Animal Dreams: Tails of the Astral Plane
“In a lucid dream I flew to the Moon, landed, but when looking back to the Earth I saw my dog Shazam flying through space to join me . . .”
Ed Kellogg, PhD
How do animals dream?
Research has shown that many animals dream very much like humans do, with REM cycles and dream imagery. When it comes to psi – the ability to mentally transcend time and space – with respect to research done on some animals at least, most humans come in a very distant second.
In the 40 years since the Maimonides studies it has become clear, through both scientific research and first-hand reports, that humans can become telepathically linked in dreams, and can even experience one another in a consensual way in a shared intersubjective dreamspace. Considering the many key similarities between animals and humans, it should not surprise us that psi-dreaming might connect humans with the animals they care about – and who care about them – as well. Below are a few of the lucid dreams I’ve had with my dog Shazam.
Animal Dream Telepathy?
“I see Shazam, and to my surprise he talks to me. Angrily he tells me that he has gotten tired of the same old food all the time. I respond, “All right! So long as you can talk here, tell me what you do want – crunchies, chewies, what?” However, instead of responding Shazam just looks peeved, and walks through the glass door out onto the deck.”
A year earlier, for various reasons I had decided not to feed Shazam any commercial pet foods, but to instead make up his food myself. I came up with a particular formula and pretty much made up the same food week after week. The day after the dream I added some sardines, which he went after with great enthusiasm, and I made an effort to keep his meals and treats both interesting and healthy from then on. I must have succeeded, as he never complained to me about his food in a lucid dream again!
Mutual Dreaming?
“I fly from the Earth to the Moon, something I’ve meant to do in a lucid dream for years. I land on the Moon, feeling rather proud of myself for accomplishing this goal, and look back through the blackness of space to Earth. However, to my surprise, aside from a spectacular view of the Earth floating in space, I see my dog Shazam, flying through the void to join me! I feel a little worried as to how he’ll get back, but he nonchalantly lands on the moon next to me, looking quite pleased with himself. He holds up his mouth to show me he’d brought his yellow jingle ball with him, just in case I wanted to do something really important, like throw it for him. I find this very funny – of course, even on the Moon, what else would my dog want to do but have me play ball with him!”
I kept Shazam’s toys in a large bowl on the top shelf of a cupboard. It had well over a dozen toys in it, at least a half dozen balls, including three rubber jingle balls in red, blue, and yellow, plus a variety of squeaky toys. The next morning, as a sort of impromptu experiment, I felt curious as to which of the toys he would pick. Without hesitation, he picked out the yellow jingle ball.
What happens when dogs learn to fly?
I see my Yorkshire terrier Shazam – he’s accompanied me into the dreamworld. Having seen me flying, he apparently decides to try doing it himself. He flies up near the ceiling but now has a brilliant idea – for once in his life he can pee on the top of things! He goes over to a curtain and takes a whiz on the top of it while floating about 10 ft off the ground, which I find very funny.
All his life, as a small dog Shazam always had to leave his mark at the bottom of things, but he had no choice. So naturally after having learned to fly, he took advantage of his new ability to pee on the top! Although in retrospect this makes perfect sense, at the time in the dream it took me by complete surprise, so much so, that I almost woke myself up laughing!
Healing Dreams?
” . . . I decide to try healing Shazam’s ear using an Energy Beam chant. I find it hard to get a good effect, at first. I get a thin red beam of light that I direct towards his left ear – I have to will it. Then the beam becomes blue. His ear grows larger as I work on it.”
Shazam had a growth on the inside flap of his left ear that I thought might seem cancerous. After the dream I found I could now scrape it off with my fingernail, and it did not grow back as it had before. Although that spot on his ear always looked a little odd, with lighter colored skin, the growth never came back.
How do you know if it’s a psi dream?
Do you think that you may have had a psi-dream with, rather than of, a pet or animal? Although hard to validate – most animals find it difficult to give detailed verbal feedback – you might look for potential psi-dreams by these characteristics:
- A strong feeling of recognizing the animal, or of feeling a bond with the animal while dreaming;
- The animal does something spontaneous and unexpected in the dream, which somehow seems clearly characteristic of them;
- Something occurs after the dream, in waking physical reality, that validates the dream in some way as having a psi-component.
This article by Ed Kellogg, PhD, was originally published at IASD’s Psiberdreaming Conference, 2011: “Tails of the Astral Plane.”