Tell me about your dreams, and being on the astral plane.

Originally posted by Kappo
so i noticed earlier as i was falling asleep and reached that stage between awake and sleep, that i could hear voices and (possibly) snippets of loads of dreams. What could this be?

That the Hypnogogic state, a stage in between waking and sleep. The in between stage as your are falling asleep is know as hypnogogic, and the in between stage as you are waking up is known as Hypnopompic.

Hypnogogic hallucinations are most commonly strange visual imagery, less commonly auditory hallucinations, and in rare cases physical sensations, like feeling a presence in your bed or something moving. It's interesting to note that these hallucinations are almost identical to those experienced by schizophrenics.

Hypnogogic hallucinations become "seeds" for the dreams that follow. Dreams form around the last image the person was aware of. The hypnogogic stated ends and true dreaming begins the moment you acquire a dream body. Sometime people skip the hypnogogic stage and enter directly into dreaming. Without a hypnogogic seed to start off the dream, the dream instead forms around the last thing the person was aware of, being in bed in their room, which is what is responsible for OBE type scenarios.

I've been reading through this thread and so far I find it facinating. So I just wanted to add my story in before I continue reading.

This is probably a nightmare that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

I was about 7 years old (so bear that in mind) and I had a dream about skeletons. Our parents and the skeletons were systematicaly killing all the kids, my dream was spent running around with a few other kids trying to hide and survive. The whole dream was shrouded in a pink-like mist and had shades of red overlaying everything. The skeletons were human and also large birds. Sounds funny but it was terrifying.

It was a long time ago, so I don't remember every detal, but I do remember there being feathers everywhere in the dream, and when we saw them we knew our hunters were near. At the end of my dream we were trapped in what was my room in real life. While the kids around me were being slaughtered my dream became lucid and I forced myself awake (by squeezing my eyes shut and forcing them open with my fingers at the same time).

Weird coincidence #One

When I woke up, there were feathers all over my room, including my bed and myself. Apparently my down pillow exploded while I was sleeping. I can't put into words how terrifying it was. I thought I had brought my dream into the real world with me. The best way to describe it was an absolutly paralizing fear of death.

Weird coincidence #Two

This happened a few years later. My little sister was born when I was ten years old. By the time she was able to walk and understand a bit of the world, she was absolutly terrified of feathers. She grew out of it when she was 7 years old (weird huh?) and decided to go out as Pocahontas for halloween bedecked in feathers.

Ninteen years later, I still remember this dream well enough to literally picture some parts in my head. I know this was probably just a run of the mill nightmare, and it accually sounds really stupid when I write it down, but this dream had a profound impact on me. Any insight at all would be much appreciated.

[edit on 7/20/2010 by Hatcookie]

[edit on 7/20/2010 by Hatcookie]

I had this dream where I'm the watcher(observer) and participant at the same time.I was being chased by the shadowed figure, I was cornered and no where to go. I pretend to cry and said "please don't hurt me". When it came closer, I laughed and said "I got you" With my right hand I somehow absorb it's life. The thing looked shock as I was absorbing it's energy. I looked at my hand after killing it.My right hand(palm) had these mouth with nasty sharp teeth. I wasn't freak out about it because it save my life from the shadowed figure.That dream was so cleared and vivid I remember every detail

Now, in some of my dreams, whenever my life is threaten I always absorbs other beings energy. Is that a good or bad thing?

A friend who lives in another state, & I exchange astral visits occasionally. The last time I was at her place, we were in front of her house looking at a garden that had a big hill of dirt in the middle of it. We sat on the hill & were talking & her mother came & sat with us. They discussed a white spot that was on the driveway.

When it was time to leave, I realized that my body had come looking for me, & I didn't know how to get it back home. She wanted me to hurry & leave because she was afraid her husband would wake up & find out that I was there. Finally, we got in her car & were immediately at my home.

Later, we were talking (on the phone) about the visit, & I asked her about the white spot in the driveway. She said that her husband had burned some leaves on it & that was what had made the spot, but she didn't remember mentioning it.

One night, I was talking to a friend that died last summer. I knew she was dead, because she was lying down & her hands were crossed over her chest. I remember a large part of the conversation, & then it was like part of me backed off & left the rest of me there talking to her. I don't remember the conversation after the first part of me left.

These travels aren't like dreams. There's a difference, but I can't explain what it is. There is a way of knowing if it was real or if it was a dream.


