We Meet in Dreams by Diana Souza <design>

BOOK DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION

Dianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;Souza

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FIGARO BOOKS www.figarobooks.com NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Some of the names in this book have been changed, and in some cases identifying features and places have been altered to protect identities. However, my clairvoyant experiences and dreams and those of others have not been altered in any way, save for the above changes of name and occasionally place. The interviews were taken down verbatim, and remain unchanged as well.

We Meet in Dreams

A New Interpretation of Dreams by

Laurie Conrad design & ornament

Diana Souza

Table of Contents

Preface & Introduction

WE MEET IN DREAMS

We Meet in Dreams Dream or “Dream”? Whose Message Was It? Nightmare or Dream Visit?

5 10 13 15

“DREAM” VISITS TO & FROM OTHER REALMS

II 19 21

Introduction Visits from Grandmother & The School Bus Priscilla The Visit Nancy

The Letters & The Pink Dress Eileen Maceri

The Mountain Michele Nappi

A Visit to Grandmother George

My Friend Chistopher Meets St. John the Baptist Christopher

The Helpers Diane

The Beautiful Island Lucia Musso

A Message from Bert Lucia Musso

In the Meadow Kerry

The White Room Kerry

DREAM OR ACTUAL VISIT?

IV 63 66 67

“DREAMS” ABOUT THE FUTURE

The Bike Ride Don Allen

The Crash Gail Lindstrom Jones

The Interview JD

The Sparklers Anne Rhodes

V 85 88

“DREAMS” ABOUT OTHER PLACES ON EARTH

The Fence MG

VI 97

DREAM VISITS FROM FELLOW INCARNATES

A Visit From a Guru Lucia Musso

How Can We Tell the Two Apart? How to Analyze “Dreams” Dream or “Dream:” A Simple Checklist

The Sky JF and Guinivere In the Hospital Dawn Cranie

The Wall The Shop Maxine Oesterling

Billy Lucia Musso

ToC

III 51 55 57

ToC

REPEATING DREAMS

The House with a View Diana Souza

VII 103

Concerts in Another Realm John

106

Nightmares: The White Walls Kerry

108

SYMBOLIC DREAMS

VIII 119

The Crystals Mabel Beggs Transparent Realms Lucia Musso

124

Finding Compassion Lucia Musso

126

The Conference

127

NIGHTMARES OR VISITS TO LOWER REALMS?

Nightmares or Dream Visits?

Introduction The Room Without Windows Dave Steals a Car Beth Dave Takes a Train Beth I Visit Lower Astral Realms in “Dreams” On My Own: A Ride in a Stolen Car At the Carnival: I Visit a Friend I Bring Adrian to the Lecture On the Hilltop: I Meet Louise The Fake Police & Crooked Priests: More Mayhem

133 135 142 145

148 153 156 160 162

166

Chased by Kidnappers an anonymous friend

167

The Basement Murders Kerry

170

Chased by Men & A Visit to a Punk Realm Lucia Musso

172

The Movie Theater Lucia Musso

Slow Motion and Zombie “Nightmares” 175 The Castle Kerry 178 180 184

Analyzing “Dream” Visits to the Lower Realms Checklist: Nightmare or “Dream” Visit? How to Stop Going to Lower Realms in “Dreams” Lucia Musso, Diana Souza and George

X 189

NIGHTMARES OR UNFRIENDLY INCARNATES?

XI 195

VISITS TO HIGHER REALMS IN “DREAMS”

196

A Meeting with Muktananda JF

199

Mabel Gives a Lecture in Another Realm Mabel Beggs

203

Fran Visits God

Rosie Almost Goes to Bosnia or Bosnia Comes to Her Dawn Cranie

Levitation Class Lucia Musso

ToC

16 4

More Dream Visits to Lower Realms The Moans George

ToC

FLYING “DREAMS”

Learning to Fly in “Dreams” Using a Slate Rock Danielle

XII 207

Flying with New Friends Cate Praetorius

210

Astral Travel Dennis Puffett

213

A Flying Master Takes a Student Vanessa

216

SHARED “DREAMS”

XIII 221

Introduction Shared Dreams from Others Dinner with Grandmother Alessio

222

The Giraffes Lucia Musso

224

Visit to a Heavenly City Robert Milota

226

Shared Dreams about Anthony and Wisdom’s Goldenrod Night Classes with Anthony Night Classes with Tony: You Were There? An Interview with Lenny

228 232

Beyond the Gates Paula

234

When You’re Ready An Interview with Carol Bigio

236

The Cave Anonymous

238

The Message Anonymous

242 243 244

My “Dream” About the Library The Exam The Midnight Sun Anonymous

246

A Message from Anthony An Interview with Cindy Stillman

248 249 250 251 252 254

My Shared Dreams The Cliff The Cathedral The Party Louise The New Room The Cape and the Walkway A Conversation with Pat

261 263

The Bells: Springtime at Cornell Called to Ithaca Dream Travel: Diana’s Dream

267

Shared Dreams: More Thoughts

271

A DREAM CHECKLIST

273

Epilogue

275

Endnotes

Questions to Ask Yourself

ToC

239

PREFACE In my second book, Realms of Light ,1 I mention and describe many realms I or others have been to – either in waking or in dream state. In this volume I could mention only some of the many realms, on all levels of evolution and virtue, that I have visited while in dream state. I have been to a red hills realm, flatlands with hills in the distance, realms with so much Light I was not allowed to enter, realms similar to ours; I have been to lower realms with endless chaotic activity and buildings and streets as those here on Earth; I have traveled among the stars, visited grand cathedrals and other places on Earth while asleep, realms where people climb metal towers with beautiful countryside below. And I have been to untold others, realms as diverse and varied as we could ever imagine.

1 We Meet in Dreams

I am often also asked what signs to look for when a loved one “dies” – i.e. if we are not clairvoyant, how will we know if our loved one is near us or trying to communicate with us? My first answer is always: if you are not clairvoyant, then most likely you will meet them in special dreams. The next question that usually follows is: “How will I know it was a real meeting and not just an ordinary dream?”

INTRODUCTION

In my work as a Healer for the Distant Healing Network,2 I am sometimes asked to heal people who are haunted by their nightmares. However, often I read their dream and decide that it was a dream visit to a lower astral realm, not a psychological dream, not a nightmare. How do we know whether our dreams are nightmares or dream visits to other realms?

I have written this book in order to try to answer these, and other questions I have received over the years. In this little volume I will discuss the difference between psychological dreams and what I call special dreams, and speak of many sorts of dreams: dreams that are visits to other realms or other places on Earth, prophetic dreams, shared dreams, symbolic dreams, repeating dreams, slow-moving dreams, dreams of flying – and how to analyze these special dreams and distinguish them from ordinary dreams. Some of these special dreams will bring us comfort and even messages from those we love who are now in other realms. Some of these “dream” meetings will lead us to question the concepts of time and space. And some of these special dream visits and meetings will show us that we are capable of all that is embedded in the soul, whether we are consciously aware of those abilities or not.

Introduction 2

We Meet in Dreams

d SECTION

We Meet in Dreams First of all, I would like to say that this book is not a treatise on dreams.3 There are ample works on the subject of dreams, by those who have thoroughly studied the intricate and fascinating workings of the human mind. I have only one real purpose here, and that is to distinguish between what I call ordinary or “psychological” dreams and what I call special dreams, dream visits or “dreams.” In this section, I am introducing the idea that all dreams are not solely psychological, i.e. the product of our own unconscious mind and all that is stored there.

In my experience, and in the experience of others interviewed for this book, we can actually visit other existing realms or other places on Earth in what I call “dreams.” Often, while we are asleep, loved ones who are now in other realms will come to visit us, or we will go to them. The best proof of this that I can offer is in the section Shared Dreams. In a shared dream, two or more people visit the same place or person, either somewhere on Earth or in another realm, on the same night. Later, in waking state, they will have similar descriptions of that person or place, and the events that transpired there. Those of you who study and analyze dreams for their deeper content and meanings might find these writings especially helpful and interesting. Those frightened or confused by nightmares might find that you are not always creating these dreams from your own psychology, but are sometimes going to lower realms while asleep – and I give suggestions on how to stop go-

5 We Meet in Dreams

ing to those realms. And those who have lost someone you love should find solace in the knowledge that at least some of our dreams about them are actual meetings. The terms I have created for this section of the book: psychological dreams, ordinary dreams, “dreams,” dream visits to other realms, dream meetings – I use only for the sake of convenience. In the end, all is Mind. The distinctions I am making here are all within the realm of images and forms, and therefore all that I will speak of falls within the category of soul and psyche. We are not speaking of Ultimate Reality here. No realm will represent Ultimate Reality, nor will any image. Therefore, I have created these terms and mental categories more for the sake of clarity – in the hope that these distinctions might bring us to a better understanding of ourselves and our dream experiences and perceptions. Let me first discuss the nature of what I call, for the sake of convenience, “psychological” or “ordinary” dreams.

The Nature of Psychological Dreams The soul speaks to us in many ways. This communication is constant. And the soul is in constant communication with the Divine. None of our individual thoughts could exist without this Divine Source, and the highest part of the soul is in some mysterious way directly connected to God. As many saints and sages of many different religions and philosophies have told us – in the true, high Mystical experiences, we humans can experience this Divinity or Higher Consciousness. In this Mystical state there are no images, no thoughts, no forms. There is only the divine Light of the soul, or Consciousness. However, generally speaking, we humans receive our messages

We Meet in Dreams 6

and communications from the soul and the Divine in images and in thoughts. The events and images that we perceive in our daily waking lives are how we learn and evolve, cultivate the virtues, and use the gifts and graces we have been given. There is another state of consciousness we have been given for the same purpose on the soul’s earthly journey, and that is dream state.

Dream state differs from waking state consciousness in one very important way: we all share waking state reality, whereas dream state is a private, individual reality. In what I call “ordinary” or “psychological” dreams, we experience only our own personal reality. These dream thoughts and experiences are the result of our own individual, personal thoughts and desires and fears. The dream is created entirely from our own individual mind. There is no shared reality with others. The dreamer of a psychological dream can dream that he is in London, England, on a busy street, holding hands with a close friend. However, this same good friend might say: “I wasn’t in England, I was in North Carolina last night in my dreams, out in a meadow listening to the birds sing.” There is no larger, shared reality in these two dreams. Much in the same way, a person who is hallucinating will create his own personal reality while in waking state consciousness. On the other hand, an infinite number of people could be visiting my home, and they would all agree that we are in my living room. We agree on the reality of this physical universe because

7 We Meet in Dreams

we humans are all sharing the same human vehicle, with its human perceptions. We all perceive the same conventional reality – assuming all our senses work, that we are not blind for instance – because we share the same human vehicle. And the Divine has given this same conventional reality to all human beings. Therefore, we will all agree that we are in my living room, that it is night, the lamps are on, the fireplace is lit, the grand piano is standing in the corner. Now, within this larger shared framework, we are also allowed more personal perception: for example, one person might notice the stained glass lamp behind the piano, others not. Some might think the room feels chilly, others will describe the room as comfortable or too hot. Some of the visitors might decide the room is too small and cluttered, others might feel that it is expansive and large and well kept. A cat might walk in the room, with all the lights out, and still see the room. So the humans would say the room was dark and the cat would say it was not. A hallucinating person might enter the room and say that we are in the Czar’s Palace in Russia, and there is an elephant standing near the fireplace. The hallucinating person is entirely in his own personal reality. Dreams, although also a personal, unshared reality, are not a form of insanity. They are meant to help us learn about ourselves, and they can be instructive and creative tools if we use them correctly. They often can be revelatory, in a symbolic way, and bring us needed information about ourselves and our universe that we could not otherwise come to while in waking state consciousness. Only for lack of a better term, and for lack of time and space, am I calling these sorts of dreams “ordinary” or “psychological.” I am not trying to belittle the symbology of psychological dreams, nor their importance. All dreams, no matter what their nature, can give us truths about ourselves, our lives, the soul, and the world around us. However, my intent is to present the view that there exist two sorts of dreams: one sort of dream is entirely the creation of our own mind – and

We Meet in Dreams 8

another sort is where we actually visit another place on Earth or another realm while in sleep state. This second sort of dream is not a psychological dream as described very briefly and inadequately above. Instead, in these “dreams,” we are actually going somewhere while we are asleep. And just as there are many places on Earth to visit, there are also many realms to explore. And there are also many reasons for going to other places on Earth or to other realms while in dream state, both wise and unwise reasons which are discussed and illustrated throughout this book.

9 We Meet in Dreams

Dream or “Dream”? O R D I N A RY D R E A M S V E R S U S D R E A M M E E T I N G S I N OT H E R R E A L M S

As I have already written, in my opinion there are two main sorts of experience we can have while asleep. The first activity is psychological, i.e. we are working out our own psychology. Here, the soul uses the symbology of dreams to bring us to a higher understanding of ourselves and life. For these dreams the soul uses only information that we have received during our lives on Earth, in waking state, and from any point in our lives. The second sort are actual visits to other realms while in dream or sleep state. In these special “dreams,” the soul does not limit our sleep experiences to our own personal thoughts and images, garnered from our perceptions and life experiences on this Earth. “Dreams” are a form of clairvoyance, or in some cases, astral travel. When I write that these special dreams are not a product of our own psychology, I mean that in these experiences we are actually going to another realm with its own shared reality among its inhabitants, i.e. a “waking state” consciousness that is shared by all the beings in that realm. Every being in that realm is an independent being, independent of our thoughts, and not a product of our own mind and thoughts. What I would call ordinary or psychological dreams are a more personal, individual experience. We are normally not in a shared consciousness for our dreams. On the other hand, waking state consciousness here on Earth is a shared experience. This shared, material reality that we live in is given to us by the Divine – that is why we all perceive the same world around us. And this shared reality follows certain laws – for instance the sun rises and sets. Trees do not stand on one corner today and

We Meet in Dreams 10

then move a few blocks north overnight. In our psychological dreams – our reality is personal, our own. When in waking state consciousness, we humans do not imagine all the other beings that populate this Earth. When we walk down the street, that street exists independent of our own personal thoughts, as do the other humans and creatures that walk with us. It is the same when we visit another realm while in sleep state. Every realm has its own shared reality, just as we have a shared reality here on Earth. All the beings in a certain realm have a certain shared reality, as well as a personal reality – just as in waking state reality on Earth. Some beings in that realm would like the realm they are in, its beings and objects, others would not. But the events and beings and objects in that realm would all be experienced by all its inhabitants, just as it is here on Earth. The beings would all agree that the same events were happening in that realm, the tree was there by that blue house, and had always been there. It didn’t just appear there today, to be somewhere else tomorrow. In other words, in every realm exist independent beings that consciously share a conventional reality – just as here on Earth, in waking state consciousness. In these actual visits with friends and loved ones who are now in other realms – for instance, MG’s interview in Realms of Light4 – her dear friend Rick, from his new realm, would know that he had spoken to MG during their “dream” discussion, that they had met. Afterwards, he would remember what he had said to her, just as she still remembers his message to her. In this instance Rick is an independent person, and not merely the product of MG’s personal conscious or unconscious thoughts and memories of Rick while he was still on Earth. It was an actual meeting, not just an ordinary dream. Rick has, and will always have, an independent existence, in whatever realm he is in. And our love for each other is eternal, from realm to realm.

11 We Meet in Dreams

These true meetings have a mystical feeling to them that is not present in ordinary dreams. It is as though we are taken to another consciousness for these true meetings. And, as many have said throughout Realms of Light,5 these “dreams” can feel more real than our experiences here on Earth. These true experiences do not fade over time. They remain as vivid and as clear as when we had them, even though our usual waking state experiences and conversations from that time period have long disappeared from our memory. We should honor these experiences, savor them, learn from them – and be comforted by them.

We Meet in Dreams 12

Whose Message Was It? Most humans are asleep six to nine hours each night. Where do we go, what do we do? Certainly we enter and explore regions of our selves and psyches and soul that might not be available to us in waking state consciousness. When we wake up in the morning, if we had a dream during the night our first thought is to label it a dream. Whether it was a pleasant or happy dream, or a terrible nightmare, we first wish to establish that it was a dream and not a part of our waking state reality. It is the same when we speak of the dream to others. We first say that it was a dream, so that those we speak to know that it was our own personal reality in dream state, and not the shared reality of waking state consciousness. As children it was not always an easy task to tell dreams from waking reality. Children often confuse the two realities, and need to learn to distinguish between them. In this section of the book, I am presenting another possibility: that while in dream state we can actually visit other places on this Earth, or other dimensions, other realities, or other realms. And we must learn to distinguish true meetings from meetings that are the result of the psychological workings of the mind while in dream state. Why bother to go to all this effort to try to distinguish between psychological dreams and these special dreams? In my mind, there are many reasons for distinguishing between psychological dreams and these special “dreams.” I could not cover them all here, in this short chapter. However, I can perhaps point the way. The most obvious answer might be: to help you correctly interpret your dreams. A friend recently told me of an interesting and important dream she had the night before. It was about someone she knew and

13 We Meet in Dreams

deeply cared about, someone who had terrible trouble expressing her inner feelings. In the “dream,” my friend met with her and spoke with her at length about many hidden and difficult issues. After my friend had finished her account of the dream, I said: “Do you think it was an actual meeting, or just your own thoughts, your own unconscious speaking through her in the dream?” My friend looked puzzled, so I added, “Well, wouldn’t it make a difference to you?” In other words, whose message was it? Were they all my own thoughts, or was it actually a message from someone I care about? If we are using the interpretations of dreams to help us understand ourselves and the world around us, then it would also seem important to know if it were a true meeting with a friend on Earth or in another realm – and if in another realm, what sort of realm. What world and whose thoughts are we analyzing when we wake up in the morning?

We Meet in Dreams 14

Nightmare or “Dream” Visits? Many of our nightmares are either intentional or unintentional visits to lower realms. Recently a friend told me about a horrible nightmare from the week before. After some thought, I explained why I thought the “nightmare” she described was a visit to a lower astral realm, not an ordinary dream. She said that she felt very relieved, and I asked her why. After some thought she answered: “It was a relief to know that the dream was not just my own psychology, my own inner confusion. It is very reassuring and comforting. When I thought it was a nightmare, I was trying to understand it, and I couldn’t make any sense of it. I kept asking, “What am I trying to tell myself?” and I couldn’t find the answers. It’s a big relief to know that it wasn’t my subconscious. That it wasn’t a personal, unresolved issue, or the result of the confusion of my own mind. Basically, to know that I’m not going crazy.” I will speak more about these visits to the lower realms, and how to analyze these “dreams,” in the following chapters. This ability to distinguish between ordinary dreams and actual visits to other realms perhaps takes on added meaning if we are speaking with a loved one who is now in another realm. Was it an actual visit? Was the message actually from the person we love, or was it from our own soul – or was it merely the result of the psychological workings of our own mind? The same questions apply to a dream experience with an angel or saint, or some other Divine Being. In these meetings, to know the truth of a message given to us can be of paramount importance. Why do we analyze ourselves, our actions, our thoughts, our emotions – in this realm, or in any realm? My answer would be: hopefully, in order to evolve. For the same reason, it seems to me that we should also attempt to distinguish between true

15 We Meet in Dreams

experiences and ordinary dream experiences. For the sake of clarity, yes, of course. But there is another reason. In analyzing our lives and dreams while on Earth, you might say that we are really trying to understand the mysteries of Life, and to better understand the true meaning of our existence. Not out of curiosity, or just to gather mere facts without meaning, as a mental exercise – but to in some way contact the soul. In my mind, there is an important difference between having a psychological dream about a little boy crossing a street in England – or actually saving his life while we are asleep and dream traveling. Or actually helping a troubled woman in Tibet in a “dream” meeting versus a psychological dream about a Tibetan woman.6 We underestimate ourselves and the soul. And we unfairly limit ourselves in this way. To treat a true experience as an ordinary dream shows a lack of respect for the soul and God’s idea for us as humans. The main reason to distinguish between ordinary dreams and actual visits to other realms – is for the sake of Truth.

