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E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s
Volume #11 Issue #10
October 2004
ISSN# 1089 4284
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http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
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Download a cover for this issue:
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C O N T E N T S
++ Editor's Notes
++ News - PsiberDreaming Conference 9-19 to 10-3-04
You can still get in - asdreams.org/psi2004
++ Column: An Excerpt From the Lucid Dream Exchange
Lucy Gillis
++ Article: X-ray Eyes and Heady Dreams
Linda Lane Magallón
++ Article: The Lucidity Continuum
Ed Kellogg, Ph.D.
++ Article: Composing Poetry in Lucid Dreams
George Gillespie
++ DREAM SECTION: Dreams from September, 2004
Host Kat Peters-Midland
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D E A D L I N E :
October 20nd deadline for November 2004 submissions
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Post Dreams and Comments on Dreams to:
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
Send Dreaming News and Calendar Events to:
Peggy Coats <
info@...>
Send Articles and Subscription concerns to:
Richard Wilkerson: <
rcwilk@...>
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Editor's Notes
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Welcome to the October 2004 issue of Electric Dreams, your portal to dreams
and dreamwork online.
If you are new to dreams and dreamwork, please join us on
dreamchatters@yahoogroups.com and we will guide you to the resources &
groups you need. To join send an e to
dreamchatters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Electric Dreams is looking for a Dream News Editor. If you are interested in
this position, see the details below. This is a really fun position as you
get to know all the players in the field of dreams.
This month in Electric Dreams:
Lucy Gillis shares travels around the dream world to find the most talented
and experimental lucid dreamers. This month, she discusses the Lucid
Laboratory and how superspace and parallel universes may be explored via
lucid dreaming. Be sure to read the Excerpt from the Lucid Dream Exchange.
How do you look in the dream state? Just like the waking state? I wouldn't
count on it! When you have a shared dream, your partner might not see your
current physical body at all. Read Linda Lane Magallón's "X-ray Eyes and
Heady Dreams" for some interesting alternative ways you might be seen in the
land of dreams. Then check out her psyberspace paper "The Mystery of the
Missing Mutual Dreamers" for even more intriguing ways we can appear to each
other while we are asleep. Linda is the author of the book, *Mutual
Dreaming: When Two or More People Share the Same Dream.
We are featuring a special article from Ed Kellogg, Ph.D. called "The
Lucidity Continuum." The question of how to differentiate the many levels
and types of consciousness in a lucid dream are discussed and a model is
offered. I am including links to an online presentation and pictures. Ed has
been researching dreams, lucidity and paranormal phenomena for some time. He
hosts ASD's Paranormal Phenomena Forum (
http://www.asdreams.org/telepathy/
). Also, he organized and hosted ASD's first two online PsiberDreaming
Conferences, and is currently hosting ASD's Third PsiberDreaming Conference,
that will last until October 3rd, 2004,(
http://www.asdreams.org/psi2004 ).
How poetic is the dream-maker? George Gillespie explores this question in
his article "Composing Poetry in Lucid Dreams."
George Gillespie is an American Baptist minister and has
taught the history of religions at seminaries in India. He now writes on the
phenomenology of visual experience, including dreaming, hypnopompic imagery,
mysticism, and perception.
ASD has a few regional conferences this fall. I will give some more details
below, but be sure to see the site asdreams.org for details, or subscribe to
their newsletter the
asd-enews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Have you seen the Electric Dreams Articles Archive? Almost all the articles
from the last decade of Electric Dreams are sorted by author, and now,
thanks to Janet Garrett, you can see them listed chronologically by issue as
well. You can see her work progress and view hundreds of article on dreams
at:
http://www.improverse.com/ed-articles/index.htm
A golden porpoise in the sky, the moon falling, blood falling from the
ceiling into the toilet, a huge python snake shedding skin in the middle of
the road, ghosts floating above,...it sounds like a science fiction story,
doesn't it? Actually they're all in dreams in the Dream section!
Dreams edited by your Dream Section Editor, Kat Peters-Midland
If you want to send in dreams, please enter them at
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
or join the dream flow at
dreamflow@yahoogroups.com
(
dreamflow-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)
--------------------
For those of you who are new to dreams and dreaming, be sure to stop by one
of the many resources:
http://www.dreamtree.com
http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/library
Electric Dreams in PDF: (thanks to Nick Cumbo)
http://electric.dreamofpeace.net/
http://www.dreamofpeace.net/community/electricdreams/
--------------------
Dreamin' up a storm,
-Richard Wilkerson
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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Global Dreaming News seeks new Editor - (volunteer position)
If you feel you would be a good candidate to report the news that is going
on in the dream world, be sure to contact Richard Wilkerson at
rcwilk@...
The GDNews editor will receive the support of the Electric Dreams staff in
making contact with all the essential people in the dream world, and will be
responsible for putting this information together once a month for
publication. This is a really fun position and you can expand then news as
you like. In the past, we have included reviews of dream books, dates for
conferences, seminars, talks and other events, new websites and research
news and requests.
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Regional Conferences for the
International Association for the Study of Dreams:
Pacific Northwest Dream Conference
Saturday October 2, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Cannon Beach, Oregon (Portland)
http://www.asdreams.org/2004oregon/index.htm
New Horizons in Dreamwork:
Exploring the Future Potentials of Dreaming
Saturday, October 23, 2004
John F Kennedy University
Pleasant Hill Campus, California
http://www.asdreams.org/2004jfku/index.htm
Regional Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Garfield, Nofzinger, Pannier, Van de Castle and more
November 20 - 21, 2004
at the Society for Contemporary Craft
2100 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
http://www.nauticom.net/www/netcadet/dahpage.html
PsiberDreaming Conference
The International Association for the Study of Dreams
September 19, 2004 - October 3, 2004
Virtual Conference - Online
http://asdreams.org/psi2004/
------------------
Research Request: Dreams of the 2004 US Presidential Election
Have you or anyone you know dreamed about the 2004 US Presidential
election? For example, dreams about the candidates (e.g., George W. Bush,
John Kerry, Dick Cheney, John Edwards, Ralph Nader), the major issues (e.g.,
terrorism, war in Iraq, economy), and/or the election process itself? If
yes, please contact Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D. at <
kellybulkeley@...>
for inclusion in an ongoing research project on dreams and politics. In
addition to describing the dream(s) in as much detail as possible, please
also include the dreamer's age, gender, state of residence, political
affiliation, and ideas about what the dream(s) might mean. All dream reports
will be kept confidential, and if you like you will receive comments about
your dreams from Dr. Bulkeley.
------------------------ END NEWS ----------------------
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An Excerpt From The Lucid Dream Exchange
By Lucy Gillis
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An Excerpt From The Lucid Dream Exchange
By Lucy Gillis
Lucid Laboratory
© Lucy Gillis
"The laboratory of parallel universe experimentation may not lie in a
mechanical time machine, á la Jules Verne, but could exist between our ears.
". . . the possibility exists that parallel universes may be extremely close
to us, perhaps only atomic dimensions away but perhaps in a higher dimension
of space - an extension into what physicists call superspace. Modern
neuroscience, through the study of altered states of awareness,
schizophrenia, and lucid dreaming, could be indicating the closeness of
parallel worlds to our own."
Fred Alan Wolf, Ph. D., Parallel Universes
Physics
No longer the realm of metaphysics and science fiction, today parallel
universes are a serious consideration in quantum theory.
Quantum physics is the physics of the very small - the subatomic level of
reality. It is believed by many physicists that consciousness plays a vital
role in quantum reality, where it seems the observer cannot be separated
from the observed; in effect the observer creates the observed.
Newtonian physics applies to the very large, like galaxies, planets, and
people. Both kinds of physics work very well in their own domains. But at
the quantum level of reality, Newtonian physics (the everyday laws of
physics that we all know and experience) breaks down.
So, where does consciousness operate where the laws of physics break down?
In the lucid dream state. As all dreamers are aware, physical laws like
gravity, and linear time do not rule the dreamworld. The discovery of
parallel universes (and perhaps parallel selves) may be as close as your
dreams.
Granted, dreams (both lucid and non-lucid) are populated with symbols -
personal and archetypal - that relate solely to the dreamer. Beliefs, fears,
emotions, and moods, can colour and distort dream experience.
But what about the instances of dream psi (psychic phenomena), like
telepathy, clairvoyance, and mutual dreaming? Somehow, information is
getting through to the individual via the dream state, albeit in a usually
"coded" (symbolic) fashion.
Not because the information is "coded" to begin with, but because, we
usually tend to distort information and filter dream experience through our
beliefs and expectations. We layer meaning over information Unless we are
very clear about what is personal dream symbolism, and what is "outside"
information, the data (dream) will need to be interpreted; the personal
symbolic associations peeled away to reveal the information beneath.
For instance, in the dreamstate you begin to access information on a future
event. However, perhaps you have very strong beliefs and opinions concerning
such an event, so your dreaming mind begins to "free associate" with the
information, conjuring up symbols and meaning that are pertinent to you,
personally, but cloud the original "message".
I believe that psi dreams are far more common than most people think for
this very reason. I believe we are in touch with "outside" information quite
often, but colour what we
"tune into" with our own symbolism.
Seasoned lucid dreamers are not surprised when they instantly create symbols
in their dream by simply thinking of them, they are not surprised when they
want to manifest something and it easily works. There is a very thin line
between creation and perception in the dreamstate (as there appears to be in
the quantum level of reality) - even if that creation/perception manifests
in distorted form.
If telepathy, clairvoyance, and mutual dreaming exist, it stands to reason
that other information - like communication with other selves in other
universes - may be accessible too. Perhaps all we need to do is to be open
to the idea, and be able to keep our personal symbolism from clouding over
the experience.
Metaphysics
The Seth material, information delivered by Jane Roberts while in an altered
state of awareness, is abundant with information regarding parallel
universes and parallel selves. Seth refers to these as probable universes or
probable realities, and probable selves. He maintains that for every choice
we make, the choice we didn't make was actualized by a probable (parallel)
self in a probable (parallel) world. Our probable selves walk those roads
not taken.
Also according to Seth, we frequently interact with our probable selves in
the dreamstate, usually unaware that we do so:
"The dreamstate, however, does operate as a rich web of communication
between probable selves and probable existences."
The "Unknown" Reality
Volume One, Session 687
Having been interested in quantum theory, consciousness studies, and lucid
dreaming for many years, it was no surprise to (forgive the pun:) "find
myself" spontaneously interacting with other selves in the dreamstate:
Hindu-Me
(May 19 1991) I'm in a cluttered bedroom. I realize it's a dream so I get up
and go out the bedroom door, to find something to do. I see another bedroom
door and decide to go through. In that room I see a young woman sitting at a
vanity in front of a mirror. She is doing her hair and make-up, moving with
quick and confident strokes. I sit on her bed and watch her with wonder. I
am very surprised to see that she is me. I can hear the surprise in my own
voice as I say to her "Lucy?" She, on the other hand, is not too surprised
to see me. I notice that she has a red dot on her forehead like some East
Indian women wear. I watch her gestures so that I'll know what I look like;
how I look to others as opposed to how I see myself in a mirror. She gets up
and then lays down on her stomach beside me on the bed. We then have a long
conversation (unfortunately, I could recall none of it when I woke). Toward
the end of our discussion I say to her, "I thought you were (the one who
went through that ordeal)." She looks a little surprised and says, "I
thought you were." We then realize that neither of us experienced that
particular reality, it was another "probable Lucy". We stand up and embrace
each other; I'm a little emotional over the whole event.Then lucidity is
lost and I am soon awake, with a sense of relief, like a burden has been
lifted from my shoulders.
This was a fairly straight forward dream indicating communication between
parallel selves. The red mark on "parallel Lucy's" forehead may not
necessarily have an East Indian connection at all, but may have been my
dreaming minds translation (in symbolic clothing) of "third eye" or psi
communication. In other words, communication at a level of consciousness
other than my "ordinary" dreaming consciousness. Regardless, some issue was
resolved by this communication, evidenced by the feelings of relief felt
upon waking.
Seth also maintains that probable selves often "lend each other a helping
hand", stating that you can "avail yourself to some extent of abilities and
knowledge possessed by these other probable portions of your personality"1.
You can draw on the psychological strengths and abilities of our probable
selves when necessary. (And of course they can draw upon our skills as
well.)
Circles of Selves
December 6 1995 - I go upstairs to my bedroom, but I see that my door is
different, made of very old wood. I try to open it, suspecting that I'm
dreaming, when it opens to another, and another, and another door. I know
I'm dreaming. I leave the multiple doors and fly down the hall to a huge
room, full of mirrors on the walls. I see my reflections and I note the
symbolism of multiple me's, parallel me's, probable me's. Excited, I shout
out "Probable Me's! Probable Me's!" in the hope that the reflected images
will "come alive" and step out of the mirrors. Almost immediately there is a
lot of movement as "the me's" step out of the mirrors and soon the room is
full of moving people, but they don't all look identical to me anymore. I
try to spy a "pregnant me" (something that I refuse to be in this life). I
see a pregnant woman with dark black curly ringlets. Then I see some me's
together in a circle and I get a sense of groups of me's coming together to
give each other healing, strength, to share abilities and skills, etc. I
want other groups to form too, and soon see more me's gathered in circles. I
then see one group coming toward me; other me's with their arms around each
other. I don't immediately get "absorbed" into their circle, but I feel I
can join anyway, they'll make room. Just as this is about to happen though,
I wake.
