Dream Visions

Edgar Cayce on Dreams

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Edgar Cayce, a world-famous prophetic dreamer in the early 20th century, was able to obtain virtually an unlimited amount of knowledge on an unlimited number of subjects. One of these subjects was dreams and dream interpretation.

Cayce astounded people by interpreting their dreams and giving them insight into their psyche, lives and even past lives. From his own experience, and from the feedback he received from others, Cayce believed that dreams are actually journeys into the spirit world.

Edgar Cayce once said,“Dreams, visions, impressions, to the entity in the normal sleeping state are the presentations of the experiences necessary for the development, if the entity would apply them in the physical life. These may be taken as warnings, as advice, as conditions to be met, conditions to be viewed in a way and manner as lessons, as truths, as they are presented in the various ways and manners.”

Cayce believed that our dreams serve several functions. Somatic dreams—dreams referring to the body—are extremely important to pay attention to. Very often dreams will offer solutions to health problems.

For example, one man was plagued with food allergies for many years, but was unable to find the source of his discomfort. Then one night he went to bed and he dreamed of a can of coffee. He quit drinking coffee and his symptoms disappeared.

Like many of us, Cayce also believed that deceased friends and family members sometimes visit us in dreams. Such dreams may be communications from our loved ones. Or they may allow us to resolve our feelings about their deaths. Any person who appears in a dream may also represent some aspect of themselves or some part of us that is like them in some way.

Continue reading Edgar Cayce on Dreams…

Robert Moss’s On-Line Radio Show on Dreams | BYBS

Robert Moss, the dream researcher, teacher and author that I keep talking about, has a radio show on dreams! You can listen over the Internet on the second Tuesday of each month, from 11 am to noon Central Time.

Here is the link: http://www.healthylife.net/RadioShow/archiveWD.htm

There is even an 800 number so that you can call in with questions during the show as he interviews other dreamworkers and dream researchers. 

What a blessing for all of us!

Dreaming with the Departed | BYBS

The Dreamer's Book of the Dead

Dream expert Robert Moss has written yet another ground-breaking book, The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead: A Soul Traveler’s Guide to Death, Dying, and the Other Side. It’s a big book, and I just started reading it. So you can be sure I will be writing more about it later. Meanwhile, just in case you have some holiday gift cash burning a hole in your pocket, I wanted to tell you about it. 

If you have read any of the Robert Moss books on dreams (or if you have been reading this blog), you know that he uses innovated techniques and is breaking new ground (in our culture) in the practical and spiritual uses of dreaming.

Some Native Americans, Tibetans, Indonesians, and others have been masters of dreamwork for centuries. But Europeans and Americans have for the most part considered dreams to be meaningless, if not downright scary. Robert Moss and others are changing that as they teach us amazing and effective ancient ways of working with dreams.

The point of this book is that our departed loved ones, friends, and spiritual teachers often appear to us in dreams with important messages, but we don’t always pay attention. Moss teaches us to heed such messages. He also teaches us to take the initiative to contact the departed in dreams.

One of the main reasons to contact departed loved ones, friends, even enemies, is closure. Sometimes we need to apologize or receive apologies to heal old wounds. Sometimes we just need the reassurance that they are still in existence, even though no longer living.

Moss says that sometimes people who have died cannot rest easy until they deliver information or make peace with the living. It may be practical, like the whereabouts of missing papers or valuables, or it may simply be guidance on handling business, family or spiritual problems.

If all this sounds morbid, it really isn’t. You can also contact spiritual teachers and others who have gone before. You can ask them for advice or find out valuable information about the past or the present. 

There is a lot of information in this book on various dream practices. As always there are wonderful stories of real people and experiences, as only Robert Moss can tell them. The book covers a wealth of information on dreams and dreamwork.

So you might want to take a look at The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead: A Soul Traveler’s Guide to Death, Dying, and the Other Sided by Robert Moss. You will find it on Amazon. I know, because that’s where I got it.

My family (on both sides) has always been blessed with dreams that contain messages from departed relatives. We have stories of dramatic dreams conveying important information going back over 100 years that I know of. Probably there were others that we no longer remember. Such dreams can be helpful in a practical way, but mainly they are comforting. 

Dreams that bring help and knowledge from departed family members are a blessing that I like to remember, especially at this family-intensive time of year. How about you?

Types of Dreams | BYBS

Dreams Poster  24 in. x 36 in.  
Buy at AllPosters.com

People talk a lot about dreams. Usually they don’t specify clearly what types of dreams they are talking about. There isn’t just one kind, or even two (good or bad. There are many kinds of dreams, and to be able to make sense when discussing dreams, we ought to define them.

