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Episode 38: Dreams & Lucid Dreaming
700 Plays2 years ago
Welcome back Witches! This week we're discussing Dreams & Lucid Dreaming. We're bringing in some scientifically backed information along with some carefully researched tips and tricks!! So get in losers, and lets discuss Dreams & Lucid Dreaming!!
We would be forever thankful if you left our podcast a 5-Star review. If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft or email us at weredoingwitchcraft@gmail.com. You can support our show through our
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
- Nichols, Hannah. What does it mean when we dream? (2018). Medical News Today. Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PHD/PsyD. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284378
- Cohut, Ph.D., Maria. Lucid Dreaming: Controlling the stories of sleep. (2020). Medical News Today. Medically reviewed by Raj Dasgupta, MD. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323077
- Zalot, Tabitha. Lucid Dreaming: Guide to Lucid Dreaming and How to Take Control of Your Dreams. (2015).
- Walker, Matthew (2017). Why Your Brain Needs to Dream. Greater Good Magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_your_brain_needs_to_dream
- Cherry, Kendra (2022). What is Lucid Dreaming? Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-lucid-dream-5077887
- Tanaaz. (n.d.). Visitation Dreams and how to know if you’ve had one. Forever Conscious. https://foreverconscious.com/visitation-dreams-know-youve-one
- Martinez, Napaquetzalli (2022). Ask a Witch: Lucid Dreaming for Beginners. Nylon. https://www.nylon.com/life/ask-a-witch-how-to-lucid-dream
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Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft in the occult, but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In Witches or We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about the craft.
Dreams and The Cranberries Song
00:00:16
Speaker
So get in witches as we discuss dreams and lucid dreaming.
00:00:48
Speaker
I have had this whole time since we've been like, uh, researching and stuff in this episode that Cranberry song dreams stuck in my head. I don't know. You know that song. Yeah.
00:01:07
Speaker
Dreams, like cranberries. Yeah. Like cranberries. Like cranberry. I love her voice. Oh, I do know this song. Yeah. I had to be like, hold on. But then it like clicked, like the lyrics clicked. You know, like when you hear an intro and then you can automatically like think of what the lyrics are going to be.
00:01:36
Speaker
Right. They just popped in and I was like, Oh yeah, that one. Yeah. So I've just been like playing that song over and over again. I know what
Spooky Podcast Experiences
00:01:47
Speaker
I haven't told you. I listened to that creepy episode that you had all those weird things. It played through
00:01:58
Speaker
I'm glad nothing happened. I'm not sure, but if you listen to any of the episodes afterwards, they constantly will reference that episode and they'll say another person listened to that episode and had some weird shit happen. And I'm like, this is nuts. I guess nothing weird out of the ordinary for the, for my house. Like, cause that, I think the same day as when those tiles fell off that cabinet, but I mean,
00:02:26
Speaker
We have weird ghosty shit happen like that all the time in this house. To be the Men in Black. No, I'm just kidding. No. Nothing out of the ordinary. I was half tempted to be like, let me research the Men in Black and see if anything happens. But I didn't have that kind of time last week. Right. Which, you know, I think that would be a great podcast episode. We should totally do that. But I will say, so when I was editing the Spooky Stories episode, because obviously this will come out way after the Spooky Stories episode.
00:02:54
Speaker
You guys will have heard that episode. And if you haven't, shame on you, go back and listen to it. I was like very anxious to see if like anything, like while we were talking about it, anything happened, but nothing did. Everything was great with the recording. And I'm just like, thank God, because I would be pissed if something did happen. And like, there was some glitches in the recording because I know my internet hasn't been like the best and that episode is along as hell.
00:03:24
Speaker
And it would have been terrible if some shit happens. Nothing spooky happened during it either.
00:03:33
Speaker
No, yeah. Except for my, I mean, just England though, but like, I just remember recording and I think I had to cut this out of the, which it'll be in a blooper episode for our supercast subscribers. But while we were recording that episode, it was so funny because I was in our spare room.
00:03:57
Speaker
And the light was off, but it's still light outside. But for whatever reason, the room got so black, it looked like I was on an episode of Ghost Adventures. Even my skin, it looked like it was black and white because I'm so pale compared to how pitch black the room was. I just remember sitting there like, did she turn the light off? I was thinking it because I was talking about something, but I was thinking, what just happened there?
00:04:23
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I'm going to have to like maybe even go back on the zoom recording for it and like take a little video, skip a video of it to show our listeners because it was so funny. And then I should remember being like, okay. Cause you were telling a spooky story and I had to just pick, hold on a second. Let me turn my light on. So, um, yeah.
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, that was really funny. That was funny.
Scientific Insights on Dreams
00:04:50
Speaker
So yeah, but anyways, talking about dreams today and lucid dreaming. I love this episode. This was a lot of fun to research. You know me, I love when there's like science backing to things and there's so much like scientific research done on dreams and lucid dreaming. Yes. This is just an episode again that just made my heart happy.
00:05:15
Speaker
I love being able to, as a health and wellness major, being able to go in and read medical research and just scientific research done on something because my job doesn't, I don't do those things anymore. So it's fun to get to do those things on the podcast every now and then. It is, yeah. I definitely miss doing that too.
