Mary lay in the leather recliner waiting to be hypnotized. Her eyes were closed and her hands were interlocked at her mid-section. An aquarium containing goldfish softly bubbled away in the silence. She was alone, waiting. The doctor would return and start the session here in a minute.
His name was professionally, “Dr. Nelson Strom, M.D.” but she casually called him Neil. He was alright with the shortened nickname. She was friendly and letting her call him something simpler made his job of subduing her consciousness easier.
Ever since September Mary has used Dr. Strom's services. He was one of the world's top hypnosis practitioners, publishing three acclaimed books on the science. He would host the rare conference speech and was available to give advice to younger hypnotists.
Mary primarily has him retrieve forgotten memories or alter her automated behavior response patterns but with this session she has asked him to attempt to take her to a deeper level of hypnosis than ever before and try to dislocate her consciousness in what many professionals refer to as “astral projection” or “out of body experience.”
She wrote all of her dreams down in a notebook, the way that Dr. Strom directed her and she usually brought the notebook with her for him to read but today she accidentally left it at her house and forgot to write the previous night’s dream down.
Dr. Strom has several times over advised her that not all dreams are puzzles to be solved and they can be nothing more than a composite of random neuron firings. He does believe that sometimes dreams can have a special meaning to them but that most of the time a dream can seem profound but ultimately hasn't real meaning. He says that doesn’t mean that dreams can’t be the catalyst for insight.
Mary thought about a recent dream that left an impression on her while she waited for Dr. Strom. She dreamt that another woman asked her what time it was. When she looked at her watch the watch face was empty. No hands or numbers. She looked up and was somewhere else, a high tech research facility. There were all the people she knew there, using the internet and inquiring of each other what some of the things were on their screens. She deduced that they were in Europe because she couldn't understand anyone. She realized that she was at the librarian's desk and was carrying a medical magazine. Then she woke up.
Dr. Strom quietly returned to his seat on the leather couch about ten feet away from the recliner. She barely heard him re-enter the room and she was borderline asleep. Dr. Strom said, “How are you Mary? Haven't seen you in a while.”
Mary replied, “Good, Dr. Strom. I am happy to be here today. I've just been managing a full schedule and there wasn’t much free time in my life. How are you?”
“Good.” Dr. Strom said, “I want you to breathe in slowly a full ten seconds. Recall the numbers in your mind. As you breathe in I want you to think about a luscious yard with pretty yellow daffodils slowly growing and morphing into sunflowers. When you reach ten, breathe out slowly to ten again. While you breathe out I want you to picture a goldfish inside my tank swimming through your mind above all the sunflowers, lifting higher and higher as the colors bleed into each other with a vivid liveliness and a gentle calm of peace. I want the gentle heat to warm the clouds, I want the smiling goldfish to glint in the bright sunlight. I want you to swim slow through the numb waters caressing your soul, feel the waves while they mute out all background noise, the only thing you hear is goldfish jumping out of the water, the ocean is small and gets smaller then fills the cupping of your hand while you look out towards the horizon. Your gown is flowing and you are deep in the world that surrounds you, ever-present peace dancing through the clouds. Mary? Are you there?”
Mary said, “I am well and happy.”
“Good,” Dr. Strom said, “Now I want you to search for land. When you find land let me know what you see. Remember, we're searching for your allies. We don't know where you are. When you know where you are you can tell me. Keep searching. Mary, do you know where you are?”
Mary said, “Long rivers. A small town made of houses built close to one another. Before cars were invented. There's people getting together outside of their houses to see me. I am gliding above them. I am going down to meet them. They think I am angelic and some of them are scared. All of them can see me. They want to know who I am.”
“Listen Mary,” said Dr. Strom, “I want you to tell them you are there to help them. See if there is something that you can do.”
Mary said, “They said that they want to go to heaven. They are getting very emotional and they are confused. They are large families that work hard and pray often. They want to know if they are going to be alright.”
“Mary,” said Dr. Strom, “Look around you and tell me can you see something that can tell you what time period this might be?”
Mary said, “Small town. No cars. There is no horse here at this house with this family. No power lines. I think this might be the 1800s somewhere in the country.”
“Listen Mary,” said Dr. Strom, “I want you to leave them and tell them they will be okay and that God loves them. Now we should find some allies once again. Look around, drift where you can see someone that is your ally. Are you finding somewhere nice?”
Mary said, “I feel like I'm pure energy. Like, without a body I cannot die. Like I can go anywhere that I want. I see you turning your head to find me.”
“Are you in the room right now?” asked Dr. Strom.
Mary said, “I went to myself and now I'm watching me say this to you but I hear my voice as though someone else were saying these words because I am everywhere in here right now and seeing you, watching you in your eyes.”
“I don't see you at all.” said Dr. Strom.
Mary said, “I am rising through the ceiling, not able to feel the material while passing through. Now high above the Earth. I can see the buildings shrink below me, dulling their definition, becoming swirly and like paints. I don't know where I'm going and I am not in control, I am being guided. Guided through space. Fast. Faster than light. Now there's a star. A planet. This planet looks like Earth but I know that it isn't. Waiting. Drifting in space.”
Breathing deeply in once and then slowly sighing, Dr. Strom momentarily gets up and stretches, getting his blood pumping. He sits upon his chair once again and then says, “Tell me about this new world.”
Mary said, “I see a world full of auras. This world is much like Earth but I see more than plants and trees and clouds, I see auras. All shapes and sizes. Flying around and standing still. All over the place. I can see into everything as well as see what everything looks like physically. I feel like I am seeing frequencies and also being frequencies. I also know that I am solid and they know that too. Living twice at once in the same place but divided.”
“You said that they know? Who are they?” said Dr. Strom.
Mary said, “They are us in a different form. This could even be another plane of reality. I'm not easily interpreting this to tell you but I'm not confused inside this beautiful world of apparitions. It's as though the boundaries of solid matter and some sort of plasmatic-liquid are undefined and morphing in a continuous interconnected motion. They are in the shapes of people but look so unearthly. I go freely, however I want, weightless. While I travel, all of the world knows that I am a part of it. I hold my hands out and look at them and they seem two-dimensional in my real eyes but they are actually extra-dimensional.”
“I'm drifting with a guide once again. Some people. There is this new kind of electricity flowing slowly, looks like the skin on heated milk, but it's neon and clear and it never quits, continuously cycling, covering everything inanimate or filled with life.”
“Dr. Strom, it's a world of souls. We are souls. Everything is a soul here. That's what I am seeing. Souls. Electrified souls.”
Mary went silent. Dr. Strom soaked up the new information, wishing he could see what she is describing to him. He snaps his fingers loudly and says, “You can now awake.”
Mary's eyes open and she yawns out the dreaminess in her head. She looks at Dr. Strom, her stare a'glaze with a blur. She says, “What a weird vision that was.”
“You're telling me!” said Dr. Strom suddenly. He leans over to the end table near him and presses the stop button on the cassette recorder.