We Meet in Dreams 16

“Dream” Visits To and From Other Realms

SECTION

Introduction In this section are dreams I consider to be special dreams, i.e. actual meetings with those we love who are now in other realms. As you read this book through, hopefully you yourself will begin to see similarities between the various dream visit and dream meeting examples given in this volume. 7 There are certain signs and clues we can rely on to help us to distinguish between the various sorts of dream experiences we can have while asleep. As I have already mentioned in the opening chapters, these special dreams are most often in vivid colors and remembered easily, sometimes staying with you for the rest of your life. But there are many other characteristics to these special dream experiences that help us to differentiate between ordinary dreams and what I call “dreams.” In Section III, there are chapters on how to tell these special “dreams” from ordinary dreams, how to analyze these “dreams” and a checklist for you to refer to as needed. In Section IX, there are chapters on how to analyze these dream visits to lower realms and a checklist to help you distinguish between an ordinary nightmare and a “dream” visit to a lower realm. At the end of Section XIII, there are chapters on how to analyze these shared dreams and a final Checklist which sums up the characteristics of all the sorts of special dreams and dream experiences mentioned in this book. In organizing the material for this volume, decisions were made as to the order of chapters and sections of the book. In

19 We Meet in Dreams

the end, I decided to put the checklists at the end of sections, following the dream examples. However, you might find it useful to begin with the checklists, before reading the dreams and my commentary. This area of dream interpretation and states of consciousness, in truth, is a vast Mystery. There are almost infinite ways to interpret the various images and thoughts and feelings we are presented with in our dreams. My intent, through the different dream examples presented in this book, is to help you more clearly reflect on and understand your dreams. My wish is to also reassure you that at least some of your dream meetings are true ones and the messages received are to be remembered and cherished. I would also like to say in this introduction that the checklists given to you in this little volume are detailed and comprehensive – but it is fairly rare that our special dream visits and meetings will meet every criterium. Some dream meetings can be a combination of symbology and clairvoyance, depending on our own natural clairvoyant abilities, and the clarity of our dream meetings can vary even from dream to dream. In time, you will begin to develop the ability to sense whether a dream is merely psychological – or is an actual visit to another realm or another place on Earth. It is my sincere hope that this little volume helps distinguish between the sorts of dreams given to us when we are asleep, and that the information presented brings you to a greater Wisdom and Peace.

“Dream” Visits To and From Other Realms 20

My Friend Christopher Meets St. John the Baptist My friend Christopher lives in Australia, and he originally wrote to me with a Healing request. Since then we have written to each other often. Christopher bravely lives in great pain and suffering, caused by an incurable hereditary disease. Just a few days before my friend Christopher had this special dream with Saint John the Baptist, I had begun to pray to Saint John, asking him to heal my dear Australian friend. However, Christopher was not aware of this. In fact, I had not mentioned Saint John to Christopher in all the time we had been writing to each other. You can imagine my surprise and delight when Christopher emailed that he had had a dream about Saint John the night before. In the dream Saint John had told him: “We have only just been made aware of your plight.” I immediately knew that it had been a true meeting, not a psychological dream.

Christopher: This dream felt different, when I was dreaming it and upon waking, from a regular dream. And it was clear enough to leave an immediate and lasting impression. I did find it interesting that I should dream of St John the Baptist, as I do not pray to him. I am however open to the Catholic religion, due to my spirituality. It is a good example of how someone can have a favored religion – for me that is Buddhism – without having to abandon all other teachings, such as those of the Christ. They all flow into one, as I see it. I can remember clearly that the scenery of this dream was typical of what one would associate with St John the Baptist. The

21 We Meet in Dreams

dream was, in a way, from my point of view. I could see all that was happening and I watched from a distance, calmly and with interest. The dream was in color. There was a man (St John) who was standing in water (not very deep water). From my position I could see there was a line of people directly in front of him, coming off the shore into the water, one by one. Whether it was a beach or not, I cannot clearly recall. I know I was not in the water, I was standing on either sand or even ground by the water. I was to the North East of St John the Baptist, with him in the middle of the body of water. I was not in the line of people that walked straight to him off the shore, to his North. I observed all this from the edge of the shore. So St John was to the North and West of my viewpoint, while the people came in a line across from me further along the shore. I viewed it as if it moved across a screen – from east of screen, to north of screen and then finally reaching him, nearer to the west of screen. It was not clear whether they were being baptized or blessed. It was more like the crowd was drawn there for spiritual purposes. An older version of a mass. I am not certain they were all there for exactly the same reasons. The common ground was spiritual. To be honest, it felt more like healing waters than purification waters. And not because the water had unique properties. I remember that I was just an observer, but was dressed in light white cloth myself, as was St John. Interestingly, no other person or being in the dream was dressed this way. Those in a line, did not wear the same clothing that we both did, or as each other. I had no personal feelings on what I was seeing, it was pure witnessing, pure observation without judgement or thought. What I remember clearly, was that I allowed the line to proceed towards St John ahead of me, as they were enthusiastic

“Dream” Visits To and From Other Realms 22

and some impatient to get to him. People generally were just slowly progressing in a line, but some were becoming restless and impatient and some pushed ahead of others etc. The people in general, from memory, were in what you might call rags. So more like what one would associate with the poor, or third world countries. I can’t remember races in particular, but I can remember it being multi-raced. I gestured in this manner, that they could go before me, with an open hand gesture I gave towards St John. At this point, St John the Baptist stopped what he was doing and gestured to the person he was currently with to wait where they were for the moment. I observed this and then I observed him walking directly towards me. When he reached me, he put his right hand on my left shoulder and I nodded to him, as a gesture to greet him. He also nodded, to acknowledge my greeting. My recall of what he then said, may not be exact, but I am certain the meaning is unaltered nevertheless. It was very similar to, if not exactly, these words: “Brother. I am sorry your cries for help have not been heard before now, we have only just been made aware of your plight. Your cries of physical pain have only just reached us. The reason you often feel alone and abandoned is that you are very different to those around you. They can not understand, because they are not like you – you are one of us brother.” We both nodded and smiled at each other and he removed his right hand off my left shoulder. Then I realized that I was wearing the same cloth he was. It also seemed that he chose to walk over to me, because he noticed I was patient and unselfish, in allowing the line to proceed ahead of me, when my own body requires healing.

23 We Meet in Dreams

LC: There are many reasons I consider Christopher’s dream a true meeting with Saint John. The most obvious reason is that I had just begun to pray to Saint John for Christopher’s healing without my friend’s knowledge. Christopher himself wrote, “I did find it interesting that I should dream of St John the Baptist, as I do not pray to him.” There are other signs that we look for in these special dreams. Christopher himself says that this dream felt different from a regular dream, and it was clear enough to leave an immediate and lasting impression. In addition, in this dream visit Christopher was an observer as throngs of people he did not know streamed past him; being an observer is often a sign that we are visitors to another realm. And unlike my friend, who waited patiently and even waved people ahead of him, many of these people were impatient, pushed ahead of others in the line; Saint John himself in the dream told my friend Christopher that the others were different from my friend. Christopher easily remembers many details about the dream visit and also clearly remembers Saint John’s message to him. Also in these special dreams we have a sense of direction and where we are – north, south, east, west. Christopher wrote: “I was to the North East of St John the Baptist” and “I was not in the line of people that walked straight to him off the shore, to his North.” A few years ago I was telling someone about a dream visit to my father, and mentioned that in that realm the sun was in the wrong position of the sky for that time of day – so I knew we were not on Earth, even in the dream. My friend said: “How could you know where the sun should have been? How could you possibly know?” As with Christopher, in his visit to Saint John – we just know.

“Dream” Visits To and From Other Realms 24

The Helpers This “dream” was sent to me by my friend Diane, who had just lost her son.

Diane: I had the strangest dream the other night and I wonder if you can help me understand it. In the dream, I was in our finished attic with my son. We spent a lot of time in the attic when he was alive, talking. There was no TV there or other distractions – it was secluded sort of. In the dream there were four young men with him, we were all in the attic. The four young men who were helping him in the dream seemed so very real; two of them just stood in the background. At the end of the dream one of the young men turned to me and whispered: “We are his guides. Don’t worry, we will watch after your son for you” – and they led him away. LC: My friend considered this “dream” a strange dream with hidden meaning and symbolism she could not fathom. I thought the meaning was quite literal: her son had come to visit her while she was in dream state. If you are not clairvoyant, then most likely your loved ones will try to contact you in “dreams.” The four young men were his guides – just as the one young man told her in the “dream.” The guides were there to help her son adjust to his new realm and perhaps to also heal from the suffering incurred by his lengthy illness while on Earth. In my opinion, these four young men and her son were not the product of my friend’s psychology. The fact that she remembered the dream so vividly, that the young men had “seemed so very real”, that she did not previously know about or believe in “helpers” or “guides”on the other side – all this points to more than just an ordinary, psychological dream. In fact, in her usual waking state consciousness, my friend did not even believe in an afterlife.

25 We Meet in Dreams

The Beautiful Island Lucia Musso: Hi Laurie, one dream was about Rick and me in Stinson beach. It was in color and we met inside an ice cream shop. In this Earth reality, Rick was psychic and came from a family that communicated psychically. His mother talked to her three sons this way, telepathically. In this reality Rick had been killed by a drunk driver careening down a hill and crashing into his car which was parked on the shoulder of the road next to the ocean. His best friend’s wife was standing next to him as they were bent over looking into the motor of his Volkswagen. Rick and I were close personal friends. We spent a lot of time together. I was grief struck about his death and I did a personal funeral ritual for him in the redwoods. Back to the dream. We walked out of the ice cream store, crossed the highway and walked into a thicket of trees, probably evergreens, pines, or redwoods. I don’t remember exactly. Then we crossed a bridge to another land. I don’t remember what it looked like on the other side, a beautiful island. What I remember is how ecstatic I felt. Happier than I could ever imagine feeling! I have never in this lifetime felt so much ecstasy as I did in that dream. It was over 25 years ago and I still remember the dream vividly. My dreams have always been in color. Sometimes my dreams would tell me about something I should pay attention to, like a tire that needed replacing. LC: One reason I think this is a dream meeting in other realms is that I already know that my friend Lucia has some degree of natural clairvoyance. Another reason I think

“Dream” Visits To and From Other Realms 26

Lucia’s dream is a true visit with her friend Rick is her sentence: “It was over 25 years ago and I still remember the dream vividly.” This dream visit to her friend Rick reminds me of the waking state clairvoyant experience I had with my friend Daniel 19 on the floor of the gorge, just after he “died.” I did not cross into another land with Daniel, or walk over a bridge – but the gorge was entirely filled with the most incredible Divine Light and Love, a Light and Love I had never before known. It was Bliss, a true Joy – just as my friend Lucia describes it in her story: “I have never in this lifetime felt so much ecstasy as I did in that dream.” Yes, that Divinity always brings tremendous and memorable Bliss, for that depth of Love and radiance of Light is not found on Earth, save in high Mystical experiences.

27 We Meet in Dreams

The White Room Kerry: I had a dream you might like to hear. I was having a normal dream – nonsense of some sort, whatever. For some reason I thought, “I wish I could see Clayton right now.” The dream changed and I felt much more aware. Clayton and I were alone together in a white room – an office? It wasn’t at all beautiful. I gave him a hug and said, “We miss you.” Then I said something like, “Why can’t we visit like this more often?” He said, “You’re not ready yet, it has to be kept pure here.” I sensed somehow that I had to leave. Before I left I asked, “Is it hard to be away from everyone?” He looked sad and answered, “Sometimes.” I said “Well, you can come visit anytime you want.” Then, I felt myself being dragged out/my head becoming foggier again, and I slipped back into the same nonsense dream I was having before. LC: I included this dream for several reasons. For one, I also have been to a white room like the one Kerry described in her dream – to see my friend and singer, Louise McConnell. We met to have a long, serious talk that I now cannot remember, and we were seated on opposite sides of a wooden desk in a white room that looked like an office. We met there in dream state, and this was a year or so before she died. I can only guess that she was telling me that she was soon going to another realm. Another friend of mine, in his near death experience, also visited a white room similar to the one Kerry described; he met his guides there, and was asked if he wished to return to Earth. What I found particularly interesting about Kerry’s dream was Clayton’s statement: “You’re not ready yet, it has to be kept pure here.” In my understanding, no one still incarnate would be pure enough to enter those highest realms.

“Dream” Visits To and From Other Realms 28

Dream or Actual Visit?

d SECTION

III

D R E A M O R AC T UA L V I S I T ?

How Can We Tell the Two Apart? There are no hard and fast rules for distinguishing between ordinary dreams and these special dream visits. In this area of dreams and dream experiences, we are dealing with both states of consciousness and mystical experience. In my life, some “dream” experiences are obvious. I know with certainty that it was a true meeting or visit to another place on Earth, or to another realm. Other times, I am not sure. If I am not sure, I assume they were not true visits or meetings and treat them as a psychological dream.

As humans, we will always be on the periphery, on the edge of Truth. We will never fully understand the Mystery of Life. The only Truth I can ever state with surety, as a human being – is that I do not know Truth. In this way, I am protected from all harm, and also protected from all delusion. It is for this reason, I believe, that Saint Teresa of Avila insisted that we initially reject all mystical experiences. Saint Teresa also wrote that we would know if an experience were real – and if it were real, it would stay with us the rest of our lives. I, as well as those interviewed for this book, have found her words to be true.

The Nature of “Dreams” In these special “dreams,” unlike other dreams, we always bring ourselves, as we are now, on Earth. We will remember our personal history here on Earth, no matter what realm or other place on Earth we visit. When we travel to other realms while in sleep

31 We Meet in Dreams

state, we act and react in those realms in much the same ways we would on Earth, while in our usual waking state consciousness. We will be in character in terms of our personality; i.e. we will bring our usual behavioral patterns, our usual psychology with us. If we are practical and observant here on Earth – then we will be practical and observant in other realms. If we are insecure here, we will tend to be insecure there. We will behave in much the same ways, and react in the same ways to events and people, no matter what realm we are in. And we will be the same age we are now, and look as we do on Earth. We will not suddenly be a three year old if we are now in our fifties on Earth; and the same for the other incarnate friends and acquaintances we know and meet in these special dreams. Our interests and attitudes will stay basically the same, no matter what realm we visit. We will recognize the people we know on Earth, and we will not recognize those we have not met before here on Earth. Neither you, nor the friend you brought with you, will suddenly be a great singer or architect if on Earth you are a mathematician. And if you are an architect on Earth, the buildings you create in another realm will not fall down, crumple before your eyes, as they sometimes can in an ordinary nightmare. Nor will you be able to build a cathedral in a few seconds, as can happen in ordinary dreams. To build a cathedral in another realm, the cathedral would have to be built stone by stone, contractors would need to contacted and given the plans for the building, workers would need to lay the stones. To build a cathedral in another realm would take many “dream” visits. In a psychological dream, we might meet someone we love that has died – but in the dream we have forgotten this. If it is a true meeting, in the “dream” most often we will remember that our loved one has gone on to other realms, and we will not want to

Dream or Actual Visit? 32

leave them when the time of our visit is over. Often they will give us a message. If it was not a true meeting, our memory of the dream will be fuzzy and perhaps confused or difficult to recall. And when we wake up, we will feel sad, because we realize that it was just a dream, and in reality our loved one is no longer in our life. However, if it was a true meeting, often we will still be basking in the glow of the meeting when we awake – and we will somehow, in the depths of our being, know that it was a true meeting. Also, in “dreams” – unlike most psychological dreams – all the beings around us will be acting in a certain, similar way. If we visit a higher realm while in dream state, everyone in that realm will be acting in ways suggestive of more advanced souls. For instance, one might dream visit a library that exists in a higher realm, as my friend Inger did 21 – and everyone there was quietly studying at the long, wide table. If we go to a lower astral realm in our dream visit, everyone in that chaotic realm will be acting out their lower passions. And in my experience you will not recognize anyone in these dream meetings, except friends that you brought with you, or the person you specifically went to see in that realm. This is unlike our life here on Earth, where some people are old souls, and some are newer souls. Some people have control over their lower natures and some do not. Some people lead good, kind, loving lives, and others only wish to harm others. In our psychological dreams, the people in our dreams will reflect this diversity of Earth. However, when we visit other realms – we will find that every creature in that particular realm will be on more-or-less the same evolutionary, spiritual level. 22 These “dream” visits to the lower and more chaotic realms are themselves logical and orderly. Scenes do not suddenly change, as they do in ordinary dreams. In an ordinary, psychological

33 We Meet in Dreams

dream, one moment we could be speaking with a close friend on a busy street in America, and an instant later we could be in a forest in France with someone we have never met. In “dreams,” if we are standing on a street in America and then decide to go to France, we would have to take the proper steps to get there – be it a plane or a boat or some other method of transportation. We would not just suddenly and inexplicably “be there.” In what I call “dreams,” in these visits to other realms, all the beings in that realm will already be sharing a reality. It is a reality given to those beings by the Divine Mind, by God. Because this reality is established by the Divine Mind – all the beings there will partake of it – and so will all visitors that go there. Therefore, these special dreams should be interpreted differently from psychological dreams. We should interpret them more as we would interpret the happenings of our waking state existence. For the larger frame of these special dreams is not the product of our individual mind. For one, in these dream visits, we are not responsible for the environment in which we find ourselves, nor for what others say and do – unlike “psychological” dreams, where everything and everyone in the dream is a product of our own subconscious and personal psychology. This will be seen more clearly in what I call shared dreams, where two or more people visit the same realm at the same time while in sleep state. As you will see in the section on shared dreams, in a shared dream meeting both the dreamer and the friend, as in the example given earlier, would have found themselves at the same place, and at the same time, on the same night – for the simple reason that both had actually visited a place that exists in another realm or on Earth. And they would both describe the place they dream visited in very similar ways, even if they did not see each other while there.

