Diane Brandon asked:


Dreams have always fascinated me. So, 25 or so years ago, in an effort to learn more about dreams, I embarked on an exploration of sleep and dream research. I worked with dreams more and more over the years, interpreting my dreams and those of others.

I have learned some fascinating things about dreams over the years, one of which is that what we lump into the category of dreams are actually different phenomena. One commonality among these phenomena is that while we are dreaming our body is quiet – unless, of course, we are sleepwalking (or daydreaming). Aside from this commonality, however, there can be great variability in what we call “dreams.”

So, one of the first things to remember is working with our dreams is that there are different types of “dreams.”

1. In some, our consciousness, unbounded by our bodies and not continually bombarded by noisy feedback from our bodies, is actually off exploring other realms. These “dreams” are actually experiences, some of which we may remember as dreams and others we may have no recall about at all. The illusory veil of time can be lifted and we can be experiencing other times, including past lives.

2. Some dreams actually are just a sorting out of our day’s activities, as our brains sort and correlate experiences and information.

3. Some dreams may actually be communication experiences in which we are communicating on various levels with other people, both those living and those transitioned. We may also be communicating with our guides and others who wish to get through to us.

4. Some dreams are precognitive and actually give us information about the future.

5. In some dreams, we are being given messages from the universe and our higher self or other levels of our own consciousness. These dreams tend to be about our personal and spiritual growth issues and can be the richest for us to work with on our paths.

6. Some dreams are one-time dreams and others are recurring. Recurring dreams are usually, but not always, more significant than single dreams and can represent general issues that we are working on (whether we are consciously aware that we are working on them or not). In these recurring dreams, we may have elements that repeat as themes, sort of a nocturnal reverie leitmotif.

These represent some general types of dreams and it is important to note that any one dream can actually be a combination of different types, sort of a cross-breeding of genres.

It can further us greatly as we evolve and grow to work with our dreams, and understanding them is the first step toward this. This can be tricky in and of itself, as many of our dreams are cloaked in symbols. Thus, dream interpretation becomes essential in working with our dreams.

I consider dream interpretation to be similar to explication of literature (which I did a great deal of and loved in high school and college) – with one major difference: it is critical to bring intuition to the task. Whereas in explicating literature we look for all possible meanings for all possible readers and applications, in interpreting dreams we look for the interpretations specific to the dreamer. And please note that it is “interpretations” in the plural sense. One wonderful aspect of dreams is that any one dream can have several different – and all equally valid – meanings for the dreamer.

Intuition is further essential in interpreting dreams because we all have our own vocabulary in dreams, and our dream symbology and language will be highly individual. Thus, dream “dictionaries” that list symbols and universal interpretations are no help at all in interpreting a particular person’s dream. We have to uncover the meaning of symbols specific to the dreamer, his or her own vocabulary.

Although it may take more effort to use our intuition and come up with the meanings of a dream specific for the “dreamer,” the rewards can be rich and varied as we mine information and gain insight for ourselves and others on their paths.

Aside from working on and developing our intuition, there are some questions we can ask and some pointers in working to interpret dreams:

1. How did/does the dreamer feel about the dream, both upon waking and in retrospect – pleasure, fear, anxiety, optimism, relief, etc.?

2. What type of dream does this seem to be? (See above.)

3. Allow yourself to get into a very relaxed state of consciousness as you go over the dream’s unfolding sequentially in your mind (or as the dreamer relates the dream to you, if it’s not your dream). What things go through your mind or are evoked as you review or listen to the dream? What percolates up from your subconscious?

4. Instead of focusing on how “bizarre” the dream seems, approach it as a very rich, cogent, and, yes, respectable, event. Focusing on the bizarre quality alone serves to distract us from the credible validity of the dream and the richness in insight it can offer.

5. Work with each symbol independently in the dream. Focus on a symbol, while asking yourself (or the dreamer), “What does this mean to me (or you)?” I once had someone tell me she had had a dream with a cat in it and was worried because someone had told her that a cat in a dream means death. When I asked her how she felt about cats, she replied, “Oh, I love cats!” Remember that any one symbol can have more than one valid meaning.

6. What is the general theme of the dream? What area(s) of your (or the dreamer’s) life is it related to (work, relationships, childhood, etc.)?

7. Go over each “story” segment of the dream and work to understand it as a discrete little unit.

8. Put all the pieces, or segments, of the dream and their meanings together. What picture emerges? How does each segment relate to other segments?

9. Pay attention to any words or phrases that are prominent in the dream. Puns and plays on words are often meaningful in dreams.

10. Look for any elements that may have particular significance for you (or the dreamer). What do these elements mean? (For example, a numerologist may have numbers pop up in dreams and these numbers may have numerological significance that contributes to the dream’s meaning(s).

11. Look at the other people who appear in the dream. How do you (or the dreamer) feel about each person? Further meaning may be gained by also looking at each person as you (or the dreamer). Are these people parts of you (or the dreamer) that are embraced, disowned, or suppressed?

