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

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've only looked into a mirror once in my lucid. The only strange part was that my reflection was there before the actual mirror materialized, if that makes sense.

In other words. I saw myself standing before me. And I thought "What the hell? Is that a mirror?" and then a frame of a mirror showed up around my "image".
The reflection/image itself wasn't deformed or anything as far as I could tell. I was just a bit startled when I didn't see the mirror itself at first.

Although after reading this I have a feeling next time I look into a LD mirror my image WILL be deformed..

I think belief is everything in dreams. You believe you can't fly so you can't. You believe you have to ground the dream because you might wake up, and so if you don't, you wake up.

If you worry about mirrors being bad in some way, they almost certainly will.

Originally Posted by Photolysis

I think belief is everything in dreams. You believe you can't fly so you can't. You believe you have to ground the dream because you might wake up, and so if you don't, you wake up.

If you worry about mirrors being bad in some way, they almost certainly will.

ya i agree. Theres nothing necessarily evil or bad looking into a mirror. Its just the thoughts you've already acquired of them.

There was another mirror thread I replied to not too long ago where people related that they have normal reflections when looking in a mirror. I've had normal reflections and some that would be considered scary but weren't scary to me due to the fact that I knew I was dreaming. I was only curious as to why my reflection looked like that.

Mirrors can be a good source of entertainment in a lucid dream. The key, remember it's a dream and wonder logically about why your reflection might appear different.

I think its belief. back in my first lucid with my old account while this site just got started there wasnt many threads aboult mirrors so when I had my first I looked in my mirror and notice I was bald (at the time I had alot of hair) but that was it I was just bald, no black demonic eyes or disfigurment.

Originally Posted by pixiedust

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

In one LD involving a mirror, I did look like myself although I had longer hair.

In another, I still looked like me, but had fun by repeatedly changing the color of what I was wearing by simply thinking of different colors.

I found both of these dreams very pleasant.

I had no expectations about what I would see and I had never read any negative posts about mirrors yet I was very deformed and it was scary. I didn't prompt it, and I can't think of a reason. Though I did sort of feel it coming right before it happened. As I approached the mirror from an angle I was for some reason scared as if I shouldn't be doing it, but I didn't know why.

I've never actually looked in a mirror before... I might try it out
whenever I think something is about to happen in my dream, it usually does. so I think if someone is thinking about something like that at the time they probably will see it, maybe.

Iv'e only looked into a mirror in my Lucid dreams once. But i didnt see my own reflection, i saw the gulyiest person in my school haha!.. it scared me .. but still, i think you see what you fear the most haha. I guess i just dont wanna be ugly!.. happy dreaming, -dream-boat-...

I wouldn't look into dream mirrors if I were you.

Once I looked into a mirror and saw a very old man with a top had in my place.

Then I looked away, and when I looked back his face had practically decayed away, and then he leapt at me through the mirror.

That was really freaky, and I had to use my waking technique really hard to make him disappear

As said before, alot of the material from your lucid dreams comes from a pre-conceived notion.

So.. if you think badly about mirrors, you will end up having a bad mirror experience.

But the reason most people see a normal reflection is because the mind just simulates what is most expected. So... don't think about it too much, and mirrors can be fine.

Originally Posted by AmazeO XD

As said before, alot of the material from your lucid dreams comes from a pre-conceived notion.

So.. if you think badly about mirrors, you will end up having a bad mirror experience.

What about this post though? He says he never read anything bad about mirrors, and didn't expect anything bad to happen..?

Originally Posted by ThiefDeath

I had no expectations about what I would see and I had never read any negative posts about mirrors yet I was very deformed and it was scary. I didn't prompt it, and I can't think of a reason. Though I did sort of feel it coming right before it happened. As I approached the mirror from an angle I was for some reason scared as if I shouldn't be doing it, but I didn't know why.

I do agree that much of what happens in a lucid is what you expect to happen, but in the case of people who aren't expecting it, and still have it happen to them, I'm curious what the reason could be.

Ive had regular dreams where I have looked into mirrors and expected to see my face because I thought it was real life and my face was completely deformed, it was scary, but I became lucid

He just said, "As I approached the mirror from an angle I was for some reason scared as if I shouldn't be doing it." He was scared of it to begin with, of course he's going to see something scary in the mirror.

Originally Posted by Barns

I wouldn't look into dream mirrors if I were you.

Once I looked into a mirror and saw a very old man with a top had in my place.

Then I looked away, and when I looked back his face had practically decayed away, and then he leapt at me through the mirror.