Dream or Actual Visit? 34

How to Analyze “Dreams” Just because we have gone to another realm that has its own conventional reality, does not mean we should not analyze our own thoughts and actions – and our motives for going there. As in our analysis of events and situations while in waking state reality here on Earth, in these “dream” visits we do not have to analyze the situation itself, nor the behavior of others in that realm. However, there are important questions that we need to ask ourselves after a dream visit to another realm: What were our motives for going there? What did we learn? If I went to a lower realm while in dream state, was I trying to test myself, develop a quality I was lacking in myself – such as courage or fortitude or some other virtue? Did I succeed, did I fail? Did I go there in an effort to find a friend or relative in that realm? Was I trying to help the beings in that realm, was that the purpose of my visit? Did I go there out of mere curiosity? Was I trying to learn about their realm and the nature of other realms? And lastly: how did I react to the events and people in that realm? And these questions, if we are to gather the most valuable information from our visit, should be answered as though the event had happened in our waking state consciousness here on Earth. As seen in the “dream” examples and interviews found throughout this book, the reasons for visiting other realms or other places on Earth while asleep are as varied as the reasons we travel here on Earth while in waking state consciousness. At their highest, these night visits and meetings in other realms, or to other places on our Earth, are either for our own evolution and/or to help others. In our visits to the higher realms, we perhaps go to receive the graces that exist there, to be exposed to them and that Beauty and higher Love – and to bring them back here for others. We go there for inspiration and instruction, to find Peace, and answers to our most pressing spiritual

35 We Meet in Dreams

questions. Or we can go to another realm to find someone we are worried about or miss – or someone still on Earth or in another realm who needs our aid, or someone who can help us on our spiritual or professional quest. We can garner valuable words and messages and insights on our nocturnal visits. However, I am not suggesting that anyone, for any reason, willfully attempt to travel while in dream or sleep state, especially to the lower astral realms. The sage Paul Brunton, in his Notebooks,23 tells us that there is a price for what he calls these “night school” activities. However, if the soul should present you with one of these special dreams, i.e. a true meeting with someone or a true visit to another realm or another place on Earth – then I hope that this section of my book helps you to better understand the experience, and to use it for the highest purpose.

Dream or Actual Visit? 36

“Dreams” About the Future

d SECTION

PROPHETIC DREAMS

The Sky

In the stories I have chosen for this book, I believe all the dream experiences25 given were actual meetings and visits to either other realms or other places on Earth. In my opinion, they all met certain requirements I have come to know indicate either clairvoyance or astral travel. However, dreams about the future are easier to prove. If the event happens later in our usual, conventional reality – then the dream was obviously more than an ordinary dream. For this reason, these sorts of dreams need little discussion. However, there is one thing I would like to say about them, and what they can teach us. When I was in my late twenties, living at the State Street house, I had many dreams of the future. One of them was more unusual than the others, in that I dreamt it in black and white. I am not sure what consciousness I was in, but it was a fairly long, complicated dream, ending with a view of the night sky. Ordinary events of a fairly ordinary day led up to this view of the stars – conversations with friends and my housemates, a telephone call, walks outside the house and moving from room to room within the house for various tasks. But because the dream was in black and white, and not especially vivid in terms of colors and visual clarity, I forgot about the dream. It seemed like just an ordinary dream, and not a very important one. However, a few days later, the dream unfolded in our usual, conventional Earth reality. I was not even aware that I had relived the events of the dream in our conventional reality, until the end of my day, when I went outside to stand on our front porch. As I looked up at the night sky, and admired the clarity and beauty of the scene above me – I recalled the “dream” in its entirety. Yes, all the events had happened, as they had in the dream. All the conversations and all the people of my day had

39 We Meet in Dreams

been in the dream. And the sky above me now was the same night sky that had ended the dream. Except for one extraordinary difference. A difference that I had not noticed until standing on the front porch. The difference was striking and unforgettable. There was an unusual excitement about the dream – I still remember it fairly well some thirty years later. However, standing on the front porch, in waking state, and looking up at the stars and constellations was an entirely different experience than that of the “dream.” Standing there that night, I think I finally understood the word “alive” – for the experience in waking state consciousness was certainly alive in every imaginable way compared to the dream. The vividness, the wholeness to the scene, the clarity. As I gazed about me, I tried to analyze the difference between the night in my dream and what I now saw and felt. All I could come to was that the human emotions, the human senses of the body, the clarity of human waking state consciousness – all these played a role, were a factor. There was an emotionality missing in the dream, and I do not mean that in the usual sense of the word “emotion.” It might better be described as an emotional perception of the world than emotionality. This emotional perception added an intensity and a completeness that was sorely lacking in the dream. The clarity of our waking state consciousness added still more, and the breeze of the night against my skin, the temperature of the night, and the sounds and fragrances and taste of the night gave an entirety to the scene the “dream” could never provide. Even though there had been an excitement to the dream, a mental one, perhaps the thrill of being in a less-experienced consciousness – the excitement and Beauty I now felt, looking out onto the street and up to the stars, was incomparable. Incomparable and extraordinary. I was bathed, submerged in the night, suspended in it and yet a part of it. The wonderment was awe inspiring and unforgettable.

“Dreams” About the Future 40

The Beauty and Clarity of the night as I stood there on the front porch imprinted itself on me with such intensity – because I now had something to compare it to. I could compare those few minutes of my ordinary, waking state life on Earth to the remembered dream experience. And in that comparison, I was given to see all the Beauty and Wonder and exquisite Vibrancy of every second of our waking state lives here on Earth. Because of this new awareness, this realization, I would call these few minutes on my front porch a mystical experience. Dreaming of the future, in itself, need not be a mystical experience. Many prophetic dreams, or dreams of the future, are more psychic in nature; they might warn us of a future event, or prepare us for a coming hardship – or even give us a pleasant glimpse into the future to cheer us, to give us hope. But I would call my experience of the night sky, while in waking state, a Mystical one. Has this gratitude for the ordinary, human, waking state consciousness stayed with me? Yes, it has. And that is another reason I might call the experience of that night, those few minutes on my front porch, a mystical one, a mystical Glimpse into Consciousness.

41 We Meet in Dreams

JF and Guinivere My close friend JF has had interesting dream meetings, and in many of them she was dreaming of a future event. Some of her “dream” meetings were with my dog Guinivere. JF loved my big black Labrador Guinivere very much, and they both loved food. Guinivere had a habit of escaping and roaming around town finding forbidden things to eat in garbage cans. My wonderful black Labrador was fairly overweight as a result, and often I wished she would regain her girlish figure. In any case, JF – through this interesting and mysterious connection with Guinivere – would dream about Gwen’s around-the-town eating sprees the night before. Whenever Guinivere disappeared for a few hours, I would ring JF up on the phone and say “Guinivere is gone.” JF would pause a few seconds and then invariably say: “Okay, I know where she is, I dreamt about this last night. She’s on ____ Street. I’ll go get her and drive her home.” And within ten or fifteen minutes Guinivere would be back home with me, to receive a mild scolding – and trimmer than she would have otherwise been, thanks to my good friend JF.

“Dreams” About the Future 42

In the Hospital Dawn Cranie is a fellow healer for the Distant Healing Network. She kindly sent me this prophetic dream.

Dawn: In between having my first and second child, I suffered a miscarriage. A few days before the miscarriage I dreamt that I had a baby; it was a boy, but there was something wrong with one of his legs and he was in hospital having an operation. I didn’t really pay much attention to the dream, it certainly didn’t worry me. But then after the miscarriage I gained comfort from it, thinking that it was my body’s way of telling me that this pregnancy just wasn’t viable. However... the following year I gave birth to my second child, a boy, who was born with talipes (club foot) of his right foot, and at six months old he had to go into hospital for an operation on his ankle......! LC: Dawn had this prophetic dream a few days before her miscarriage, and I agree with her: this dream about the future most likely was the soul assuring her that she would have another child. But I think this peek into the future was also trying to emotionally prepare Dawn for the child’s physical problems, lessen the shock. So often the most difficult events are made worse when they come without warning – for then we also have to recover from the trauma of the event. On a deep level of our being we all know the “future” – but if we are lucky, often the soul will in someway prepare us, make events more conscious in us before they happen in our Earth linear space/time frame.

43 We Meet in Dreams

The Bike Ride Don Allen is fellow healer for the Distant Healing Network.

Don: I had an interesting dream last week that seemed to be a premonition. Since I have retired, I ride my bike everyday. Here in Phoenix that can get interesting with all the traffic. I had not had any trouble. Last week I had a dream that my left leg was bleeding. Well, the next day I was at an intersection and started across the street. In Arizona you can make a right on red. A lady in a big SUV was on her cell phone, looking to the left (never looked right), and accelerated to turn right just when I was in front of her car. It knocked the bike out from under me. You can guess which leg got the road rash, luckily it didn’t bleed as profusely as my dream. I was lucky she didn’t get more of a start or I might have been under the car. LC: In his email to me, Don said he considered the dream a warning – and I agreed with him. It was a warning, and in my opinion put my friend and fellow healer on the alert, so that a more serious accident could be avoided.

“Dreams” About the Future 44

“Dreams” About Other Places on Earth

d SECTION

The Wall Because so many of our dreams are psychological, i.e. a product of our individual minds, we humans assume that all our dreams are solely the result of our own personal thoughts, memories and experiences. As I have said, I do not think this is so. For example, my many dream visits to the Dalai Lama’s Palace in Tibet, which I wrote for Realms of Light.26 I later saw the Tibetan monk who stood at the top of the vast staircase of those dreams each night, in a slide show presentation of the Dalai Lama and his monks, while in waking state reality. And I also saw photographs of the vast Palace and its many steps in a book I accidentally came across in a book shop. There are many other examples in my stories and in the interviews throughout this book: dreams we have had of the future and dreams we have had about other places on Earth, dreams that have later been verified as true experiences. As a rule, I read the New York Times every day. One reason is to know who and what to pray for. In addition, the information can often help to explain inexplicable emotions and dreams I might have. Let me explain. When I was in my twenties, I would often suddenly fall into deep depressions that could last for hours. In these times my thoughts and emotions would become very painful, sometimes almost desperate. The following day I would read that some person in town, someone unknown to me, had committed suicide during that time. Or weeks later I would hear that someone I knew long ago had killed themselves that same evening. Or I would read in the newspaper that a flood had killed many people that day, or an earthquake, or some other natural or humanly caused disaster somewhere in the world. My dreams also reflected world events against the screen of my mind, events that I was not consciously aware of.

47 We Meet in Dreams

I think it is not uncommon for compassionate human beings to feel, on a deep level of their being, the pain of others and of the world in general. Certainly this is true when we read a sad or terrible event in the newspaper or hear tragic news on the radio. Therefore, it seems to me that all humans – because we are all, in some mysterious way, connected on the soul level – would be affected by both the events in our world and by the emotions and thoughts and experiences of its myriad inhabitants. And whether we experience this consciously or not, the fact of our connectedness would still remain. Probably the best example of my being aware of world events while asleep, is a “dream” I had in the spring of 1994. In this extremely vivid and memorable dream, I was in a foreign land with many other people I did not recognize. I can still very clearly see a scene from the dream: I am standing in a street, and a wall made of concrete blocks is being built by soldiers. I am there to stop the men from building the wall, and many others are there for the same purpose. It was a place I had never seen in waking state, and I did not recognize it – and yet I knew that I was in Israel, and I was in Hebron. I began to pray, to pray for peace in that region and for all peoples. My feeling was that others were praying with me. Many of us formed a human line near the semi-built wall, and a stream of people continued to join us as the dream progressed. The dream is still so clear that I can smell the dust and feel the concrete blocks against my hands. And if I should ever visit Hebron in waking state consciousness – I would immediately recognize that section of road. At one point, while I was asleep, a friend tried to wake me because I was tossing in my sleep and seemed agitated. Apparently I said, “No, don’t wake me, I am in Hebron, trying to help.” I remembered the dream on waking the next day, very clearly – and then saw the headlines in the New York Times about the

“Dreams” About Other Places on Earth 48

concrete wall built in Hebron by the Israeli army, in the Israeli occupied West Bank. To make the dream even more interesting, I had never heard of Hebron, Israel before my “dream” experience there. I do not think my experiences of this nature are very unusual. For whatever reason, they are just more conscious. One of my favorite true stories is about a ten-year-old girl living in England during the first World War, Joan Grant. 27 Many nights Joan dreamt that she was with soldiers on the battlefield; she was there to help them, to comfort them, and often with them when they died. In these dreams she was a grown-up, and was dressed in the uniform of a Red Cross nurse, although occasionally as a stretcher-bearer. Joan’s parents, of course, did not believe her, and they basically told her to stop making up stories. However, one morning she went down to breakfast and found a visiting soldier there. For some reason young Joan told him about her dreams of the war; she also gave him the name of the soldier she had just been with when he was killed, his regiment, and the slang name of the dead soldier’s trench. Later the visiting soldier wrote her father a letter: a battalion of that regiment was in battle a few hours before young Joan had come down to breakfast, and a Canadian private of that name was killed. Even the slang name of his trench was accurate.

49 We Meet in Dreams

The Shop from Maxine Oesterling

Maxine: For years, I dreamt, from time to time, that I sold yarns and canvases in a particular store. This made sense since I have done handwork since I was a child. My mother taught me to embroider; then, years later, I took a class in needlepoint. At the same time, I have always detested Tudor architecture. Not in England where it is authentic, but the fake white stucco with fake brown trim on houses that are called “Tudor” in the United States. When Jim, my husband, was working in London, I spent many, many weeks exploring the city during the days he was at his office. I walked through Harrod’s a zillion times, and all the other famous English shops. Once, while complaining to the concierge that I had covered all the well-known English stores, he asked if I had visited Liberty. He said I must since it has been physically unchanged for a couple of hundred years. I looked it up on the map and made my way there. It was Tudor in exterior style and my heart sank a bit. But, upon entering I saw it is truly a wonderful place, with wooden floors and beams and very, very expensive goods. I took the steps upstairs and believe it or not, there was the needlework department exactly as pictured in my dreams. I even knew where everything was: the knitting yarn, the needlework canvases, the embroidery thread. I knew. I knew. This incident was not unnerving or disturbing at all. I felt very comfortable with the familiar surroundings. It seemed natural to me to know that the embroidery thread was to the left of the stairs, and the yarn was to the right.

“Dreams” About Other Places on Earth 50

LC: One of my meditation students had a similar experience many years ago with the Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England. On his first trip to the Cathedral he knew where and what everything was in the church the moment he stepped inside its doors. Later in this volume my friend Diana talks about her “dream” visit to Ithaca, New York years before she physically went there in waking state.28

These sorts of dream visits to other places on Earth, dreams that are later verified, might make us rethink the concept of “space”– just as prophetic dreams lead us to reexamine the concept of “time.”

51 We Meet in Dreams

The Fence This dream is from MG and is a good example of another sort of dream visit. It is partially symbolic and partially the product of her own fears – but still an actual visit, and not an ordinary nightmare. In my opinion it is similar to Rosie’s dreams about Bosnia in an upcoming chapter.29 MG wrote:

MG: My friends Carina and Phil live in Johannesburg, South Africa where there is a lot of crime. Right before they visited here a few weeks ago, Phil was held up at gunpoint in their house in the middle of the day, and all his camera equipment stolen. They threatened to kill him. He was lucky to survive; the loss of their possessions paled in comparison. The dream was in color, vivid. I dreamt that I was visiting Carina and Phil in Johannesburg. In the dream, I was staying in a little cottage on their property. I noticed that there were no burglar alarms on the windows and became very, very scared. I was worried about going to sleep. I went outside and noticed that the property was surrounded by a two foot high decorative fence that one could easily step over, and I became even more afraid. (Unfortunately, due to high crime rates, Johannesburg residential areas resemble an armed encampment – high walls, razor wire, signs about armed response services and alarm systems everywhere). Someone told me that, at night, guards patrolled up and down the street all the time. The house was on a corner and guards were covering both areas in front of the house. The same person told me that it was actually much more dangerous during the day. I remember thinking how incongruous it all was – during the beautiful sunny days, in a lovely house, and yet the danger was palpable.

“Dreams” About Other Places on Earth 52

LC: One clue that this was probably a dream visit and not an ordinary nightmare was the two foot decorative fence in MG’s “dream:” a low fence or concrete divider, a median strip, or a low wall of some sort often symbolizes a separation of realms in dream meetings or visits. In Elisabeth’s “dream” account in Realms of Light,30 her grandmother Louise was on the other side of a “wall of green and blue, and I was looking through it to see her. And she said that where we were was the ‘in-between’ of our two realms.” In other words Elisabeth and Louise were standing where the two realms met. In Gail’s interview with me in The Fluttering of Angels’ Wings,31 a road or path separated her from her friend Sue. Gail said: “It looked like the median on the highway. She was just on the other side of it.” The two foot high decorative fence in MG’s dream, not much protection from intruders, could also symbolize MG’s wellfounded fears: i.e. that her friends had not been protected during the robbery and might be attacked in the future. A low decorative fence that one could easily step over is not much protection in a country that resembles “an armed encampment –high walls, razor wire, signs about armed response services and alarm systems everywhere.” However, there was more to this dream. MG writes: “Someone told me that, at night, guards patrolled up and down the street all the time. The house was on a corner and guards were covering both areas in front of the house. The same person told me that it was actually much more dangerous during the day.” In waking state reality, no guards patrolled those streets or their house at night – and it is not more dangerous during the day. As a rule, it is far more dangerous in Johannesburg at night. However, MG’s friend Phil was attacked during the day – and that fact might have been reflected in her dream. However, in my opinion, the guards mentioned in MG’s

53 We Meet in Dreams

dream visit could be beings in another realm, protecting her friends at night. Or the guards could be concerned incarnates visiting while asleep. Or they could be angelic beings, or “helpers” from other realms, the result of waking state prayers and requests for protection – and the wish for protection in such a dangerous city and country – by the inhabitants of that country, and/or by their friends and family, or strangers who pray for their country, from all over the world. There is another possible explanation for the events in MG’s “dream.” The crime in Johannesburg and South Africa is a fact, just as the danger in Bosnia, in Rosie’s dream, was a fact at that time. A concentration of negativity and evil in places found on Earth during waking state, such as our big cities or wartorn places around the globe – in a sense “hangs in the air,” pollutes the area on other levels of reality and in other dimensions that co-exist with those physical areas and places on our poor Earth. The evil and negative thoughts and emotions and passions of the individual hearts of individual people either committing crimes and atrocities, or those afraid for their well being and safety in these areas, adding their fears to the collection of negativity and evil already there – forms a subtle reality of its own. When we are asleep it is not uncommon to contact these thought realms in our dreams and meet others there, either to add to the mess – or to bring help. In any case, I do consider this dream a dream visit, especially because MG says:”The dream was in color, vivid.” Most often, dreams that come to us in vivid color – are dream visits. Another reason I consider this a dream visit of some sort, and more than an ordinary nightmare – is that I already know that MG meditates, has a degree of clairvoyance, and many of her past dreams have been visits to other

“Dreams” About Other Places on Earth 54

realms.32 In terms of an analysis of this “dream,” what is most important in my mind: MG must face her fears and first know that they are rational: South Africa – and Johannesburg, where her brother and his family and her sister’s son also live – are dangerous. Very dangerous. Friends and members of her own family have already been murdered there; her close friend Phil was recently attacked and threatened at gunpoint. MG wrote: “I remember thinking how incongruous it all was – during the beautiful sunny days, in a lovely house, and yet the danger was palpable.” Her beautiful country of South Africa, with its sun and the warmth and the blue sky – how could these atrocities happen in all that beauty? MG’s real question and grief is the question many of us ask: “How can there be such evil on this beautiful planet we call Earth?” But the dream visit is telling MG, reminding her, that we are all protected – that we are the soul, and that this material conventional reality is not true Reality. To lose the physical body is really no worse than losing our physical possessions – for we are the luminous radiant soul, which God Himself protects. He sends His guards to us, i.e. his angels and saints, when they are needed here on earth. And only we can harm the soul, nothing outside us can harm it – unless we allow it. Postscript: MG went to visit her friends Carina and Phil a month or so after having this “dream.” In waking state reality, MG had never been to Carina and Phil’s house, nor had she seen photographs of their house. Nor did she know if there was a cottage behind their house. Before MG left Ithaca, I asked her to let me know if the cottage in her dream actually existed; she had not seen the house clearly in her dream, so that could not be checked in waking state

55 We Meet in Dreams

reality. A week or so later I received the following email: “Had a relaxed day today – saw Carina and Phil at their lovely house with their doggies. And... the cottage in the backyard where their housekeeper lives looks just like the one in my dream! But there is a tall wall with wires on top (like everywhere else in Jhb.) – no low fence you can step over. Interesting.” I quickly wrote her back, said I was not surprised that the cottage looked the same as the one in her “dream” and added: “It makes perfect sense that the wall on their property did not look the same as your dream fence. The low fence you saw in your dream represented a division of realms, not protective walls.” And I must admit MG’s well-timed visit to South Africa does help the book, lends a sort of “proof ” to these dream visits to other places on our vast and beautiful Earth.

