Dream Magic

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Kuroyue

I've had very few lucid dreams, but many times, even when I'm not lucid, I feel and I know in the very back of my mind that it's not reality. Sometimes, I can gain a little control over my dreams when I draw out that gut feeling that tells me it's only a dream. It doesn't happen too often, but the key is to try to remind yourself it's only a dream. Do I sound confusing? Ookay, lemme try to re-explain that....

Most of the time, when I dream, I DO know that' it's only a dream, but only vaguely. The fact that it's only a dream is kind of hidden in the back of my mind, and when I become just a little lucid, I can tug out that knowledge from the back of my mind and become fully lucid. But, like I said, it's pretty rare. However, I don't stay lucid for very long, and when I realize I can control my world, everything suddenly becomes just a little scary (maybe because of the fact that my imagination is half-filled with dark/negative/downright scary thoughts, and I'm afraid some monster is gonna jump in and chase me again).

Also, there's another method that I read somewhere that was tried by scientists or something, but I don't remember the exact website. What you do is (while you're dreaming) you spin around. Just spin. Or twirl. Or maybe jump. It'll help you gain lucidity, or if you're already lucid, it'll help you stay lucid. But yeah, I haven't tried, sooo....

Or if you haven't tried already, I find that stating "I will have a lucid dream" or "I will become lucid in my dream", etc. before going to bed really helps a lot. Just stating it outright (and it has to be out loud) increases your chances greatly.

The spining thing is interesting, any idea why? Perhaps that your perceptions of spining in a dream are radically different from waking spining?  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Aquajade

When I tried to lucid dream, (as in did and just have them now on a rare occasion) I just made a tea mixture of different things, like camomille, crushed eucalyptus, some rosemary, mint, lemon juice, lavender, peppermint and a small piece of orange rind, and of course, I put that all in a tea ball, then just when I poured it in my cup, in would crush up a bit of vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon, put in enough to cover my spoon and pour it into my spoon and let it fill up my cup, then I would put in 5 grains of sugar, in the motion of a star, stir it, then drink it. I'd then lay down in the middle of wherever I put my magic circle, (I normally can't keep it in the same spot), and soon after I would get very relaxed, then start to lucid dream.

Eh, I'm not much of a tea person.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Rioto_Kish

Sorry, I just wiki-ed lucid dreaming, and it said that it's where you know you're dreaming, so you can control the dream. How do you control your dream? It seems to be a popular topic, and I was wondering why lucid dreaming is so coveted. Is it used for magical work, or something similar? Or is it just a desired skill?

Force of will, in my experience. Apparently you can then cast magic with a much greater effectiveness due to a different frame of mind and no limitations about you. I've also heard of Astral Projection from a lucid dream. Haven't done it myself, as I'm more interested in the actual dreaming. If I get it into a skill, maybe I'll branch out.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Starlock

Nihilistic Seraph

You have no idea how jealous I am right now gonk

Eh, don't be. As I said, most of the time I really just let them play out anyway unless something really goes wrong, like this morning. At some point in the dream I made a mental note to 'save' that spot in time so I could go back to it in case I screwed up the escape from the lich. I did, went back to the 'save point' I marked, started over, and got away the second time. And damn... that lich was creepy. I've never dreampt of a lich before. It made no contextual sense with the character I was in that dream. sweatdrop

So maybe that'd help you. Make a mental 'save' spot in the game... er... dream to go back to later. A 'rewind' command might make more sense to you if you don't play many video games though. Heh. That kinda answers Rioto's question too.. You control dreams just by... doing it. Sometimes you can plug in mental markers like the 'save' spot I mentioned. Usually I don't do that though... I just will it to happen. There's a certain sensation associated with it that I can't really put into words. Your will isn't *always* translated into serious manipulation of the dreamscape though. For example, in another dream this morning I was looking for someone but never did find them.

I just enjoy the feeling though, the awareness that everything around you is fabricated. As it is, I barely remember my dreams at all, and while sleeping is fun as rest, it also seems like a collosal waste of 6-10 hours. If I could have a lucid dream, I could actually do what I wanted, even if going with the dream is what I want. I don't want to have 100% control, I'd rather the choice.

