Dream Temple
To Dream is to awaken the soul
It is to set free the mind and spirit
and to sail on a journey of hope.
To Dream is to build castles out of clouds
and realities out of wishes.
It is to give meaning to the word belief.
To Dream is to hear music in the silence of thought
To privately dance to the sound of violins
or the beat of a pounding drum.
To Dream is to abandon the fear of limitation,
And to boldly embrace each day as a miraculous adventure.
To Dream is to taste magic, to know passion,
and to be unafraid to trust in the wisdom of the heart.
To Dream is to see beyond the horizon,
and to know that we are capable of anything our hearts desire.
Below you will find Dream Ritual practices for creating Sacred Sleep. We invite you to take this in and create your own Sacred Sleep practices, sharing with the circle anything that arises from the Dream Realm and any details of your practice that you feel want to be woven into our collective awareness.
Here is a guided meditation to listen to as you wake to help recall your dreams from the night before.
Sacred Sleep
Notes from Dreaming the Divine: Techniques for Sacred Sleep by Scott Cunningham tailored to the 13 Moon Mystery School Embodied Alchemist Circle
Sacred sleep is that which occurs following a ritual request for a divinely inspired dream. The term includes ritual preparations, pre-sleep rituals, sleep itself, and the recording of dreams as well as their interpretation. Sacred sleep is a specific ritual act. Though we can experience divine dreams at any time, only those created as a result of this process are considered to be the products of sacred sleep—and can become a practice we can deepen with to nurture our connection with the Divine.
Sacred sleep is one of the oldest forms of personal spirituality. It recalls a time when religion was not a monotheistic, monolithic, patriarchal business. In earlier days, the veil that separated our world from the realm of the goddesses and gods was thin. Creating sacred sleep rituals in your life can assist in reestablishing that direct connection with the Divine.
“Sleep itself can be a spiritual & ritual act, for our personal deities can visit us in our Dreamtime. During sleep, we enter into an alternate state of consciousness in which we’re more easily approached by our goddesses and gods. Based on three millennia of the continuous use of similar rites, sleep is elevated from a necessary period of mental and physical rest to a higher purpose.
Reveal yourself to me and let me see
A favorable dream.
May the dream I dream be favorable, May the dream I dream be true,
May Mamu, the Goddess of Dreams Stand at my head;
Let me enter E-Saginaw, the temple of the gods Or the house of Life.
-Ancient Assyiran Dream Prayer
The Mysteries of Dreams
The Two Minds: Mystics throughout the ages have postulated that we have two minds: the conscious mind, which we use during our daily activities, and the subconscious (psychic mind) which is in control during sleep. The conscious mind is proficient at adding figures, reading, theorizing, instructing the body in performing tasks, driving, etc. It awakens with us and slips into repose during the night. It is concerned with the material world, with verbal and written communications, financial matters and other worldly concerns. When we’re awake, the conscious mind often blocks communications with the subconscious mind. It simply doesn’t allow information from the other mind to intrude in our waking life (until we develop that capacity). This is a direct result of the many teachings we receive early in life to “Pay attention”, “Don’t dilly dally!”, “Concentrate.”
Symbolism is the language of the subconscious mind. They usually appear as veiled messages, and they are the language of dreams. Our personal dream languages differ from those we use in everyday language and thought. Fortunately, they posses their own structures and logic. Each person’s inner being, emotions, spirituality, and personal experience determines the nature of his or her dream symbols. Not all Dream symbols are meaningful, but all meaningful dream symbols are direct attempts to speak to our conscious minds.
Types of Dreams:
1. Natural Dreams: Wish fulfillment, fantasy and entertainment dreams. These are created by our wishes and hopes, information derived from books and movies, and magazines.
2. Psychic Dreams: Those which present information regarding future events from as-yet unexplained sources. These messages aren’t received through the five “normal” senses but through the subconscious (psychic) mind. The theory behind these dreams is that psychic information is received by the subconscious mind during sleep. The mind then translates the information into meaningful symbols, perhaps by constructing a mental image similar to that received in the message. Alternately, the message can be in the form of words spoken by a familiar or unknown person. Psychic dreams are rather rare, though most of us have experienced at least one.
3. Telepathic Dreams: First expressed by the Greek scientist Democritus, who wrote that dreams could be the result of “emanations” from other persons and objects entering the consciousness during sleep. Thought messages received from dying relatives or endangered friends could trigger dreams.
4. Astral Projection Dreams: Most ancient cultures saw sleep as a period when the human soul was temporarily released from the physical body. In sleep, the soul wandered, exploring this and other worlds, meeting with deities and other human souls. This ancient concept is known as astral projection. Such dreams are often highly “improbable” in the 3D realm.
5. Divine Dreams: Dreams that are given by the dreamer’s personal deity or deities. Sleep is the perfect time for deities to make their presence known and to offer comfort or guidance, because the doubting mind is stilled. The body is motionless. The subconscious mind is in full operation, and thus can easily be open to receiving messages. Divine dreams can occur on any given night, without warning. Some cultures throughout history also supported the use of magical/religious rites to create divine dreams in times of need. Such dreams could also be inspired by sleeping in temples.
