Where I live in Northern California, our hills, meadows and forests are covered with green.  If you were to walk in the woods here in Oakland, you’d find nettles, chickweed, cleavers, dandelion.  All of these plants assist our body in cleansing away the toxins we may have accumulated during winter.

The waking dream: what plants are growing near you?

As described in Katrina’s most recent DT post, healing dreams can come in both waking and sleeping states.   It is important to pay attention to the messages from the plant world that come in both waking and sleeping dimensions.  From a perspective of indigenous herbalism, the plants we need the most for our healing are the ones growing closest to us, often in abundance.  In this way, Mother Earth and the Plant Beings are helping to bring about balance by providing us with the medicine we need.

For example, I recently hosted two Mexican curanderas in my home.  I had a consultation with one of them, Dona Doris.  In this consultation she told me that one of my major health issues was hormonal imbalance.  “Do you experience mood swings?  Highs and lows of energy?” she asked me.  I nodded and answered emphatically, “Si!”

The next day I gave Dona Doris a tour of my herb garden.  There were several plants growing in my garden for which I did not know their medicinal use, and I was eager to ask Doris about them.  Dona Doris is an expert herbalist and comes from a culture that has an extensive and comprehensive tradition of herbal medicine.

“How do you use this plant?” I asked, pointing at my rue plant.  “Hormonal balance,” Dona Doris replied.  “And this one?” I inquired about the purple Mexican sage.  Doris replied again, “Hormonal balance.”  “And the heimia salicifolia (which I used as a dream herb, but didn’t know any more about it medicinal properties)?”  “Hormonal balance,” Doris replied again, this time with a sly and knowing smile.

“Look at all the plants you have in your garden to help with your hormones!”  she laughed.  It was obvious what medicine my garden was offering me.  I was surrounded by plants to balance my hormones!  Even as a herbalist, I was surprised to recognize this.

Waking dream plant healing exercise.

Walk mindfully in your yard and notice what plants are growing there.  Pay close attention to what is growing in abundance or to which plants you are particularly attracted.  If you don’t have a yard, observe the plants growing in your neighborhood or in a nearby park.

Identify the plant that is calling to you most.  Research the plant and find out as much as you can about it.  How is it used medicinally?  How is it used as a flower essence or homeopathic remedy?

Once you’ve identified your plant, try meditating with it or sleeping with it under your pillow.  If you are working with a plant that you know is safe to take internally, try making a tea out of it.

If the plant you are working with is toxic, or your are unsure about its safe medicinal use, do not take the plant internally.  If your plant ally is toxic, you may want to explore the homeopathic and/or flower essence remedy of this plant.  Many plants that are toxic are safe to use these ways.

As you build your relationship to your plant ally, observe how it supports your healing process.

Dream prescriptions for spring cleansing

As I have written about in past DT blogs, plants can also visit and offer healing in our dreams.  During this spring season, it is a good time to observe what plants come into our dreams to help us with our own spring cleansing.

For example, earlier this year I had been dealing with a stubborn rash.  One morning I woke up with the plant names “yellow dock and burdock” in my head.  I knew these plants were both good for the skin and clearing the toxins in our blood.  The next day I began to take a tea of yellow dock and burdock.  Within a few days, the rash I had for months cleared up.  My dream doctor had accurately prescribed the perfect cure for my ailment!

Dream incubation for Spring cleansing.

Before going to sleep, take some time to meditate and focus on your intention for your dreams.  A simple intention may be “I want to cleanse my body of unwanted toxins.”    Your intention could also be about emotional cleansing and healing.  An intention for this might be: “I want to release and let go of all energies that no longer serve my highest good.”

Next, ask the plant world to come to your dreams and assist your healing.  You may ask: “Please show me what plants can assist in my physical/emotional/spiritual healing right now.”

Throughout the night, keep repeating your intention in your mind like a mantra.  Keep a dream journal close to your bed and write down your dreams in the morning.  Your healing plant allies may come in the form of an herb, a flower, or a food.  Pay attention to which plants show up, and find ways to incorporate them into your waking life.

