The occult art of dreaming

Dreaming

"Once we are Conscious, suddenly we can see where we are -- we are

able to see our seeing, hear our hearing, touch our touching, and feel our feeling.

With consciousness we can be where we are. Consciousness is the doorway

through which we enter the dreamscape."

- Charles McPhee

The dream is defined as the sounds, words, thoughts, images, and sensations during a sleep experience. The dream is also a very profound state reached only by those that succeed in transcending the boundaries we have created to define our physical world and the reality we share with others, recognising that the reality we have created is itself the dream. From a mystical standpoint, we may define the dream as the communication between the conscious and subcounsious bridged by the unconscious to allow the free flowing essences of messages between ourselves, the universe, and the Divine. These images random as they may seem, and experiences in our nighttime excursions and explorations are the gradual freeing of the mind and the relaying of mindful transitions to the logical brain.

The Physical Essences of the Dream and the Purpose of the Dream

Dreaming may be characterized as the state of paralysys in which the human body rests and experiences a releasing of thought processes and the translation of messages from the subconcious into images. The general release of the day’s thoughts, stresses, aggrevations, and general overall mood of the day is released during the night in the form of dreams. Thus the conscious and subconscious fuse together for a brief time to release the body’s stress’s. The result is a stream of related or non~related imagery and impressions that are geared towards the release of harmful emotions and thoughts. They may play out in bizzarre ways and have many players or none at all. Sometimes we use our dreams to overcome fears that we have had in the past or anxieties we are experiencing in our lives in the present. Sometimes they are messages from the subconcious to bring things buried there into the light so that they may be dealt with in a healthy manner. They may bring messages from the Ancients, the Otherworld, or from ancestors as well as living friends and relatives. Dreams may also bring healing, challenges, and joy into our lives.

Dreams actually occur in several states other than while we are asleep. Night dreams occur while we are asleep and are one of the better known states. Daydreams is closely followed. Everyone knows and understands this concept of creating a different subverse while we are fully awake and aware. Daydreams serve to relay messages of fantasy, goals, wishes, and aspirations but also to escape the mundane world around us to become something more for a short period of time. It can reinforce positive or negative self images as well as allow powerful affirmations to occur if used properly. A student who daydreams about making a high score on an exam will likely do so, because that thought has traveled from the unconcious desire to do well to the conscious mind and processed as energy to the forefront of the mind as something that could occur. Daydreams are sequences of waking REM that occur throughout the day. Visualization is also a form of dreaming and happens in a meditative state as a conscious flow of mindful messages between us and the universe. Normally this involves the visual affirmation of our goals and desires manifesting so that when the time is right they will be brought into fruition. Visualization is a key element in most magickal systems. We are a visual species and our logical minds will not accept what our eyes can not see. In order to manifest from the dreaming state, we must be able to see it happening while we are awake as well.

Dreamweaving and shamanic traveling are forms of conscious traveling in a specific altered state, as a part of lucid dreaming, intense meditative experience, or astral connection. These are actually forms of magickal working that shape and weave the fabric of reality as we sleep. As we sleep and our body slowly winds down from the day’s hustle and bustle, we enter into a state of gradual relaxation resembling something akin to paralysys in which we are perfectly still and unaware of our surroundings. During this time, we may experience REM (rapid eye movement), increased respiration, and a lack of time orientation so that it may seem as if we were asleep for hours but actually only for about a half hour. The dreams themselves have no time and upon awakening, we may be surprised to find that the bright and sunny field of poppies actually occured at three or four in the morning.

How soon or how long it takes someone to enter into the state depends upon the individual. The neurological impulses from our brain provides us with the imagery we see, the sounds we hear, and the theme of the dream. The emotions raised during this time is geared at the body’s natural release of stress busting seratonin. All stress must be dealt with in order for a body to maintain healthy amounts of sleep and dream states. Physically speaking, our dreams are active stress busters in a world that is overcome with stress. Even frightening dreams may be healthy as the more intense the dream, the more emotion it ilicits and the more stress it resolves. However, this is merely one facet of the dream.

