Dreams and divination exist in the same realm. There are elements of synchronicity, surprise, and mystery to both. They go together like apples and cinnamon.

And in many cultures dreams are the divination tools.

Many Native American and other indigenous cultures make it a priority to share dreams every morning not just with the people sharing their bed or their home, but the entire community. Often these dreams tell the tribe about upcoming events or predict the success of hunting trips.

Beyond dreams, a plethora of divination tools exist. Bones, shells, sticks, and rocks are common. Some use copper rods or a Y or L-shaped tree branch, while others rely on pendulums, crystal balls, or scrying mirrors. Some cultures created written systems including the Runes, the I Ching, and tarot cards.

And let’s not forget tea leaves.

Dreams + Divination

All of these methods tap into the collective unconscious, the universal mystery that surrounds us all. And I knew there had to be some way to combine them.

Recently, during a spirited conversation with my DreamTribe colleague Amy, I figured out how. I mentioned to her that for years I’ve kicked around the idea of creating some kind of card deck.

All at once it hit us: I could put together a deck that paired dreams with a divination tool.

And so, the Dream Divination Deck was born.

No two dream images are the same, and personal symbols change throughout life

How does the Dream Divination Deck work?

The Deck combines 24 of my original photographs depicting common dream themes like woman, dog, house, and car and a symbol guide that serves as a general guideline for interpreting the symbols.

Since I believe that it is only the dreamer who truly knows what a dream symbol means to him or her, I’ve given basic and universal words and themes associated with each symbol and I encourage the user to develop her own connection with the symbols.

For instance, I’ve listed words like feminine, mysterious, magical, and intuitive for the cat symbol.

However, you might associate cats with allergies, scratches, tomcats, smelly litter boxes, whiskers, and fur.

It all depends on your worldview.

And your associations with symbols might change over your lifetime.  Ten years ago the word spider would bring up the words terrifying, disgusting, icky, anxiety-producing, and fear, but now I see them as wise protectors who radiate gentle grandmother energy.

Overcoming a phobia can drastically transform your relationship with a dream character.

The dream deck is meant to evolve and change as you do. I encourage users to add their own photographs and dream symbols to the deck. Making it personal will increase its potency.

My First Dream Divination

My first spread with the deck produced interesting results. I pulled path, road, and shadow in response to asking what the next steps should be for my business.

I interpreted the spread like this:

I’ve got an inviting path ahead of me that’s all my own and it’s leading me forward. At some point, the path will become a road, opening up wider and leaving me more exposed and with less idea of where I’m going (in the picture, the road curves sharply to the right and disappears). And then, the shadow will appear, and I’ll need to embrace the unknown and face some inner demons that are holding me back.

Dream Divination Deck = Fun

I’ve gotten a fantastic response to the deck from people who’ve downloaded it.

One user said that although she usually has trouble understanding her dreams, the deck helped her, because now the process is fun. She could engage with the symbols in a new way that pulled her out of her mind and into something more embodied.

Another said she enjoyed finding new combinations of dream characters and symbols she hadn’t thought of before, like earth children and fire woman. Putting the symbols together created a whole new character she could explore.

So how do you get your hands on a Dream Divination Deck?

Simple. Just visit katrinadreamer.com and look to the right-hand side of the page. You’ll see the sign-up form for the free deck. Fill it out and the dream deck will fly into your hands on the wings of a pegasus. (Okay, there’s not really a pegasus. But you can imagine one if it makes you happy.)

Soon you’ll be on your way into the world of dream divination!

About the Author

Katrina Dreamer is a spiritual healer, published author, public speaker, and teacher who helps women trust their innate wisdom so they can live in full bloom. Katrina is a member of the Dream Tribe and also the International Association for the Study of Dreams. Her website is KatrinaDreamer.com

Video is below.

Some topics that came up include:

• How to break out of Cognitive Domestication

• Foundational practices for greater lucidity

• How positive mental habits become permanent traits over time

• The importance of playfulness for lucid dreaming induction (and why most people are working too hard)

• And what to do if you’re having TOO MANY lucid dreams.

