Messages

Hi Sarah,

I say sorry too much as well.

And I'm English.

Is that a trait of being English then Sampson?

I only mentioned this as I have been living away from England now for a number of years (I am English too). When I return to visit on occasion I notice all of the little quirks and ways that were not so obvious to me when I was living there before.

The saying sorry was one of the things I noticed amongst others, it's an odd feeling when I return, its like I have become an observer rather than a participant in the culture.

By the way, I hope I didn't upset anyone or cause offence by what I was suggesting, it wasn't meant to be a generalisation, more of an observation (there I go again apologising, but I feel I should do it anyway!).

I brought the topic up at work today just to see what everybody thought, there are between 20 and 30 different nationalities at my place of work, which makes for a quite unique and cosmopolitan environment.

I asked a few people their opinion on the subject, some said that it was just a quirk of the English language, a few said that it was very English whilst others said that they do it as well and is a common trait in their own culture, so it just goes to show that my suggestion was quite wrong there!!

For me, and I speak honestly, the apologising is partly linked to a lack of assertiveness. When I feel that I am confronted by awkward or difficult situations, I'll end up apologising because I don't want to hurt the other persons feelings or upset them by what I would really like to say.

Through the power of lucid dreaming I have been able to work on this issue, and have already had some very challenging and rewarding experiences. On waking from this type of dream I always feel rejuvenated and refreshed, it's a strange thing to say but it's as if a part of me has been reborn?

I'm a big dreamer (literal as well as "detached from reality"). It comes in very handy, being able to use your imagination. I often spend a big chunk of my physical life absorbed in my imagination. At one time I thought this was a negative thing - now I embrace it. My imagination is one of the greatest gifts I have (in my opinion). I know it has enabled me to have some very interesting OBE and astral experiences.

I couldn't agree more, what you say above mirrors my thoughts and feelings very closely.

S

Hi Nick,
I hope that you really enjoy the book, I'd like to hear what you thought of it too if you decide to get it.

Cheers

S

Hi,

What does it mean, or what does it say, when you spend your 'awake' time thinking about the dreams you had in your 'sleep' time?

For me it says that I show an interest in my dreams, gain pleasure from them and that I have something to learn from them that can be of benefit to me in the physical world.

And what does it mean, if you dread to sleep, and hate to wake up?

Fear amongst other things can lead to a dread of going to sleep. Hating to wake up could mean many things, perhaps one has a strong attachment to being in the dream state, an aversion to the physical realm .... or it could just mean one hasn't had enough sleep!

Dreams, to me, are more complex than reality. Multi-spacial perspective, emotional-visual. But it may be that I'm just detached from 'reality'.

Or it could mean that your actually more intergrated with it?

So why is it that I have started to see a strange, and disturbing pattern:

My dreams are shaped by my reality.

My reality is shaped by my dreams.

And each shapes itself.

I see nothing wrong with that pattern, as long as you make it work for you and not against you.

I have told myself I shouldn't say sorry so much, but I still do

I used to do this a lot too, and still find myself doing it now and then when it's not necessary, you wouldn't happen to be English by any chance?

Cheers

S

Now that is a worthy goal to have, for me anyway. To reach a point where i can manifest what i want when i need it. That's what I WANTED to do against that balloon demon, to call upon a golden sword, but i couldn't get back.

If I were in your situation and I felt or had suspicions that this balloon demon were a manifestation of a worry or personal trauma I would do the following.

Starting on a Monday, for every day of that week up until the Friday (when I know I can have a good sleep and lie in) I will incubate the thought that I wish to confront and challenge this manifestation, it will be a regular daily pattern that I will pursue in the form of visualisations, daydreams and thoughts.

I will focus on how I wish to confront or deal with the manifestation. I will plan it out as if it were an event that was approaching in the physical world that is quite unavoidable. As Friday night approaches I will ready and prepare myself, I will strengthen this train of thought with affirmations that when I dream this night I will confront the manifestation as I had previously intended.

This may not mean killing the manifestation outright, you may want to force the manifestation into submission, become the master of it, ask it what it's purpose is or what it represents.

By the way I've used the above dream technique to induce a leisure dream too, I visited a racing circuit where I had a choice selection of motorcycles at my disposal (my ego has a strong penchant for bikes!) I ended up having a great lucid dream!

So my "balloon demon" could have been a worry of some kind. I found it interesting that it was so vivid for having only been dozing for a few minutes.

It could have been, how did you feel when you saw it? Did you associate it with anything at the time? It could be that the balloon has no meaning visually to you but the real issue is hidden or masked behind it.

I have often found that these personal issues although disguised still give off a vibration or feeling as to what is really lurking below the surface, a kind of wolf in sheep's clothing.

My problems and worries are often portrayed as parasites, it's a clear symbol that represents many things for me such as fear, loathing, repulsion and despair to name a few. Also a parasite is something that feeds off of another living thing, they usually have some way of attaching themselves to their host, many of these attributes share a common ground with personal worries, problems and thoughts.

My interpretation of the balloon if I identified it as a personal demon, may be something along the lines of an issue/s or problem/s that are evasive, difficult to grasp or out of my reach.

Do you have a technique for waking late at night? Or early? I'm often so groggy i really don't want to get up.

I often become restless after the end of a dream/REM cycle, I have read that this happens to everyone to a degree but most people immediately fall back to sleep again.