In this example my dreaming mind appears to have used symbols of multiple
doors, mirrors, and reflections to alert me that I was in contact with many
parallel selves where we could all (on some level) benefit from each other's
knowledge, strengths, abilities, and experiences. The symbol of "going
upstairs" may well have represented going up to "another level" of
consciousness.
The following lucid dream, my favourite to date, seems to indicates that my
familiarity with parallel selves, and parallel realities, is growing; even
to the point where I hold a meeting on the subject within the dreamstate!
Probability Meeting
May 15 1998 - (I am staying over at a friend's place.) I am in M's living
room. I realize that I'm dreaming. I go out into the small hallway by the
kitchen. I float, and fly up and down the small hallway, wondering what I
should do next. At some point I find a small round mirror and, looking at my
image and the room reflected in it, I try to get inside the mirror to see
what I'll find there. After a few attempts I give up. I then look back into
M's living room. I am not surprised to see two K's, a few other me's, and
one or two other people. I know that I'm dreaming and am seeing probable
versions of people, myself included [from probable realities]. I am not
perturbed when some of them pop in and out of existence. I don't let the
"non-linearity" or "non consistancy" bother me. I know that that is just an
aspect of the state (reality) we are in. Then I am standing on or above a
large round table. There are at least two me's, and two or more K's and
multiple other people as well as a couple, a man and a woman. I am at a
meeting, a "probabilities meeting." Expertly I quote (from memory) from a
Seth book, about learning to operate in the probability system. In my mind I
"see" the title of the book as "The Search for Seth," but smiling, I remind
myself that in "my" reality those quotes come from a book titled "Seth
Speaks." Some of the other people here would have "The Search for Seth" in
their realities. I notice that the couple are not paying attention to me.
They seem unaware that I'm here, or perhaps more accurately, unaware that
they are here. Glancing around the table I become curious as to how many
people here are aware that they are dreaming. I ask those who are listening
how many of them realize that they are dreaming right now. I'm pleased to
see a few hands go up, pleased also to see a me with her hand up. The couple
continue to talk between themselves, oblivious to their surroundings. I am
satisfied that at least some of us are consciously present, and know that
those who are not, are still learning and participating here on at least
some level of their psyche. At the end of the meeting, we seem to be in a
conga line, dancing and having fun, the line moving like a wave. Someone
falls and we all laugh good-naturedly as the line collapses. Then it seems I
am waking. I have many false awakenings, but always catch myself - even
cheerfully saying at one point that it is like a game to detect these false
awakenings - and continue to dream fully lucidly until I wake "for real."
Obviously, seeing multiple me's and multiple Ks was a good indication that
there were probabilities involved in this dream. The "meeting" can be seen
as a noun - a meeting, to a "place" where we have all come together as a
group, or as a verb - the meeting of various probabilities, the coming
together of probable selves. I assume the meeting was successful since at
the end of it we were happy and dancing in a conga line. This "line" I
believe represents linear reality, and our each returning to our own
individual "time lines". The wavy motion of the line and the "fall" near the
end of the dream represents to me the "collapsing of the wave function", a
phrase from quantum theory that means when an event is actualized from a
field of probable events. The multiple false awakenings experienced at the
end of the dream may indicate waking up in a series of probable realities
before eventually getting "home."
Why Explore Parallel Realities?
On a personal level, by exploring your parallel existences you can
indirectly experience those roads not taken, and look at the outcomes of
some of the "what if's" in your life. What if you had moved to Paris when
you had the chance, instead of going to college? How might your life have
turned out? You can gain insights from the knowledge and experiences of your
other probable selves; tap into their strengths, skills, and abilities. You
can experiment with alternate behaviours, and different ways to solve
problems. With the added ability of lucid dreaming, you can learn to
participate more consciously in the act of choosing from probable events and
situations.
However, you don't have to be an accomplished lucid dreamer in order to get
a glimpse into your own personal probabilities. Non-lucid dreams can offer
valuable hints and clues that your dreaming self is working with
probabilities. Obvious symbols like mirrors, reflections, twins, younger,
older, or other selves, multiple objects like doors or windows may indicate
probable realities. Or, you may have some other object that represents
probabilities to you that shows up in your dreams. Remember, they are your
dreams, so you will need to be familiar with your own dream symbols.
As many dream enthusiasts are aware, there are numerous inventions and
discoveries attributed to inspiration and solutions found in dreams.
On a global level, what if the scientific researchers of the world - the
physicists, biologists, medical doctors, etc. turned their vision away from
their instruments and computers once in a while and looked to their own
dreams? With lucidity and determination what marvels could they discover in
the laboratories of their minds?
What knowledge from parallel universes could be shared? Could other selves
hold the key to mysteries in our universe? Maybe what is a mystery to us is
old hat to them. Like a cure for cancer? What if they could transmit to us
via the dreamstate, or another altered state of consciousness, help for some
of our most pressing problems like disease, war, hunger, the depletion of
our natural resources...?
Could we learn to minimize the "white noise" of our personal dream symbols
enough to pull relevant information into our awareness? Could we discover a
way to effectively and clearly communicate and work with parallel selves on
an ongoing, consistent basis? Could we discover the new "laboratory of
parallel universe experimentation" where we study and learn about the nature
of reality and existence alongside our own parallel selves? Perhaps there
are some parallel universes where this possibility is already a reality. If
we could access such a universe, would we then be able to comprehend the
physics behind parallel universes?
I wonder just how many physicists are lucid dreamers, and if any have ever
tried to use their talents to unravel the marvelous mysteries of parallel
universes. Maybe you will discover something new and wonderful as you
explore and experiment in your own lucid laboratory.
"As fantastic as it may sound, the "new physics" called quantum mechanics
posits that there exists, side by side with this world, another world, a
parallel universe, a duplicate copy that is somehow slightly different and
yet the same. And not just two parallel worlds, but three, four, and even
more. No less than an infinite number of them. In each of these universes,
you, I, and all the others who live, have lived, will live, will have ever
lived, are alive."
Fred Alan Wolf, Starwave: Mind, Consciousness, and Quantum Physics
1Roberts, Jane. Seth Speaks, Session 566
Roberts, Jane. Seth Speaks. Bantam Books, 1984
Roberts, Jane. The "Unknown" Reality, Volume One. Bantam Books, 1989
Wolf, Fred Alan. Parallel Universes. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990
Wolf, Fred Alan. Starwave: Mind, Consciousness, and Quantum Physics. New
York: MacMillin Publishing Company, 1986
The Lucid Dream Exchange is a quarterly newsletter featuring lucid dreams
and lucid dream related articles and interviews. To subscribe to The Lucid
Dream Exchange send a blank email to:
TheLucidDreamExchange-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
You can also check us out at www.dreaminglucid.com
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X-ray Eyes and Heady Dreams
© 2004 Linda Lane Magallon
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Shared dreaming occurs when 2 or more people go to sleep with the intent to
meet one another in the dream state. Often, we carry with us the idea that a
dream meeting will be just like a meeting in the waking state. The success
of a meeting between sighted people requires that we recognize each other by
visual clues. Using photographic technology, this is very easy to do. In the
material world, just compare the person standing in front of you with her
digital or analog image.
However, you can't bring photographic equipment into sleep. Even REM
monitors aren't imported into the dream state! Instead of the camera eye,
you must use your dream eye to realize your meeting. And we tend to forget
that our dreams aren't seen through two material eyeballs; it's our
non-physical eye that does the "seeing." It's our third eye, our psychic
eye, that perceives while we slumber.
The third eye might be literally clairvoyant and, indeed, seem to "see" just
like our physical eyes "see" a current version of our dreaming partner. But
the third eye isn't limited to that particular mode of perception. Oh, no.
It can see horizontally, into the past and future. It can see vertically,
all the many layers of self. And it can actually allow you to move
diagonally into the depths of being.
Thus, precognition and retrocognition can be part of dream perception. So
can telepathy, when we don't just "see" our partner, we "read" her. And then
there's empathy, when we "become" her, walk in her moccasins, and "see" from
her viewpoint. For dreams, we aren't limited to the edge of reality; we may
move far beyond it.
Literal Clairvoyance
Let's start with the easiest case of identification: the waking person, the
clairvoyantly perceived, literal surface self. This is the self that is most
likely to appear at the beginning of any attempt at shared dreaming, while
we're still constrained by waking bias.
During one of the mutual dreaming experiments I facilitated, The Lucidity
Project, a participant named John Echo was dreamt as "an older, bald man
wearing glasses." John confirmed that this picture applied to him.
On the very first date of another project, Dreams10, one of the group
members was described this way, "The first person to introduce herself to me
calls herself Barbara Shor. The image I have for her is middle aged (with)
short curly blonde hair (the color of straw), a little heavy." Barbara
recognized this as an accurate description of herself.
These project members had never seen their team members, never exchanged
photos, never received written or aural descriptions of them until after
they recorded their dreams. Psi verification is fairly easy when strangers
are dreaming with one another. But suppose you already know your partner.
Any dream image of her might be day residue, a memory dragged in from the
waking state, to be used for your own purposes. That image could well be
your own projection; the dream in which it appears might not have anything
to do with your partner. So how can you tell if your third eye is operative
if you've already seen your partner with material eyes?
For one group project, where people knew one another by sight, I had
everyone send me a photograph of themselves. I photocopied the pictures,
mixed up the copies and put each one into a white, sealed envelope. Then I
mailed the white envelopes within larger manila envelopes, with instructions
not to open the white envelopes until after incubating and remembering a
dream. A member would put his sealed envelope under his pillow, then try to
dream of the particular person whose image it contained (without knowing who
it was, of course). He could confirm or disprove the accuracy of his third
eye after opening the envelope the next morning.
But what if, instead of a group, there's just the two of you? Once, my
partner spontaneously dreamt up a perfect solution to this sort of dilemma.
She didn't just dream about me; she dreamt about someone I knew and she
didn't.
The Dawning of Telepathy
20 years ago, Megan had this dream: "Linda Magallon brings a friend to meet
me. Her friend has dark, shoulder-length hair, parted in the middle,
slightly wavy to each side. Her face is oval, long but not too narrow, and
her lips are medium small. Delicate bone structure. A bird-like person, very
curious about something I'm writing. Her skin is very fair. She's on the
thin side, but not skinny. I'm very busy writing, and not too social, and I
get the impression that I'm acting out the woman's impression of me, even
though I'd like to be more social."
Since Megan did not know who the friend was, she simply described her. I
recognized the literal representation of Jean Campbell (author of *Dreams
Beyond Dreaming* and now host of the ASD Bulletin Board).
Then I did two things to confirm that this was a psi event. First, I sent
Jean's photograph to Megan. Megan wrote back, "From the copy of the photo
you sent me, it looks 90% like the person you brought to see me in the
dream. Only she was younger in the dream and her hair was shoulder length.
As I indicated, I perceived her expectations of me to be that I was very
withdrawn, and in my pre-lucid state, I didn't resist them. I kept working
and mumbled a few things to her about what I was writing. She sat in front
of me and slightly to my right. Her 'feeling tones' were pleasant and full
of curiosity. I described this metaphorically as 'bird-like,' - you know the
way birds look at you, trying to figure out what you're doing?"
Second, I sent Megan's dream and comments to Jean. Jean replied, "The Megan
dream just blew me away. I don't remember (being in) the dream she's talking
about, but her assessment feels pretty right to me."
I'd like to point out that Megan didn't dream of Jean as her then-current
version. She dreamt of a still younger Jean. Perhaps you might conclude that
this was a case of retrocognition, seeing the past instead of the present.
But having researched hundreds of mutual dream reports, my vote is for
telepathy. I don't think Megan saw Jean's outer image, past, present or
future. Rather, Megan picked up Jean's ideal image of herself, the self we
think we are or wish we could be. Megan was reading Jean's perception of
herself, how she imagined herself to be.
I still dream of myself with dark hair, even though my hair has been white
for the past couple of years. Sometimes, it's a shock to see a white-haired
woman looking back at me from the mirror. That's not how I "see" myself at
all! It's not surprising to me that people would dream my hair a rainbow of
colors. Over the course of time, I've tinted my hair every natural shade.
Some of my partners' perceptions have been quite clairvoyant of my physical
head. But I also have a vivid imagination, plus I've dreamt myself in any
number of hair hues, too. It's often hard to confirm that a partner has been
using telepathy to perceive something I've imagined during the day. Or it
was, until I started paying attention to my daydreams; trying to remember
them or making quick notes for later review.
However, telepathy can be very obvious if the evidence shows up in a set of
paired dreams. Once I dreamt of gazing at myself in a mirror and was bemused
to discover that my hair was colored blonde. That same night my partner
dreamt of me as a blonde. At the time, I had brown hair. In the waking
state, that is, not the dream.
