The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal. Theresa Cheung
sometimes reporting transitional dreams of crossing bridges or walking through doors just before death. These dreams often bring peace of mind.
Dream telepathy has interested psychical researchers since the late nineteenth century. The founders of the Society for Psychical Research in London collected numerous dream telepathy cases in their study of paranormal experiences published in Phantasms of the Living (1886).
Interpreting your dreams
Have you ever wondered why dreams are often hard to make sense of? It’s because the information they contain is presented in the language of images and the number of images your brain can present is endless. Dream experts believe that the images are your own thoughts, feelings and ideas turned into a series of pictures or scenes and it’s up to the individual to translate and interpret them.
Your unconscious mind is working all the time using images, feelings and pictures from your past and present and linking them in with the issues currently concerning you. For example, if you feel stressed you may have a dream where you are swimming and can’t keep your head above water. If you feel confused you may have a dream where you are lost in a dark wood. Some of these images can be universally recognized - a boat, for example, is typically is a symbol of transition - but most of the images in your dreams can only really be interpreted by you. That’s \ why a dream dictionary isn’t always helpful as the interpretations in there will be universal and not unique to you.
A good way to uncover the meanings of your dreams is by free association. You simply go with the first thing that pops into your mind when recalling an image you had in a dream. For example, if you dream of a dog what are the first thoughts that come into your mind when you think about dogs? Forget about universal associations; what are your personal associations with dogs? What a dog means to you and what a dog means to someone else may be entirely different. Perhaps you had an unpleasant encounter with a dog once and rather than being symbols of love, loyalty and devotion dogs represent fear and trauma for you?
The more you work with your dreams the more familiar you will become with your personal images. Always bear in mind that your dream symbols and images will be unique to you. What do you think your dream is trying to tell you?
A number of other telepathic dream studies have been conducted since, the most famous of which is perhaps the one conducted at the dream laboratory of the Mai-monides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York from 1963-1974. When subjects were in REM stages of sleep, a person in another room attempted to transmit images to the sleeping subject and the correlation of dream images was significantly above average.
Some dreams are interpreted as having past-life content. Recurring dreams which involve the same action, people and scenery are thought to be memories from past lives that have lingered for some reason and the dreamer needs to work out why. Others are thought to be out-of-body experiences when the astral body travels - seven out of ten people experience the sensation of flying in their dreams at some point in their life. Another type of dream is the lucid dream, in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and is able to influence the content of the dream and, in some instances, its outcome.
Many believe that dreams are a powerful way to connect with and harness psychic power. Studies of ESP experiences show that dreams are involved in between 33 and 69 per cent of all cases. In precognitive cases dreams are involved around 60 per cent of the time and in telepathic cases dreams are involved around 25 per cent of the time.
Most of us forget our dreams immediately on waking. There is so much to do when the new day starts and the wonderful world of meaning dreams can reveal to us is neglected. According to a Jewish proverb, An unremembered dream is like an unopened letter from God.’
To work with your dreams you do need to remember them. Keeping a dream journal and recording your dreams as soon as you wake will help your dream recall. If dreams are not written down they will fade away. The technique of dream recording is simple. You leave a notepad and pencil within reach of your bed and immediately on waking you write down whatever you can remember about your dream - the people, the colours, the places, the events -every detail, however small, is significant.
DREAMTIME
Similar to Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, dreamtime is an Australian Aboriginal belief of a psychic realm that is shared by everyone. Dreamtime is not separate from the real world; it inhabits the part of our consciousness that can be accessed in meditation, trance or in dreams.
Aborigines typically believe that all life is spiritually interconnected and that the human race originated in dreamtime before taking human form. Dreamtime is the land’ to which the spirits of the Aboriginal dead must return, and it is the dimension from which shamans draw their psychic power.
DROP IN COMMUNICATOR
A mysterious entity, entirely unknown to medium, sitter or anyone present, who appears without warning and without an invitation at a séance. Sceptics argue that drop ins are constructs of the medium’s unconscious but many psychical researchers who have investigated drop in cases believe them to be genuine. They are seen as possible evidence to support the belief that mediums do actually contact the spirits of the dead and are not simply manifesting secondary personalities or demonstrating their powers of clairvoyance or telepathy.
On rare occasions drops ins are accompanied by phenomena such as table tilting, mysterious lights, apports and strange sounds and smells, and occasionally they speak in a language the medium is not fluent in. Many cases are inconclusive but in the best cases the information a drop in communicator brings is personal and has never been made public, but can be verified by a small group of friends or family members.
Some drop ins are said to be very talkative, revealing personal information that can be verified upon research. One of these was ‘Harry Stockbridge’, who dropped in on a Ouija board séance of a group meeting in Cambridge, England between 1950 and1952. Stockbridge claimed to be a second lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers who had died on 14 July 1916. The information he gave was verified through old military records.
Other drop ins have a motive or task they are intent on accomplishing. One of these was the case of Runolfur Runolfs-son who, according to reports, dropped in on medium Hafsteinn Björnsson in 1937. Runolfsson was a rough, hard drinking Icelander who had drowned in 1879; his corpse was picked apart by birds. After several sittings Runolfsson revealed that he wanted to find his missing thighbone. Runolfsson’s identity was verified and his thighbone discovered and buried.
DRUGS
The use of drugs and the visions they induce in religious ceremonies is an age-old practice. Opinions vary greatly as to whether certain drugs can stimulate genuine psychic experiences or not. Some believe that drugs can duplicate mystical experiences and heighten the emotions, and are of value to psychotherapy. Others believe that drug-related experiences are simply illusions.
There have been a number of tests on drugs and their effects on psi ability since the 1920s. Both caffeine and alcohol have been shown to both improve and depress test results. Marijuana and other strong psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and mescaline, which loosen the boundaries of ego generally, trigger too much instability to yield meaningful conclusions. In general results have been largely inconclusive as drugs affect each person differently.
Most psychics would discourage the use of mind-altering drugs, believing that true insight and power can only be created or raised from within, not from without.
DRUIDS, DRUIDRY
A Celtic priestly class in Britain