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I am working on a book of Lovecraftian Magic. I thought I would share a
chapter with you. Please help spot typoes, and offer any thoughts you feel
might make it a better book.
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Dream and Trance Work
For this section I am deeply indebts to Lady Aphanos, the mistress of
dreaming. Without her years of research and development the Yuggothic
magician would have many fewer tools. Her name can be used as a Saint in
the Mass of the Outer Hells. H. P. Lovecraft, as we have seen, drew some of
his best work from dreams. Dreams are the way our selves unite three
things. Firstly the mind-body complex is sifting through the day. We've
been taught to think that we observe everything that is important. That's
because of the billions of neural signals we receive every minute we have to
choose which ones to pay attention to. But it is so important to take a
second look at the unspeakable richness of the world just for the sake of
our survival - our bodies must take the time to lay down - undefended -
every night for a second pass. Our success as a species comes from
dreaming. The second thing our minds do is simulate the future. This
process is going on all the time. Humans simulate all the time. I don't
have to make tuna and garlic ice cream to know it will taste awful. I
simulate. Good simulators become good leaders, good scientists, good
artists. The third function of dreaming is our psyche - our Old One
heritage - expressing its voice in deciding what has happened and what
should happen. The non-natural part of ourselves melds with the natural
part in dreams, which is why they seem weird. The non-natural part of
ourselves can communicate through symbols and images. Many of these symbols
are remnants of other magical Workings, Jung called this the collective
unconscious. Some of these images are items we have picked up from films or
art - often times without knowing we did so. As the body-mind complex puts
these three streams together, the body's state slips in. So if we need to
urinate, we dream of bathrooms. An overly hot blanket can make us dream of
fire and so forth.
Once you have established your unbending Intent to become an Old One, you
can use each of these four factors to make your dreams into something
magically potent (as well as fun and more refreshing). It is sad that the
Old Way of Thinking makes me list "fun" separate from magically potent. In
the New Way of Thinking you would know those things were the same. I will
share a quote from a distinguished Jungian, than I will talke about
dream-work and the last of the chapter I will talk about trance work. The
following is an excerpt from "Man and His Symbols", and is taken from the
essay "The Process of Individuation" by M. L. von Franz. It lends itself
particularly well to dream work:
"This inner center is realized in exceptionally pure, unspoiled form by the
Naskapi Indians, who still exist in the forests of the Labrador peninsula.
These simple people are hunters who live in isolated family groups, so far
from one another that they have not been able to evolve tribal customs or
collective religious beliefs and ceremonies. In his lifelong solitude the
Naskapi hunter has to rely on hs own inner voices and unconscious
revelations; he has no religious teachers who tell him what he should
believe, no rituals, festivals, or customs to help him along. In his basic
view of life, the soul of man is simply an "inner companion", whom he calls
"my friend" or Mista'peo, meaning "Great Man." Mista'peo dwells in the heart
and is immortal; in the moment of death, or shortly before, he leaves the
individual, and later reincarnates himself in another being.
"Those Naskapi who pay attention to their dreams and who try to find their
meaning and test their truth can enter into a deeper connection with the
Great Man. He favors such people and sends them more and better dreams. Thus
the major obligation of an individual Naskapi is to follow the instructions
given by his dreams, and then to give permanent form to their content in
art. Lies and dishonesty drive the Great Man away from one's inner realm,
whereas generosity and love of one's neighbors and of animals attract him
and give him life. Dreams give the Naskapi complete ability to find his way
in life, not only in the inner world but also in the outer world of
nature..."
The aim of dream work is four fold. Firstly you wish to increase
the accuracy and efficacy of your memory. Dreaming is when your mind-body
complex selects what to remember and how to index it. Secondly you will
wish to travel both in the Earth's dreamland, but also to the outer hells.
Thirdly you will wish to send and receive dreams. Fourthly you will wish to
obtain practical advice on current problems.
There are steps in dream work, I will deal with each.
a.. Remembering your dreams
b.. Bringing control to your dreams
c.. Sharing your dreams
d.. Sending your dreams
e.. Receiving dreams
Remembering your dreams. We are taught not to remember dreams.
