I have often thought of astral traveling as random, for that's how it happens for me. I find myself on the side of a hill somewhere, and before I can get a good look around, I realize that I'm not in my bed anymore. I've had dreams where I'm completely aware of dreaming, and dreams where I'm sure I'm somebody else. Once I dreamed that I was in the body of a woman who was talking to a man I know from school. (It was as if I was observing him through her eyes.) I haven't seen that man in many years, but he looked as old as he would be if I saw him today. I got a good look around her house, and noticed the man seemed healthy and happy. Do you think I was wandering out of the body and decided to look in on an old friend? Was this a flash from the past? Your thoughts?
- Tracy
Astrea:
In the old dream books, if you dream of being a man, then you're letting a man control your waking life, and if you dream of being a woman, the opposite is happening. The dream you're having where you're seeing through someone else's eyes is not uncommon.
There are elements in every dream that stand for and symbolize other things. Dreams contain messages from our guides, angels, and our subconscious. These signs and symbols are given to us to help us process what is going on in our lives. We learn how to deal with certain things in dreams that our conscious mind won't or can't see when awake.
Most dream analysts agree that when we dream of seeing through someone else's eyes or being someone else, there is some area of our lives in which we're not dealing honestly with ourselves or others. Dreaming of being someone else either means we wish we were a different person, or we wish we could behave towards others in a different way.
For instance, dreaming that you're a man when you're a woman might mean that you wish you could handle your problems in a more forceful or masculine way. Dreaming you're a woman when you're a man might point out a need for softness and caring in your life.
Basically, if you want to change something in your life that you feel powerless to change while you're awake, it makes a lot of sense that you would dream you are someone else.
Sometimes our past lives come into play, and we dream of the person or people we have been in other lifetimes. If you are doing lots of reconstruction on your past lives, those dreams happen frequently. For most people, this isn't the cause of those dreams, but the more spiritually active you are, the more likely you are to have this sort of experience.
Thinking about someone from your past and then seeing that person in a dream could mean you're meeting him in his present form in the dream world. It's even possible for him to have his current physical appearance while you're in another form from a past life. I've had many of those experiences, so I would think it's very common.
Dreaming you're someone else, watching the real you, can be a way to distance yourself from some issue or event that needs to be faced. If you write down each dream you have for a month as soon as you wake up and then let it sit for thirty days before you go back to it, analyzing those dreams is going to be a whole lot easier, for by getting some distance from them, you'll gain perspective.
*****
Susyn:
Astral traveling is more common an experience than most people realize, and can occur when one is awake as well as asleep. Sometimes people explain this phenomenon away by calling it daydreaming or simply an unusual dream. However, upon closer examination, it's easy to see that these astral experiences are so vivid and detailed that we must have been in the places and/or the bodies we recall.
Most people first experience astral projection while they are asleep. Initially they experience a feeling of falling back into their bodies, which can often result in them waking with a start. Later they will have memories similar to the one you describe, of being in a certain place or in the mind or body of another person.
As with any metaphysical practice, when we start to delve into the realm of astral projection, at first it may seem random and beyond our control. As we become more familiar with the practice, we can start to direct our adventures and make more sense of them.
The event you describe in which you were projected into the body of a woman who was speaking with a man you hadn't seen in many years suggests that somewhere deep in your psyche, you were wondering what had become of him. Because you saw the man as he would most likely appear today, and took the time to observe his state of well-being and the environment you were in, it's almost certain that you were actually astrally present.
Had this been a flash from the past, you would have seen him as he was when you knew him years ago, and you wouldn't have needed another person through which to observe him. In fact, you would have seen yourself as being present, which would have made the experience more dream-like than it seems to have been.
Years ago, an internet friend of mine whom I had neither met in person nor seen a picture of, began astral projecting to me. Two or three times I was awakened from a deep sleep to find her standing over me. When we met years later, I recognized her immediately. In fact, she was wearing the same outfit I recalled in the experience.
This taught me that not only do we have the power to astral project to a certain place, but others can sometimes see us and recognize us as having been there.
With time and practice, you can program yourself to astral project to specific places and times, either before you go to sleep or even in an awake state. Conscious astral travel simply requires you to set a strong intention and then open up your body, mind and spirit to take you there.
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.