Empathy
This is my dream from another one-on-one experiment, where I pictured
someone known to my partner but unknown to me: "I am driving up a four-laned
causeway, with no sides, so fast that I fear once I get to the top, I'll
rush too quickly down the opposite side. Fortunately, at the top, the road
levels out and I can moderate my speed. I do this twice, like an amusement
park ride. Then, as I go downhill, the road narrows into two lanes. At the
bottom "T", I turn right and the road becomes a single lane. People have
left their cars behind and are evacuating their bicycles. One woman's small
white bike is buried next to the curb of the road; a bald-headed man's bike
is hidden behind some dirt."
My partner, Kyla, dreamt, "I am traveling somewhere with Steve. We're riding
bicycles. We stop to make a repair. There are lots of people around us at
the curbside Ð people from our past. Everyone is very friendly and helpful."
Kyla's dream included the same kind of "bicycle" event as mine. There was no
indication that we saw one another, though. Instead of meeting, we were
meshing. This is a very common reaction to shared dreaming. When we plumb
the depths of being, when we move ever closer to each other, we are not
constrained by the edges of the physical body. Or the dream body. We meld
with one another. We dream with one another, as if it's our own dream.
Sometimes the melding is balanced; we both contribute our equal share to the
common dream. More often, one person is dreaming his dream, when the second
comes along and "peeks over his shoulder," so to speak. Except she's usually
not aware of him or his shoulder! She moves into his position, his
"mindspace," and dreams her version of his dream. If this was true for Kyla
and me, who was dreaming whom?
Well, I have ridden a bicycle, but it had been several years. I hadn't been
around a bald-headed man for some time. The landscape was unfamiliar, but
that's usual, since I rarely dream carbon copies of my recent physical
environment. I hadn't been imagining anything similar, either. The dream
particulars could have been all my "stuff," but I really didn't know.
But Kyla was certain. "The 'fast hill driving' is a long term dream image of
mine," she wrote me. "The causeway is one of my transition areas. I've been
on it in many different forms and dreams over the years. There is always
some flavor of danger/high energy Ð a sense that I must flow with the
pattern to get safely through. Nothing 'unsafe' has ever happened to me
though. And Steve IS bald."
An Invitation
If you would like to read more about psi and shared dreaming, check out the
ASD Psyberconference. My own paper, "The Mystery of the Missing Mutual
Dreamers" is posted at
http://members.aol.com/dreamartscience/mystery/missing.html
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html (Dream Flights)
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The Lucidity Continuum
E. W. Kellogg III, Ph.D.
© 1994
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(First presented at the Eighth Annual Conference of The Lucidity
Association, in Santa Cruz, June 28, 1992)
Picture: Lucid Continuum Spectrum - by Ed Kellogg, Ph.D.
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/lcl_specturm.jpg
ABSTRACT: Many researchers define a lucid dream as one in which dreamers
realize, however vaguely, that they dream while they dream. However, in
dream-life as in waking-life, lucidity ranges across a continuum, and may
depend on a number of factors. These include the ability to think clearly,
the ability to remember, the power to control the dream, the feeling of
embodiment, reality tone or vividness, the emotional content of the dream,
and the sense of self of the dreamer. Despite the many factors involved, the
experience of lucidity depends most closely on the interaction of two
factors that together determine the freedom of choice experienced by the
dreamer in the dream. The first corresponds to clarity of thought and
perception, and the second with the power to control the dream. By looking
at the degree to which a dreamer has made covert assumptions overt, and at
the degree to which the dreamer can act on this knowledge, one can evaluate
dreams on a scale that runs the gamut from ordinary dreaming to
super-lucidity. The author has developed a series of maps of consciousness
that illustrate the differences between many different kinds of both lucid
and non-lucid dreams.
INTRODUCTION
What exactly do dreamworkers mean by the term lucidity? In common usage,
one might define it as an aspect of awareness characterized by clear
perception and understanding. Many researchers define a lucid dream as one
in which dreamers realize, however vaguely, that they dream while they
dream. Although dream lucidity by accepted definition depends most strongly
on the awareness of dreaming, a number of other factors also play important
roles. These include such parameters as the ability to think clearly, the
ability to remember, the power to control the dream, the feeling of
embodiment, the reality tone or vividness of the dream, the emotional
content of the dream, and the sense of self of the dreamer.
For the moment, let us take lucidity in the limited sense to mean a mental
state characterized by clarity in thought and perception. I have found that
I can evaluate this best in a dream by looking at the degree to which the
dreamer has an overt awareness of the complex of previously unquestioned
assumptions that comprise what phenomenologists call the natural attitude
towards the world. Basically, this meta-schema includes such judgments as
that we live physically as human beings in "objective reality", that
physical objects exist independent of our awareness of them, that events
juxtaposed in space-time exist in some sort of a cause and effect
relationship, and that we experience a "physical universe" directly and
without significant distortion, etc. Ordinarily, dreamers continue to apply
this natural attitude to their experience while dreaming. By looking at the
degree to which I have made such covert assumptions overt, I can evaluate
the degree of lucidity attained.
In ordinary dreams, I usually make a covert global judgment that: (dream
experience) = (waking physical reality experience). In a minimally lucid
dream, one gains a conscious awareness of this
judgment and then replaces it with another judgment in line with one's
cultural or personal prejudices about the nature of dreams. For example:
1. (dream experience) = (the purely subjective projections of one's sleeping
brain); or
2. (dream experience) = (an independently existing spirit world); or
3. (dream experience) = (a parapsychological realm with both subjective and
objective elements); or any number of other possibilities. Once made, the
judgment often becomes covert and unquestioned.
Some western researchers believe that an unquestioning acceptance of the
currently popular neurophysiological theory about the nature of dream
experience, as summarized in judgment #1, constitutes full lucidity. To me,
such a limitation and definition seems both naive and premature.
Ironically, current neurophysiological theory supports this view as it
proposes that each of us lives in a virtual reality regardless of our state
of awareness, whether waking or sleeping. This theory posits that each of
us do not, indeed can not, directly experience objective physical reality,
but only our own, hypothetically more or less adequate, mental
representation of it. If so, then all of the physical world (including
one's physical brain) becomes a dubious construct known only by inference,
as we can only confirm its existence indirectly. As Stephen LaBerge (1985)
wrote in his book, Lucid Dreaming:
"The dream body is our representation of our physical body. But it is the
only body that we ever directly experience. We know, by direct
acquaintance, only the contents of our minds. All of our knowledge
concerning the physical world, including even the assumed existence of our
"first", or physical bodies, is by inference."
By most definitions, a lucid dreamer must at least understand that his or
her experience does not take place in an objective, physical world.
However, even the major insight that (dream reality waking physical
reality) only begins the task of unmasking assumptions, as the dreamer may
still operate through a residuum of unquestioned beliefs and judgments. For
example, I may dream of my brother Scott, yet even on realizing that I
dream, I might naively continue to identify the (dream Scott) with the
(physical reality Scott) without qualification. I do this despite the fact
that the two may even differ greatly in appearance. Rather than simply
replacing one set of unexamined beliefs with another, from a
phenomenological viewpoint true lucidity requires first gaining an overt
awareness of one's beliefs, and then after suspending judgment in them,
shifting the focus of one's attention to the apodictical realm of the
directly experienced (Kellogg, 1989). Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), the
founder of the phenomenological movement called this fundamental shift in
perspective the epoché, or phenomenological reduction, (see Husserl, 1973,
Natanson, 1973, and Zaner, 1970), and I will use brackets [ ] in this paper
to indicate examples of its use ( e.g. [Scott] rather than Scott).
A detailed description of the epoché lies beyond the scope of this paper,
but for demonstration purposes try to question whether at this moment you
really experience this presentation in an objective physical reality.
Consider seriously some alternatives. For example, you may find yourself
caught up in a very realistic dream, hallucinate due to a hypnotic
suggestion or a mind altering drug, or in these days of advanced technology,
undergo unknowingly exposure to an advanced virtual reality set-up in
cyberspace. If you find this difficult, you may want to read Tart's (1986)
presentation on "Consensus Trance: The Sleep of Everyday Life" to get a
better idea of some of the inner constraints that may prevent you from
accomplishing this exercise. None of these possibilities seems likely,
but if you can move beyond the naive certainty of the natural attitude, you
can recognize at least a theoretical possibility and can, in fact, doubt.
Tholey's (1983) successful approach to inducing lucid dreams through the
development of a "critical reflective attitude" in ordinary waking life,
wherein one asks: "Am I dreaming or not?", also approximates the beginning
of a movement towards the "phenomenological attitude" that results from the
straightforward application of the epoché.
If you can shift your focus to the realm of direct experience after
suspending judgment, you can complete the process of the phenomenological
reduction. After the epoché, both "Waking Physical Reality" (WPR) and
"Dream Reality" (DR) become only special cases of a more general
"Experiential Reality" (ER). Regardless of how you wish to explain your
present experience (WPR, DR, hypnotic imagery, etc.), the [experience]
remains. The epoché can allow one to move towards greater lucidity in
ordinary waking life, and as such it can serve as both a model and a
preparation towards the development of lucidity in one's dream life. When I
perform the epoché my whole attitude towards the lifeworld changes, as
dramatically as it does when I "wake up" in a dream. Both dream lucidity
and the epoché require an awareness of formerly unconscious judgments in
order to occur, and both can proceed more or less adequately in each
particular circumstance.
MAPPING TERRITORIES
I normally recall 3 to 5 dreams per night, and have written down and indexed
well over 7,000 dreams. Of these dreams I've categorized 500 or so as lucid
to a greater or lesser degree. The "maps of consciousness" presented here
describe my own experiences in the "lucidity continuum", and do not depend
upon, or derive from, the experiences of other lucid dreamers. Even so, my
work has received some consensual validation in the sense that other lucid
dreamers with whom I have shared my maps have generally found value in them
as diagnostic and descriptive tools.
Figure 1
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure1.JPG
To begin, I must first present a basic diagram of how I ordinarily
experience myself. In Figure 1 I've diagrammed a relevant two dimensional
section of my four dimensional consciousness process. For present purposes,
thinking, feeling, and knowing each corresponds to a different depth in
intentionality. By intentionality I mean the fundamental act by which
consciousness directs itself at something within experience.
Simplistically, by thinking I mean that aspect of myself that labels, and
works with abstractions; by feeling that aspect which attributes meanings
and significance to things; and by knowing, that aspect of creativity that
structures pure experience. These three "levels" coexist in a hierarchical
order, with thinking as the most superficial (closest to the "outside"
world), feeling occurring at greater depth, and with knowingness occurring
at the greatest depth, closest to the functioning of what I experience as my
essential source-self. Each level contains many different aspects, and I
have delineated some of these in the "Lucidity Correlates" questionnaire
that I developed included as Appendix A.
Let me try and make this clear by example. "Looking across the room I see a
chair next to the doorway". In perceiving the chair, I see it first as a
particular structure or form, and differentiate it from my experience as a
whole; I impose meaning on the form, and see it as a stationary object, made
out of wood, on which a person can sit, etc. I understand this at a glance
without words. Finally in my thinking I may label this object a "chair" or
more specifically as a "ladderback shaker style chair". All of this occurs
automatically and routinely, and with little apparent conscious effort. We
take this tremendous activity for granted, and even talk about consciousness
as "passive"! Try the exercise for yourself on a variety of objects paying
attention to how you intend the structure, the meaning, and finally the
labeling of a particular object. At each level of intentionality we can
make choices about how we intend an object, what we choose to call it, how
we choose to use it, and even how we choose to perceive it. If you have
trouble "restructuring" an object, look at Figure 2, and notice how the
object perceived changes depending upon whether you "view" the figure from
above or below, as a three-dimensional cube or as a two-dimensional
diagram. In a very demonstrable sense each of us creates, or more
specifically intends, our own reality. Husserl termed this automatic, and
many layered making sense out of the world functioning intentionality. As
I'll describe below, the operation of functioning intentionality can change
dramatically in the dream state.
Figure 2
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure2.JPG
THE LUCIDITY CONTINUUM
ORDINARY WAKING (Figure 3)
With this as a necessary prologue, we can now look at the figures that
present the "maps of consciousness" associated with different stages of the
lucidity continuum, from "awake" to "asleep". Figure 3 portrays my ordinary
waking consciousness, and we will begin by studying its schematics in
detail. The area inside of the parabola represents my field of
consciousness, and the area outside corresponds to physical reality. The
transparency or opaqueness of the limiting line of the parabola indicates my
awareness or non-awareness of the physical world. The illuminated area
within the parabola represents the light of awareness that defines my
experienced self and the functioning available to it, in this case mostly
cognitive. Oddly enough, no matter how dramatically my sense of self
changes, the essence of self (source-self on the diagram) does not appear to
change. In waking physical reality (WPR), I usually have my identity focus
and "center of gravity" in the thinking levels; e.g. feelings happen to me,
and I have little direct conscious control over them. The shaded area
corresponds to the "unconscious" of the experienced self as presently
constituted. Please note that this does not mean unconscious in any other
sense.
