Precognitive dreams.
A precognitive dream is one which shows us the future with information which is not ordinarily available.
Some supposedly "precognitive dreams" are not precognitive. A dream is not "precognitive" if it causes a self-fulfilling prophesy (in which we act in such a way as to make the dreamed events occur later during wakefulness). Nor is it precognitive if the data was obtainable by inference (i.e., a logical extension of current trends or karmic antecedents). Carl Jung said (in Dreams), "The occurrence of prospective dreams cannot be denied. It would be wrong to call them prophetic, because at bottom they are no more prophetic and a medical diagnosis or a weather forecast."
Some supposedly "precognitive dreams" are mere speculation. During dreams, we enact scenarios which might happen -- as when an ill person dreams about death but then recovers. Some of these scenarios are part of the decision-making and problem-solving and rehearsal processes; we are testing "what-if" hypotheses in a safe, mocked-up situation. If one of the scenarios (among many) comes to pass during wakefulness, it is a coincidence rather than a precognitive dream.
Look for precognitive dreams in your journal. Review your dreams (and their interpretations) for situations which later happened. The precognition might take the form of a circumstance (such as an encounter with a former acquaintance whom we recently dreamed about) or an emotion (such as the fear which we felt when we dreamed and when we were mugged a few days after a dream). To discover a correlation between a precognitive dream and a wakeful occurrence, we might need to review the dreams from the previous months or years; that much time might elapse. These correlations will be easier to find if our dream journal contains a brief summary of each day's wakeful incidents and feelings. We might not recognize precognitive dreams when they occur, but they can become apparent afterward when we can discern their relationship to our wakeful life.
Incubate precognitive dreams. Rather than looking for random precognitive dreams, we can incubate a request for knowledge of the future -- generally or specifically (e.g., information about our career). We can also incubate dreams about events which are certain to occur. For example, incubate a dream about a party which is planned for next weekend. A dream about "a party" would not be precognitive in itself, but the dream might contain precognitive elements: people's attire, conversations, and so on.
Be careful in your interpretation of precognitive dreams. Their symbolism might be misinterpreted, as in the dream of Xerxes (which is described later); a personal conflict was apparently misunderstood to be a prophesy of a forthcoming battle. A few days ago, I had a "death dream"; I drove my car around a long, circular road at a cemetery, and when I came to the point at which I had begun driving, I felt a sense of completion and no reason to continue. If this book is completed, I can assume that the dream was not prophetic of my immediate demise; the "death" might have referred to the end of a phase of my life, or the conclusion of a project.
We might experience a dream about the past. This is called a postcognitive dream, in which we receive data which was not known at the time of the wakeful incident. Postcognition might reveal information about this lifetime or a previous life.
We can seek precognition during lucid dreams. If we are lucid, we can seek precognition; if we mock up the scenario of a future event, we will see details which can be confirmed later when the event occurs. (We can alter this dream while it is happening, to create a more-favorable outcome; this might influence the outcome which transpires during the wakeful event.) We can ask the dreamscape (or a character) for information about the future in general, or about a specific future occurrence which we anticipate.
Precognitive dreams have happened to many famous people. Some of those dreams have significantly changed the course of the world. In certain cases, the dreamer was inspired by a dream to take an action which changed civilizations; these might be viewed as self-fulfilling prophesies rather than true prophetic dreams.
The dream of Pharaoh Thutmes IV. Around 1450 B.C., a young man had a dream in which the god Hormakhu said, "The kingdom shall be given to thee." Later, the man became Pharaoh Thutmes IV (also spelled Thutmos). The tale of this dream was engraved between the paws of the Sphinx.
The dream of Xerxes. The Persian leader Xerxes dreamed that he was being castigated for not pursuing his plans to invade Greece. Xerxes, assuming that the dream prophesied a victory, led the attack in 480 B.C. but then lost the war. Because a similar dream was experienced by an uncle with whom Xerxes had experienced conflicts, it might have referred to interpersonal battles between those two people rather than military campaigns.
The dream of Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was another soldier who was driven by a dream. In the dream, he saw a satyr (a woodland god) which he chased and caught. When Alexander divided the word satyr into "sa" and "Tyros," he discerned a prophesy that "Tyre is yours." This dream stimulated him to escalate the war, which he won.
The dream of Hannibal. Hannibal -- who is best known for crossing the Alps with an entourage of soldiers and elephants -- dreamed of a serpent which demolished all that it encountered; a dream character told him to obey this guidance. On the next day, Hannibal began his attack of Rome.
The dreams of Julius Caesar. When Julius Caesar was a mere general (in rebellion against Rome), he was encouraged to continue his fight by a dream in which his mother appeared; he interpreted this to be Rome (the "Mother City"). After becoming Emperor, his assassination was prophesied in his series of identical dreams on the night before he was killed. His wife, Calpurnia, apparently had similar dreams; Shakespeare wrote, "Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, "Help, ho! they murder Caesar!"
The dreams of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan was another leader who was inspired by his dreams. In one of those dreams, he was told that he would lead the Mongols; the second dream directed him to start a military campaign which would enlarge his empire.
The dream of Columbus. Columbus -- in a refreshing change from these stories of warfare -- dreamed of the message, "God will give thee the keys of the ocean." The dream roused him to pursue his scheme for a voyage westward.
The dream of Napoleon. Napoleon ignored a prophetic dream which occurred on the night before his defeat at Waterloo. The dream depicted two cats which were scurrying between two armies; his cat was killed. If he had heeded the dream and prevented the battle, Europe would have a different political landscape today.
The dream of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln dreamed that he was in the White House, where he discovered mourners and a corpse wrapped in funeral garments. He asked a guard, "Who is dead?" The response: "The President. He was killed by an assassin." The dream occurred less than two weeks before Lincoln was shot.
The dream of Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler was inspired by a nightmare (perhaps appropriately). When he was a corporal during World War I, he dreamed vividly that he and the other soldiers in the trench were engulfed by dirt and molten metal. He awoke, and left the trench to calm himself. While he walked, the previously peaceful scene was disrupted by incoming artillery fire. He returned to the bunker and discovered that it had been hit, killing everyone. This dream helped to convince Hitler that he had a "divine calling" to rule the world.