The Art of Dreaming Part 1
The Pensieve of Dreams [Not of Memories]
There is a fleeting moment when you are in between the dream and waking states — either falling asleep or waking up — that feels as if you were peeking into a different reality, as if you were crossing your head from above a cloud, high in the sky, or submerging it into the water to see what is under the surface.
This occurrence is very well exemplified in the Harry Potter movies with the pensieve — a word/concept created by J.K. Rowling for the wizarding world — ; it is a basin by which the characters immerse themselves in “memories” — as they call them there.
“A shallow stone basin lay there, with odd carvings around the edge: runes and symbols that Harry did not recognize. The silvery light was coming from the basin’s contents, which were like nothing Harry had ever seen before. He could not tell whether the substance was liquid or gas. It was a bright, whitish silver, and it was moving ceaselessly; the surface of it became ruffled like water beneath wind, and then, like clouds, separated and swirled smoothly. It looked like light made liquid — or like wind made solid — Harry couldn’t make up his mind.” (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; J.K. Rowling; July 2000)
Brilliant.
Angel’s Peak and Rooms of Reality
As I mentioned, sometimes, the perspective seems to be from above, what St. Germain recently called Angel’s Peak — how appropriate-. (Keahak 10th Edition, Crimson Circle, 2021).
I tend to associate this perspective with the observation of past lives or future possible lifetimes. I have also witnessed how other people have this perspective when tapping into ancient civilizations, in their waking state.
But some other times it feels as if one were just leaning out of a window, like crossing one’s head through a flexible energy barrier into another room of reality that is in your same horizontal plane, or as if you opened a backstage curtain to see a theater performance.
I am inclined to believe that this perspective presents alternate iterations to the reality we are experimenting in this physical plane, the characters are the same, but the nature of the relationships and the context is different, very much like tapping into a different timeline, the way I understand it now.
The Art of Dreaming by Castaneda
In any case, the mentioned awareness somehow corresponds to the first of seven gates, portals, or thresholds within the practice of lucid dreaming, as referred by Carlos Castaneda in “The Art of Dreaming”. [1]
I remarked the word somehow for two reasons. Firstly, because the practice of lucid dreaming as described by Don Juan and Castaneda himself demands intent. The book, published in 1993, presents a conscious and deliberate attempt to control the experiences within dreams and lays out a series of hallmarks — abilities an apprentice needs to develop to become an ensoñador — a word that has no real translation into English.
That is not my case, I have had no formal training and my experiences within dreams are random, for the most part.
Secondly, it seems to me that the path followed by the lineage of Don Juan was so very structured and had been so very consistently traveled, that it leads an apprentice to very similar kind of encounters and very similar worlds — types of realities with rules that they continue to outline by revisiting them. In my experience, nothing prevents any other kind of world — with any other kind of rules — to exist; after all, consciousness creates dimensions at any moment.
And even though Don Juan states that, “Lucid dreaming needs to be undertaken with integrity and sanity, but with laughter and the confidence of whom has nothing to worry about,” something in The Art of Dreaming feels outdated and daunting in a strange way. (El Arte de Ensoñar; Carlos Castaneda; p. 11)
In any case, I do have experiences that relate to Don Juan’s teachings, and in this series I will explore that relationship. An odd exploration, for sure, but one that sounds fascinating and feels thrilling! Shall we?
Preparing the Dream
Don Juan begins by explaining Carlos how to prepare a dream. “Preparing the dream means to have a practical and precise command of the dream; not letting it transform or vanish.” As he explained, it is very much as in real life, if you are in a classroom, you don’t leave the classroom until you choose to do so. (El Arte de Ensoñar; Carlos Castaneda; p. 11)
To be able to achieve that control, Don Juan instructs Carlos to watch his hands while sleeping. He made clear that choosing the hands was arbitrary and that looking into any other thing was equally valid.
My Experience
There is only one reference in my catalogue of dreams about this occurrence. It was on March 5, 2012, 11 days after withdrawing from cortisone, which I had been using to cope with skin disorders. As I documented, my skin was slightly decomposing in some areas and healing in others.
While I declared to have been peaceful, the stress around skin episodes was nerve wracking and exhausting; I was far from being in shape — physically, mentally, and emotionally, but I was dreaming intensely.
Unfortunately back then I was not thinking of relating these dreams to anyone, so I briefly mentioned the experience in my journal.
I have been able to not scratch, which makes all the difference in the world, and I am at ease, confident (big sigh again). And sleeping profoundly, yes. Yesterday I dreamt again as if being there, being able to move my sight at will through the floor, a garden with flowers. [Then the story continues with the flooding of my house].
I said “again”, did you notice?
Regardless, what I do recall is how it felt: imposing; and I came back with that characteristic and unpleasant sparkly and bubbly body sensation of having crossed to another reality. I later titled the dream, “Lucid dream, flood at home.”
As Castaneda related in his book, months went by and he still hadn’t been able to see his hands in dreams. That is when Don Juan told him about the first gate.
To be continued,
Aberdeem
Thank You
A special thank you note to all those who have kindly supported me in this endeavor; it is invaluable!
Clap
Did you know you can offer as many as 50 applauses for each story? I didn’t.
The Invitation
If you have any related experiences in dreams, please share; they will enrich us all. Otherwise, join, follow, share and if you feel like it, support. Sponsors or investors for The Book of Dreams are very much welcome or you can Buy Me a Coffee.
Background
If you want to know what this blog is about, you may want to read the following post:
If you want to know how the dreaming experience unfolded for me, you may want to read the following post:
If you care to learn about A Thousand Dreams’ origin and destiny, The Launch is the post. The idea came to me two years after I began writing and took shape and gained notoriety really quickly thanks to Adamus Saint-Germain and the Crimson Circle.
And if you want to have fun, take the quiz:
Other than that, in this blog you will find posts about many types of dreams and their relationship to our physical reality. Hope you enjoy them!
Reach Out
Contact me at aberdeem144@gmail.com. I will be happy to hear from you.
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References
[1] Carlos Castaneda; The Art of Dreaming, 1993; HarperCollins.