“Dreams” About Other Places on Earth 56

Dream Visits From Fellow Incarnates

d SECTION

Billy Lucia Musso: After I had finished my Masters in Transpersonal Psychology at ITP in 1977, I tripped on the last stair at a friend’s house, landing on the sidewalk with a broken ankle. That slow-down changed the direction of my life. Instead of establishing a private therapy practice in Livermore, after my ankle healed I moved to Marin County with my son Paul and began a therapeutic career working in a residential center for autistic kids. After working successfully there for six months, my doctor suggested that I resign. I had bronchitis three times that rainy winter. Marin had flooded. People were canoeing down the main street in Mill Valley. I retorted to the doc, “Why don’t you resign your job? I love my job. Billy’s getting better. I can’t leave him.” Billy was a five year-old autistic kid that I loved. Our hearts had opened to each other. We didn’t talk. We’d just look at each other and a flood of love would stream between us. He was beginning to talk, though. The center’s psychiatrist was pleased with my work. That night Billy came to me in a dream. He told me that he wasn’t supposed to get well. That he was in that residential center to give his Irish attorney father a lesson. His father couldn’t accept a less than perfect son. He had rejected Billy. I woke up with a start. Could it be true? Had Billy really talked to me? I had experienced people talking to me while I was sleeping already a couple of times. Twice they were friends who had died. Once a guru. I believed Billy and my doctor. I quit my job. I asked the Director if I could keep in touch with Billy

59 We Meet in Dreams

and visit him. She replied that Billy had experienced enough grief. And strongly said, “ No, you cannot visit him.” My heart was broken. LC: In my opinion, my friend Lucia truly did meet with the small boy named Billy while they were both in dream state, soul to soul. For one, I know Lucia has clairvoyant abilities. For another, Billy’s words could not come from a five yearold autistic boy who was just learning to speak. Billy’s words in the dream were far too wise and insightful for even the average adult to surmise, and contained information Lucia did not have. Only the soul can speak of such things, have such an overview to our physical lives on Earth.

Dream Visits from Fellow Incarnates 60

A Visit from a Guru Lucia Musso: This vision was many years ago. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw my friend’s Guru standing at the foot of the bed. As I remember it now, I wasn’t awake before I saw him. Could his presence have awakened me? My thought at the time was that he had bilocated, that it wasn’t a vision or a dream. He was from India and had opened an ashram in San Francisco. He taught classes including Sanskrit, meditation and yoga, and gave acupuncture treatments. He gave me my first acupuncture treatment. It was very memorable. I still remember it clearly and it was in the 60’s. It opened my heart and I went into bliss. I didn’t stay in that space very long. I still had years of work before me. I looked at him in great awe. We were both silent. Then he was gone. The next time I visited his ashram I asked him if he had visited me. He answered ‘yes’, that he had come to give me a healing. I felt very honored and blessed. LC: This was not a dream visit per se, Lucia was not asleep. But it was a night vision upon waking, and a good example of one, so I include it here.33 Whether the guru bilocated in waking state, or whether the guru visited Lucia while he himself was asleep is not important, because both are extensions of mind. My sense is that the guru’s presence did awaken my friend. There is no need to give my opinion on whether it was a true meeting or not, since the guru himself told Lucia he had been there.

61 We Meet in Dreams

More than once, friends or students have come up to me and said I visited them in their dreams and either gave them advice or told them of future events or paths they would take. Even if I do not remember the visit or my words to them, I assume that I met with them either while I was asleep and now cannot remember the meeting â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or that a deep part of myself went to them when I was needed, without my conscious knowledge while I was awake.

We are all connected on the soul level, and that connection is the true relationship between us all.

Dream Visits from Fellow Incarnatesâ&#x20AC;&#x201A;â&#x20AC;&#x192; 62

Repeating Dreams

d SECTION

VII

The House with a View These two repeating dreams are from Diana Souza, the designer and illustrator of my books.

Diana: I have two repeating dreams about you, Laurie, to two different houses in another realm. I went to visit you in your first “dream” house about seven years ago. You were always living in the same house, out in the country. The house was about three stories tall, on a hill with a beautiful sunset view. I was often there for sunset. It was a tall, rambling, wooden Victorian style house with a wrap around porch and little turrets with spires on top. It was on a steep hill, all by itself. There were mature trees around it, but the house still rose in a stately, prominent way above them. The first time I went there I stayed overnight. You and I were outside on a blanket in the moonlight, looking at the stars and moon. I went there at least a half dozen times. I don’t recall ever being inside the house. In the last couple of years, the “dream” house I’ve visited you in has been a different house, this time in a town. The town does not look like Ithaca, but it has the spirit of Ithaca – a small town feeling, friendly and inviting. When I visit you in these dreams, I have just arrived in town. I always get on a bicycle and head straight over to your house. I know exactly how to get there. The route to get there is always the same. Your house is on a corner. It’s a tall, white, two-story house built on a slightly elevated slope – the whole block is raised. It is smaller than the house in the country but still a big house – it’s a picket fence sort of house – wooden. There are always lots of friends coming and going, the feeling is a happy and loving one.

65 We Meet in Dreams

The first time I visited you there I showed up at lunch time and you, M and another visitor friend invited me to lunch. We had hot dogs. I have been there about four times. The house always looks the same. I’ve only been in the kitchen. There are almost always a few other friends of yours around when I visit. These “dreams” are always in vivid color and I remember them distinctly. After I wake up, I feel like I’ve actually been there! LC: It can be worthwhile to examine repeating dreams, especially if the house always looks the same from one visit to the next, if the house is always facing in the same direction, the same environs, the same furnishings, the windows and interior rooms always placed the same. The same people living there each time, with others coming and going, as would happen here on Earth. If so, it could very well be that we are meeting in a house that exists either somewhere here on Earth or in another realm. There is also a bit of clairvoyance within one of Diana’s dream visits to me. In Diana’s first dream visit to the second house, in town, she writes, “The first time I visited you there I showed up at lunch time and you, M and another visitor friend invited me to lunch. We had hot dogs.” Then she reminded me that she had called me the day following the dream, and I told her that I never had hot dogs for lunch – but the day before, someone had brought me a plate of hot dogs and I had eaten them for lunch. Another sign that these dreams are true meetings: “I always get on a bicycle and head straight over to your house. I know exactly how to get there. The route to get there is always the same.” This reminds me of my “dream” visits to the Dalai Lama’s Palace in Tibet, in Realms of Light.34 In those special dreams, I went there so many times that I began to

Repeating Dreams 66

recognize the surrounding area, as well as the palace and the monk who met me at the top of the stairs. And as in Diana’s dream visits to this second house, I always took the same route, up the same staircase. In a psychological dream, the staircase might have changed from dream to dream, or not been there at all in some dream visits. Or in Diana’s case, from dream to dream the house might have changed, or the town. As it was, Diana knew the town so well after several dream visits that she knew exactly how to find my house, and always took the same route. And last but not least, Diana wrote: “These ‘dreams’ are always in vivid color and I remember them distinctly.” Diana’s first dream, when we gazed at the moon and stars, was seven years ago – and she still easily remembers it. Diana’s final sentence: “After I wake up, I feel like I’ve actually been there” is another sign that this was no ordinary dream. Many others in this little book, and in Realms of Light35 – have said exactly the same about these special dream meetings.

67 We Meet in Dreams

Concerts in Another Realm A close friend of mine, an excellent pianist, had a set of two different repeating dreams for almost forty or more years.

John: I have had the same two sorts of repeating dreams over a span of many years. In the first dream I am dressed for a formal concert, I am wearing a black tuxedo, a white shirt, black shoes and so on. I am backstage before the concert, and there are four or five men there with me; they are also formally dressed in black. Each is holding piano scores: Beethoven Sonatas, Mozart, Chopin –the great works of the great composers. Each man comes to me holding a score and shows me its pages, flipping through the piece very quickly. Then the next man dressed in black comes to me with the next score, and so on. I hardly have time to see each page before they close the score. Then they lead me to the stage entrance door and tell me that it is time to play the concert. I confidently walk onstage, very happy and pleased to be there. It is a huge concert hall with balconies, filled with many hundreds of people already seated and expectantly waiting for me to play. I sit down at a beautiful grand piano and then I suddenly realize that I do not know the notes to any of the pieces I am to play. I wake up in a panic. In the second sort of repeating dream, I am always dressed all in white. The sun is shining and warm, there is a light breeze – it is just a beautiful day. I am having dinner at an outdoor restaurant with a handful of other people, we are all chatting and laughing and enjoying ourselves immensely. I am just delighted with the meal and with the people I am with. I have just finished a successful concert tour. LC: In my opinion, both these repeating dreams were dream visits to other realms. The second sort of “dream,” where

Repeating Dreams 68

John is dressed in white following a successful concert tour, was just that -– the end of a successful concert tour. The reason my friend John always walked confidently onstage in the first set of repeating dreams, is most likely because he has played many concerts in other realms. And therefore he already knows that the preparation he receives from the men dressed in black backstage is more than enough to play the pieces beautifully in the concert. The fear he feels is only the ego’s fear, and the ego is not needed in these other realm concerts. John’s dream reminds me of my “dream” audition with Artur Rubinstein.36

69 We Meet in Dreams

Symbolic Dreams

d SECTION

VIII

The Crystals Mabel Beggs was a dear friend who co-founded the Foundation of Light in Ithaca, New York with John and Kate Payne in 1974. The Foundation of Light is a spiritual center dedicated to meditation, the healing arts and esoteric study.

Mabel Beggs: I think there is another category of dreams, which I designate as “symbolic dreams.” In these dreams, I believe that the soul is trying to communicate to the “outerself personality” something that the person is not recognizing about themself that needs attention. For instance, it seems that in dreams, automobiles represent the physical body. Dreams where you find yourself in a house – are you in the basement, the first floor or the third floor? To me, these areas relate to the three parts of our nature. LC: Are you saying that the basement represents the lower nature, the first floor the ego or personality, and the third floor the Higher Nature? Mabel: Yes. Food dreams are symbolic of nourishment at some particular level. LC: Do you mean the human need for love, either selflove or love from others – or our need of God’s Love and Protection? Mabel: Yes. All of the above. LC: These symbolic dreams, as you call them, seem to be somewhat halfway between a psychological dream and what I call “dreams.” Do you have an example of this sort of dream?

73 We Meet in Dreams

Mabel: Yes I do. I believe that the Soul – the Radiant Existence – is constantly trying to guide and teach the personality, so that the personality will become an improved vehicle for the Soul to manifest in the physical realm where we now find ourselves. LC: I fully agree, and I think you said it very well. Mabel: In this dream I was in a bare room, and I knew that I had traveled some distance to get there. At the far end of the room, where the floor and the wall met, there were two quite large amethyst crystals. One was elongated but also curved. I was surprised and delighted to find them. I picked up the curved one and placed it on my left side, over the heart area. It conformed to the shape of my body and seemed to adhere to my body. I started to walk away, but looked back at the second crystal, which was a good-sized cube, and thought that I should have that one also. So I picked it up and carried it out of the room and found myself in a mountainous area. I felt the need of food but I realized that I had no money. However, I kept walking and among the rocks I found three dollars. I knew that I had to descend out of the mountain and find a place that sold food. I also knew that the crystals had to be kept secret, I must conceal them before descending the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, on one side was the ocean, so I went there. And I placed the cube among some rocks at the shore. I ascended the mountain and again, among rocks, I concealed the curved piece of crystal. I continued on and descended the mountain on the opposite side from the ocean. There I found a small village and a small, diner-type place. I purchased a hamburger with one of the dollars, and tried to return the way I had come. However, nothing looked familiar. And I found myself in strange places, and some of them dangerous, like steep cliffs and chasms. I had to proceed with care.

Symbolic Dreams 74

I finally found my way back to the ocean and started to look for the cube which I had hidden. In the distance I saw a place from where light seemed to be radiating. I went towards it and found that the light was coming from the cube which I had hidden there. I was very happy and thankful that I had been shown the way to find the crystal. I started up the mountain and again saw before me a place of light which proved to be the other crystal. I was overjoyed at again having them in my possession. The dream ended. LC: What a dream. I’m exhausted. What do you think it all means? Mabel: I think that this dream is symbolic of one’s journey through life, through an incarnation. The crystals represent the spiritual aspects of one’s being and are concealed for a time, when one has to descend into the dense physical world. LC: In other words, when we incarnate and take on a body here on Earth? Mabel: Yes. Then, losing one’s way and going through difficulties to find the way back, and eventually recovering the Light of the spirit. What do you think? LC: The Light of the soul. Yes, it does seem to symbolize our journey back to the soul. Not that we are ever separate. It is interesting that you mentioned the symbolism of food earlier in this interview, food as a need for nourishment of the soul. And at the top of the mountain, you descended because you were very hungry. Perhaps hunger for life experience, the soul wanted life experiences to evolve in wisdom and strength, courage perhaps. And you found three dollars. Perhaps that could symbolize that God gives us all that we need when we are here on Earth, for the evolution of the

75 We Meet in Dreams

soul. Do you interpret the other side of the mountain – the ocean side – as where you were before you incarnated, the beauty and vastness of that other realm?

Mabel: Yes, I think so. LC: I as well. And for me, the two crystals that emit Light, the curved crystal over the heart and the cube-shaped crystal – seem to support this interpretation of the dream as representing our incarnation into the material world. The cube-shaped crystal could represent the forehead chakra, it would literally fit nicely in the “single eye” that Christ speaks of. When He said: “If you make Thine eye single, then your whole body will be filled with Light.” I do not remember His words exactly, I am not a Bible scholar – but certainly He was speaking of meditation. As when He said: “In the latter days you must look within. Those of you that can hear, hear.” Both these quotes I believe are about meditation, contemplation. Our Lady, in Her appearances in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia is now teaching people to meditate. And when we meditate we are concentrating on the spiritual Heart or spiritual Eye, trying to find the Divine sparks there that in some mysterious way are connected to God. At least, that is the way I understand it. So your dream might also be saying that in this descent into “matter,” into the “body” – we must then meditate or pray in order to find the Light of the soul that connects us somehow to God. Mabel: Yes. To me the crystals represent the higher mind and higher Love/Wisdom. And that at the beginning of the incarnation, these were left concealed. LC: Concealed from you. From all of us. And all the climbing down and up the mountain and the chasms and fearful cliffs – it certainly does sound like life, doesn’t it. And after

Symbolic Dreams 76

having the beautiful crystals in another realm, before descending into matter – three dollars and a hamburger don’t really compare, do they?

Mabel: I believe the three dollars represent the three aspects of the personality: concrete mind, the emotional life and physical life. What could be more physical than a hamburger? It also seems likely to me that in spending the $1 for the hamburger, I have somewhat mastered the gross physical plane, that I have its temptations under control. So I have $2 left, which to me, means that I have to learn to control the other two planes, the emotional and mental. In doing so, I lose my way, encounter dangerous areas and so forth. But eventually I will discover the two Lights which were hidden from physical plane view – and perhaps not in this lifetime. That accomplishment requires much effort and is a long time in coming about. LC: If not in this lifetime, then perhaps in another realm. I think the dream also shows us that you are a very spiritual person, someone who does not confuse the material, physical life with the beauty and radiance of the Soul. And someone who perhaps never entirely forgot the purity and beauty of the natural soul state in other, higher realms. Thank you for this interview, Mabel.

77 We Meet in Dreams

Finding Compassion Lucia Musso: Last night my first dream of the evening was of me teaching or working with some Latino teens who had made beautiful pieces of art, glass mosaics, paintings, ceramics. The dream ended with them smashing all of the artwork. I attempted to stop them but I was ineffective. It was heartbreaking. What I realized in the dream was how hard it was to raise damaged people’s self-esteem. That they had a hard time appreciating the beauty of what they had created. LC: This dream was about humanity – and whether it took place in another realm or not, I cannot tell. However, when we approach the soul, we can begin to have images of humanity, from the witness position, from a place of Love, Understanding and Compassion. So I would consider this a valuable dream, whether in another realm or not, whether an actual meeting or not. The message here from her own soul was about humanity or herself – or both: that we all have a difficult time seeing our own beauty, seeing the beauty we create, seeing the Beauty of our own soul.

Symbolic Dreams 78

The Conference

A D R E A M V I S I T U S I N G SY M B O L S

LC: I woke up this morning after a long, complicated and technicolor dream. My first thought on awaking was: that dream was terrible. My dream this morning was, as I said, fairly upsetting. Well, nightmarish. I was in a large building with many rooms and women I did not recognize. I met my close friend S. there, in a hallway, with throngs of noisy women streaming past us – and she was telling me things that now I do not remember. She was very agitated, upset. To escape the crowds of women, she took a right turn off the hallway we were in and led me onto a small terrace. Suddenly she slipped and fell over the balcony. Horrified, I ran to the edge and looked downward – we were two stories up and she had landed on a concrete sidewalk. She was injured but still miraculously alive. Someone called the hospital and she was taken away on a stretcher as I watched from above. I was told that she was fine, just lower back injuries. At the time I incredulously repeated to myself: “All she has is lower back injuries? That’s impossible. I saw her fall from that balcony and land on the concrete sidewalk – from two stories up.” I went back into the hallway and turned right, to a mediumsized room where the Dalai Lama of Tibet was giving a lecture. Still deeply worried about my friend, I took an empty seat and cried silently as I listened to his words,. The Dalai Lama spoke of kindness and peace between peoples, and I felt his Love filling and surrounding me. I finally woke up. The dream was so intense and vivid that I kept running it through my mind, scene by scene – all the time wondering what it could mean. S. was in Chicago for a few days, at a conference, and I wondered if she were in some sort of danger.