Processing Dreams

Many people have been convinced that all dreams are just the body’s way of processing memories and experiences. In fact, that is a large category of dreams.

Sorting out our thoughts, experiences and ideas does seem to be one important purpose of dreaming.

Anxiety Dreams

Anxiety dreams are not exactly nightmares (usually), but they are unpleasant. They express our worries about things that may or may not ever happen. In some cases, anxiety dreams may be a way of preparing to deal with difficult situations. In others, they may be a symptom that we need to learn how to handle stress better—and maybe drink less caffeine?

Prophetic Dreams

People who consistently keep dream journals find that they often have prophetic dreams. Sometimes the dreams are quite trivial. Other times they prepare us for events we cannot prevent or prepare us for tragedies that we can avert by being ready.

Because of a prophetic dream (also called a precognitive dream), we have had a chance to think of what we would do, the shock has worn off, and when the event happens, we are calm enough to take action that can save lives or prevent serious injury. 

Clairvoyant Dreams

People over the centuries have witnessed events happening elsewhere, even thousands of miles away, in their dreams. There are records of people dreaming of plane crashes and natural disasters, recording the dreams, sometimes putting the dreams into official records, and then receiving verification via the news media. 

Dream, Explore, Discover  Art Print by Svensson, Torleif

36 in. x 24 in. Buy at AllPosters.com

Communication Dreams

People all over the world have experienced dreams of communication from a loved in times of crisis. Sometimes the loved one has been dead for many years. Other times the loved one appears at the moment of death to say goodbye. Sometimes the loved one appears with a message of warning or other important information, or even with reassurance that the loved one is safe.

Message Dreams

Sometimes dreamers receive messages that are actually intended to be given to others. Often the message dream is for a relative, friend, coworker or neighbor and can be given right away.

But sometimes it is for an acquaintance one has yet to meet. Then, when the recipient appears, the message is given, and the dream is fulfilled.

Astral Dreams

Astral dreams are said to occur on the inner planes of existence, in the spirit world. They tend to be symbolic, like a bare black stage set with only the most essential props and actors spotlighted. Some people may never have astral dreams. More likely most people simply do not recognize or remember them.

When you have an astral dream, it may be the mind’s way of dramatizing things that you subconsciously know but have been ignoring. Or they may be an indication that someone else is trying to communicate with you in your dreams.

Nightmares

Nightmares can occur in any of the dream forms. Most likely they are a dramatization of your fears, but they can also be the result of actual memories. Such memories may require therapy to make the dreams go away.

Nightmares caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be crippling in their realistic sensations and intensity, and they definitely require professional treatment by a therapist who specializes in PTSD. Dreams can seem very real. They can be horrifying.

The fear of having PTSD dreams can cause people to avoid sleeping (which is dangerous) or to self-medicate with prescription (or nonprescription) drugs or alcohol. Doing that can also be dangerous.

Dreams Poster 62 in. x 24 in. Buy at AllPosters.com

Diagnostic Dreams

The body always knows when we are ill or hurt, but we may consciously ignore it, especially if there is no pain. Many people have dreams that tell them of serious undiagnosed problems such as cancer. Those who pay attention to their dreams and know how to interpret the images from their subconscious are warned.

Many a dream has caused someone to get a checkup that saved their life by resulting in early treatment of what could have been a fatal disease or condition.   

Healing Dreams

Occasionally people who are very ill have dreams that seem to bring healing. Is the dream healing in and of itself? Or is the dream announcing the healing? No one knows for sure.

Problem-Solving Dreams

As we have discussed before, problem-solving dreams can occur at any point in sleep or just before or after it. The solution can be literal and complete, or it can be symbolic, or just a hint.

Lucid Dreams

Lucid dreams are rare. They are dreams in which the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and takes control of the dream. That last part is the most important. Dreams in which one simply becomes aware of being in a dream and wakes up or goes into a different dream are called prelucid dreams.

Many people have prelucid dreams. Few learn to gain control of them and turn them into lucid dreams. 

Lucid dreaming is a form of meditation for adepts of some spiritual belief systems. In those spiritual systems, people may study and practice for years to achieve it.

Yet in some cultures people have been trained from babyhood to take control of their dreams, and in those cultures virtually everyone can do it. 

Shaman Dreams

In some cultures shamans, or those with the potential to become shamans, are identified by the special dreams they have, dreams that contain specific imagery that only shamans see.

Shamans in many cultures do much of their work, including finding out information or finding cures for diseases or injuries, in lucid dreams or active dreaming.  