Dreams, as Marie L. Von Franz says, lead to individuation. "Individuation"
is not a desirable commodity in either capitalist or socialist states.
People who discover what they desire may not be desiring the cheaply
produced product or the state-mediated reality. They may want to do strong
things like leave work when work is done and so sit in a tranquil garden.
So dreams aren't culturally encouraged. However you dream for reasons
beneficial to you - and your body-mind will be delighted if you restore
their function to your life. Here are things that will help. Since dreams
process your daily activities, do some things everyday to seed your dreams.
Dreamers reports that turning on or off a light has not effect in a dream.
Tap into this by thinking slow and loud when you switch a light on or off in
the waking world. "Hmm the light came on (or off) I am not dreaming." When
you process this in your dream state it will kick you toward consciousness.
Likewise most dreamers discover that they cannot read a book in a dream.
The words change and flow as they look at them. When reading a book in
normal consciousness, think slow and loud, "The words are not changing I
must be awake." This too will kick you toward lucidity. When setting up
dreaming it helps if you practice with this book as your text, or books on
dreaming or stories from the Cthulhu Mythos.
Other helps to setting up dreaming include modifying your environment.
Napping at unusual times or places is a great stimulant. Wearing thick
socks may help. Make your sleeping area clean and uncluttered and think of
it as an altar. Burning incense in the place you sleep is a good idea.
Particularly helpful are mugwort, blue lotus or copal. Avoid thins which
hurt your dreams. You should avoid excessive alcohol which interferes with
the sleep pattern. Don't spend the last few minutes before sleep paying
bills or having an encounter with some one that disturbs you. This will
focus your dreams on unpleasant matters,
Once you have the above procedures in effect, you can seed your body with a
simple water rite. Purchase some Melatonin at your local drugstore.
Melatonin is a powerful anti-oxidant produced by animals' pineal gland. It
protests and stimulates mitochondrial DNA. The pineal gland is the remnant
of the third eye that amphibians had briefly during Cthulhu's reign, and
mitochondria are the bacteria that teamed up with cellar life to produce
their energy fields in the primeval ocean. Look it up. Buy a tall glass
(see the chapter on working tools) that you use only for this. Just before
bed light a black or dark green candles and stand in front of a mirror.
Fill your glass with water (or a fruit flavored water pomegranate is a good
choice). Gaze at yourself in the mirror and say, "I love you. I love what
you are about to become. Tonight I will dream. Tonight I will remember my
dreams. Hail Cthulhu High Priest of the Old Ones I seek your congress of
oeneric magics! Tomorrow I will Remanifest my dreams." Take the Melatonin
and drink the all the water, gazing into the mirror as much as possible. Go
to your bed. Close your eyes and take deep breathes while you smell the
perfume of your room.
At first you may remember only fragments of your dreams. Likewise your
first dreams will be of sex and flying. Enjoy them. Flying dreams partake
of the rune Zin and sex Nyar. When rise to pee, write down or record what
you remember. Do not put your raw dreams in your Book, many of your dreams
will not touch on your Initiation. When you are remembering your dreams
fairly often, you may discontinue the Melatonin. You are ready for the nest
step.
Bringing control to your dreams. I am about to speak heresy in New Age
thinking. "Lucidity" is not the be all and end all in dreaming. Most
modern dream books will give the aim of total dream control as the great
goal. I disagree, you need your dreams not simply to be an extension of
your daytime mind. If you are dreaming of a forest and a beautiful woman in
white appears holding the Holt Graal - you do not want to have sex with her
just because you can control your dreams. You want your dreams to enable
you to integrate and support yourself, exchange energy and essence with
other humans sorcerers, and finally to exchange energy and essence with the
great old ones. As you develop your dreaming skills you will discover your
own techniques, but there are three beginning steps that will work with
everyone - sorting your conscious material, creating a dream caller, and
uttering the dream invocation.
