Is the Veil Real? What We See When We’re Weak, Wounded, or Wide Open

May 20

There are moments when the world feels thin.

When something flickers just outside your line of sight.
When a smell from childhood rushes into your lungs with no warning.
When the air in a quiet room feels too full.
And you wonder…what’s standing just behind the curtain of this reality?

Some call it the veil.
A gossamer boundary between this world and…something else.
The spirit world. The dream world. The subconscious. The divine. The dead. The wild unknown.

Is it real?

Or are we simply cracked open enough to feel everything that’s always been here?

What Is "The Veil"?

The veil has many names and even more interpretations.

In pagan traditions, the veil is thinnest on Samhain (Halloween), when the living and the dead walk close together.
In mystical Christianity, it’s the space between the material world and the kingdom of God.
In trauma theory, it’s the boundary between conscious and unconscious memory…what we let ourselves know.
And in dream psychology, it’s the borderland between waking life and the symbolic murk beneath it.

But always, the veil is about what we can’t normally see, and what sometimes slips through.

The Veil and the Wounded

It’s no accident that the veil is often pierced when we are:

Grieving
Sleep-deprived
Sick
In pain
Deep in trauma
Or fresh in recovery

Because when the body breaks down, so does the boundary.
When the heart cracks, light gets in…but so does shadow.

Trauma survivors often describe:

Hearing whispers in quiet rooms
Seeing flickers of movement during panic attacks
Feeling “watched” when no one is near
Having vivid dreams that bleed into waking life
Receiving intuitive warnings or “downloads” they can’t explain

Are we hallucinating (because I definitely have experienced it all)?
Or are we finally paying attention?

What Neuroscience Says

Let’s talk brain.

Your brain is a master of filtering. Every second, it receives millions of sensory inputs, but you’re only consciously aware of a fraction. It edits out what it deems irrelevant.

This keeps you sane.
But it also keeps you small.

When trauma hits, when sleep vanishes, when grief takes over…the filter glitches.

And what pours through?

Memories you buried
Sensations that don’t match the moment
Symbols, archetypes, fears, and awe
… and maybe a little bit of what was always there, just out of reach

Neurologically, you’re not “seeing the other side.”
You’re losing the barriers between mind, body, and myth.

But what if those barriers were illusions in the first place?

The Veil in Myth and Culture

Humans have always spoken of “the between.”

The Sumerians had a shadow world, Kur, where the dead moved in silence and the living could sometimes visit.
The Celts believed in thin places…sacred locations where the veil between Earth and spirit was light as silk.
The Indigenous Ainu people of Japan speak of kamuy, spiritual beings that dwell beside us, invisible unless we are chosen to see.
In African diasporic religions, the spirit realm is not distant, it is interwoven with the living, always watching, always whispering.

Every culture has its veil.
Its ghosts.
Its guides.
Its dreams that didn’t stay put.

When the Veil Feels Thinnest

You don’t need a séance or a ritual to feel it.
You just need to be raw.

Here are the moments many people report seeing or sensing beyond:

1. After Loss

Grief opens the chest cavity.
And sometimes, in that hollow space, people report seeing:

A loved one in a dream, more vivid than real life
Hearing their voice while fully awake
Receiving signs: birds, songs, feathers, pennies, flickering lights

Is it wishful thinking?
Or do we become more attuned to the invisible when the visible world shatters?

2. During Trauma or PTSD Episodes

Flashbacks collapse time.
Panic attacks split reality.

During those moments, many survivors (myself included) describe:

Smelling the room from a traumatic event
Seeing people who aren’t there
Feeling as if they’re “in two places at once”
Hearing things just outside of conscious understanding
The feeling of thinking outside of their mind

It sounds like madness.
But what if it’s something else?
What if trauma pushes us into the realm where memory, fear, and spirit all mingle?

3. Sleep Paralysis and Hypnagogia

These in-between states…right before sleep, or right as you wake…are notorious for “veil experiences”:

Shadow people
Ghosts at the foot of the bed
The sensation of floating
Visions of loved ones, ancestors, or otherworldly beings

Are they hallucinations? Yes.
Are they meaningful? Also yes.
Because in those moments, the rational brain shuts down, and something deeper steps forward.

Are You Seeing Through? Or Are You Just Awake?

The question isn’t whether the veil is real.
It’s how we define “real.”

Real, like gravity? Maybe not.
Real, like love? Absolutely.

If something alters your perception, if it changes your behavior, if it brings you clarity or chaos, it’s real enough to matter.

Veil Symptoms: When You Might Be Crossing Over

Do any of these sound familiar?

Feeling unusually emotional in nature…trees, storms, the ocean
Receiving unexpected messages in dreams that later make sense
Smelling something significant that no one else notices
Seeing people in crowds that look like someone you’ve lost
Knowing something before it happens, without reason
A sense that someone’s near, but they’re not

You’re not broken.
You’re not crazy.
You’re just a little too alive.

And sometimes, that’s all it takes.

The Veil as a Healing Tool

What if the veil isn’t something that haunts us…but something that helps us heal?

In some trauma therapy, guided visualization often taps into the subconscious world…dreamlike landscapes, symbolic imagery, “meeting” your inner child or protector.
In spiritual practices, many people turn to ancestor veneration, oracle work, or rituals to connect with what was lost.
Even in grief counseling, the idea of “continuing bonds” with the dead is now widely accepted. We don’t stop feeling them. And maybe…they don’t stop reaching for us.

If the veil opens in our pain, maybe it’s there to offer something back.

Is the Veil Real?

Yes.
And no.
And more than both.

It’s the moment you almost say something but don’t.
It’s the dream you can’t forget.
It’s the breath you held when you felt the room shift.

The veil is not a place.
It’s a feeling.
A flicker.
A reminder that we don’t see everything…and maybe that’s okay.

But every once in a while, we do.
And it’s those moments that change us forever.

Michele Gargiulo http://michelegargiulo.com