Purgatory pre-dates the specific Catholic tradition of purgatory as a transitional state or condition; it has a history that dates back before Christ, to related beliefs also in Judaism, that prayer for the dead contributes to their afterlife purification, per Wikipedia.
I have read that Padre Pio, who had the Stigmata for 50 years and died in 1968, was a proponent of Praying for the Dead. So, I started saying a series of Prayers for the Dead in Purgatory. I used to have a variety of dreams, but after starting the Prayers for the Dead in Purgatory, I started having dreams of all my recently deceased relatives and later a lot of unknown people.
A few weeks ago, I had a dream that had me visiting Purgatory, which was surprisingly surreal. I was there helping individuals understand what was happening. It seemed that they had no memory of their life, their death or why they were there. I was drawing pictures of who they were and what they now looked like. There was a control room of sorts that had someone in charge, and he told me that they didn’t have that many there now because they had emptied out most of them because they were anticipating a big influx of people due to a holocaust type event that was about to happen.
I had read about a recent Marian Apparition event in 1981 at Medjugorje where Mary showed one of the visionaries, Vicka, the souls suffering in Purgatory. Vicka said she could feel people strangling (gaging) and could not speak, Mary told her those in Purgatory are powerless to help themselves, therefore need our Prayers to move on to Heaven. In gratitude they intercede for us. St. John Vianney once said: “The good God will render us back the good we do for them a hundred fold.”
Revelation 21:27: States “nothing unclean shall enter” heaven, implying a need for purification for those who die imperfectly holy.
2 Maccabees 12:42-46: Mentions praying and making atonement for the dead so they might be freed from sin, a practice presupposing an intermediate state for the dead.
All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
In Purgatory there are different levels; the lowest is close to hell and the highest gradually draws near to Heaven. It is not All Souls Day, but, Christmas, that the greatest number of souls leave Purgatory.
I am skeptical of modern apparitions/prophesies (especially when they have theological messages or secret information attached to them).
Our Prayers for individuals do not go to waste. There is nothing wrong with Praying for someone even after they have passed. For God is outside of time and space.
There is a lot to read regarding that Apparition as it is still ongoing. Mary’s reasoning for showing Vicka Purgatory was to have her tell the world that it was real and to show her a glimpse of what happens there. Mary also showed Vicka what Hell was like and wanted her to also tell the world that it too was very real. They were not meant to be secret message like those at Fatima in 1916-1917, which were approved by the Vatican.
Peace be with you.