Tibetan dream yoga derives from Bon. Bon is a creation of native Tibetan
shamanism that blended with Zuvanism (a branch of Iranian thought related to
Zoroastrianism) and Indian Shavism (the Left Hand Path Tantra of
Shiva-worshipers). It predates Tibetan Buddhism and has been hard-hit by
the Communist regime. About ten percent of Tibetans still follow its ways,
and its study is useful for almost all occultists. Dream yoga acknowledges
that dreams are largely processing the material of the day - the karmic
traces of life. Lets say on your morning run you pass a house where you can
hear shouting. This triggers your memories (some accessible and some
repressed) of listening to your Dad and Mom shout. This is connected with
deep emotions, whether or nor not you have "dealt with these issues." So
that night you will have a crazy dream mixing up Dad shouting and the house
you ran by and the green Volkswagen that drove by you didn't even notice.
Unless you feel you are needing to deal with those issues right now - here
is what you do. When you hear the shouting think "This is not real
shouting, this is dream shouting." That labels the material as something
you don't need to process. Likewise you can diffuse trivia in your life.
Did the boss tick you off this morning? Think "This is not real anger.
This is dream anger." This will give you a very calm appearance in your
day-to-day life as well as lowering your blood pressure and other signs of
stress. This is first part of choosing your material. The second part is
inviting things into your dreams. If you see something spectacular and rare
you can add it to your dreamscape. One in a Maui I saw three separate
rainbows on a volcanic cliff with the faineance green Pacific around the
rocky crag. I knew I wanted that in my dreamworld, so I said, "I welcome
your beauty into my dreams!" Then I changed my dream preparation that night
to add "Tonight I will dream of the three rainbow mountains." Now, as is so
common in dreaming, I did not dream of the mountain that night - it took
almost a month for it to arrive in the dreamworld.
Making a dream summoner helps focus your dreams. At first a generic summer
will do well. Later when you are attempting to contact a person or god you
will wish to make a special purpose device. One of the goals of dreaming is
to realize that your day-to-day consciousness is a focused dream. The mind
you have created to deal with the Objective World is a dream-construct.
When you begin to feel this in your soul, you will cease to fear death,
because you will realize the Old One's promise is of immortal life - not of
the dull stasis of harps and clouds vaguely promised by the Christian faith,
but a series of worlds and planes of action and ecstasy. Your time here
should one of gathering experiences of many sorts, strengthening your mind
by reason and schooling, and strengthening your Imagination. One of the
oldest known symbols of the Dreamer and the Dreamed is a Chumash Indian rock
painting. You should acquire a piece of parchment and reproduce the
painting with ink or paint. Don't worry about your artistic skill, it is
better that you do it yourself. Beneath the paintings write in Nug Soth
runes. "I Cthulhu Dream of Me." Place the summoner under your bed near
your head.
((Insert painting with runes))
As one begins to dream, most dream books suggest that you carry
out an action to take some of your awareness into the dream realms. Carlos
Castaneda suggests looking at one hands. Yuggothik magic has a slightly
more difficult task. We strive (at first ) to utter a simple invocation in
a dream. This serves three purposes. Firstly it makes us aware of dreaming
and that we can act in dreams. Secondly it establishes a magical link
between dream consciousness and the great old ones. Thirdly it links us to
other sorcerers past, present and in the Is-To-Be that work in this current.
The phrase is short, and honors the Cthulhu,"Great God of the Labyrinth, I
dream of you, you dream of me!" These thirteen words are tied to the
thirteen runes written upon the brow of the Black Flame of Desire in her
form as the Scarlet Woman. After you have some success at controlling your
dreams, you may wish to begin sharing your dreams with a group of Yuggothik
sorcerers. This may be a pre-made group like a magical lodge, Wiccan coven,
Church of Satan Grotto, Temple of Set Pylon or a group you create with
persistence and of course Craigslist.
Sharing your dreams. Among the reasons you might want to share your dreams
two stand out. If you establish a dream contact with somebody - you have a
deep alternate way to communicate with him or her. This can range from a
dream that they're in trouble and need your aid to simply understanding
emotional aspects about each other. The second reason is if you become
well-versed in creating a dream space with others while alive, you will have
a better chance of doing after death or in your next reincarnation. The
group should begin with a right to synchronize - if they are in one location
the Mass of the Outer Hells is the best. The procedures that follow are
very simple, but require great discipline and trustworthiness of the circle.