00:05:38
Speaker
being out of school and not having to do that. But, and I will say too, just as like a quick little aside, if any of our listeners are really curious about dreams and want to maybe read up more about it, there's a really awesome book that I had read before and actually
00:05:59
Speaker
re-download it from our library app to listen to again, but I haven't started it yet. But researching this episode made me remember about this book and it's a really good book. It's called Why We Sleep and it is by Matthew Walker. He's a PhD and it is a really good book and it goes into like
00:06:21
Speaker
all about dreams and sleeping, why it's important and what it does for your body, what it does for your health and your mental health and everything. And so if you are curious about your dreams and sleeping or want to sleep better, just in general, that book is a great book. It's very insightful. Nice. I'll have to look that one up. It is good.
00:06:46
Speaker
So in today's episode, we're going to start off talking about dreams to kind of lay that foundation. And then we're going to follow it up with some lucid dreaming.
00:06:59
Speaker
So a dream can be defined as a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. It's believed that everyone dreams between three and six times per night and that each dream lasts between five and 20 minutes, but that around 95% of dreams are forgotten when we wake up.
00:07:18
Speaker
It is also believed that five minutes after a dream, you will have forgotten approximately 50% of its content and that number increases to 90% at 10 minutes post-dream. While studies have been done, it's unknown why our dreams are so hard to remember for some people. Yeah. And it's crazy cause like some people, my husband is one of those, he never remembers his dreams unless like if he, the only time he ever remembers his dreams, it's very few and far in between.
00:07:45
Speaker
But if he does remember it, it's usually like a terrible dream or like he has to wake up and write it down right then. That's the only way he'll remember it. Anthony remembers his
Purpose and Benefits of Dreaming
00:07:56
Speaker
dreams in detail. He can tell you like a full movie. And I'm like, that was just one dream. Right. It's like 45 minutes later and he's still explaining things like in detail, like the color and like the textures. And I'm like, damn dude. Okay.
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah. Then what happened? Yeah. Like the cinematic experience for me right now. I tend to remember my dreams as well. Like, I mean, and I'll talk about this later on in the episode, but like the dreams that I remembered that vividly in detail have been the visitation dreams that I've had, but all of my dreams for the most part, I remember them and I'll remember them like years later too. And I'm just like.
00:08:39
Speaker
Okay. But it's weird to me, like being married as someone who doesn't remember their dreams at all. And it's crazy how that works. Yeah. Well, and like, like you said, the whole visitation dreams are like the ones you remember, Anthony's dreams are like, he'll be like, Oh my gosh. Like when we were younger and desperate housewives was huge and we were watching desperate housewives, he had a dream that we were the bodyguards for one of the husbands on desperate housewives. And he went on this full thing about us like being ninjas. And I'm like,
00:09:09
Speaker
Where does your mind come up with these things? That's insane. Another job about like swimming in the ocean and all these animals. And we were just swimming and I'm like, why? Right. Like that is weird to be Anthony. I know such a beautiful mind. I love it. He's so precious. There's a lot of information out there to explain why we dream.
00:09:39
Speaker
Some people say that dreams are an important spark for our creativity and inspiration. Some say that it's a way to receive messages from our unconscious or the past loved ones that we have in our life.
00:09:52
Speaker
Some say it's to sort through the information we received throughout the day and make sense of it. And some people who I don't believe this, but some people, they believe that it's because this is just an unintended consequence of our bodies need to sleep. And that's why we dream. It's like our brain just like rapid firing some bullshit because our bodies need to sleep.
00:10:17
Speaker
Um, that is like the saddest explanation of dreams I've ever heard. I don't believe it. And I don't think that's true, but that is an explanation that some people believe as far as what dreams are and why we have them. But either way, what we do know is that everyone needs to sleep and everyone dreams, whether you remember it or not.
00:10:37
Speaker
According to medical news today, researchers believe that dreaming allows our brains to consolidate learning and memory tasks, prepare us for possible future threads, help us develop cognitive capabilities, reflect our unconscious mental function in psychoanalytical ways, bring us psychological balance and equilibrium,
00:10:59
Speaker
And it gives us a unique state of consciousness that incorporates experience of present processing of the past and preparation for the future. Sleep in general is necessity for our bodies to heal and grow. And healthy sleep patterns are linked to decreased risk of heart disease, strokes, Alzheimer's, and obesity. To summarize, the shorter you sleep, the shorter your life. That actual, like,
00:11:26
Speaker
statement was in so many different research, like dream research papers that I read yesterday. I was like,
00:11:36
Speaker
It's crazy. And I'm going to live forever because I love sleep. Same, but it's sad. Like, and I have a friend who, um, now she sleeps a lot more, but for a while she was working this shift where she was working overnight. She wasn't getting very much sleep during the day. And she was having like a lot of not necessarily like mental health crisis or anything like that, but she was having, you know, just issues of, um, being very unhappy. And then she wasn't getting a lot of.
00:12:03
Speaker
like vitamin D and stuff in the sun because she was working nights and but she wasn't having like really good sleep during the day because of the noise in this area and having take care of her kid and all this stuff and I'm just like you have to prioritize your sleep like that is so important.
00:12:20
Speaker
You may think you only need three to four hours of sleep a night, but that is not true. You need way more sleep than that to be able to function and to heal your body. Like that is the time when your body is healing itself. And so if you're not getting sleep, you're not going to have a good health or good, I mean, just good life in general, you have to sleep.