Figure 3
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure3.JPG
Before continuing further, I need to point out that the "bubble of
awareness" that portrays the sense of self in actuality continually shifts
and changes: amoebalike, it extends pseudopodia of awareness, "making the
unconscious conscious". Although this may sound esoteric, we do it all the
time. A moment's attention on the previously unnoticed sensations of your
rear end against the chair, or of the memory of your second grade teacher's
face should establish this fact adequately. Thus, although I will
characterize a particular dream as predominantly sub-lucid, semi-lucid,
etc., lucidity varies from moment to moment to a greater or lesser degree.
Due to the limitations of the medium, each figure presented here can only
depict an averaged approximation to the predominant mode of consciousness
that it portrays.
Note: In the dream accounts to follow I will use quotation marks
( ' ' )to indicate obvious discrepancies in identification with WPR
standards, noticed after waking up from the dream upon later reflection.
For example, if I dream of my friend Dave, and if the dream character did
not even particularly look like him, I will denote this dream character as
'Dave'. On the other hand, if I denote the dream character as [Dave] using
brackets, this means that while dreaming I not only noticed any
discrepancies but that I suspended judgment in the metaphysical identity of
the dream character, but focused instead on what I directly experienced.
Figure 4
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure4.JPG
ORDINARY DREAMING (Figure 4)
In dream reality (DR), my center of gravity shifts to the feeling level. In
ordinary dreaming I have very limited use of my thinking aspect, and have
very little memory of the ordinary state of affairs of my WPR existence,
including my name, address, age, and even physical body type.
EXAMPLE:
"As a 'little boy' in an Austrian city - grabbed and imprisoned by
'Christopher Lee', a government agent, who feels convinced that I know some
scientific secrets from an old professor who just died. I don't, but he
remains darkly convinced. I dive into a river to escape - make it to an
island park, but guess my 'red' hair will get me noticed and captured.
Later, I get captured again, now as a 'little black boy' - I try to contact
information and a book of magic falls from the shelves. I put a diagram on
the board, and put the paper protection spell under the desk top. Just in
time. 'C.L.' comes in grabs my left hand and looks at the palm and middle
finger, as if he could read the secret he so desires there. I tell him he
has one year to tell me explicitly what he wants, and that if he does, I
will help him, but after that time I will never help, as I have tolerated
enough of his treatment and will stand no more. He doesn't seem cruel or
evil, just obsessed" 1/10/1990
Comment: While dreaming, my ability to critically reflect on my experience
using WPR standards deteriorates to a greater or lesser extent depending
upon the degree of lucidity attained. Even if fully lucid I need to make a
conscious effort not to jump to conclusions about the nature and identity of
dream objects. In the case of ordinary dreams, my ability to notice
discrepancies between the dream and my ordinary WPR experience can seem
practically nonexistent. I can incarnate in bodies young or old, male or
female, human, animal, or alien, and find myself in locales ranging from
Arcturus to ancient Atlantis without noticing anything in the least
peculiar. Paradoxes, incongruities, discontinuities, and anachronisms make
little or no impression on me. I act according to how I feel in the moment,
and do little or no thinking.
PRE-LUCID
In the dream, I notice some sort of bizarreness as unusual for waking
physical reality (WPR). Or I don't consider myself in ordinary physical
reality at all, although I realize almost none of the implications and still
misidentify the actual situation.
EXAMPLE:
"... time traveling into the future, I look in a paper for stock quotations.
I sit down and get interrupted by an inspection team of 'Mormons' in black
gowns. I tell them that I've come from the past - but the paper has a July
24, 1939 date! I test my abilities, and break off a piece of a heavy wooden
table. They try to restrain me, 'Angus' tries to stop me, and I beat him to
a pulp. Alarms go off and they release a red gas in the corridor to poison
me or knock me out. I break through a wall and get away." 5/3/89
Comment: Although not aware that I dreamed, I did notice some
discrepancies, and even thought to take advantage of the time traveling
situation to better my financial status. On the other hand, I reacted
emotionally and violently to an attempt at restraint, and identify a dream
character with a childhood enemy named Angus, who looked nothing at all like
him.
Figure 5
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure5.JPG
SUB-LUCID (Figure 5)
Although I vaguely realize that I dream, it does not even occur to me to act
differently based on this knowledge. I continue to follow the dream
"script": no conscious choice.
EXAMPLE:
"In a magic shop, a man offers magical objects in exchange for my doing some
as of yet unspecified task. My guide takes his time, but I realize that he
better hurry up and ask me the task before I wake up. I get a cloak of
invisibility - ornate, black cloth on inside, embroidered white and red on
the outside. Also brass arm things, wicked looking, that I refuse as they
would slow me up. I see a battered Magica De Spell plastic doll 2-3 inches
high with green glasses, and ask if it comes with foof bombs - it does. He
throws one at me, like a combination cherry bomb/sparkler, not very
incendiary either. I return to WPR without ever having learned the task."
10/16/90
Comment: In this case I knew that I dreamed, but did not experience an
increased freedom of choice because I had no awareness of other choices.
For example, it did not occur to me to try techniques that have worked well
for me in the past for prolonging a lucid dream, despite my concern in this
regard. I followed the dream script not out of choice, but because I saw no
alternative course of action. I also assumed that these magical objects
would follow me to WPR, and did not remember that my past experience in this
regard has so far proven consistently otherwise.
Figure 6
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure6.JPG
SEMI-LUCID (Figure 6)
I know that I dream, and although I still follow the dream script, I can
make new choices based on this awareness. For example, I might choose to
fly rather than walk.
EXAMPLE:
"... I see a huge (big as a house) steamroller, tank-car bearing down on me
as I stand in the middle of the street. Knowing that I dream, I choose to
face it and transform myself into a superhuman state: my forearms bulge
whitely with strength, as I expand and densify - but the machine still
dwarfs me. As the [machine] bears down on me I don't know if I have changed
enough to stop it, but I stand resolute, and tear a hole right through it to
the other side, walking through the mass of metal as if I went through paper
maché." 3/6/90
Comment: Although my thinking still seemed a bit clouded, I remember this
dream with great fondness, in that I faced my fear and triumphed over
adversity. What choices I did make had power, and depended upon my having an
overt awareness of the dream state. In this particular example of
semi-lucidity I would draw the "bubble of awareness a little differently
then in Figure 6, by extending it a little more deeply into knowing to
depict the increase in dream control.
Figure 7
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure7.JPG
LUCID (Figure 7)
I have the choice of following the dream script or not, can make major
choices based on awareness of my potentialities in the dream state. For
example, I might choose to try a dream experiment instead of continuing the
dream scenario, etc.
EXAMPLE:
"I find myself in a sort of 1960 blue Chevy, and wake up to lucidity. I
decide to try to use the [car] to go to [Mt. Shasta], to meet Julie, as I've
had problems flying long distances. The dash has a computerized LCD
display, and the [car] seems a sort of disguised space vehicle. I have
trouble punching in the controls, but look for a voice operated control.
However, before I take off I seem to hear [Julie's voice] calling "Wait!
Wait!" And I see [Julie] rushing up to get in. She looks like Julie (WPR),
but a little dull eyed, and I suspect a substitute. I certainly don't feel
the presence that I've felt with others who seemed authentic. So I decide
to go to [Mt. Shasta] anyway to check out the site, see if I can find a
counterpart to the WPR Julie. Set the [car] for hyperdrive, it takes off
flying and after a few loops and spins, I see an incredible view of the
landscape below as it rushes by, green and beautiful. If I do dream with
Julie, she should remember the view later when we compare dreams. The [car]
only travels a few hundred mph, and when I try to speed up I return to WPR
instead." 7/21/91
Comment: Lucidity in this case involved a fairly detailed appreciation of
the situation, and of an overt awareness of the "substitution phenomenon"
anomaly (Kellogg, 1985), which occurs when dream characters, objects and
locations display incongruities with the WPR counterparts with which I
identify them. In this dream I tried to connect through a mutual dream with
a friend of mine who had actually gone to climb Mt. Shasta. She,
incidentally, had no recall of any corresponding dream.
Figure 8
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure8.JPG
FULLY-LUCID (Figure 8)
fully aware that I dream and of the location and state of my physical body;
I also clearly remember any lucid dream tasks that I had earlier decided to
try (lucid dream healing, intentionally changing body form, precognition,
etc.), and experience a high level of dream control which gives me the power
to do them.
EXAMPLE:
". . . I wake up in the [conference dormitory in Santa Cruz], a 'big barn
like structure'. Lucid, I see a [nice looking woman in her 30's with dark
straight hair] come into [my room]. I assume I may see another dreaming
Association for the Study of Dreams conference participant . . .I introduce
myself and ask her name, she says something like Spiral Gale. I tell her I
know that we dream and stick my hand through the door to demonstrate. I go
out in the corridor looking for other [ASD dreamers], aware that I may only
meet subjective dream characters but eager to gather possible consensual
evidence for mutual dreams . . ." 6/24/92
Comment: In this dream I overtly realized not only that I dreamed, sleeping
brain, or that it might exist in an objective sense comparable to physical
reality, and as such fall subject to consensual validation. I focused upon
the experiential reality in which I lived, and remained overtly aware of the
assumptions that I made when I identified a dream person with a possible
physical reality counterpart, etc. Despite the high degree of success in
applying the epoché, I failed to notice that the [dream dormitory] did not
look at all similar to the [physical reality dormitory] in which I had gone
to sleep. This illustrates that even when fully lucid, the automatic
functioning of my capacity for critical reflection may still seem impaired
(as compared to WPR standards) with regard to objects not in the forefront
of my attention.
Figure 9
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure9.JPG
FULLY-LUCID BUT POWERLESS (Figure 9)
fully aware that I dream and of the location and state of my physical body;
also remember any lucid dream tasks that I had earlier decided to try, but
have little or no control over dream phenomena.
EXAMPLE:
" . . lying on the bed, I hear a voice say "lets test him with a few
childhood experiences." I hear a child's awful shriek. I roll over onto
floor and check the bed for my (physical) body (I had intended to have an
OBE). I can feel or see none, but something seems wrong. I go into the
kitchen, try to turn on light but it will not go on. I conclude that I have
a lucid dream. Continue to test and go into the [bathroom]; again I can
not turn on the light. So I will the [fluorescent lights] to go on
(noticing the discrepancy between them and their WPR counterparts) - they
flicker, then go on. Bathroom much larger, in blue, covered with objects,
toys, etc. I remember what the voice said. This whole experience has the
atmosphere of nightmare. I look at the door, and the opening has shrunk. I
think "No you don't!" and put my shoulder in the door, but it has become too
small to let me through. I did not want to get shut up in this cramped
space, and somehow make it into the hall. Above my head a grotesque doll,
like a ventriloquists dummy, drops down and hangs in front of me. I pick it
off and wonder if it would speak or walk around. I threw it in the
[bathroom] with other junk, broke the mirrors on either side of me, feeling
put upon and trying for control of this dream. I looked at my [hand] which
hurt, but remained uncut, and wondered if a cut could make the transfer to
the waking world as a psychosomatic occurrence. I ran against a
wood-panelled wall of the [apartment], denting it in a spot, and continued
outside to the [front porch], now high above the ground with a lot of stairs
leading down. I knew that I dreamed but I felt heavy and physical. Decided
to jump, but on looking over the side felt a great fear of the height and
turned back. Again I felt imposed upon, and determined to face this fear,
and going back a little ways, I turned and jumped. At first I felt the
fear of falling, but fought that and just before hitting bottom pulled up
and started flying . . ." 10/1/72
Comment: I had to go back in my records to 1972 to find a dream of this
type, and even this example doesn't quite qualify, because I did achieve a
measure of dream control at the end.
I include this dream state not because it seems a typical one for me, but
because others who have a fear of lucid dreaming, or feel concerned about
its dangers, cite nightmarish dreams of this type as reasons why people
should eschew lucid dreaming in general. In doing so, they "throw out the
baby with the bathwater". The experience of lucidity as a variable aspect
of consciousness depends most closely on two factors that interact to
determine the degree of freedom of choice experienced by the dreamer in the
dream. The first corresponds to clarity of thought and perception, and the
second with the power to control the dream. For the most part I find these
two variables covariant: if one increases, so does the other. I enjoy
nightmarish dreams because I've learned to use them as springboards to that
broadening of consciousness that constitutes a greater and more authentic
sense of self.
Figure 10
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure10.JPG
SUPER-LUCID (Figure 10)
I have an awareness of self as an integrated whole: self-remembering.
Knowing-feeling-thinking aspects of self work in harmony. I feel an
extraordinary sense of self, access to memory, and an expanded and mindful
awareness of the many possible courses of action available to me in lucid
dream reality as compared to waking physical reality.
