Thread: Mirrors in Lucid Dreams (and bad experiences with them)

I think mirrors can reflect how you subconsiously think of yourself. So depressed people/those with low self esteem, it might be scary.

One of my OBE goals was to look in a mirror, so one night i woke up got out of bed and thought 'Hmm, if im really dreaming i should look in the mirror, that will confirm it' I looked in the mirror, looked perfectly normal, came to the conclusion i werent dreaming and went straight back to bed. Fail -_-

After reading this thread I figured I would probably end up dreaming about a mirror. Well, I did! Last night in my dream I came to a mirror in a part of my house I had never been (I don't feel like typing the rest of the dream). So I looked in the mirror and I was normal, I looked away and then back and I was still normal. I looked away and this time decided I was going to make my image deformed. So when I looked I saw my face, mutilated, and making clicking and groaning noises (real freaky stuff). But I wasn't startled, I expected it to happen and made it happen, I was actually proud of myself that I was able to do it. But I didn't actually become lucid, I'm still working on that, lol.

Mirrors in my dreams are a dead giveaway that I'm dreaming, somehow. Because they never reflect me At least, not how I should be. (I use them for OBEs too). EDIT: I think I just figured out why they're Dream Signals: I rarely look in a mirror in my waking life. I know where every mirror is in my parents' house and my appartment, and only lookin them when grooming myself in the morning and after a shower. It's just not normal for me to be looking in a mirror any other moment, so if such a moment does occur, I know I'm dreaming because I wouldn't normally do that.

(fear confession: I'm actually afraid of mirrors. I don't know why, I just am. I know my image won't change IRL. It just reflects. But I think it has to do with the old myth/legend that mirrors only reflect souls/creatures with souls. So I guess I'm kinda scared that something will show that I can't see with my physical eyes, or something I can see with my physical eyes, won't show up in the mirror. Mirrors freak me out. I'm sorry if I freaked someone else out by saying this..)

One dream I specifically remember being reflected in, though, is this one:
I'm in a bathroom (I think it's a private bathroom, but has two sinks), washing my hands and face, when suddenly I notice an oddity about my left eye. There's a sort of transparent film over it, which slowly turns white and then yellowish to bright gold. I can't see clearly though it, so I begin to carefully peel it off. It hurts a little but is very bearable, so when the cling film is removed, I notice the same has happened to my right eye, so I repeat procedure.

After this, it's almost as if something prohibiting me from "seeing what is so" had been peeled from my inner eyes. I can see through people's intentions a lot easier now.

I have only looked in a mirror once while dreaming, and that is how my dream began. I was staring at myself in a mirror in a normal dream and looked closer and thought "hmm, am i dreaming?" Suddenly my reflection's eyes started to cross in all different directions, at this point i became lucid(probably my 3rd or 4th LD)I shouted "I'm dreaming!!" I was so excited i busted out of my bathroom door and everything became blurry and i fell over and quickly faded out of the dream. So for me I have not had any scary experiences with mirrors.

I've looked into mirrors a few times while dreaming. I never actually see a reflection. Mirrors are instead just portals in my dreams.

Funny thing is that many of you guys are seeing different hair (better hair, worst hair, strange hair etc) Maybe your giving too much attention to how you look in reality?
I think that those of you that are affraid of mirros are probably afraid of your unknow nature.
If you heard that you will see something strange and you belive in that - thats probably going to happen.

The point is there is no mirror! You are just projecting the image of your self, but you are not doing this "by yourself", your letting your subconsciousness do the job. Realize that in the dreams even if you have controll your not doing anythig by your conscius self. You just think of some thing and the subconsciousness is doing the job for you. Think of some place and you can be there - you dont have to create it rock by rock / atom by atom.

One of my goals in LD was to jump into a mirror - (before ive heard/read that it will be a strange experiece) well it was strange again you get what you expect. But what will be the element of strageness - thats the suprice that your subconsciousness will serve you ( thanks to this it can be strange ). If it would be 100% predicible it woudnt be strange or scarry or unusuall. If there would be a popular opinion that (for example) drinking water in dreams will couse a very strange experience - thats whats gonna happen.
Mirrors are cool no need to be afraid.

1

Originally Posted by pixiedust

a self-fullfilling prophecy, or is there really something to the "don't look at yourself in the mirror in the dream" thing?

