Is this Astral Projection or Lucid Dreaming?

[Kim]

Hi there! This is my first post, so be gentle with me lol
But anyways, let me start off by saying that I've never had a lucid dream before, so I don't know how it feels to have one. I know what it is but I've never experienced one. Same with astral projection, I know what it is, but I've never done it. Me and my boyfriend are in a bit of a debate because I told him about a dream I had last night and he says that I astral projected, but I was wondering if I could get some opinions.

I woke up last night and I looked over and saw my boyfriend still sleeping. I sat up and suddenly felt extremely light, like I literally didn't weigh anything. So once I sat up I saw a large red thing near the foot of our bed. With my eyes I saw just this large red ball of light and it looked like it was breathing, but in my head I saw a large red thing that looked like a mix between a bulldog and a human, but it had a large mouth and long black horns. It was just giving off this vibe like it was something bad and wanted to hurt me if it got the chance. I started to panic a bit but then I thought about it, and decided that it's just a dream. So I looked out the window and it looked almost like there was a stone wall completely around the house, I couldn't leave the house if I wanted to. So I got up and tried to leave the bedroom but I couldn't grab the door knob, my hand just kept going through it. So I stepped to the left and went through the wall. I looked to my right and saw a hole in the wall that leads to an extention of the attic that we don't use. And I saw these two eyes stare at me and then the thing growled at me, but in my mind I saw that it was a very large black hairless dog with fangs and claws and a scorpion tail. Then I went through the floor to the second story of the house. Down the hall I saw something that was in the shape of a person, but it was almost as tall as the ceiling, it seemed very familiar but it was weak, almost like it was being starved. So I went through the floor again and was on the first floor. There was no one there so I decided to go to the basement. So I walked through all of the furniture and the breakfast bar, almost like I didn't even exist, and I went through the basement door and saw a group of about five or six things that were REALLY weak. And they said that they hid down there while the really strong ones were out and about. So then I walked all the way up to the attic and on the way I kept seeing and feeling these things that were really weak and they were hiding. Then I got to my bedroom and jumped over my boyfriend and landed in my body and went to sleep.

My boyfriend thinks that it was astral projection because I ended it by going into my body and sleeping. Also he woke up in the middle of the night because I wasn't snoring or moving around (which I do constantly every night).
I think it was a lucid dream because I knew I was dreaming, and also because I've had dreams where I walk through things but I always get stuck and have to concentrate REALLY hard to get unstuck, but last night I walked through everything like it was completely natural.

What do you think? Lucid dream?

[Wolfnowl]

Hi Kim, and welcome to the list! I wouldn't get to hung up on the terminology, just accept the validity of your experience. As to the red growling thing, that was most probably a projection of your own fears. Forget about asking, 'Was it real?' and ask instead, 'Was it real for me?' Whatever you experience is real for you. I'd suggest that you take some time to go within yourself and ask yourself some questions about how you feel about projection, lucid dreaming, etc. It seems fairly obvious that you have some concerns that you have yet to consciously address so you're working them out in a more 'creative' fashion.

Love,
Mike.