Lucid Dreaming , Creative Dreaming, and Dream~weaving

Lucid dreaming, or the act of intentional dreaming, is also referred to as concious dreaming. During this experience, the dreamer tells him or herself that they will dream of a specific event, person, or place. They will remember everything that they dreamed and they will also report their dreams in their journal for further analysys. These sorts of dreams are an integral part of nighttime astal traveling, dreamwalking, sharing, and visitation.

Using the technique of lucid dreaming, we are able to access higher aspects of ourselves, reach a greater understanding, and dream purposefully for a greater understanding of who we are and our purpose in this life. Lucid dreaming is reached at two states, high lucidity and low lucidity.

Lucidity itself begins at the point in a dream when the dreamer realizes that they are no longer bound by physical restrictions. Laws of physics or society no longer apply here and one may accomplish amazing feats while in this state. Our own limitations are our own beliefs and confidence. Dreams themselves are reflections from a waking universal consciousness , lucid dreaming is merely accessing this consciousness mindfully. By giving ourselves permission or reminding ourselves to access this level and remember what we dream, who we come in contact with, and minute details of our dreams we are realizing the concept of no reality and the creation and weaving of our own waking dream.

In a state of low lucidity we have not reached the point where we are aware of our dream state. We do not acknowledge the difference between the physical world and the dreaming world so that we accept the things happening in our dreams as 100% real, as well as the people and feelings evoked during them. In this state we are more likely to be striving for the acceptance of the illusion and working out events of the day, resolving daily issues so that we may awaken refreshed.

High lucidity occurs at the very point when you acknowledge that everything going on is not based on the physical plane and that it will end the second you wake up. It is the apex of crystal clear dreaming where you have complete control over the events in your dream. During this state we often receive messages from the Ancients, visitations from friends and relatives, access the astral to travel to those we want to check in on, explore multi~paralel dimensions, visit past and future lives, and visit the tomes of the Akashic records. Magick may be performed during this state if one is a magickal person.

The creativity of dreams may be used to not only solve problems but also to express ourselves artisticly through dance, painting, visualizations, and any artistic means of personal expression. We may create vibrant works of art with each stroke detailing a specific issue until the painting is complete and the answer is glaringly vivid before us.

While dreaming in a creative stance, we may bring to the surface talents from our mind's library of past life memories. We are able to access talents that we have yet to exhibit and master a talent we only wish we had. We may receive art lessons from the old masters or we may ourselves become a master. Using this state for creativity allows us to access many aspects of ourselves that we never knew we had and awaken long dead artistic impulses to express our inner selves and open ourselves up to acknowledgement of our own inner power.

All of our creative dreams need not be of an artistic nature, but also allow us to shape and bend our reality on the physical plane as well. To do this we must enter a state of magickal dreaming or dream weaving where we may create our desires in a dream state and bring them with us into the physical plane. Our conscious mind is constantly striving to perceive and explain reality so that it makes sense to our logical brain.

Dream weaving is a form of creative dreaming that attempts to align and balance our conscious mind, our unconscious mind, and our higher mind to achieve miraculous results. Our only limitation is ourelves, our beliefs abour working magick, and our beliefs about ourselves and our abilities. During our dreams we are aligned with the hgher universal consciousness that constantly sends us messages from the very banal to the wondrously mystical. We are constantly receiving messages of our lives and how we can finely attune it to maximum performance. Working in this state of collective awareness, we realize our desires. It is as simple as speaking the word and watching it unfold. It is this sort of state that can be used for sleeping meditation and creating dream mandalas while connected to a higher consciousness.

Dreamsharing, Dreamwalking, Healing with Dreams, Nightmares, Recurring Dreams, and Prophetic Dreaming

Everyone has at one time or another experienced an intense, detailed, and totally realistic dream experience only to have it relayed back to them by their best friend who lives hundreds of miles away, a mentor, relative, or loved one. Dreamsharing occurs when two or more people enter into a similar state at similar times and access the same wave of consciousness. In this state messages are being relayed to more than one person and received cohesively as a joint or multiple message. This type of connection may seem rare but actually happens on a constant basis throughout the world. Rarely do we have a dream alone in which we are the only stars of the show. As we move in and out of the astral and also through the many realms of what we perceive to be periods of time, we also come in contact with others who are on a similar journey. The conscious connection of one person to another allows us to check on our loved ones without leaving our bodies and fully traveling the astral or leaving our couch and physically checking on them.