Give it a whirl!  We used Skype to record it, so the video is a little jumpy in some places.

And here’s where to find out more about Lucid Immersion Blueprint.

One night in a dream, a tall and attractive man appeared outside my house wearing a naval officer’s uniform. I distinctly remember his blue jacket and white cap. He was a stranger, and yet I felt I could trust him. I let him in and he stayed to talk to me for a long time. Although I couldn’t remember our conversation, later that night I suddenly found myself practicing this technique:

I go back to sleep mindfully with the intent to have a lucid dream. I visualize a surfer picking up her board and then walking into the ocean holding it against her. She (I) walks through the surf—breathing in… the tide receding… breathing out… the tide flowing onto the shore.

Now mentally immersed in the scene, I see the surfer spreading herself across the board and paddling out toward the open sea, the motion of her arms the rhythm of my heartbeat. I equate the bed my body is resting on with the water beneath the board becoming ever deeper and softer.

Then, where the two opposing currents meet—waves flowing toward the shore and the waking world vs. the irresistible undertow pulling my thoughts into the dark depths of sleep—the surfer spreads herself across the board of her intent and observes the hypnagogic waves, frothing with images, waiting for the one she senses might be consciously surfed into a lucid dream.

Remaining mentally awake long enough to ride the hypnagogic waves dramatically increases the odds that once I fall asleep, I’ll be able to raise my head above a dream’s subconscious currents and declare — I’m dreaming!

The Surfer Technique is so much easier, and so much more fun, for me to practice on a nightly basis than concentrating on my breathing while focusing on successive parts of my body in an effort to relax. I totally lose patience with that, whereas I always enjoy deepening the surfer visualization by adding more sensual details—the temperature of the water, the feel of the ocean spray on my face, and so on.

The more real I make the experience, the more effective the technique seems to be.

The eye mask provides comfort against waking up too soon.

I also sometimes wear a sleep mask after four-o’clock in the morning, when lucid dreams are more likely to happen. I found this particular mask on amazon: the Clark Comfort Eye Mask–  it is quite comfortable; I have no problem falling asleep with it on as its gentle pressure helps focus my intent.

Wearing a sleep mask eliminates the concern my eyes will open—the board tipping over—and abruptly return me to the waking world.

Once awake in a dream, physical sensations help anchor my lucidity. I quickly touch different parts of my body, stripping off pieces of clothing if necessary, and plant my bare feet on the floor. I employ the classic technique of periodically raising my hands in front of my face and either thinking or saying out loud I’m dreaming.

It also helps me sustain lucidity when I keep looking around me instead of focusing for too long on one object, person or activity. Even when engaged in a conversation, every now and then I’m careful to look away from the dream character’s face.

Like a whale coming up for air, my Inner Self has the power to regularly rise up from the dark depths of sleep and take in the joyfully clear, life enhancing atmosphere of a lucid dream.

Author Bio

Maria Isabel Pita has traveled extensively and authored critically acclaimed paranormal, contemporary and historical romances in addition to the historical epic Truth is the Soul of the Sun-A Biographical Novel of Hatshepsut-Maatkare and the best-selling Kindle Single A Concise Guide to Ancient Egypt’s Magic and Religion.

Her lucid dream-related articles have been published in the Lucid Dream Exchange and her site Ancient Omnivore.

First Image Credit: Surfer Girls by PinCheck

The 2012 conference for the International Association for the Study of Dreams is June 22-26, 2012 in Berkeley, CA. If you are ready to connect with a dynamic dream research community, here’s your chance. Keynotes this year includes cognitive scientist Tracey Kahan, psychologist Patricia Garfield, and Fred Alan Wolf, aka Dr. Quantum.  Oh, and there’s over 160 other cutting-edge presentations and workshops as well.

I’m presenting two papers this year.

First, I’m chairing a symposium titled Lucid dreaming: Transpersonal Approaches. My paper is “Lucid Immersion: establishing a lucid sanctuary in everyday life.” Drawn from my recent project Lucid Immersion Blueprint, this paper is about how setting up a secure container is important for all lucid dreamers, but especially for those applying dreamwork as a spiritual life practice.

