dreams that offers practical advice and provides a broader understanding of this phenomenon.Beginning with a look at dreams and dreaming in culture, history, psychology, and modern dream study, the authors show us that pre-death dreams tend toward three themes: dreams in which death is represented as a journey; dreams in which a guide appears; and dreams involving obstacles that parallel concerns of the dying in real life. They draw on Patricia's ten years of hospice counseling to take us through the pre-death dreams of several terminally ill people, show us how to explore the meanings of dreams, and tell us why these particular dreams gave their dreamers a sense of resolution and tranquility. The last chapter provides clear, practical advice for caregivers on how they can respectfully guide those close to death through their dreaming experience.Rev. Patricia Bulkley's experience as a spiritual counselor lends this book a deeply personal and human touch, while Kelly Bulkeley's intellectual framework makes it easy to understand the larger meanings behind pre-death dreams. Suitable reading for both the dying and for their caregivers, Dreaming Beyond Death brings to light a distinct and profound part of the dying process. From this book, we come to see that understanding pre-death dreams can not only provide comfort, it can also lead ultimately to a profound sense of peace. This is a documentation through time of various individuals pre death dreams. This book can be helpful in bringing to light a distinct and profound part of the dying process