Mixed Dreams

Most dreams seem to be a mixture. Parts of a dream may be processing the day’s events, while other parts contain messages. Dreaming is complex. Dreams can and often do have several layers of meaning. 

Other Types of Dreams

Probably there are other kinds of dreams, but these definitions should be enough for discussion purposes and to help identify dreams for yourself and others. Talking about your dreams and working with others on their dreams is worthwhile. It can also be fun. And to me the ability to get and share information from dreams is a blessing.

Dream Clouds Plaque Photographic Print by Katano, Nicole

24 in. x 8 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com

Problem-Solving in Dreams | BYB

More and more, I find that I wake up with solutions to problems. However, it is not like the dramatic stories you read about solutions to problems coming to people in dreams.

It feels more as though I worked on the problem all night instead of really sleeping. Have you ever waked up in the morning and felt as though you had been working all night in your sleep? It feels as though you have merely dozed lightly, while your mind worked on the problem.

I suspect that a lot of the problem-solving actually goes on in that dreamlike stage between waking and sleeping. Whatever it is, it works, and to me it is a blessing.

How about you?

Creative Dreaming | Blog Your Blessings

When I started working with dreams, years ago, Patricia Garfield was one of the two best authors on dreamwork that I found. She is a clinical psychologist who also works with her own dreams.

Currently I’m reading the second edition of her book, Creative Dreaming, and I highly recommend it.

Garfield’s books are different from those of Robert Moss (Conscious Dreaming, Dreamgates, and Dreaming True). She spends a bit more time explaining the research that has been done on dreams and the methods that she recommends for getting/shaping the dreams you want.

She writes very clearly and simply, so her books are fun to read and easy to understand. I also think that she is a bit more detailed in explaining how to work with dreams. So it seems easier to understand her methods and put them into practice.

Garfield gives great practical advice on transforming nightmares into pleasant dreams. She also has a lot of interesting information on how to use dreams to get answers. And she devotes a whole chapter to Native American beliefs about dreams and visions, and what we can learn from their methods.

This is a great book, and I’ll probably write more about it later. Meanwhile, give it a try, and let me know how it works for you.

Creative Dreaming was published several years ago, so you should be able to find it in the library. You can definitely find it on Amazon, where I got mine.

Sorry I haven’t blogged for awhile. I got a new job—but with a long commute. Then I got sick. I’ll get back on schedule with blogging as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, I feel really blessed to have a great job, working with fun people.

One Way to Work with Dreams | BYB

People who work with dream journals sometimes notice that certain illnesses and injuries correspond to messages from their subconscious that they have not recognized or heeded. That is, if your subconscious mind is trying to get a message through in one way, and that fails, it may try another way—illness or injury.

Hay House publishing company was founded upon the recognition by author Louise Hay that illnesses are often symbolic ways of communicating emotional or mental issues. For example, she noticed that people who come down with severe colds often are in the midst of trying to make a difficult decision and are in need of some downtime.

Sometimes the messages are obvious, such as tennis elbow, which may be telling you to get some rest or improve your technique.

Often, though, the message is a unclear. You have a sense that an illness means something, but try as you might, you can’t figure out what that is.

That is a good time to turn to dreams. If you keep a dream journal, read back over the last couple of months to see what your dreams may have been telling you. Look for what you may have missed that could possibly relate to the illness or injury you are coping with.

Sometimes the message will just jump out at you from the pages. Other times it may require a little thought. You may have to meditate or ask for clarification.

If you have not been keeping a dream journal, or you can’t recall any dreams that seem to apply to the situation, try incubating one. That is, during the day, and before falling asleep, ask your subconscious to give you the message in a dream.

How to incubate a dream:

1. State that the illness or injury has not conveyed the message so that you can understand it.
2. Ask for the illness or injury to be healed immediately.
3. State that you are open and ready for the message now and are paying attention.
4. Ask to receive the message in a harmless and easily understandable way such as a dream.

I did that the other night, and I had a vivid dream that seemed to apply. Of course, now I have to interpret the dream. But that’s different story for another time.

At least I’m feeling better. The process does work, if you let it. Why not give it a try?

Becoming aware of the communication from our subconscious minds and how to access it is worth working on. It can save a lot of time, mistakes, illness and heartaches.

Receiving and being able to act upon information from our dreams is a valuable skill. And it is potentially available to all of us. I’d call that a blessing. Wouldn’t you?

A Different Kind of Dream? (BYB)

This is a reminder that there are different levels of dreaming. That is, we dream differently at different levels of sleep.