EXAMPLE:
". . . [I fly out the front window to perform my dream tasks (remembering
clearly that I wanted to experiment with the effects of kabbalistic words in
dream reality). I race very fast while chanting . . . and end up in a sort
of grassy valley, lose 3/4 of vision, but hang onto kinesthetic sensations
until I see - find myself in a cubic room 10'x10'x10' lined with yellow
pine. I decide to continue chanting, repeat the Rafael chant, then chant to
Ra as I see a wall hanging (papyrus?) that looks vaguely Egyptian, and I
think of Ra as a god of healing. I then chant Geburah and Gedulah while
visualizing red and blue energy spheres in my consciousness above me:
visualization seems clear - did not take the place of DR environment
visually perceived, looked and felt similar (but increased in quality) to
visualization in WPR. Also chanted Alef while visualizing this path of
self-integration between geburah and chesed. I don't feel much happening,
but like doing the chants. I invoke a mirror to see myself: it appears when
I turn around. I look like an extremely young, handsome, muscular, and
vigorous beast like creature covered almost every where with dark long hair
everywhere except for some white on my chin and forehead. I look
audacious. A young woman, covered with long dark hair like me asks if I've
finished. I say "First, let me ask you your name". She says "Tia" or
"Teeda" and invites me to come in and meet the others like us. I feel
extremely powerful, go into a large lecture hall with bleachers - the
others look like me but smaller, weaker. I see the woman presiding, and
jump easily to the top of the bleachers. An overweight, middle-aged man
with a turban climbs up the bleachers and tries to put a spell on me. "Go to
sleep. You feel sleepy" he says. Angered at his presumption, I project an
energyball from my right hand and push it at him. He looks fearful and
realizes that he has made a miscalculation, (that he did not confront a mere
animal, but a powerful integration of both higher and lower aspects of
self). I push him down the bleachers to the floor, overcoming him. Fearful
and stunned, he remains on the ground as I leap back up and sit down next to
a young beast-woman who says to her companion "Oh, I didn't know Godzilla
sat here," sounding half-mocking, but also, like the others, very impressed
with my prowess.]" 1/16/93
Comment: With lucid dreaming the breadth of consciousness of my self
increases, even though the "center of gravity" remains in feeling, identity
focus expands to include both thinking and knowing aspects. In fact I feel
much more myself when fully lucid than I do ordinarily in WPR. My sense of
self increases, as the "bubble of awareness" expands both into the
"knowing" and "thinking" realms into areas that I do not normally access.
This dream had a profound effect on my behavior for weeks afterward - I felt
more vital and alive, and much more in tune with my physical environment.
Figure 11
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure11.JPG
POWER DREAMING (NOT-LUCID) (Figure 11)
In power dreaming, although I have little or only limited use of my thinking
aspect, and very little memory of the ordinary state of affairs of my WPR
existence, I exhibit an extraordinary control of dream phenomena. I can
fly, walk through walls, use "the force," and perform superhuman feats with
the greatest of ease.
EXAMPLE:
"In the evening, I walk across the gray water of San Francisco Bay to a
small resort island. I encounter a young woman and a woman hotel manager. .
. I ask for directions to San Francisco and the older woman obviously doubts
that I can make it. I show her my levitation, how I can walk on water. The
younger slim woman obviously feels fascinated with me, and wants to learn my
magic." 3/20/90
Comment: Many people enjoy dreams of this type most of all. They include
such categories as flying dreams, dreams of oneself as superhuman and
displaying amazing psychic, or magical powers, etc. In such dreams I have
a great degree of power to control dream phenomena, but I find my freedom of
choice limited by not having the lucidity necessary to see possible choices.
CONCLUSION
As stated earlier, the experience of lucidity as a variable aspect of
consciousness depends most closely on two factors that interact to determine
the degree of freedom of choice experienced by the dreamer in the dream.
The first corresponds to clarity of thought and perception, and the second
with the power to control the dream. However, in actual fact lucidity
involves far more than two factors. The diagrams make clear that for me
increased lucidity corresponds with an expansion of the "bubble of
awareness", a widening of consciousness (see John Wren-Lewis, 1985) that
brings about a functional integration of aspects of self. Thus, in a fully
lucid state (Figure 8) one may push the envelope of the bubble to become a
knowing-feeling-thinking self, rather than primarily as a thinking-self
(Figure 3) or a feeling-self (Figure 4). The bubble of awareness
represents the "conscious self" for any particular state. Obviously this
"conscious self" can vary markedly from the "conscious self" with which I
ordinarily identify in wpr. Because of the phenomenon of state specific
learning, this could explain the poor dream recall experienced by many, as
the result of "bubbles of awareness" for the states of "ordinary waking"
and "ordinary dreaming" that have little or no overlap. This may also
explain why lying comfortably in bed after waking up (in an intermediary
state) can facilitate the development of dream recall. Empirical research
could validate portions of this model for the general population.. For
example the model would predict a very low level of cognitive (thinking)
elements in the dreams of non-dream recallers when awakened in a sleep lab
when compared to those with high recall, who would in turn have a lower
level of such cognitive elements than frequent lucid dreamers.
The "Lucidity Continuum" comprises the range through which the "bubble of
awareness" that represents the sense of self expands and contracts within a
field of potential consciousness. The examples given here only
illustrate some of the more common types of "lucid" dreams that I have
experienced. I have also used these maps to model other states of
consciousness, such as "Lucid and SuperLucid Waking" (Figures 12 and 13),
Figure 12
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure12.JPG
Figure 13
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure13.JPG
"'Pure' Consciousness" (Figure 14),
Figure 14
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure14.JPG
and "Waking 'Pure' Consciousness"(Figure 15)
Figure 15
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure15.JPG
Figure 16, "'Absolute' Lucidity'", illustrates a theoretical goal towards
which I aim.
Figure 16
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure16.JPG
In more complicated diagrams, I have also usefully divided the parabola from
right to left (with a synthesizing function on one side, and an analyzing
function on the other), in order to localize other factors related to
lucidity (see Appendix A) on the diagram. Despite the fact that I have
portrayed the "bubble of awareness" as symmetrical and static, I did so only
because of the limitations of the printed page. In actuality, it
continually shifts and changes: asymmetric and amoebalike, it extends
pseudopodia of awareness, that continually changes the sense of self in many
ways (Figure 17).
Figure 17
http://improverse.com/ed-articles/kellogg/Figure17.JPG
To understand the "Lucidity Continuum" better, one could imagine a series of
these diagrams processed into an animated cartoon where each figure exists
only as an individual frame of an ongoing process. The sense of self
fluctuates widely, but not randomly, predominantly conforming to certain
configurations created through habit, just as we have preferred body
postures created through habit. The thick and thin boundaries questionnaire
developed by Hartman (1990) may serve as a useful diagnostic aid in
accessing details of this process in individuals.
Although the basic "map of consciousness" presented here may not prove
universally applicable, I have used it to portray many kinds of lucid or
non-lucid experience, and as such I have found it a very useful tool. My
maps have received some consensual validation in the sense that lucid
dreamers with whom I have shared them have generally found them valuable as
a means of understanding their own experiences. Lucid dreamers need not
limit themselves to words alone in describing their dreams, and the states
of consciousness in which they experience them. Sometimes a picture can
say what words can not. I hope that my efforts in this direction will
inspire other explorers of the dream state to "map the territory" for
themselves.
REFERENCES
Hartmann, Ernest (1990). Thin and thick boundaries: personality, dreams,
and imagination. In Mental imagery, edited by R.G. Kunzendorf, new York,
Plenum Press, 71-78.
Husserl, Edmund (translated by Dorion Cairns) (1973a). Cartesian
meditations: An introduction to phenomenology, The Hague, Netherlands,
Martinus Nijhoff.
Kellogg III, E.W. (1985). The substitution phenomenon. Dream Network
Bulletin, 4(5), 5-7
Kellogg III, E.W. (1989). Mapping territories: A phenomenology of lucid
dream reality. Lucidity Letter, 8(2), 81 - 97.
LaBerge, Stephen (1985). Lucid dreaming. Los Angeles, Jeremy P. Tarcher,
Inc., 219
Natanson, Maurice (1973) Edmund Husserl: Philosopher for infinite tasks.
Evanston, Ill.:Northwestern University Press.
Tart, Charles (1987). Waking up: Overcoming the obstacles to human
potential, Boston, New Science Library, Shamballa Publications, Inc.
Tholey, Paul (1983). Techniques for inducing and maintaining lucid dreams.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, 57, 79-80.
Wren-Lewis, John (1985). Dream lucidity and near-death experience - a
personal report. Lucidity Letter, 4(2), 4-12
Zaner, Richard M. (1970). The way of phenomenology. New York, Western
Publishing Company, Inc.
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APPENDIX A
lucidity correlates*
Although lucidity appears to correlate most strongly with the awareness of
dreaming and with the implications that follow this awareness, a number of
other factors also play important roles. please rate your experience in the
lucid dream on a scale from 0 to 5 in each of the following specific areas:
THINKING: confers labels
LABELING. MY ABILITY TO CORRECTLY LABEL OBJECTS SEEMED:
___ 0 NONEXISTENT
___ 1 POOR
___ 2 FAIR
___ 3 GOOD - EQUIVALENT TO IN WPR.
___ 4 EXCELLENT - BETTER THAN IN WPR.
___ 5 EXTRAORDINARY.
ABILITY TO THINK. MY THINKING ABILITY IN THE LUCID DREAM SEEMED:
___ 0 NONEXISTENT
___ 1 POOR
___ 2 FAIR
___ 3 GOOD - EQUIVALENT TO IN WPR.
___ 4 EXCELLENT - BETTER THAN IN WPR.
___ 5 EXTRAORDINARY.
EGO INVOLVEMENT. IN THE LUCID DREAM I SEEMED:
___ 0 TOTALLY PASSIVE - THINGS JUST HAPPENED.
___ 1 VAGUELY ACTIVE, BUT MOSTLY WENT WITH THE FLOW.
___ 2 SOMEWHAT ACTIVE, MADE A FEW CHOICES.
___ 3 AS ACTIVE IN MAKING CONSCIOUS CHOICES AS IN wpr
___ 4 MORE ACTIVE THAN IN WPR.
___ 5 EXTREMELY ACTIVE. MANY CONSCIOUS CHOICES AND BEHAVIORS.
MEMORY. DURING THE LUCID DREAM I WOULD RATE MY MEMORY AS:
___ 0 NONEXISTENT
___ 1 POOR
___ 2 FAIR
___ 3 GOOD - EQUIVALENT TO IN WPR.
___ 4 EXCELLENT - BETTER THAN IN WPR.
___ 5 EXTRAORDINARY.
FEELING: confers meaning
EMOTIONAL TONE. IN THE LUCID DREAM I FELT:
___ 0 NEUTRAL - NO EMOTION AT ALL.
___ 1 VAGUE EMOTION
___ 2 MILD EMOTION
___ 3 MODERATE EMOTION
___ 4 STRONG EMOTION
___ 5 OVERWHELMING EMOTION
WHAT KIND(S) OF EMOTION DID YOU EXPERIENCE DURING THE LUCID DREAM?
___ ANXIETY ___ FEAR
___ ANGER ___ SADNESS
___ CURIOSITY ___ PEACEFULNESS
___ A SENSE OF WELL-BEING ___ HAPPINESS
___ JOY ___ ECSTASY
___ OTHER (PLEASE DESCRIBE:
________________________________________)
SENSE OF EMBODIMENT. DURING THE LUCID DREAM I FELT:
___ 0 TOTALLY DETACHED - NO AWARENESS OF A DREAM BODY.
___ 1 DETACHED, OBSERVED MY DREAM BODY FROM THE OUTSIDE.
___ 2 VAGUELY AWARE OF MYSELF IN MY DREAM BODY.
___ 3 AS EMBODIED AS IN WAKING PHYSICAL REALITY.
___ 4 MORE EMBODIED THAN IN WPR.
___ 5 FULLY PRESENT IN MY DREAM BODY. AWARE OF MY DREAM BODY
IN GREAT DETAIL - IT FELT "REALER THAN REAL".
knowing-creating: confers structure
DREAM CONTROL. IN THE LUCID DREAM I HAD:
___ 0 NO CONTROL OF ANYTHING.
___ 1 MINIMAL CONTROL OF MY DREAM BODY AND DREAM
ENVIRONMENT.
___ 2 GOOD, BUT MUNDANE CONTROL OF DREAM BODY AND
ENVIRONMENT.
___ 3 SUPERIOR CONTROL - ABLE TO FLY, WALK THOUGH WALLS, ETC.
___ 4 "MAGICAL" CONTROL - COULD CHANGE DREAM BODY, DREAM
ENVIRONMENT MORE OR LESS AS I WISHED.
