Rochelle Gordon

Setting the Stage for Dream

It has been said that “a dream not remembered is like a letter unopened.” Our dreams and the dream world holds more information and can reveal more to us than the “awake” world. The life we lead in our sleep, in dreams, is just as real as the life we lead in “real life” -- our waking state.

Just as much takes place in the dream state as in the waking state of consciousness. Some people believe, including this writer, that the dream state of awareness has more to do with shaping our destiny and our everyday life than does conscious decisions and actions while awake.

In the dream state, our consciousness is awake in another realm of reality, which is sometimes referred to as the Astral World or the “Astral Plain.” Our awareness is centered in our “dream” or “astral” body. When awake, our consciousness is centered in our physical body. From the dream realm, we can move into other realms, or “planes.”

This movement can be to a lower state of awareness, sometimes depicted as “hell” somewhat described in Dante’s Inferno, or to higher, described as heaven. Whichever, you can certainly explore other dimensions, places you cannot recognize or reach from your physical body awareness and sense organs.

But, in your “dream body” you can sense and traverse these other dimensions… and if you don’t like it there, you can always leave by simply waking up. The act of waking up brings your consciousness back to your physical body.

You might remember how much trouble Dorothy had in the tale “Wizard of Oz” -- she couldn’t get back home, and sometimes in dreams, it may “seem” like we can’t get home -- wake up. But, like poor, lost Dorothy, all you must do (and magic slippers help, but aren’t required dreamwear) is “wish” your way home.

Dreams take place in a dimension that is not limited by time and space, as in our physical world. Kinda like “The Twilight Zone,” but without commercial interruptions.

While dreaming, we navigate great distances with the speed of thought and with no physical restrictions.

Dreams in which you see yourself “flying” are just that. You are flying, navigating in your Astral Body.

Leap a tall building in a single bound like Superman? Sure, why not -- and why not just fly right through it, with your feet 16 inches off the ground?

These types of dreams are jumping off points for getting into what is called a “lucid dream.”

Lucid dreaming takes place when you are running the dream instead of the dream running you -- sort of “real life” “free will.”

You became aware that you are dreaming and at the same time, continue to dream, creating the dream as you go along.

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The dimension of “time” does not operate in the Astral World. “Astral time” is not the same as “reality time.”
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The dimension of “time” does not operate in the Astral World. There may be some debate on that, but regardless, “astral world time” is not the same as “reality time.”

Our waking state is confined by time and space. This is the realm in which rational (reasonable), linear (left, right, up, down, forward, backward, et cetera), and verbal part of our mind operates.

But, it’s interesting to note that the real world isn’t always real and rational as we think. We become too accustomed to our normal waking state habit patterns of thinking and perception, but then every so often, something new, unusual or unexpected pops up and surprises and impresses us. While dreaming, habit patterns of reality are more interrupted by the unusual and unexpected. There is creativity in both reality and dreaming. And, dreaming is a reality too; after all, you are really dreaming.

The Dream state is the real world of our subconscious mind -- a world of images and symbols which depict our feelings.

The subconscious mind communicates in pictures and emotions. We receive messages from our subconscious in our dreams. We learn what it thinks, feels and needs.

The prime purpose of dream interpretation is to discover what is happening in our subconscious, which hides the secrets of our pasts and the clues to our futures.

We want to know ourselves better.

Our subconscious does not know the difference between the past, the present and the future. That is why in certain areas of our life, we act as if we are three years old.
The subconscious remembers what happened under certain circumstances then, and continues to act now as if we are three years old.

The subconscious is in charge of memory, and to it, each “memory” is a part of the present as well as the future.

Time does not exist for it.

A very important function of certain dreams is to sort out what has happened during the day and file it away into memory.

We all dream several times each night. The problem is that we do not remember all of them. We have to remember that our memory habits only allow for so much to be remembered -- that’s conditioning.

We only remember those dreams which either wake us, or during which we are awakened for one reason or another, and those dreams which occur just prior to arising in the morning. Some people first remember dreams days, weeks, even months, after they had happened.

We usually recall the last dream, as while “awakening,” we are still in the twilight zone between sleeping and waking.

You will hear many people say that they never dream. This cannot be. They dream but don’t remember their dreams.

