Clearing out the Cobwebs

A good friend recently wrote me about a dream she had had that was of particular concern to her. She dreamt that her apartment was filthy, disgusting - and in a complete state of disorder. Things were rotting in corners and she had an infestation of spiders - hatching spider eggs on the kitchen counter. And a cockroach - the ultimate sign of filth.

We both agreed that this was likely a message from her subconscious letting her know that she needed to do a little spring cleaning of her thoughts and notions about how the world works.

Because in dream time any housing represents your mind and in turn, your thoughts, your mental processes (I wouldn't go so far as to say emotions, because there wasn't the presence of water). So clearly, there were a few "rotting" ideas in her head, some stale energy and a lot of garbage that she needed to get rid of.

We also explored what her "spiders" were. What were the "pests" in her head - perhaps ongoing or constantly "hatching" negative thoughts or ideas? Through discussion, my friend realized that it was likely caused by the emergence of a new relationship and how it wasn't exactly what she thought it would be like.. that these thought pests might be her old expectations or notions infesting her current acceptance of reality.

But what I found most interesting was the notion of needing a "spring cleaning" of the brain. Once a year, or maybe more if you're really good, you go through your junk or your garage or your living space and you clean out the old - either donate old clothes or recycle that huge pile of newspapers from the last year. But how often do we do the same with regard to our thought patterns?

How often do we sit with ourselves and say - what's old? what's not working anymore?

This is maybe something worth doing twice a year... because god knows we all gather a lot of thought "junk" every day - notions about what we should look like, how much we should earn, what our perfect man/woman looks like, acts like, etc. And sometimes these things sit inside for so long that they end up rotting, cluttering our brain and ultimately infesting our reality.

I think I'm due for a spring cleaning too... who's going to join me?

Who's Out There?

Exobiology is an interesting scientific pursuit. The crux of the research lies in finding life on other planets. But the life we're looking for is only physical - amino acids, building blocks, a fluid-based entity, carbon-based preferred?? It's all intriguing and arguably a noble cause.

But in a world where we don't even know the nature of our own existence, how can we possibly learn about others? And are there indeed forms of life we haven't allowed for?

I understand that this is where most staunch scientific types will start to roll their eyes or shake their heads (but who am I kidding, they don't read this blog!) - but what if we could prove, physically prove, life after death, or the limitless, undying energy or entities that occupy a different dimensional universe...

These are not beings that are based in the physical world. They aren't sacks of fluid. They don't reproduce (as far as I know)...

I know it doesn't count for much - but I had a very interesting dream back in January (you UFO fans might like this one).

I was in some kind of spaceship - "they" told me I had to go out "there" (meaning space) and handed me a breathing apparatus.

The minute I began breathing through it I was in space. Surrounded by blackness, except that I seemed to be traveling at light speed to a destination.

I approached a large planet - and surrounding the planet, TONS of spacecraft. I internally thought, wow, okay, I believe now (in E.Ts). It was an alien tailgate party of sorts. Weird.

But I quickly moved on - zooming through the universe, approaching and passing through huge, brilliantly colourful nebulae and clusters. And as I was zooming through space I got a little freaked out, because I kind of realized what was happening and I asked to go home. I asked for it to stop.

I HEARD (not just like you hear thoughts but a LOUD VOICE) saying something like 'deinitializing' and I couldn't wake up. I wanted to, but I was frozen. And suddenly in my head my mind was running through images of every bedroom I've ever had, like it was searching for the one I was currently in. It found it and I awoke.

And when I did - I considered for the first time maybe, that there really might be an entire community of physical beings out there who have achieved what we have not - interplanetary travel.

What do you think about the search for E.T.? Are we too limited in our definitions of "life"?

Dreams in Technicolour

Had some lovely dreams last night - one: a musical.

I was in a large room filled with red plush couches and college-aged students. I was sitting with some friends and, bored, decided to stand up, put on a polka-dotted hat and start singing about stuff that was going on. Before I knew it, a friend stood up and started singing too - and then the whole of the room broke out into choreographed song and dance.

The second dream was maybe less theatrical, but very cool also. I was a student, living in a dorm. Between the dorm and the school was a forest one had to walk through. It was a dangerous forest. People had gone missing in that forest. A student I knew (or might have been me) had gone to the school initially for some subject, but had found her true calling instead. There was an aquarium on campus, and as she sat staring through the underground glass at an electric eel of sorts swimming through the crystal blue water she showed me what she was studying. It was the communication of all things through vibration. I witnessed as a sort of sonic boom rippled through the water like a cosmic fart from the eel. It was communicating.

What about you? Got a good dream to share? Please do!