False "sutures" or claims of contact are not helpful and lead to delusions
or depressions. It is more important to know that if the magic is performed
in good faith, the results will occur. Here is the procedure to follow:
1. Pick a number of nights for the Dream Esbat, A good number
is four, following the schema of the rune reading. At first the group
purpose is simply to link up. Other Dream Esbats can be used to examine
questions such as "What is Immortality?"
2. Pick a reading material that people should read nightly. I
recommend "The Dream Quest of Unkown Kadath" for the first Esbat.
3. Although you have probably no longer need the Melatonin,
ater, and invocation method by now, you should all return to it for the
sesseion.
4. On the mirror you gaze into tape up photographs of other
members of your group.
5. Your Invocation should be "Reh.Reh.Reh.Reh. I send my
dreaming self through sea of awareness to ((Name of Group)) . I dream of
them, They dream of me. We shall remember our dreams. I learned this rite
from Cthulhu Itself. Nyar. Nyar. Nayr."
6. When you dream, go to your keyboard and type up the dream.
7. The next day e-mail your dream to everyone. Include
fragments and no result. Do Not Read the other's dreams until you have
posted yours.
8. The next night the dream leader will post synchronicities,
"Both Tom and Laura dreamed of going down steps. We all had a restaurant in
our dreams. Bill and Jose heard dogs barking in their dreams and were
awakened by dogs barking in their neighborhoods."
9. Read the leader's post before beginning the ritual that
night.
10. Repeat the cycle.
11. When the Esbat his done write down each of your dreams that
matched up with others in any way in your Book. Write any profound thought
you had either about yourself or Yuggothik magic during the Esbat as well.
12. For a short, but pre-determines time, say four days, do not
talk or e-mail other members of the group is possible. If you must talk
talk only about mundane things. Take down the photos of your friends, place
them in your Book.
13. On the fifth night after the Esbat, perform the following
invocation before going to sleep, "In the Name of the God of the Labyrinth,
who made Dreams and Nightmares as my ancestors' ancestors made fire and the
wheel, tonight I will synthesize the Dream Esbat of ((Insert Name of your
Group)) in my dreams. Hail Cthulhu High Priest of the Old Ones I seek your
congress of oeneric magics! Tomorrow I will Remanifest my dreams." Write
down any dreams you have.
After you have performed the Dream Esbat successfully here are some
questions you may with to pursue. Simple add the question to your
invocations: "What are other worlds like?" "How will we know each other
after death?" "What is the dream-world of cats like?" "What magical
techniques can we learn in R'yleh?" After you have some success with sharing
dreams with willing participants, you may wish to learn to send dreams.
Sending your dreams. Dreams may sent for amusement, for beneficial reasons
or as a curse. Practice with friends at first. Just try the method and see
if anyone mentions that they dreams of you. As you will have learned above
timing is not exact in the dream world. People process material at
different rates. You may be trying to get Laura to dream you on Monday, but
she processes the dream on Thursday. Again your precision and passion play
the greatest role.
The general procedure is this.:
1. For twenty four hours before the sending do not experience orgasm.
2. Avoid drink or pot or stimulants for twenty four hours.
3. Make a dream summoner that has their name written in Nug Soth Runes
and if possible a photo of the target. If you have anything else that
belongs to the target - hair, lipstick prints etc. Place these on your
dream summoner.
4. At your usual bedtime spend a few minutes quietly chanting their
name. Do this until your usual bedtime has passed.
5. Do your standard dream set-up for the invocation say: "My will is
great than ((Name of Target))'s will. He (she) dreams as I will him (her)
to dream. They process my thoughts. They process my images. Do As I Will
Is The Whole Of His (her) Law! Thus Cthulhu brought his cult to men, this I
bring my cult of (Name of Target)).
6. If the sending is erotic an act of masturbation tom orgasm should
follow.
7. As you fall asleep visualize the dream you wish them to have.
8. Write down dreams.
9. Observe the target.
10. After a two-day rest, repeat the procedure. This may be up to four
times.