Hardly anyone can remember their dreams from the deepest levels of sleep, deeper than the normal rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep that most people think of as dreaming. At those deeper levels we do dream, but even in dream research labs the dreamers were able to recall only the faintest, vaguest wisps of dreams.

Most of us think of only the classic REM-sleep dreams as dreaming. Those are the dreams we have when we know we were asleep.

Many of us remember them vividly. And even those who don’t remember and claim not to dream at all have them. It appears that cats, dogs, and other animals have them, too.

But there are other kinds of dreams that occur at very shallow levels of sleep, when we are barely dozing. Often these are the problem-solving dreams. If you have ever waked up feeling as though you had worked all night, as though the night had been one long dream of working, you have probably experienced such dreams.

You may not have really thought of them as dreams. You may have just thought that you didn’t sleep well. Many of those dreams are simply your mind being unable to relax enough to go into a deeper sleep. Instead you are hashing over the days events and problems ahead, because you can’t let go.

If you pay attention, you may find that you wake up with the solution to your problem. That makes it sort of worth waking up tired, don’t you think?

In an earlier post, I mentioned getting creative ideas and solving work problems in dreams. I think some people thought I meant the REM “real” dreams, but generally I didn’t. The very shallow-sleep dreams—and even the reverie or half-asleep stage as you drift off to sleep or slowly awaken can be extremely productive.

If you are able to awaken slowly, without an alarm or children, pets or spouse demanding your immediate attention, you may be surprised at the creative ideas and solutions to problems that you may wake up with.

If you can’t wake up slowly, it is best to concentrate on the time when you are drifting off to sleep. Train yourself to remember all the images and ideas that come as you are falling asleep. You may find that some of them are answers to questions that are on your mind.

Sometimes you can drift into a similar, valuable reverie where you get creative ideas if you can completely relax. Medication, yoga, massage, all kinds of things can help you reach that relaxed, creative state.

Here is an example of a problem-solving dream. This week I had promised to create a flyer for my drum teacher to take to an audition or “showcase” where he will be performing in hopes of getting more drumming gigs. He needed a bio (professional biographical information) with a photo and contact information.

I have photos of him, and I’ve written a lot of flyers and blurbs and things about him, but I still didn’t know what to do. He left it open to do whatever I wanted, but it just wasn’t coming together in my head. It would not gel.

I had promised to get it to him on Saturday or Sunday, so I “hardly slept” Friday night. I woke up with the feeling that I had worked on the project all night. But I had an idea! I knew what I wanted to do, and I got it done Saturday morning.

So that “sleepless night” (which was not really sleepless, just mostly troubled dozing) was very valuable. I woke up with my idea and thought, “What a blessing!” So I thought I’d share it with you.

Look carefully at your dreams, even the ones that don’t feel like normal dreaming. Pay attention even to the ones that feel like “daydreaming” just before or after sleep. If you do, often you may find them to be valuable.

Sweet dreams!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Creative Dreaming While Half Awake

Many of us dream of work. Unfortunately those are often anxiety dreams. Some result from working too many hours with not enough sleep.

Sometimes we are neither completely asleep nor completely awake all night. Instead, we may be endlessly hashing over work problems and tensions, unable to let go and really sleep. Sometimes we are kept from true sleep and true dreaming just by knowing that the alarm clock will be disrupting our sleep in all too short a time.

But work need not be a destroyer of sleep and rest. And those half-awake states can be put to positive use. Dream states of all kinds can be useful sources of creative ideas and problem-solving.

I get some of my best creative ideas in the half-awake reverie between dreaming and waking. I also often get creative answers to questions or problems. Usually I remember them, too.

(Isn’t it frustrating to sometimes remember that you had a great idea or found a solution to a problem while dozing but then not be able to remember what it was?)

The most productive times seem to be just before falling asleep and just before getting up. In fact, sleeping late can sometimes be a very productive time for working on creative projects and solutions. Somehow, being awakened in the night—for whatever reason—does not seem to be conducive to creative dreaming for me.

How about you? What is your experience with finding creative solutions while dreaming in a half sleep or lightly dozing reverie?

Dream Answers | Blog Your Blessings

You really can get answers to your questions in dreams. But dreaming does not always require that you be asleep.

Your subconscious mind knows many things that you do not. So if you are wondering about something (that you cannot simply ask about or look up somewhere), allow yourself to fall into a reverie (dreaming state) either right before you fall asleep or just as you are waking up.

Often the answer will be shown to you. Usually it will be visual, but sometimes you may hear a voice, or “just know.”

Being able to tap into the wisdom of the subconscious mind is something that I consider a blessing. Try it, and see how it works for you.