I take this opportunity to get up, a bit reluctantly at the time I might add! But the desire to remember my dreams is easily enough to get me to do this. I go to the bathroom and jot down as much detail as possible to which I continue to add throughout the day as more detail returns to me.

I find that my sleep doesn't suffer from this as long I go back to bed afterwards and get the full amount of sleep that I feel I need.

By the way, how long have you been practicing dream recall?

I've been able to recall my dreams ever since I was small, perhaps 6 or 7 years old, I didn't start writing them down until later on though. I can still remember many of the dreams that I never wrote down, even ones from a very young age that made a strong and lasting impression just as if they were a memory of a real event in the physical world.

Cheers

S

Hi,
To answer your questions, I do have a quite lot of RTZ projections and experiences and quite a few dreams which have an exceptionally high level of lucidity. My regular dreams are usually lucid if the following is a definition of lucidity:

"Having, showing, or characterized by an ability to think clearly and rationally" Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

As for projection into the astral planes, and I guess I could be going out on a limb here so please anyone let me know if any of you have a different outlook. My current view is that everybody visits the astral planes every night, not everybody may be conscious of it happening but I feel we do it in the form of dreaming. I also feel that this can also be achieved through other deeply relaxed states such as meditation and to a certain extent trances or deep daydreaming and revere.

One reason why I think this is so is as follows, I have often seen it written and said that the astral planes are a thought sensitive environment, a place where a persons thoughts can create and manifest objects or have an immediate effect on the environment about them. Just recently I have been having some dreams where I have thought an object into existence in order to solve or overcome a problem.

I may end up proving myself wrong about this theory, at the moment the main difference I see between any of these states is a question of consciousness or awareness, but don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to belittle the experience, far from it, many of the experiences in my dreams have been very spontanious and quite independent from my own personal train of thought.

For example a guiding presence will often show me how to do something or solve a problem in a way that I would never have thought of. I always find this a very surprising and shocking revelation that there is another character in my dream with a completely separate consciousness to me who has ideas of their own, this is quite unlike receiving direction or guidance from a higher part of myself.

There are always recurring themes in my dreams, off the top of my head a few of the categories of dream that come to mind are, Numinous dreams, Watch & Learn or Teaching dreams, Guided dreams, Confrontation dreams, Healing dreams, Pleasure or Recreational dreams, Reminder dreams, Problem solving dreams, Repetitive or Cycle dreams, the list goes on and on.

Many of the dreams themes overlap too, for example a Confrontation dream (Nightmare) where one is given the opportunity to overcome a dream element that is a manifestation of a personal trauma, worry or problem can easily turn into a healing dream if one manages to resolve the problem or defeat the manifestation.

I have been keeping a dream journal for quite sometime now and have learnt to remember quite a few of my dreams in high detail every night, for me it's a real passion and a big part of my life. Another record I keep and would recommend keeping is a personal symbols dictionary, this can prove invaluable in learning to understand the meaning of ones dreams.

One of the best and simplest ways to recall your dreams if you don't have much in the way of details to go by is to ask yourself questions. For example, if the only thing I could remember from my dream was that I was stood in field, I would start by asking myself things such as, Is it day or night? Is the field flat or sloped, Is there any sound in the field? Can I see the horizon from where I am?  Is the grass in the field long or short? Etc etc.

Before long you will have recalled considerable information about the dream scene, what usually happens is that as you pull at these loose details the whole memory will spring up and flood back in full, (I like to compare this to the mythological story of how Theseus used a ball of string to find his way back out of the Minotaurs labyrinth) this is especially so after one has been recording dreams for a month or two.

Cheers

S

Many thanks for the reply, I found what you said about the tunnels forming very interesting as this has been a common theme in some of my dreams just recently. The tunnels have either led me into new situations in the same dream or into a completely different dream altogether.

I had a brief RTZ experience just last night with some odd geometric shapes too, my vision was about a foot in front of my physical eyes and I could vaguely make out my room. But what I could see were hazy glowing light blue and green shapes and patterns. None of them seemed very familiar or made any sense apart from one, which looked just like a car number plate, I saw this quite clearly.

Somehow I think the sky and stars thing relates to the discussion of 3-D blackness that was discussed on this site at one time.

That's possible as I did feel quite detached at one point in the star dream whilst staring at the constellation.

Thanks again for your reply

S

Why not use lucid dreaming to fix your problems? Become aware in the middle of your recurring dream then find out what the deal is and solve it.

I completely agree, lucid dreaming is an excellent method for resolving personal problems, troubles, worries, dilemmas etc.

I have been using this method for a short while now and have had great success at resolving personal issue.

S

Hi,
Do any of you have dreams about the sky? I often have them and have had two in the past week where I have seen some fantastic occurrences in and coming from the sky, these dreams left me with a very numinous feeling on waking.

Here are two extracts from the dreams, they are quite long so good luck!

"....It is night time, and I am in a small town that is familiar to me, it is extremely quiet and tranquil. There are some old synthetic leather easy chairs and sofas outside on the pavement, this area seems to be a little lower than I remember it being. I go to sit down in one of the easy chairs that face opposite to the Interflora across the road on the other side of the street.

I see that there is somebody led across the top of the chair I am going to sit in, I sense that the person is feminine and quite small, she wears a light blue puffa jacket. I feel that this person is perhaps a guide or protective presence, she feels close and familiar to me somehow, she casually rests her head in her hand, which is propped up by her elbow.