[edit on 20-7-2010 by took red pill]

this is @ The cusp... Let me ask you something.... Do you believe in spirits good and bad. Iv read your posting and (not to start anything but) I just find it weird that you come out and start saying that those are Hypnogogic hallucinations. To me that kinda tells me that you dont believe in the after life and what not. Just curious... Cause i do. And i believe in god and angels and all of that. If you've read previous posting i described the feeling i was having and after talking to a healer she confirmed everything that i was sensing. I kinda look at that like a kid telling there parents that they see ghost and the parent just disregards it as oh its just there imaginations. But hey you entitled to you own opinion and i respect that.

This part is to Kappo..... Id like to know whos posting was it that you read that you could relate those feeling too. And do you remember what the voice sounded like, where they yelling or talking and did you get a good or a bad vibe after you heard it. I dont know to much about your situation but if i had to guess... id say it was a spirit. whether you wanna believe it or not thats up to you. But from what iv experienced and what i believe is that theres spirits all around us all the time. Good and bad. If you get chills on the left side of your body there bad and if you get them on the right side there good. iv also heard that theres bad spirits that try to be good but should be trusted. well ill just wait to hear from you before i go on. But i really curious to hear from you!

Originally posted by Fumez2323
This part is to Kappo..... Id like to know whos posting was it that you read that you could relate those feeling too. And do you remember what the voice sounded like, where they yelling or talking and did you get a good or a bad vibe after you heard it. I dont know to much about your situation but if i had to guess... id say it was a spirit. whether you wanna believe it or not thats up to you. But from what iv experienced and what i believe is that theres spirits all around us all the time. Good and bad. If you get chills on the left side of your body there bad and if you get them on the right side there good. iv also heard that theres bad spirits that try to be good but should be trusted. well ill just wait to hear from you before i go on. But i really curious to hear from you!

Hiya

i was referring to this post:

Originally posted by shredder
Interesting post.
I on very rare occasions(once or twice a year)appro. where im in a state of relaxation. Watching tv or in front of the computer for example where my mind literally feels like im about 20 feet in the air, feels very strange but i really like the feeling, my curiousity is rather high so everytime it happens, i stay perfectly still and try to work out what im doing.
More about what it feels like.....almost the feeling where your looking down and scared of heights. Its like my head is high in the air and your looking down at your body. I actually wanted to post this a while ago to shed any insight on what this is.
Also your thread actually got me to sign up to ATS so this is my first post, long time reader tho but thanks lol

you can view two of my threads (if you want to,) here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

and here

www.abovetopsecret.com...

for more info on what i was talking about. the first thread was made 3 years ago

Originally posted by Fumez2323
this is @ The cusp... Let me ask you something.... Do you believe in spirits good and bad. Iv read your posting and (not to start anything but) I just find it weird that you come out and start saying that those are Hypnogogic hallucinations. To me that kinda tells me that you dont believe in the after life and what not. Just curious... Cause i do. And i believe in god and angels and all of that. If you've read previous posting i described the feeling i was having and after talking to a healer she confirmed everything that i was sensing. I kinda look at that like a kid telling there parents that they see ghost and the parent just disregards it as oh its just there imaginations. But hey you entitled to you own opinion and i respect that.

I'll concede there my be some sort of entities, but I'm wary us using terms like angel, demon, ghost or whatever. They carry too many preconceptions that get in the way of understanding what those things really are. And as for an afterlife, I think it's a dream state. I also think waking reality is a dream for reasons I won't get into here.

I'm sorry if you don't like the facts about hypnogogic imagery. But if it makes you feel better, that's when shadow people are commonly seen, and I don't think they are just figments of the imagination.

Religious people dreams of angels and such, I have lots of doctor who dreams. Dreams are a direct reflection of what you have your attention focused on, filtered through your own personal archetypes. If you really want to understand what you're experiencing, learn to understand where your dreams come from. Know yourself before you try to know angels or entities.

Hello I am just revisiting this thread because I have been doing multiple lucid dreaming techniques and I have noticed that if I do those before I go to sleep, I almost am sure to dream, and if I do not do the techniques I almost never dream on the nights I do not do them. I am keeping an online journal so I hope this helps as well.

Last night I had another dream of this guy I was into in the early part of my life, approximately my teen years, anyway I had two very short involvements with him never real intimate and we kissed only once and it just never went further, well this is recurring constantly. I thought I would be able to end it with lucid dreaming techniques, but it just became more persistent. Please tell me what the heck it means and how do I get rid of it?

[edit on 26-7-2010 by ldyserenity]

reply to post by ldyserenity


If it continues to recur you must begin to realize, "When I see him, it's a dream." This is one of the early ways I went lucid, whenever I would see my first girlfriend in a dream (who I frankly haven't seen for years). One time was really cool, I went lucid and gave her a hug, then flew her into the sky with me like so. Of course all my early lucid dreams ended seconds after I went lucid, so it was just me and her disappearing into the sky.

