The
Dream Lodge
© Cinnamon Moon
While there are an abundance
of books available discussing techniques, we each come
to the Dream Lodge from a perspective we can accept.
I happen to be one of those who found it quite naturally
and have always enjoyed this fabulous classroom. As
far back as I can remember my knowledge of this special
place has been a part of my life. My spirit guides,
totems, and teachers have been there waiting for me
when I arrive, but for many others this is not the case.
For those who are unfamiliar with this kind of work
it does require intentional effort on their part to
find it and explore all it has to offer.
It is common to hear today's
vernacular describing the Dream Lodge as lucid dreaming,
DreamWalking; or the Dreamtime. In reality it is a shift
in conscious awareness and dimension. You see, the logic
of the conscious mind is at rest when we sleep and the
subconscious takes over. Bringing awareness into the
dream state calls for intent. It is there we touch the
supra-consciousness where we become one with our inner
spirit and are able to explore a vast array of spiritual
realms. Learning to differentiate between normal everyday
dreams and those of the higher states of consciousness
is not difficult once we learn to listen to, and work
with, our senses.
Our desires to know unfamiliar
territories often creates a state of confusion; we tend
to complicate the issues which are very basic and always
simple to accomplish once they are understood. When
you have entered the Dream Lodge there is a point in
which you are aware of dreaming, present in the Now
of the moment, where the dream takes on its own life
and reality. You begin seeing through the eyes of your
inner spirit. You can feel yourself present in your
spiritual body just as you would in your physical form.
Your senses are active and in many cases heightened.
Acting on your own will, you learn to change things
simply by thinking them. Just as visualization and shamanic
journeys are brought about through meditative states,
you can meet with Teachers, Totems, and Spirit Guides
in the Dream Lodge. You can enter a multitude of dimensions
or rise up on the planes of Otherworlds.
To initiate awareness begin
by concentrating on falling asleep. Feel your body as
it begins to drift off and follow it into sleep. One
tried and true method of recognizing that you have entered
this state is to see the backs of your hands or the
tops of your feet...you want to view your body in the
same way you see it during a waking state--from the
inside out. Once this perception is brought to your
awareness you know you have reached the entrance to
the Dream Lodge. Some people find it helpful to "open"
prior to falling asleep by stating just what it is they
are willing to receive. Do you want information about
something specific? Are you seeking a tool, a book of
knowledge, ancient wisdom, or a door to other dimensions?
Have you felt a need to meet with a Totem, Spirit Guide,
or Teacher? Do you want to learn the art of shapeshifting,
projection of your spirit, or some other aspect of your
pathwork? Are you needing to find lost objects, persons,
or places? These and countless other things can be found
in the teachings received here. Stating what it is that
you are seeking prior to falling asleep creates a channel
that allows whatever you are searching for to manifest.
By day in a meditative state this would be called a
shamanic journey, by night in the cover of sleep it
is called the Dream Lodge, Dreamtime, or DreamWalking.
These terms are a matter of semantics but they all serve
to describe the same experiences.
Some find success comes quickly
while others need to really work hard at it. In the
latter case it is usually because we have doubts as
to the authenticity of this dimension. These doubts
create blockages and a resistance to reaching our goals.
When you "open" prior to falling asleep by
stating out loud what it is you are seeking the conscious
mind hears the sound of your voice and recognizes it
as its Commander-In-Chief. It will accept that order
and a major stumbling block can be avoided. Thinking
it alone will help yet it does not always work for the
more stubborn minds and a verbally expressed command
is much better. Control is gained through the will,
or your intent, and if you want this to happen you have
to set your mind to remaining open to accept it. Understanding
this process helps you widen your vision and begin to
perceive things a little differently. It allows the
subconscious to work without competing against the logical
mind.
The settings and entities
we encounter in the Dream Lodge appear just as solid
and real as they would in the mundane world because
we are equal in form there. It is a bit more fluid as
the density is thinner and we can easily weave the landscapes
as we choose by thought processes--I'll get to that
in a bit. Our senses are with us and it is important
in the early stages of this type of work to hone each
one. By consciously focusing on an individual sense
we allow it to achieve heightened states and one by
one they become woven into a powerful system of tools.
Feeling emotions, seeing colors, smelling odors, touching
textures, hearing sounds, tasting flavors...all senses
need to be honed just as they do in the mundane world.
Even here we find we have to acquire tastes for some
things while others stimulate us, but when all five
senses have combined themselves we have a unity that
creates a sixth sense...the state of Extrasensory Perception
or ESP. Many people think that psychic ability is something
strange when all it is is expanded awareness, a heightened
state that can be brought on by the inner spirit or
conscious intent.
