Listening to the messages in our dreams stretches far back in time and some fascinating stories have survived. There are countless anecdotes of scientists, searching for the answer to a problem, writers seeking a plot element, composers searching for the perfect chord, and artists questing for an image, all of whom received answers in dreams. Albert Einstein claimed to receive dream guidance when pondering a difficult mathematical equation. Physicist, Neils Bohr saw the model for the atom in a dream. Author Robert Louis Stevenson received the idea of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a dream. Poet William Coleridge wrote his fragment, Kubla Khan, word-for-word as remembered from a dream. He was interrupted after fifty-four lines, and the rest was lost to him forever. This is a potent reminder that dreams are generally fleeting and therefore need to be captured like illusive butterflies when we wake.

Edgar Cayce, The Sleeping Prophet

The famous psychic of Virginia Beach, Edgar Cayce, known as the "sleeping prophet" paid as much attention to his dreams as his psychic visions. He advised others to heed their dreams and to invest time learning their language. In one of his trance readings the sleeping Cayce remarked, ". . . dreams are given for the benefit of the individual, would (he or she) but interpret them correctly." (Reading # 294-15).

Numerous poignant accounts exist of loved ones who paused by a bedside to say farewell, appearing in a dream at what would later be revealed as the moment of their death. These nighttime visitations are generally of great comfort to those losing a loved one, supporting a belief that life continues beyond physical form. What follows are a few accounts of some famous dreamers whose stories are moving accounts of this mechanism.

Tutmosis IV of ancient Egypt

Beneath the paws of the Great Sphinx of Egypt is a stone monument called the stela of the dream. This relic is dated to the time of King Tutmosis IV, a New Kingdom Pharaoh, who ruled nearly 2,500 years ago. The stela tells a fascinating story. When Tutmosis was a young boy the Sphinx was covered to its neck with sand. One day, in the heat of the desert afternoon, the young prince slept in the shadow of the huge head and had a riveting dream. The Sphinx spoke to Tutmosis in his dream saying, "Son, cast your eyes upon me. Can you see how long I have been neglected? Deliver me from the sands of ages, and I will crown you king of Upper and Lower Egypt."

Compelled by the voice in his dream, the prince awoke and ordered workers to free the massive statue from the tons of sand surrounding its enormous body. As the voice in the dream had promised, Tutmosis was soon crowned Pharaoh. He inscribed the stela of the dream and placed the stone between the leonine paws of the Great Sphinx where it remains today.

Joseph and the coat of many colors

After his brothers sold him into slavery Joseph ended up in Pharaoh's jail where he established a reputation for interpreting dreams. One night Pharaoh dreamed of seven fat cows entering the Nile, emerging as seven lean cows. Joseph interpreted the dream as a warning that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine, and counseled the king to take heed and fill the larders. (Genesis 41:17-27) The Pharaoh followed Joseph's advice, and the subsequent events have endured as a famous story. Joseph rose to the important position of advisor to pharaoh and became perhaps the most famous interpreter of dreams on record.

Apocalypse of Saint John

The book of the Bible known as Revelation, or the Apocalypse of Saint John, occurred and was transcribed on the Greek island of Patmos. This vision is usually rendered as a dream. This dream is perhaps the most often interpreted, or misinterpreted, on record. Countless scholars have debated the literal or symbolic significance of John's haunting and enduring dream images and how these symbols may apply to ordinary readers of the passage.

Flight into Egypt

Another well-known Joseph, Mary's husband and the earthly father of Jesus, received a dream message, warning of danger to his family. He listened to the angel's nighttime summons (Matthew 2:13), fled to Egypt with his family, and saved Jesus from almost certain death at the hands of Herod's bloody executioners.

Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln is said to have had a recurring dream before his presidency that showed him dying in an untimely manner. Two weeks before his assassination Lincoln dreamed that he entered the East Room of the White House and found a body laid out in state. A general told him the president had been assassinated. We can only speculate what might have happened if Lincoln had been able to take adequate precautions.

Julie Gillentine is the award-winning author of TAROT & DREAM INTERPRETATION and other books and articles. Each year she leads a sacred journey to Egypt. Julie can be reached through her web site www.queenofcups.com or in Colorado at 970-264-7474.