Spiritual Meaning Of Doorbell Ringing

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What does it mean when you hear the doorbell ring and no one is there? The most obvious answer is that kids are pranking you by pressing the button and running away. But what if you’re certain (or your security cameras show no-one was there). It could of course be an electrical glitch too – that’s not unreasonable. Especially if its a wireless doorbell, interference can cause the doorbell to ring by itself.

But, if you’ve ruled all that out, could there be a spiritual meaning of a doorbell ringing?

Similar to this, is the question of the spiritual meaning of knocking – which we look into in a separate post.

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Doorbell Ringing (or Door Knocking) Is Not An Omen Of Death

Painting of the Grim Reaper (Death) ringing a doorbell
Painting of the Grim Reaper (death) ringing a doorbell

Many people seem to have heard that a doorbell ringing is an omen of death. It isn’t. It’s likely that this ‘explanation’ has come from the idea that church bells will ring at a funeral and the saying ‘for whom the bell tolls’ is associated with death[1]. A doorbell ringing however is more likely an omen that someone will soon visit. Or that someone wants you to notice something, or someone wants your attention for something.

With that in mind, context is everything. Have you recently asked your spiritual guides for a sign that they are there and helping you? Has someone close to you recently died and you’ve asked whether their essence is still around? Think of the things you might have asked for signs to.

Let’s face is, death has occurred since life began. Doorbells by contrast are a relatively new invention, even if we consider non-electrically driven doorbells. It’s not an omen of death.

Hearing a Doorbell Ring Can Be A Sign

Very often the lone doorbell ringing can be an answer to a question you’ve posed, perhaps almost subconsciously. It can be considered a synchronicity if you’ve been questioning things lately and the doorbell has come at a time when you’ve been asking for signs as to whether someone, or something is there.

Interpreting the meaning of hearing the doorbell is, unfortunately for a site such as this, a very personal experience. We cannot give you an answer to what it means (aside from saying it is not a sinister thing). It could be the equivalent of Gideon placing the fleece on the ground in order to receive an answer[2]. Or perhaps you’ve asked for a sign from the Universe or require confirmation of some decision. It could be that you’ve requested some form of personal proof that your Guides exist.

You’ll unfortunately need to decide for yourself what is the spiritual meaning of the doorbell ringing with nobody there.

Can Spirits Ring Doorbells?

If one believes in spirits – as of course we do on this site – and we consider that the essence of spirit is energy then there is no reason to assume they cannot interact with objects that fundamentally use energy. Electrically driven doorbells would perhaps be easier for a spirit to interact with than a physical object such as a bell.

Consider that allegedly spirits have been recorded on magnetic tapes for decades and that many electrical doorbells these days are driven by transistors and wireless connections (requiring receiver equipment in the actual bell component) it’s not unreasonable to think that if spirit can affect magnetic tape, then it can affect wireless signals which are nothing more than electromagnetic waves too.

It seems to us that spirits could ring a doorbell with relative ease, particularly an electrically driven doorbell.

Does The Doorbell Ringing Mean A Spirit Wants To Enter?

No. We’ve heard this a few times, with anecdotes such as one ring means it’s a good spirit, three rings means an evil spirit and a knock on the back door means it’s the Devil himself.

Now, we accept that for many, the notion of spirits ringing doorbells at all is a ridiculous notion in itself. But the notion that a doorbell ringing once is a good spirit wanting to come in and 3 rings is an evil spirit is absurd on ridiculous. Let’s break this down a little – and hopefully put your mind at rest if you’re worried and assure you that a doorbell ringing is not an indication of spirits wanting to enter;

  • Spirit is not bound by physical objects. Your walls are no obstacle to spirit. They have no need to ring the doorbell to enter your premises. If the spirit passed before your property was built, they may not even be aware the property is there – much less the doorbell.
  • An evil spirit will do everything it can to deceive you. If spirits had to ring the doorbell to enter your premises, and evil spirit would ring only once as it pretends to be a good spirit. An evil spirit will try to trick you into accepting its advice or guidance. It won’t advertise itself as an evil spirit by giving you three rings on the doorbell. Ridiculous.
  • The Devil himself commands the demons of Hell. Does he need to knock on your back door? Nope, he’ll flatten it in if he wants to come in. There’s more chance of the Devil Going Down To Georgia and losing a fiddle competition than there is of him knocking on your door.

A doorbell ringing when no is there is not a spirit wanting to enter. It could be a sign to answer something you’ve been asking for assistance with as we outline above, or a spirit wanting to draw your attention to their presence, but it’s most definitely not a spirit wanting to enter.

Hearing A Doorbell In Your Sleep or in A Dream

Painting of a sleeping person dreaming of hearing bells
Painting of a sleeping person dreaming of hearing bells

This is surprisingly common and can happen for a number of reasons – mostly non-spiritual unfortunately;

  • Exploding Head Syndrome – although this one usually occurs as one is dropping off to sleep or about to wake up (though do you wake up because you heard the doorbell?) and the cause is actually unknown presently. But it is often associated with stress.
  • Conditioned responses to certain noises. For example, Paramedics regularly report hearing ‘the tones’ of their radio or pager as they’re dropping off to sleep. This is likely to be similar to exploding head syndrome listed above and results from extra stress. It seems more common among new Paramedics than more seasoned ones.
  • External noises being misinterpreted by the brain during sleep. Very often we will have dreams which include noises such as our alarms going off or car engine noises. Very often our brain will begin to give us a dream that matches the noises we’re hearing, but the dream doesn’t fully match the noises. This could be a similar thing happening – we hear a noise while asleep which our brain interprets as the doorbell but in fact is something different.

If none of the above fit, and there’s been no external cause for the doorbell then similarly to hearing someone ring the doorbell when there’s no-one there during waking hours then it’s possibly a sign that something is trying to get your attention. It could be your subconscious wanting your attention or it could be spirit.

Again, the interpretation of the spiritual meaning of hearing a doorbell in your sleep is going to be a very personal experience based on context. Only you can know what you have recently been seeking or experienced and wanted answers to. It may be that you’ve wanted a sign to guide you, or some form of re-assurance that someone recently departed is still OK. All of these things could be presented as you hearing a doorbell in your sleep.

Summary

The most likely cause of a doorbell ringing and no-one being there, or you hearing a doorbell in a dream is not actually spiritual, though it might be. There’s a multitude of non-spirit reasons as we’ve highlighted in this article. However, if you’ve ruled out these physical reasons then it’s possible that spirit is trying to get your attention for something, or the universe is trying to draw your attention to synchronicities or trying to get you to awaken spiritually.

As with many things that require interpretation, context is essential. Only you can provide the necessary context to begin to work out what it is that it all means.

However, do feel free to leave a comment below with your story and we’ll see if there’s any potential explanation for what you’ve experienced – perhaps the community can help?

References:

1: Spark Notes, For Whom The Bell Tolls Mini Essay. Fetched from https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/belltolls/mini-essays/ on 3rd October 2021

2: The New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Judges 6:36-40. Fetched from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%206%3A36-40&version=NKJV on 3rd October 2021

Featured Image by Squirrel_photos from Pixabay