The second paper I’m presenting, part of a symposium on dream technology, is titled “The Quantified Dreamer.”  I’ll be reviewing the Zeo Sleep Manager, a home sleep-tracking device. Topics include Zeo’s scientific validity and limitations compared to in-lab EEG, as well as my personal experience using Zeo to test dream supplements, hunt out-of-body experiences and track other weird sleep phenomena.

So, besides the fact that I’ll be there, rocking out in my usual way, there’s pretty much something for every dream-enthusiast at the IASD’s annual conference:

• get CE credits if you’re currently in a US-based counseling program, as the IASD is a member of the American Psychological Association. 

• catch up on the latest clinical, anthropological and cognitive studies on dreams.

• attend tracks on dreamwork, lucid dreaming and psi, arts and humanities, and dream education.

Me and founding IASD member Rita Dwyer at the 2009 IASD conference in Chicago. Photo by Bhaskar Banerji

•  join one of the dozens of workshops that take you to the edge of the known dreamworld.

Still on the fence? On the last night, we all dress up as our favorite dream figures and dance like wild feral creatures.

What happens in the DreamBall stays in the DreamBall.

Learn more about the conference here. By the way, new members of the IASD get a break on the conference registration.

It sounds sensational, but Lucy Liu’s account is actually very much in line with the experience of millions of contemporary dreamers.

Lucy Liu’s amorous ghost is probably a subset of the incubus encounter, a nocturnal meeting with an otherworldly creature that sits on your chest or otherwise gets all up in your business while you lay in bed.

The entity can take the shape of known mythological figures, ghosts, demons, or weird human-animal hybrids.

Often, the encounter is fearful, and is described as supernatural assault.

But for others, it’s pleasurable, resulting in orgasm and bliss.

We live in a time that tries to ignore the visionary moments of life, yet the experiences keep happening anyways.

Oh Pan, you shouldn't have...

Science of the Incubus

Usually, the dreamer feels awake and aware, and may even have their eyes open when the encounter begins.

Known formally as REM intrusion into stage 1 sleep, the realistic vision is often called hypnagogic imagery or a hallucination.

Many people who feel these encounters also get the more unpleasant side of this mish-mash of consciousness: sleep paralysis, in which the paralyzing effect of REM intrusion into wakefulness results in terrifying waking nightmares.

The realistic encounter with non-human –or supernatural– entities has been recorded as early as Babylonian times. Some sexual imp traditions include the Sumerian sex demon Lilith, and the ancient Greek god Pan.

Although fearful, these encounters were sometimes interpreted as demonic possession. But not always.

For example, the Greek dream interpreter Artemidorus wrote that sexual Pan encounters “foretells a great profit,” especially if he “does not weigh a person down,” referring to the more common paralysis sensations.¹

The Eros of REM sleep

In modern populations, a significant minority have erotically charged hypnagogic experiences despite the lack of cultural prompting.

Those who are feel safe enough to “go with the flow” and not fight the ecstasy are sometimes rewarded with bliss.

Physiologically, this shouldn’t be too surprising, as REM sleep is a sexually active brain state. It’s quite common for both men and women to have multiple periods of genital engorgement during the night – usually these are not remembered.

So how does the positive incubus encounter take place, even when the dreamer does not have a previous understanding that these things are even possible?

Taboo is a big part of visionary consciousness, but  “cultural loading” is not the only, or possibly the stronger, influence. In my mind, the cross-cultural nature of sexual incubi points towards a neurobiological constant, an ancestral legacy.

It’s simply a natural part of being human.

Medical folklorist and anthropologist David Hufford suggests that not only are these extraordinary events “normal,” but “better knowledge of each [event] strengthens that belief rather than weakening it (e.g., learning that others have had virtually the same experience; information regarding possible physiological triggers is irrelevant to the assessment of the reality of the experience).²

Here is Lucy Liu’s full quotation from US Magazine:

“I was sleeping on my futon on the floor, and some sort of spirit came down from God knows where and made love to me. It was sheer bliss. I felt everything. I climaxed. And then he floated away. It was almost like what might have happened to Mary. That’s how it felt. Something came down and touched me, and now it watches over me.”