When a healing plant ally does assist you in either waking or dream state, it is important to give thanks.  Say a prayer, sing a song, or make an offering to the plant itself.  Giving thanks to the plants is a way to build a good relationship with them.

In which ways have plants and/or dreams assisted your Spring cleansing?

It’s a terrifying place to be sometimes, simply because everything is stripped away and I am facing the unknown. However, this void simultaneously has held some of my most trusting moments in the dreamstate.

In the lucid void, we have an opportunity to die to our self-perceptions and be reborn in every moment.

Charting Imageless Lucid Dreaming

I call these uncanny spaces imageless lucid dreaming. In the dream studies literature, the works of Kenneth Moss and Linda Magallon in particular resonate strongly with my experiences. More recently, thanks to The Lucid Dream Exchange, I was able to read about many others who have also visited this lucid space that seem to resemble my “void,” most notably Robert Waggoner and Ed Kellogg. Waggoner talks about “the gray state” and Kellogg details his lucid journeys into a vast abstract world he calls “the Matrix.”

Also, psychologist Fariba Bogzaran has detailed a similar realm that she has named “Hyper-space lucidity,” characterized by lightning-fast travel and filled sometimes with dark light. For Bogzaran, the experience is non-dual in nature. The spectrum of possibility here no doubt has to do with the individual’s paradigm of reality, mental set, and cultural background.

To date, there have been no laboratory studies that look at this experience in particular, so we are still in the dark about the state’s physiological signatures. Is it REM? Hypnagogia?  Imageless lucid dreaming is in a similar place to where lucid dreaming was thirty years ago: experienced first-hand by many, and scolded by other non-believers that it is merely a “micro-awakening” between dreams.

Until we have third-person validity, therefore, it’s important that we continue to document the first-hand experience of this unique altered state. I hope you join me in this exploration and share your findings.

Moving into the Void

I’d like to now share my lucid void practice that appears to invite powerfully emotional lucid dreams.

By engaging in a meditative state during the lucid void, the dream recrystallizes around you. If you hold an attitude of trust and acceptance, the new dream scene will spontaneously regenerate.

What emerges is different for everyone, but suffice to say that you will be brought precisely to the place you need to be.

It begins with realizing you are dreaming and remembering your intention. You can then enter the void at will by disturbing an ongoing dream scene by walking through a mirror or sinking through the ground, or whatever works for you.

I used to crawl into television sets, but I lost a few opportunities as I would wander around the dream looking for a TV. The best methods are those you can do anywhere, without a prop.

From there, you may experience a number of disorienting spaces.

Entoptica, 2005 Ryan Hurd

I often experience various geometric shapes and bizarre bodily feelings of flying or drifting. Sometimes a vortex is created –such as in my painting above — and I (the ego core without a dream body) enter the swirling lights, travel through a twisty-turny tunnel, and am then spilled out into a dream scene with a normal dream body.

Many of these new dreams would be powerfully emotional dreams, with opportunities for working with issues core to my personal mythology.

Waiting and trusting in the unknown

Try waiting in the void with a meditative attitude.

Notice what is happening around you, and notice your thoughts as they come and go.

Try not to have any goal or expectation, but when one does crop up, note it and then return to your waiting posture. If you feel fear, remind yourself that you’re safe in this space and if you choose, you can wake up at any time.

Sooner or later, the dream will re-form around you.

Where will you end up?

You may be surprised.

This article is adapted from my new ebook Lucid Immersion Guidebook, which is now available on Amazon as a Kindle download.

References

Bogzaran, F. (2003). Lucid art and hyperspace reality. Dreaming, 13(1), pp. 29-42.

Kellogg III, E.W. (2005) Enter the Matrix: Exploring the Source Code of Dreams. Presentation at the 2005 Psiberdreaming Conference.

Magallon, L. (1991). Awake in the dark: Imageless lucid dreaming. Lucidity, 10(1&2), pp. 46-48.