00:12:41
Speaker
One, doing it consistently too. Like a lot of people will be like, oh, I'll just catch up on my sleep on Sunday. And it's like, that's not how it works consistently every night to get a good amount of sleep to allow your body to recuperate and recover and like rejuvenate you. And, you know, if you just continue on like not doing it and then being like, well, I'll sleep, you know, 12 hours on the weekend, it doesn't like, it just doesn't work the same way. It really doesn't.
00:13:10
Speaker
Hannah Nichols from Medical News Today wrote that dreams are a universal human experience that can be described as a state of consciousness characterized by sensory, cognitive, and emotional occurrences during sleep. There've been copious amounts of studies done that center around dreaming, lucid dreaming, sleeping, but one that really stood out to me because of the way that I dream in particular,
00:13:36
Speaker
This study took 320 adults and had them fill out dream reports and this report like these reports looked at the characters within the dreams and they found that 48% of characters represented a named person known to the dreamer.
00:13:53
Speaker
35% of characters were identified by the social roles like a policeman or a fireman or a teacher and then some of those were also just like the dreamer's friend and then 16% were not recognized by the dreamer at all which is where like the bulk of my dreaming falls into that like 16%
00:14:18
Speaker
Because you're seeing dead people. Honestly, I don't know. I need to figure this out. For named characters, 32% were identified by their appearance, 21% by their behavior, and 45%
00:14:33
Speaker
by like their face while 44% were identified as just being known. And then 14% of characters within a dream were identified as having an element of bizarreness to them. Like even if they were unknown like friend or whatever, there would be something weird about it. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I have those type of, not those types of dreams, but like dreams where like the, it might not be like I'm dreaming about
00:15:01
Speaker
Like being in, for instance, like being in a relationship or something, but my husband won't be my husband in life. It's like in the dream, this is my husband and it makes sense in the dream, but obviously that's not who my husband is. Like I have those dreams a lot or like I'll be somewhere and it's like, this is my friend and this is someone I have no clue who this person is, but in the dream it's my friend. I have those a lot. It's so interesting the different ways that people dream.
00:15:31
Speaker
It really is. Yeah. So let's discuss more about dreams and rapid eye movement. Sleep or REM sleep is, you know, how we basically all talk about it. So I'm just going to say REM sleep. But one thing is for certain science has shown us that REM sleep dreaming is linked to healing our bodies. REM sleep is the only time our brain is free from noradrenaline and emotional and memory related structures in our brain.
00:16:00
Speaker
are triggered during this time. So what does this mean? Basically REM sleep dreaming allows us to reprocess traumatic memories or upsetting events in a safe way without any stressful moments present. There have been a lot of studies that show the links between REM sleep dreaming and stress. And one that I thought was really telling was a study involving vets who suffered vets as in veterans.
00:16:26
Speaker
Just in case, you know, but anyways, veterans who have suffered from PTSD related symptoms like migraines and nightmares. So the veterans in this study were split into two groups, a placebo group and the test group, obviously. The test group was given a medication called, I should have looked this up. I have no clue how to say this. Prossicin. Prossicin. Yeah. Okay.
Improving Dream Recall
00:16:51
Speaker
The test group was given a medication called Prasicin that decreases blood pressure and helps to block noradrenaline. The group that was given this medication had decreased incidence of nightmares and migraines than those who were given the placebo, indicating that the medication helped them to sleep and process trauma in their sleep without the noradrenaline present. It just goes to show you how effective this type of sleep has on your body.
00:17:21
Speaker
it definitely can help heal you. Not saying that just because you're sleeping well, you don't need a therapist by any means, please if you need a therapist, but just know that your sleep itself can help heal your trauma, which is amazing. There have been a plethora of other studies too that indicate the importance of REM sleep dreaming and knowledge retention and creativity. So Matthew Walker, he's a doctor and he pretty much says it best. So I'm just going to
00:17:51
Speaker
say what he said because there's no point in me trying to regurgitate it. He said it best. He was talking about how participants learned to navigate a virtual maze using trial and error and aided by the placement of unique objects like Christmas trees at certain junctions in the maze.
00:18:09
Speaker
After the learning session, the group was split in two with half napping and half watching a video for 90 minutes. The nappers were occasionally awoken to ask about the content of their dreams. Those watching the video were also asked about thoughts going through their minds.
00:18:27
Speaker
Afterwards, the participants again tried to solve the maze and those who napped were significantly better at it than those who didn't as expected. But the nappers who reported dreaming about the maze were 10 times better at the task than those who napped and didn't dream about the maze. So your dreams can help you sort through problems that you have going on in your life, which is insane, but amazing.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah, and I talk a little bit about this later in lucid dreaming, but they also use lucid dreaming as a point of therapy in helping with various things, which I think is really cool. So like we said, most of us can remember at least some parts of our dreams, but ways that you can
00:19:14
Speaker
help like increase how much you remember would be to like keep a dream journal by your bed or even just use your phone like your notes app on your phone when you wake up from a dream write down everything that you can remember right then like don't sit on it don't say oh i'll do it later like right then pull your phone out pull your dream journal out and just write everything down that you can remember um and then there was a research study again that linked
00:19:43
Speaker
B6 vitamins to dream recall stating that individuals who were given 240 milligrams of vitamin B6 for four nights before going to bed found it much easier to remember their dreams when they woke up, which I thought was really interesting. That is really interesting. I wonder what it is about like B6 in particular.