There is a female family member sat in another chair facing me, I see that it is my Mum, there are other presences here too but I vaguely recognise them, we all sit talking and chatting under the clear starry sky.

I'm not completely involved in the conversation and feel quite disinterested in it. I look up to the pitch-black sky and see a shooting star, I am quite surprised by this, in the background I can still hear the voices of the people continuing their conversation around me, they seem quite distant.

I start to see more shooting stars pass one at a time, after a while they start to pass in two's and three's through the sky, some of them seem quite low and close whilst others seem quite distant, occasionally one of them leaves a long thin smoke trail, on some this smoke trail is slightly broken like a dotted line.

At first I think that seeing the first shooting star was special and perhaps a chance appearance but as I see more of them I become a little concerned and have a thought that there could be a terrible catastrophe approaching in the form of a comet or meteor hitting the earth.

My eyes are then drawn directly upwards where I see a constellation of stars directly above me, they look so distant and the group looks quite bunched up and full.

As I watch I see some kind of distortion in the space in front of the constellation, it's difficult to tell where this distortion takes place, whether it is light years away or just a few feet in front of my face, the distortion looks as if a strange kind of lens has been placed over the constellation making the stars appear warped and blurry.

The stars of this constellation now seem to vibrate and shimmer as if they were reflected in water, I don't take my eyes off of this strange phenomena and feel quite detached from my immediate surroundings.

As I keep watching I am aware of a strange object approaching from the blurry constellation, I feel that it is a UFO of some kind. The object seems to take a long time to reach me as it gently floats down from the sky but I have an after thought that it is actually relatively quick considering the distance it has travelled.

The object is now hovering just above and slightly in front of me, the entity is about the size of a slim video recorder and is a matt black or deep grey colour, it is parallelogram shaped and tapers to the front quite narrowly.

At the front of the taper is a small dull square pale orange light. This odd object seems to be alive and conscious somehow, the object hovers in front of me flitting softly like a hummingbird, it seems to be harmless and not aggressive.

It appears to be observing me and I feel that it is here to observe humanity in general. I slowly reach out and pluck the object from the air, it is incredibly light and seems to have no weight at all, almost as if it were made from some kind of polystyrene foam. I wave it about a little bit to experience its lightness but the object doesn't seem to like this very much.

I turn the object over and see some printed writing on it's underbelly, written in a clean heavy white sans serif type I see the words "FNC Land" for some reason this makes me think of Finland and I wonder if the object is some kind of Scandinavian spying device. There is other writing here too as well as pictograms but these are small and vague and I can't make them out very well.

I am now aware that some of the other people around me are trying to reach out and grab the strange object, people snatch and lunge at it and it seems to get confused and disoriented, somebody pokes or knocks it's orange light and this seems to cause it pain or discomfort, I am left feeling a little upset at the treatment the entity is having to endure...."

Here is the other dream which occurred two days later.... If you aren't too bored yet!

"....I am now on a huge American military ship in the middle of a large ocean, all of the crew are assembled out on the deck of this enormous vessel, it appears that a demonstration of some kind is about to take place, a lot of important people are on board to see this event.

I look up behind me over my left shoulder and can see an extremely tall part of the ship where I imagine the Captain and navigators work, the ship is a light grey colour and the part of the ship I am now looking at appears to be as tall as a skyscraper, close to this I also see a tall metal kind of mast, the sort that is used to attach satellite dishes to.

I see half way up this mast an unusual television type object, it is difficult to tells it's dimensions as it is so high up but at an estimate I would say that it is the width of the front of a car and has the shape of a computer monitor, the casing of this object is a dark grey or black plastic and the screen itself looks like shiny black glass.

This object is the focus of the presentation, which is just about to start.
The lens or screen is switched on and I become aware of a strange humming or thrumming sensation and sense a sound but don't actually hear anything, I am also aware that a huge amount of energy is being generated from somewhere on the ship.

I am now vaguely aware of a very brief flash of light, my gaze is drawn up to the sky. I look up in absolute amazement and stunned belief, as do others on the ship too.

I gaze in awe as the previously pale blue and completely clear sky now has what looks like thousands and thousands of thin white chalk marks set against it, some of the marks look very distant almost as if they were drawn on the ceiling of the sky, whilst others appear closer, floating, hanging and suspended in the sky.

It is explained to everybody that what we are witnessing is the latest military development in tracking aircraft, missiles and other unidentified objects through the sky, the thin white chalk marks are the traces of all objects in the air at the time that the lens is switched on, the sight in the sky is awesome to behold.

My eye is then drawn right to the farthest and deepest part of the sky, on the roof of the heavens I can make out a grid of chevron like arrows criss crossing and forming a grid all over the sky much like the longitude and latitude lines that can be seen on a globe. I suspect that these lines do actually in fact surround the whole planet in the same way too.

My heart sinks slightly when I see this and much of the amazement that I had before disappears as it dawns on me that the whole experiment is artificial and man made, the military scientists appear to be altering or tampering with the earths magnetic field to produce this effect and it doesn't feel right that they should be doing this...."

Thanks for taking the time to read, if you have any experiences where the sky was important in your dreams, or you have a theory on these sky dreams I'd love too hear about them too.