Moss, K. (1991). Experimentation with the vortex phenomenon in lucid dreams. Lucidity, 10(1&2), pp. 49-51.

Waggoner, R. (2009). Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self. Needham: Moment Point Press.

CC First image: Tunnel by Mariana C.

There was an antiquated belief that if you dreamed you died in your sleep then you would actually die in waking life. Of course, this is an old wives’ tale but there is something unsettling about witnessing death in a dream.

And something wise.

Let’s face it, death is a taboo subject in our culture. And many of us are ill-prepared for that final journey into the unknown. But engaging with the ‘symbolic deaths’ like our shadow or darker parts of ourselves that need to go can be a powerful experience.

When we face death in this way, a new part of us can be reborn.

Death symbols as shadow stuff

The Alchemists actually rejoiced when death showed up in dreams. The more repugnant the better.

Dr. Carl Gustav Jung rediscovered that bridge between alchemy and psychology and thus voraciously collected alchemical works of antiquity, uncovering the treasures or “gold” buried underneath the complex symbolism.

Jung discovered the alchemical processes like mortifactio or putrifactio (death and decomposition) were prevalent in working with prima materia or shadow stuff. Dreaming of rotting corpses, decomposed material, worms, swamps (even decapitated heads!) were seen an indication that you were ready to work on part of the self that were rigid and needed transforming.

This symbology also included the dreaming of fecal matter.

Poop dreams

Excrement is fertilizer after all and what is more potent for growth than that!

Sometimes animals were the prima materia in dreams like the (gold!) dung beetle who feeds partly or exclusively on feces. As the holy scarab in Egyptian mythology of death and rebirth  who is tied to Khepri (“he who has come into being”), the god of the rising sun, this is a poweful energy of transformation.

An example of a poop dream I received recently:

I am with two young girls and we are entering a building that is made for healing. We try to find a bathroom but it is not private. There are people here and the stalls have no doors or privacy. Then I find that the door to the bathroom leads to another door that is more private bathroom.

We can all go in together. The toilet is almost three feet above the ground and I climb on top and to my shame fill up the bowl with poop! What’s even more mortifying (Alchemy!) is that I cannot flush it down. The girls come over to investigate which makes me uncomfortable though they are not. They want to help.

I realize that I pushed the half flush button (which is black) like you find in Europe and I needed to push the full flush, white button. I push it and it works! The girls are happy and I am relieved…

Looking at this dream, I realize that an uncomfortable area in my life is asking for help or assistance. I often feel vulnerable and overly concerned for the other which often results in me not fully communicating my needs (half flush) and the need to fully commit and speak my truth (full flush). The young girls feel like the budding parts of myself (prima materia also includes dreams of children) that are becoming conscious of this material and are supporting me. In alchemy the black and white usually indicate an integration is taking place.

Kill or be killed

Sometimes it is too difficult to “own” our shadow stuff –both the flaws and the gold which might not necessarily be mutually exclusive. And that part needs to be “killed off.”

Robert L. Johnson writes so eloquently of this in his book Owning Your Own Shadow: “Curiously, people resist the noble aspects of their shadow more strenuously than they hide the dark sides. To draw the skeletons out of the closet is relatively easy, but to own the gold in the shadow is terrifying. It is more disrupting to find that you have a profound nobility of character than to find out you are a bum. Of course you are both; but one does not discover these two elements at the same time.”

It is important to note who or what is doing the killing, paying close attention to characteristics. If it is a vampire, are you dealing with lifeless, bloodsucking energy in your life?

How about a family member or a childhood friend? Perhaps there are parts of life or patterns that need “killing off” in terms of character traits/people/situations/habits that no longer serve.

Once we face our fears and become conscious, we can “transform the energy.”

Initiation Dreams

Perhaps the dream is something bigger than you: A spiritual calling into the larger Mysteries that may require a sacrifice.

Such “Big Dreams” include death and rebirth themes or visions like being swallowed by a sea monster,  dismembered and put together again or struck by lightning, drowned or burned alive!