Exploring Lucid Dreaming
00:20:06
Speaker
All right, so now that we've kind of laid a little bit of foundation with just dreaming in general, we're going to go into lucid dreaming. A lucid dream can be defined as a dream in which the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming and can sometimes influence the course of that dream. Many have said that during this type of dream, you're able to take control of your dream to an extent, guiding what happens within the dream.
00:20:30
Speaker
And it's often associated with metacognition, which involves the awareness of your own thought processes. And an example of this is reminding yourself to remember the person's name you just learned because you are aware of the fact that you forget people's names easily. This is something that I do, and I didn't even know what the hell this was, but I did this constantly because I'm terrible at remembering people's names.
00:20:54
Speaker
Um, so metacognition and lucid dreaming shares similar neural pathways. So it's long been believed that people who are more adept with metacognition are more likely to lucid dream. And just like with regular dreams, lucid dreams are more likely to occur when you are in REM sleep and that it has been linked to decrease in nightmares and anxiety and an increase in creativity.
00:21:19
Speaker
Lucid dreaming isn't a new concept and it can be found in a lot of like books and media and movies, just copious discussion threads on the internet. It's not something that is like
00:21:34
Speaker
new age or hokey or, you know, like I feel like a lot of times if you mentioned lucid dreaming, you're going to get like an eye roll or something, but it's definitely a concept that's been around forever. Some modern examples of this could be like the 2010 movie Inception that's centered around a thief with the ability to enter people's dreams and steal their secrets from their subconscious. The entire movie is basically based on technology that helps you lucid dream.
00:22:03
Speaker
I've never seen that movie. It's a really good movie, like really good movie. It's a Leonardo DiCaprio, but yeah, it doesn't like go backwards or something like the movie or it's been a while since I've seen it, but it's really good. Yeah. I remember like, I really enjoyed it.
00:22:22
Speaker
I'll add it to our list. I know a lot of people, um, if you look it up, a lot of people like were confused by it, but I don't know anything. I liked it. We didn't, it didn't confuse us. Um, another one would be a 2001 movie called vanilla sky with Tom cruise. I forgot about this movie. I don't know if you've ever watched it. I watched it like once or twice, like years and years and years ago, but it also has elements of lucid dreaming.
00:22:50
Speaker
There's a lot of that cold shit in that movie. Yeah, there is. There is. And it's Tom Cruise, who I'm not. Is in a cult, you know? Yeah. He knows all about that.
00:23:02
Speaker
And then this is probably my favorite one that I found that Edgar Allen Poe's poem, A Dream Within a Dream states that all we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. And it is used in so many books about lucid dreaming, which I thought was pretty cool.
00:23:24
Speaker
And then I also found a Reddit thread, which I thought was hilarious. I'm just reading this. It's so funny. There was an entire like the jillions of discussion comments on this thread talking about if you were able to lucid dream
00:23:45
Speaker
in your dreams if Freddy Krueger was there you would be able to take him down because the whole point of Freddy Krueger is that he exists in the dream world and that's where he can you know live his best life and do his thing but if you pull him into the waking world you can defeat him but if you are aware and you are conscious within your dream then technically it kind of blurs those lines and you could take down Freddy Krueger.
00:24:08
Speaker
I love that. And the fact that people just came up with this theory and have had like, just like discussion after discussion after discussion about this on Reddit made me laugh so hard. Oh my God. I may have to find this thread because. Yeah. I'll have to see if I can find it. I should have saved it and sent it to you, but it was like midnight last night and I was like, I'm tired.
00:24:33
Speaker
So when lucid dreaming, you're basically immersing yourself in a dream while also being aware that you are dreaming. Some people experience lucid dreaming at random while others report being able to increase their capacity to control their dreams. Research states that 51% of all people
00:24:53
Speaker
have had a lucid dream at some point in their lives. 23% say they experience lucid dreaming once per month, and around 11% of people experience lucid dreaming multiple times a month. The first known record of lucid dreaming was documented by Greek philosopher Aristotle in the Treaties on Dreams, where he describes self-awareness within the dream state.
00:25:18
Speaker
And I was not going to try to summarize this one. So this is like a quote from this particular treaty. So basically he said, if the sleeper perceives that he is asleep and is conscious of the sleeping state during which the perception comes before his mind,
00:25:38
Speaker
it presents itself still but something within him speaks to the effect. The image of Cariscos presents itself but the real Cariscos is not present. So basically saying that as he's dreaming he sees himself but he knows he's not there. Researchers in Brazil surveyed 3,427 participants whose median age was 25 years old.
00:26:02
Speaker
The results indicated that 77% of the participants had at least one lucid dreaming experience before. Researchers also believe that there is a strong correlation to those who can easily remember their dreams and lucid dreaming.
Therapeutic Uses of Lucid Dreaming
00:26:18
Speaker
It's thought that being able to remember your dreams easily is a strong indicator that you're able to lucid dream.
00:26:25
Speaker
Lucid dreaming can be used therapeutically, like I said earlier, to address nightmares, especially ones that are reoccurring, and for those that also have phobias. And this is referred to as lucid dreaming therapy. So the idea is that teaching someone how to become
00:26:41
Speaker
lucid during a nightmare gives them the ability to exert control over themselves or over the nightmare itself. And I found it funny because this is basically what that Freddy Krueger Reddit thread is all about. Like, you know, you're in this Freddy Krueger nightmare and then you're able to be like, I'm dreaming. And then you have control over the situation and can take on Freddy Krueger. So.