Cheers

S

For the next few months I carried on dreaming about her as normal, without thinking it was unusual that she was there. I even had one where someone asked me how old she was and I responded, "about 36 years old" without batting an eyelid! (Now I wonder if that "someone" who asked me was my higher self, or a guide, trying to nudge me into consciousness!)

I think you could be very right there, I have had similar experiences where I have felt that something has been said to me or shown to me in order to prompt an odd or unusual reaction, this in turn has often resulted in a heightened state of consciousness/lucidity.

Your dream about your dog was very touching and I can really relate to how you felt. I had one this week where I was with a family member that I don't get to see very often. We hugged, talked about old problems and reconciled them, it was very emotional and when I awoke I felt a great sense of relief and contentment as though a great burden had just dissolved from my body.

I'll post the two dreams I mentioned earlier in a short while. I'm also thinking of posting two dreams that I had not so long ago to show the progression that I have recently made in dealing with and confronting personal issues in dreams as an example of how dreams can be used to heal personal upsets or problems.

Thanks again

S

Hi Sarah,
Many thanks for taking time to read my post and for your comments.

I also find my dreams and listening to and reading those of others very captivating and exhilarating. I've always managed to remember my dreams on waking very clearly even from a very young age too, and like you I always end up spending most of my time making notes throughout the day and typing them up in the evening as well!

One of the ways that I use to recall my dreams is as follows, from what I have read and experienced most people become restless and may wake momentarily after an REM period or dream cycle has ended, but fall back to sleep again immediately after this brief restlessness, or they may not even be aware that they woke at all.

What I try and do is to get myself up out of bed as soon as I feel this restless state and go to the bathroom and jot down the dream details. The quality of recall from this point is incredible fresh as one is probably still hovering between sleep or is in a very deeply relaxed state. It is a really unpleasant feeling to drag oneself out of bed like this at first, but I have found that it doesn't actually ruin the overall quality of ones sleep or make an impact on ones vitality for the coming day.

Just recently I've been experiencing a lot of contact with guides in my dreams, whereas before I feel that they were just watching and observing me, now they are taking a more active role. This I feel is partly due to my asking for their help with personal issues, I'll make this conscious request throughout the whole day, and if I am focused enough on this call for help it often manifests itself in the form of assistance from a guide in my dream. I have made real progress here and resolved many personal issues this way.

I had two exhilarating dreams last week only a day apart, they were very lucid and grand and were full of strange phenomena. I had prepared them in order to make a post of them, but they are both quite long so I was a bit hesitant at first and didn't want to bore everybody! I really would like to share them though so perhaps I'll post them a little later on this evening!

Thanks again for reading

S

Perhaps you were thinking of something more along these lines:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/beasts/evidence/prog2/page5.shtml

I remember seeing a documentary on television not so long ago where they recreated such a beast and animated it using computer graphics, to see how it moved at speed and attacked it's prey.

It was a strange creature and seemed to share the characteristics of both large cats and wild dogs.

Hi,
Thanks for sharing your dream, I've had one or two dreams similar to yours.

CaCoDeMoN, I thought I recognised the animal in the dream too, I racked my brain for a while and although the colourings and markings are not the same as described in the dream the animal that sprang to my mind was the now extinct Tasmanian wolf or tiger (Thylacine).

You can see some black and white pictures of it at the link below:

http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/introducing/tasmanian_wolf_1.htm

Cheers

S

Hi Aldo,
I can only tell you what I would do if I were in such a similar situation.

If I provided a service that brought others comfort and also brought me happiness in return for performing such a service, I would ask only for what ever that person could spare, be it money or returning the favour in some other way.

I know that this probably sounds like a very idealistic answer, especially if one has bills to pay or a family to support, it may also require or mean a change in ones current way of living too.

Why not try putting a little money aside or take a part time job to provide an additional income whilst you try working like this for say six months to see if you have any success?

If your venture doesn't work out as you had wished then you will have lost nothing but become a little wiser and more experienced.

On the other hand if people are impressed with your work then word will soon spread and even the smallest offerings and favours from your customers will soon add up.

I'm sure if people value your work and your heart is in what you do then the rewards will soon follow.

All of the best with your venture

S

Hi Sarah,
Thanks for sharing such a special experience, I found it very fascinating, as were many of the responses to your post too!

S

Hi Me again!
Just to say, that the answers that the Higher self provides may not always be in the form of a straight forward voice or oral message, although this can and often happens.

In my case messages and answers have often be portrayed in the most subtle ways from images right down to a fragrance or scent.

Being prepared and patient to recieve the answers to ones questions is also a prerequisite, I feel.

Cheers

S

Hi Donal,
I have always felt that my consciousness is non-physical and is multi layered or multi faceted in some way.

On contacting ones higher self I use two ways of making contact, The first is through silent and peaceful meditation. Keeping a clear and uncluttered mind here is important, contact in the form of a voice or images can often arise once this state is attained. It is important that you have a question or an issue in mind that you want an answer to, the responses can often be very surprising and unexpected.

The other method and my most preferred is through my dreams. Keeping a dream journal and learning to take an active part in my dreams has been extremely rewarding.

Once the language of ones dreams is understood and when one can become lucid enough to record and note details it will become apparent that the higher self is more often than not present in a high percentage of dreams, if not all, even just as an observer. Again I feel that it is important to have a question, or the problem or issue in mind in order for the higher self to respond.