I find it fascinating that the line in bold above is edited out of most mentions of Lucy Liu’s account.

Her comparison to the experience of the Mary draws me back to the many women Christian mystics from centuries past, such as St Teresa of Avila.

Liu may be citing the Virgin Birth of Christ — wow there’s some taboo for you — or possibly the ecstasy of Mary Magdalene, which has also been captured with a decidedly sensual overtone by Peter Paul Rubens and other artists in the 17th century.

Long Term Effects of Visionary Experience

After her encounter, Lucy Liu reports that she feels she is being watched over. The encounter brings her a sense of trust in the unseen that she did not previously have.

This sort of long-lasting effect places positive incubus encounters in the same grouping as otherworldly visions such as near-death-experiences and angel visitations.

Interestingly enough, all three of these vision states may be correlated with REM intrusion states. When REM sleep blends with heightened frontal lobe activity, the imaginal richness of the dreamworld is enhanced with self-awareness and powerful drives for emotional significance.

In my mind, this neurobiological explanation does not in any way disprove or “debunk” the power of these visions for the individual. I’m a pragmatist and I feel there’s room enough for both science and spirit in this bed.

More importantly, David Hufford reminds us that NDEs, ancestral visitations and sleep paralysis can all result in positive emotional growth in the long run.

In clinical circles, disturbing events that result in long-term positive change are known as visionary spiritual experiences. Psychiatrist David Lukoff argues that these cases are not disordered mental breakdowns, but rather collapses that result in improved wellbeing and life-change.³  

As William James stated over a hundred years ago in his Varieties of religious experiences, “Know them by their fruits, not their roots.” In other words, no matter the material correlates, these visionary experiences can result in long lasting life-change, renewed trust in the world, and a happier life in general.

So have you ever had a pleasurable incubus or succubus encounter? 

Continue the discussion below. Intolerant comments will not be approved. If you prefer anonymity, I am also collecting accounts for my ongoing research. Contact me here.

Additional references

¹ Adler, S. (2011). Sleep paralysis: night-mares, nocebos, and the mind-body connection. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. (p. 43)

² Hufford, D. (2010). Visionary spiritual experiences in an enchanted world, Anthropology and Humanism, 35(2): p. 155 (142-158)

³ Lukoff, D. (2007). Visionary spiritual experiences. Southern Medical Journal, 100(6), 635-641.

The good news is that your rate of success skyrockets when you know how to focus your motivation towards the tendancies and habits that frequent lucid dreamers do everyday.

Some of these come naturally —the way you sleep, or the way you are wired emotionally. Others are lifestyle habits that appear to push the buttons of the embodied mind for going lucid in a dream.

Below is the collective avatar—the personality traits and habits—of frequent lucid dreamers. I’m not saying all lucid dreamers have all these traits. (That would be kind of intense…)

But if you find yourself in just one or two of these traits below, you actually stand a really good chance for going lucid if you haven’t already. With further training, you could begin lucid dreaming with higher frequency too.

Without further adieu, 

you know you’re predestined to be a lucid dreamer if you:

Are a light sleeper.

Self-awareness is a delicate state associated with heightened cortical arousal during REM sleep. Light sleepers are especially wired for this. All hope is not lost if you are a heavy sleeper who usually collapses without any remembered awakenings, or if you rarely wake up from disturbances. Instead, you may want to consider biphasic sleeping and other sleep disturbance tactics.¹

Have time to sleep in.

Lucid dreams are more likely in the lengthy REM periods of the morning. If you are sleep deprived, and never have a chance to sleep in, it may be difficult to achieve the lucid zone. However, stealing away for an afternoon nap when your circadian rhythms naturally dip may be the second best time for lucidity.

Have good dream recall.

