The God of Dreams

The drug morphine was named for Morpheus, the god of dreams in ancient Greek mythology. Morpheus is said to infuse dreams with visions of humans and to give shape to the beings that inhabit dreams.

According to many dream researchers, everyone who appears in your dreams represents an aspect of you. Who inhabits your dreams? Do any particular characters turn up with regularity? What facets of yourself do you meet when you're asleep? 

The Witching Hour

According to an old Pagan belief, the time between midnight and 3:00 A.M. on the night of the full moon is the “Witching Hour.” During this period, the veil between the spirit world and earth supposedly thins, allowing entities from other realms to visit us humans.

Some Christians call 3:00 A.M. the “Devil’s Hour.” Based on the idea that Jesus died at 3:00 P.M., this theory proposes that the opposite point on the clock belongs to the dark side, i.e., demonic forces whose power is strongest at this time.

Regardless of whether you subscribe to either of these concepts, you may experience unusual or inexplicable occurrences between three and four in the morning. Many people report hearing sounds or smelling aromas that have no discernable source. Others say they sense the presence of nonphysical beings––angels, spirit guides, deceased loved ones––when they wake during this eerie hour. One summer night several years ago, when my sister slipped into a coma unexpectedly, I awoke to the tinkling of tiny bells and the scent of her perfume. She died a few days later.

Researchers suggest that we reach the deepest levels of sleep between 3:00 and 4:00 A.M., and that the most vivid dreams of the night are likely to occur at this time. During this stage, our awareness may expand beyond the normal range, enabling us to perceive other levels of reality. If we’re fearful, or conditioned to believe that evil lurks in the shadows, we might interpret our early morning experiences as demonic rather than instructive.

Many of us find ourselves wide awake at, well, 3:15 in the morning. This is the time when I often do my best thinking. With nothing to distract me, I can no longer avoid whatever issues I’ve pushed aside during the daytime. In the still of the night, my subconscious finally feels free to offer up insights I might otherwise block or reject, giving me a chance to explore them at length.

I must admit, though, that I often feel alone and vulnerable in the darkest hours of the night. Problems tend to look scarier, bleaker, more formidable and beyond my control. Perhaps that’s the real meaning of the “Devil’s Hour”––when we come face to face with our own Shadows (as Jung called the repressed part of the psyche), the personal demons that lurk in our inner darkness.

Do angels or demons visit you at night? Do you find the early hours of the morning serene or sinister? We invite you to share your thoughts and experiences.

Are you awake? Or are you dreaming?

Okay, I had another one of those MADDENING dreams last night – we all have them – the one where you’re trying to make a phone call and the phone is missing numbers, or entire keys, or you’re talking and the other person can’t hear you, or you can see the entire keypad and numbers but for some reason your fingers keep hitting the wrong ones? Often in my dream I’m also in a hurry which only amplifies the confusion.

For years I’ve wondered what was behind these frustrating dreams. And maybe that’s it. Maybe they’re nothing more than the manifestation of the things that frustrate us about being alive, about being in this body, and on this physical plane. Communication is a huge issue in our daily reality – trying to be heard, to be understood, to understand what someone else is trying to say, to get a point across. If we communicate inappropriately we risk hurting another’s feelings. I mean, how often do you feel like you had a truly stellar communication day? Where the entire day you were diplomatic, empathetic, sensitive, humorous, and able to access exactly the right words every time in every encounter? Maybe these dreams are the culmination of the frustration we feel in general with our lack of communication and inter-personal skills.

What I have learned about these dreams is that they can be excellent triggers to alert me to the fact that I’m dreaming. When things start to act up and turn strange I have the perfect opportunity to stop and realize I’m dreaming. Once I realize I’m dreaming I can often turn the frustration into a productive lucid dream experience instead.

Another type of trigger, which has some interesting side effects of its own, is to ask yourself, whenever you think of it, “am I awake or am I dreaming?” Do this long enough and you’ll find yourself saying it in your dreams as well. And when you find yourself stopping to consider this question in a dream, you realize that in that moment you also have the ability to completely change direction if you like.

What has happened for me as a long-term result of this practice is that it has blurred the line considerably between “waking life” and “dream state.” Go ahead and try it right now. Ready? Out loud, ask yourself the question, "am I awake reading this or am I dreaming I'm reading this?

Are you sure?

How do you know?

Predictive Dreams

A man I know once dreamed about finding a trapped bird and setting it free. When he arrived at work the next day he discovered a bird flying around inside the building. He was able to catch it and put outside.

Dreams often give us glimpses of the future. Sometimes they warn us of things we need to know about so we can prepare ourselves. In some instances, as in the case of the man and the bird, we seem to erase the boundaries between present and future in our dreams––we actually witness an event before it happens in the physical world.

Some precognitive dreams are laden with poignant images. Others are straightforward and nearly devoid of symbolism. Three months before his brother died, Mark Twain dreamed of the death and funeral––exactly as it happened, right down to the smallest detail. Shortly before my father died in an automobile accident, my four siblings and I all dreamt about it.

Most people don’t go to bed intending to dream about the future––predictive dreams generally come to us unbidden. Researchers suggest, however, that the more aware we become of our dreams and our waking lives, the more likely we are to have precognitive dreams and to recognize them when they occur.

Have your dreams predicted things that later happened in your waking life? How do you know when a dream is forecasting the future—is it different from ordinary dreams? Please share your experiences.

 

Problem-Solving Dreams

Many famous people have used dreams to help them solve problems. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Harry Truman, and Benjamin Franklin are only a few who were known to “sleep on it” when confronted with a problem or important decision.