I wish you the best of success in finding and making contact with your higher self.

S

Hi,
I've not long finished reading 'The Master of Lucid Dreams' by Olga Kharitidi, M.D. the book has the sub-title 'In the heart of Asia a Russian Psychiatrist learns how to heal the spirits of trauma'.

I was at first expecting this book to be full of heavy scientific references and terminology, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the account of her travels and her experiences are, whilst being very spiritual are at the same time are told in a very down to earth way.

Her description reads very much like a story, which I have to admit at first, put me off a little in the first few chapters. It is a very easy book to read and progresses well and keeps the reader hooked by wanting to know where her adventure is going to lead her.

The book does contain a few harrowing accounts of the suffering that some of her patients have been through. Other historic stories also contain similar themes, the underlying subject of the 'spirits of trauma' is very well explained and did make a strong impact and connection with me.

I found that the book really comes into it's own in the second half especially the last four chapters. The description of the author's mystical experience in helping a trapped soul and another of her close friend are very moving, vividly told and I felt that they were full of sincerity and intelligence, the advice given by her guide Michael seemed very astute and wise.

I found that there was much to be gleaned from this book, especially in the way to treat such 'spirits of trauma' through working with dreams and lucid dreams, much of what was discussed in the latter paragraphs of the book made quite an impact on me and to my own dreams in a very helpful way.

I would definitely recommend this book to all, especially those that are interested in using their dreams and lucid dreams as a means for personal healing.

Cheers

S

Hi,
I have been doing a lot of what I would call dream therapy just lately, most of this has been problem solving and confronting personal issues, this has been a very cathartic and cleansing experience.

Some of these problem-solving dreams have been very difficult and have often been unpleasant, but I have started having a lot more contact with guides in my dreams and they have been helping me a great deal.

The dream below is one that I have had just a few days ago, it followed a series of difficult and unpleasant dreams, the dream was a nice adventure and quite exciting.

This dream for me shed further light on the visual nature of the language of the subconscious and the way it uses symbols, here is the dream extract:

"It is daytime sunny and warm, I am in contemporary times and am walking half naked wearing only a t-shirt with a young guy of Mediterranean origin who I feel is probably Greek, I also feel as if we are in Greece too.

As I walk past people I cover and hide my genitals with my hands as I am embarrassed, I don't want to hide myself but feel somehow impelled to do it, on occasion I pull my t-shirt over my lower parts too, whilst at other times I try to walk freely without hiding myself.

We are both walking on a road or pavement that runs alongside a seafront. My place of work which seems like a mixture of past and present workplaces is in front of me in the form of an odd long bungalow type of office building with a shop like front that is thatched with dry light brown palm leaves.

It is made aware to me that I am owed some money from my employer, it is remuneration or back pay of some kind and has to be given to me. I go inside the offices with a bit of prompting and backing from my Greek friend.

The employer doesn't want to seem to give me my money but I don't actually get as far as the personnel offices to question this, perhaps because of an issue I have with my own nakedness? The Greek guy and I walk out of the offices and onto the seafront.

We then walk down onto the beach together, the sand feels warm and soft as I feel it between my toes, it is all dry and loose and feels quite pleasant, I sense the sea not too far away to my right.

As I look down at the sand I can see golf ball sized holes and tunnels or cracks in the sand. In the holes and cracks I can see very spindly legged spiders crawling about, they have very large abdomens but their legs seem disproportionably thin and spindly like the legs on a daddy long legs. They don't seem too threatening but we both step off of the beach and onto the pavement.

The Greek guy wants to buy us both a something to eat, we walk through some small streets that the Greek guy seems to know and be familiar with, we both eventually come to a traditional snack shop that resembles a kebab snack bar.

The Greek guy seems to be familiar with the owner, the Greek guy doesn't seem to have the money to pay for the snacks or the owner doesn't have the snacks available that we have chosen. I would also like a soft drink too and see a lime green crushed ice drink that I want.

The server, almost consolingly, offers us both a tub of popcorn, we share a little and then continue on our way.

We now find ourselves at the top of a familiar hill in England, the Greek guy gets onto a little moped like racing bike, it's painted a sparkly purple colour, he wants me to get on the back of the bike, I get on apprehensively.

I've never been a passenger on a bike like this before, I don't have any control and put all of my trust in the Greek guys riding, we set off. I can clearly hear the ring a ning ning of the two stroke engine below me.

I feel a bit shaky even though we aren't travelling that fast, I want to hold onto something, I then realise that a roof has just appeared over the bike, it has grab handles set into the roof onto which I hold, I pull my arms in close and feel a lot more stable and comfortable.

We travel down the hill and turn right at the fork in the road down into a smaller road that I am familiar with. The road is lined by nice houses on either side, I feel the steepness and speed as we descend the hill.

The Greek guy then slows to make a right turn down a very small footpath like lane. I think to myself that he actually rides quite sensibly and very well, all of a sudden though he speeds up rapidly, I feel the acceleration as we head off down the path at breakneck speed.

He then unexpectedly deviates off of the path onto a small overgrown grassy area for a brief moment. He then makes the bike jump into the air as we leap off of the hill, the sensations feel very real as we seem to float and rush very high through the sky, this all seems to happen in slow motion. I like the sensation and am very excited but at the same time it feels dangerous.

