"You know, I dreamed my husband's, son's, and grandson's death the night before. It's a cruel thing to admit having that intuition, that premonition, but it's true." Jack is at a loss for words. How is he to register this confession of witchery? Better yet, how is he even to accept it as fact? But he is in her home, so he shows respect. "I cannot imagine the weight of that, he says. I imagine that it is a heavy burden to admit, to carry."
He sips the coffee and says, "Back in America, in the world I come from, this is all crazy talk, nonsense. I mean, all this is a lot of mumbo jumbo. It's a huge amount of information for me to gather and translate, and it's really hard for me to accept any of this is real. But I've lost so much, and you're correct; I've not dealt with any of it. I don't mean to come across as disrespectful, but I don't know what any of this means. I've never really had to sit down and realize that everything I once had in life is now my past. A past that I was never really present for." He realizes at that moment the situation, the dream, is still hard to accept. "Regardless, you have to know that for me, in my world, this is a lot of crazy talk. I come from a world where things have to be concrete. I need facts. If I can't see it or touch it, if I can't hold the product, I can't quantify it.
"What more do you need than the here and the now?" Fabiola lets those words sit with Jack, then says. "What if I told you that the night before I saw you, I dreamed of a man—a tortured soul—crazed and dancing to his own lunacy in the streets of San Pedro? Would you say I am crazy?"
—Norman Reedus: The Ravaged
In the weeks leading up to Nicholas' death, I dreamt he died. And the week he died, I felt "unsettled" and "as though I'm waiting for something bad to happen." And Joey, my youngest son, dreamt of Nicholas' death before it happened. I have a client who dreamt of his daughter's death the week before it happened in 2022. And I know someone who dreamt of their loved one's death on the night their loved one tried to die by suicide (but did not).
So, when I read the above passage in The Ravaged (I listened to it on Audible, actually), it struck me. Then, today, two other people shared stories of having this experience or knowing someone who has.
It's a controversial topic, to be sure. Where do you stand on precognition?
Holly Margl is the award-winning author of Witnessing Grief; Inviting Trauma and Loss to Our Coaching Conversations, An Enneagram Perspective, coach, coach mentor, and trainer specializing in grief, trauma, and the Enneagram.
