Everytime the moon is full, I get dozens of visitors who are looking for information on the connection between the full moon and dreams. It’s like clock-work. Oh, it is clock-work.
So, here’s a great way to research how the moon’s cycles effect our dreams. Check out Erin Langley’s site: dream-people.net. This is a database that is open to the public once you register. The site allows you to code your dreams into certain categories, mostly “ancient” categories that have been arguably constant for humans for thousands of years. Examples include: dreams of ancestors, of rocks, plants, the moon, magical objects, certain animals, etc. The information is then cross-referenced against the date of the dream and, of course, the moon calender.
Not only can you input your own dreams here and track changes throughout the months and seasons, but you can search the categories and get raw data for how many dream reports in the entire database included that particular element, the associated moon position, as well as the astrological chart.
I especially like Langley’s guidelines for the site, so I”m going to post them here:
- Keep part of the dream for yourself in order to protect yourself and retain your power. Trust your instinct about what to share and what not to share.
- Honor the spirit of the dream. Do not dissipate its power through nonchalance or verbal analysis.
- Respect the privacy of other dreamers. Do not read others” dreams voyeuristically. Dream sharing is an exchange.
- Acknowledge your “big dreams” by making offerings those who have come to you. Make art, give a traditional offering from your culture, or say thank you another way.
- Give your dreams time to unfold. Do not expect immediate understanding. Dreams can take years to unfold.
- Heed your dreams in waking life. Take action when appropriate.
- Recognize elements of your dreams that show up in waking life so that these two aspects of life become more seamless.
- Learn the folktales and stories of your indigenous ancestors. Our dreaming and waking lives can tell us what histories we are enacting if we know our cultural stories and symbols.
- If you have a dream for another person, share it with him or her when appropriate. Do not be attached to the result of this sharing.
- Maintain respect for who or what you encounter in a lucid dream or out-of-body experience. The dream world is the real world.
If you have experiences with how the moon effects your dreams, feel free to share your story on my earlier post about full moon dreaming.
These are great guidelines you shared from Langley. (I wish her site was up – I’d love to check it out.) I’m focused on cultivating dream experiences myself and these will help my process. I especially appreciate the guidance on making offerings of respect and gratitude for the ‘big ones’, and learning the stories and symbols from your biological ancestors for the body you are in this lifetime. Body memory is powerful. Complementary to soul memory for me (which is beyond physical ancestry, spanning lifetimes in many cultures), a very powerful gateway.
I’d also offer that it may be good to let your offerings begin before the ‘big ones’ come, by asking for help, from the powers that have meaning for you, before you go to sleep. Among other things, I ask for support, help in seeing what I need to see and feel, and help remembering. And I ask for everything in gratitude.
Ask for help and give thanks – always good things in general, on any path.
gratitude, gratitude, gratitude….. a powerful practice and behind it, the great mystery of a universe so much bigger than my heart can take at once. thanks for stopping by, Tracy.