___ 5 EXTRAORDINARY CONTROL - MY EVERY WISH CAME TRUE
reality tone. THE DREAM EXPERIENCE SEEMED:
___ 0 TOTALLY UNREAL.
___ 1 SLIGHTLY REAL - LIKE A GOOD MOVIE.
___ 2 MODERATELY REAL.
___ 3 AS REAL AS ORDINARY WPR.
___ 4 EVEN MORE REAL THAN WPR.
___ 5 OVERWHELMINGLY REAL.
SENSE OF SIGHT. DURING THE LUCID DREAM I SAW:
___ 0 NOTHING.
___ 1 DETACHED, OBSERVED MY DREAM BODY FROM THE OUTSIDE.
___ 2 POORLY. VAGUE SHAPES AND DIM LIGHTING.
___ 3 AS CLEARLY AS IN WAKING PHYSICAL REALITY.
___ 4 CLEARLY IN SHARP DETAIL. VIVID COLORS.
___ 5 WITH SUPERNATURAL CLARITY - PSYCHEDELIC INTENSITY.
SENSE OF SELF. DURING THE LUCID DREAM I HAD:
___ 0 NO AWARENESS OF SELF, ONLY OF THE DREAM.
___ 1 VERY LITTLE SENSE OF SELF; LIKE WHEN I WATCH TELEVISION.
___ 2 MODERATE SENSE OF SELF - BUT "SPACEY" - NOT VERY "WITH IT".
___ 3 SENSE OF SELF AS IN ORDINARY WPR.
___ 4 I FELT MORE REAL, MORE PRESENT THAN IN WPR.
___ 5 I FELT TRULY "MYSELF", MORE COMPLETE THAN EVER BEFORE.
* Note: the lucidity correlates given here comprise only a part of the
"Lucid Dream Healing Questionnaire" that I also presented as part of a talk
given at the Association for the Study of Dreams Conference in Santa Cruz
in 1992. Copies of this longer questionnaire available from the author by
request.
Address correspondence to:
E. W. Kellogg III, Ph.D
The Phenomenological Laboratory
P.O. Box 1019
Ashland, Oregon
Tel: (503) 535-7187
Email:
alef1@...
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Composing Poetry in Lucid Dreams
George Gillespie
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My first poems to be published in a national periodical in India appeared in
Imprint in June, 1978, although they were written years earlier. I had
written poetry all my life and read a lot of poetry and about poetry. I had
begun having lucid dreams (dreams in which I know I am dreaming)
spontaneously in 1975, and in 1978 I began a series of experiments in trying
to create poetry while dreaming lucidly. All the following text, except for
what is in brackets, comes directly from my dream journal. I include only
the occasions when I remembered, while dreaming, to do the poetry
experiment. All dreams occurred in the city of Hyderabad in South India.
____________________
November 9, 1978. In the next known dreams I should make some experiments on
receiving poetry from the unconscious. [Before I heard of the term "lucid
dream," I had called such dreams "known dreams" in my journal.] This would
mean to become quiet as much as possible and receptive and let a poem come
if it will, as I would do when awake. This sounds difficult since when
awake, only when the environment is amenable and I am in the proper mood and
feel a poem may come would I attempt it. When a dream becomes known it would
probably not at all be a proper calm environment suitable for being
receptive to poetry. Yet I must try it for what I may learn.
I would not plan to erase the dream environment unless it were too
disturbing. I would not try to speak, but let poetry come internally. Two
lines would be sufficient to be both poetry and not too much to remember
when I wake up.
December 3. When I realized that the quantity of cake that I was eating
from my hand was growing, I realized I was dreaming. I resisted continuing
with the dream story. I looked around and saw that I was walking along a
path in the snowy woods. I stepped over to lean against a tree in order to
relax to wait for poetry to come to me, but I woke up.
December 23. I walked toward the verandah of the building, holding a child
in my arms. The child apparently saw himself, and as I lay him down, I said,
"He can see himself, as in a dream." Then I realized I was dreaming. I
remembered about the poetry and relaxed against one of the columns of the
verandah. For a moment I waited and then concentrated on what may come. I
thought of two lines of poetry, which I noticed did not rhyme, but which
could have prepared for later rhymes. I woke up and wrote down what I could
remember. It was:
"When in the night the waking dreams I extol
I hear the . . ."
There could be a mistake in there. It came to me as poetry comes to me. I
see these words as similar to what comes to me when I compose poetry, but
not as something which I would bother to write down. As an example, if I had
been awake, I would quickly have replaced the word "extol." I don't believe
I have ever used the expression "waking dreams," but I see it as a real
poetic possibility [perhaps for lucid dreams]. The rhythm is pleasant enough
to retain. I have no idea what the meaning of the second line was to be. But
then, I do not always know what the meaning is when I accept a line. I
conclude that receiving poetry might be as possible while dreaming as while
awake. It might perchance be easier. This was better than I expected.
December 31. I was dancing with a woman in a very musical dream, when I
realized I was dreaming. Although I was intensely interested in dancing, I
made myself stop. I leaned against a wall for a firm relaxing and looked in
a new direction. While I thought of poetry, I noticed a woman leaning
against a pole at a distance, smiling at me.
I kept my eyes open and felt the poetry come, without any effort. [In a
lucid dream, I usually kept my eyes open in order not to lose the visual
image.] It was no different from when I do the same when awake. A first line
came, but I was not satisfied with it and changed it perhaps by one word.
Letting that be, I added a second line which rhymed. I was satisfied with
it, at least as an initial composition and thought I should wake up to write
it down. It began to disappear, but I woke up and wrote it down.:
"Once the strange and overcoming night
Brought me ______ and to the light."
I could not remember it exactly. I knew that the two lines had the same
rhythm. I wrote it quickly knowing that it might not be entirely correct.
After writing, I felt it probably should have been:
"Once the strange and overcoming night
[three beats] and brought me to the light."
It was a presentable poetic thought, the idea even being in harmony with the
poem of December 23. When I composed this time and the last time, I did not
think of what subject I would compose on. I just accepted what came, judging
it as it came. I had feared that it would not be easy to suddenly drop
everything and think poetry. Yet both times some suitable lines came without
any trouble.
Last night's lines were acceptably beautiful, without cliché, and original.
Rhyming and other sound structures were acceptable. They are not very clever
rhymes, but appropriate. The word "brought" adds consonance. Poetic
obliqueness is there. The word "overcoming" has multiple effect. "Night" and
"light" are frequent concepts in my waking poetry.
January 6, 1979. I saw a green towel hanging gracefully away from the wall
towards me rather than down. But I also felt that I was standing on the
wall, rather than on the floor. I was confused, but it made me realize I was
dreaming. I felt shaky and disoriented. I thought that the only way to make
myself comfortable was to sit on the towel that draped outward, which I did,
feeling insecure. I got only one line of "poetry," which came with a bit of
force:
"When under the world the basements congeal . . ."
I then woke up.
This line must be related to my disorientation in the dream and the feeling
that what was below my feet was quite insecure. Although subjectwise, this
"poem" was different from the earlier ones, it was again about my dream
situation. I will choose a subject for the next poem to be about, to see
whether I can direct the poetry a little more and get it away from the dream
context. I will still let it flow and not force it, but I will begin it by
thinking about horses, a subject I do not write poems about.
[ Another important element of this dream was the fact that the towel I had
seen in the dream was the actual towel hanging above my sleeping head from
the structure used for holding up my mosquito net. This fact seems not
directly related to the poetry experiment.]
January 17. It was a dream, almost entirely forgotten, of former times. In
the thick green grass, I saw a power lawn mower. It was such an anachronism,
that I realized I was dreaming. I remembered the poetry experiment. I moved
forward and thought, "The Delhi tree . . ." I had no time to develop or
change the words. I woke up.
February 24. Snow lay all around as I walked up the street, uphill. Why did
I have no books, if I was going to school? I must have come from home, but I
could not remember any home. So I realized I was dreaming. I thought of
poetry and knew that it was to be about horses. I composed "black horse,
white horse . . ." It was two complete lines of poetry. However, I went on,
forgetting that I was dreaming and forgetting most of what I composed.
After further dreaming, I came out of a cellar and thought that that was a
roundabout way to go. Thereupon I again realized I was dreaming. I
remembered that I had earlier done the poem about the black horse and the
white horse. The tall grain that I was walking through was distracting me,
and I wanted to walk out of it a little so that it wouldn't scrape me. I
saw two deer nearby eating. I began my poem, "Horsy, horsy," but I woke up.
When I woke up, all I could think of supposedly from the first poetry work
was "Black horse, white horse, racing and chasing." However, "racing and
chasing" was from Scott's "Lochinvar" which we were discussing when I taught
my English class yesterday, and it may not have appeared in the dream. I had
been reading Jung recently, and the "black" and "white," showing opposites
and wholeness, got me thinking then, while awake, of my poetry experiments
and of black horses and white horses. I then figured that I might have
prejudiced my dream experiment [by thinking about this ahead of time]. Which
apparently I did. Because the black and white horses came from aforethought,
they did not come from the ongoing dream itself, as had happened in earlier
dreams. Two deer. Substitute for the horses? Then "Horsy, horsy." How awful.
April 2. I had discovered the house hidden behind other houses, and upstairs
in a large room, a few of us gathered together. A large black panther came
bounding into the room near the men. The woman with the baby stood off to
the side. Oh, that again. I realized that as wild animals had appeared in
recent dreaming, so again this was a dream. I thought I'd let it be for now,
then if the panther were to jump at anyone, I'd just stop it. Before I could
do anything, the panther attacked the woman with the baby, and they
disappeared behind the door. Oh well, I decided, it doesn't matter.
I asked a man about the history of a certain house in view. Then I
remembered about the poetry experiment. I turned from him, and he said, I
think, something about watching my step. Thinking about the panther and
about the idea that the panther may represent my passions, I composed:
"The panther's black and greyish skin
Wraps tight around me as I jump within."
The composition came rather quickly. I recognized that the panther was
myself. However, all the wording and the implications of the lines was not
thought through. I didn't like the word "greyish," especially the "ish"
part, which was necessary for the rhythm.
The area I saw was rather dark. So I turned around hoping to find more
light, so that I may not lose the dream environment. I found a small area of
light, and as I further worked on my composition, the light increased, and I
was no longer concerned about losing the dream. I remembered about the horse
(actually, horses) and that they should be black and white. I changed the
poem to:
"The horse's black and whitish skin
Wraps tight around me as I jump within."
I thought that I should then wake up, to write down the words. So I woke
myself up, remembered the lines and wrote them down.
Later, when I was near the edge of a cliff, I realized again that I was
dreaming. I believed there was a city below the cliff. I remembered that I
had done the poetry experiment. I ran to the cliff and flew over the edge.
In a half attempt at poetry, I flew singing over and over, "I went flying
over the city," to the tune of "The bear went over the mountain." I was
actually flying over a large railway yard, with a few trains and lots of
tracks. I did not wake up right away and soon forgot that I was dreaming.
April 3. [analysis continued] While I would not have left the lines as they
are, the horse poem shows characteristics of poetryCrhymes, repetitions of
sound, a workable rhythm, and a thought that was quite poetic. The key
thought of the horse's skin enclosing me and of the horse's jumping being my
jumping [inspired by the panther] was not thought through. It was the
unconscious that expressed it. I consider that I have successfully composed
two lines of verse within the dream. The poem would need more lines plus the
usual polishing up, and I don't usually depend on end rhymes [rhymes at the
end of lines]. While I remembered to write about horses, the lines I
composed deal with the dream itself, beginning with the panther and working
from there.
I have produced and remembered seven fragments of poetry from dreams--four
of one line or more and three of only part of a line. In all cases but one,
I either did not have time to complete two lines or completing them, I
forgot parts. The three short fragments (Delhi tree; black horse, white
horse; horsy, horsy) are difficult to judge because of their brevity, except
that the last is undoubtedly bad.
It is better to judge only the longer pieces for the success of the
experiment. Of these four, I remembered only one two-liner completely. Each
of the four showed the characteristics of poetry, although each would need
further work done on it. Each was about the dream situation itself, in spite
of my being able in one to compose on a predetermined subject. Each showed
possible influence from my writing while awake. Composing poetry while
dreaming was easier than I expected it to be, except for the real
difficulties of time being limited, the experiment ending abruptly, my
inability to write the words down, the tendency to forget what I composed,
and not being able to make a final judgment of the lines while dreaming.
April 16. The fact that my poetry in dreams concerned itself with the dream
itself is probably explained by the fact that the dream is already
expressing my unconscious thoughts. The unconscious does not appear to have
two separate layers of thought ready to express themselves at the same time,
one in poetry and one in dream.
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** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS
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The Dream Section is edited by Kat Peters-Midland
_
A golden porpoise in the sky, the moon falling, blood falling from the
ceiling into the toilet, a huge python snake shedding skin in the middle of
the road, ghosts floating above,...it sounds like a science fiction story,
doesn't it? Actually they're all in dreams in the Dream section!
If you want to send in dreams, enter them at
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
Dream title: Changing
Dream date: months ago
Dreamer name: J7
Dream text: I had a dream that I swallowed my glasses.
Dream comments: Sometimes I forget to eat, because I get busy or caught up
in what I'm doing. This was one of those nights. I was at a friend's house,
so I couldn't go rumbling around for food late at night. So I went to sleep
considerably hungry. I forced myself to fall asleep. Obviously I was hungry,
but why glasses, why not a hamburger?