Multi-Dimensional Dreams

My wonderful husband had downloaded hours and hours worth of Coast to Coast AM, a radio show that addresses esoteric topics of all kinds.

Since I was on the road yesterday, driving for 4 hours from Ottawa to Toronto we popped on a broadcast from September about dreaming.

It was a great guest speaker by the name of Robert Moss, who was promoting a new book The Three "Only" Things.

What I loved about listening to the broadcast was that it reminded me of a few dreaming experiences I had forgotten about, where I clearly tapped into something other than just my own subconscious.

Robert Moss was talking about the potential of visiting other dimensions, perhaps quantum dimensions, through our dreams. And although I remain mostly skeptical, I have to say that I have had vivid dreams of visits from passed love ones that I couldn't chalk up to subconscious reverie.

But I had another dream that is particularly convincing as an argument for the soul actually traveling to another place during dream state.

But before you say 'whoa' - you have to acknowledge that it is possible for energy to be in two places at once (in the quantum reality it's the status quo - see the Double-Slit Experiment).

My dream happened thusly. I was walking toward a tall apartment building. It was at least 25-30 floors and facing a big field. As I walked toward it a woman jumped off the 7th floor. I was aware of it, but unattached to the event and I continued to walk towards the building, eventually entering and heading up to my own apartment (because in my dream I lived there). I remember being spooked that I was in the same apartment building where someone had just jumped.

When I awoke I did my best to interpret it. Was I in some kind of crisis in life where some part of me felt like jumping off the balcony? I couldn't think of anything. I wasn't in any particular crisis mode. The dream bothered me for days because I couldn't find an interpretation that suited my current situation.

Days later, however, I was on the phone with a friend who lived in my building. We were talking about what a crappy neighbourhood we lived in. He casually asked if I had heard about that prostitute/drug addict in the building kitty-corner to ours. I said no. He told me "oh yeah, she jumped from the 7th story of the building". When I asked when it had happened... You can guess. It was almost to the hour of when I dreamt it.

Interesting, isn't it.

A real treat on Halloween

It never occurred to me until last night that there really might be something to the notion that Halloween is one of the times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent.

But last night I dreamt that my friend Mikey (who passed about 3 years ago) was alive and well and sitting in a living room having a conversation with my brother (who was his best friend when he was alive). I asked him about it - as I always do - with the ever-so-subtle "aren't you dead?" question. He answered calmly that he had the day off - and was visiting.

I kissed him - for a really embarrassing amount of time. Not in a romantic way - but in a way that was the purest way of expressing my love for him. I felt somehow that by kissing him as hard as I could he would understand how much I loved and missed him.

After the kiss I had other places to be.. So I said goodbye to him and ventured off to begin another (much less important) dream.

My subconscious is such a tease.

Anyway - I do like that it happened on such an auspicious night - the night some believe the departed can touch us. At least we know that no matter how gone they are, they live on in our hearts, minds and dreams.

Stormy clouds

Had a beautiful but powerful dream last night. Today's APOD Picture of the Day reminds me a little of it (see above).

I was in a pond, a natural springs in the middle of a forest. I was bathing in it - completely immersed. Great winds struck up - started blowing and blowing, bending the trees this way and that. The sky darkened, giant grey whisps of clouds rolled in and it got very cold... But I was just the observer, because somehow, the water remained unmoved by the winds - kept me warm from the cold. I was in the middle of the storm, but not affected.

It was terribly cinematic, reminding me yet again of how much I wish I could paint my dreams. They're so beautiful, so colourful, so vivid. In a way, they're so unlike reality which often smacks of drab - with only hints of true depth. Dreams are like reality intensified, injected with drama and meaning and history.

Anyway - any and all interpretations on the dream above are welcome! Thanks guys. You're the best.

Ask

As much as I've been in control of stopping my nightmares in their tracks, I've also been having them almost every night for a week - and it was getting to the point that I'd wake up in the morning a little less than refreshed and frankly I was a bit tired of it.

Last night I did the only thing left in my repertoire. I asked for a break.

I know it sounds weird, but I think we forget a lot of the time that a lot can be done and gotten, simply by asking. But we don't ask a lot, do we. We might hope, we might expect... But rarely do we ASK for things that we really need.

So I asked for a break. Was I speaking to my subconscious, or a higher power? I couldn't tell you. I guess I was asking anyone or anything who would listen.

And I got it. Last night was a nightmare-free zone in my head.

So now I challenge you to think about it - what do you need that you haven't asked for?

Stop!

Had a terrible sleep last night but a good thing came of it. I was in the middle of a horrifying, gruesome scene - bad things were about to happen... Like in a Saw kind of way... And I was somehow forced to watch it unfold. Until...