79 We Meet in Dreams

A few hours later S. telephoned from Chicago. I asked her how her day had gone and she launched into an account that very closely followed the outline of my dream. She was at a conference, and all the lawyers at the conference were women – and they were bickering throughout the classes and meetings, even openly fighting. S. is an advocate of collaborative law, and was horrified at the behavior she saw and heard around her. At the time I had my dream, all but a small committee of lawyers in their workshop were told to leave the room, following a long session of bickering and angry discussion. This must have been when I met her in the hallway, in my dream. S. said she had felt like jumping off a balcony by that point – or leaving the conference. They were two flights up in the building, overlooking concrete sidewalks, just as in my dream. My friend added that to end the morning session, a woman judge had given a lecture, the high point of the entire conference. This woman was a very compassionate and beautiful person, in stark contrast with the behavior of many lawyers at the conference; her lecture had been inspiring, uplifting, healing. When S. told me this on the phone, I immediately thought this judge might be the Dalai Lama in my dream. When I thought about the lower back injuries S. sustained in the dream – in dreams, lower back pain and injury often signify the burden of taking on too much responsibility. On the phone, S. said that because of the behavior she had witnessed at the conference, she felt that she needed to introduce the concept of collaborative law to this group of lawyers, so that they would learn to work together peacefully. This would be an added burden to her already very overcrowded work schedule and life. And then I remembered that collaborative law was developed by a follower of the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Thus the symbolic ap-

Symbolic Dreams 80

pearance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in my “dream.” This dream, even though an actual visit with my friend S. in Chicago, used symbology as in a psychological dream: S. did not jump or fall off a balcony, the Dalai Lama of Tibet was not there at the lawyer convention. Mainly when I have these outof-body visits in my sleep, I do not use symbology. In fact, in clairvoyant dreams of this sort I know exactly where I am and why, and could describe the people and the location perfectly on awakening the next day. And despite the symbology of this dream visit, if I hopped on a plane and went to that conference tonight, I would know where every room was in that building and what every room looked like – and recognize the people that attended. This sort of mixed dream is unusual for me. Either I have clairvoyant dreams, or occasionally psychological ones. My clairvoyant dreams are as clear and accurate as waking state reality. However, most people who are not ordinarily clairvoyant will use symbology even in their true dream meetings or visits – and it is for this reason that I use this dream as an example of a nightmarish dream that in fact is not a dream at all, but an actual visit to help a friend in need. It is very possible that I was having an ordinary sort of dream when my friend either consciously or unconsciously called on me for help – and so the clairvoyance was filtered through my personal psychology. Thus the use of symbols in this dream meeting. Had my friend not later telephoned me, most likely I would have considered this dream visit merely a product of my own personal thoughts and memories and thought no more about it. In any case, if you are not ordinarily clairvoyant many of your dream meetings will be a combination of clairvoyance and sym-

81 We Meet in Dreams

bology. Knowing what I do about the nature of these dream visits and meetings, I could have guessed this a true meeting from a few obvious signs: this dream was in vivid color; events followed each other logically – I walked from room to room through hallways, I did not suddenly find myself in another building or in another country; I only knew one person there, even though crowds of people surrounded us; I remembered the dream so clearly and in such detail afterwards, without writing it down – and remember it clearly still, some years later. This sort of clairvoyant dream is fairly easy to analyze because we can later check with the person or people in the dream and see that it was an actual visit.

Sometimes we will visit people while we are in dream state that we do not know, sometimes in countries across the globe. We can go to help them, or because we are curious – or for any reason under the sun.

Symbolic Dreams 82

Nightmares or Visits to Lower Realms?

d SECTION

NIGHTMARES OR DREAM VISITS?

Introduction

I include this section on dream visits to the lower realms because often, as my meditation student in the following story, we will mistake these dream visits for nightmares. These special dreams should be analyzed differently from our psychological dreams, i.e. dreams that are entirely the product of our own subconscious thoughts, memories and desires. We also need to understand these realms and our motives for going there so that we can stop these dream travels to the lower realms. These dream visits can be a form of clairvoyance, or more usually a form of astral travel. In any case, no matter what we call this dream travel, we are traveling, going somewhere – without the physical body. Some people would say that in astral travel we are using more subtle “sleep bodies.” I would more call it an extension of mind or extension of consciousness. However, the purpose of this book is not to discuss how we get to and fro, from realm to realm – but rather what we find when we get there. And how to analyze these dream visits to the lower realms and/or stop them. There are many reasons we visit the lower realms in sleep state. We can go there out of curiosity, or from a desire to help the beings there, or to learn more about those realms. Sometimes we might go to a lower realm while asleep to keep an incarnate friend or friends company or in an attempt to protect them. Sometimes we will go there to meet a loved one who is now on the other side and a bit confused or lost. We can also go the lower realms out of compassion, or by accident – or because we want to live out parts of our own lower natures. You will notice that even in the relatively few examples given in these chapters, some of the dreamers in these pages have

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visited the same lower realms. The lower realms described in these dream examples are not hell realms; they are higher than hell realms. But even in these mid-lower realms there is no love and there is no logic, and they are terrible and terrifying enough. I have never been to the lowest, hell realms in these dream visits, nor has anyone I personally know been to them. Some saints have described their visits to the lowest realms – and I am very glad I have never gone there. As a clairvoyant, could I always distinguish between a psychological nightmare, the product of my own individual thoughts and emotions and memories – and “dreams,” i.e. visits to the lower realms? No, I could not. It took time and experience to be able to discern the difference between a psychological dream and these special dreams, a nightmare from an actual visit to a lower realm. I hope the dream examples chosen for this section on dream visits to the lower realms – and the checklist at the end of this section – are of help to you.

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The Room Without Windows This dream was sent to me by one of my meditation students:

Student: I rarely if ever remember dreams. I remembered the one I had last night and woke up with my heart pounding in fear, very agitated, afraid to go back to sleep. Parts are sketchy. I seem to remember going to a place where plays occurred. People were wearing make-up, especially black and white. I was with friends, and someone took me into a back room where I was told I should wait. For some reason walking was difficult. They pointed to a bench at the back of the room where I was to sit – it was wooden and hard and slanted downward, as if you would slip off it if you did sit down. As I made my way back there I walked past a man sitting on a stool. He didn’t acknowledge me at all, just stood up as I passed him, went out the door and the door was obviously locked from the outside. There were no windows in the room. I felt very closed in. I panicked. I needed to get out. There were lots of lights in there which made it too hot. It was hard to breathe in there now. I banged on the door, hit the walls. It almost seems as though the walls were padded with something soft. I felt faint and extremely claustrophobic and was really in a panic. Suddenly I was out. No evidence how I got out since the walls were still intact, and the door locked – but I was out and I ran and ran. I could then hear some people shouting but I have no idea if they were yelling to help me or to hurt me, I just kept running. And that’s when I woke up. It’s really strange because the few times I have remembered dreams I forget the details within minutes. I had to really calm myself down after this dream. It’s still very memorable. LC: When I received the email above, it was obvious to me that this was not just an ordinary nightmare. In my opinion, my new meditation student had visited a lower realm

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in this “dream” visit. She ends her email with: “It’s really strange because the few times I have remembered dreams I forget the details within minutes. I had to really calm myself down after this dream. It’s still very memorable.” The fact that my meditator rarely remembers her dreams, but this one was so vivid, felt so real – and that she remembered it effortlessly – already points to a dream visit. The fact that events followed each other logically, even though the world around her was disjointed and chaotic, also supports this view: in psychological dreams, if the world and people around us are chaotic in the dream, the events will also be illogical and chaotic. In my meditator’s “nightmare,” this was not so. In her “dream,” she went to a strange place with friends, she was taken to a strange room and told to wait, she somehow escaped the room, ran away, and then she woke up. If this were a psychological dream, chances are she would go to the strange place, suddenly and inexplicably find herself in a strange room, try to escape unsuccessfully and then inexplicably find herself miles away, possibly even in a different country with entirely different people, happily having tea and crumpets. This chaos balanced by the logical sequence and unfolding of events is one benchmark of dream visits to a lower realm. The person my meditation student met in that scary room, the man who ignored her, is typical of the lower realms. Beings in the lower realms will rarely speak to us – and in my experience will never answer our questions about the realm we find ourselves in. Another reason I would classify this dream as a dream visit to a lower realm is that there was a carnival atmosphere to the scene, with people in costume: “I seem to remember going to a place where plays occurred. People were wearing make-up, especially black and white.” My understanding of

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this “dream” as an actual lower realm visit is helped by the fact that I myself had already been to this realm, this chaotic realm where people put on plays in the streets and wear black and white makeup. This dream visit is a useful example of how we can use these other realm “dream” visits to study our own behavior, our own psychology. “I felt faint and extremely claustrophobic and was really in a panic.” That my new meditation student panicked, in part from claustrophobia, in part from the fear that she might go insane – tells us something very important about her. If we look at the “dream” visit more closely, the beings in that lower realm were not trying to torture her – it was a carnival sort of realm, and the scary room they took her to was a carnival ride. My meditation student wrote: “They pointed to a bench at the back of the room where I was to sit – it was wooden and hard and slanted downward, as if you would slip off it if you did sit down.” The bench was slanted so that she would fall off it and lose her inner balance – not unusual for an amusement park ride. She was having trouble walking, which means the floor was probably also slanted, or perhaps a mechanical device rocked the room; carnivals often have “rides” that rock or put us off balance. “There were no windows in the room. I felt very closed in. I panicked. I needed to get out.” In addition, she says that she thought the walls were padded. Padded walls are the archetypal symbol for being put in an insane asylum. If walls are padded – they are padded because someone in authority feels a person in that room will probably either hit or throw themselves against the walls, either to attract attention or out of desperation. However, in this case, i.e. the carnival ride – the padded walls more likely were for the benefit of the riders, so that they would not get hurt – or rather think they would not get hurt. In

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those realms we cannot be hurt or injured permanently, we are not in physical bodies. Another person might have seen through the laws and conventions of that realm, or had more confidence in their own sanity. Someone else might not have left their friends and gone off with a stranger – nor gone into a room with bright lights, no windows and a bench that was slanted down to the floor – nor waited just because they were told to wait there. From this “dream,” you might conclude that my meditation student is far too trusting of others and also lacks self esteem – both of which are true. In one sense, the experience could be a very valuable one. If my meditator learned something about herself, then the dream visit was worthwhile. As I have said before, it is not advisable to travel to these lower astral realms, not even to gather information. Paul Brunton speaks of the dangers in his Notebooks.38 However, it is not unusual for beginning meditators to involuntarily and inadvertently do so. That is why we all need a teacher who understands the potential dangers, and can warn us against them.

Checklist Reasons I believe this dream was a dream visit to a lower realm, not an ordinary nightmare: 1

My unlucky meditation student writes that she rarely remembers dreams, and even when she does remember them she forgets the details within minutes. Yet this “dream” was so vividly imprinted on her memory that she remembered it effortlessly

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and in detail. Most of us often do not remember our psychological dreams. Even if remembered when we first wake up, the events and chronology of the dream are often fuzzy and confused. And if we do not write our dreams down on waking, usually the events of our day will entirely erase them from our memory. 2 Even though the place my meditator visited in her dream was

chaotic, the events in her “dream” followed each other logically and without sudden changes in scene, time or place. In a psychological dream scenes can change suddenly, without warning or logic. Without explanation or reason we find ourselves with a new group of people, in a new place, even a new time frame, and these inexplicable changes can occur several times within the dream. In an actual visit to another realm, if you want to reach another town you must take some transportation there – or walk. You can’t just suddenly “be there.” If new people enter your “dream,” they have to walk in the door, they do not just suddenly appear in front of you.39 In “dreams” you cannot inexplicably move ahead or back a few years in time, nor do people you are with suddenly vanish. All events happen as they would in waking state consciousness, on Earth, logically and in order. 3 In my meditator’s “dream,” everyone there was more or less act-

ing the same way. In addition, no one in that realm was nice to her or explained the realm to her. In a psychological dream this is not true. In a psychological dream, if there are many people in the dream they will be behaving in different ways, as we do here on Earth. Not everyone in an entire town will be all bad, nor all good. People will be on different levels of spiritual evolution. In our dream visits to other realms people will be behaving in the same way, no matter where you go in the “dream.” In the lower realms beings will be behaving in a strange or crazy manner, immorally, or maliciously – or all of the above.

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4 I myself had been to that realm in my youth, and I easily recog-

nized it from her description. 5 My meditation student knew no one in the town except the

friends she brought with her; she was obviously a visitor. In visits to other realms we will not recognize anyone there, save people we have brought with us or friends “on the other side” that meet us in that realm. Most of our psychological dreams are staged in familiar environments, and peopled with those we already know – or have seen or heard of. 6 In her dream visit, my meditation student was in trouble and

no one in that realm helped her. This can also happen in psychological dreams, but it is always true in dream visits to a lower realm. 7 The person who brought her to that strange room did not ex-

plain the room to her and the only other person in that room refused to speak to her. This is typical behavior in the lower realms. If you are a visitor – no one there will explain the realm to you. This is not often true in psychological dreams, which are staged in environments closer to our own waking state reality and the physical and social laws and protocols of Earth. 8 My meditation student remained in character. She acted as she

would have acted while on Earth in waking state consciousness. This is not always true in psychological dreams. In psychological dreams, we can have different abilities, behavioral patterns, talents and even different physical attributes than we possess on Earth. For example, in a psychological nightmare, my student might have had the physical strength to break the door of the scary room down. As it was, she just inexplicably found herself outside the room. (It is possible that my student finally realized it was not a physical door and walked through it.) Save for

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rare exceptions, we will not change in this way, suddenly have attributes and talents we do not possess on Earth. We also will be the same age we are now on Earth, there are no flashbacks to childhood in “dreams;” nor will you suddenly be an old man if you are now in your twenties in waking state reality, not unless it is a prophetic dream, i.e. a dream about the future. However, I would like to again say that there are exceptions to these guidelines, depending on the purity of our clairvoyance – and this clarity can vary from dream to dream.

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Dave Steals a Car LC: The following two dream visits were sent to me by my friend Beth. She had these “dreams” shortly after her husband’s sudden and unexpected death. My friend was almost overcome by her grief and shock, and for many months we sent emails back and forth. I told Beth that she might meet her husband while in dream state, but she didn’t believe me until she had these two “dreams.” The first dream was a few weeks after her husband Dave died, and the second dream was a few months later. Both these dream meetings initially made things worse for her, because she did not know what to make of them. She considered them nightmares, and was very upset by them. I include these two dream visits to a lower realm here for several reasons. One reason is because sometimes our loved ones – even if they are high souls, i.e. good, ethical people – will briefly visit these lower realms after they die. Either out of curiosity, by accident – or because they have unresolved parts of themselves that need to be acted out, learned from, and then discarded. We all must bring our deepest thoughts, emotions and desires to the Light of pure Consciousness, to purify them – whether here on Earth through prayer and meditation, or in other realms after this life is over. And sometimes we will join our loved ones in these lower realms while we are asleep. Perhaps we go there because we miss them, and we want to see them again – perhaps we are trying to help them. Do I understand all this? No, of course not. Am I writing all that I know? No, I am not. Some things cannot be put into words, and sometimes there is not enough space or time to unfold into sentences what appears in an instant of clairvoyant vision and understanding.

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Beth: In my first dream, Dave and my brother and I were in stolen car. I was in the front seat with Dave, and he was driving like a maniac. My brother, who died five years ago, was in the back seat. We were speeding along a highway, and the police were after us, sirens blaring. Dave wouldn’t stop the car. In fact he and my brother were enjoying themselves immensely, laughing and whooping it up, like cowboys. They were both acting like idiots. I got fed up with both of them and told Dave to stop the car, I wanted to get out. Somewhere along the line I told him that if he couldn’t think of a better place to meet, then I wasn’t interested in meeting him at all. At the end of the dream Dave was talking to the police, looking very serious and totally responsible. By that time I had left them, and was just looking on. Then I woke up. LC: Since I had already been to this same realm myself, 40 I immediately knew that this was not just an ordinary dream. I wrote to Beth, and told her not to worry: her husband was just living out some unresolved parts of his lower nature. Beth wrote: “In fact, he and my brother were enjoying themselves immensely, laughing and whooping it up, like cowboys. They were both acting like idiots.” There were other clear signs that this was not a psychological dream: Beth remained in character, even though her husband and brother did not. “I got fed up with both of them and told Dave to stop the car, I wanted to get out.” Knowing Beth as well as I do, I know that she would never enjoy a car chase, in any realm. Her intolerance of Dave’s behavior and her solution were in alignment with her waking state personality. In our dream visits to other realms, we bring ourselves as we are in waking state consciousness on Earth. If this were a psychological dream, Beth might have enjoyed the car ride and had a wonderful time being chased by the police. Also, Beth seemed to know that she had gone to

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another realm to meet Dave and that the meeting was prearranged: ”Somewhere along the line I told him that if he couldn’t think of a better place to meet, then I wasn’t interested in meeting him at all.” Another sign that this was a dream meeting is that Beth did not understand the realm she was in, she was clearly a visitor. In her dream visit, Beth was worried about the police sirens and the unavoidable and subsequent arrest – but I could have told my friend what her husband and brother already knew: no one in that realm gets punished. The policemen following their car – were only pretending to be policemen. Another reason I consider this a dream visit is that the events of the “dream” followed each other logically. Beth was in a speeding car with Dave, she asked her husband to stop the car – and then she got out of the car. In a psychological dream the scene could suddenly and inexplicably change to a new location and new people, or to a different century. In these “dream” visits, events follow each other logically, even if the dream itself is chaotic.

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S L OW M OT I O N A N D Z O M B I E “ N I G H T M A R E S ”

The Castle From Kerry

This “nightmare” was sent to me by one of my new meditators. Kerry had this dream experience of a lower realm before starting meditation classes – and it really is a wonderful example of the sort of nightmare where we can barely move when in trouble, when everything we do seems to be in slow motion:

Kerry: My sister and I were in a mansion. The ceilings were very high and it was full of ornate decorations, with marble floors and pillars. We came to a set of large double doors flanked by two waist-height statues of Chinese lions. At that point, I gained the sense that we were on some sort of a mission, but it was a mission that did not feel very serious – it was as though we were working on a quest in a video game. After passing through the doors, there was a profound change in setting. The rooms in this part of the castle were sized normally. There was no longer a sense of airiness or royalty. Instead, I felt a sense of tension. The reason for this became apparent when I realized that some of the rooms around us were darker than the ones we had been going through. In those rooms, there were people moving very sluggishly in the shadows. The whites of their eyes were stark. They did not speak, and they were staring at us. I felt threatened by them. In order to complete the quest we were on, my sister and I needed to get a sword from somewhere inside the building. I had a feeling it was in a particular room – one of the dark rooms. My sister asked me not to go inside, but I was feeling brave and I wanted to complete the quest, so I went in. One of the sluggish women was there. As soon as I crossed the threshold into

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the (relative) darkness, she very suddenly sped up and began to chase me. I was genuinely frightened. She seemed predatory, almost like she would literally eat me if she caught me. I grabbed the sword as quickly as I could and ran through a maze of dark rooms. With relief I finally saw the barrier between shadow and light ahead of me. I lunged for it, just ahead of the woman. When I burst through the barrier, I had the sensation of speeding up very quickly, as the distance between she and I was suddenly much greater. She did not cross the barrier, instead lurking just behind it and continuing to watch me. Once I escaped, I also realized that I had been running in slow motion while I was in the darkness. The woman, and all of the other people in the dark rooms, were trapped in slow motion. It wasn’t just the speed of my body, but the speed of my thoughts also seemed to be slower while there. Everything seemed viscous, both body and mind. I was very glad my sister and I made it out of there safely. LC: This is a fascinating example of a dream visit to a lower realm: for one, the barrier of Light/Dark at the double door entrance with the Chinese lions divided the two realms. When my meditator ran to escape through the barrier, her pursuer could not cross the barrier. Kerry writes: “She did not cross the barrier, instead lurking just behind it and continuing to watch me.” Then Kerry adds: “The woman, and all of the other people in the dark rooms, were trapped in slow motion.” Which is accurate – they were trapped in their realm, behind the barrier. The slowness Kerry felt and saw on their side of the barrier was real, for those realms vibrate at a lower rate than the higher realms and beings. Kerry writes: “As soon as I crossed the threshold into the (relative) darkness, she very suddenly sped up and began to chase me.” The woman on the other side of the double doors had not sped up – Kerry had slowed down. Kerry says:

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“Once I escaped, I also realized that I had been running in slow motion while I was in the darkness. It wasn’t just the speed of my body, but the speed of my thoughts also seemed to be slower while there.” In other words, the slower rate of vibration affects all who enter those realms. (Another good reason not to go there: slower rate of vibration means less Light and more Darkness, i.e. less virtue.) Kerry also wrote: “In those rooms, there were people moving very sluggishly in the shadows. The whites of their eyes were stark. They did not speak, and they were staring at us” – which is typical behavior in some of the lower realms. In some lower realms there is incessant, even violent activity and bustling crowds of people; in others, beings barely move, either ignore or stare at us and/or do not speak. (For instance the man my meditator met in “The Room Without Windows” – “He didn’t acknowledge me at all, just stood up as I passed him....”) As in my visits to lower realms with Louise (“On the Hill”) and my friend Adrian (“The Lecture”) – in this dream visit Kerry brought her younger sister, possibly for companionship or protection. In the other dream examples she sent me, Kerry was traveling alone – although she met people she knew in two of them: her ex-boyfriend in one, and a woman she was once close to in another.