Dream title: having a baby
Dream date: 08/30/04
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: I dreamed that I was in the hospital give birth to my first
child. The baby was a girl. I was hitting my boyfriend while I was pushing
the baby out.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: 2 dreams from 2 different people same scenario
Dream date: 9/1/04
Dreamer name: JRO
Dream text: A few weeks ago my husband had a dream that a friends of ours
were in some kind of accident and their daughter who is very young needed
CPR. My husband said that he worked on her forever it seemed but she did
not make it. He said that all he could remember saying is I am sorry, I am
sorry.
Then my cousin to whom of which I am close to said that she was having a
dream about a close friend of hers who guess killed in some kind of accident
and she is to take care of her baby girl. This woman who was in the
accident does not have kids.
Dream comments: Why would 2 people that are close to me have the same type
of dream?
Dream title: THE BLOODY BATHROOM....?
Dream date: 2 months ago
Dreamer name: j*7
Dream text: I had a dream that my x-boyfriend had come over my house. We
were touchy and loving (no sex). Suddenly I felt like I had to get up and
go check the bathroom (but I didn't have to "go"). When I got there, there
was blood falling from the ceiling into the toilet. I didn't call for help.
I spent most of the dream trying to clean up the mess.
Dream comments: I'm not sure what to make of it...
Dream title: none
Dream date: 31 Aug 2004
Dreamer name: S
Dream text: I was a guest host on a television show, it was a contest I won
and I got to ask 10 of the sexiest leading men two questions. Who are they
you ask? Sean Connery, John Travolta, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Elijah
Wood, Antonio Banderas, Brad Pitt, Kurt Russell, Julian Sands, and Jeff
Bridges. Well, I only asked of three then I got awakened. When I went back
to sleep, I dreamt that I asked Sean about his hometown and where he was
born. I asked John Travolta to use Vinnie Barbarino as an alter personality
and give me his take on his life today (career, family, etc.). I was about
to go to Johnny when my mother's terrier pup licked me in the face and woke
me.
Dream comments: This morning about 6 a.m. my dachshund woke me wanting
water. She does this by going into the bathroom and thumping the water bowl
down on the floor and against the bathtub until I get up and fill it for
her. I went back to bed and had this dream.
Dream title: none
Dream date: Monday, August 30, 2004
Dreamer name: S
Dream text: I had friends in the mob, and they kept killing any new friends
I made. I didn't seem to mind other than it was a little annoying. Then in
segment two, I was driving and stopped at a station to get gas. The pumps
were suspended in mid air high off the ground, well over the tops of cars. I
went in to pay for the gas but someone had killed the store clerk. I went
back outside, a man had just finished getting gas behind my car, and I
started to say something to him and the pumps blasted apart. I woke up when
we hit the ground.
Dream comments: Very weird.
Dream title: my wedding
Dream date: august 31, 2004
Dreamer name: O
Dream text: I saw my boyfriend and he's in jail. He got out and we were just
hugging and kissing. Then all of a sudden I was dressed in my big wedding
dress and that some dog came into the chapel and tried to bite me. I could
hold him back but I couldn't and he bit my mom in the hand.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: A Funny Day
Dream date: 5-18-04
Dreamer name: Drf
Dream text: I walked into my teacher's, (Mr. S) room & he went to the
chalkboard and wrote "Students Are Nerds". Then he chucked an easer at me.
Then Mrs. K, the principal, walks in. She got 10 easers chucked at her.
Then Miss L comes in, runs into the wall. Then Mrs. K took a computer and
threw it outside, and told Miss Latt to go and fetch it. She got in and
took a dump on Mr. S's shoe and that was it.
Dream comments: This dream I had was funny that I was laughing in my sleep.
Dream title: 3 eyes
Dream date: none listed
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: I dreamed that a little boy had 3 eyes
Dream title: The Strange Affair
Dream date: August 30, 2004
Dreamer name: JR
Dream text: Last night I dreamt that my son's coach and I were at a bar
together (not a dive place a nice place top dollar). We were sitting and
talking at the bar. He asked me to join him again in the same place and I
did and we started seeing one another and then my dreams got a little
graphic so to speak.
Dream comments: I think I have had maybe about 3 conversations with him. I
still see him every time we have practice because he is coaching another
team but I have not even spoken to him this season. When we drive by one
another we wave but that is about it as far as contact goes. Now it is like
I feel that tension that it was so real that it is playing on my mind. Why
would I have a dream about him and why does it feel so real that I would
want to know what it is like and could I be on his mind that the gods above
are telling me to pursue it or start it?
Dream title: Finding large amounts of money in all kinds of places
Dream date: August 28, 2004
Dreamer name: SA
Dream text: I was walking into a Verizon wireless store and I looked down
and noticed a large amount of money. After I picked it up everything I ever
wanted appeared. Then I found a bag of money at school but the same thing
happened again.
Dream comments: What can this mean?
Dream title: Cave from book when I was a kid
Dream date: once in a while
Dreamer name: ce
Dream text: These weird people and I are stuck in a cave and the thing
breaks and we are stuck.
Dream comments: Every once in a while I have this dream and it is very
scary.
Dream title: none
Dream date: none listed
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: My ex-boyfriend and I were making out under a tree, in the rain,
in Hyde Park (London). This is the place we shared our first kiss! We were
so happy because we were laughing and making jokes!
Dream comments: My ex and I still like each other a lot but we just can't be
together because everything and everyone gets in our way.
Dream title: Moon....falling??!!
Dream date: July-26-2004
Dreamer name: E
Dream text: I was in a room, kind of like a patio-porch-thing, and I was
with my mother. I looked up the moon was massive and red as blood. As I
continued to look the moon, it drifted closer, drew bigger and bigger. And
you know how a meteor has a tail from debris, or how the plasma field
generates around the shuttle as it enters the atmosphere? You could see a
red kind of 'field' around it as it plummeted towards Earth. It hit, and
hit hard hundreds maybe thousands of miles away, but you could see the
ground rippling up like waves in water, and a big red light in the horizon
surrounded by dust flying up into the air. As the shockwave hit I dove down
in this porch and the building crumbling around me. I somehow survived.
Dream comments: When I woke up, I took a lot of aspirin, and that allergy
medicine that makes you really tired, and realized...I was late for work...
Dream title: Golden Porpoise in the Sky
Dream date: August 26, 2004
Dreamer name: PT
Dream text: I'm lying in a bed in a storefront looking out onto a street
(Melrose or Beverly) with a lot of neat little shops and restaurants. I'm
looking up at the sky. Suddenly a close friend with whom I work (SH) walks
outside the window with a tray from a bakery. When she sees me she says
"Look PT, these are the tortillas made from French bread that I was telling
you about". And then she tips the tray slightly in my direction and I see
these large puffy tortillas on a black plastic tray with a transparent lid
(the kind that is pretty common in grocery stores). After she walks away I
look up at the sky again and I see a beautiful shining golden porpoise
flying around. It seems to be chasing little things that I cannot see and
just having a good time. After a while it is joined by a golden baby
porpoise. I think to myself that they are mother and son. Soon I fall
asleep. When I wake up the sky above is black and I can see lots of stars.
Near the horizon the sky is still blue. Suddenly one of the golden
porpoises shoots out from the highest point in the sky and plunges down
towards the earth. I think to myself that somebody is being reincarnated.
Dream comments: My younger brother died unexpectedly 2 years ago. My mother
never got over grieving for him before she died unexpectedly earlier this
year.
Dream title: What Did I Do???
Dream date: March 26, 2004
Dreamer name: OMG
Dream text: My dad had passed away sometime, and I went to the cemetery to
visit him. I was sitting at the foot of his grave talking to him, and then
all of a sudden I heard a pounding noise! I sat to listen for a little bit,
then all of a sudden I started digging up his grave! The entire time I was
digging, the pounding kept getting louder and louder! When I finally got to
his coffin, I opened it up and saw my dad laying in a very awkward position.
The sides of the coffin were all torn up and the sides were scratched and
everything! That's when I realized I killed my dad because I couldn't get to
him in time to save him!
Dream comments: My dad was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor about a
year before my dream, and I think I'm just scared of him dying! But I kind
of want someone else's opinion on it!!
Dream title: Penguin-Oompa Loompa Dream
Dream date: 8-23-04
Dreamer name: Samantha
Dream text: I was sitting in the pool and all of a sudden a bunch of
penguins came up and tried to eat me and my friend...we started running but
we had no where to run to...the penguins were attacking us and trying to
kill us...then about 10 Oompa Loompas came up and started eating the
penguins and they became our friends and we went to an island and lived
forever with each other and we eventually evolved into Oompa Loompas
Dream comments: I love penguins and Oompa Loompas. I went to sleep at a
friend's house that night and was screaming penguins and Oompa Loompas in my
sleep
Dream title: Creepy Ghost Dream
Dream date: 8-22-04
Dreamer name: S
Dream text: We were driving and our car broke down....we got out and went
into this house. It was an old house that was in perfect order. We had to
cross a wooden bridge in the house to get to the next room and 3 people fell
in. When they fell in, they were drowning. When I went down to save them,
the water was only up to my ankles and they weren't drowning anymore. The
people I was with started to remodel the house and make it more modern
because it was from the 1900's. This girl and I decided to go to bed and we
went to sleep in the white room. It had a sign on the door that said "white
room". We walked in the room we were all dressed in white and everything
was in white. We went to sleep and as we were sleeping I saw ghosts
floating above us. The girl I was sleeping with didn't see them but only I
could see them. The ghosts attacked us and grabbed us by our arms and tried
to hurt us. We woke up that morning and when we left all the things we
tried to remodel. It was back to the way it was before we started
remodeling. We walked over the bridge and got back in the car and left.
Dream comments: when I woke up in the morning I had bruises on my arm where
the ghost grabbed me. They were up higher so it would have been impossible
for me to have hit myself while I was sleeping and they were in the form of
hands
Dream title: Nobody Will Kiss Me
Dream date: 8/24/04
Dreamer name: NG
Dream text: I was in my aunt's house and I was making a salad when suddenly
I wanted to kiss somebody badly. I ran over to this man I saw and I went
over to kiss him and he ran from me. Then I saw this other man and I chased
him around trying to kiss him. I chased him through a maze but I still
couldn't catch him. Suddenly I knew I was dreaming and I screamed "this is
MY dream! Why can't I do what I want to? Why can't I kiss anybody?" I ran
around trying to kiss all of the men in my dreams but I never got kissed.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: the kiss
Dream date: 02/18/2000
Dreamer name: beautiful dreamer
Dream text: I was in Tesco's on one of the conveyer belts and I was Fench
kissing Olivia for about two hours. The staff were asking us to stop. Lots
of people were watching from school
Dream comments: tell me what it means
Dream title: Boyfriend having a child with someone else
Dream date: 04/20/2004
Dreamer name: m74
Dream text: I had a dream that my boyfriend is away to college and he tells
me he got a girl pregnant. I didn't know how to react. Some months later I
had a dream he came home with a little boy in his arms and the little boy
had to be 6-8 months old. In these dreams I was just shocked because he
apologized and said he was sorry for what happened. We still stayed
together.
Dream comments: My boyfriend is currently going to college and he lives
there. He comes home every other weekend or I go up there. We are in summer
break now and he is home with me. We have been together for 4yrs
Dream title: Running Shoes Parked
Dream date: none listed
Dreamer name: T
Dream text: I was on my way to catch a bus; I parked my white running shoes
at a gas station in the very last spot. Later on when I returned to the gas
station, I realized my shoes have been towed away!
Dream comments: none
Dream title: 2 dreams of my ex
Dream date: August 2004
Dreamer name: sunshine
Dream text: First dream: My ex-boyfriend didn't say anything. I was the one
who kept on talking & asking some questions but he just stares at me.
Second dream: he drops me off my office and then we just stared at each
other while he was in a moving vehicle.
Dream comments: It's been three years now since my boyfriend and I broke up
& yet I can still feel the ties. A day after the second dream, I got news
that he's getting married. I don't know, but my consistent dreaming of him
this month makes me think that again that he might be sending message to me.
We don't have any communication now.
Dream title: lost love
Dream date: 9/20/04
Dreamer name: tl
Dream text: I had a dream I saw my ex-boyfriend with a new girlfriend, which
happened to be an acquaintance/friend of mine, at the funeral of one of his
family members. She looked very pretty wearing a red dress and white shoes
and he wore a suit and acted very indifferent toward me. I felt jealous,
betrayed, hurt, and helpless in the dream. I remember throwing something at
him as I walked away from them.
Dream comments: I just ended a long term relationship and it has been very
difficult to let go.
Dream title: Can't get them out of my head
Dream date: 6/04-8/04 1x a week
Dreamer name: D
Dream text: I am back with my ex and everything is wonderful. He says he
wants to marry me and I accept. He has a new girlfriend, but gets rid of
her at that moment.
Dream comments: We have been broken up for approx. a year, and only dated
for 9 months. I have had a boyfriend after that, but recently broke up with
him. I was having these dreams before, during, and after I was with the
most recent ex.
Dream title: none
Dream date: august, 22, 2004
Dreamer name: swimming
Dream text: I was on a school team and was a good diver. I know my friend
was out of town but she showed up. I also liked her brother. But the weird
thing is that she was swimming with me but she's not on the team, and all of
a sudden all the kids that were watching the team swim stared swimming,
excluding her brother but when I saw her brother I woke up.