Dream Incubation or Sacred Sleep
Dreams were so highly valued as divine messages that dream temples enjoyed enormous popularity in the ancient worlds of Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome. In fact, there were thousands of temples dedicated to this art.
Dream incubation (from the Latin word incubare) is a technical term describing the creation of sacred dreams for a specific purpose: healing, advice, glimpses of the future, projection, conception of children, battle plans, and a host of other reasons. Every free citizen could visit a temple, make an offering and spend the night on divine ground. Dream incubation even continues as a structured religious practice in contemporary Japan.
Dream Deities
In common with most other cultures, Babylonians and Assyrians assigned dreams to specific deities. Among those were the goddess Mamir otherwise known as Mamu and Mami, who was known as a divine midwife), Zakar-an emissary of the Moon god Sin, and Zakar-mas-ge. Overseeing them all was Shamash, god of the Sun, Lord of Vision, the divine creator of all dreams.
Ishtar was also known to visit kings in dreams, to lend advice and relay battle plans. Her fame in this context may be in some way related to her Lunar associates, for as the moon brings light to the darkened nighttime sky, Ishtar brings enlightenment to Her worshippers in the night.
A special class of Akkadian priestesses (sa’iltu) were specialists of dream interpretation. These priestesses were found in the earliest times in Babylonian culture.
Greek dream incubation (enkoimisis) the practice of visiting sacred places with the intention of receiving a useful, inspired dream, was greatly influenced by similar practices in of the Egyptians and Babylonians. Most of the settings for these temples and sanctuaries were of great natural beauty, far from the cares of everyday life, and the structures themselves were of inspiring design. Such temples became so popular that there were 420 dedicated to the dream-healing. Asclepius and many others were in continuous use for over a thousand years, well into the Hellenistic period of Greek history. Visiting a dream temple was one of the most popular religious rites of the time. There were two main forms of dream-directed healing therapies in Greece—the first dedicated to Asclepius, and the second to Hippocrates.
Purification ceremonies would take place when a dreamer arrived, usually including ritual bathing, anointment with oils, and the burning of frankincense. The administration of sleep-inducing mixtures was also a part of pre-incubatory rituals. The dreamers were led into the temples inner sanctum to come face to face with a large statue of the deity. Sometimes if healing was requested in the Dreamtime, the dreamer would touch the part of their body they desired healing on the statue. Finally, they were dressed in a white garment (thought to induce dreams) and went to sleep in the temple. In the morning, the priestess and priestesses would interpret the dreams received by the dreamer, as well as any healing cures provided by the deity.
Preparations for Sacred Sleep:
Since sacred sleep is an act of union with our deities or divine nature, it’s wise to ensure we’re in a clear, calm and focused spiritual state before retiring. Below are suggestions for sacred sleep, and know that your actual preparations are completely unique to you. Listen to your own intuition to discover unique details that your Self is asking for in this practice.
Timing:
-A Feast Day or Turning of the Wheel may be a special time for a sacred sleep ritual.
-Cycles - particularly related to the body: using your own moon cycle & menstruation period for sacred sleep as it is often a time of greatly enhanced connectivity with realms beyond the veil.
-Using the Phases of the Moon to determine when to practice; for the Moon has a significant effect on the body, mind & emotions. Here are some suggestions for using the Moon to practice sacred sleep:
Waxing Moon:
Questions involving new ventures, creativity, fertility, growth, healing, love, joyous emotions, relationships, conception, childbirth, babies in general, families & money.
Full Moon:
Questions on all and gaining insight for the “harvest” of the previous moon cycle.
Waning Moon:
Questions regarding the past, past lives, wisdom, sources of knowledge, endings & completions, letting go, release.
-It is also important to be able to awaken naturally and slowly the next morning. Ancient texts confirm that most divinely inspired dreams occur in the last few hours of sleep, when the soul is most free of mundane influences. Having an alarm clock or a child jolt you from sacred sleep may prevent the receiving of an important dream. Be as considerate as you can to create a sacred space and time to wake from your ritual whenever possible.
Diet:
-Eat lightly before dusk prior to sacred sleep. Eat nothing after sundown. Fasting often increases activity in the dream realm and heavy meals and meats tend to distract the psychic mind.
-Easily digested foods are ideal, such as fish and lightly steamed vegetables. If you are calling in the frequency of a particular deity, you can see what foods are associated with them and prepare a meal invoking that archetypal presence with food as sacrament.
-Certain drugs inhibit dreams, including alcohol and sleeping pills.
Create Your Own Dream Ritual:
Structure of Dream Rituals may Include:
Composing a question to carry into the dream realm
Composing a prayer
Purification: Bathing & Anointing
Prepare Your Body Temple: You may wish to wear a special garment or nothing at all, turn off your WiFi
Prepare Your Bedroom Temple: Smudge your bedroom, Change the Sheets, Create an Altar, Choose Crystals to place in bed or hold in your hands as you fall asleep.