One of the advantages of being a light sleeper is that multiple awakenings lead to more remembered dreams. Regardless of how you sleep, without the skill of remembering dreams, there is no room for lucidity. Luckily, dream recall can also be improved—quickly too.² 

Have an ongoing mindfulness practice.

Developing lucidity in the dream world is impossible if you are not very “lucid” in waking life. That’s probably why meditators are also frequent lucid dreamers compared to the general population.³ Concentrative meditation strengthens the mind’s ability to stay focused for long periods of time and improves emotional intelligence. But if you are not into meditation, there are plenty of other hobbies you probably already enjoy that can focus the mind in similar ways.  

Have good spatial skills.

Strange, isn’t it? One crucial but often overlooked factor of self-awareness is maintaining centeredness during periods of dream flux: those times when your senses are confused and you don’t know up from down.  Lucid dreamers tend to have good balance and may be more field independent than non- lucid dreamers.⁴ This trait involves the degree to which you are influenced by inner or environmental cues in orienting yourself.  Having or starting an ongoing body practice—yoga or gymnastics for example—may increase your odds, and so may playing certain types of video games. 

Excel at multi-tasking.

Lucidity is a balance of knowing you are in a dream and being involved in the drama. Not surprisingly, frequent lucid dreamers perform well on cognitive tests like the Stroop Task, a psychological test that measures attention during interference of multiple tasks at the same time.⁵

Are creative and/or artistic.

Many lucid dreamers are creative people who tend to see outside the box. They are imaginative and prone to fantasy.⁶

Are sensitive.

There is also a correlation with spontaneous lucid dreamers and having thin boundaries, which is a psychological term for having high levels of social alertness, and sometimes, social anxiety.⁷ Self-awareness is a double-edged sword, as some frequent lucid dreamers are also prone to nightmares. If you have been told before, “You are too sensitive,” you may have the markings of a powerful lucid dreamer.

Are willing to take risks.

A 2011 study found that students who had more lucid dreams than their peers also performed better on the Iowa Gambling Task, a test that measures emotional-based decision making in unknown situations.⁸  This is an important clue about the importance of regulating emotions—and integrating them with other forms of cognition—for mastering lucid dreaming.  

Have a strong desire to stick with it.

Patience, in other words. We live in a culture of “instant success guaranteed!” But the truth is that most successful lucid dreamers have a strong, internal desire to become aware during their dreams. They don’t give up easily. They set intentions and keep trying.

Take mental breaks.

It’s also important to take a break now and again or you’ll just get frustrated, not lucid. Cognitive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Finding Flow, has much to say about the importance of idle time for all creative projects. Taking time off from a serious pursuit—be it an invention, a puzzle, or a quest to go lucid—allows “simple rules of association” to form.⁹ You got to know when to let your training seep in, and let the work go underground.

So do you find yourself somewhere in this collection of traits and habits? Chances are, you stand a pretty good chance of going lucid. Recent demographics suggest 1 in 2 people have had a lucid dream.¹⁰

It’s not actually that difficult to get started, provided you set strong intentions and follow through with effective practices for developing the embodied mind.

This essay is adapted from my ebook Lucid Immersion Guidebook, the central piece of the Lucid Immersion Blueprint.

First image: CC Dancing Statues by dixie_law

References

¹ LaBerge, S., Phillips, L, Levitan, L. (1994). An hour of wakefulness before morning naps makes lucidity more likely. NightLight, 6(3).

² Kahan, T. and LaBerge, S. (2011). Dreaming and waking: Similarities and differences revisited. Conscious and Cognition, 20, 494-514.

³ Gackenbach, J. (2010). Psychological considerations in pursuing lucid dreaming research. International Journal of Dream Research, 3 (1), 11-12.

⁴ Gruber, R.E., Steffen, J.J., & Vonderhaar, S.P. (1995). Lucid dreaming, waking personality, and cognitive development. Dreaming, 5 (1), 1-12.

⁵  Blagrove, M, Bell, E., Wilkerson, A. (2010). Association of lucid dreaming frequency with Stroop task performance. Dreaming, 20 (4), 280-287.