I wrote back and told her that if she wanted to be on a Quest, she should come to meditation class instead of exploring castles in lower realms. And maybe next time she should listen to her sister.

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Analyzing “Dream” Visits to the Lower Realms Q U E S T I O N S TO A S K YO U R S E L F:

Even though the “nightmares” of the preceding pages, in my opinion, were all visits to lower realms, not ordinary dreams – we can and should still analyze them. In other words, in that realm, how did we act – were we fearful? If so, why? Did we have low self-esteem? Were we brash, overconfident? In other words, did we treat people well or badly while we were in that realm? Did we stay calm and remember our spiritual practices, our ethical training? Did we allow ourselves to become intimidated or used? Did we enjoy ourselves while in a lower realm, did we fall into our own lower natures? Were we fooled by the realm and the beings there? What did we do in our dream visit that we now regret? In what ways do we still need to work on ourselves? What about those realms do we need to understand so that we do not return there? What is different, in this analysis of astral travel “dreams” – is that we should not analyze what is going on around us in the dream visit to another realm. We are not responsible for the behavior around us, nor the state of that realm. Whereas in an ordinary dream, many therapists feel that all the characters in that dream represent a part of ourselves. Or at the very least, in what I call an ordinary, psychological dream – we are “pulling all the strings.” People are behaving in ways that we have scripted for them in the dream, events unfold as we create it – in short, we are the creator of the entire scene and all the beings, the entire dream. This is not true when we travel to other realms. Those realms exist – as they are and as we find them – before and after we get there. The realms and the beings in those realms have their own independent existence.

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I would suggest, however, that we also ask ourselves why we went to that particular lower realm. Did we go there to help the beings in some way, were we merely curious, were we protecting an incarnate or disincarnate friend or friends who had already decided to go there – did we want to live out our own lower nature?

Until we examine and determine our reasons for visiting the lower realms in our “dreams,” it will remain more difficult to stop going to them.

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Checklist: Nightmare or “Dream” Visit? When we dream travel to one of these lower astral realms, it can be almost as confusing and chaotic as in psychological dream nightmares. However, there are certain consistent differences and clues that can help us differentiate between the two: 1 These special dreams are more vivid than ordinary dreams and

most often will be in brilliant color. (However, our lower realm visits can also sometimes be colorless, even if we usually dream in color.) We remember these dream visits clearly and in great detail, and we can often easily recall them years later, if not for the rest of our lives. 2 These “dream” visits feel different to us, they feel more “real”

than psychological dreams; later we often say that it felt as though we were really there, that those events truly happened. 3 Unlike most psychological nightmares, in these special dreams,

we always bring ourselves as we are in our waking state reality, we stay in character with our waking state personalities. We act and think as we would while in waking state consciousness – in spite of the mayhem and confusion around us. 4 We will not recognize anyone around us in the teeming mass-

es of humanity we find in the lower realms – unless we bring someone with us that we know. If we do bring someone with us, we will try to stay together the entire time we are there; if separated, one or both people will do everything they can to find the other. Sometimes we will accompany friends to a lower realm in these dreams to keep them company, or to protect them or to discipline them – just as we often will do while in waking state.

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5 We will feel like a visitor – and on occasion someone in that

realm will tell us that we are a visitor. 6 Even though we do not understand the ways and laws of the

realm we visit, the other beings in that realm will. 7 Unlike many of our psychological nightmares, the lower astral

realms are filled to the brim with people of all sizes and shapes and professions. There is constant chaos and continual chaotic activity. We visitors will not know where we are, and we will feel quite lost unless we have been there before. Most lower realms are set up in such a way that it is almost impossible not to get lost in them. 8 Unless we “fall into” our own lower passions during our visit

to a lower realm, once we realize the truth of the realm around us, we will then do everything we can to leave as quickly as possible. 9 The people we meet in the lower realms that appear to be priests

or policemen, or others that we generally look up to and trust on Earth – will betray that trust. They are just pretending to be policemen or priests or others in authority. 10 In some of the lower realms, the beings there will try to harm

us, even kill us. If they do try to kill us, we do not really die, we cannot. Often others in that realm will either laugh if you ask for help, or ignore all that is happening to you. This tendency to look the other way is not because of their repugnance or fear, it is more out of boredom as well as a realization that no one in these lower realms can really die. We cannot be killed or hurt physically while visiting these lower realms, since we aren’t visiting these realms in a physical body.

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11 Unlike ordinary nightmares, the activity around us is always

based in the lower nature and the passions. Throngs of people form angry mobs in some of these realms; in others they are silent and ignore you, in others they act like zombies. Often there will be lunatic crowds of people, entirely out of control and making no sense at all. Other times, you will initially be on a quiet street in a small town, followed by sudden mayhem. Most importantly, unlike psychological dreams, everyone in the lower realms will be acting the same way – except for perhaps a few exceptions, who are most likely other incarnate dream visitors who were curious about the realm or are trying to help the beings in that realm. 12 Almost nothing that any of the beings in these lower realms

say is truth, even though they speak seemingly quite sincerely. Even if the lower realm you wander into while asleep looks like a place on Earth – nothing will be as it seems. Including the people you meet. 13 Unlike nightmares, in spite of the chaos and confusion around

us, events follow each other logically. For instance, we must take a car or a bus, or walk a few blocks to get from place to place in the “dream.” We do not just magically find ourselves down the street, or in another town or another country as often happens in nightmares. Events happen as they would in waking state consciousness, on Earth, logically and in order. 14 Often there are train or bus stations at the end of these “dream”

visits, symbolizing a change in consciousness or a return to the physical body. 15 No one in that realm will explain the realm to you while you

are there.

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16 Unlike ordinary nightmares, which can be visually murky, dis-

torted, even blurred or hazy – these dream visits to the lower realms are most often visually crystal clear, just as in waking state reality. There are exceptions to the points made in this checklist. For instance, my meditation student who suddenly found herself outside the scary room, Lucia finding herself inexplicably outside the movie theater. However, events still followed logically in those “dreams.” In reality, there are always exceptions, no two other-realm experiences will be exactly alike because we are all different and varied, have our own perceptions and our own degree of clairvoyance and clarity of memory – even from dream to dream. Your dream visit or meeting might not meet all the criteria given in the checklists of this book.

If your dream meets even more than two of the points listed – then probably you have been to another realm while asleep.

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How to Stop Going to Lower Realms in “Dreams” Dream visits to lower realms are not a good idea, not for any reason. We must stop going to these realms. In my experience, most often the mere intention to stop our dream visits to lower realms is enough to stop them. However, the suggestions below might also prove helpful. This is what Lucia Musso wrote when I asked how she finally stopped her dream visits to lower realms: Lucia: Hmmm, how I finally finished being in those awful dreams... I prayed to Mother Meera, Jesus, Mother Mary, Amachi, Michael the Archangel, St Francis and all of the angels you so sweetly send to me and asked them, begged them actually, to please, please, please stop letting those dreams come to me and they did. I also asked if I was to go somewhere in my sleep, I’d like to go to a place where I would learn more about God. After hearing about George’s lower realm episodes, I told him the visits from or to lower realms had to stop, and he could stop them. I told him to set the intention to stop going to lower realms in sleep state – and to close the door, close the portal. I also suggested that he pray to Saint Padre Pio and to Saint Anthony. He wrote: George: Visits to lower realms have stopped with the exception of a few incidents. Visits from lower realms have lessened, but when they do occur attempts to fool me to let them in have become more clever. I told him to persist.

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Nightmares or Unfriendly Incarnates?

d SECTION

Rosie Almost Goes to Bosnia O R B O S N I A C O M E S TO H E R

My friend Dawn is a fellow healer for the Distant Healing Network. She lives in Switzerland with her daughter Rosie. The following was an email correspondence. Dawn wrote:

Dawn: Rosie does quite often have short prophetic dreams – about small everyday things. Two fairly recent ones come to mind – one about finding a pair of shoes for five francs – the next day she did! And another, only last week, about racing around a supermarket trying to find bread and milk for 10 francs... the next day I asked her to do just that, without knowing about her dream! A few other things that you may find interesting... Rosie has also had, in the past, several “out of body” experiences. The last one was in January 2007. Her description of the way she felt during those episodes certainly indicates to me that they were out of body experiences as opposed to dreams. She also says that the experience she had on the 27th/28th June last year, and the others around the same time, were not dreams – they felt real, and again completely different to normal dreams, or even nightmares. She says that she felt clear and focused throughout – not the same as in the normal dream state. I am not normally clairvoyant, I would say I am more clairsentient. I must also say that I have a very scientific mind – I like to know how things work, or why, and so do not get carried away with all things “supernatural.” Neither is Rosie prone to sensitivity, or to exaggerate things. As such, I can certainly vouch for Rosie’s experiences and the subsequent events. This morning, with her permission, I looked through Rosie’s dream book. The main dream was on the morning of the 28th

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of June 2008, but for a while around that time Rosie had been having dreams which always included violence towards her, especially being knifed or cut in some way. Waking up after one of them, she came racing down the stairs and came with me to take the boys to school, still in her pajamas – she was that scared. Later the same day of the dream, the 28th June, I found negative energy in one of the corners of her room, which I cleared. Rosie had told me about the appearance of the man with the knife, but I misunderstood where in her room she had seen him. However, the heavy energy I felt was in exactly the same spot as she had seen him the night before. I then sat on the bed to see if I could pick up anything clairvoyantly. I’m not normally a very visual person, but this time had a definite and strong image of a derelict house that Rosie was being taken to, perhaps on the outskirts of a village – and the fact that it was Bosnia. Rosie has not been studying Bosnia at all, and before then didn’t know anything about the troubles there. Rosie and I looked up the Bosnian conflict later in the day. We also looked up pictures of soldiers in Bosnia, and Rosie confirmed that their features were very much like the man that appeared in her room. Interestingly, she was born in 1993, when the troubles were at their height. She had several dreams throughout July of a similar nature. On the morning of the 4th August 2008, she woke up to find her bedroom door locked... from the inside. At around 12:50am the previous night she had heard her brother, who sleeps in the next room, crying out as if he was terrified, saying “Please, no don’t.” He is not normally given to talking in his sleep, or having especially vivid dreams. We can only think that Rosie’s dreams and the locked door were significant and somehow connected to the arrest and subsequent incarceration of Radovan Karadzic, the main perpetrator of the dreadful crimes in Bosnia. I must add, it was only after all of this had happened that we found out that Radovan Karadzic had been arrested, towards the end of

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July. During these experiences we had no idea that he had finally been caught. Since then Rosie has had no dreams of a similar nature, and her room has felt fine too. This is the dream on the morning of the 28th June recapped, in Rosie’s own words: “Woke up around 5-6am Saturday morning and saw faces everywhere in my room – in the air, and in front of the walls, and in the shape of things that look nothing normally like faces. I was very scared and curled up in bed, trying to get back to sleep – the room felt unsafe. I half slept, and saw a foreign-looking man in the corner of the room by the window, facing my bookshelves. He was bare-chested, tanned, black hair like Leonardo di Caprio in Titanic, heavy brows and hard, mean face. He had a knife in his left hand and said “I’m going to knife you” in a taunting voice. I woke up properly and there was nothing there, but the room still felt bad. Mum felt negative energy in that corner later, before I’d told her that that was where the man was. She lay on my bed and saw a vision of me being taken to a derelict place in Bosnia. LC: This is a different sort of nightmare dream meeting – this time possibly with a fellow incarnate. If not with a fellow incarnate, then with others who were somehow associated with a fellow incarnate (in this case the war criminal, Radovan Karadzic) and who are now in a lower realm. Our fellow incarnates can visit us in dreams while they are asleep, so there is no way of knowing if this man was incarnate or not – nor does it truly matter. The main thing is that the psychic connection was broken, the portal closed – and that the unwelcome visits stopped. One reason I count this as a true experience is that I myself have had similar experiences either involving public figures or those close to them, either in “dream” or waking state consciousness. For another, both Rosie and Dawn have clair-

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voyant and clairsentient ability. That Dawn first misunderstood where the man had been standing in her daughter’s room – yet found his lingering dark energy where Rosie had seen him in her “dream,” is another indication that these events were not imaginative. Her brother’s “nightmare” on the same night, the fact that Karadzic had been arrested, that Rosie had never heard of Karadzic consciously or seen photographs of Serbian soldiers – all these point to dream meetings rather than psychological nightmares. That Rosie was born in 1993, when the Bosnian troubles were at their height is another factor, and she very well could have incarnated at that time in order to in some mysterious way help the situation there. It reminds me a bit of the little girl who helped the soldiers in the trenches while asleep during one of the world wars, mentioned in the commentary for my dream visit to Israel.48 They are very different stories, but also similar in that children do want to help during grownup world conflicts – and might incarnate for that very reason. Many high souls incarnated after both world wars, to help put this poor world back together, and to bring Healing and Light to the Earth. The events in Bosnia in the 1990’s were terrible and disturbing, and most of the world was riveted on them. Rosie’s door was locked from the inside, and it is possible that she herself locked it while asleep or half-asleep. If Rosie did lock the door – even though it could not physically keep the man away, he was not physical – it is a very good sign. It tells me that Rosie wanted these dream visits to end, and is willing to “lock the door” to these other, lower realms. Which is possibly one reason the dream visits have ended.

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Visits to Higher Realms in “Dreams”

d SECTION

Levitation Class This dream visit was sent to me by my friend, Lucia Musso:

Lucia: This dream, from several weeks ago, was about a group of people who were learning how to lift up, or levitate. It’s hard to describe. We were raising up, like ascending. Only raising up in the huge room we were in, not through the ceiling out into the sky. The room was very crowded with people. The leader or teacher told me that I was able to raise myself up the best of everyone. Then I woke up. LC: As I mention elsewhere in this book, I also have had many of these sorts of “dreams,” where I am levitating in classes with my Teacher Anthony Damiani. 49 When we are in the subtle body, or our sleep body, it is far easier to levitate or float or fly. I have often visited one realm, a realm which has streets with neatly kept houses and red hills in the distance, to practice my levitation somersaults.

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A Meeting with Muktananda My friend JF wrote to me with this “dream:”

JF: Saturday October 31 2009 • I am on one side of a low divide, a wooden partition or wall that is quite low – from a seated guru on the left and his disciple, who is also seated, on the right of me. They are both wearing robes. The disciple is dressed in light-colored, folded robes, he is wrapped in his robes, enveloped by them. The guru is wearing darker robes. I am at the apex of this narrow triangle formed by the three of us, and I am looking at both of them. There is no environment in this scene, no background – it is only the three of us forming this narrow triangle. The guru is a dark skinned Indian, and I recognize him from photographs – it is the Hindu saint Muktananda. I speak urgently and earnestly trying to say something to Muktananda, something terribly important to me, but I cannot find the words. I refer to the Hindu sutras and gitas, and I then feel that I have been flippant or perhaps disrespectful in how I have spoken of the sacred texts. I apologize to Muktananda for sounding disrespectful. I say that I was trying to convey something important to me, and I was reaching for something from the sacred Tradition to express it. I move closer to Muktananda, lean towards him – and it is as though the camera lens focuses on him, and I see him more clearly. My attention is now all towards the guru, Muktananda – and I see the ash marks on his face and the intensity in his dark, piercing eyes. I am “revealed,” I am seen through. I feel the energetic connection between us, and it is my earnest intention to bring my being before that intense energy to be “revealed,” seen through. Standing in the presence of the guru, there is “no

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one there” – Muktananda is all energy, no personality, no ego. The dream ends. What was important to me in this dream was that the dream was more about what was not there – than what was there. I do not remember what I was trying so very urgently to say to the guru, and the guru himself disappeared into pure energy when I looked at myself through his eyes. LC: There are several reasons I believe JF’s dream to be an actual meeting with Muktananda. For one, the low wall or partition separating my friend JF from the guru and his disciple, as seen in other “dream” examples.50 A low wall or partition of some sort often indicates a separation of realms. Also, sometimes in these special dream meetings there will be no environment, no background to the dream, i.e. only the person or persons you meet are visible. JF’s description, “It is as though the camera lens focuses on him” and then, “My attention is now all towards the guru, Muktananda – and I see the ash marks on his face and the intensity in his dark, piercing eyes” is another indication that this was a true meeting. Often in these dream meetings we are left with the intensity of someone’s eyes, as though nothing else in the “dream” is important or exists. In JF’s dream meeting with Muktananda, this intense gaze into the guru’s eyes might indicate that JF was receiving an initiation of sorts from the Hindu saint. JF wrote: “I am ‘revealed,’ I am seen through.” And then, “Standing in the presence of the guru, there is ‘no one there’ – Muktananda is all energy, no personality, no ego.” In this dream initiation or Lesson from the guru, JF is seen through – and she is allowed to also see through the guru, to be shown that he is the soul, Consciousness – as are we all.

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There is another reason I consider this a true meeting and a mystical experience. JF had never met Muktananda, but she had visited his ashram and met his successsor, Chidvalasananda.51 Many people have had dream meetings with Yogananda,52 Muktananda or his successor Chidvalasananda – before even knowing of them or knowing of their ashrams. Some people have been told in “dreams” by the gurus to come see them at their ashrams, when the saints were still embodied, or to read their books. I once met a young woman who had repeating dream meetings with Paul Brunton 53 when she was a little girl. One day, years later, she saw his photograph and recognized him. True dream meeting or not, the most valuable sentences in JF’s account are: “What was important to me in this dream was that the dream was more about what was not there – than what was there. I do not remember what I was trying so very urgently to say to the guru, and the guru himself disappeared into pure energy when I looked at myself through his eyes.” Whether it was a true meeting with the Hindu sage Muktananda or JF’s own soul revealing the dream to her, the realization is the same: we are not our thoughts and emotions, we are the radiant Light of the soul, or Consciousness. And for this realization I would call the “dream” a mystical experience.