11. As much as possible distract yourself when you start to think of the
procedure during the day. Forgetfulness of the operation is useful.
12. When the cycle of sendings is over dispose of the dream summoner in an
appropriate manner. If it was erotic masturbate and place sexual fluid on
the parchment, then "drown" it in red wine and rose petals and bury it. If
it was a curse burn the parchment while saying insulting things about the
target etc.
13. After 28 days write down results in your Book.
Dream sending can be used upon targets both living and dead. It can
positively effect coma victims or it can be used to drive tyrants to leap
from parapets. In effecting political change it can be done by a group
against a target. As always you can help your nighttime magic by daytime
activities like letter-writing and political protest.
After you have learned to send dreams, you are ready for the
most dangerous practice of all - receiving dreams.
Receiving dreams. The Old Ones do not only communicate on
one-to-one real time methods. Their communication with younger races is of
two types. The first type if the mythic and literary and magical artifacts
they inspire. They leave their shadows in the minds of creation outsider
souls. This is in no way to speak against the genius of the Lovecrafts, the
Bosches, the Clark Ashton Smiths, the Kennteh Grants, or Thomas Liggotis.
Each of these humans have given us shockingly well done pieces of realism.
The second way the Old Ones communicate with us is dreams. Their minds
often touch as nightmares or night terrors for their worlds, their essence
is overwhelmingly different than our own. It is because of the difference
of the Old Ones as=nd us that we have developed Imagination. Indeed true
consciousness would not be possible without the shock of their Otherness
spurring humankind to wonder what life is?
To receive a dream, you make a sash that you can wear. In the
center of the sash should be a pocket that you place either sigil of the
entity you wish to communicate with or its name written in Nug-Soth runes.
Here is the procedure you need to follow.
1. For five nights before you desire the dream you must awaken yourself
at an unlikely time. You nust rise from your bed and utter a brief
invocation. For example:
"Mighty Nyarlathotep, thou created communication from one ot another in the
great dark. Oh Haunter of the Dark I seek to know thee better! I would
praise thy Wisdom of Lord of the Third Angle. I would share my otherness
with you and have you share with me that we may grow wiser in all realms.
In shadowy Khem that walkest as man, and I would walk as a god in the Outer
Hells! Iä Nyarlathothep!" Place the sigil in your sash and return to bed.
2. Take naps at unusual times for the first four of the five days
proceeding seeking the dream. As you fall asleep (or try to) repeat the Old
One's name in your mind as a mantra.
3. On the day before you seek the dream, stay up as late as you can
reading everything you can about the entity to be invoked, watching films
and so forth. When you are very exhausted paint a dream summer with the
entities sigil and name in Nug Soth runes.
4. The day you seek the dream arrange for sometime to be alone about
mid-day. It does not have to be at your magical chamber. Say aloud in a
calm firm voice the reasons you seek the dream. Avoid any magical jargon.
For example:
"Tonight I hope my subconscious provides with a dream about Nyarlathothep, a
figure that Howard Phillips Lovecraft had a dream about. It is a symbol of
communication between the Old Ones, other sentient beings this magical
system postulates and us. I hope this dream will allow me to develop greater
skills in communication and ability to detect subtle messages. I believe
this will help me both in my mundane pursuits and the magical ones which I
indulge in for pleasure."
5. On the night you seek the dream paint the sigil of the entity you
seek upon your brow. Wear your sash. Create a dream invocation based on
ideas that have occurred to you in the last five days.
6. The dream may come later than you planned, when it comes ask the
entity what name you should call it, what magical techniques can it teach
you, and what you can do for it in the daytime world. Write the results
down in your book.
Now that you have the basics of dreaming down, I will give you six goals to
try for. As you achieve these write down the results in your Book. This
start will lead you to goals of your own. Afer this I will talk about
trance work.
1. Learn to use your dreams to find lost objects. This will sharpen
your ability to work with the objective universe with imagination and
para-senses.
2. Dream of your sleeping body. When this occurs it means you have
gathered your dream-awareness into a useable body and you can pursue Out of
the Body Experiences (OoBE)
3. Dream of R'lyeh. When you can dream of the sunken city you will soon
be able to find a Teacher - human or otherwise to take you to higher levels
of Initiation.