⁶ Schredl, M. and Erlacher, D. (2004). Lucid dreaming frequency and personality.  Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1463-1473.

⁷ Galvin, F. (1990). The boundary characteristics of lucid dreamers. Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 15, 73–78.

⁸ Neider, M., Pace-Scott, E., Forselius, E., Pittman, B., and Morgan, P. (2011). Lucid dreaming and ventromedial versus dorsolateral prefrontal task performance. Consciousness and Cognition, 20, 234–244.

⁹ Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper Perennial.

¹⁰ Schredl M, and Erlacher D. (2011). Frequency of lucid dreaming in a representative German sample. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 112(1):104-8.

Awareness during sleep paralysis often includes the terrifying and realistic sensation of being held down while waking up or going to sleep. Sometimes, it’s accompanied by grotesque visions that seem to threaten our most prized possession: our sanity. But I have found for myself that sleep paralysis can lead to creative states of mind (such as lucid dreams and astral projection). And as it turns out, sleep paralysis makes great fodder for modern art too.

First, check out the work of South African fashion designer Elmé Bekker. Based in Cape Town, Elmé has suffered with sleep paralysis off and on her entire life.

Recently, rather than trying to wake up from the ghastly visitations, she’s taken to scrutinizing what her nightmare figures are wearing.

The piece to the right is directly inspired from a series of SP visitations by an evil white swan character that haunted Elmé after she saw the movie Black Swan. 

So that’s a creepy feedback loop starting with a film, inducing nightmares, and then inducing more art.

For more of Elme Bekker’s hypnagogically-inclined designs, see her 2011 collection from South Africa Fashion Week.

Then there’s this wild digital print by DeviantArtist ~unded.

Titled Kanashibari, this 2010 original digital art is one of the coolest –and creepiest– renditions of a ghost attack while in sleep paralysis.

Kanashibari, by the way, is the Japanese word for the nightmare that creeps upon you while you’re awake, presses you down, and seemingly threatens to steal your soul.

You can get full-sized prints of this piece (and ~unded’s other spooky mythological art) here.

Finally, I’m really excited about the London-based singer-songwriter Gabriel Bruce, whose deput 7″ single Sleep paralysis has been likened to works of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits.

His gravely voice and penchant for darkness also reminds me of Michael Gira, lead singer for the American post-punk band Swans, whose song “Goddamn the sun” I’ll never forget thanks to the incessant listening by my friends in high school.

(What is it about creepy swans in this article?)

Bruce’s song “Sleep paralysis” is definitely haunted. But he also designed a 60 page Dada-inspired booklet on the horror and science of sleep paralysis that comes with his vinyl single.

So cool. And the song is good too.

Here’s the video (you can go to full screen once you hit play):

Gabriel Bruce – Sleep Paralysis from Off Modern on Vimeo.

Know any other recent artistic works inspired by sleep paralysis and hypnagogia? Shout them out below.

Success in lucid dreaming requires the ability to navigate a realm where gravity is not guaranteed.  And where comfortable chats in a café can be interrupted by sudden feelings of spinning, drifting, or falling down an infinite chasm. During the REM dreaming state, as well as during hypnagogia, these sensations ebb and flow thanks to activation in the inner ear as well as the supercharged visual processing of REM.

That’s why working out the inner ear is the key to mastering the weirder aspects of lucid dreaming.

Phasic REM and Vestibular Land Mines

Lucid dreaming tends to occur during the active form of REM sleep known as phasic REM, which includes greater brain activity as well as more eye movements than tonic REM. 

Lucid dreams remembered from phasic REM often include awareness of vestibular (inner ear) hallucinations and intense bodily sensations as well.

It’s a trip.

How do you develop confidence during these weird experiences? I have already discussed how playing video games influence lucid dreaming, which combines saturation of an activity with often confusing visual stimuli: perhaps the perfect workshop for developing proprioception.

But we can also take a hint by looking at professional athletes, who reportedly have spontaneous lucid dreams that can improve motor skills and focus. 