I see a factory roof some way below us approaching rapidly, it resembles a factory that I used to work in, the Greek guy brings the bike down to land on the roof. The landing is smooth but at the same time quite hard and either a part of the bike and/or the roof breaks on impact, I feel that a large skylight has been broken and cracked.

I walk over to or am thrown near the edge of the roof and feel as though I should have fallen over the edge, the Greek guy tells me that there was no need for me to have fallen or to be concerned, I feel quite nauseas at the height, I feel giddy and as though I could fall at any moment.

I turn around to the Greek guy but to my surprise I see that as he removes his crash helmet he has transformed into a friend, Luis. Luis wants us both to go down through the broken skylight into the factory, I'm slightly hesitant but follow him anyway.

The skylight leads us both into the office of a manager, the walls are all glass which have a view out onto the factory floors, we seem to be on the third floor at the moment, the office looks quite typical with a switched off or dormant computer screen.

We both realise that it is still early in the morning and nobody has arrived for work yet, Luis seems to be here just for the adventure. We speak quietly as we rummage, look around and explore. All of the time I feel quite tense and afraid of being caught but at the same time it is all very exciting.

We head off out through the office door to have a look around on the factory floor, we stay nearby to one another but look around individually, I start to go down some typical factory iron steps with railings which lead to the next floor below.

Half way down the stairs I see a group of workers all talking about the days work that is ahead of them, it's a kind of briefing. I see an old manager stood amongst the group listening attentively, they don't see me but I panic and quickly go back to look for Luis.

I find him and tell him that there are people already in the building, I worry thinking that I'll be in trouble for breaking in and that they may call the police, Luis is calm and tells me not to worry and that he has a solution.

He then transforms into the semblance of a high ranking past employee of the company, I am really impressed with this piece of ingenuity, we then proceed to walk down onto the ground floor.

I sense that Luis wants me to act as if I'm being given a tour or am being shown around by him, his appearance is quite different and he wears a lightly pin striped brown suit. His face is also quite different, it is lightly tanned and he has longish wavy black hair. He looks a bit Italian in this guise and very authoratative and manly, but I really know deep down that it is Luis.

The ground floor is very busy and full of workers and huge heavy stationary machinery, people nod, say hello and acknowledge Luis in his new form and semblance, but they look at me a little suspiciously.

There is a lot of noise down here as well as activity, everybody seems to be busy working and attending to their machines, the workers are also supervised too. One of these supervisors acknowledges Luis in his new form and they share a few words, I feel a strange sense of innocent mischief and have to hold my happiness and giggles as the supervisor is taken in by Luis disguise.

There seems to be a bit of industrial grime and waste material lying about here and there, nothing too out of the ordinary for a factory, although the machines appear quite new and modern, I never actually see what is being produced here though.

I suddenly realise that I have lost contact with Luis, I panic and look for a way out, I see many doors but most seem automated somehow and close in front of me as I approach them, these doors appear heavy and are similar to the doors that fold like a concertina in a sideways fashion.

I then see a much larger set of doors in an a large alcove like area, the doors are huge and have the appearance of very thick and battered dusty lead. Every now and then a massive once yellow dusty dump truck comes in or goes out through these heavy automated doors.

I see that these trucks are carrying a dusty substance similar to powdered cement in the scoops, the scoops are always full. As I continue to watch I catch a glimpse of an idyllic countryside scene outside through the doors.

I calm myself and realise that if I wait and time it right I can run out through the heavy doors at the same time as one of these dumper trucks leaves or enters, it's not too long before the heavy doors open and I make my bid to get outside.

As I run I can here workers shouting after me but I keep going, I almost get caught in the doors as they close surprisingly quickly.

Outside, the factory seems distant and the air is quiet and peaceful, the busy humming sound of the factory has been left behind me. Directly in front of me I see a small patch of waste land where these trucks have been dumping their dust into huge piles, the dust is surrounded by a bank or small hill with bushes and trees and has grass growing in and around it.

I sense somebody call me from my left, I turn to see who is calling me, I expect it to be Luis, as I turn I see a vague outline and form of a person sat on a large grassy mound under a tree.

It becomes clear to me that this presence is a friendly guide who played the part of the Greek guy, Luis and the Old high ranking employee. It all seems so surprisingly simple and wonderful, I feel elated at this realisation.

The difference now is that the guide has an identity all of his own, I can't see him very well with my physical eyes as he seems blurry, I can see him more easily in my minds eye, we joke and laugh at our adventure, I go up onto the mound to join him and sit down beside him."

The symbology of the dream is clear to me and quite easy to understand how it relates to my life at the moment, you may also recognise some of the dream symbols from your own dreams perhaps?

What really surprised me though was how the guide wasn't there to just solve my problems for me.

I felt that he/she or it was always there if I needed their help, but more often than not the guide was being quite pushy and forcing me to take a more active part in the experience.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Cheers

S

Hi Shrike,

I think that when it correctly represents the physical world, that it might be your conscious mind exerting some pull over it, saying stuff like "no, water makes you float" and from the pounding of the physical reality into your mind, like gravity. You've never flown off the planet before so why start now type of deal. To break this impression you need conscious thought, ie lucid dreaming.

I agree, conditioning can play a big part in dreams. Perhaps our sub-conscious also bends reality because that is often the best way to get a point or message across, a kind of shock tactic?

