Here are two ways I’ve learned to identify precognitive elements in dreams. Most commonly while going about my waking life, I notice an object—or an event occurs—that corresponds to something that I remember from a dream. Also, when I reread my dreams of the previous night before going to sleep, I note an element in a dream that brings to mind a corresponding event of that day. If the correspondence is precise enough and doesn’t require making inferences in order to see it, then it is likely that the dream element is precognitive.

I do not deliberately search for precognitive occurrences, as did J.W. Dunne in his intriguing study of dreams (2), but since I am interested in parapsychological phenomena, I am pleased to note them when they occur. Only in one way do I intentionally seek out precognitions, and that is when I am searching my dreams for information on some forthcoming event—something I will describe later.

What kind of precognitive elements occur? Most likely the form of precognition in dreams is somewhat unique to each person, depending on interest and need. But let me describe some of my own experiences. For example, I once dreamed, my wife moves furniture about in my study and our bedroom to make room for her cousin, who is moving in to stay with us. The next day, in waking life, the cousin called unexpectedly and asked if she could visit us that day and spend the night. On another occasion I dreamed, I go to a masquerade ball and see a person in a costume like a space suit. The next day I saw in a store window a Halloween display with an animated ghost that looked like my costumed dream figure.

There are many of these correspondences, some trivial, others personal. It may be that all these elements of correspondence have meaning, whether apparent or not. I am certainly willing to accept that possibility; however, I have not tried to interpret the significance every time a precognition occurs. I do not think that there is any special significance to a precognitive element per se; that is, it means as much or as little as the other elements in the dream, except that since it relates to the future, it may provide information about a future event that is relevant to the present.

The clearest pattern of precognitions I’ve found is that they cluster around events that are of emotional significance.