Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming Tutorial
Here is an article I just wrote for Thelemic Magazine "The Current"
Thought I might air it here first for a sneak peek......
How To Lucid Dream Part 3.
HOW TO W.I.L.D – Gateway to Out Of Body Experiences
As has become a tradition with this article series, let us start with a quote. Here is what Andrew Chumbley says in his Azoetia on how Lucid Dreaming is the gateway to our Lady Nuit, the continuity of existence…
“It is taught that the Primal Goddess is to be invoked at the meetingplace
of three roads. This teaching is a hieroglyph, symbolizing the meeting-
place or junction of the three states of Awareness (sleeping, dreaming,
waking), where it is said the Gateway unto the Continuity of Existence
lies. This 'Continuity' is the Deity of which the Goddess is the feminine
aspect.
“By dreams shall ye come unto Dreams”
In this article we will explore the more advanced technique for Lucid Dreaming.
The Wake Induced Lucid Dream (WILD) is the ability to hold onto your consciousness as you start to dream. The DILD (Dream Induced Lucid Dream) method taught in the previous article is fine, but a little hit or miss. It relies on the dreamer’s ability to recognize a “dream sign” and then question whether they are in a dream or the wake world. Your dream signs will not appear in every dream, and you will not always recognize them when they occur.
Also, with the DILD, you are already deep in the dream world. Becoming lucid and staying lucid is a struggle – many dreamers remember becoming lucid and then set off flying or exploring their dream – but slip back into “free dreaming” and lose control.
The WILD technique takes lucid dreaming to a whole new level. Once mastered it greatly increases your success rate and also offers you much greater and richer experiences as you are able to maintain your waking consciousness within the dream for much longer, up to an hour or more for those well experienced.
WILDing requires that you wait for your body to fall asleep, and for your subconscious mind to start to dream. As you start to dream the conscious mind can “step” into the dream and take control. This occurs at the “wake/sleep” boundary – and a skilled practitioner can hover in this state that is neither wakefulness nor deep sleep for many hours of Lucid Dreaming experiences. I myself can have 4-5 experiences a night when I make the attempt – split 50/50 between OOBEs and quality Lucids.
When you are successful then one of two results will occur. You will either “step” into a dream fully lucid or have an Out Of Body Experience.
The technique is actually quite simple – however it is hard to master.
Why so hard? Three Reasons…..
1) The Hypnopompic state and its other worldly phenomenon.
2) The Lust of Result.
3) Making your attempt at the right time.
Hypnopompic Phenomenon
The Hypnopompic state occurs at the wake/sleep boundary. As we begin to dream our mind “locks down” the body. We enter what is known as Sleep Paralysis. Normally this occurs while we are already asleep. If we manage to hold onto our consciousness while our body falls asleep then we get to experience Sleep Paralysis as it kicks in. Often it feels like a strong buzzing that spreads over the whole body, and then increases in power almost like our bodies have become an electrical generator of huge power. People find this state terrifying, especially if the try to move and find they cannot. This state is traditionally referred to as “the vibrations”.
If this was not bad enough, then there are other equally bizarre phenomenons that normally occur before sleep paralysis, these are called the Hypnopompic Hallucinations. As your subconscious mind starts to dream, and your conscious mind is still awake, then the two mind states start to brush against each other. You will therefore suddenly hear a snatch of the sound track of the dream the subconscious mind is already busy with. These can be visual too, one second you are in bed, and then suddenly you are just somewhere else. It feels like teleportation and is almost impossible to describe, and can be very unsettling. The hallucinations can also be tactile – sometimes you feel as though someone has touched or grabbed you.
Some scientists believe that the hypnopompic state is responsible for many reports of haunting, night horrors, succubus, incubus, etc. These audio, visual and tactile events are so real that it is easy to see how they would be terrifying to those who were ignorant of the mechanisms at work.
These phenomenons, even to those who are aware that they will experience them, can cause the heart rate to race and so lose the “wake/sleep” boundary. Learning to become ambivalent, even welcoming, of these events is a hard won skill.
Luckily the occultist should have a head start. It is written “Fear not at all…”. The Thelemic occultist should be able to accept, dismiss and even enjoy these transitional events.
Lust For Result
Some want to achieve Astral Projection or Lucid Dreaming so badly that they lie awake in a state of anxious excitement or anticipation. This causes an increased heart rate (even if only subtly so) and is enough to keep them from achieving the wake/sleep boundary, until they eventually fall into an exhausted sleep or abandon the attempt in frustration.
As it is written “for pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect”. Every good magician knows and understands the import of this wisdom. There can be no finer example of the focused yet ambivalent disciplined act of will than that required for waking entry into the dream state.
Making Your Attempt At The Right Time
As discussed during my first article, at the start of the night we are programmed to slip into deep non-REM sleep where dreaming does not occur. We dream in approx 90 minute cycles. The night’s early cycles are mostly Non-REM sleep with a little REM sleep at the end of each cycle. After three or so cycles the balance shifts and we mostly REM sleep for the balance of the night where dreaming occurs freely.
Many who attempt the WILD technique for Lucid Dreaming or Out Of Body Experiences do not realize this, and make a WILD attempt at the start of the night when they first go to bed.
Successful WILD practitioners know to set their alarms to rouse them after 5 hours of sleep – this is when successful attempts are made OR when dozing early morning after a good night’s sleep.
In Service To The Order
Secretary, Aum Ha Lodge
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