I became conscious of the fact that I was dreaming. This is not unusual for me. But most of the time what happens is that I'm compelled to finish watching the movie - it's the train wreck you can't help but NEED to see. And I usually stick it out - despite the fact that afterwards I always wish I hadn't.

But this time was different.

I saw the scene derail into the dark and macabre direction it was wont to go - and I caught myself in the dream. It was almost as if I asked myself why I was dreaming this. Then I just said "stop". And it stopped. And my inner screen went blank and I fell into a deep sleep.

I know all about lucid dreaming, but I have to say that I've never ventured down that path... But there is a certain appeal to controlling one's own dreams. Far too often I feel like a trapped passenger on a plane bound for hell - and as much as I don't want to go there, I don't have a choice. My attention, my brain, my subconscious has all been hijacked. And I'm forced to watch the in-flight movie.

I don't know what I believe about the source of nightmares either. My schooling forces me to examine nightmares as my subconscious' attempt to reconcile my shadow self with my light self... But a very spiritual woman and medium once explained to me that it was more than that.

She said that most of us vibrate at a very low level. Just a step up from that is the level occupied by souls on the other side who are (and I quote) "scum of the earth" spirits who are the worst of the worst, incarnate as very bad people and do very bad things. They can't touch you physically or harm you - but when you dream - if when you dream you raise your vibration just a little - they can muck with your dreams. They can implant visuals, scenarios - horrible, horrible images and scenes.

She said that I suffer from nightmares because I'm vibrating at a slightly higher level - and they can reach me.

Interesting thought. Not sure what I believe. But whatever the source - three cheers to stopping it in its tracks. Hopefully tonight will be a better sleep. Sigh.

Dream Dictionary

I had a disruptive sleep last night - caused mostly by a dream I had that is entirely based upon some anxieties it appears I have. I won't go into details because, well - I prefer to remain in the abstract.

But I would like to talk about the subconscious and the dialogue between you and your subconscious and how to develop a universal language so that you might better understand each other and communicate more efficiently.

When I was young my father encouraged me to take note of my dreams. I had fun notebooks where I tried (and did pretty badly) to remember my dreams. It wasn't easy at first. I might remember one aspect - a tidal wave, or perhaps a cliff, or if it was something traumatic like my mother died, then I might remember a little more... But it was slow-going at first. Dream recall is actually a skill that takes time to hone in, it's not as immediate as you would think - and it's not at all like riding a bike. If you don't do it for a while you lose it.

Dream recall is mostly about discipline - literally forcing yourself to write down as much as you can as fast as you can as soon as you wake from your dream. Don't feel compelled to write in full sentences or even in a straight line - most of my 2am entries look more like

Pumpkins

Llama

Flying over trees with Sarah

Looking for medicine

Excited

And trust me, it looks just as foreign to me in the light of 8am as it does to you right now - but it doesn't matter - because I got what counts. I got the people (or things) around me, the elements (animals, food, landscape, etc.), actions (flying, running, skating, etc.) and most importantly, my feeling toward this activity (anxious, excited, sad, etc.)

That's really all you need to figure out what the dream is "telling you". For instance, let's look at this (fake) dream:

Pumpkins I associate with the fall, which in turn I associate with change.

Llamas I associate with things that are funny, silly or ridiculous.

Flying over trees means that I'm feeling free - my friend Sarah represents to me a sort of childlike joyful nature - so I'm feeling carefree and full of childlike joy.

Medicine would be the answer or solution to the problem at hand.

Excitement means I'm excited about the solutions that are out there and that I am looking for them - and it's telling me that I'm embracing change (pumpkins) with a joyful, carefree, childlike enthusiasm.

There. I did it. I dissected a fake dream for myself.

But the real point of all of this is to say that you should (in my humble opinion) DITCH THE DICTIONARY you bought that says that "Llamas represent feelings of security - a shaved llama represents nakedness")... Okay MAYBE that's what a llama means to you, but maybe not - and let's face it, when you're trying to establish communication with your subconscious it's just better if you stop trying to make "green" mean "orange".

If a llama represents something to you uniquely, then THAT is what a llama means in your dream. For me, llamas are silly, ridiculous - and that's what they represent in my subconscious.

When I was encouraging my roommate a couple years ago to take note of her dreams and to start working with them - it was hard for her at first to understand some of the symbolism - but the more she paid attention, the more familiar she became with her inner landscape. She was always on some form of public transportation - always on the move. It was no coincidence that she had recently uprooted and moved to the other side of the country. It was no coincidence that her subconscious felt "in transit".

I had a great dream the night before last (which makes up for last night's little blip). Skip over if you're short on time.

