I am in the Oslo area of Norway and see a Russian missile flying overhead coming from the Northeast. It’s war.
Over the last few months, I have had this recurrent dream.
It’s obviously related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. I have followed it in the media and it has impacted me as it has most others in Europe.
Consciously, I don’t think that Russia will attack Norway. It would make no sense. (1)
So what are these dreams about?
What first comes to mind is that they may be premonitory. It’s not likely but based on previous experiences with similar kinds of dreams, it’s certainly possible. (2)
They may tell me that I have stronger fears than I am consciously aware of or want to admit to. I don’t see an attack as realistic, and at some level I may still have fears I am not aware of and that the dreams invite me to get in contact with.
The world is my mirror. The world and my dreams mirror parts and dynamics in me. Whenever I go into a belief, I go to war within myself. I go to war with reality and I tend to go into reactivity, defense, blame, and so on.
For instance, whenever I believe something stressful about my partner, I go to war within the relationship whether it’s on the surface or more hidden.
Holding any story as true, even the most apparently benign ones, is ultimately uncomfortable and painful because it’s at odds with reality. It’s a kind of war that comes with defense, attacks, suffering, and so on.
So the dreams may be premonitory, although I wouldn’t put money on it. They may reflect a fear I am not fully aware of or admit to. And they definitely reflect wars within myself that happen as soon as I attach to stories as true, which is especially clear with obviously painful stories.
UPDATE AUGUST 24, 2022
In the recurrent dream, I am outside the house in Ski on the southwestern side. Earlier today, I was outside on that side of the house, and a fighter jet flew low over the house from the northeast to the southwest, just like in the dreams. It was a strange experience and a kind of synchronicity, although I don’t know what it’s about if anything. It’s very rare to see fighter jets here.
These days, with a continued weakened Russian military, any kind of conventional war between Russia and NATO seems less likely than ever. And it also seems very unlikely that Putin would use nuclear weapons since it’s clearly suicidal. (Although his rationality and connection with reality is questionable.) So that makes any premonition seem even less likely than it was.
So why the recurrent dream, and this real-life mirroring of the dream?
There may be something here I am still not seeing. For instance, I often experience a kind of invasion from someone in my life (who wants to dictate my behavior and even internal state so s/he can be more comfortable and not have their own issues triggered). It’s something I tend to dismiss or downplay in my own mind. Maybe these dreams are inviting me to notice it and take it more seriously and do something about it.
UPDATE JUNE 2, 2024
I haven’t had this dream again, and I still consciously see it as unlikely bordering on impossible for it to happen. It wouldn’t serve any sensible purpose and would be suicidal for Russia. At the same time, the dream had a different quality to ordinary dreams. It bordered on the type of dreams I have had foreshadowed something that later did happen.
Putin isn’t always so sensible. The dream of rebuilding the Russian empire through conquest is doomed to fail. If he had been able to occupy Ukraine, it would be a quagmire and a nightmare for the Russians. He may want to test the resolve and unity of NATO, and one way to do it is to do a localized attack in the outskirts of NATO.
UPDATE FEBRUARY 20, 2025
Trump is president and, as expected, he is giving Putin what he wants when it comes to Ukraine. (Trump has also attacked Zelinsky, which may be part of a plan to replace him with someone who is Putin-friendly.)
Trump has made it clear that he is not interested in protecting allies, or should I say former allies. This may well be the end of NATO. Of course, all of this may be reversed in four years when – or IF – a more sane president is elected in the US. It may also mean that Europe is far more at risk for an expanding war.
Putin’s ambition is to re-establish the Russian empire of the old, which means that he is likely to invade more countries. In the worst case, if there is no more NATO, that may even mean an invasion of Norway. It was unthinkable up until the US presidential election last fall, and now it is possible.
For me, that puts these dreams in a different light. When I had them, they felt real in a way dreams rarely do. They did feel borderline premonitory and I have had other dreams that came true that had a feel similar to these.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER, 2026
The war is still going on, as is Russia’s hybrid warfare against Europe. Some think they may want to test – or split – NATO through some kind of more obvious attach, perhaps even a border crossing in a more peripheral area of a NATO country.
I still remember this dream. At a literal level, it suggests a more open conventional war, although that does seem unlikely, mainly because Russia doesn’t have the military capacity. It would be stupid of Putin, although Putin does stupid things.
The Ukraine invasion was stupid and he did that. Even if they had taken Ukraine, it would have been an endless quagmire that would end with eventual liberation. An escalation with Europe and NATO will and cannot have a good outcome for Russia. It may even lead to a breakup of Russia which will destabilize the whole region.
The dream is accurate in that Russia is certainly in a hybrid war with Europe and they seem to escalate.
I should add that from the beginning, I have a secret sense that the recurrent dream is an actual premonition of an escalating conflict between Russia and Europe. It didn’t fit my conscious view but I had that sense. Now, more than ever before, that seems accurate.
Footnotes
(1) It wouldn’t make much sense. (Although the invasion of Ukraine also didn’t make much if any sense, at any level, so that’s not really an argument.) They don’t have conventional military resources to engage in any successful invasions and especially not NATO countries. (In terms of conventional weapons and military, Russia is a mosquito compared to NATO and wouldn’t stand a chance.) If they were to attack targets in Norway, it would mean that WW3 had already started. And it would probably mean the use of (at least smaller) nuclear weapons.
(2) My whole life, I have had dreams of things that later happened – sometimes years later. (For instance, a dream in my teens of living in Oregon, which happened fifteen years later. A dream of living in Latin America, which happened about three decades later. A dream of my cat being killed in an accident, which happened a week later. And so on.) By invading Ukraine, Putin and Russia created a volatile situation that can escalate and eventually involve NATO – and Norway – more directly.
It may not be that Russia literally will fire rockets toward the Oslo area. That seems very unlikely. But the rockets in the dream may be more metaphorical and suggest a more direct involvement of NATO and Norway.
I should mention that when the war started in February, I had an unusually bad feeling about it. I had a sense that it would (or could) have worse consequences than most suspected. (I wrote about it back then.)
That feeling rarely happens, and when it does – about world events – it’s often accurate.
At the beginning of the war, when I checked in more closely with my sense, I saw a kind of black cloud moving out from Ukraine and towards the west into other countries. At the time, I was not sure what it could be. Does it mean an expanding war? Does it mean radioactive contamination?