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Mabel Gives a Lecture in Another Realm Mabel Beggs gave me this wonderful example of a dream visit to a higher realm. I was immediately struck by similarities to my dream visit with Adrian (“The Lecture’”) – and to John’s repeating dream (“John Is Asked To Play Concerts”). This interview was by email, when Mabel was a sprightly young lady in her nineties – and not long before she left her earthly existence for other realms.

Mabel: In my dream, I was in a big auditorium, with the seats going up, tiers of seats. And I started out on the left side of the auditorium and then was asked to move to the right. I was moved right until I was almost to the right end of the tiers of seats, to near the end of the row of seats I was in. And then somebody came and called me to come down to the front podium. I was given a topic to speak on, a spiritual topic of some kind. And I felt: “Oh my goodness, I can’t do this, I haven’t had any preparation.” And I remember going to the podium and beginning to speak – and then the dream ended, faded away. I didn’t know if this was a real experience, or a dream which was representative, symbolic of the process of becoming a teacher. As a person learns in their life experience, and through their studies, they become a better teacher. Moving to the right can mean that we can be a teacher to these neophytes, these beginners. As a person progresses, in their wisdom and understanding, they are given the opportunity to pass it on to other people. LC: In my opinion, since I have attended some of these astral lectures myself, I tend to think that it was a visit to another realm and not just an ordinary dream – although all that you said about being a Teacher is also true. And well said. What did the auditorium look like?

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Mabel: It was a large auditorium, with lots and lots of people. LC: Did it have a large stage as well? Mabel: It was shaped like a horseshoe, and down at the base was a platform. I wasn’t the only one speaking. There were six or seven other people there, kind of organizing, running this thing. LC: Did you ever see the outside of the building? Was it made of a grey stone? Mabel: I only saw the inside. Let me ask you a question. What do you think about nightmares? Do you classify them as those of the lower realms? LC: I think some “nightmares” are psychological – caused by our own fears and doubts, our own latent anger, our lower nature. But some so-called “nightmares” certainly could be visits to other, lower realms. I give examples in the lower realm section of this book; one dream visit was sent to me by someone who went to a lower realm in her sleep. They shut her up in a room and scared her to death. She still gets frightened when she thinks about the dream. Now, we could philosophically argue that all perception ultimately comes from our own mind. But this book is not about that. This book has a different purpose. Mabel: I agree with you, that our fears may manifest as nightmares. The only way, as I see it, is to clear ourselves, to become fearless. This is a mental exercise using reason and self inquiry. LC: So, whether it is a psychological dream, or an actual visit to another realm, we must conquer our fear. By self-

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inquiry, do you mean knowing that we are the soul and cannot ultimately be harmed? And knowing that the conventional world around us – whether it be here on earth, or in an astral realm – is not ultimate Reality? Or do you mean psychological self-inquiry?

Mabel: When we have some kind of fear of something, we must ask where the fear came from. You have to use a mental process to investigate. LC: Of course, I agree with Mabel. Whether it is a psychological dream, or an actual visit to another realm, we must conquer our fear. And to do so, we must examine our own fears; but I think the next step is to know that we are the soul, and that nothing outside of us can harm the soul. Fears are embedded within the vehicle itself, we will never get rid of them. We must first understand them – and then transcend them. In other words, finally replace our fears with the Peace and Light of the soul Itself. We do this through prayer and meditation; and/or by the practice of inwardly repeating “I am the soul” or “I am radiant Light” whenever possible, and as often as we can. Returning to Mabel’s dream visit account, as I mentioned earlier, I was immediately struck by the similarities to my dream visit with Adrian The Lecture – and also to my friend John’s repeating dream, John Is Asked To Play Concerts In Another Realm. My dream visit with Adrian, because we attended a lecture. The similarity to John’s repeating dream might seem more far fetched – but I am referring to the fact that both he and Mabel doubted their ability to perform without enough conscious preparation. I speak of this in more detail in Realms of Light,54 in my story about playing for Artur Rubinstein in my “dream” meeting with him. In that dream visit I played the virtuoso piece Spin-

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ning Song for the great Master, beautifully, perfectly, and up to tempo – a piece I had never studied here on Earth. In fact, as I played the difficult piece for Rubinstein in the dream audition – I didn’t even know what piece I was playing, even as my fingers flew over the piano keys. This led me to believe that we all are capable of far more than we could ever imagine, that the soul itself has stored within it, and can provide us with, all that we could ever need. And more. In my opinion, even the greatest saints never consciously knew the true depth and width and breadth of the soul.

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Flying “Dreams”

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XII

Learning to Fly in “Dreams” Using a Slate Rock This dream visit to another realm was sent to me by my friend Danielle, who is one of my meditation students:

Dear Laurie: I had an experience that I do not like to call a dream. I do not call it a dream because it was so different from anything I had experienced in the past while I was asleep. This experience started with me flying through the air. At first I was startled to be lifted off the ground. But then I realized that there was a slate rock in my hands that was guiding me through the air. Once I realized this rock was assisting me in my ability to stay airborne, I began to explore and look around. I was flying over a heavily wooded area when I saw an opening, and it was a glorious waterfall. I began to fly over the running water. I could hear the water moving and splashing above and it was the most beautiful looking water I had ever seen, pristine and cool. Everywhere I looked colors were bright and vivid, and I could hear everything around me, even if the sounds were off in the distance. As I manipulated my rock, to steer me over the rocks and falls below, I noticed small dwellings on the edge of the river (it reminded me a bit of the gorges in Ithaca but as if they were in heaven). They were more like huts than houses in terms of their simplicity, made of what may be bark and moss but not exactly (heavenly bark or moss); they seemed very warm and sturdy. They were made of browns and greens, all earth tones, very natural looking, and they smelled very fresh. Inside one of these small houses were beings meeting and discussing what seemed to be important community business. The ‘house’ with the meeting in it was lit up very brightly on the inside; it did not seem like candle light or fire light, but I could not see inside that clearly. I could not understand what they were saying, although it did not occur to me that they were speaking

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a different language. As I passed by the windows I could feel warmth coming from each “house.” I continued to fly up the path of water until I got up to what seemed like cliffs. Once there, I realized there were other beings flying with me. They were human-like and seemed smaller and lighter than the average human (close to my size, five feet, even the male energy ones). They wore simple natural cloths, I would call them robes. All of these beings had slate rocks in their hands, and as I flew higher there were more of them. They seemed very purposeful as they moved back and forth and up and down. They were almost bustling by me as I flew slowly, wondering where I was and taking it all in. The other beings that were flying with me seemed very free and light, and they communicated with each other through thought, no one actually said anything to each other. They were very friendly to me, and whenever I doubted the ability of my rock to take me higher they encouraged me. This is the part that gets fuzzy, I don’t quite remember what happened next. I do remember waking up and feeling like I had just taken a trip to another place that was not Earth. When I woke up I remembered everything about this experience and longed to go back and see more. I knew this was a different experience than my typical dreams because the dreams I usually have are harder to remember, they are never in such amazing color, and I just felt happy and loved. LC: Danielle’s dream has all the signs of a true visit to another realm. She says it herself: “I knew this was a different experience than my typical dreams because the dreams I usually have are harder to remember, they are never in such amazing color, and I just felt happy and loved.” Earlier Danielle says: “Every where I looked colors were bright and vivid, and I could hear everything around me, even if the sounds were off in the distance.” All these point to a visit to another realm, a change in consciousness. And of course the

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fact that my friend Danielle was flying in this dream itself suggests astral travel. In this beautiful “dream,” my friend did not need the slate rock in order to fly – just as Pat did not need the dream ramp in my dream with her.55 Of course, the other beings in this realm knew that – undoubtedly their slate rocks were for Danielle’s sake, to increase my friend’s faith in her ability to fly in this realm. As in the following story Flying With New Friends, the beings in this realm were very helpful and encouraging, emanating love – which tells us that these dream visits were to a higher realm. Danielle herself wrote: “It reminded me a bit of the gorges in Ithaca but as if they were in heaven.” You could say that in this “dream” experience Danielle visited the “true” Ithaca, the Ithaca that exists in another, higher realm. In fact, there are so many similarities between these two stories, Flying With new Friends and Learning to Fly Using a Slate Rock that I would venture to say both my friends visited the same realm while asleep.

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A Flying Master Takes a Student Vanessa: I had an interesting dream last night. In the dream there was a vast and long building which I remember as being exceptionally tall. I know I had worked long and hard to get to where I was in this giant construction project that had all manner of beams and ladders. There were many boxes to be opened for a project (whose purpose was unknown to me) that was both grounded in a state-of- the-art gym floor – and a grand meadow that had the vast blue universe above. There were balconies where some people were sitting, but they were invisible to me. I was walking around trying to examine all the structures and somehow figure out the configuration and what it meant. The dream shifted and I was climbing the structures to the highest point in the construction. I knew I had to climb high enough to be able to catch the updraft and air currents in order to fly. When I was at a point high enough, I was aware that people were watching me but I stepped off the highest beam with a confidence (I have done this in many dreams before) and felt oblivious to the observers, whom I could neither see nor hear.... and I flew easily.... soaring thru the air with an exhilaration and breathless wonder and the vast meadow and blue skies were unending. I felt a freedom that brought me joy, and I began swooping down towards earth knowing that I simply had to know when to pull up to regain my flight or that I could gently glide to the ground. (I took pilot’s training twenty years ago in real life so know something of flying.) In my flight I noticed a young woman with dark hair who was looking up, and I came to rest beside her and asked her if she would like to try. She was hesitant but willing, so I climbed ahead of her and she followed. I tethered her to me with a sort of bungee-like cord so she would be able to experience the flight

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without danger of falling. I flew with her for a bit and then let her know that I would be letting her go, but reassured her that I could keep her in flight if she could not master the flight patterns. I released her, and she just went down like a ball of lead and dangled at the end of the tether. I had to work hard to keep both of us airborne. But again my confidence was there, and I told her I would take her up again sometime and perhaps she would be able to fly alone the next time. I let her off on the ground and started climbing again. The dream ended as I again took flight, this time into the vast dark universe that is beyond the stars. LC: This dream visit is very similar to both my shared dream with Pat (The Cape and the Walkway 58), – and to my dreams with Richard and Louise to that same realm. For that reason alone I would call Vanessa’s dream a dream visit to another realm. As with the magically appearing ramp in my shared dream with Pat, and the flying slate rock of Danielle’s dream – in Vanessa’s story no bungee cord was needed. The ramp, the bungee cord, the slate, these only were there to strengthen the faith of the person trying to fly. Vanessa had been to this realm before and was already skilled at flying, as I was in my shared dream with Pat. The person with Vanessa, who wanted to learn to fly, was a beginner to that realm and simply lacked the faith to fly. In those realms we are weightless, there is no difficulty if we wish to float or fly in the air of those realms while in our subtle bodies. However, when I was younger and unused to these realms, I also sank like a rock - as in my dream visit with my friend Janet (The Cliff), who easily floated in the “dream” air, and even did the backstroke while I plummeted. In this series of flying dream visits to other realms we can see a progression in out-of-body flying skills. Danielle needed a slate rock to give her the belief and confidence she needed to

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fly; my fellow healer Cate needed the encouragement of the other beings in that realm on her first visit there and wrote: “I was in the area that I described, and was so focused on the mental effort needed to fly and on the beings that I did not see beyond the area.” By her second visit to that realm, my friend Cate no longer needed to concentrate in order to float or fly in that realm, the ability was already automatic and effortless. There are other stories in this volume where people easily fly to wherever they are visiting in their dream (for example, Springtime at Cornell – The Bells). Vanessa wrote: “I stepped off the highest beam with confidence (I have done this in many dreams before).” In The Message, my anonymous friend is effortlessly flying, traveling south on Route 414, as the “dream” begins. Vanessa, who clearly had already mastered her out-of-body dream flying techniques, ended her story with: “The dream ended as I again took flight, this time into the vast dark universe that is beyond the stars.” This is the highest use of our flying abilities. I say this is the highest use of our flying abilities because when we are among the stars, we are far from the cares and struggles, the beauty and joys of earth and our earthly existence, the physical vehicle of the physical body and the ego that ties us to this vast Earth and all its innumerable perceptions and happenings. The perspective of one who has seen the vast globe of earth as a small colorful beach ball below, as in Inger’s story in Realms of Light 59– can be a mystical experience in its own right. It is similar to - or can be the same as – standing in the Witness Position that the great Sages speak of. In this Mystical experience, we are standing in the soul knowing that all else is pale in comparison – our physical bodies, our lives here on Earth, the Earth itself a mere colored ball below us.

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Shared “Dreams”

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Introduction There are also special dream experiences that we can share with another incarnated human or humans, and I call these “shared dreams.” These sorts of dream experiences are not psychological dreams, i.e. not dreams comprised of only our thoughts and memories and desires, they are not the product of our personal psychology. Shared dreams can be to other places on Earth, or to other realms, or can be about the future. In these shared dreams two or more people go to the same place, on the same night, and have more-or-less the same experience there. Often the two people will see each other there, sometimes not. But both people will describe the realm, and the events that occurred in the realm, in a similar way – even though they might have had their own individual and private experiences there. As in other “dream” meetings and visits, these shared “dreams” feel more real than ordinary dreams, and are more vivid than ordinary dreams. Some of these shared dreams are ongoing – such as the dream classes with Anthony – and some are a one-time visit, for instance The Cathedral. And either sort of dream meeting can be to another place on Earth, or to a place in another realm. If there is a specific event in another realm (The New Room ), or somewhere on Earth (Springtime At Cornell ) – then two or more people will dream about it on the same night. For example, if a concert is scheduled for eight o’clock in the evening on our Earth, and you and a friend both wish to attend it, then you both have to show up at the right place and the right time. The same is true in visits to other realms. However, if it is just a specific place that exists in another realm – such as the library of my dream visit – or on Earth, then dream travelers can go there at any time.60

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SHARED DREAMS ABOUT ANTHONY AND WISDOM’S GOLDENROD

Night School Classes with Anthony All the dreams in this section are shared dreams about our Teacher Anthony Damiani – or about Wisdom’s Goldenrod, sometimes referred to as “The Center.” These dream examples cover a span of over twenty years, and some of these dream meetings and visits were later verified by others who were there in dream state, or by Anthony himself.63 Some of the dreams in this section were shared in the sense that two or more people were in the same place in the same realm at the same time. Others I call shared dreams because they are about classes with Anthony, either somewhere here on Earth or in other realms, while we were asleep – or dream visits to realms that many of us at Wisdom’s Goldenrod have been to at various times, for instance the library I went to that exists in another realm.64 Wisdom’s Goldenrod, a center for meditation and philosophy, physically is a group of simple log buildings near Seneca Lake in upstate New York, situated in the midst of vineyards and fields. The beauty of the surrounding land and lake, the wildflowers and the tall firs that guard the paths leading to the guesthouse and other buildings, the beds of flowers, the wooden bridge spanning the stream which is lined with some planted bulbs and natural vegetation – one could speak of these things and more. But for me it is the clarity and the brilliance of the Light which I clairvoyantly see there that I think of first and foremost, the crystalline quality of the Light amongst the trees and paths and lawns and flowers – and at the center of all this Light – was our Teacher, Anthony. I can still inwardly see Anthony standing before a blackboard covered with diagrams, a piece of chalk in his hand – and he would be more Light than physical man. Sometimes I felt as though he wore his body more as a stage-set prop, so that we

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could visually see him with our human eyes. Anthony’s vision was vast and deep – as though he stood at the edge of the Cosmos to bring back its Principles. He gave life to overused words such as soul and consciousness and higher self because he was a true Mystic, as well as a Philosopher. To him these words were alive, living – and beyond human comprehension. And before them he stood in awe. Most of humanity lessens the grandeur and meaning of these words and concepts so that our minds can grasp even the periphery of understanding of these Ideas and then call it Truth. Anthony, in his Humility, lessened himself so that Truth could reveal Itself in all Its Majesty and Infinitude. It also seemed to me that Anthony believed that even the smallest detail of life or thought could unlock the Mysteries of the universe. Classes were held in the main log building at the end of the path that ran under the wooden arch and over the wooden bridge. We sat on cushions during the meditation which always preceded classes – usually a few large square ones, or a large cushion with a smaller round one on top. Shoes were left at the door, and if you came late to meditation, it was difficult to find a place to put yours, shoes were everywhere. The rooms were darkened for meditation, and Anthony would play some music on a record player near where he sat, often a late Beethoven piano sonata, or Mahler, or Mozart or some other classical recording for the first minutes of our meditation. After meditation, class began, sometimes continuing until eleven pm or later. And in those classes our thoughts were guided towards the soul or the Divine Mind, Consciousness, the One, God, and the meaning of Life and the cosmos, through various philosophies and schools of thought. It was not unusual for us

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to spend a good half hour or more on one or two sentences of the book we were studying that night, with much animated discussion on every word. In the winter months, snow often would be falling or harsh winds blowing and howling across the fields and lawns. Then to return home, which was for many of us almost an hour’s ride, past small towns, open fields and woods and hills and starry skies. My dreams about classes with Anthony began only after he died, and spanned a period of many years. In these recurring “dreams,” I am in the main log building that we generally used for classes, and I am seated cross-legged on a cushion in the main room. In conventional waking state reality I never sat in the main room for class, but rather always sat further back in the hallway. Nonetheless I feel very comfortable in the main room, and in the dreams I know that it is where I always sit for these particular dream classes. The memory of these “dreams” is so strong that I could tell you where I was sitting in that room and feel as though I am there now. In these dreams I know that we are not in regular class at the Center, in ordinary waking state consciousness, even though we are in the usual building and Anthony is there. This is all that I am allowed to remember of these “dreams.” I am not allowed to remember what was said in class. I also never remember who else is there with me, although my instinct tells me that there are fewer students there, it is more of a seminar than a regular class. I am allowed only to see Anthony while in the dream, although I can hear all that is said. In some of these dream meetings, at some point during the class I begin to float off the cushion I am sitting on. In conventional waking state reality I cannot levitate, that ability has not been given to me – so I am always delighted when I can levitate in these classes. Anthony gives a frown at my delight because I lose concentration on the discussion at those times. (His frown is one reason I think these dream experiences are real ones.) Of course, once back in waking state consciousness I realize that it

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is much easier to levitate while in the subtle body, and undoubtedly everyone in that class could easily achieve it. Other members of Wisdom’s Goldenrod have had similar dreams of classes with Anthony, and over a period of many years. The following interviews are with members of Wisdom’s Goldenrod who were kind enough to share their dream experiences with me for this volume. Hundreds of people studied with Anthony, and I am sure that many more of his students had similar dreams about him. That would have to be another – and very interesting – book.

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Night Classes with Tony: You Were There? A N I N T E RV I E W W I T H L E N N Y

Lenny: I would wake up in the morning and know that I had been at a class with Tony.65 I didn’t think it was a dream. I thought it was an actual class that I was at while my body was sleeping. LC: In another realm? Lenny: Yes. And once I mentioned it to Tony, one of those “dreams-that-weren’t-dreams,” and he said: “Oh, you remember?” I said: “You were there?” And Tony said: “Of course. We go to school at night.” LC: Did this conversation with Tony happen in waking state consciousness? Lenny: Yes. LC: So, in other words, members of Wisdom’s Goldenrod met and had classes together while they were asleep? Lenny: I don’t remember if other Wisdom’s Goldenrod members were there. LC: Would you say these classes were the result of some sort of astral travel? Lenny: That’s the impression I had. Tony sometimes called it “night school.” LC: Where were these classes held? Could you describe where you were?