[edit on 26-7-2010 by Novise]

I dreamed I was shot and killed last night. It was non-lucid and I was totally sold on it being real life. A man and I ended up in eachother's faces with guns pointed at eachother. I realized it was a misunderstanding. I had the better gun, it was like a sub-machine gun high calibre and he had a pistol. If we both started shooting he would definetly die and I'd have a small chance to live (from a laymans perspective? lol)

I realize it's a misunderstanding because I know him and give him the gun and my advantage. Seconds later he shoots me in what I think was my liver with his pistol, and says "Sorry, you should have shot me."

I am sitting up on the floor knowing I'm going to die, it hurts in a certain way, but not very bad. This doesn't make me go lucid, I "justified" the lack of pain thinking that my body had shut out the pain because the last moments of my life would be too important to focus on the pain. I think to myself, "There are worse ways to die, this isn't all bad and I wont be to blame."

The man stands above me and I begin to tell him to let me forgive him. I reach up and manage to grab his arms as I do this and he keeps the pistol pointed at me. He settles to the ground sitting in front of me. I don't care what he's going to do I'm going to die anyway. He says, "I don't think you should (forgive me), that makes it seem like you are more interested in leaving heaven, than leaving earth." I argued back at him that I was forgiving him no matter what he said, and that's the final thing I will say on the matter as it's about to be lights out anyway.

Then I closed my eyes, amazed at how peacefully I was handling my death. I really thought this was it, that I was a goner.

Then I woke up in my bed. I was mildly relieved, I had accepted death so it wasn't like a huge victory - I hope that makes sense. If I of course had gone kicking and screaming, then waking up would have been the best feeling in the world. But this was more nonchalant, whatever happens happens.

EDIT: I don't think I've truly "Accepted death." Death in a dream would be easier to accept - the dream body does not have adrenaline and all those anxiety producing chemicals in it, but I thought the dream was very interesting - of course death would not be so bad probably if there wasn't the pain and the body's instinctive reaction to go into panic mode. Maybe that's the lesson of the dream.

[edit on 26-7-2010 by Novise]

reply to post by Novise


I do go lucid but yet I know it's a dream but can't control it, it's like if I try then I just lose the dream or I wake. It's so annoying!

reply to post by ldyserenity


Ok, you've got to play it smart then. Try to relax, or set up the situation where you can relax more importantly (though it's ok to be intense in a dream just don't over exert). Give yourself some distance between other dream characters. Don't try to solve problems in ways that require over-exertion, but a little bit of effort/will is ok. I'm actually really bad when the pressure is on, so i'm kind of stealthy in my dreams. I often don't let on that it's a dream and I try to blend in with the crowd or the surroundings.

This will not get you on the fast road to ultimate dream control, but for the time being can let you have some fun and have your way more often than not.

As literal as it is, and obviously you are playing a game with yourself once lucid, the mind is a funny thing and literally trying to be "sneaky" works for obvious reasons in a lucid dream.

I truly believe that the main reason you experience you can't control anything once you know it's a dream is because you don't have the space, security, privacy, freedom to flourish. Do your best to make your environment such (within the dream I mean here), whether it's your attitude or your style that gets you there.

Again, it's advice that seems to miss the point but we are all learning. I find myself in trouble often in lucid dreams and I've had nearly a thousand. All this advice is intended for when you find you are inside the dream, and nothing to do with outside factors.

[edit on 26-7-2010 by Novise]

reply to post by ldyserenity


Looking at your name and sig. Serenity is a good sense to have in a dream, and I've never experimented with that. A calm within the storm, a sort of energy growing in you silently.

And your sig. in a lucid dream it may be more effective to trip someone when the zombies are chasing you, than to turn round and try to fight the zombies, even though you know it's your dream and you have the ultimate power.

Like once I was lucid in a department store, and I knew if I stole something even though I was lucid, this would mean I could get noticed and authorities would be after me. So in this dream I did not steal, not because I couldn't, but because it would bring unwanted drama and stress.

The point is don't try to do anything and everything, but balance it out.

If you are in a restaurant setting and want to leave the restaurant, don't fly out the front door drawing attention from all the patrons, but maybe go into a bathroom or exit out of the back door or fire escape.

Every night I have vivid dreams, however my most memorable OBE happened three nights in a row in 2008.

