E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s Subscribe: electric-dreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: electric-dreams-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Subscribe Online: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electric-dreams o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s Volume #11 Issue #10 October 2004 ISSN# 1089 4284 o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o Download a cover for this issue: http://tinyurl.com/5yt9x o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o 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 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX D E A D L I N E : October 20nd deadline for November 2004 submissions XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Post Dreams and Comments on Dreams to: http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple Send Dreaming News and Calendar Events to: Peggy Coats Send Articles and Subscription concerns to: Richard Wilkerson: o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o Editor's Notes o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o 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 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o 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@dreamgte.com 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. o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o 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 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 ---------------------- o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o An Excerpt From The Lucid Dream Exchange By Lucy Gillis o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o 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 o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o X-ray Eyes and Heady Dreams © 2004 Linda Lane Magallon o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o 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) o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o The Lucidity Continuum E. W. Kellogg III, Ph.D. © 1994 o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o (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. ---------------------------------------------------------- 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@msn.com o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o Composing Poetry in Lucid Dreams George Gillespie o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o 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. ----------- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 ----------------- -===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===- =---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---= ELECTRIC DREAMS ACCESS INFORMATION =---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---= -===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===- Subscriptions: The Electric Dreams E-zine (issn 1089 4284) is *free* and distributed via email about once a month. You can have Electric Dreams delivered right to your email box by sending an e-mail Subscribe: electric-dreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Online: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electric-dreams Unsubscribe: electric-dreams-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ================= SUBMITTING DREAMS and Comments about Dreams: EASY! Electric Dreams will publish your dreams and comments about dreams you have seen in previous issues. If you can, be clear what name you want or don't want. Most people use a pen name. Please include a title for your dream and add them at the dream temple at http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple ** All dreams considered anonymous, so you must carefully indicate if you do want your name or email left on the dream. Otherwise we substitute first or pen-names. ==================== DREAM-FLOW MAIL LIST The dreams we receive are all circulated anonymously on the dream-flow mail and discussion lists. You can subscribe and send in dreams directly or drop them off anonymously at http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple The archives for DREAM-FLOW are at http://www.mail-archive.com/dream-flow@lists.best.com Post message: dream-flow@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: dream-flow-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: dream-flow-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: dream-flow-owner@yahoogroups.com URL to this page: http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/dream-flow ================== SUBMITTING ARTICLES, projects and letters-to-the-editor. http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/electric-dreams/publication.htm Electric Dreams is responsive and experimental. If you have articles or suggestions on dreams, dreaming or dreamers - including book reviews, movie suggestions or conferences and meetings, we will publish them. I'm especially interested in creative interpretive approaches to dreams, including verbal, dramatization, and mixed media approaches. Send to: Richard Wilkerson =============== SUBMITTING NEWS and Calendar events related to dreaming. We usually have a deadline at the 15th of each month. Send all events and news to Peggy Coats SENDING IN QUESTIONS, Replies and Concerns about dreams and dreaming. We don't pretend to be the final authority on dreams, but we will submit you questions to our network and other Internet networks. Also, you are free to post special interest requests. Send those to Richard Wilkerson at edreams@dreamgate.com JOINING DREAM GROUPS sponsored by Electric Dreams. If you are interested in joining a group to discuss your dream with peers, contact Richard Wilkerson, rcwilk@dreamgate.com JOINING DISCUSSIONS ON DREAMING. Electric Dreams supports the following discussion groups on dreams and dreaming: -------- DreamChatters dreamchatters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dreamchatters ---------- The DreamWheel http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dreamwheel dreamwheel-subscribe@yahoogroups.com dreamwheel-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ---------- DreamShare http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dreamshare dreamshare-subscribe@yahoogroups.com dreamshare-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ---------- World Dreams Peace Bridge http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/index.htm Subscribe: worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: worlddreams-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ELECTRIC DREAMS - DREAMGATE HOME PAGE ON WEB: http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams NEED A COVER for your issues of Electric Dreams? We now provide them and you can download them at http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-covers/ BACK ISSUES OF ELECTRIC DREAMS: WEB: http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-backissues/ ARTICLES BY AUTHOR http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-articles/ Thanks to John Labovitz for putting us on his e-zine list: http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/zines/ electric-dreams.html Thanks to the Dream Network Journal for mentioning the Electric Dreams project. DreamKey@lasal.net http://www.dreamnetwork.net Thanks to the Usenet newsgroups for mentioning us in the FAQ files at alt.dreams and alt.dreams.lucid and for other Usenet Newsgroups for allowing us to continually post messages. Thanks to our many web links! See http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/resources Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z= The Electric Dreams Staff (Current) Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z= Peggy Coats - Global Dreaming News E-mail: web@dreamtree.com http://www.dreamtree.com Nick Cumbo – Electric Dreams PDF Archive http://www.dreamofpeace.net/community/electricdreams/ Phyllis Howling - Dream Wheel Moderator (eDreams list) E-mail: pthowing@earthlink.net Victoria Quinton Electric Dreams Archives & Reporter DreamChatters Host http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/dreamchatters mermaid 8*) E-mail: mermaid@alphalink.com.au http://www.alphalink.com.au/~mermaid Lars Spivock - Research and Development Director E-mail: lars@dreamgate_remove_to_email_.com Dream Section Editor Kat Peters-Midland http://www.rmdjournal.com/ Archive Specialist Janet Garrett http://www.improverse.com/ed-articles/index.htm Richard Wilkerson - General Editor, Publisher, Articles Editor Subscriptions & Publication E-mail: rcwilk@dreamgate.com http://www.dreamgate.com o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o All dream and article text and art are considered (C)opyright by the writers, artists and dreamers themselves. Anyone other than the authors may use or reprint the text for non-commercial use, but all other use by anyone other than the author must be with the permission of either the author or the current Electric Dreams publisher. o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o DISCLAIMER: Electric Dreams is an independent electronic publication not affiliated with any other organization. The views of our commentators are personal views and not intended as professional advice or psychotherapy. o|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|o