And still others, their rite of passage may have been an illness, accident or near death experience that evoked strange dreams, prophetic visions and spontaneous healing abilities.

Overall, initiation dreams can be scary for most people who fear making dramatic life changes that often may call for a sacrifice in the form of jobs, loved ones and belief systems or a complete change in way of life.

Preparing for Death

Tibetan Buddhists view death as a natural state and envision the afterlife just like a dream. This is clearly illustrated in the most famous text of Padma Sambhava in the 8th century A.D. The Tibetan Book of the Dead  or the Bardo Thodol is an actual guide book to prepare the dying for the afterlife.

The Bardo Thodol teaches that once awareness is freed from the body, it creates its own reality as one would experience in a dream. This dream occurs in various phases (bardos) in ways both wonderful and terrifying.

So whether we like it or not, death is all around us and a fact of life. But hopefully when Death comes knocking in your dreams, perhaps you will be ready to answer the door and welcome her with open arms and a change of heart.

Remember our dreams will always guide us towards our fears so we may face them and grow from it.

Have you witnessed death in a dream?

In what form?

How did it affect your life?

Please share your experinces and thoughts with comments.

I call these experiences waking dreams.

In waking dreams, just as in night dreams, we access our inner wisdom. We may see wild and uncanny imagery. We may experience synchronicity, deja vu, and serendipity. Sometimes characters that normally populate our night dreams begin appearing in waking life.

For instance, let’s say that last night you dreamed of an elephant.

This morning on the way to work you see a woman with an elephant pin on her bag. In your inbox is a picture of an elephant your friend sent you. And while you’re choosing wine at the store tonight, you reach for a bottle of zinfandel without even realizing it has an elephant on the label.

Elephant is trying to get your attention.

And it will behoove you to take notice, especially if the synchronicities come in threes (or more). Waking dreams have strong medicine, just like night dreams.

Obvious examples of waking dreaming are daydreaming and spontaneous visions. Other examples are creative reveries, meditative visions, and the various states shamans enter during healings.

Shamanic Healings as Waking Dreams

It’s this last example I’d like to focus on. After all, our theme this month is on rebirth and renewal, and shamanic healings can certainly rejuvenate us.

During healings, shamans, and sometimes even the healing recipient, receive dream-like visions that guide them throughout the healing. The shaman might see blocked energy, ancestral guides, damage to the chakras or aura, or they may be drawn back to a past life of the client that unfolds like a dream.

The shaman enters an altered state, sometimes through the use of a psychotropic, rhythmic drumming, breathing techniques, or meditation.

It is in these trance states that the shaman can travel to other worlds, see deep within a person’s energy field, and use the waking dream imagery found there to figure out the appropriate healing method needed.

Nature-supported Healing

In my own work, I’ve discovered that doing shamanic healings outdoors adds exponentially to the work’s transformative potential. When we’re not separated from nature by walls, massage tables, and traffic noise, amazing things happen.

After all, the outer landscape is often a reflection of our inner state and it has tremendous gifts to offer. It is not unusal for my clients to be drawn to a particular spot outside where they feel the most comfortable. Often it is because that location has special medicine for them: it’s a dream unfolding.

Some choose to lie in the sun with no shade for miles. Others prefer dappled sunlight. One person might want to lie next to a creek, while another might ask to be next to a flowering bush. The bright sun, the shade, the water, or the flower may have an energy the client is craving, something essential to their healing.

When they’re listening to the dream, they pick up on these subtle cues. They may not even know why they chose that location, but during the healing I almost always get a sense of what the landscape has to offer. Many times the local nature spirits and elements have a role to play in the healing.

For example, during one healing I noticed two huge trees sending streams of energy to my client as we cleared a deep ancestral wound. Another time, in the same field, a different tree sent healing energy to a woman as I cleaned out her fifth chakra, helping her reclaim her voice.

Additionally, I’ve witnessed energy flowing up from the earth and streaming down from the sky. On a few occassions, I’ve noticed nature spirits assisting me with a healing.