12. Remember, again, that any one dream can have several different meanings. What different meanings does the dream have? What pictures emerge? What is the dream telling you?

Working with our dreams can be extremely rewarding as they further our process and facilitate our personal and spiritual growth. They can point out issues we are working on or need to give attention to. Dreams, indeed, can be great gifts.

Happy dreaming!

M. Deskins asked:


Lucid dreams of course are dreams that seem very, very more realistic than ordinary dreams, and in which one is consciously aware that they are dreaming. The more experienced one becomes at lucid dreaming, the better they can control it. Experienced lucid dreamers can make their dreams extremely realistic. Once you are able to control your dreams, you can of course ask to be taken back to a past life (if you believe in them) or event, current event, or future event. You can use lucid dreaming to help overcome your fears. Allow yourself to face your fears in a lucid dream. It’s all your choice. The limit goes beyond the sky, it even goes beyond dreams. Some people are natural lucid dreamers, and some have to learn how through practice. As a natural lucid dreamer myself, I can’t guarantee that my technique will help everyone learn, but I can give you an idea about how it can be done.

Firstly, every night before you go to bed close your eyes and say out loud “I WILL REMEMBER MY DREAMS. SOON I WILL BE ABLE TO CONTROL THEM”. Then when you wake up the next morning the very first thing you should do is write down in your diary every single thing you remember about your dreams.. If you can’t remember anything, don’t be discouraged, you will eventually. Just remember a little bit at a time and after awhile you will start remembering more and more. You don’t have to keep a dream diary forever, just until you start getting the hang of having lucid dreams. The more you can remember and analyze about your dreams, the better you can control them in the future.

One trick to do; and this is how I’ve had lucid dreams all my life, is wait until your day off when you can sleep in and don’t have to do anything. Get a sleeping pattern down for 4 or 5 days and wake up the same time every morning. Then one morning, go to bed a couple hours later than usual, but set your alarm to wake you up at the same time as the prior mornings. It can just be for a few minutes and you can get a drink or watch tv or check email or something. Do this for about 15-20 minutes and then go back to bed and lie down on your back. MAKE SURE YOU STAY ON YOUR BACK! Start pretending that you’re doing whatever it is you wish to lucid dream about, imagine you’re with the people you want to be with. Try to make whatever you’re imagining as clear as possible. Hear, feel, and even visualize that you’re smelling something.. MAKE SURE YOU STAY ON YOUR BACK THE WHOLE TIME! Whenever you drift off to sleep hopefully you’ll start dreaming of the things you were imagining about. When you’re getting close to a lucid dream you’ll start vibrating or pulsating a bit and you’ll start hearing a buzzing noise.

Don’t panic if you find that you’re half asleep/half awake and can’t move. It’s a condition called sleep paralysis. If you panic it’ll only make things worse and you’ll start having a nightmare and you’ll hallucinate that there’s something (or someone) bad in the room with you. I don’t know why this happens, but it can be scary if you don’t stay calm. This is the down side to having strange dreaming experiences. I unfortunately first experienced this when I was only 6 or 7 years old. I “woke up” one night in my room and there was a man at the end of my bed pointing a gun at me. It was as clear and real as could be. Imagine a little girl “waking up” and seeing that. I wanted to run to my daddy but I couldn’t move, thanks to the paralysis. Finally he “disappeared” and I woke up. My daddy of course told me it was just a dream and tried to make me feel better, but I spent years afterwards wondering if it was a ghost I saw that night. It wasn’t until I got a computer later in life and learned that it was a condition called “sleep paralysis”.

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I experienced it several other times, but as I got older I learned how to either wake myself up from it, or turn it into a more pleasant lucid dream. I have always been fascinated by the Jack the Ripper murders, and I absolutely cannot read anything about the subject when it’s close to bed time. I have had a few sleep paralysis experiences where I found myself his victim, and he was on top of me killing me. I would keep going back and forth between laying on my back on the streets of London to my bed. Of course it still wasn’t as frightening as the “ghost man” I experienced as a child. I didn’t start having the JTR experiences until later in life, when I had an idea that it wasn’t real. Of course it does make me wonder if I had a past life as a prostitute in London, but I try not to think about it.

But anyway, don’t be discouraged if anything like this ever happens to you. Try to remember that it’s not real and concentrate on your breathing. Try to stay calm and close your eyes and think about happy things, there’s a good chance that this paralysis incident will turn into a lucid dream. Remember to try staying on your back the whole time, and that the chance of having a lucid dream will increase on days you sleep in longer than usual.

Remember you can use lucid dreams for any purpose(s) you choose. Some people like to have fun with it. When you lucid dream, you are almost like a god and you have control over the dream world. Obviously the most common thing for lucid dreamers to do is to experience their sexual fantasies. Some people like to fly, some people like to pretend that they’re a star on stage preforming in front of a large crowd. Sometimes it may not be until a middle of an ordinary dream when it becomes lucid. If it already a pleasant dream, you don’t have to change it if you don’t want to. You could keep on continuing with the same dream as an observer. Of course you can change things you don’t like about it. It’s all totally all up to you. Have fun!