Hi all,
To make a long story short (not really): I have been "inviting" my spirit family into my dreams since I started studying on this subject. Last week, I laid down to rest, and got it into my head that a man who had died very suddenly just last weekend in our neighborhood needed help.  I was in a different country, but got a strong sense that he was lost.  I thought what the heck, and tried the process of retrieval as laid down by Bruce here. I asked for my mom to come help him, because she has been on  my mind and she was a strong person. I "imagined" the whole process, and as she was leaving with the guy, I asked her if she would come back and talk when she was done.  This she did, and I imagined her in the place I knew her best. And what followed was a conversation that lasted nearly an hour and left me very reassured about her and my other family members. It brought me to tears, frankly, and she told me that this was the grieving that I had not been able to achieve since she had died.  We talked about family, and her favorite dog was with her (the others were out in the boat with my step dad at the time).  Whether or not this was "real" communication with my mom, it really did give me closure.   Amazing, but...the skeptic in me is still strong (although a bit less so now).

I know that. On the one hand it's like imagining, but on the other hand it is happening so quickly, fluid, with odd unexpected things coming across.

In any case, I recommend you write it down in great detail as soon as possible. An experience of this type, of this length could change your life. When you later read it again, maybe together with other "mind journeys" of yours, it can happen that then the feeling of it's reality becomes indeniable strong.

Spooky

Bardo:

It is definitely possible to experience non-physical events while maintaining awareness of the physical World. In fact, a lot of spirit contact experiences happen in such a way. In a way it is a good thing when an experience takes place in such a way, because it shows that you were fully conscious when you experienced what you experienced.

Regarding whether the experience was factual or a creation of your mind, you're the best judge.

When it comes to spiritual experiences, I found that there is the knowledge factor, and the experience factor. By knowledge factor I mean that there is a way of experiencing where it is very clear that what you are experiencing is a fact, rather than being the result of what your mind has created, or a symbolic representation of what your higher self/ spirit guidance has created for your benefit. The knowledge factor is very clear, because it involves a way of understanding that is deeper and much more certain that intellectual verification.

For me the knowledge factor doesn't happen often, partly because it isn't necessary. It isn't always necessary, because I've come to understand that what I experience doesn't tend to be the result of a hallucination my mind created. Either I experience a factual event, or I experience a symbolic representation that has been created for my benefit.

Except for experiences that include the knowledge factor, I've found that it can take time before it becomes certain that what we experience non-physically is just as valid as what we experience physically. No matter how obvious an experience might be, the part of our mind that clings to the physical reality viewpoint can be really stubborn. In my case I kept notes of my experiences and scrutinized them in every way possible, in order to become absolutely certain that I wasn't simply experiencing what my mind created.