Elias Howe, who patented the lock-stitch sewing machine, discovered the key to his famous invention in a dream. For ten years Howe had been struggling to perfect his machine. Then one night he dreamt he’d been captured by cannibals who told him he would die a horrible death if he didn’t resolve the matter. As he sat in a large cooking pot, waiting to be boiled alive, he glanced up at their spears and noticed holes near the pointed ends. Howe had his answer. He put the hole near the tip of the needle and the sewing machine was born.

Some part of you––your subconscious, your higher self––already knows the answer to your conundrum. It just hasn’t percolated through to your rational mind yet. If you have a problem and want help solving it, hold the question clearly in your mind when you go to bed. Tell yourself you’ll be given an answer while you sleep. You can even write down your request on a piece of paper and put it under your pillow. Chances are you’ll receive guidance during the night––though you may have to repeat the process for a few nights before the solution comes to you.

What answers have you gotten through dreams? How do your dreams speak to you and help you understand baffling issues? How do you work with your dreams to gain insight into situations in your waking life?

 

Fear. It's everywhere you want to be.

What are you afraid of? Old age? Being penniless? Being old and penniless? Being old and sick and penniless? Public speaking? Death? Clowns? Strangers? Spiders? Storm drains? An appendicitis attack while camping? Seeing the dentist? Not measuring up? Being laid-off? Having a car wreck? Hey, the sky’s the limit! And I suspect that, like me, you’ve already discovered that fear’s finest hour is generally oh, sometime right around 3:15 am.

It’s fear-speak everywhere you turn. Twenty-four hour bad-news media presents us with fears we didn’t even know we had. Even when we’re aware of what they’re doing, it’s easy to fall for it. I saw it on my home page this morning: “The 15 Things Women Do Every Day that They Should Never Do” (it’s nearly impossible not to check that one out).

And of course, fear sells products. Big time.

Fear of looking old? Better buy our patented wrinkle cream.
Fear of spending eternity in hell? Join our church – we’ll save your soul.
Terrorists are everywhere! Vote for me and I’ll protect you.
Bicycle riding can lead to brain injuries! Have we got a helmet for you.
Chances are 1 in 4 that you will get sick and need hospitalization! Pay us hundreds of dollars a month and we’ll give you peace of mind.
Intruders could break in and steal your children! You need our home security system.

It’s sad to think that fear is such a big part of who we are that doctors have an entire genre to identify each and every phobia. Thanks to phobialist.com here are just a few:

Arachibutyrophobia (fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth)
Lachanophobia (fear of vegetables)
Dementophobia (fear of madness)
Mageirocophobia (fear of cooking – one of my favorites)
Geniophobia (fear of chins)
Consecotaleophobia (fear of chopsticks)
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (yes, you guessed it, fear of long words)
Novercaphobia (fear of your step-mother)
Walloonphobia (fear of the Walloons) Walloons?
And to round out the list - Phobophobia (fear of phobias) But of course.

But what if life were just the opposite? What if you were surrounded and bombarded by love-filled talk instead – and had been as long as you can remember? What would that feel like? What kind of a person would you be? How good would you feel about yourself and others? What would your family life be like? What if we loved ourselves enough to only speak loving thoughts to, and about, others? On a larger scale, what would happen to the economy? Our political infra-structure? Our planet?

I think back on how many of my major life decisions have been rooted in fear. I think about how different the outcome would have been if I had applied love to my decision-making instead. Love of myself. Love of life. Love for the other people involved. Love from a higher perspective.

Do you know how to tell where your thoughts originate?

Fear-based thoughts never feel good.
Love-based thoughts always feel good.

Give it a try – I think you’ll be surprised at how well it works.

Herbal Remedies for Insomnia

If you’re having trouble sleeping, but don’t want to take drugs, here are some safe, natural remedies recommended by Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., noted sleep expert and Medical Director of the Firbromyalgia and Fatigue Centers, Inc. For more information, visit Dr. T’s website www.endfatigue.com and look for his forthcoming book End Sugar Addiction Now! from which the following has been excerpted, with the author’s permission. (Please note this material is copyrighted.)

Theanine: This amino acide that comes from green tea improves sleep at night and alertness during the day. Use only brands containing the SunTheanine form (pure L-Theanine). Recommended dose: 50 to 200 mg at bedtime.

Jamaican Dogwood: The bark of the Jamaican dogwood tree has analgesic (relieves pain), sedative, and anti-spasmodic properties.This calming herb aids insomnia, anxiety, and even muscle aches. Recommended dose: 12 to 48 mg of the extract at bedtime.

Wild lettuce: The bitter cousin to ordinary garden lettuce, this herb aids insomnia and anxiety. Research shows that it is useful as a mild sedative and even a cough suppressant. Recommended dose: 30 to 120 mg of the extract at bedtime.

Valerian: The go-to remedy for insomnia, it improves deep sleep, lessens the time it takes to fall asleep, and enhances the quality of sleep. Recommended dose: 200 to 800 mg of the extract at bedtime.

Hops: A native British plant (related to stinging nettles) and member of the hemp family, the ripened cones of the female variety are used to make beer. This herb is good for insomnia, relaxing muscles, and anxiety. Recommended dose: 30 to 120 mg of a hops extract at bedtime.

Passionflower: A favorite herb in South America for its calming properties, it can also be used to treat anxiety, muscle spasms, and menstrual pain. Recommended dose: 90 to 360 mg of the extract at bedtime.

Lavender: A member of the mint family, lavender is one of the best herbs for sleep and relaxation. Mist your pillow with a mixture of lavender essential oil and water. Or, add lavender essential oil to bathwater and enjoy a soothing soak before bed.

Lemon balm: Like lavender, this member of the mint family is a natural relaxant. Placebo-controlled research published in the medical journal Fitoterapia in 1999 showed that taking 80 to 160 milligrams of lemon balm with 180 to 360 milligrams of valerian at night improved the quality of deep sleep.