Furthermore, Hindu yogis and Sufi mystics develop lucid dreaming as a side effect of their bodily training.

These bodily practices all have this in common: the development of balance.

Pick up a Balancing Act

Incorporating a body practice that develops balance and focus is key. If you have lucid roadblocks involving confusion or getting overwhelmed by dizzying sensations, bodywork can help with developing proprioception and field independence.

You don’t have to become a master yogi though. Just find some activity that is attractive to you and in line with your interests. Some enjoy martial arts, especially the energetic art of Tai Chi.

There’s also rock climbing, bouldering and sailing. Fly-fishing is another example—this is lucid dreaming expert Scott Sparrow’s preferred body meditation.

And don’t forget the Wii.

Inexpensive habits include walking the rail of abandoned train tracks at your lunch hour or following along with a yoga video online.

Even a daily walking meditation develops bodily awareness. Simply take a walk and attend only to your breath and your body as you navigate the landscape. When thoughts come up, acknowledge them, and let them go.

Immerse yourself in the lucid landscape

Me in the Mojave Desert, 2002: showing off a rare Rosewood Springs point. I had so many lucid dreams during that archaeological survey in the high desert of CA, I had trouble finding time to write them down.

Personally, I am an avid hiker, stream-walker, and rock scrambler.

Recently, I took a hike in which I walked a fallen tree over a rushing stream. That night, I had a challenging dream that took place on a steel girder high above the ground.  I found myself balancing just as I had on the tree trunk in waking life. As I slipped and almost fell, I noticed I could die and that thought led to lucidity.

Rather than escaping the scene or trying to fly, I stuck with the situational physics of the dream and found a solution that led me to safety.  

I also enjoy walking terrain to find historic and prehistoric archaeological sites. The practice is intuitive, leading me to prehistoric hunter’s camps, mound sites, and rock clusters where women once pounded acorns and cornmeal while telling stories.

The practice is mirrored in my dreams, where I often discover beautiful ruins, golden treasures, and flint knives glowing in streambeds. The discoveries in the dreams inevitably lead to lucidity.

The beauty of developing a body practice for your lucid life is that you can simply redirect new energy to the things you already love to do. The practice also keeps you grounded and prevents the flighty spinning out that can sometimes accompany an intense new focus on dreaming.

So what’s your balancing act?

—————————————

This article is adapted from my new digital kit the Lucid Immersion Blueprint, a how-to-guide for really encouraging lucid dreaming.

This is not the same old tired stuff about WILDS and DILDS you’ve heard before. 

Rather, it’s the latest research in lucid dreaming combined with the ancient wisdom of lucid dreaming lore: the best of the old and the new.

Find out more about the Lucid Immersion Blueprint here.

It’s called the Lucid Immersion Blueprint. This is the distillation of contemporary dream research, ancient dream practices and my own personal experience into a step-by-step plan for going deeper into lucid dreaming.

In a nutshell, this is the home study course I wish I had twenty years ago when I got started with lucid dreaming. It would have saved me a lot of frustration, confusion, and nightmares too.

The Immersion method is about playing smart, not working hard. This is the dream induction method I use to regularly double my usual lucid dreaming rate.

Lucid Life Practice: the Big Picture

But more than that, it’s a holistic life practice that soaks into your bones, encouraging lucidity not just in your dreams, but also in your waking life.

As you probably know as a reader of DreamStudies, I believe lucid dreaming comes naturally as a fruit of lucid living. The Lucid Immersion Blueprint shows you the nuts and bolts of how to set up a more lucid life in a sustainable way.

Check out this short video about what I’ve created:

 To learn more about my new digital course, here’s the link to the information page.

And if you’d like to help me spread the word, check out my affiliate program here.

The asclepieion on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates trained in dream interpretation.

Dream incubation is the art of inviting a dream into your life for problem solving or healing. The term comes from the Latin incubare, which means to lie down upon, or as we say today: just sleep on it.