Also an event like sinking to the bottom of a river like a stone, if it feels unnatural enough could easily act as a trigger to a lucid dream if the dreamer is prepared for it or recognises it as a trigger.

BTW, I hear that the car dream you had is very common among people trying to run from things that are quickly catching up to them. an example: not studying for an exam and having this dream the night before it, it means that you are trying to avoid it, but deep down you know it's unavoidable. Another interpretation is that you feel that something in real life is not progressing how you had hoped/in the amount of time you had hoped. Which one depends on if the car actually gets going or just putters around.

Thanks for the interpretations! I can actually relate to both of them, some months ago I had been in situations similar to the ones that you mention.

I have since confronted the problems head on and worked through most of them, I feel that I have achieved great success with my dream work and this has been reflected in the dreams I am currently having.

I am a strong believer in the power of dreams to heal, especially lucid dreams. If I give a little time in order to carefully record and analyse my dreams they repay me by providing me with all of the answers that I need to solve any personal issues.

I also believe that once ones personal issues, problems or inner demons have been resolved then that is when the lucid dreaming really comes into it's own as a means to have truly wonderful experiences of learning and adventure, and to perhaps use ones own experiences with release from emotional baggage as a liberating and healing tool for helping others.

Cheers

S

Hi,

Why does our sub-conscience bend reality?

That's a really good question! I liked your water dream, I have many dreams where Physical, Mechanical and Scientific laws seem to breakdown or not follow logic.

The last dream I recall like this involved driving a car, I don't actually drive, but the car I was driving in seemed to have an infinite amount of gears, I remember crunching through about sixteen gears before I could get the car moving at any speed! I have spoken with friends who have had similar gearbox dreams too!

Going back to your question, I think that it is the way the subconscious/higher self accesses our memories and information from our physical brain.
From my experience anything concerning writing, mechanics, scientific laws etc, the subconscious seems to struggle to convey.

Becoming more aware in your dreams can overcome this to a certain extent as one has more power or control over the immediate environment.

Another reason for these anomalies, I think, are that the subconscious communicates best in a purely sensual way, these could be visual, aural, oral, tactile or olfactory ways, ways that are far easier to pose a message or make a point, rather than having to rely on a logic that is only relevant in the physical world.

Of course the dream you had may have more than one interpretation, it could simply be your subconscious recalling your science lesson, or there may be a more cryptic meaning lying behind the symbolism.

It's a really good question and I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and views on it.

Thanks for sharing

S

Hi,
I've read 'Exploring the world of lucid dreaming' too, I found the book very helpful and useful, many of the techniques described have worked for me.

Although the book is touted as 'Scientific' and from what I had read in reviews and heard I was expecting the book to be a hardened, one-sided, cold, technical viewpoint of dreams and dreaming.

I was pleasantly surprised at how often Stephen LaBerge made reference to Tibetan methods and techniques of reflection and meditation, the 'Healing dream' chapter was particularly good.
Although I found there was hardly any reference to OBE's or Astral projection apart from those mentioned in the case studies.

In my experience doubt wasn't such a barrier, I suppose it was more fear of the unknown, but I did have doubts lurking in the background, that was until my first RTZ projection!

After having had quite a few RTZ projections I'm in no doubt that the Spirit or Soul can leave the body, I'm also starting to believe, and have also read too, that the state we enter when we sleep and dream is within the Astral planes, we therefore visit it every night.
I think the reason many people don't recall experiences is a question of memory and how conscious or aware one was within the experience.

After reading his book, I have come to make LD synonymous AP. I know Robert the Bruce's Treatise mentions that he believes that LDing is a weak form of AP, but Steven Laberge describes what he calls the WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dream) which is a method that sounds all too similar to Robert Bruce's projection technique. My point: What Laberge calls LDing, The Bruce calls APing. They are one and the same.

I believe that these phenomena are perhaps one and the same, and so perhaps are dreams too, it's the state of consciousness or awareness that make the difference .... although the RTZ projections I have feel quite detached from my dreams and lucid dreams .... this has  puzzled me quite a bit?

You are right the book is definitely worth a read, the techniques alone are worth it as are the interesting case studies.

S

Hi Wisp,
Are you tired at the moment and getting enough sleep? I have found that my dream recall can be difficult and hard work if I haven't had enough sleep, but in general I have learnt to recall between 2 and 6 dreams a night, every day.

A trick that works for me is that on waking I'll backtrack on the first dream I can recall and then journey backwards in reverse order picking up the dream fragments. It's a real memory challenge but it works remarkably well for me, and gets easier the more you do it, it's often quite unexpected to see how much information can be brought back.

I also find that making a firm affirmation that I will remember my dreams on waking works very well just before going to bed.

When I first started trying to interpret my dreams I often read too much into the symbols, which resulted in a distorted or incorrect interpretation. I now realise that my subconscious/higher self speaks to me in the most basic and simple way possible in order for me to try and grasp what it is trying to convey.

I didn't realise the simplicity of all of this for quite some time, but now it makes perfect sense that the subconscious mind isn't there to confuse or confound, but is there to enlighten and provide help, assistance, answers and challenges.

I had a dream two nights ago that was similar to Nay's in a way, I felt the dream was a direct result of dealing with some emotional baggage in awakened state that had been troubling me for some time, I'll post it a bit later on in a separate thread.