Starlock

Nihilistic Seraph

Have you tried exploring the metaphysics of dreaming yet?

Not a lot, really. What sorts of things relate to it? Some stuff in that arena of 'altered states of consciousness' my brain has trouble digesting on certain levels. sweatdrop

Eh, it's more of a fantasy of mine, more than anything else, borne of Neil Gaiman and my own writings. Just the idea that if we're all linked through shared connection with Being/Existence/Divine then maybe you can perceive or tap into it when you're in a dream. Find a person and share a dream with them or something.  

[Juna Lu]

Kuroyue

Juna Lu

Rioto_Kish

Sorry, I just wiki-ed lucid dreaming, and it said that it's where you know you're dreaming, so you can control the dream. How do you control your dream? It seems to be a popular topic, and I was wondering why lucid dreaming is so coveted. Is it used for magical work, or something similar? Or is it just a desired skill?

Its the only way I can contact my spirit guid and one of my more testy familars. itsa helpfull skill, and if you know what you want to find out you can recieve information that would otherwise bu unatanable, you can pretty much tapp into your inate esp stuff I guess.

on a side note some people say your mind or soul naturaly leaves your body and visits other planes every night when you dream.

Your soul leaving your body is called astral travel (when you're doing it on purpose). I've heard that you actually astral travel every night when you dream. Your astral body enters the astral plane, and I've heard that sometimes you can encounter personal symbols that you need to interpret. If you're mentally unwell in the slightest ( scared, depressed, anxious, etc.) then creatures like to come and scare you back into your own body or keep you out of your body, so you have to stay as emotionless and calm as possible. There's like a mantra and a certain gesture used to keep the nasty figures away, but I kinda forgot. I never got that far anyway. And THEN some say that you can meet some really extraordinary (divine?) people there.

When you lucid dream, you can project yourself onto the astral plane (which looks exactly like reality, except maybe even more real) by concentrating hard and visualizing clearly and accurately a place you want to go to. If you get there, you'll know because you can fly and go through walls and stretch your body in weird ways (since I guess your astral body is like elastic?) I've tried to do that, but I forgot to visualize a destination, and I ended up falling into a black empty space and conjuring up another dream after the previous one broke. sad

Oookay I gotta stop rambling again. xd

I do most of my magical work via astral projection, though I have never done it through a lucid dreaming. I have been visited by many things in dreams (normal and lucid) but I never had the feeling I left my own mind, or maybe I have and didn't know. I have shared a dream before, wich was strange. I've never contorted my body like that in the astral world before, If I could I'd try it out, but I've been out of whack lately and haven't astraled much or done many workign in over a year. The astral plane is also a doorway to several other planes and littel "pockets" of places(that makes no sense but theres no better way to explain it)  

[Kuroyue]

Nihilistic Seraph

Kuroyue

I've had very few lucid dreams, but many times, even when I'm not lucid, I feel and I know in the very back of my mind that it's not reality. Sometimes, I can gain a little control over my dreams when I draw out that gut feeling that tells me it's only a dream. It doesn't happen too often, but the key is to try to remind yourself it's only a dream. Do I sound confusing? Ookay, lemme try to re-explain that....

Most of the time, when I dream, I DO know that' it's only a dream, but only vaguely. The fact that it's only a dream is kind of hidden in the back of my mind, and when I become just a little lucid, I can tug out that knowledge from the back of my mind and become fully lucid. But, like I said, it's pretty rare. However, I don't stay lucid for very long, and when I realize I can control my world, everything suddenly becomes just a little scary (maybe because of the fact that my imagination is half-filled with dark/negative/downright scary thoughts, and I'm afraid some monster is gonna jump in and chase me again).

Also, there's another method that I read somewhere that was tried by scientists or something, but I don't remember the exact website. What you do is (while you're dreaming) you spin around. Just spin. Or twirl. Or maybe jump. It'll help you gain lucidity, or if you're already lucid, it'll help you stay lucid. But yeah, I haven't tried, sooo....