4. Visit others in your sleep in such way that they can sense your
presence.
5. Visit the past. Public parks where you can camp are useful tools.
One of the easiest things to visit at first is battlefields because of the
vast physic energy spent there.
6. Develop short stories and poems about the Mythos in your sleep that
you then publish. This enriches their lore.
A field closely aligned with dream work is trance work. It is called
variously "active Imagination, "setting-forth," "siedr," and vision work.
It consists of turning down the outside stimuli and focusing on the inner
world. It is a meditative technique that can be done by visualization,
automatic writing or
artistic activities such as dance, music, painting, sculpting, ceramics,
crafts, etc.. Doing trancework allows the thoughtforms of the unconcious
to act out whatever messages they are trying to communicate to the concious
mind. The key is to wathc the scene in your mind, see what changes rather
than trying to lead the results.
I will give a few of methods. Try placing a sigil or Nug Soth
rune where you can gaze at it. You should be fully or partially reclining.
Star intently at the figure for 13 breaths. Now close your eyes. Imagine
the figure expanding toward you until it touches you. Ask it, "What would
you show me?" See if pictures of scenes develop. A voice-activated recorder
may be used, if you do not wish to write up your results later.
Another useful technque is the Rite of Brown Jenkins. To work
this well you must have performed Workings in both an inside chmaber and an
outside location. Draw a doorway and hang inside your chamber. Place a
small bowl of milk under the figure. Say aloud, "In the name of
Nyaralothothep, I call my familiar to help escourt me." Imagine a small
rodent with human arms and face wlaking through the door. Imagine it
leading you through the door all the way to your outside working area.
Visulaize performimng a Working there. Repeat this often and your familiar
will be able to lead you to other more exotic places.
You may wish to try automatic writing. Some work with pen and
ink, others with computer keyboards. Sit down. Don't look at what you are
writing. Simply begin writing. If you start to look down, or you are
shaping your work too much say, "I have come from the world of the seven
suns, I am the Mighty messenger." And continue. Stop if you feel fatigued.
Some people have the knack, others get only gibberish.
Another method is Portal Building. Visit a site that speaks to
you of Mythos energy. Hide a sigil of one of the Old Ones. Later close
your eyes and visuliaze returning to that site. Do this at odd times of the
day. When you find you can do this with high degrees of accuracy, return to
remove your sigil. Take it to a secure place and write in Nug Soth runes,
"I wish this will grant me the powers of of ((Name of Old One))." Annoit it
with sexual fluids. Return to the site and bury or coceal the sigil. The
next time you visualize your retun to the site picture a great doorway
there. Pass through and you will meet the Old One, who will teach your
essence new points of assemblage. Note after such work your apperance may
alter slightly to resemble the Old One.
There are numerous tapes and CDs of music that induces trance.
Try your luck with them. Likwise there are commerical ventures that book
Peruvian trips to expereince ayahuasca ceremonies, which can be useful to
the more experienced practitioner.
As with all forms of Yuggothik magic, the magician should record
meaningful visions in your Book. At first a great deal of what you get may
be very low-level material. All your life you have been awash in a
media-heavy culture, and the first things to pour out of you will be
undigested bits of those control structures. This does not mean you do not
have uncovered wealth within you. One of the ways you are oppressed by our
society is by the layers of control you have absorbed that keep you merely
human. There has long been a war against the human race, mainly carried on
by the human race. The Old Ones aren't interested in liberating you, but
since they are related to you exposure to their Being will set you free.
You have greater cycles of being and pleasure to interact with than trying
to decide which soft drink you wish. Dream and Trance work will help awaken
you to possibilities, but beware its seductive side - it is easy to become a
Dream magician that looses the urgency to Transform yourself. Do not let
the new vistas that you glimpse simply become a more exotic form of sleep!
Dream and Trance work will enhance the ritual activities of this
book, but should not be thought of as a replacement for these activities.
The magician seeks not only to experience the signals the Old Ones send, but
to send signals of their own as well.
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