If your dream of the armoured man, the wall and the woman's voice had been my dream I might interpret it in the following way, I pick the following elements as they seem to be the key symbols in your dream, of course this is only one possible interpretation and I'm using the most basic kind of interpretation of the symbols:

The man is armoured which could be seen as meaning he is ready for a confrontation or conflict, he approaches a division, obstacle or barrier, which is represented by the wall.

On the other side of the wall a woman can be heard but not seen, in a way she is disembodied, perhaps powerless? it is only her voice that we hear from behind the wall.

She comes across as being evil, why is she like this? Maybe it's because she feels trapped where she is?

The fact that she is behind the wall could be seen as being a form of defence, hiding, a retreat or protection.

The female voice is threatening and lays down a challenge or a taunt to the armoured man, it's as if she wants him to enter her realm for a confrontation.

Perhaps the dream represents a reconciling or coming together of feminine and masculine aspects? The confrontation isn't going to be easy but a challenge has been laid down and through this conflict may come a resolution.

Just an idea, it probably has no bearing on your experience. You mention that your dream was lucid, I have found that many of my lucid dreams often don't serve as a theatre for learning but as a means of experiencing unrestricted play, pleasure and liberation.

Nay, sorry to have gone off your original post there, I guess I got a bit carried away!

Cheers

S

I had a very vivid lucid dream last Monday, I found my sense of vision pushed to new boundaries of clarity and seeing.

I have mentioned a lucid dream trigger I am going to start experimenting with at the foot of my post, you may want to try it if you are familiar with or like to use MILD techniques, anyway here is the lucid dream extract:

"It is daytime and I am knelt down in our small garden at the rear of our flat, I am digging a hole through the turf and into the soil with a small hand trowel.

As I continue to dig into the earth it starts to loosen up and digging becomes easier, as I dig deeper I start to find pieces of broken pottery in the ground, the pottery appears to be an off white colour and is glazed.

On further inspection I notice that there are images in the form of faded black and white or dark sepia coloured photographic pictures of me when I was younger on the pottery pieces.

As I look at the pictures I hear a soft voice tell me that I am dreaming, I sense that the voice is feminine, as she finishes speaking I suddenly feel a huge shift in consciousness, I find myself just as conscious as I am in the awakened state, if not more so.

I now see the pictures on the pottery with such a flawless clarity, each element in the garden seems to be one and the same, from the smallest right up to the most grand.
Everything I see in my field of vision is ultra real and alive, the whole scene shimmers or vibrates with a glorious soft and warm metallic light.

Suddenly everything becomes dark and I feel that I may have blacked out. I feel heavy, sluggish and slow vibrations, the vibrations also feel distant or faint, I try to push for an OBE but wake out of the blackness from a mixture of excitement and amazement at how lucid I was in the dream."

Something that occurred to me after I awoke was that for as long as I can remember I've never seen a close up still picture of myself in a dream, I often see myself as an observer in the physical form but have never seen an independent still reference of myself up until now.

I'm certain that part of the reason I became so lucid was that I was looking at images of myself, this briefly focused my attention inward rather than outwards into the external dreamscape, the voice was also a wonderful help and a magnificent surprise, there was no way I could miss a prompt like that!

I'm going to keep up the MILD techniques I've been using but I'm also going to experiment by looking at photos of myself (Yes I know it sounds very narcissistic! ) before going to bed to see if I can trigger a similar experience again.

Thanks for reading

S

Hi,
I had an fascinating dream last Friday that involved some interesting symbology, it was unusual in the fact that the concept was surprisingly well presented, and I felt that it's message was quite clear, here is the account:

"It is daytime and I am in a large open area in the depths of a jungle. In front of me I am witnessing a special kind of phenomena, there is what looks like a huge spiral between approximately 500 to a 1000 feet across floating halfway between the trees in mid air.

It slowly rotates clockwise and resembles a much smaller version of what a galaxy looks like.

On closer inspection I see that the rotating disk is made up of millions and millions of animals, each animal holds onto the animal it depends upon for its survival. I see that the smallest animals such as insects are near the centre, with mammals being nearer the outer part of the disk.

At the very outer edge of the disk are human beings, some human beings are only just managing to hold on to the next animal group in front of them, whilst others have completely lost there grip and have fallen to the jungle floor below, the humans that roam the forest floor appear to be cannibalistic and base in a nature."

I would assume that the dream is showing the fragile nature of our eco system and how we all depend upon something or somebody else for our survival, also with a reference to what happens if we let go and detach or try and live outside of this fragile chain.

Thanks for reading, any comments or thoughts are more than welcome.

Cheers

S

Hi,
I enjoyed reading your dream entry, the male dream character sounded very interesting, perhaps he could be your Animus, the masculine aspect of your unconscious personality?

Or maybe he could have been a guide of some kind? in my dreams I often feel a presence just out of view observing my actions, just recently this presence has offered verbal and pictorial advice at certain points in my dreams.

It funny how I was questioning about this guy right after the dream yet, I could barely remember how it felt without going back and listening to it. You would think he would be the one thing I remember the clearest....veeery interesting.

What you said above just goes to show how delicate and elusive dream memories are, I find that recording dreams as soon as I wake is extremely important if they are to be remembered or worked on.

Often if a few dream threads can be held onto then one can start to reel the rest of the dream in, just like following one end of a ball of string to it's centre.

Thanks for sharing

S