Many visions of Mother Mary occur within dream time. When you’re falling asleep or are fully asleep, your mind is wide open to heavenly visitations. Many people report having powerfully realistic dreams with angels, departed loved ones, Jesus, and Mother Mary. They clearly remember these dreams years later. In a study, psychiatrist and researcher Ian Stevenson distinguished the difference between true visitations and mere dreams. Dr. Stevenson found that true visitations were characterized by strong emotions, a more-than-real feeling, and intense colors. Those who had true visitations also reported that the experience was highly memorable to the point where they could recall details years later.

Dream visitations with Mother Mary happen to people of all walks of life, including nonbelievers. Perhaps those are the ones who most need the connection with the Queen of Angels, as Walter Mason discovered:

Walter grew up a good Protestant boy in rural Australia, so he was never exposed to the worship of Mary. He did, however, have Catholic cousins, and he was drawn to the images of the Virgin that they received for First Communion. He knew they meant something to him, but he didn’t know what.

Walter was a bookseller for many years, and regularly attended the massive trade fairs that fill convention halls all over the world. He was working through a particularly exhausting and stressful cycle of fairs, feeling tired of his job and his life. He had lost all hope for himself and his future.

One night he went to bed footsore and spiritually exhausted. He slept deeply, and had the most remarkable dream. He was walking through an enormous trade fair, packed with people, yet he was incapable of moving forward or back. He was angry and tired and wanted to escape. Then he felt someone tap his shoulder and, spinning around in annoyance, was shocked to discover the Blessed Virgin standing directly behind him with a look of the simplest but most profound compassion on her face.

“You don’t realize it,” she said to him, smiling, “but I love you so much, and I always will.”

Hearing this, he woke up and started crying, with tears of joy more than anything else. Just to recount the story makes him cry, even though he had the dream 15 years ago.

Some years later, Walter was on a journal retreat. It was being held at a mostly empty old nunnery high on a hill in the outer suburbs of Sydney. The first night finished late, and he had arranged for his partner to pick him up, as there was no public transportation to this remote spot. When he came out, the parking lot was empty, and his cell phone had no reception. He was a little annoyed, but he knew his partner wouldn’t have forgotten him. Normally he would have sat on a bench and waited, but an inner voice told him to start walking.

Walter moved down the drive, but he soon got lost in the grounds of this old place, which had once been a dairy farm. There were no lights, no one was around, and he became frightened and disoriented. He was moving down the hill, he knew that, but where would he end up?

Suddenly he saw before him a slightly glowing white figure that was clearly the Virgin Mary. Well, he thought, this is a nunnery—the chances of a statue of the Virgin being somewhere on the grounds are really high. But this figure grew brighter and brighter and began to move. He trusted it totally, and began to follow. All of his anxiety left him, and he felt almost deliriously happy. He was led through the park and, by a side gate, to the entrance of a small house where some elderly priests lived. Outside this house he found his partner parked, sound asleep in the driver’s seat. There had been some confusion about the address, and he had simply gone to the only religious institution he could find in the area. His phone, too, had no reception. They would have both been waiting for hours if Walter hadn’t been guided by Mother Mary!

Walter’s dream visitation helped him feel connected to Mother Mary, and allowed him to have the clear vision afterward. The powerful love she expressed to him allowed him to trust her maternal guidance, which led him safely.