frequently asked questions

How can I stop dreams and premonitions of future events because they really spook me? Over the past few years, this was the most frequently asked question -- it surprised me. This is how I usually answer:

Yes, sometimes our dreams and visions can be really scary, especially when you have no one to talk to about them. When I get spooked, I envision myself surrounded by white light. When that doesn't work, I try something similar. I've created two special places in my mind. One is a beach with white sand where the sun always shines brightly and reflects on the water with white sparkles. Sometimes the beach is easier to imagine than the light.

Do animals dream? It seems that animals do dream. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is a sign that the level of sleep during which dreams occur has been reached. There is evidence of REM sleep in all mammals studied. An active EEG indicates an animal's mind remains awake while the body sleeps. A gorilla who used sign language, put two signs together to express its "sleep pictures." (I love that.)

Falling dreams, what do they mean? Some explanations are: an expression of our legitimate fear of falling and hurting ourselves; symbolism reflecting anxiety due to out-of-control situations in our lives; our astral bodies rushing back to our physical bodies (sometimes crashing with a jerk); an expression of the fear that too many of the collective unconscious may be changing the rules of solid matter without telling us (see definition of collective unconscious). Falling dreams are common. (I made-up that last one, but it's not a bad idea.)

Flying dreams, what do they mean? Some explanations are: a positive feeling about our life manifests itself as 'flying high' or 'rising above'; our astral body is flying through space; memory fragments of an existence in another life form not necessarily on this planet. Flying dreams are common. (NOTE: Flying and falling. Flying. Falling. We seem to do a lot of flying and falling in our dreams. Do you think the two are related?)

Can a dream predict the future? Yes.

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Ancient Sumerians kept dream journals which recounted a dream, where and when the dream sequence took place, how the dreamer felt about the dream, and what the dreamer believed its message to be.

An ancient Arab dream ritual dictated that to prepare for your dreamtime/bedtime, you should clean your body, sleep in a certain position, meditate or pray, and fast.

In ancient China, some believed that a dreamer's soul left the land of the living to visit the land of the dead -- and that it was possible for the soul to separate from the body and fail to return.

The following quote by Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu, is my all-time favorite. "I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man."

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glossary of terms and definitions

Altered State of Consciousness -- On this site I use this term to describe a state of consciousness other than a normal waking state. I use this as a catch-all category for experiences that cannot be neatly defined as a dream, vision, past life memory, or ghost story.

Astral Projection -- An 'astral' body, dream body, or spirit body resides in the physical body and has the ability to 'project' or travel outside, unbounded by physical laws of time and space. Also known as: out-of-body experience (OOBE or OBE).

Clairvoyance -- Literally means 'clear-seeing' and refers to the ability to see things not present to the senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch). Extrasensory perception.

Collective Unconscious -- The theory that we are connected to a universal mind. I believe that we, on a higher level, have agreed on a set of 'rules of reality' like: even though all this cosmic stuff like protons and neutrons are moving around and have space between them, let's agree that at least some of the 'stuff' keeps together so we can stand on it.

Creative Visualization -- Employing the conscious mind to create or change something by visualizing it as being real; seeing the situation as if it had already come to be. Or, 'you are what you think you are.' Creative visualization has been successful in healing, especially when practiced by children whose perceptions of reality are more flexible than adults.

Déja vú -- Literally means 'already seen.' The feeling that you've 'been here before.' A variety of explanations exist for this common experience; here are a few (not in any particular order): delayed recognition in the brain; a blip in time; something similar really did happen and you forgot about it; fragments of past life memories; memories of precognitive dreams or out-of-body experiences; and my personal favorite ­ in the dream state or the collective unconscious, we have planned and agreed to participate with each other in this particular situation and we are now acting out the planned scenario.

Dream -- A succession of images or ideas present in the mind during sleep; an involuntary vision occurring to one awake.

Dream Incubation -- A technique to make productive use of the 'dreaming mind' to focus on and offer creative solutions to 'waking mind' problems or concerns.

ESP -- Extrasensory perception refers to obtaining knowledge or information, other than by the physical human senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch). Also known as: clairvoyance; intuition; psychic sensitivity.

Extrasensory Perception -- Ability to see or 'perceive' things not present to the senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch).

Ghost -- The soul or spirit of a dead person; a disembodied spirit; an apparition, a spook or phantasm. A non-physical entity.

Lucid Dream -- A dream during which the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and continues the undisturbed dream.

Meditation -- Close or continued thought. The act of meditating can result in an altered state of conscious where the subject feels deeply relaxed, loses self-awareness, feels separated from the outside world, and feels connected to an inner world or higher conscious.

Omen -- A sign, portent, warning; to foretell

Oracle -- A place where hidden knowledge is believed to be revealed, or what is revealed. A revelation or divine utterance, or the one who does such revealing. A seer, sage, prophet, soothsayer, clairvoyant.

Otherworld -- The world of the dead; the world to come. A dimension, world, realm, etc. other than the physical realm. Spirit world.

Out-of-body Experiences -- The belief is that a spirit or dream body resides in our physical body but has the ability to project or travel out of the body. Also known as: OOBE or OBE; astral projection.

Paranormal -- Supernatural; not subject to scientific explanation.

Parapsychology -- The study and investigation of psychic phenomena, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and extrasensory perception.

Past Life Recall -- Memories or fragments, or images of a former existence.

Precognition -- Literally means 'before coming to know.' Extrasensory awareness of a future situation or event.

Prophetic Dreams -- Dreams which foretell future events.

PSI -- Related to psychic phenomenon. (Also the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet.)

Psychic -- Of or pertaining to the human soul or mind. Related to nonphysical force or power assumed to operate in various obscure phenomena, as those of telepathy, clairvoyance, spiritualism. A person unusually sensitive to some nonphysical or spiritual influence.

Reincarnation -- Belief that the soul returns after death to live in a new body; rebirth of the soul in a new living form.

Soul -- Inner self, or spirit body which exists independently from the outer body and is not bound by physical law; its continuation, even after death, is the core of many religious teachings.

Supernatural -- Transcending actual or natural phenomena; transcending or violating what are assumed to be natural laws.

Telepathy -- Communication of one mind with another by some means beyond normal sensory perception.

Universal Mind -- The theory that all life is connected. The collective unconscious.

Weird Dreams -- What you see is what you get -- you're making nocturnal visits to some very strange places, of course your dreams can be weird.