DREAMBENDING - VERB.

THE VIRTUOSITY AND COMMAND OF LUCID DREAMING TO THE POINT OF ARTISTRY.

“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.”- C.G. Jung

The Dreamer is one of our most universal essences. It’s something we all are, no exceptions. It’s an aspect of our humanity that, while hidden, is the very essence of life. It transcends and defies belief, interpretation, and experience.

If we ask the mystics, they’ll say that waking life is just as much a dream. Surely you must have heard this or experienced it on some level yourself if you’re tapped into your dreaminess. Some Tibetans believe lucid dreaming is one of six pathways to enlightenment. Yup, the Big E.

Let’s try on this truth for a moment: what sets the waking dream apart from the sleeping dream?

The Waking is more of a crystallized state of Dreaming. It is, by definition, less malleable. We don’t get to fly while we’re awake. We don’t bend physical matter with our mind. We don’t time travel or meet with otherworldlies and ancestors in person.

We get to access these abilities and experiences through conscious-dreaming states, like high meditation, hypnosis, yoga, shamanic journeying and of course, our favsies: lucid dreaming.

The more lucid dreams we experience and remember, the more this malleable state of being trickles into our waking selves, or at the very least it opens our minds up to a natural magic and synchronicity.

Our night lucidity helps us carry the water of the unconscious, which is perhaps synonymous with a higher awareness, back with us to drink in at that moment of awakening, to melt our being a little more each time from the inside out.

Lucid dreamers, with some tenure, will each get their lucky glimpse into a deeper architectural truth of reality. Over many years, if we stay the course and keep practicing, we’ll experience a series of powerful Initiations.

We get access to a powerful perspective: the present moment of self awareness in a world with very elastic “rules”. When we sincerely explore this vista, we see the shrinking differences between wakefulness and sleep. Prolonged lucid experiences establish how malleable consciousness is in a very visceral way.

The subtlety of difference between belief and knowing, this is what the aperture of lucidity affords us.

Something I’ve ascertained from personal experience and listening to others talk about more advanced lucid dreaming is that there’s a natural arc to these Initiations. Unsurprisingly, it’s a lot like a Hero’s Journey.

THE LUCID INITIATION ARC

Crossing of the First Threshold: The first intentionally initiated lucid dream.

Sustaining Acuity: Many lucid dreams early on are like quick bursts. We must take care to stabilize ourselves within the experience over a series of dreams and mindful regulation of their energy.

Exploration of Uninhibited Self: Once we learn to stabilize within the dream, we’re usually drawn to explore their primal instinctual desires and pleasures. The dreamer may endeavor to manipulate the dream with flying and bending the waking “laws” of reality.

The Trials: We will begin to experience obstacles to our continued lucidity. We discover we are no longer able to fly. We experience less frequent lucid dreams. We might have a drought in our dream recall, find ourselves being chased by dream figures, even “the dream police” coming for you and waking you up!

There’s usually a feeling of lacking the freedom we’ve had in prior dreams. Without the passage of this threshold, we will likely stagnate in a pleasure/play, fight/flight mode for a while.

Mentoring: At this point, if we stick with our practice, we will discover ourselves on the precipice of an initiation. We call in deeper intentions for healing, innovation or wholeness.

This call grows within a fusion of curiosity, humility and a touch of inner trickster. If things aren’t working as well as they once did, the dreamer might either seek out a waking life mentor in the form of a book, teacher or course or they’ll begin to engage the dream itself as a Mentor. They become a student of the Dream.

The Underworld: At this stage, we must go down into the underworlds in order to reach the upperworlds. It’s as if the dream is saying, “Okay, cutie, so we’ve had some fun. It’s business time. Are we ready to go to the next level of the game?”

Breakthroughs: If we’re persistent, open and courageous, they’ll have breakthroughs every time they go lucid. Their dreams become a treasure hunt for epiphanies and transcendental states.

Investigation: The dreamer may at some point decide to begin investigating the nature of the dream, consciousness and reality. From our repeated observation and introspection, we discover a deeper purpose and calling.

Reconciliation: We feel, see and know every aspect of the dream to be a part of themselves. We willingly and actively seek integration and reconciliation with it all.

While every aspect of a dream can be seen as an aspect of Self, there is also the experience of Other. Just as there are other people in your life, there are dream “characters” with their own lives and experiences. Some of them are extraterrestrial or extradimensional. Intuition, discernment and common courtesy will tell the dreamer what’s important to integrate in any of these encounters.

Apotheosis: The dreamer must deeply surrender the illusion of control and begin humbly exploring the higher nature of greater dream awareness. With open eyes, the dream will bloom open and reveal another layer, petal by petal, dream by dream. It will be an ecstatic time of epiphanies and revelations. This is where a great kinship with the greater Dreamer within, or higher self, begins to take roots in their waking life.

The Return: The dreamer expresses their lucid epiphanies creatively in their waking life. We allow the dream to work through us, to be embodied in some meaningful way. We become an ambassador of the Dream.

Waking Lucidity: When each Initiation is undertaken with care, gradually the dreamer will begin to slip between the waking and sleeping dream more effortlessly, with more continuity, truly recognizing our waking life as a dream as well.

A lucid daydreamer is one who moves through life with a deep sense of integrity and wonder because there is transcendental honesty in lucidity.

Xo, sweet dreams,
Aluna

Aluna[Verse] is a lucid dreambender. Her allegiance is with the inner Muse, Mentor and Medicine of the lucid dream. She teaches lucid dreaming courses and writes a blog about dreambending.

Originally posted on Dreambender’s blog.