How does this relate to lucid dreaming? Lucid dreaming induction can be thought of a specific form of dream incubation in which we are not looking for a dream message, but a specific form of dream cognition: self-awareness mixed with the magical thinking of the dreamworld.

The Great Forgetting

The practice of dream incubation is well documented throughout the ancient world, with deep roots in our Western culture. Over the centuries, however, Christianity slowly began pulling away from the idea that dreams can contain wisdom, leading to a loss of this important ability.  

But the writing is literally on the wall.

Statue of Aesclepius from the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece. CC: DerHexer, 2008.

The work of archaeologists and classicists has reconstructed the Western practice of dream incubation based on ruins, documents and statues. During the Hellenistic era (the first three centuries of the Common Era), the practice took place in dream incubation temples that were staffed by priest-physicians.

In fact, dream temples made up the single most popular spiritual healing institution in the Mediterranean world. These restful sanctuaries were designed to produce dreams that provided healing wisdom—and also instant cures—if we are to believe the boasts of ancient graffiti.

The dream healers of ancient Greece were also surgeons and herbalists, teaching their young doctors the art of empirical observation coupled with an environment of safety and spiritual cleansing.

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, learned from his dream healing mentors to make empirical observations rather than simply following untested beliefs.

By the way, Hippocrates also wrote a medical dream dictionary that focused on a number of common dream symbols that indicate bodily ailments.  So cool.

The divine figure associated with these dream temples is Aesclepius, the Greek god of healing. When doctors take the Hippocratic oath today, they still give thanks to Aesclepius and his daughters.

Aesclepius was commonly depicted standing with a large staff with a snake curling up it, identifying his origins as an earth spirit related to healing and the animal powers.

5 reasons why the ancient dream temples are relevant to lucid dreaming

•    Sleeping practices. Clients slept on special ritual dreaming beds known as klines. More like a couch, the kline often included a stone neck or head rest, facilitating clients to elevate their heads and sleep on their backs. These sleeping styles are known today to encourage lighter sleep, more awakenings, as well as longer experiences in REM sleep.  Given the universality of sleep biology, it seems as if Aesclepian temples directly encouraged vivid dreams as well as realistic hypnagogic hallucinations.

•    Disruption of circadian rhythms. When those seeking healing crossed the threshold of the healing sanctuary, they entered an inner sanctum where sleep and prayer intertwined until a strong dream came. This pattern can also seen in Native American vision quests,  where disrupted sleep (and attempts at night-long vigilance) leads to powerful visions often involving visitations with larger-than-life figures.

•    Positive expectation. Clients hoped for and actively sought an interaction with a healing figure.  Priests and priestesses also whispered in the ears of the sleepers to encourage dreams of Aesclepius. Today we know that dreams can incorporate sounds and suggestions into the dream narrative, as well as smells. LaBerge’s DreamLight may be considered a modern variation of this technique.

•    Relaxation and cleansing. Before the intense dreaming incubations began, dreamers relaxed in baths, walked around the beautiful gardens around the temple, and took naps. They were removed from their everyday life in order to focus on healing. They also adhered to a cleansing diet while staying at the temples, further setting the stage for ritual purification in the final part of the healing process.

•    Good dreamsigns. Snakes roamed the temple unmolested. As an ancient symbol of healing, snakes are at the center of the Aesclepian worldview. Dreams about snakes were taken to be dreams of Aesclepius himself. So, physician-priests made good use of the startling presence of snakes. According to lucid dreaming educator Tim Post, this is the perfect example of an effective dreamsign: one that is focused, meaningful and has an element of the bizarre.

Introducing Lucid Immersion

This article is drawn from the Lucid Immersion Blueprint, which will be available for download Thursday, December 8! UPDATE: January 2, 2012.

Drawing from the wisdom of dream cultures like the Aesclepian sanctuaries, as well as the latest in lucid dreaming research, Lucid Immersion Blueprint is a home study course. 

The Blueprint sets you up with a container of mindful and structured rituals to effectively stimulate greater self-awareness in the dreamworld…. and waking life.

Interested? Watch my short video about Lucid Immersion.