Or if you haven't tried already, I find that stating "I will have a lucid dream" or "I will become lucid in my dream", etc. before going to bed really helps a lot. Just stating it outright (and it has to be out loud) increases your chances greatly.

The spining thing is interesting, any idea why? Perhaps that your perceptions of spining in a dream are radically different from waking spining?

I don't know. I never tried it, but I read about it on a site somewhere. My best guess is that trying to spin gives your brain a little "shake" and clears up some stuff that's otherwise not so obvious during dreamtime. When you spin in real life, you're aware of all the footwork you do, the feeling of getting dizzy, and maybe the wind blowing against your face. In your dreams, since you're not actually moving in real life, your brain probably can't simulate those effects, so maybe it gives your brain a little sanity check or a little wake-up call. That's my guess. But hey, if it works... smile  

[Kuroyue]

Nihilistic Seraph

Starlock

Nihilistic Seraph

You have no idea how jealous I am right now gonk

Eh, don't be. As I said, most of the time I really just let them play out anyway unless something really goes wrong, like this morning. At some point in the dream I made a mental note to 'save' that spot in time so I could go back to it in case I screwed up the escape from the lich. I did, went back to the 'save point' I marked, started over, and got away the second time. And damn... that lich was creepy. I've never dreampt of a lich before. It made no contextual sense with the character I was in that dream. sweatdrop

So maybe that'd help you. Make a mental 'save' spot in the game... er... dream to go back to later. A 'rewind' command might make more sense to you if you don't play many video games though. Heh. That kinda answers Rioto's question too.. You control dreams just by... doing it. Sometimes you can plug in mental markers like the 'save' spot I mentioned. Usually I don't do that though... I just will it to happen. There's a certain sensation associated with it that I can't really put into words. Your will isn't *always* translated into serious manipulation of the dreamscape though. For example, in another dream this morning I was looking for someone but never did find them.

I just enjoy the feeling though, the awareness that everything around you is fabricated. As it is, I barely remember my dreams at all, and while sleeping is fun as rest, it also seems like a collosal waste of 6-10 hours. If I could have a lucid dream, I could actually do what I wanted, even if going with the dream is what I want. I don't want to have 100% control, I'd rather the choice.

Starlock

Nihilistic Seraph

Have you tried exploring the metaphysics of dreaming yet?

Not a lot, really. What sorts of things relate to it? Some stuff in that arena of 'altered states of consciousness' my brain has trouble digesting on certain levels. sweatdrop

Eh, it's more of a fantasy of mine, more than anything else, borne of Neil Gaiman and my own writings. Just the idea that if we're all linked through shared connection with Being/Existence/Divine then maybe you can perceive or tap into it when you're in a dream. Find a person and share a dream with them or something.

Oh, sweet. I've seriously heard of this guy on a forum who actually entered someone else's dream. Gotta find the post.  

[Kuroyue]

Juna Lu

Kuroyue

Juna Lu

Rioto_Kish

Sorry, I just wiki-ed lucid dreaming, and it said that it's where you know you're dreaming, so you can control the dream. How do you control your dream? It seems to be a popular topic, and I was wondering why lucid dreaming is so coveted. Is it used for magical work, or something similar? Or is it just a desired skill?

Its the only way I can contact my spirit guid and one of my more testy familars. itsa helpfull skill, and if you know what you want to find out you can recieve information that would otherwise bu unatanable, you can pretty much tapp into your inate esp stuff I guess.

on a side note some people say your mind or soul naturaly leaves your body and visits other planes every night when you dream.

Your soul leaving your body is called astral travel (when you're doing it on purpose). I've heard that you actually astral travel every night when you dream. Your astral body enters the astral plane, and I've heard that sometimes you can encounter personal symbols that you need to interpret. If you're mentally unwell in the slightest ( scared, depressed, anxious, etc.) then creatures like to come and scare you back into your own body or keep you out of your body, so you have to stay as emotionless and calm as possible. There's like a mantra and a certain gesture used to keep the nasty figures away, but I kinda forgot. I never got that far anyway. And THEN some say that you can meet some really extraordinary (divine?) people there.