Dreamwalking occurs during a lucid state in which we consciously access the dreams of others, stepping in and out of them in order to replenish our levels of prana, heal, or otherwise form a connection with them. Normally, this is done with someone in which you share a link of some sort with or a strong bond, however it can also be used in grazing and less target specific feeding. This can be used as a means of terrorism as well as a means of great liberation and healing. Dreamwalking need not involve a person, but may allow someone to have an etheric presence in other places while they are resting peacefully at home. A dreamwalker experienced in healing may use their travels to heal those they love as well.

Healing with dreams is a process of healing the mind first and the body second. In our daily lives we come into many different situations and emotions that, if not released properly, can be internalised and cause significant physical and mental illness. Stress, painful experiences, and anger must be released in order for our bodies to function properly, otherwise every aspect of our health may be negatively impacted. If we refuse to consciously release these blockages, we will subconciously release them through our dreams. The more sensitive a person is, the more traumatic their experiences are the more likely their inner demons will come out in the shadowy world of their dreams as nightmares.

While initially these dreams are frightening, they are merely our psyche trying to release its baggage and free the mind for more positive pursuits and healing. These dreams are divided into two categories: anxiety dreams and message dreams. Generally nightmares that occur once, are very intense, and detailed are messages from our subconcious that we are intended to pay close attention to. Likely the fear response will let us do not less than exactly that. The more fearful we become the more awakened our senses become as a defensive mechanism. When our bodies can not move, our minds instinctively creates a mechanism to allow us to be more aware of our surroundings and experiences as we are sleeping. Thus we tend to remember our nightmares more vividly than our average less shocking dreams. The more intense the experiences, traumas, and emotions that need to be released, the more intense the nightmares.

Recurring dreams and especially nightmares, often relay messages that we are intended to pay close attention to. They allow feelings that are repressed to come to the surface and be dealt with whether we want to or not. The more resistence we have towards releasing our negative blockages the more profoundly intense the dreams will become and the more likely we are to continue having them until the issues have been addressed. Often we have them several times until we find a way to resolve the issue within our dreams and the dreams change. The more resolution occurs the less intense the dreams become.

Recurring dreams may also have another function. They may also herald the doorway to pre~cognitive or prophetic dreams. Sometimes it may be something as simple as tripping over a stray toy in the floor or something as complex as the coming of a battle or other disaster. Historically, prior to any disaster many people may receive advanced warning of events to come. After the events of 911 thousands came forward with dreams that foreshadowed the catastrophe. Abraham Lincoln is said to have dreamed of his own untimely demise. While recurring nightmares often open the doors to the past, some recurring dreams open the doors to the future. Time itself is a created concept and a tool used to give logical explanation to the illogical concept of multidimensional travel and reception. The logical half of our brains will accept one concept but not readily the other. While we are constantly in the realms of past, present, and future simultaneously, we are also moving through them at different vibrational speeds. This is why history is doomed to repeat itself. As we are dreaming, our vibrations may speed up to access the past, or they may slow to access the future. Since the future is a dimensional mirror of the past, we rarely dream of the present although it is common for our past and future to overlap, causing deja vu as we dream. Prophetic dreams allow us to step into that dimensional sphere and see what we perceive to be the future. It is normally the deja vu that we perceive after the dream, even though we may not fully remember all of the details and it is the same deja vu that we experience as triggers or signs leading up to foreseen future events play out in front of us.

The Magickal Dream

Lucid dreaming, dreamweaving, creative dreaming, and even dreamsharing all lead up to another dreaming experience. The magickal dream is the most liberating form of dreaming because it releases our spiritual aspirations, healings, and affirmations, mixing the brew of dream meditations and creation into a brilliant potion of manifestation of will to be released as a living magickal child of our own creation.