When we remember our dreams, they are filtered through our conscious mind. They usually are not “exactly” as they happened. Sometimes, we do not remember the colors in our dreams, and you will hear people say they dream only in black and white. The Astral Plane actually has more vivid colors than the physical place, however, the filtering process screens out colors we had seen during dream recall.

You can train yourself to always dream in color. Mine are always in Technicolor!

There are many different types of dreams, each serving a different purpose and having a different experience.

The main type of dream is the dream that performs the function of sorting out the events of the previous day and filing them away.

The filing system works this way: events or information processed becomes a memory by being linked to similar events that have already occurred comprising past memories. Logic does not enter into this process, just association of similarities. This is why during psychoanalytic sessions (with the “psychologist”), word association games can sometimes be a helpful tool for understanding motivations and your dream “work.”

Another type of dream is the problem solving dream.

We all have used the expression from time to time “let me sleep on it.”

This is literally true -- we do come up with the answers in our sleep. This is most likely to occur when we have fallen asleep with the matter on our mind.

Your subconscious will continue the thinking for your conscious Mind, and often comes up with a very creative solution. Dreams allow more creativity, remember?

However, it may take a few days before the subconscious can relay the information to the conscious, everyday mind while you are awake and aware.

The subconscious is the portion of our mind that works the miracles of our imagination.

Inventors, artists, musicians and great scientists, including Albert Einstein have declared that they received their ideas from their dreams.

When the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson wanted to write a story, he told himself to “dream one up.” He always did.

What about dreams where you feel you are “seeing” the future?

Many people have precognitive dreams. These can be about a personal situation or a world crisis -- anything.

World situation dreams are very vivid and make a strong impression upon the individual, usually strong enough to wake you up.

The personal precognitive dream is not recognized as such until the actual event or set of circumstances seen in the dream takes place in the waking world.

It is at that point that the dream can be remembered if it had not been previously.

Sometimes, we get the feeling of “déjà vu” about a situation -- that we had “seen” it before, and now it’s happening all over again. This generally is when we had the precognitive dream, but did not remember it. At the time when reality is unfolding, the memory of the dream’s ending returns vaguely, then more firmly, enters our conscious mind, until, suddenly, the thought hits you, “Hey, I know what’s going to happen right now!” Is there anything you can do about it? Try it; usually the memory is over quickly.

When we enter the dream world, the realm of the subconscious mind, we do so with everyone else.

It is here that we can receive telepathic messages from others, time and distance being no factor. Oh, yes, there are people who send and receive telepathic messages while they are completely awake, but for most of us, it’s during out dreaming that our E.S.P. (extra-sensory-perception) is activated.

We are given “other senses,” not really “extra senses.”

We can meet with others in our dreams. So, when you dreamt of a conversation with a friend, you can consider that the same as if you had met with the friend while awake.

An actual meeting took place.

I took astrology lessons from a woman who stated that she learned all of her astrology in her sleep. Each night she went to class and upon awakening, remembered everything.

Remember, our dreams are as real when we are dreaming as our lives are real while living.

When in the Astral Plane, or other realms of reality in our sleep (whose to say there’s not more than one astral plane?), it is possible to contact deceased people whose consciousness can still use their astral bodies, but no longer, of course, their physical one.

Many years ago, when I was first learning about the dream state, I told my subconscious to contact my deceased grandfather in a dream. I wanted him to meet my son, who was born five years after he had died.

To this day, I can still remember the dream where we spoke. I held my son in my arms.
In the dream, my son was about two years of age. At the real time of the dream, he was actually six years old. I don’t know the reason for the age discrepancy, and I don’t much care. He important thing was that I brought both of them together.

Visits with those who have died are most important and most definitely “alive” and real.

Some dreams provide meetings with and guidance from spirit guides.

These can come in the form of symbols or dream figures.

Spirit guides can be likened to friends and mentors in our physical life. While in these higher realms of reality, you may chose to do service work for the good of mankind, your community or just to give some positive energy and love to people you know on the physical plane.

You may be separated by space and/or circumstances, which prevents you from doing what you might in physical waking life.

The possibilities in the dream state are unlimited. It is only limited by the control you have over your dream reality.

Originally printed in True Astrology Forecast, 1987 Annual