I remember leaving my body, I saw myself and my daughter, who was sleeping next to me, I still felt like I was "connected" to my physical body somehow. Then it felt like I was floating/flying in the sky.. up up and into space.. btw I loved it in space, was an amazing feeling. The first night that's how far I got before I went back. The next night the same thing, except this time I went into a beautiful arrangement of lights. This is where I talked to a man. A beautiful man. He said what are you doing here? I said can I stay? He said, no it's not your time. Then I felt myself fall back to earth. The next night it was the same, instead this time I ended up in some place that looked like a city I guess. I was in a taxicab.. it took me to my dad's house (which btw my dad is passed and this house was nothing like his earth house) and I went into the house and saw my dad, it made me cry, I was so happy to see him... the feeling wasn't mutual, he was upset that I was there, he said it wasn't time yet and that he had places to go to.. I asked him where's mom (she's also passed) and he said that she is at her house down the way. The thing that really helped me was that I saw that he had my daughter's picture on his wall, which he has never met her. .. after I left I went back to my physical body. This time I could feel myself going back in, I was shaking and it was so strange. It hasn't happened much since then but I will never forget this. Ever.

Did it really happen? To me it did.
I know that there is an other side, I believe that it's like life now but without all of the craziness. It was beautiful there, so much that is undescribable.

Well I hope you enjoyed my recolection.

Galatea.

reply to post by galatea


That is neat about your dad and in his house that wasn't his house in life. I had a dream once where I went to the place my parent's stayed in their "retirement" or afterlife. It was an amazing mountain area with houses all around and long rope bridges spanning across a wide river. Everyday the people that lived around there came down to the river and sat on logs and rocks with their feet in the flowing water, washing the dust from their feet that had accumulated from their lives. And all you could see as far as you could see was the backs of others sitting in the river doing the same. It apparently took a long long time to wash all the dust off. But everyone was happy and in no hurry, calmer than anything I've ever seen.

My parents are both alive and think it weird when I talk about lucid dreams. Sometimes my dad tries to humor me, but oh well. I've never had a suitable chance to tell them about this one and I don't think they'd like it, but it's beautiful and maybe someday they will understand. Part of me thinks I entered some other dimension and visited them, the dream simply did not change, and dreams almost always change entirely - background, setting, everything.

My grandfather who is deceased, is sometimes a sort of guide for lots of younger people in my dreams. He may be gruff and to the point, but has this wonderful presence about him, such that, you cannot hug him without weeping.

reply to post by bronwyn82


I would like to share what happened to me in a dream approximately 23yrs ago. What I’m about to share with you is the most vivid memory and recollection I have ever had. In my twenties, I lost my mom to suicide, I did not see her for a period of time prior to the incident, nor was anything in her note addressed to me.
After the funeral I had an extreme sense of emptiness, and resorted to calling out to her in my mind, (until I would fall asleep) the same way I did when I was a child calling for assistance. Night after night, I did this with no response, until I found myself in a wide open field, the color of the earth was dark, giving me the impression of fertile soil. On the horizon was blue ocean, that was smooth as it was in the distance, and the only other color was a darker shade of blue, where the ocean met the sky. In the middle of this “field” was a small rickety wooden house, that had a covered porch and a few wooden steps leading up.
I went up the steps, followed by no more than say 2 paces, and knocked on the door, which then opened, but only a little more than been ajar. I asked if my mother was there, and the reply was “yes”. I asked if I could speak to her, and was told to wait. I remember trying to look inside but it was pitch black, and I never saw who or what answered the door. A brief period of time went by and a voice responded, “she doesn’t want to talk to you”. I distinctly remember NOT been angry or upset and simply left. The next morning I awoke with an incredible feeling of calmness, that has stayed with me even to this day.
This event to me, is pretty self explanatory, should anyone have any insight, I’m all ears.
Dream on,
O. Pelt

reply to post by Orange Pelt


This was a beautiful way for the powers that be, to let you know it was time to move forward. And that sometimes things are not the way they should be. It's good to have learned it this way then to learn the hard way. I'm glad you have peace now.

Love and Light ♥

I was in a dark room with a UV light on. There were two pink spiders glowing under the blacklight. One was about an inch across and furry, the other bore a striking resemblance to an ant, but I just knew that it was a spider. They glowed baby pink. The ant spider seemed to be about two feet long at one point.

I am hysterically arachnophobic, but in this dream I was completely calm and touching the smaller spider, while observing the larger one.

reply to post by bronwyn82


This is the only method available to me to communicate with you, as I have to few posts. I have a double expression of gratitude, my first attempt gave me an error when I tried to submit. It was important enough to return and reattempt. If you are able, please remove the note posted on 08-01
Orange Pelt

reply to post by Orange Pelt


Thank you for the kind words as well. Much appreciated!

I also removed the second comment. Now you just need to launch your comment section on your profile, so people can send you messages back. You will get the hang of ATS in no time! Thanks for sharing your dream, means a lot. It will also help others that just read, and never post. Have a great day!