[Painter]

The astral doesn't touch on the physical in that way and the bruises on your neck would have been self inflicted, probably while you were dreaming.
Yes. That is what I believed then about touch and astral beings. I wasn't really that bothered as much by dream number 1. But dream number 2 was another story. Of course I could have injured myself. I was swinging a racket and screaming at one point. I was living through a stressful time of life at that moment and felt powerless in most things. I had played the victim in many cases and had been so passive that I had built up anger.

A few months before, I had begun alot of work to build my confidence and learned slowly how not to be the victim. I remember thinking during that time that I had to be super strong. In turn I think its possible that this could have caused the dream/experience.

Even though there is a part of me that will always view it as real, I cannot say that I did not cause it myself. Perhaps some part of my psyche was resisting the changes my growth toward self-reliance was bringing. Or one more theory is it was actually welcoming it and the dream was just symbolic of death or the "victim" in me dying.

I do know that dream was the starting point for new path. I grew and felt better about myself after that. Positivity began to cover more of my life and the negatives began to wane. I have come to believe that although the experience was very very real to me, it was my own creation all the same.