Dream comments: what does this dream mean? Oh, all the dreams I dream and
remember came true in a way!
Dream title: White dust
Dream date: 08/20/04
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: I was in my in-laws house with my daughter and all of a sudden a
bomb exploded with white dust and it was killing us all, the whole family.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: broken teeth
Dream date: 09/02/2004
Dreamer name: PJ
Dream text: I was trying to clean my teeth with something sharp, kind of
like scrapping it off. I hurt myself and my front teeth are chipped. I
didn't feel pain or scared.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: Of Death and Bread
Dream date: 3 Sep 2004
Dreamer name: S
Dream text: I was in a house embedded deep into the woods. The time of year
was winter as the trees were bare and the brown leaves covered the ground.
But it appeared to be a job as well as a home. At one point there were many
people, and we were in a sparsely furnished room. There were baskets of all
kinds of breads, some very thin, delicate, and decorative, like from a
cookie cutter. Others in loaf or baguette form. I heaped up a plate of
different ones and people were acting as if I'd taken too much. I sat by
myself, eating a delicious honeywheat kind of bread and watching a screen
depicting a lake scene. The water would occasionally ripple as a drop fell
into it, like watching a screen saver. Then I was back at the house in the
woods and I was outside with my mother. She was telling me one of the
puppies had gotten killed by being bitten by ants. I became furious. I
screamed at her and came into the house. There was a blonde woman in there
and I yanked her hair and jerked her toward me and demanded to know how the
puppy got out to be killed. She was very sad about it and I let her go. I
mourned the puppy and made sure the others were ok.
Dream comments: Normally a scene like this (winter in the woods) would be
pleasant to me and I would be happy. In real life, one of our dogs had 7
pups, one didn't make it so we have six remaining and I'm afraid Mother is
going to hurt them because they are just now romping out of the room and she
won't watch where she is stepping and may step on one. I don't know where
the rest of it came from.
Dream title: possession
Dream date: 9/5/2004
Dreamer name: Y
Dream text: I ended up going to a forbidden zone where a serial killer used
to hide out. I stole an article of clothing that was still there under some
rubble. It is red and I hid it in my parents' garage. When I went in there
later, I was afraid to go in alone. I brought some friends in with me
because the garage became possessed. Again, that feeling of helplessness,
in that I became possessed and was on the brink of becoming the
reincarnation of this serial killer. Not because I wanted to. But I
touched the clothing. All I could do now was try to undo what I had done,
as though that's possible.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: Fish in a fish tank
Dream date: 09/05/04
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: I was looking in a fish tank and there was an artificial
alligator. The alligator was big and it moved like it was battery operated.
I removed this artificial alligator from the tank and went to place it in a
larger tank. I turned my back for a minute and the alligator was in the
tank. There were two very large fish in this tank and they were almost the
size of a very large Oscar, only white and orange. The tank has a very
small amount of water in it. I knew some thing was wrong or about to happen.
Dream comments: I normally think of a friend or a person that I am close to
is either going get pregnant or is currently pregnant and doesn't know it.
Dream title: Unhappy ending
Dream date: September 5, 2004
Dreamer name: LGB
Dream text: My friends, my family and I were camping at lake in some place
far away from civilization. We were having so much fun jumping off the end
of a dock that we had built and diving for clams at the bottom to eat for
dinner. Everything was pleasant till a strange man pulled up to me as I was
swimming; out of nowhere he appeared. Startled, I dove under to swim away in
the murky water. Before I could swim out of sight, he raised his hand and
chanted. The water level never changed but the ground beneath it rose up and
lifted me up out of the water. I was so scared. I jumped off into the water
and swam as fast as I could. I ran into the cabin we had built on the shore
and I warned all my friends and family that we had to leave. We left
everything and piled into my van. As I sped away, my dad kept asking me what
this black symbol on my back was from. I didn't recall ever getting a tattoo
or anything like that. As soon as I had told him I didn't know that there
ever was a black thing on my back the symbol began to rotate and I could
feel everything become cold. I asked my father what was happening, and I
turned to him and everyone was in a deep sleep. I turned to the road and I
screamed as I drove into this portal looking thing. The next thing I knew
was that I was in a different place. I looked around and it was the same
place only about a hundred years before. I crawled from the van which was
smashed up against a large tree. I had a painful abrasion on my right temple
and had a deep gash in my right thigh. I peered over at my father and saw
that they were all gone. I limped back to where the cabin was and saw that
they were all there having a great time in the water. I was about a hundred
yards offshore and I heard a voice from behind me and turned to see the guy
who had scared me on the boat.
I was so frightened to see him that I fell backwards and started to crawl
away from him. He stepped over me and placed a hand over my wounds and
mumbled under his breath and moved his hand. The wounds were gone and left
clean. I asked him why, in a calm yet worried tone. He said that he admired
me in everything I did and that he knew that there was something about me
that made me unique to other humans and he wanted to find out what it was. I
asked him how he intended on doing this and he smiled and answered, "I am
going to take you away from all that you know and love and take you with me
back to where I come from". I jumped up and ran. I ran to the lake and
jumped in, swam over to my father, and tried to explain what was going on.
But he just acted as if I didn't exist. The man came to me on his boat and
told me that he erased the memories of me from all of their minds. He also
said that if I didn't take his hand he would destroy them all without
hesitation. I hugged onto my dad from behind and he wouldn't move. I
realized that I was true and he didn't remember nor notice me. I loved them
all so much knowing that they didn't know me, so I reluctantly took his hand
and he pulled me into the boat. He sped off as fast as he could in the
opposite direction. He took the boat through another portal and then we were
on a carriage led by a team of black draft horses. When they stopped we were
at a huge castle like house that loomed over everything. He took my hand and
showed me in, lead me to a room somewhere on the top floor, he pushed me on
the bed, and tied my hands and feet together. "This is for your own good. I
know you don't want to be here but you soon will get use to the idea of
serving me as my apprentice." He shut the door and left me in the dark. I
wept long and hard for my loss and finally gave in. He returned and asked me
to remain still while he untied me. Once done he grinned at me and chuckled
as he spoke these words that still haunt me; "AT LAST I HAVE YOU" ...then I
wake up in tears.
Dream comments: in all my dreams this is the only one I actually gave into
Dream title: The death of an innocent while I am guilty.
Dream date: September 11, 2004
Dreamer name: M
Dream text: I was walking through the street, crying of guilt. I knew I had
done something wrong but why blame an innocent? I was thinking of this when
suddenly a black car came in front of me. An unknown face looked up at me
and said," Madame Clistric, you are in danger. Please sit in your car."
"Why?" That person said, "You killed a man, Madame. Maybe that stupid girl
will blame on you." I looked more closely and saw the man who was talking
to me. I sat in the car. We sped towards my hideout. Suddenly I saw the
innocent person. I screamed, "STOP THE DAMN CAR TOLTA." That man jammed on
the brakes. I ran towards that girl and said, "I am the one. Come with me. I
am guilty. Come to the police station." The girl started to shake her head
and said, in a timid voice," Madame Clistric you will then kill me." I tried
to convince her, and then police came and shot at that girl. I looked at her
dead, lifeless body and looked at the police officer who shot at her. I
screamed as I saw it was my younger brother Ted. Then I woke up.
Dream comments: none
: Sea waves
Dream date: 6th September 2004
Dreamer name: anonymous
dream text: I DREAMT THAT I WAS SITTING NEAR THE SEASHORE AND SUDDENLY VERY
HIGH WAVES CAME IN FRONT OF US I FLED AWAY TO HIDE SOMEWHERE AND THE WAVES
PASSED.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: Red Angel dream
Dream date: September 7, 2004
Dreamer name: ys
Dream text: I am at work, but work is in a completely different building. I
don't recognize it. Glass windows are everywhere. Looks like this floor used
to be a Mexican restaurant of some kind because I can see the unlit neon
light still hanging in the window.
I go upstairs to work. A couple of times I go up the stairs and I go one
floor too far. I have to come down to get back to the floor work is on.
I get to my desk. My station is all set up. (Funny, this station looks
nothing like my work station currently.) I notice a big box of things
underneath my desk. I also notice a new board to use as a table with a
bottom clip to hold my papers. I am mad/frustrated because I'm wondering why
I have to change all this when I have a perfectly good station there
already.
Earlier in the dream sometime I must have flashed forward and saw what
happened next because when I see two people standing at my desk I realize I
had seen them do that already. I tell them that I dreamed they would be
there. They leave and I set to fixing my station with the new items in the
box.
Nothing seems to fit right. The clip for the board won't attach correctly,
it's as if all this stuff isn't meant for me. When a co- worker finally
arrives, I show it to him and he's confused by the changes as well. I go to
the boss lady or maybe she's just the person who put the box under my desk
because she doesn't look like my real boss. She gives me a note that has
tape on it. It says that the box is for someone else's desk. And I wonder
why she didn't put this note on the box in the first place. I wasted so much
time trying to make it all fit my station. Now I must change it back to
normal and then fix up the new station for the new person.
Suddenly the scene changes: I'm driving in the country. The car doesn't seem
familiar. It's a boxy brown sedan, nothing like my car. I'm looking for a
cabin I must have visited in my dream at an earlier time. I notice someone
is driving behind me. At some point I get out of the car while it's still
moving, I'm not sure why. I look at the trunk then glance back to the car
behind me. I don't want to scare them by my being outside of the car like
this. I walk around to the driver door, and even though the car is moving I
was walking along the ground as if the car was parked.
We go down a very big hill, and then up the next hill. I keep going up, up,
up. Suddenly, the road ends, but I can't tell. The nose of my car is pointed
upward. Both my car and the car behind me drive off the edge. The other car
seems to fall faster even though it drove off the cliff after I did.
I big red figure of a man or a woman, I can't tell which, appears out of no
where and catches me. The figure is huge. I latch onto it and feel this warm
sense of peace emanating from it. When it first arrives I think the words
'red phoenix' then I wonder if it's an angel. Wings extend from the body and
we start to go up, but the angel keeps hitting his/her head on the train
trestle above it. We're over water and the angel keeps bouncing along,
hitting his/her head until we are out in the open.
Dream comments: So, what do you think that one means?
Dream title: same sex dream
Dream date: September 7 and 8, 2004
Dreamer name: jb
Dream text: The first night I dreamt that my truest friend being a female
was kissing me very intimately while my husband was in the background and
then caressing my breast but I was not naked.
The second night I dreamt that someone who I do not get on with at all also
came to me but I was naked and she was arousing me very intimately while my
husband was in the background again.
Dream comments: Does my husband has any significance to my dream or was he
there to make me remember the dream and what on earth does it mean?
Dream title: A glimpse into my past
Dream date: none listed
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: In one particular dream we are in my house from my child hood.
We have our own room and we share it. We are sitting in it talking when I
blurt out that I love him and he looks at me and runs out of the room. His
mom comes in and she sits me down and tells me to stay away from her son. I
run away crying and I run out into the middle of the road in front of my
house. I am almost hit by a car, then my mom saves me (my mother died when
before I was 10). I scramble to my feet and I hug her but she starts to walk
away without saying anything to me. But somehow just seeing her makes me
feel better.
Dream comments: Boy girl friendships re hard to keep as friendships. I have
in real life had a crush on my best friend. I tell him everything and he
tells me everything and we aren't afraid to tell each other what's on our
mind. Recently he slept over and when we woke up we found ourselves
snuggling together and he was holding me. All of the sudden I have been
having bizarre dreams about him. And they have been scaring me!
Dream title: shopping
Dream date: 9-12-2004
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: I was shopping with my mom. Then a big shopping cart flew in
front of us and we were locked in by it and couldn't get out.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: Snow and Airplane
Dream date: 09-10-2004
Dreamer name: K
Dream text: I saw my daughter and myself in the plane. I saw myself playing
a snow.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: Creepy
Dream date:
Dreamer name: j
Dream text: In front of my place where I live (in a building) there was no
playground. There was a big graveyard and every single grave was empty.
Only in my grandfather's was a coffin. Then I saw a Christ with my name, and
I saw myself down there in the grave. Also while I was walking throw the
graveyard I was dressed in whit dress, the moon was full and it smelled
disgusting.
Dream comments: When I woke up I was wet because I cried in my dream
Dream title: flying and saving people
Dream date: 9/15/04
Dreamer name: anonymous
Dream text: I was flying and saving people
Dream comments: what does it mean?
Dream title: The cat and ex boy friend
Dream date: 9/16/04
Dreamer name: what the heck
Dream text: First my ex-boyfriend was helping me get away from the bad guys.
I got away with him and he was staring at me for what felt like hours and I
did the same back at him. Soon he was gone and I noticed one of my friends
(who has two cats), walk through the door. Her cats were not in the house
and so she opened the door to the outside and walked down the front walk and
noticed one, then both cats. They came in side and that was it I woke up.
Dream comments: really that wasn't all but the jist.
-------------------- END ISSUE -----------------
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ELECTRIC DREAMS ACCESS INFORMATION
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====================
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