I ask because as I read this forum I've come across quite a few posters who say looking into the mirror in a lucid was scary/disturbing. I've read that people saw their mirror image as deformed, that they looked normal except their eyes turned black (which sounds more than a bit scary to me), and other similar things. What I'm wondering is, is this just happening because people read of other's experiences, and thus have that mindset that "looking in a mirror in my dream might be scary", so when they do - it happens.... or is it at all possible that there really is something (what kind of something? I have no idea, that's why I'm asking) about looking into a mirror in your lucid dream that generates negative experiences. Could we really not be "supposed" to look in a dream mirror? As a realist I want to doubt such a thing, but the experiences on this forum make me wonder.

How many folks here have looked in a mirror and had nothing scary or strange happen at all?

As for me personally, I'll be avoiding mirrors in my dreams for the forseeable future.

I was lucid dreaming and when I looked in the mirror I had a body but no head. it was creepy but I realised its just a dream and to roll with it.

So far I haven't looked into any mirrors during a lucid dream. I hope it's awesome.

In non-lucids though, my experiences have ranged anywhere from normal to scary to nightmare. I have seen myself as myself, as a younger or older version of myself, as something completely different...I have seen disturbing things that I sometimes wish I could unsee.

The fact that such experiences never caused me to gain lucidity is maybe what annoys me the most.

But beyond that, I am also strongly reminded of how (in waking life) I had been warned against looking into the mirror under the influence of certain drugs.

I knew that negative preconceived notions were dangerous, and I had this feeling that whatever I saw...it would reveal something about me, something beyond what a normal, sober, reality-based mirror can reveal. And what did I do? I chose to look.

One time it wasnt as bad, but another time they had to coax me out of the bathroom I got so upset. I didn't want anyone to see what I had seen...Even though I knew the reflection was altered by the drug...my sober, reality-based assumption of mirrors had been so challenged that I was upset even though I knew getting upset was ridiculous!

Some people might blame the warner, for putting the idea in my head. But he was there coaxing me out, so if anything my fear seems to be the root of the conflict.

And if anything, all these experiences upset me only in that sometimes...I wish I could just instinctively know when a mirror is just a mirror, and when it is more or less. That would just be easier.

Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Trouble is, I often resent that kind of supermirror too, so clearly my issue with them goes beyond dreaming.

I've had my first close-to-lucid dream a couple of days ago, but had a false awakening due to excitement i think. Anyways, i'm still pretty lucid and was still able to do a couple of weird things, one of them being looking in a mirror. I never read anything about looking in a mirror before and it looking creepy, but when i looked into the mirror i just saw myself, except my eyes were super tiny. I found this pretty funny to be honest, but i thought it was a bit weird for my first lucid experience

I don't know if this helps with your inquiry but when I was on mushrooms and looked in a mirror my pupils went square in the reflection like a goats, it was weird as. the night vision was awesome though, and how things softly changed colours lol. trippy.

In one of my first lucid dreams I looked at a mirror simply out of curiosity since I had heard the same things that were brought up here. I remember that I looked like myself, but in a way like a Lord of the Rings villain at the same time. I didn't see it as creepy at the time, but just more as interesting. I was a little creeped out by it when I woke up though. It was almost as if that part of my brain was shut down during the dream, either that or my knowledge that it was a dream derailed the fear.

Hi everyone, I want to share my experiences with mirrors in lucid dreams.

Most of the lucid dreams I had were conscious false awakenings. I just stand up from my bed, walk in the darkness and when the optics activate I end up in a room in my house.

At the beginning of my lucid dream experience I have never encountered mirrors, or I didn’t give much attention to them. I was reading some articles on the internet and then I read the warning “Never look at the mirrors while in lucid dream” then they explain that this and that will happen and blah, blah, blah. Hmmm, mirrors, I don’t think I have had problems with them, next time I become lucid I will examine one to see that exactly is happening.

After that, when I became lucid, it took me a while to remember that I need to examine the mirrors. I did and nothing happened, everything seemed normal. This happened a couple of times and always the same result, the mirror reflection was flawless and responded normally.

But one time I ended up at the large bathroom on my house but it seemed inverted. There is a large mirror that covers the entire wall over the 2 washbasins (2m x 1.5m). I was looking to my reflection on the mirror and mocking it to do something scary to frighten me, initially nothing happened the reflection just acted as normal and I thought that this doesn’t work at all, but after a while it happened. The reflection on the mirror zoomed to my face with 3 large steps ending showing my mouth (with the size of the wall) smiling slyly. Among with the 3 zooming actions there was also 3 music chords (with trumpets). I shocked and waked up, this was a good scaring show I said.