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Lenny: Sometimes I had the sense of sitting on the ground in a circle outside, sometimes in a room. But I remember no details. LC: In the morning, did you remember who else was in the “night school” class with you? Lenny: Sometimes. Sometimes it surprised me. There was a mathematician I used to know, a very unusual guy. I used to invite him over to my house and people wondered why. Some people thought he was a little crazy, and they would ask why I had him over to my house. One night I saw him in one of those dream classes, and I said to myself: “That’s why.” He was a student of the Mysteries. LC: These sorts of “dreams,” or actual events in other realms, feel more real than ordinary dreams to me. Lenny: Yes. They didn’t feel like ordinary dreams at all. It felt as though something had actually happened. Also, the things we talked about in those dream classes – I knew it had been a class on that subject. LC: How did you know? Lenny: Because the next day I knew as much about the subject talked about in class as though I had really attended a class on that subject. LC: New information? Lenny: Yes.

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Beyond the Gates Paula: I am standing in a courtyard teeming with people. I’m terrified. The feeling is similar to the terror I felt as a child when I saw the movie about the Hebrews in Egypt who suffered terrible cruelty and enslavement by their Egyptian masters. I look around at the people surrounding me and am startled to see that they are engaging in mass orgies. At the front of the courtyard is an iron gate and I realize that heaven and safety lie beyond. I push through the crowds to the gate. There are two sentries on guard. One of the guards says to me: “I’ll let you through” – and he hands me a pass. Once inside, I see eternally-long rows of monk-like cells or rooms. I feel enormous, breath-taking freedom from the dangers and agonies of the life on the other side of the gate. This is a place of tremendous expansion beyond the personal consciousness of the life I had just left. I feel profound relief and waves of gratitude in knowing that I escaped the terror of the courtyard. A silent man in white robes approaches me and hands me a large stack of books as I enter the monk-like cell. It is a little, bare room with a small bed and table with a light. I did not see the face of the man who was dressed in the white robe with a hood. I didn’t see his face but I recall that it was bathed in light. I have the distinct feeling that Anthony is the robed man. Several weeks after the dream I saw Anthony at the Center, and I told him about the dream. His comment was:

“Don’t you know we’ve been together before?”

Shared “Dreams” 140

Several years later I read the book, Destiny of Souls by Michael Newton. 66 In his book, Newton shows the diagram of a library called “Life Books Library.” I was startled – the image was exactly like the one I had in my dream of long rows of cubicles. Newton describes this as a place where archivists and guides assist souls in finding the proper life books.

“This dream didn’t really feel like a dream. It felt as solid as a waking experience.”

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My “Dream” About the Library LC: In this dream visit I find myself in a vast library, with people either sitting quietly and reading or searching for books among the endless and orderly shelves. Someone is showing me around the library, for in the “dream” I know it is my first visit there – and the scene feels real enough that when I trip over a small step between sections of the library, I must put out my hand to the person with me, to steady myself. After this “dream,” I found out that other members of Wisdom’s Goldenrod have been to a library in another realm. I only remember going to this library once while in sleep state, although others from the Center have been there many times. Since the library is in another realm, there is no other way for us, as incarnated humans, to get there save by astral travel in dream state – or clairvoyantly. The same is true for those who wish to continue taking classes with Anthony. Since Anthony is no longer incarnate – if any of us want to continue our studies with him, we will have to do so in “dreams.” In some traditions this is called “night school” or “astral night school.” As for those who dreamt about classes with Anthony before he died, one can only assume that their quest for additional spiritual learning was so great that they met in dream state. These philosophy students preferred going to classes with Anthony to either dreamless sleep or the working out of their own personal psychology in psychological dreams. In my experience, where we go or visit astrally during dream state is usually where our thoughts and wishes are. Or sometimes, to learn, to evolve – or we go where we are needed.

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The Cathedral In another shared dream meeting with JF, I found myself in a vast cathedral. The building was so immense one could barely see the ceiling. It was Gothic in nature, although of an architecture I had never seen here on Earth. And as I stood in the vestibule, I could see what looked like hundreds and hundreds of steps leading up to what I supposed was the bell tower. I wondered how anyone could possibly climb all those stairs. I went inside the main church and gazed at the arches that rose so imposingly and seemingly infinitely above me. The cathedral was so memorable and impressive, that a few weeks later when JF mentioned her dream about a huge cathedral, I remembered every detail and said, “You were there too?” After a brief discussion on the grandeur and magnificence of the structure, I said: “I wonder how many stairs there were leading up to the bell tower.” JF answered, without hesitation, “There were 1,825 steps.” “How do you know?” I asked incredulously. She answered: “I found the caretaker and asked him.” I laughed because it seemed like the sensible thing to do, and something I would not have thought of, even in this reality. Whereas it was something one would expect JF to think of in this waking state reality, it was very much in character with her usual personality.

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The Party In another dream meeting with JF I was at a party of some sort, held in a lovely rambling home in the country – and many people from Wisdom’s Goldenrod were there. It was a beautiful late spring or early summer’s day. I was playing the Second Rachmaninov Piano Concerto, the first movement, on a grand piano in the living room. Some people were seated on couches or chairs around the piano, listening intently. Others were walking around and quietly talking and holding drinks or plates of food in their hands. I especially remember Anthony’s wife, dear Ella May, who was seated across from me on a couch with a plate in her lap and smiling at my efforts. The action of the piano I was playing was too easy for me, the sound was too bright and it was a bit out of tune, and I was struggling. Altogether, I was very unhappy with the sounds and phrases emerging from the piano. A few days later I mentioned the dream briefly to JF, and she said that she had dreamt about a wonderful party at a beautiful old house in the country that same night. But in her dream the party was outdoors. As she walked up the stone path to the house she had heard beautiful piano music. “That was me,” I said. “Oh, that was you playing?” she answered. “Well, the music sounded very beautiful as I came up the walk.” I asked her why she didn’t see me playing when she entered the house, and she answered: “They were serving the food outside, on the front lawn, and I wanted to speak with the people there. I never made it into the house.” It makes perfect sense that I would play the piano during a party, rather than eat or converse. And that my close friend JF, who loves good food and conversation, would stay near the buffet table.

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The Bells: Springtime at Cornell I had an interesting shared “dream” during the time I was living at the State Street house, over twenty years ago. I remember this “dream” vividly. It differs a bit from the other shared dream examples in that it was a one time event shared by myself and more than one other person. In this dream meeting, I am floating over Ithaca, and fly through the air to the Cornell campus. It is a beautiful day, and as I approach a lawn near Sage Chapel, from the air I see what looks like a large outdoor celebration of some sort, a party. People are happily bustling around, eating and drinking; many people seem to know each other. Some clump into various small groups, some people travel from clump to clump, or wend their way between the other groups in order to get to another desired destination on the lawn. It looked like a vast, sprawling, happy party. It is springtime, all the spring trees are flowering, and I can hear the bells of the Cornell clock tower ringing. Hundreds of people are there. I “land” on the lawn and join the party. I meet my friend Frieda, and more-or-less stay with her and our small clump of people. Frieda is the only person there that I recognize. As I stand before my friend, our futures unfold symbolically in the space between us. We smile at each other and her eyes grow in size and intensity until they are all I can see, and the “dream” ends. The next morning I told a friend who was visiting the State Street house about the dream. She laughed and said: “You were there too? I didn’t see you there. Everyone was getting married, all sorts of people.” When she said this, I realized this was true. Two people in our cluster of celebrants did appear to be having a private ceremony of some sort while others, including myself,

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watched. Although my overall feeling was that I missed most of the weddings, and instead got there in time for the receptions. When my close friend Diana Souza was visiting Ithaca last month, she went up to the Cornell campus. When she returned from her errand, Diana said that one spot on campus had been the scene of a dream that she had had many years earlier, a dream about a big party at Cornell. She recognized the lawn and the buildings nearby, and it all looked just as it had in the dream. I smiled to myself and asked her when she had this dream. She said it was over twenty years ago. I then asked her if it was spring. And she said, with some amazement – “Yes, it was spring.” I asked her if she was at Sage Chapel, and she answered, “No, but I was on the lawn at Olin Library, which is right across from Sage Chapel.” I then asked her if the dream seemed different from her other dreams and she answered, yes, it left her with a visceral memory, as though it had been a real event. She also said it had been one of the most vivid dreams she had ever had, and that it had stayed with her throughout the years. Moreover – she had never been to Ithaca before the dream. Nor had she even heard of Ithaca, nor seen the Cornell campus, not even in photographs or books. She said, “I had this dream before you and I ever met, before I had even moved to Ithaca. This dream brought me to Ithaca.” She added that on her first trip to the Cornell campus, many years ago, “It was exactly as it had looked in that dream! It was the place I saw in my dream.” (See the following story Called To Ithaca on page 263). Neither the friend who was visiting the State Street house, nor Frieda – nor I – knew Diana at the time of this shared dream. At least, not on a conscious level. And my future did unfold exactly as foretold in the dream, as did my good friend Frieda’s.

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Called to Ithaca

D R E A M T R AV E L : D I A N A ’ S D R E A M

Diana Souza’s email began: “When I told you about this dream this past summer when I was in Ithaca, it really knocked me out that you said: “You were at that party too?”

Diana: When I moved halfway across the continent from New Orleans to Ithaca, I knew not one person there. What brought me to Ithaca was a dream. No ordinary dream, it left me with a sharply-etched memory as if it had been a real event.

My Rapturous Dream The dream took place at a music festival on a university campus. Set among vintage stone and brick buildings on sloping grounds dotted with mature trees, the day was brilliant, sunlit and sparkling. Music permeated the air with an atmosphere of elation. People were mingling, strolling, talking and laughing in a light crowd that was happy with itself. The music seemed to penetrate straight to the heart. There were crescendos in this music that thrilled me in a way that can only be called ecstatic. Others too were experiencing this musical ecstasy, and it was having a remarkable effect: as our hearts seemed swept up by these particular passages, many of us were literally levitating into the air – or into the treetops! 74 Caught up in a rapture, we would then momentarily hover about twenty feet above the ground, and then gradually, gently, drift back down. The feeling was unlike anything I’ve ever known in my life. Nothing was ever so rapturous, so harmonious, so truly ecstatic as this musicborne levitation. That was the essence of the dream. The look of the grounds, buildings and trees left a distinct impression on me, as memorable as the musical levitation itself. I knew it had been one of the most vivid dreams I’d ever had, and it stayed with me as if it had been an actual life experience. What I didn’t know was how influential this dream was to become for me.

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A Visionary Captures my Attention At the time of the dream, I was living in New Orleans, working as a designer/illustrator on the editorial staff of the city’s major metropolitan newspaper, The Times-Picayune. During that period, I was avidly reading the books of the popular scientist/ astronomer Carl Sagan, whom I had come to greatly admire as a visionary and ambassador of planetary goodwill. One day while I was at work, I spotted a tiny article in the newspaper that mentioned Sagan, saying that he was a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. I’d heard of Cornell, the famed ivy league university, but I’d never heard of the upstate New York town of Ithaca. Two of my office colleagues in the news art department were New Yorkers so I asked them if they knew of Ithaca. “Oh, yes, you’d love Ithaca,” they said, “it’s incredibly beautiful and very hip, it’s the San Francisco of the East.” I mused that anywhere Carl Sagan lived must be a futuristic sort of place: intelligent and wholesome and conscientious. It sounded like someplace I might consider exploring as a possible place to live.

A Dream and Reality Coincide Part of the newspaper office’s facilities included a library. That very day I first heard of Ithaca, I decided to go look it up in the reference library at the office. I found one encyclopedia that listed Ithaca and with that listing was a black and white photo. One glance at the photo totally blew me away. The scene was an image straight out of that incredible musical levitation dream I’d had several years ago and never forgot! The photo was of a tower, a rather medieval brick and stone structure with crenelations, and an ocean-like lake in the background, rimmed by softly rolling hills. This turned out to be a view from Libe Slope of Cornell campus overlooking Cayuga Lake.

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The Dream Manifests Itself The recognition in a photograph of a place I had only seen in a dream – a place that actually existed here on Earth – hit me with an adrenaline surge of excitement. I immediately started making plans to take some vacation time to come to Ithaca and see for myself what might be awaiting me there. Within a few months I found myself visiting Ithaca, a place I’d never heard of and where I knew not one person. But despite this solitary condition of my visit, upon arrival I immediately “felt” that I had found my next home. That feeling was reinforced when I went up to Cornell to look around the campus and it was exactly as it had looked in that dream! The trees were the same height, the buildings were of the same design and materials, the atmosphere had that same lofty air.... it was the place I saw in my dream. There was never a moment’s hesitation or a shred of a question in my mind: I knew that I needed to be in Ithaca. I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to find work in my profession in this small town, and as a southerner I felt that dealing with a snowy climate for the first time in my life would be challenging, probably sort of a wilderness experience. But none of these factors deterred me. I knew at a soul level that I had been called by this dream to an intersection with something inexplicable in a charming little town I had never heard of in upstate New York.

Following the Dream I went back to New Orleans, turned in my resignation at the newspaper, and within the year, I moved to Ithaca. Although I haven’t levitated (yet), my dream not only came true, it delivered far more than its original vision suggested. The compel-

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ling quality and content of that dream gave me the impetus to follow it. Daring to do so, the karmic repercussions have been not merely serendipitous but downright transfiguring, and continue to be so!

Over Twenty Years Later Over the years I lived in Ithaca, I attended several music concerts on that very slope of Cornell campus where my dream originally took place; in fact, I myself was a musician in one of those concerts! Whenever I’m in Ithaca I go back to that slope and play my recorders. There’s something about that sloping hill above the valley and the lake that musically carries me above and beyond this world. There’s something transcendent, something nameless, that I am engaged with through my connection to Ithaca... something that has the very breath of Eternity on it.

I knew at a soul level that I had been called by this dream to an intersection with something inexplicable

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Epilogue

In this little volume I have discussed many sorts of special dreams that are not ordinary dreams: dream meetings with beings in other realms; nightmares vs. dream visits to the lower realms; dream visits from those we love who are now in other realms; dream meetings where we help other people on Earth; dream visits to other places on Earth; prophetic dreams, dreams of the future; symbolic dreams; shared dreams; dreams where we travel among the stars. I have urged you to stop visiting the lower realms, and given suggestions how to stop these dream visits; I have suggested that you honor and savor your dream meetings and visits to the higher realms and any messages you have received in those realms. I have given suggestions on how to analyze these dream visits and meetings in other realms. But perhaps the greatest message I have for you is that no matter what realm we visit or inhabit, the substratum of all realms is Divine Light and Divine Consciousness – and that our very Essence is the Light and Love and Divinity of the Soul. And that Life, our lives and the universe we find ourselves in, are all parts of a Holy and Divine Mystery, a Mystery more orderly and more intricate than we could ever imagine.

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Peace to all who read these lines

also by Laurie Conrad

The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants with “The Cat Who Would Only Follow Buddha” and Other True Stories “These are touching stories, written by an extraordinary person.” – Katy Payne, author Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants

“Have you ever had such a close relationship with a pet that you felt you could read their thoughts and know their feelings? Well, in the book The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants, Laurie Conrad shares her enlightening stories and tales of the animals and plants in her life and the communications she has shared with them. An uplifting collection of stories, sure to bring a smile to your heart.” – New Age Journal

AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON.COM AND ALL MAJOR BOOKSELLERS

“If you’ve ever wondered if animals and plants have souls, then you will love reading Laurie Conrad’s The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants. Through the eyes and ears of a composer and musician, Conrad weaves wonderful little tales about the plants and animals that she has come to know and love in her life. By the time I had completed reading Laurie Conrad’s book, I felt grounded in the knowledge that plants and animals do indeed lead spiritual lives and that as caretakers of our Earth, we humans have an obligation to live more consciously of all the soulful creatures who exist within this realm.” – Body Mind Spirit magazine

“What a unique collection of stories! The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants gave me a whole new perspective on the animal (and even insect) beings who so closely share the Earth with us. If you’d like to expand your ‘circle of compassion,’ read this book.” – Carol Kline, author, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul

also by Laurie Conrad

Realms of Light

Clairvoyant Experiences of Life after Death “This delightful book by Laurie Conrad is sure to make your heart sing, and fill your soul with comfort and love, for she describes her experiences with the after life in ways that make it real. Her stories, delightful, delectable nuggets of clairvoyant experiences with loved ones from the other side, reveal miracles moment and by moment. If you have lost a loved one, or just want to know more about what happens when we pass on, you owe it to yourself to read Laurie’s stories. They will make you laugh and cry, but one thing for sure, your view of death and the reality of this physical realm will never be the same.”

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– Dr. Joan Hangarter author, The Miracle Makers Club

“Realms of Light exposes a world I didn’t know existed. Laurie’s stories about people she knew that she saw traveling into realms filled with radiant light after they had “died” were believable and wondrous. She tells remarkable stories in a humble, unassuming way and describes miracles as a daily event. This is the stuff that saints are made of, yet she is an ordinary person, a concert pianist and composer. After I finished Realms of Light, I ordered The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants. I absorbed it in one sitting. It made praying real and opened my eyes to the inner life of plants and animals. I’m amazed how aware all of life is. After reading these books I will never be the same. My life is changed.” – Lucia Musso, MFT

also by Laurie Conrad

Visits with Angels and Other Divine Beings

“Laurie Conrad is a most talented writer – her words flow effortlessly from the tip of her pen. She is deeply spiritual, yet extremely down-toearth – a great pleasure to know through her beautiful writings.” – Patricia Mitchell “Visits with Angels is well written and contains many touching true stories. The beautiful graphics add to this wonderful book’s appeal.” – Therese Kruger

“I ordered this book because I am dealing with some difficult times in my life now and it opened up a door for me to glimpse into a AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON.COM celestial world that is open 24 hrs AND ALL MAJOR BOOKSELLERS a day for anyone to journey into through the simple power of prayer. If you just enjoy reading stories about angels and saints and savor in heavenly bliss or if you are seeking answers and need help, this book is a Must Read for hope and inspiration!” – Susan D.

~ The book Visits With Angels is a treasury of true stories about angels, saints and other holy beings told from the mystical viewpoint of clairvoyant author Laurie Conrad. There are also interviews, wondrous true stories about angels from people from all over the world. Through their oftenamazing chance encounters, we are told of unexpected glimpses into realms usually unseen and unheard. For both believers and skeptics, this book offers captivating testimony to inexplicable occurrences of angelic protection, guidance and healing. We are also given more than a little evidence of the powerful sources of love and compassion that are available to us – if we can simply open our hearts to the magnitude and mercy of the divine beings’ beneficent presence.

Photo: Millie Martinez

about the author Laurie Conrad

At Ithaca Falls, a two-minute walk from her Lincoln Street home.

Clairvoyant Laurie Conrad is a meditation teacher, pianist and composer living in Ithaca, New York. Be a part of the author’s online community and read her blogs A Mystic’s Journal and A Composer’s Journal at Figarobooks.com. See her paintings and hear her music at Figaropaintings.com. Find her books and music CDs at Artistopia.com, Cdbaby.com & Amazon.com.