00:27:06
Speaker
For those with phobias, creating scenarios in their dreams where they have to face their fears through dream exposure can help lessen their phobia. It allows them to gradually expose themselves to their fear in an attempt to gradually overcome that fear.
00:27:23
Speaker
So some techniques for lucid dreaming. There was a study conducted in 2017 that tested the efficacy of three common lucid dreaming techniques. These are reality testing or reality checking. And this is verifying whether or not you're dreaming both in real life and during the dream.
00:27:43
Speaker
The person will ask themselves several times throughout the day if they're currently dreaming while finding something relative to reality like a talisman or touching something solid like a wall. This relies on the intention that in real life that talisman or object will be something solid to that person while in the dream if they try to touch it, their hand might pass through it. They might not be able to pick it up if it's a talisman.
00:28:10
Speaker
This can also be done through reading a line of some type of text. So in reality, that text isn't going to change. You can read it over and over and over again, and it's going to say the same thing. But oftentimes in our dreams, that text will change. Repetition throughout the day will keep it at the front of your mind and make it likely that you can ask yourself when you're in a dream. This is something that I've actually done because
00:28:36
Speaker
I literally have the worst dreams and I didn't know why I was having them or like.
00:28:42
Speaker
like where they were coming from. And so I found this technique online and I got something like a little talisman that I kept with me throughout the day. And every time, like every so often, like if I looked down at the talisman, I would kind of think like, is this a dream? Is this reality like you're supposed to do? And then it got to a point where when I started having these dreams, I was able to realize that
00:29:10
Speaker
I was dreaming because like the talisman would look different or it would you know say something on it that it doesn't say like in real life kind of thing so I was able to like recognize okay I'm in a dream and then I would wake up so that is a technique that it is used often and it actually like I've used it and it actually does work
00:29:34
Speaker
The next one is called Waking Back to Bed, which I think is a hilarious name. It sounds so weird. Like I read it and I was like, wait, I read this name probably three times before I was like, okay, let me read what it's about to understand this. Whenever I first saw it, I thought it said walking back to bed and I was like. Sleepwalking? Okay. I'll go back to bed right now. Tell me more. Don't threaten me with a good time.
00:30:02
Speaker
So basically in this technique, you would set an alarm to wake you up like five to six hours after you've gone to sleep. Once awake, you're supposed to remain awake for a, it's just set a period of time and I couldn't find like how long you should technically stay awake for this to work, but you stay awake for a period of time and then you go back to sleep.
00:30:25
Speaker
By doing so, it's believed that you'll immerse yourself like the sleeper immediately and to run sleep where you're more likely to experience a lucid dream. This would just piss me off. Right? I'm like, don't wake me up. I am one of those people like I can fall asleep anywhere, but staying asleep anywhere is a problem. Like I literally sleep in an eye mask. Yeah.
00:30:56
Speaker
And if you wake me up in the middle of the night or I wake up in the middle of the night, I cannot go back to sleep and it takes me forever to go back to sleep. And I know people are like, get out of bed and go walk around. And then when you feel tired, no, I just won't feel tired. I will just beat up the rest of the night. Like I have to do a full on body scan to try and relax myself to go back to sleep. Because then I wake up and I'm like, everything that I have to do or everything that I'm like anxious about and
00:31:24
Speaker
shit that I was embarrassed that happened like 20 years ago. Like I'm that type of person. No, I, I get really mad if I'm woken up and then I just go immediately back to sleep. Like for example, today Anthony is smoking a brisket.
00:31:39
Speaker
he had to set an alarm for 6.30 to wake up and start the smoker. Cause you know, it's a whole day process. It was a huge risk. So his alarm, I forgot, right? Like I went to bed and I was like, all right, gonna get sleep. And I forgot he had to do that. So his alarm went up at 6.30 and I swear I was like, shoved him and he was like, what? And I was like, turn your fucking alarm off. It's Sunday. And he was like, I guess I'll just get out of bed. And I was like, oh, you have to make a brisket.
00:32:10
Speaker
Do something, turn it off. I just rolled over immediately back to sleep. Oh God, I'm so jealous. I cannot do that. So hard. I can't catch sleep on demand. It's great.
00:32:28
Speaker
And then the third technique is mnemonic induction. So basically this technique requires intent and a lot of practice. To practice this technique, you would first need to recall your dreams to the best of your ability and identify elements within them that let you know that they were a dream and not your reality. The second part of this is when you repeat an intention before going to sleep and it puts your intent to loose a dream into your mind.
00:32:55
Speaker
So an example of this would be something like, tonight I will notice that I'm dreaming as a way to program yourself to achieve lucid dreaming. There are some general ways that you can increase your ability to lucid dream.