It’s all part of the waking dream, the imagery and messages coming forth to help the client.

Working a Waking Dream

When you discover you’re in a waking dream, whether as the result of a healing, a string of synchronicities, or a serious bout of deja vu, you can work with the imagery and energy just as you would with a dream.

Think about the characters showing up (the flowering bush, the elephant) and ask yourself what they mean to you.

Check in with your body. Is there any stiffness, pain, or discomfort? Focus on it and ask it what it has to say.

Pay attention to the setting. Look for details you might normally overlook. Just as in a dream, all the elements are coming together like puzzle pieces to create a larger image, an overarching message.

Write the situation out as you might write down a dream upon waking. See if telling the story of the waking dream helps you unlock its meaning.

Looking at waking dreams adds to the potency of dreamwork because it provides twice as much information to work with as you discern the messages coming from your unconscious and Spirit.

Have you experienced a waking dream? Please share your experience with us in the comments!

It is a time of rebirth and resurrection; a theme common to dreams, especially for people in the midst of a life transformation.

But how do you know if you’re dreaming of rebirth?

And how do you know if you’re headed for a period of resurrection in which you prepare to birth a healthier you?

One way is to reflect on the following dream images. They’re archetypes, which means they’re common cross-culturally, and they appear in dreams that on some level speak to our transformational process, specifically how we are engaging our transition.

Additionally, the images are clues that can help you understand how well you are progressing on your path. They can illuminate potential life direction, or assist in accessing information you would not have otherwise.

Egg Imagery in Dreams

Perhaps the most obvious image is an egg. What other symbol captures the essence of new life so simply?

But did you know that “in many myths, ranging from Egypt and India to the Far East and Oceania, the initial process of creation and birth begins when a cosmic egg (sometimes fertilized by a serpent but more often laid in the primeval sea by a giant bird) gives form to chaos, and from it hatches the sun (the golden yolk), leading to the division of earth and sky, and the multiplicity of life, natural and supernatural? Symbols and Their Meaning by Jack Tresidder

Indeed, if you dream of an egg you may be revisiting the origins of the cosmos, be in the midst of some form of rebirth … or you might be receiving an invitation to eat eggs. Knowing how dreams work, it’s a good idea to consider all possibilities.

Baby Dreams

Baby dreams are another common dream theme. Specifically:

I forgot to feed the baby.

I forgot I have a baby.

I suddenly have to care for someone else’s baby.

Although each dream meaning is on some level unique to the dreamer, baby dreams are often about the resurrection of an idea that was once forgotten.

For example, this dream is a common theme for women who feel like they’ve put their lives on hold while they raise their children. Once their kids are old enough to care for themselves, moms everywhere start to have dreams of babies.

Often experienced as a reaction to empty-nest-syndrome in which the mother longs to care for new babies, these dreams are more likely about the dreamer’s deep seated need to re-engage her lifework or creativity that is unrelated to that of raising her children.

The baby dream, in this case, is a wake-up call to remember the infantile stage of an idea once loved . It is an invitation to metaphorically feed the dream.

The Belly of the Beast

Of course, before the dreamer can be reborn into his or her newer form, s/he must gestate in the metaphoric womb. Sometimes this happens in the belly of the beast, other times in a cave or deep chamber under the earth’s surface.

In terms of cycles of transformation, of which rebirth and resurrection is a final stage, entering the metaphoric womb can produce powerful feelings. Anxiety, mostly.

In order to be reborn, one must first die.

Whale as Womb of Regeneration

In the monomyth, or the hero’s journey, the belly of the whale signifies the final separation from the old self and old ways of being in the world. Once the initiate enters this phase of the journey, there is no turning back. S/he cannot return to the life s/he once had. Instead, the only way to move forward is to face death and confront the shadow or unconscious.

Example from mythology: Jonah and the whale, Geppetto from Pinocchio

Snake and Lizard-Man as Devourer of Initiate