For as long as I can remember, I had what I was told growing up were “vivid dreams” stemming from a “creative mind.” But if you’re someone who dreams often, especially in a lucid state, experiences those horrific night terrors that you swear feel real, or repeatedly find yourself wandering astral realms, we might have quite a bit in common.
Night after night through childhood, my teen years, and now as an adult, I’ve experienced enough wild things while sleeping that I’m certain much of what I’ve witnessed was not just dreams fabricated by my subconscious trying to make sense of the world, but rather spiritual happenings occurring in the liminal space that sits between “here and there.” With that statement, I also understand that may not be everyone’s experience or reality, and I believe both of those things can be true at the same time.
For me, though, the dream world is a place I’ve only ever known as the astral, and from my experience, it’s filled with more beings and spirits than we can fathom. There are different realms or places within the astral that seemingly are governed by different energies. Within each place, there are different things you can do, see, experience, or learn. There are some realms that you ought not to wander into and others that are more welcoming to outsiders.
One of my favorite realms is a portal of sorts. It resembles the cosmic colors of our Milky Way if you were to stand in the center of it and have swirling points of light dance around you against the dark space background. The center of the portal is my favorite place to sit—it is void of light, lacks stars, and is absent of color. It sucks you in like a black hole in stark contrast to the vibrant galactic expanse surrounding it.
No one was ever in this portal but me—until one particular night. I sat in the center of this astral realm thinking, creating, and expanding when I was abruptly interrupted by a female spirit who appeared in the empty space beside me. Confused and startled, I stared at her. How did she find me here? How did she travel here? Most importantly, what did she need?
The female spirit smiled at me and began floating above me, her “body” elongating as though it was being pulled upward. I stretched out my hand to her, gently attempting to keep her in the portal with me until I could make sense of what she wanted. She reached out connecting herself to me and I paused looking longingly at her fragile, wrinkled hands. They were delicate and small, but powerful.
I looked up into her eyes and noticed glistening tears welling up in them, something you would think impossible in a place like this—and I recognized her. She was my sweet great-grandmother, Dru, and she had a message for me.
Tomorrow, when I woke up from my astral travels, she would be exiting our earthly existence. My human heart of this earthly incarnation was saddened. She was a light, a goofball, and a sassy fireball of a woman—and everyone loved her. Literally everyone.
I, too, had tears pooling in my eyes now at the thought of her no longer being with me physically in this lifetime, but she assured me it would be okay. She was at peace, she was gracefully transitioning to her next energetic form and existence, and I was glad for her.
The energy of her body continued stretching and drifting upward and our hands released from one another with a final goodbye as she faded from sight in the portal and exhaled her last earthly breath.
The next day, as foretold, my sweet great-grandmother passed away. Our family grieved, all in their own way, but I smiled at the night sky because energy cannot be destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.
“Just as when we come into the world, when we die we are afraid of the unknown. But the fear is something from within us that has nothing to do with reality. Dying is like being born: just a change.”
―Isabel Allende