Candlelight & Offerings - as you invoke the elements & directions, perhaps light incense.
Assume a Ritual Sleep Posture (if a specific mudra comes through for you) & Relax Your Body Completely.
Sleep
Dream
Other Details to Induce Deep Sleep:
-Practice Yoga Nidra before bedtime and after eating.
-Make your bath warm but not hot, to relax stiff muscles and add lavender oil to the bath water. Hot water tends to invigorate the heart, so warm is best for inducing rest.
-Tie up any combination of these herbs into a washcloth or piece of muslin and add it to the bath while the water is running: chamomile, sage, passionflower, lemon balm, lavender.
-Drink a calming tea such as chamomile or Tulsi (holy basil).
-Place a few drops of lavender oil to your pillows or create a sachet to place near your head by sewing a small square of muslin into a square with the following dried herbs inside: lemon balm, lavender, hops.
-Before bed, spend 10 minutes quietly sitting and reflecting on your actions of the day. Then drop into empty presence.
-When you get into bed, spend a few minutes reflecting on the day’s events in reverse order. This will help clear the mind of needing to ‘file’ and sort through your day as you fall asleep.
-The following crystals can be held or placed beside your bed: amethyst, aquamarine, blue tourmaline, kunzite, moonstone, lepidolite, peridot. All of these produce restful sleep.
-Visualize a place of blues, greens, and silvers. Move slowly through this place (it could be a forest at night with the moon shining above) just before you are going to sleep.
Dawn’s Light:
Waking is the moment of greatest importance to all who work with dreams. During these fleeting seconds, our psychic minds transfer to our conscious minds a fairly clear and comprehensive memory of the previous night’s dreams. Each moment that elapses after waking allows the conscious mind to twist or distort the dream.
Therefore, it’s best to record all dreams immediately upon waking. The most efficient means of recording dreams is a dream diary. The more blank and free of imagery and words the journal is, the better, so that there is nothing to distract you from the content of the dream.
Keep your diary and a pen on a table beside the bed. If you wear glasses, place them beneath the diary before sleep, so you have to first touch the diary before securing your lenses. You may also wish to place a flashlight beside the diary for recording dreams if you wake in the night.
There are plenty of apps used for recording dreams (inducing Dream) that have a black screen with white writing that keeps the blue light from entering in the middle of the night. Still, the EMF’s from a phone or device can hamper with the clarity of dreams, so try using a true written dream diary to see the difference for you. Though it may be subtle, many of the clues from the dream realm are also subtle and easier to capture in form when we are as clear as possible.
Upon waking, don’t leave your bed. Lie still for a few moments and mentally allow the space of the Dreamtime to open. Breathe in and expand the space around the dream. Like wild animals, dreams don’t like to be chased. Allow them to come forward and reveal themselves to you; even in small details. Write down any of the clues you receive, allowing all of your senses to come alive as you evoke the dream.
You can also use the recorded breath journey to deepen into the realm between worlds and recover any clues of your dreams.
Make a list of the dream symbols you receive, including any of the following:
Emotional Tone: Was the dream joyous? Peaceful? Contemplative? Exciting? Frightening? Uplifting? Refreshing? Stressful? Spiritual? Secretive? Determining the dream’s emotional tone can have a great bearing on the dream’s interpretation.
Location: Was the dream at home? In a temple? A field of grass? A city? Was it inside or outside? Describe the landscape the dream carried you through. Have you visited this place in waking consciousness? It is a place of your dreams that you go to often? Did there seem to be no location?
Time of Day & Celestial Phenomena: Was it dawn? Morning? Dusk? Day? Night? Was the moon visible? If so, which phase? Was there an eclipse? Lunar rainbows?
Elemental Forces: Was it raining? Stormy? Sunny? Cloudy? Snowy? Foggy? Misty? Icy? Windy? Did dew cover the plants? Did lightning flash in the sky? Was it humid? Hot? Cold? Were the elements present in any other ways?
Your Personal State: What was your health in the dreams? Emotion? Relationships?
Follow your intuition to weave the meaning of this dream into the greater light loom. Share your dreams with the circle and watch synchronicity unfold!
Further Reading on Dreams: (Please note I have not read these myself to be able to offer my suggestions, so follow your intuition here!)
Alder, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon.
Artemidorus. The Interpretation of Dreams (Oneirocritica).
Alexander Borbley. Secrets of Sleep
Ernest Busenbark. Symbols, Sex and the Stars in Popular Belief.
Georges Contenau. Everyday Life in Babylon and Assyria.
Richard Corriere, Karle Werner, Lee Woldenberg & Joseph Hart. Dreaming & Waking: The Functional Approach to Dreams.
David Coxhead & Susan Hiller. Dreams: Visions of the Night.
William Domhoff. The Mystique of Dreams: A Search for Utopia Through Senoi Dream Therapy
Christopher Evans. Landscapes of the Night: How and Why We Dream.
Patricia Garfield. Creative Dreaming. The Healing Power of Dreams. Women’s Bodies, Women’s Dreams.