Enhancing Dream Awareness
00:33:10
Speaker
One of the best ones and one that we've already discussed already is basically just to keep a dream diary. The more you are focused on your dreams and conscious about them and you wake and state
00:33:22
Speaker
the more likely you'll have one. And another way is to pay attention to particular landscapes in your dreams, especially reoccurring dreams. Figure out what that landscape means to you. And by understanding that, you will further understand the meaning behind your reoccurring dream so that it can help you when you have another dream like it, especially if it's an unpleasant dream. And an example that I have for this is an reoccurring dream that I've had since I was little,
00:33:51
Speaker
And it's like a highway, like I'm in a van and there's no seat belts. And it's like one of those old like Dodge Caravan minivans. And we're on a highway, but the highway is basically roller coaster. And there's anything that anyone ever needs to know about me is that I hate roller coasters. I hate the feeling of falling. I hate that completely. It is one of my biggest fears. And so like,
00:34:21
Speaker
I will have the stream room on this highway and either i'll be driving or i'll be in the backseat i'm never the passenger in the front seat. i'm either driving the fucking minivan or i'm in the backseat with no seatbelt on and we're like on this highway and there's water on all sides and it's just like a fucking.
00:34:40
Speaker
Like huge drop or like a crazy ass turn and terrifying. Um, and I've noticed like, because it is a reoccurring dream now, like I, at first when I would happen, it would feel so real. Like it feels like this is actually happening. I'm going to die. But, um, knowing that it is a dream and realizing it's a reoccurring dream in my dreams. Now, when I do have it, I realize like by understanding that landscape and understanding how
00:35:11
Speaker
much anxiety roller coasters give me and not wearing a seatbelt or not feeling in control. Like that's where those feelings come from. Having anxiety when I'm really stressed, I tend to have dreams like that. And so understanding that and being able to kind of dissect that dream has helped me when I do have those dreams because I'm not as scared. Yeah. So, but anyway, yeah. So,
00:35:40
Speaker
crazy ass dream that I have. Terrifying. Yeah. And it is really scary. I hate it so much. And it's always like the same area too. So like when I'm in the dream, I'm like, Oh my God, I hate this exit. Like I hate taking this exit on this highway. And it's like, I'm never in the dream. I know like I've been, I guess I go there all the time, you know, but
00:36:04
Speaker
Oh, it's the worst. But another way that you can increase your capability to have lucid dreamings is to increase your intuition and expand your psychic vision. And we have an entire episode on intuition, which is episode 29. So if you have not checked out that episode or you need a refresher, go back and check that episode out.
00:36:23
Speaker
You can also do this with the use of herbs. There are a lot of herbs out there that can help induce lucid dreaming, but as always, information should only be used as a starting point for your own research. One of the herbs is mugwort, and mugwort was considered a sacred herb in many ancient civilizations, and it was used as a way to ward off evil spirits.
00:36:48
Speaker
It can help open your third eye and induce a dreaming state while also enhancing your dream recall and making prophetic messages within your dreams easier to understand. This can be used, mugwort can be used topically as a tincture or even in teas, but it shouldn't be used if you're pregnant or if you're lactating. Again, just really make sure you're researching anything that you're putting in or on your body or that you're burning because it's not always safe.
00:37:17
Speaker
Valyrian is an ancient herb that has a long sorted history. It has a strong set of action and it's believed to enhance the vividness, the content and the recall of your dreams. Valyrian should be used as a tincture or tea. Burvein has long been tied to witchcraft and it was used as a tool for divination by the Druids. It's been seen as an ingredients list in witches flying ointments, which we've mentioned many times on the podcast.
00:37:47
Speaker
Ravain is known for enhancing awareness in dreams and an enhancing dream recall while also keeping away nightmares. Ment is used to invigorate your energies and to expand your boundaries and then Rosemary is tied to memory and can help you remember your dreams and your intentions.
00:38:07
Speaker
Outside of herbs, you can use crystals to help with lucid dreaming, and some of the ones that are listed commonly and associated with lucid dreaming are labradorite, selenite, and obsidian. And so for labradorite, this helps by tapping into different realms. Selenite is used to purify energy, and obsidian deflects unwanted entities and energies.
00:38:35
Speaker
It's also important to create a good bedtime routine that excludes things like electronic devices or drinking alcohol right before bed. It's good to also take a moment to set your dream intentions during this time. And the naps are also thought to be one of the most effective methods to induce lucid dreams. This is because lucidity occurs when one takes a nap during the day.
00:39:00
Speaker
One technique under this umbrella is to set your alarm for early enough in the morning that you have time to meditate and think about lucid dreaming before falling back asleep. This is that to increase your chances of having a lucid dream by 20%. And the belief is that becoming conscious for a time before falling back to sleep, your brain is allowed to stay conscious and engage in your dreams, establishing lucidity.
00:39:25
Speaker
So we've talked about lucid dreams, how to have lucid dreams, but how do you know if your dream is actually a lucid dream? So a couple of things. First, when you're just dreaming, it's not uncommon for random crazy things to happen that are unbelievable.
00:39:43
Speaker
But in the dream, it seems to make sense. But if you're dreaming and something unbelievable happens, you might be having a lucid dream if you're able to reason in your mind that what is happening is not real. And often you have some sense of control over what is happening in that dream or you're able to wake yourself up.
00:40:03
Speaker
And so, for instance, whenever I was discussing the whole car being in the minivan on the highway roller coaster. Obviously, if it's just a regular dream like this is a crazy thing this would never happen there's no highways that are like roller coasters.
