Theos-Talk Archives (May 1994 Message tl00049)

According to magic and occult science, yes, there is in fact, a
dreamworld. When we go to sleep, we (ie, our consciousness) leave our
physical body and enter either an astral or mental body, suitable for
the appropriate plane. Dreams with emotion take place on the astral
plane. Dreams without emotion take plane on the mental plane
(admittedly this is oversimplified). So, do we or do we not meet and
converse with others? It depends. For most of us, our Body of Light is
covered over with a rather heavy film - a protective shield, you might
say. HPB clearly discusses this in regards to Devachan, but this is
also true during our dreams. For most of us, most of the time, we
project our desires onto this shield and thus "see" only our own
projections. Its rather like being in a safe caccoon. But as we
spiritually progress, this film becomes thinner, and in fact can be
made to dissapate. Then we "see" outwardly into the astral plane.
This idea is found in HPB's writings and is also found in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead (this is the real purpose of the Opening the Mouth
ceremony) and many other magical teachings in the West and in the East
(the bardo body of the Bardo Thodol is nothing more than the western
magical Body of Light).

Eldon's comment that dreams do not occur on the Globes of our planetary
chain is, in my opinion, wrong (this demonstrates the diverse views
existing among the theosophical community). Globes C and E are located
on the astral plane, which is where we are when we dream with emotions
(albeit locked away in a bubble of our own making). Remove the bubble,
disperse the clouds that surround our consciousness when we sleep, and
we would have real OBE experiences as described in Don's course notes.

Just wanted to get my own view into the discussion.

Jerry S.