A dream about death can be very worrying – but it’s important to recognise that dreams like this are almost always symbolic. If you are close to someone who is very ill, the dream may indeed have a literal meaning. In this case it is your psyche’s way of helping you to prepare for the inevitable.

A dream about your own death often implies that you need to adopt a completely different attitude to someone or something, or even to question your entire outlook on life. It can also indicate that you are living in a situation that has run its course. A radical transformation in your circumstances is essential. This means you will have to ‘die’ to an outmoded way of life.

Dreaming about the death of someone you love sometimes reflects a hidden fear of being abandoned. However, the dream could also suggest an inner conflict between feelings of love and other, darker emotions such as unexpressed anger or guilt, that make you want to be free of the relationship. In this case, the dream is urging you to bring your frustrations out into the open instead of repressing them so that they fester. A dream in which your partner dies may reflect the fact that the relationship has grown stale and ‘lifeless’.

Dreams about the death of a child can be particularly upsetting. Again, though, the meaning is not literal. It may simply imply that you are over-anxious for your child’s welfare, or that your child is growing up and needs a different style of parenting. Sometimes a dream like this is encouraging you to nurture a child-like, and therefore vulnerable side of your self – or to recognise and overcome a tendency to be childish. As with all dreams, the precise meaning depends on your own individual circumstances.