That was really freaky, and I had to use my waking technique really hard to make him disappear

I just read this and it spooked me. That would be really really scary.
I tried to provoke a scary image in the mirror. I had an LD where I was a ghost. I looked into the mirror and kept screaming really loudly (loud noises seem to provoke freaky things in my dream) but nothing happened. I just turned white (like a ghost you see).

I have a feeling this thread had something to do with this dream. My mirror phobia has been coming back lately.

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

I was out on the front patio with my father, when I noticed a tan, axe-head shaped UFO flying above us. Startled, I tried to point it out to my father, only to realize he was nowhere to be found. My confusion lasted only a few seconds before I woke from the vision and found myself lying on the ground. I had blacked out, fallen out of my chair, and imagined the entire UFO scenario. The sky was empty except
for a flock of small, black birds. Something still did not feel right. I felt a pain in the side of my stomach, like a foreign object was lodged there. Was I just abducted and implanted? Did I really just black out?

Nauseous and dizzy, I made my way to the bathroom. Worried I would black out again, I told my father to come in after me if I wasn't out in two minutes. I sat on the toilet to steady myself, and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I was alone in the bathroom, but could feel some sort of presence next to me. As I turned my head to look, Josh appeared from thin air and let out a nightmarish scream right in my face. I screamed, too, feeling a disorienting dual awareness. Josh started dragging me into the mirror as I felt my real body struggling to scream through the sleep paralysis.

I recognized the feeling of a dream, and assumed I must have passed out again. I continued to scream, desperately hoping my father would hear my screams, and come into the bathroom to wake me up. Hands shook me awake. I expected to wake on the bathroom floor with my father, but instead found myself safely in bed with my girlfriend.

In my second lucid I looked into the mirror and my face was completely warped and twisted. This was before I'd read much about lucid dreaming, so I didn't have any reason to be afraid in the first place. It scared me so much that I lost lucidity instantly.

I basically attribute it to the fact that I couldn't conjour up an image of myself while sleeping, because I don't have a perfect 3D model of myself in my mind. I guess I don't spend enough time in front of the mirror...

Except I'm starting to think I have a weird, subconcious fear of mirrors because I avoid looking at them when it's dark.

Mirrors are very common in my lucid dreams, I often run into them, both when I'm looking for them and when I'm not. While mirrors can be scary, the only thing that I've noticed them be consistently is chaotic; they're always a little different from dream to dream.

In my experiences, the first thing I noticed regularly in mirrors is that the image was usually a little warped, though still human. When I tried interacting more directly with them, that's when things really got wierd. I once reached into a mirror in a dream, and my reflection tried to pull my hand in, and for a few dreams after that, it did act nightmarish, although always in different ways, but it stopped doing that after I stopped treating it like a hostile entity. After that, it was sometimes even helpful, although it's help rarely works. However, for every dream where my reflection was unusual, there was another where it was perfectly ordinary. In fact, around 70% of the time my reflection is almost normal, and only becomes unusual when I try to affect it.

I don't think mirrors are inherently evil or hostile in dreams, it's just that they're naturally changing things, and in dreams, without reality to hold them to just reflecting, these changes can spiral out of control. In dreams, everything changes a lot, and thus things that change even in real life, like the image in a mirror, would be unusually chaotic in a dream. They're only scary when by chance they change in a way that seems frightening, and when someone is frightened by some change, the fear causes it to become more frightening, and the whole experience causes them to expect mirrors in lucid dreams to be frightening, which ensures that they probably will be.

Mm- that sounds about right to me. Good thoughts I guess it's best just to confront the idea, if mirrors seem scary.

People say that mirrors will make you look funny so they do.... i wont ry to fix it because if i want to see myself i just ... well see myself, but i think it's what people say that makes mirrors what they are in your dream.

Originally Posted by pixiedust

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 had a vivid LD experience with a mirror today. I was standing in front of the mirror and I've seen perfect reflection of mine which surprised me a bit because in the past I usually saw something wrong in it. An idea came to me, I tried to pull my hand through the mirror to see what happens and the reflection was still in the perfect state. Maybe that means that I'm no more afraid of my reflection in the mirror in LDs.

Whoa, nice. Good stuff, I wish I could say the same.

I had a drem last night and became lucid.I decided to look into a mirror in the bathroom.At first my face was normal but then it changed into this hiddeous looking creature with fangs and with the neck ripped open.I was a little scared but continued to look at it.I began to talk and its lips moved in sync with mine which indicated to me that this was my reflection.I thought dreams were able to be controlled by the dreamer? i was wishing for that to happen so why did it? any anwers?

I think your reflection would be how you think of yourself. Personally, i don't look in mirrors much so i don't remember looking at myself. As long as you don't have an REALLY low self esteem, you wouldn't see anything scary, i wouldn't think.