Some people find that if
they follow a guided imagery exercise when going to
sleep that they slip quickly into the Dream Lodge and
are able to accomplish more in the course of time they
are there. You can visualize a setting in nature; a
doorway you might want to pass through opening into
a specific realm; enter the core of a tree or stone,
shapeshifting with it or exploring it. The portal can
be created or experienced as you do call it to you through
your intent and it will appear as your Guides present
it. Your Guides can produce what will benefit the enlightenment
you are to receive in this experience for here form
follows thought and is constantly changing. You may
want to picture a tipi with a fire to sit beside while
you wait for your Guide to appear. Sometimes we can
simply focus on a Totem animal, Guide, or Teacher we
know and they will create the setting beforehand while
they wait for us to arrive. Exploration of these and
other techniques you may hear about elsewhere can be
exciting and adventurous.
Once you have arrived it
is quite common to want to experiment with changing
your environment in small ways: a shrub here or a flower
there, a stream or waterfall aesthetically placed, countless
shifts can take place. This is an excellent exercise
for your senses and efforts to hone them. For example,
by creating a field of wildflowers you can activate
your sense of smell through fragrances that rise up
into the air. If you feel you need more time before
you start shifting things around that is okay too. Initially
it becomes an arena to practice your skills and learn
to move around in. Once this familiarity is achieved
and you become accustomed to the way thoughts effect
change you will start to settle into a more routine
approach. Personal preferences
and what you choose to do is up to you. When it is time
to move on to more serious work you will know it. There
will be no need to ask yourself or anyone else that
question because you'll just know the answer. At this
point you can request a specific Teacher or lesson and
the appropriate Teacher will come to you. Perhaps you
have a special issue to be addressed, a certain setting,
location of choice, or continuation of a past session
that you want to continue with. Whatever you look to
achieve you simply need to focus on that issue and watch
it materialize.
Now most people do not enter
the Dream Lodge to these depths every night, but it
will happen frequently enough to keep you quite busy
with your lessons. You may find that the cycles of Grandmother
Moon enhance these states, usually becoming stronger
a she waxes full and running between the second quarter
to the third. This is my rule of thumb and it tends
to be fairly consistent; yours may differ slightly.
After you have mastered the ability to gain control
in this state you can achieve even greater heights by
working with a partner and meeting there. This is advanced
work, but many find they are capable of achieving it
both in the dream state and in shamanic journey work.
You'll hear terms such as "cosmic classrooms",
"astral temples", "spirit flight"
or some other term relative to soaring into the universe
or some dimensional realm that sounds to be "fixed".
What is happening is that you are merging with energy
itself and that energy contains information. As your
thoughts take form the information they contain merges
with the energy too and thus it knows what to form itself
to. Images materialize and landscapes appear. Within
the merger come the manifestations of entities: Totems,
Guides, Teachers, or inhabitants of dimensional realms.
In some instances you will
find your Teachers or Guides are summoning you and eagerly
awaiting your arrival. This generally occurs when the
lessons are in progress already or there is something
for which you need to be prepared. For the novice it
seems like a very vivid and wild dream that upon awakening
will haunt their thoughts. For the more experienced
individual this will be understood for what it is and
they will know they are being taught, shown, or exposed
to important information that will help them in some
manner. Many of these entities are frequently known
to your inner spirit from prior encounters of which
you may or may not be aware. Often, when we are blind
to the existence of this classroom they will work on
deeper levels with our inner spirit. At such times we
will have little or no recognition of it until a situation
presents itself calling for its use. At that time the
knowledge becomes ours on a conscious level through
a "surfacing". Here it is recognized with
a feeling of puzzlement, or an awareness that it is
not something we have been taught in the physical reality,
though its truth cannot be denied. It is a feeling akin
to deja vu...a spiritual awareness begins to grow and
we know that it was sourced to us in some hazy experience
we can't quite name. The more experienced individual
may suddenly recall a past sense of being "downloaded"
with this information or being taught lessons in the
past in dreams that are now being validated.
Gaining control in the Dream
Lodge is, in my honest opinion, a focus upon my own
actions, not those of others who may choose to teach
me things. It is a dream journey that is entered upon,
a bit different from those that stem from our meditative
and visualization sessions but just slightly and just
as valid. The ability to control through the wisdom
and insight of the inner spirit (which is far wiser
than we are) takes conscious effort. It is a process
of allowing that spirit to emerge into our awareness
and understand its intent. When this is achieved the
union is one of expedient spiritual
evolution and takes on a much higher purpose. We come
to see that it is the inner spirit that is here to guide
us along our pathway and fulfill its purpose of learning
so that it can achieve evolution. We see that we are
indeed spirits with bodies, not simply bodies with spirits
and there is a very big difference.