When you lucid dream, you can project yourself onto the astral plane (which looks exactly like reality, except maybe even more real) by concentrating hard and visualizing clearly and accurately a place you want to go to. If you get there, you'll know because you can fly and go through walls and stretch your body in weird ways (since I guess your astral body is like elastic?) I've tried to do that, but I forgot to visualize a destination, and I ended up falling into a black empty space and conjuring up another dream after the previous one broke. sad

Oookay I gotta stop rambling again. xd

I do most of my magical work via astral projection, though I have never done it through a lucid dreaming. I have been visited by many things in dreams (normal and lucid) but I never had the feeling I left my own mind, or maybe I have and didn't know. I have shared a dream before, wich was strange. I've never contorted my body like that in the astral world before, If I could I'd try it out, but I've been out of whack lately and haven't astraled much or done many workign in over a year. The astral plane is also a doorway to several other planes and littel "pockets" of places(that makes no sense but theres no better way to explain it)

I've stretched my finger in a dream before. It was like...stretching a thick stick of rubber band. Only not as hard, and it's fun and doesn't hurt at all. 3nodding  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

I made my hair grow longer, only it was me standing in front of a mirror, closing my eyes in concentration, then opening them again and only part of my hair being longer. xp  

[Kuroyue]

Ooh, next time I wanna try and change my hairstyle.

About meeting other people in dreams...I couldn't find the post, but I remember most parts of what he said. This is his story, basically.

He was having any other ordinary dream, and one day a really pretty girl appeared to him, and told him she was a spirit guide. After what was sure to be an interesting conversation, the dream was almost over, and the man asked if he could see her another time in the next dream. She said yes, and over the course of many nights, they saw each other again, while the woman guided him and help him through many things. Then he fell in love with her, and asked if he could see her in the real world. After being given a time and location, he drove a long way to meet her. Lo and behold, he saw a girl who looked exactly like the 'spirit guide' from his dreams. When he asked who she was, she said that she was waiting for him. (Wow, dream come true, huh?) Tada, they eventually got married!

I remember asking him about how to enter other people's dreams, and I'll try to remember what he said.

It has a lot to do with luck and the right level of conciousness. The person you're meeting should be concious (lucid) enough, just so he'd be able to remember what happened the next morning. To find a person at a sufficient level of conciousness would be kind of tough, since we all have several dreams a night, but only remember one or two. What this person did was, he'd somehow transport himself to a bridge that represented (to him) a bridge between worlds, conciousnesses, or a bridge connected to many different places of the conciousness, etc. Basically a sort of 'shared zone' that can connect to different astral places. He'd travel to the bridge, concentrate on his destination (which would be his friend's dream), then walk across (or be simply teleported there, I forgot which). One interesting thing he mentioned was that upon entering someone's dream, you HAVE to enter from the person's behind. He can't know that you're entering his dream, so he can't see or hear you come in. There were a few other rules too, and I'm not sure if this was one of them: you can't talk to the person when you enter behind his back, and you can't talk to him either until you're directly in front of him.

What he said was sort of strange, considering the restrictions and the methods he used. Btw, you don't necessarily have to use a specific bridge as a connection between places. It's just the concept that guy used personally. I wanted to try his method, but I didn't know how to build a 'bridge' sort of place and make it work.  

[Rioto_Kish]

Kuroyue

Juna Lu

Kuroyue

Juna Lu

Rioto_Kish

Sorry, I just wiki-ed lucid dreaming, and it said that it's where you know you're dreaming, so you can control the dream. How do you control your dream? It seems to be a popular topic, and I was wondering why lucid dreaming is so coveted. Is it used for magical work, or something similar? Or is it just a desired skill?

Its the only way I can contact my spirit guid and one of my more testy familars. itsa helpfull skill, and if you know what you want to find out you can recieve information that would otherwise bu unatanable, you can pretty much tapp into your inate esp stuff I guess.

on a side note some people say your mind or soul naturaly leaves your body and visits other planes every night when you dream.

