Lucid Dream #3 — Books of Memories

March 3, 2022

‘It felt like an earthquake inside my mind.’

So it has been some time since the last experience. I have been focussing more on my regular dreams and their messages. Also, on dream-recall, as it’s an essential element to remembering any experience at all. I have been writing my dreams down for years, but it wasn’t until I started writing them in a virtual journal that I learned to recognize recurring patterns. Virtually, it’s easier to label the dreams and see which labels are most frequent.

About one year ago, I set an intention to try and remember my dreams every single morning. I find that this is quite easy for me, and they become much more vivid when I keep up with it. But when I travel, I tend to not remember as many dreams, and I travel quite a lot. I have been travelling through Asia since the start of this year. That’s why my mind has been off lucid dreaming and astral projecting a bit. Though recently, I made some time for it again, and it paid off!

I found myself in the living room of a random house. I was cleaning the house for someone, as that was my job. The room was very dark, and I didn’t see any windows. I think there were some, but they were barricaded with wood. Everything in the room looked very old, and there was a lot of dust everywhere. The house felt ominous to me. I felt uncomfortable there. As I was cleaning and dusting the furniture, it felt neverending. Every time I thought I was finished, I saw another cabinet or table with a layer of dust on it.

Something that especially caught my attention in the room was a tall, narrow bookcase. It had many shelves full of old books. For some reason, this bookcase scared me. There was something off about it. It was as if the books were trying to talk to me. But unfortunately, I don’t remember much of this part of the dream. It is as if the memory is blocked by my brain on purpose. What I do know, is that every time I opened a book or a book tried to communicate with me, it brought a new element into the dream. For example, I received a flashback to a memory of the past. But also elements such as a climbing frame found on playgrounds, and even a child appeared.

I didn’t want to clean anymore and just wanted to get out of there. Suddenly there was a woman in the room. She looked like a friend of mine, but it wasn’t her. I tried to tell her what was going on, but she wasn’t listening. She stood next to the bookcase and was reading a book. I looked at the bookcase and saw that she had a book series that I have always wanted to read. The Divergent series. She told me that the series is very good. I picked up one of the books and looked at the cover. It was a nice, shiny cover, but I couldn’t read it properly. This triggered my lucidity.

I felt my perception change from looking down on myself to looking through my own eyes. I was no longer afraid because I knew that I was dreaming. The woman was gone, but the child was still in the house. She looked like another friend of mine, but again it was also not her. She tried to get my attention, so we sat down on the carpet. There was someone else sitting with us, but I don’t know who it was. I was so happy to be lucid and told them that it was so cool that I knew I was dreaming. I was fascinated, and so were they. But I also thought I shouldn’t tell them they were part of the dream because I was afraid of their reaction. Would you like to hear that you are not actually real but just an imagination? Exactly!

At this point, I really wanted to get out of the dark house. I tried to change the setting, but it didn’t work. So I just let myself fall backwards, hoping that it would trigger an astral projection. It worked and I felt my astral body fall downwards into my bed and rise again, but instead of an astral projection, I created a wake-induced lucid dream (WILD).

I woke up in a new setting, and I was even more lucid than the dream before. At first, I thought I was having an astral projection, but I missed the shimmering effect of the astral world. It also felt like the world was generated by my brain, which is the case in a dream. It became even more evident that I was in a lucid dream when I saw the climbing frame and the girl again.

I found myself in some kind of courtyard. It was a long and narrow piece of land, with the sea on one side and a dense forest on the other side. And on both sides, there was a high fence, like a prison. There was nowhere to go. Though it was light outside, I couldn’t find the sun. The child wanted my attention again. She tried to lead me somewhere, but I didn’t feel at ease with this. I wanted to leave the area and tried to fly, but I couldn’t. So I tried to change the whole scene, but that didn’t work either, and I felt I was losing consciousness. It felt like an earthquake inside my mind, and I saw a big wave coming toward me. But this wave wasn’t made out of water. It was made out of the dream itself, and it was coming toward me fast. I knew it was over. I woke up.

So what triggered my lucidity? I was slightly aware that something dreamlike was going on, but the fact that I couldn’t read is what triggered it. Often, people can’t read in their dreams. They see words, or they know what it’s supposed to mean, but if they really try to read them, they can’t. That’s why reading can be a useful reality check during the day. I don’t find myself reading often in dreams, so I am surprised that it worked.

The dream started off somewhat strange and unpleasant, but my lucidity made me feel less anxious about the house and the bookcase. I particularly feel that this dream has some messages for me, as it presented me with past memories, a child and a climbing frame. Maybe the girl wanted to show me something, but I didn’t feel comfortable following her, and my memories of the messages from the books are simply out of reach. It is definitely something to think about for me!

I will continue to focus on the messages presented in my dreams, as they can give a lot of insight into the psyche. These in turn can be great to work with during lucid dreams. Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave a comment!