projection through a lucid dream and a few mysteries

hey everyone... i would imagine some of you may remember me, I used to be quite active on this forum until i kind of temporarily gave up on OBEs after numerous failures, believing that a break would do me good. This morning though, i woke up in cold sweat after having the most lucid projection so far, which of cause happened by luck, leaving me stunned for the rest of the day. here's what i've written in my diary:

Last night I had the first lucid dream in about 8 months. This time, I was inside some kind of a factory, taking my little brother on a tour. At some point I slipped and fell on the ground, the group I was in, didn’t see that happen though and disappeared from view separating me and my brother. I was frantically trying to find my bro, thinking that he may be in trouble, but eventually realized that I got lost there myself. After wondering around the factory for a while, I realized that it is not reality, it is a dream. At this stage, I snapped into 3rd person view and had just about 100% awareness of all the senses I possess in the waking life, the only difference was a strange feeling that could be compared to a drugged or euphoric state of mind, I would imagine. I decided to take advantage of it and explore this realm. I looked at my hands, then touched the walls and the floor and moved on forward. Having forgotten all of the things I knew, like how to fly or walk through walls, I was still trapped in the mysterious maze. As I walked down, the factory corridor has turned into a house corridor and which after some time transformed once again into some kind of a cellar. At the end of that corridor, there was a small dusted door as if it hasn’t been opened for a while. I pulled it and found myself in a large abandoned hall full of ruins, where the only source of light was a set of crepuscular rays of light wading through the cracks in the ceiling. Right before me, there was a statue of a scary looking old lady. I felt like it could cause a few problems and decided to act promptly: keeping in mind that it is a dream, and believing that this realm is nothing more than a sandbox of my mind, I audaciously threw a punch at the statue. Before my fist even reached it, it grabbed me by the throat and looked me right in the eyes – at this moment I felt even more aware and lucid than before, but I was paralyzed. The only thing I could feel was the grip of the statue, with her fingers wrapped around my throat. I wasn’t scared though, but I knew the only was out of this is to wake up – so I deliberately started panicking which increased my heart rate and thus snapped me back into my bed. I have had a few lucid dreams, although none of them has been as lucid as this one. I still wonder though, what was this woman?

I have certainly enjoyed this experience, but what puzzles me, is the old lady... as soon as i saw her, i knew it was hostile, or at least that's what my intuition told me, but realizing that it is nothing but a dream, i confidently decided to confront her, which didn't turn out to be that successful... there are many experienced people on this forum, and if somebody knows or has some theories on that encounter, i would appreciate if you could clarify it for me.

Thanks of advance!

Hi Veles, nice to see you again.
I have an idea but it may be off- if it indeed was only a dream I'd consider her to be a representation of your anima-a very interesting representation- a statue of an old lady to me represents a Baba Yaga archetypal figure- powerful female presence that is very prominent and (I say it again) powerful. She is your subconscious, who is very good at making things happen. A goddess, but not in a sexual sense- wise, experienced, and magical.
She held you by the throat, though- I'm not sure this means something- maybe this part of you wants you to acknowledge her, or it was a function of your lucidity. Too much conscious knowing made you end the experience?

thanks for your response, CFTraveler

I am pretty sure it was a projection...
It did seem to me that she indeed was very powerful and even though it was my domain (at least that's what i thought of it) she was dominating it. If she really was my subconscious, why did I feel hostility from her? It seemed as though she didn't want me to proceed any further. I wouldn't say that too much consciousness made me end the experience, I purposely chose to wake up, realizing that this is the end of it, and even then i struggled - as i was trying to set myself free of her grasp, knowing that i'm numb, i hoped these motions would eventually affect my waking body and they did, so soon i found myself "fighting" her off in the waking realm.
BTW, what's an anima-a?

Word from the Jungian archetypal arsenal- Jung saw the psyche as whole and androgynous. In art and literature (and mysticism) the subconscious, is universally expressed in the feminine; however in the individual he saw the soul or psyche (which for him was the same) represented by their gendered opposite. So if you're a man you'd have a female anima, while if you're a woman you'd have a male animus. The reason that he saw the subconscious represented as the opposite gender, is because in the soul dept. we're androgynous, and we push the other part of our personalities to the subconscious.
So for example, I'm a female with a very strong animus. So strong in fact, that most people on the web think I'm a guy.

How about a gatekeeper to keep you from going somewhere that you weren't ready to go to? I'm thinking of Kurt Leland's description of characters you meet in the astral as described by function as opposed to appearance. The hostility may not have been to you, but for the fact you were venturing 'there'.
Well, I'm out of ideas. :)

sounds like a logical explanation, so thanks for the clarification.
I haven't been meditating for quite a while, already, so this experience is surprising and overwhelming to me... and as i've already mentioned, it was a deep trance which i found difficult to exit, so it's hard to say how far i may have ventured if she didn't stop me.