Your soul leaving your body is called astral travel (when you're doing it on purpose). I've heard that you actually astral travel every night when you dream. Your astral body enters the astral plane, and I've heard that sometimes you can encounter personal symbols that you need to interpret. If you're mentally unwell in the slightest ( scared, depressed, anxious, etc.) then creatures like to come and scare you back into your own body or keep you out of your body, so you have to stay as emotionless and calm as possible. There's like a mantra and a certain gesture used to keep the nasty figures away, but I kinda forgot. I never got that far anyway. And THEN some say that you can meet some really extraordinary (divine?) people there.

When you lucid dream, you can project yourself onto the astral plane (which looks exactly like reality, except maybe even more real) by concentrating hard and visualizing clearly and accurately a place you want to go to. If you get there, you'll know because you can fly and go through walls and stretch your body in weird ways (since I guess your astral body is like elastic?) I've tried to do that, but I forgot to visualize a destination, and I ended up falling into a black empty space and conjuring up another dream after the previous one broke. sad

Oookay I gotta stop rambling again. xd

I do most of my magical work via astral projection, though I have never done it through a lucid dreaming. I have been visited by many things in dreams (normal and lucid) but I never had the feeling I left my own mind, or maybe I have and didn't know. I have shared a dream before, wich was strange. I've never contorted my body like that in the astral world before, If I could I'd try it out, but I've been out of whack lately and haven't astraled much or done many workign in over a year. The astral plane is also a doorway to several other planes and littel "pockets" of places(that makes no sense but theres no better way to explain it)

I've stretched my finger in a dream before. It was like...stretching a thick stick of rubber band. Only not as hard, and it's fun and doesn't hurt at all. 3nodding

I'm not sure if I've ever had a lucid dream before... eek I have had dreams where I'll be able to control what happens, and sometimes even 'do-over' certain events. Other times I'll have very vivid dreams, where everything feels real. Most times I have these dreams I can fly-sounds crazy, I know. But I actually feel as if I'm in the air, and I can feel gravity if I fly towards the ground, if I land, etc. (And every single time I can fly in my dream, my stomach drops if I look down, because my fear of heights seems to transfer into my dreams... sweatdrop )  

[Juna Lu]

I met a friend of mine durring astral projection, though this was the kind were you are sorta just out of sync with this plane. (don't get me started on how I think all this stuff works I have therory upon therory and I belive that EVERY thing works and there no one right way to understand it all!) So I thought he was some local forest spirit (he apeared rather like a little goth crow-boy) and he thought I was ghost. he was new kid at school and I walked up to him and said he looked like some one I knew. wich is something I do if some one looks likea character i draw or some other strange coincidence. He asked who and I said the name he had introduced himself astraly as and he sorta just gawped at me. when it comes to this sorta thing its hard to belive it happens and or if the other person isn't "playing along" or something quere. But he has been a lasting friend and we've done alot of workings together back in the day. I've hada friend claim they veiwed my dreams before, but I didn't remember dreaming that night so meh. I've also had an older not so nice witch try to atack me in my dreams (My spirit guid didn't like that too much Heh-heh) but I was able to ward them off later. dreams are tricky things.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Well, I had a lucid dream recently. I kept slipping in and out of knowledge of the dream state, and actually ended up at one point with a pretty funky glyph/tattoo which matched one on the top of a door. Sadly, I couldn't change anything immediately though. The general plot sort of comformed itself to my wishes though.

I'm thinking of trying the awake-back to sleep method, where I'll wake myself up, then go back to sleep. That seems to help.  

[The Bookwyrm]

I've been lucky enough to have a few lucid dreams lately, and I've actually finally figured out when the best time for me to have them is. Apparently, it's right before I fall really deeply asleep. I've been experimenting for a few days, at the request of someone else who wants me to follow up more on a dream I had on Friday night. It hadn't been lucid, and I think it was more than half inspired by a movie I had been watching, but they've been captivated by these dreams ever since, and I'm asked daily if I've had another. He's been trying to have similar dreams, but he's not having any succeess.  

[Mitsui_Aomori]

i'm waaaay ahead of you guys on this one... the only thing i have to work on now is my capability to tell whether the dream i'm in is going to happen in the future... cos around 60% of my dreams do happen... and i need a way to increase or improve that ability and gain control of it somehow....