Another time, I was observing myself on the mirror, then I realized that on the reflection I looked a bit skinny and my hair were longer. Then I tried to manipulate the mirror image, I wanted to look more muscular (at least I wanted to try to see if this works). After a while the mirror reflection started to react with sudden changes. It is working I said and pushed the manipulation beyond my control to see how much I can change my reflection. Then disaster!! I heard a very loud thunder strike sound, my reflection started to talk with high speed (with no words or sound coming from its mouth, it just moved its lips and mouth) and it stayed on its standing position while I lost all physics and my body control. I started levitating and rotating like a piece of wood and falling on the mirror (with very low pace), I closed my eyes while flying towards the strange behaved mirror reflection, I hit the glass and waken up.

Another time, I was looking on my reflection, it seemed normal but the eyes were solid black. Nothing to be alarmed of everything looked normal I said. Then I kept looking and examining my reflection and looked again to the black eyes (no pupils, no sclera, just black). What is this?! I said, black eyes! This is not good, not good at all, I need to move away, I need to leave NOW! I turned my back and start walking away, then as I walked further and further from the reflection, it started to growl louder and louder while taking big breaths between the growls. Then I waken up normally.

Another time, I was walking towards the large bedroom, which has a large mirror on the wall (2m x 1.5m, yes my house has some large mirrors). Then I was looking at my reflection as I approach the mirror from distance (I was over 6 meters away). Then the exact moment I realized what I was doing (looking at my reflection) everything blacked out for a brief moment, then blacked again and again, then I waken up.

The last time I was looking on the mirror. The exact moment I thought that something scary can happen, it did. My reflection did a scary face on me (similar to the fan made scary faces on youtube) and screamed loudly. I waken up laughing and at the same time terrified.

Since no one have posted any more experiences with mirrors since my last post I decided to make another post on this subject. I really think I terrified many of you by posting my scary experiences. Don’t worry I was more scared than you to look at the mirrors but I had that urge to look again and again. Sooner or later I will experience another mirror reflection and I should perceive it as part of the dream and not like something scary.

Last night I had a very very long lucid dream (DILD), actually it consisted of many smaller lucid dreams, when it faded I immediately restarted it to the same location and it kept going on and on. I tried many old and new activities to this dream, long distance sustained flight, portal travel, interacting with dream people, summon people, traveling to the moon but the most anticipated was the mirror reflection. I had terrifying experience with it in the past but it was time to settle the matter once and for all.

I was in the large bedroom, the one with that large 2x1.5m mirror. I was looking at it for brief moments. My reflection was flawless. I had in my mind that something wrong or scary might happen and I was prepared for it.

My sister was in that room but she has a burn mark on her forehead. I called her to come to the mirror to examine if her reflection with that mark was also shown on the mirror. And it did, the reflections of me and my sisters were flawless, whatever I see in the dream it reflected to the mirror.

One time an “Asterisk” type sound was heard while taking brief looks at the mirror.

3 times I saw myself with solid black eyes, similar to what I have experience before. Apart from the eyes the reflection was flawless. The first 2 looks were brief and nothing scary happened. The 3rd time I examined closely the reflection and especially the eyes. They were solid black and also the tips of the eyelids were black, I could close and open my eyes at will, although I didn’t lost my sight each time I closed. I tried all 3 times to pass through the mirror and I couldn’t make it. I felt my hands and head going into it but I find strong resistance after about 30cm, looking inside this area I could see nothing but a grey thick substance. With all the 3 attempts, the dream faded. I returned to my bed and successfully restarted the Lucid Dream to the same room.

The whole time I had a feeling that something scary is emerging but when felt it, I let it go away and didn’t hold on it. This caused the subconscious to get rid of a scary mirror reflection and keep the reflection to act normally.

My conclusion about mirrors is that initially they always behave normally, unless you deeply want them to do something scary. Sometimes they will show a deformed image but only slightly, for example you may be fatter, skinnier, have different haircut, different eyes or may have a mark on your face. The largest portion of the reflected image will project the real reflection or a different person and nothing too different like to show a monster instead, unless you aim for it and again it will have as a base the initial reflection.