I am running a store of some kind - and I want to take out this doormat for the front door - it's been hiding in the corner of the shop under a trunk. So I take this doormat out, and it has a Christmas theme on it. I'm a big fan of this doormat. Along with the mat, I take out a plant that has been indoors, gathering dust on its leaves.

But as soon as the plant reaches the outdoors, weird animals start to emerge from it - a ferret first, who has been curled up inside the knobby trunk - then a turtle emerges, then the leaves bend and twist around looking for the sun - practically breathing in the fresh air.

Clearly I've taken some aspect of myself out of the dusty storeroom and into the fresh air - and all the little aspects of myself that have been in hibernation are starting to wake from their sleepy states. A great omen indeed!

Just thought I'd share. Your turn! Any good dreams lately?

Heaven's Kitchen

I'd never heard the term ADC (After-Death Communication) until this morning when I googled "talking to dead people". But although I may be unfamiliar with the term, I'm definitely familiar with the experience.

So much so that I decided to stop by a particular site and tell my stories to some people studying it. Because I like giving back to the scientific community ;)

As I was writing it, telling my story for what feels like the millionth time (it's hard NOT to tell these kinds of stories, to pretty much anyone willing to listen), I realized that I should probably copy it and paste it here, for you guys.

Because I don't know much - but I know that this life? it doesn't end here.

So here it is, my account of my ADC from a year and a half ago:

It was a particularly difficult night in terms of grief. I missed my friend more than I could express. I also lamented the fact that since his death I no longer believed in anything - all of my spiritual/religious beliefs had blown away like the wind, leaving me a void of faith. I no longer believed in anything. Nothing made sense anymore. I had previously been a spiritually curious person, but at that moment, I was empty.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

And then I found myself in a kitchen.

It was more like a kitchen on a stage, because only the table I was sitting at was illuminated, and the background was dark and hidden in shadow. The table was white and shiny and sitting at it to my left was my friend who had committed suicide months before. He wasn't wearing a shirt and looked incredibly muscular (far more than he had been in life) and his hair was cut quite short, revealing scars where the bullets had passed through his skull. But the fact was, they were scars, he was healed, and whole. And he looked not just healthy, but strong. Very strong.

I can't recall the exact dialogue here, but I knew that he was dead. He looked down at a scar that ran clear across his heart (again, it was healed). He asked if he had done that. I said yes, and he apologized, said he never meant to hurt anyone. I told him I missed him and he put his hand on the table. I held his hand and felt it. Really felt it. It comforted me.

He took my hand and stood up - aimed us toward a pair of swinging doors leading to another room. He told me he wanted to show me something.

I entered the second room. It was another kitchen (I later found out that his favourite room in life had always been the kitchen). This time it had checkered black and white tile flooring and all white cabinets. There was a sink, and below it all of the plumbing was exposed. By the way, Mikey (my friend) was no longer with me. I examined the spot underneath the sink. There was a wicker basket there with a pile of folded dishtowels in it. On top of the pile there was a limp sponge in the shape of a cat.

Suddenly the cat sponge righted itself and began walking like a cat. But then it shook and all of this water splashed off of it (because it was a sponge). On the breeze, Mike said "See what I can do now?".

I woke gradually from this dream, and not only felt calm but had a renewed sense of spirit - everything that I had believed prior to his death about the nature of life, the universe and everything in it had been restored - and not just restored, but my beliefs had become knowledge. Like I suddenly KNEW the things I had only theorized about before.

I also knew, without a doubt that Mikey was okay, and that he was strong again.

Mr. Sandman

I have always been a vivid dreamer. As a child I suffered from terribly vivid nightmares, and to this day I continue to (on occasion) get held hostage by them.

I suppose being a vivid dreamer is both a blessing and a curse in that not only do I have horrific nightmares but I have the most beautiful and spectacularly healing ones as well. When it's good it's really good, when it's bad, it's well..

But from an early age I was encouraged (thanks dad) to take my dreams seriously, to look at them, analyze them and keep record of them. And I'm glad I did. Dreaming is the only time we are truly able to see into our subconscious and see what's going on.

Last night I dreamt that I was in a backyard pool. There was a boy on the pool deck making waves in the water for me. I walked into the wavy water and as I waded, hip-deep in the blue blue pool I noticed that the sky was on fire with the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. I gave myself permission in that moment to be in the moment and to bask. And I did.

This was a particularly validating dream with my upcoming nuptials in mind. For not only am I deeply enjoying my current emotions of love, harmony and bliss (the water of the pool) but I'm basking in the moment and enjoying the moment. And although the sun is setting on my life as a young and single girl... it's a fiery and beautiful sunset that's worthy of celebration.

I do love dream work... I love helping people find out the meaning of their dreams too. If you want help decoding one, please send it in or comment!