00:40:18
Speaker
But in the dream, my dream self would be like, this makes sense because this is what's going to happen and I'm going to die. Why wouldn't it? Right. But a lucid dream would be if I'm in that and I'm like, this is a fucking dream. This is not real. There are no highways that look like roller coasters. And why would I be on this without a seat belt?
00:40:42
Speaker
I would never. I would never. So that is a way to tell whether or not your dream is a lucid dream or not. So having that awareness that it is a dream is a huge sign that the dream you're having is a lucid dream, as opposed to just a regular dream. Usually also lucid dreams are pretty vivid. And the any emotions that you experience in a lucid dream are pretty intense as well. So those are some ways that you can kind of tell
00:41:11
Speaker
if the dream you're having is a lucid dream or not. And then to kind of tie everything back up, I wanted to not really tie it together because this doesn't
Visitation Dreams and Spiritual Connections
00:41:20
Speaker
really tie together. There's a little bit of a tangent off of the topic of lucid dreams, but I wanted to touch on visitation dreams because I thought really as it relates to lucid dreams and dreams, there is some ties there, but it's,
00:41:35
Speaker
I mean, it's a little bit different because it's not a lucid dream. It's not an actual dream either, but there's not a clear like box to put it in. So for anyone who doesn't know a visitation dream are it's basically, it's a way for a deceased loved ones or a spirit guide or just spirits in general to visit you while you're sleeping.
00:41:56
Speaker
Spirits often choose this method of communication because we are in a relaxed state much like in meditation and we're free from anxiety as well as free from other emotions that may hinder communication such as fear, ego or doubt or any just like daily distractions and noise that would kind of get in the way of spirit communication.
00:42:20
Speaker
So visitation dreams are different from lucid dreams and dreaming in general, just because it's not an actual dream. It is a communication from the other side to your spirit, which is active while you were sleeping.
00:42:35
Speaker
So visitation dreams are common whenever someone has just passed as a way to let you know that they're okay or to deliver a message. So some signs of visitation dreams include the following. Usually they are linear. So there isn't any like jumping around or crazy things happening. The dream is usually a lot clearer and it's more lifelike and easily rememberable.
00:43:01
Speaker
Usually they will happen when you are half asleep. So you're not in a deep sleep, like when we see regular dreaming and lucid dreaming. And they include a message from your loved one, your spirit guide, and it can be done through any of the Claire's that we've mentioned before on our podcast.
00:43:18
Speaker
and then some include physical sensations as well but not every visitation dream does and it feels more literal and to the point so there's nothing that needs to be over analyzed and you wake up feeling comforted as opposed to feeling completely confused and then also like one of the biggest ones that I see a lot when it comes to visitation dreams
00:43:40
Speaker
If you see your loved one in a visitation dream, they are often seen at their peak physical and mental health. They're looking great. And sometimes there seems to be a light coming from somewhere behind them. So what do you do when you have one? If you have a visitation dream and you are lucky enough to experience it, the first thing you want to do is just thank your loved one or spirit guide for visiting you because not everybody has visitation dreams.
00:44:07
Speaker
You're going to want to write down all of the details of your dream because it's pretty straightforward and to the point. Your loved one could also be telling you something that you might not understand yet, but that you will understand later. Like if they give you a sign to show you that they're okay, or if you're on the right path to something that you've been struggling with, being able to write it down and remember it later is going to be a tremendous asset to yourself.
00:44:32
Speaker
And then also you should pay attention to how the dream made you feel. Like, did you feel comforted? Did you feel loved? Did it leave you with more questions? There's a lot of different ways it can make you feel afterwards, but hopefully you feel comforted by it. And so just as an example of visitation dreams, I have had a couple that
00:44:55
Speaker
I had recently after my dad passed away. So the first one that I had, um, I struggled a lot when my dad passed because it was very sudden. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. And then, um, everything after he passed my stepmother was like very controlling. He didn't have the barrel. He wanted, he didn't have the feet early. He didn't have anything he wanted. And it was kind of like her last.
00:45:23
Speaker
control mechanism that she used to control him and death. Um, so whenever he first visited me in my dream, like I was like nine months pregnant when he passed, I was super emotional of course. And I was having a hard time coping with everything after he passed because it just didn't seem fair. This was not what he wanted. And in the first visitation dream I had.
00:45:47
Speaker
He called me on the phone and I just remember like when I got him on the phone, I was just like, Oh my God, I've been trying to reach you. I need to tell you about this. And I started going on this whole long, like tirade of everything my stepmom was doing that wasn't to his wishes. And he was just like, it's okay, Sam, it's fine. Like I'm not mad about it. You shouldn't be mad about it either. Like I've forgiven her and like.
00:46:12
Speaker
It was crazy, but so I had that dream, like probably the first couple of weeks after he passed.
00:46:21
Speaker
And like, but it was crazy. Cause like, I don't know. It was just, I remember everything about that dream. Yeah. It was so vivid and comforting. And just the fact that like, he wasn't upset about it. Like, I don't know. It just really stuck with me. And then probably, I mean, I know this was after Avery was born. So it would have been a few months after he passed. I still had a really hard time coping with his death, like for a while. And I remember having this dream where he came to me, like I,
00:46:51
Speaker
He was in my apartment that we were living in and he was at his peak physical how like and then what's crazy about it is how he was dressed in this dream is how when I went to the medium.