I found passing through the mirrors difficult, maybe because it was my first time, I didn’t know what will happen and deeply inside I felt that nothing will happen (similar to my first failed attempts to fly in Lucid Dreams).

I tried that. They were almost completely black. I managed to fix them but when I put the attention to my face, it started morphing randomly. It was fun.

There might be some symbolic meaning behind it (something to do with identity, perhaps), as that's what I believe dreams fundamentally are, but it's definitely also a belief thing. If you think something will happen, it will.

It's interesting to read some of these, I thought I was the only one. I've suffered from sleep paralysis all my life, now that I'm older I can make myself aware or wake up but I chose to stay asleep and enjoy lucid dreaming. I can turn my nightmares into awesome lucid dreams but it doesn't always work.
Yesterday I had a dream I was in a post apocalyptic type world and I was waiting for someone to come get me. I was waiting in a house, while they went out for supplies. I remember having deja vu when I saw a particular room. I noticed a mirror and felt scared of it "but I didn't know why". I then noticed more mirrors all around the room. I couldn't see any reflection in the biggest mirror, it was like a gray blurry cloud, but I wasn't looking directly at it. I was trying to see it through my peripheral vision as I headed to the door.
I felt like if I looked at it something bad would happen.
I told himself, as I walked to the door, "don't look at it, don't let it get you, you know you're dreaming, just get outside". I didn't have to turn the knob, the door just blew open. It was daylight out and it was almost blinding because the room was so dark. I knew I was dreaming but didn't want to continue, even though I was now safe, so I woke up.
I don't know what would have happened if I had looked into the mirror.

I had a similar experience last night.

It was a dream involving a mirror. I wasn’t interacting or looking at it as I was busy with something else in the dream (I cannot recall). Suddenly I looked at the mirror with trill, there was no reflection of me. I immediately knew what to do with the mirror, to make it show something scary. I looked at it and push it to show something. After a while, out of nowhere my face with my palms touching the other side of the glass appeared in the mirror with a scary look, I also heard a scream coming from behind then I woke up.

I need to mention that it was just a normal dream. The thing I am concerned is that my subconscious is somehow programmed to do this thing, every time I see a mirror in dreams. The problem is I don’t know how did I managed to do this, although I can recall all the mirror events I still can’t reach to a clear conclusion.

I don't remember my face being scary or distorted in dreams. I do remember being in a room full of bended and twisted mirrors (everything was distorted normally how it would be if the morror was bent IRL though). I have looked into mirrors a couple of times (non-lucid) and thought "wow, I'm looking pretty attractive today!" so it is actually quite pleasant for me.

In a lucid I was in our school's toilet. It felt like a force tried to pull me to watch my self from a mirror so I did, and in it I saw a terrifying, changing and distorted face of mine. It kept smiling to me like a demon and I was unable to pull my eyes off from it.

I never really had bad experiences with mirrors in my dreams. I do recall a couple of dreams where I looked in the mirror and saw a person standing behind me, that was creepy obviously but nothing happened, the person didn't do anything. My face looks a little distorted, usually, in dream-mirrors but never in a scary way, just slightly different than in RL.

I wasn't lucid, but this dream was extremely vivid.

I was looking in my mirror and it was EXTREMELY frightening. I looked the same... but it was just the way I was staring at myself so menacingly. That was the last time I remember feeling fear in a dream. It was a long time ago, when I was active on these forums and taking a dream class.

I hadn't heard anything about dream mirrors being scary, but I still believe dreams are all about expectations. You can certainly learn how to overcome the shock if a mirror through expectation.

Well I've had two experiences the first was actually only my second lucid dream and I was at an amusement park and i saw a mirror in the middle of no where so I looked and I saw myself as a 30 year old with a family but the more I looked the older I got and my family disappeared and for some reason it really played with my emotions and I burst into tears.

The second was a wild sort of so I just woke up randomly and I got up out of my bed and I walked to my lounge and there where no windows at all it was completely dark except for a light shining on a window so I looked into it and I rapidly started aging until it all stopped and I had no eyes just black with holes on my face and my teeth where chipped with holes and black and it was just a horrible sight almost like a demon crossed with a zombie and no doubt it woke me up so yeah that's what happened with me

I have a more positive attitude when it comes to dream mirrors. Whenever I come across a mirror in a lucid dream, I walk through it to see what's on the other side. It's a nice way to change the scenery. Another time I reached into the mirror and pulled out a bunch of fluffy baby dogs :-)