By allowing the inner spirit
to take its rightful place our own consciousness becomes
heightened even more, we learn faster, we achieve quicker,
and we grow spiritually in leaps and bounds. We have
that choice. If we fight it progress is slow and sluggish
and we create some amazing challenges for our Self.
Much of this type of work
requires a different levels of trust. We need to trust
in Spirit to send us the proper Teachers, Guides, or
Totems. Trusting them to provide the proper settings
or take us to the dimensional locations where the lessons
will be best served is critical to our success. To trust
in our own ability to make sound rational choices that
may or may not conform to what the mundane world perceives
as logical is imperative. Trusting in ourselves to know
that despite what others may tell us, these experiences
are real, they do exist, and they are quite worthy of
our attention. Progression in the Dream Lodge depends
on this; the spiritual evolution of our own essence
depends on this; becoming a reality you can tap depends
on the levels of trust you possess. All of these things
come from experience, where the realities begin to prove
themselves outside the Dream Lodge manifesting in the
physical world as an extension of the initial intent
and purpose of the experience itself.
When you are working in this
manner you may find an ability or power, a tool or gift
of some sort is presented to you in its spiritual form
by a Teacher or Guide. If you accept the gift they offer
(generally relative to the teachings you have just received)
you become consciously aware of it being yours to guard
and keep safe. It becomes locked in your memory. Later,
when following your earthwalk (the physical reality)
you will frequently find it manifested in the physical
sense and coming to you in some way...often in bits
and pieces you must assemble yourself if this is a tool.
It may be something someone gifts you with, it may be
a found item, something you are driven to make with
your own hands, or an item you simply must purchase
at such a "reasonable" price in some little
shop you just happen to stumble across. Whatever form
it takes in manifestation, it does come and you begin
to have verifiable proof that there is a relationship
between the dimension of the Dream Lodge and the physical
reality.
If the gift you are given
is one of an ability, skill, or power that allows you
to do specific things in service to Spirit and others,
you may well become tempted to try it in the physical
sense. The technique for wielding it has been taught
to you already and you feel the need to test its authenticity
on a more mundane perspective. This is a normal reaction
and one you should follow-up on. When you do apply this
to your own needs you will realize that it works there
too. Information shared through Guides, Teachers, and
Totems is has a purpose behind it and you are gifted
with it as it applies to your path. This is a humbling
experience as great mysteries unfold and you see that
the gift should be honored and respected be it a tool,
ability, information, or some other form presented,
it is sacred knowledge. Test it in the physical world
and it proves itself to be accurate and applicable.
Ancient wisdoms shown to you may appear in a sacred
text you read in the dream state or through the teachings
of another, later appearing or applicable to a situation
in the physical realm. In this way further authentication
begins to establish itself and the levels
of trust begin to grow. You realize that you can depend
on the experiences you encounter, and that you have
drawn the lines of division between what is real and
what is not. You have divided the realms of spiritual
dimension and the physical seeing them as separate until
now, when in fact they are not separate at all but part
of the overall existence of all dimensions...part of
the Whole, like the layers of an onion. Awake, in journeys,
in trance states, or asleep we are always the Dreamer
that becomes the Dream....We are the Weavers of our
own realities and the tapestry of our lives...co-creators
with Spirit manifesting our lives.
This awareness and trust
then becomes imbedded in the foundation of the pathway
you walk. As it merges into a second nature issue for
you, other progressions seems to expedite themselves
in the process of your spiritual evolution. You come
to see that the entire span of the universe exists on
many levels and new doors will continue to open for
you. You realize that just as it exists outside you,
it can be found within...going within the Self is where
it all starts. You've heard the term: "As Above
So Below"; well it applies here too: "As Without
So Within". You will begin to perceive dimensions
that are infinite in number and variations. It is at
this point you realize that you hold the keys to their
doors...that you are the master key and capable of unlimited
potential in your pursuit of knowledge. I encourage
you to explore this wondrous and challenging arena and
to embrace the enlightenments it has to offer. It's
a fascinating realm and one that has endless possibilities.
Mouse:
Okay. I understand the difference between dreaming
and Dream Lodge. I have had one experience of Lucid
dreaming that I know of, it happened without me trying
to get there, and I had a serious fever at the time.
I was almost tempted to think that I was hallucinating
with the fever. But I know that that wasn't true, since
I had the sense that I physically experienced it *while*
still experiencing my body in the material world. Anyway,
I feel an attraction to this. Not just yet, but reading
up on it feels right. Perhaps just even "getting
my head around the concept" and that sort of thing.
CinnamonMoon:
Well if it is getting your head around the concept then
it's preparing you to start experiencing it. Maybe when
that little one of yours does start sleeping through
the night?!!! Going to bed exhausted sort of takes you
too deep to recall. Like a deep trance. Early to bed!!!!