00:47:05
Speaker
And she saw my dad, it was the same outfit that she saw him wearing too, which is fucking crazy. That's crazy. But yeah, like he was lit up. There was a light coming from behind him. He was like, just radiating, like glowing. You know what I mean? Like just in perfect health, but he wasn't like super young or anything. Like he was recognizable as my dad with like his mustache. He was, you know, older in the face, but he wasn't like, you know,
00:47:35
Speaker
struggling for anything. Like he was perfect condition. And like, I just remember in the dream, like he just, he never, he didn't even say anything to me. He just smiled at me and like, I just felt so much love. And then he gave me a hug and that was the whole dream. And that's precious. I wish that visitation dreams, like,
00:47:58
Speaker
could happen like all the time. Like it'd be great if you have a loved one that's passed, but I know, and the more I talk to like mediums about it and stuff too, they're basically like, well, you know, if you live in that constant state of if like wanting to connect with it, loved one that's passed, you're not living your life. And if they were to come to you constantly.
00:48:21
Speaker
you would just be living for that time to see them in dreams. So it's understandable. But if you have had a visitation dream, I would be so curious to hear from any of our listeners who've had one because I think they're the most beautiful things. I love reading about them and hearing about them. And yeah, so anyway. My dreams are like visitation dreams, but there's no comforting or false of light.
00:48:48
Speaker
It's like, um, please help my murder, please. I think you should the next time we have a spooky episode, you should discuss some of your dreams. If you're comfortable with that, because I am so curious. It's wild. Well, in my.
00:49:07
Speaker
When I started having them, like there was a period of time where I would have them like every fucking night. And Anthony being Anthony, it was like, he did a bunch of research and he was like, have you ever tried lucid dreaming?
Managing Nightmares through Lucid Dreaming
00:49:17
Speaker
And I was like, no. And then so that's where I like looked it up and started like working on trying that. And I remember this one sits with me vividly. Like I remember.
00:49:29
Speaker
like I had fallen asleep and I started dreaming and it was a very like bad situation and I remember being able to be like this is a dream like wake up and so I like woke up and I was like ha like all happy like I did it and I fell back asleep and this is what really like kind of freaks me out about my dream
00:49:49
Speaker
like this happens, I like was able to be like, oh, wake up, wake up, you know, and I woke myself up. And then I was like, ha, like I did it, woo, go back to sleep. And it immediately picked back up right where I left off. But it was like, it was almost like, there was like, okay, this person I guess was shot. And so basically when I fell back asleep, it was almost like a fuck you to me for like waking up and not letting it happen.
00:50:17
Speaker
It was immediately like the dream started and I was like shot and killed and I woke up like scared. Like I was like checking myself. Yeah. I was like, what the actual fuck just happened? And this is when Anthony had COVID. So I was like in a different room sleeping by myself. Like I was just sitting in the room for like an hour, just being like,
00:50:39
Speaker
Did that fucking happen? First of all, but then also it was so real that I woke up checking myself to see if I had been shot. That is fucking crazy. Yeah, yeah. But since that one particular thing, I told Anthony, is this demonic? I don't know. Because it was like, I was like, ha ha. And then I go back to sleep and they're like, ha ha.
00:51:05
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to shoot you. Sorry. That's terrible. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really am so curious to, um, see, I mean, I don't know, maybe I'll, I'm going to put you in contact with my medium friend because they'd be so cool if you had a reading done and just kind of see what she picks up and her not knowing anything. I mean, obviously she didn't know anything about me either. Yeah. And then she picked up all that shit.
00:51:31
Speaker
I'd be really curious to know what she would pick up vibrations because I know like I just, I don't under like I've, I've always had them. I, the first one I can remember having, I was like five years old. Like I've just, I've always had these. So I just thought they were normal. Yeah.
00:51:47
Speaker
And then like when I got older, I think I was in high school and I had a really bad one and I just, I got up. I was like, I'm not going back to sleep. And I went into the living room and
00:52:03
Speaker
like we had like a living room, dining room combination kind of situation. And so like I went into living room, I read for a little while and then I was like, oh, I have to do some homework before I go to school. So I was like, my mom woke up and I was like, up dressed, like ready doing homework at the table before I would normally be up. And I had had a really bad nightmare. And that's when she told me about our great grandma who was like, damn. And she like worked with the police in Canada. And I was like,
00:52:32
Speaker
So she kind of hinted like, oh, maybe it's something like that. And I was like, well, I don't know. It could definitely be that. I think that that could be a big possibility. I know. It's just weird. It's weird to think that.
00:52:46
Speaker
But it's also how crazy if it is insane, insane. And it was that only that one. Like when I was trying to learn how to like control them so that I could wake myself up because like they put me through so much. Like I wake up like.
00:53:04
Speaker
I'm completely drained. I feel anxious all day. Like, they just kind of fuck with me. And so like, I was like really happy to have been able to like figure that out. And then it was just like, yeah, so anyways. Yeah. Continuing on with my story. Yeah. But how dare you. Sorry. Geez. Yeah, it's, it's wild.
00:53:30
Speaker
That is wild. So any of our listeners, if you have any crazy dreams like Tiffany, let us know. If you have any lucid dreaming, let us know if you have any tips on dreaming or visitation dreaming, we want to know. So hit us up. Michelle will see y'all on my next episode.
Closing and Listener Engagement
00:54:04
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we would be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.
00:54:27
Speaker
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