Dear Soul Arcanum:
My grandmother died when I was 16, and due to family tensions, I wasn’t able to be with her much before her death. In fact, I didn’t get to attend her funeral. Years later while I was pregnant with my second child, I had a VERY vivid dream where I met my Grandma in some kind of station that looked like a church because of the pews we sat on. I could see her perfectly and I could even smell her perfume and Jergens hand lotion. What has plagued me for years is that I know we had a very long conversation, but I don’t remember for the life of me what it was about. I know this wasn’t ‘just a dream,’ because even thinking of it now brings tears to my eyes. In my ‘dream,’ I knew the conversation was coming to an end. I was very sad and crying and I moved into a kneeling position on the floor, resting my head in my grandmother’s lap. When I looked up, she was gone. I have tried my hardest to remember what was said during that conversation. I believe she had some very important information for me, but I just can’t remember it. Is there any way to recall it?
– Tanya
Dear Tanya:
Your experience is very common, and it’s not just because it can be so hard to clearly remember ordinary “dreams.” I’ve read countless tales of people who have had amazing spiritual experiences via astral projection, a dreamlike/visionary state, or near death experiences, who know that they were given very important information, but they just can’t remember what it was!
Even folks who are very adept at remembering regular dreams may have experiences like this where they had a very profound conversation but they can’t remember what was communicated.
This is basically caused by a big shift in one’s vibration. When we’re having this profound experience, our energetic vibration is soaring relative to where it is when we’re fully awake. Just as when we’re dreaming or out of the body, we have no awareness of physical reality, when we’re fully conscious, we lose awareness of these subtler realms of experience.
One aspect of a high vibration is self-awareness. The more self-aware we are, the more spiritually conscious we tend to be. When we’re in a very high vibration, we’re naturally open to and at peace with just about everything. We can then access information that would freak us out when we’re rooted in a more egoistic state.
When we’re in an ordinary state of consciousness and thus rooted in our “lower selves,” we will tend to suppress any insights or information we’re not ready to face or handle yet. Our conscious minds block that information from our awareness. Thus the more we work on rising above the ego, the more we’ll be able to consciously access this higher perspective.
Another tricky aspect of remembering “conversations” we have in subtle realms is the fact that this sort of communication is not really verbal. It’s a mental transference of ideas and energies; no words are truly spoken. Any words that we remember are words our own minds supplied to interpret the information given.
So remembering a conversation like this is sort of like trying to remember all the thoughts you had while staring out over the ocean. Hours later, can you recapture them all? Or are they sort of mixed up in a vague jumble? Think of a time yesterday when you were alone for at least a half an hour, when you didn’t talk to anyone. What all did you think about? It’s hard to recall such details when nothing is ever put into words.
There is a way to bridge the chasm between these dimensions, and that’s to raise our waking vibration via conscious spiritual development. The higher our waking vibration, the more we’ll be able to remember what happens at higher states of consciousness. Further, the higher our vibration, the more we’ll be able to consciously control or induce certain spiritual experiences.
So the first thing I recommend is a concerted effort at spiritual development via endeavors such as meditation, spiritual study, right action, etc. (I’ve written extensively on this subject in the past.) The more you consciously develop as a spiritual being, the more empowered you will be to not only remember “ordinary” dreams, but to lucid dream, remember out of body experiences, consciously interact with spirit guides and remember their guidance, and even meet with your departed loved ones on other planes.
There are even people who can go visit “the other side” at will, and who can help the newly departed cross over by taking them there. While I’ve had dream encounters with spirits like the one you had, as a medium, I stand on this side of the veil and press my face to the window between the dimensions, where I can see and perceive the hand signals, crude drawings and little notes of spirit communication. By contrast, there are some people who can actually consciously travel to the other side. If they can do it, I’m sure you and I could too, if we applied ourselves. This is not necessary, however, in order to gain conscious access to guides and loved ones in Spirit.
I recommend you begin by meditating for about a half hour every morning. You might try a guided meditation designed to lead you into “conversation” with spirit guides or your grandmother. Next, affirm that you will visit with her again, and you WILL remember every detail of that visit.
Visualize what you want to have happen. Both during meditation and before you go to sleep, imagine meeting with her. Recall those smells that were so vivid for you in this striking experience you had before. Remember to pray for what you want: pray for spiritual experiences that lead you to greater clarity and awareness of what you need or want to know. You can even directly ask your spirit guides to facilitate this experience for you.
You might also try exercises that involve putting abstract spiritual guidance into words, like automatic writing or plain old journaling. Anything that involves the transference of subtle ideas or impressions into verbal form will strengthen your ability to translate those energies into clear messages. Also, write down whatever you’ve experienced as soon as you wake up or finish meditating, for such experiences tend to “slip away” very quickly as our vibration shifts back to that of physical reality.
A couple more things to remember: First, our loved ones in Spirit usually just come through to comfort us and express their love for us. You had a lot of unresolved feelings because you couldn’t attend your grandmother’s funeral, and I’m sure in part she was just trying to help you to heal those emotional wounds and make peace in your heart with all that happened. This is huge! It could be that this was the whole point of this experience – there may not be any deeper message than that.
Second, when we can’t remember some insight or idea that we sense is very important, or we are just unaware of it, there is usually a good reason. When the time is right, we will know whatever we need to know. I encourage you to trust in the wisdom of Spirit and your own higher self, and relax with faith that when the time is right, whatever you want to know will be revealed to you.
– Soul Arcanum
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