As we grow spiritually and metaphysically we expand our sacred space to include a consecreated dream altar and a place where we may work our magick uninterrupted and in the presence of our beloved familiars, ancestors, and divine mentors. We may meet with the realm of the dragon, the fae realms, or the Otherworldly attendants of Heaven and together work powerful magick that we will carry into our waking life.

As we work these dreams through weaving as an elaborate tapestry, we see it as an etheric extension of ourselves reaching out and attaching to our desires so that they may be brought into the physical realms and into fruition. This delicate working allows us to access our innermost spiritual self and to transcend mere humanity and access our true divine essence.

We begin this working by allowing ourselves to recognise the dreaming state, to control the environment we are in and to fully enter lucidity. At that time, we begin the creative process of ritual and spellcrafting, shaping and molding our intentions into a loving statement of will. As the energy of our spell is raised and we closely bond with the Ancients and the primal higher conciousness we become one with the universe as well as one with our attendants, our manifestations, and the Divine. Knowing that anything is possible as we dream, we are able to achieve heights of adepthood that can only be conceived in movies. As we move gradually from a state of heightened and expanded energies to a state of contracting or lessening energies we awaken refreshed, invigorated, and often filled with spiritual peace and attunement.

Emergency magick may also be achieved in dreams. As with any magickal working the key is to allow ourselves to believe that anything is possible and that we are completely in control of what is going on in the dreaming state. A very good example of this would be a very bizzarre dream I had some years ago. In this dream I was in an area of Savannah that I’d never been. I just knew it was in Savannah. While there, I saw what appeared to be mannequins of large babies on the ground, all face down and all not moving. There were no other people around and as I began to explore the buildings, I found that they were all empty except for those strangely face down doll like babies. Moving into one of the buildings, I noticed one of them stirring and immediately moved to help the litle guy, only to find a monstrosity of a child, huge and babylike only the size of a four year old, this child had large slanted completely blackened eyes and a huge maw of razor sharp teeth. It managed to bite me and on impulse I threw it down killing it. By this time we were in the middle of the road outside of the building. As soon as the thing died, the river of face down changelings all came to life and devoured the newly dead creature before turning their attentions to me. I did what most people do in dreams when they are being chased by monstrous, huge, babies with lots of sharp teeth. I ran very very fast and soon found that not only was I running but I had managed to life myself up and was running several feet in the air. Pretty soon not only was I running but I was also swinging from the light posts and as I came to the end of the road, the lightposts were quickly running out. Instinctively I tore off my pentacle and threw it into the air which opened a doorway and I was slammed back into the bed. Needless to say I did not awaken well.

As bizarre as this is, it is an example of using magickal tools at our disposal and creating a few to bring solutions to our nightmares as well as strengthening our magickal concentration. The reason our nightmares have such a powerful hold on us and often recur is because we don’t settle the issues that are presenting themselves. In the physical world we may not want to invite a dragon to aid us or we may not really need a portal to open up in mid air as we move through our daily routine, but in the dreaming world all things are possible. And knowing such, and as magickal people, we have the power at our disposal to eliminate the fear response as a magickal warrior in order to get to the essence of the dream itself.

As a protective element, magickal dreaming is one of the best protections against hag attacks, unethical or voracious dream walkers, entity attacks, and other unwanted pests that predate on sleepers. By casting a dreaming circle, a magickal bubble, cloaking, creating a dream guardian, or asking for divine protection while we are asleep we create a powerful protective barrier between us and others.

Dreaming is just another aspect of living and it is apparent that neither are done totally in one realm or the other but with both realms working in harmony with each other and with a higher level of consciousness. Dreams are thus a greater perception of what we aspire to be and also a statement of who and what we are. It is the greatest expression of truth and our truest selves revealed to us on a continual basis. How we utilize the information obtained from them is entirely up to us. It is within us all to be able to attain our dreams in the most literal of forms and it is only when we completely free ourselves of the lower bindings of fear, ego, and blockages that we will wake only to find that we have become the dream.