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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!!!!

Libraries are on this row
INDEX Page 1
(Divination & Dreams, Guides & Spirit Helpers)
INDEX Page 2
(Healing)
INDEX Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages & Nations, Symbology)
INDEX Page 4
(Myth & Lore)
INDEX Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
INDEX Page 6
(Spiritual Development)
INDEX Page 7
(Totem Animals)
INDEX Page 8
(Tools & Crafts. Copyrights)


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