Course One: Wizardry 41
marker the word: “REMEMBER.” Stick it to a
drinking glass full of water, and place the glass be-
side your bed. Just before you lay down and close
your eyes to sleep, take a drink. As you do, think to
yourself: “When I awake and take another drink from
this glass, I will remember my dreams.” Then go to
sleep. In the morning, when you wake, take a drink
from the glass right away, and as you do, the memory
of your dreams will come flooding back. Quickly take
notes in your dream diary, writing down all the de-
tails you can remember. Don’t worry about trying to
get everything in perfect order—just jot down every-
thing you can think of as it comes to you. Over time,
you will get better and better at this.Lesson 3: A Dictionary of
Dream Symbols“Dream Dictionaries” have been around since ancient
times. They were very popular in classical Greece and
in the Roman Empire. Here are a few of the most com-
mon symbols you may encounter in your dreams,
along with popular interpretations. But don’t take these
interpretations too seriously, as everyone’s dreams are
individual. Each of us has our own unique personal
symbology, based on our life experiences. Therefore,
you must analyze and interpret the symbols in your
dreams from the standpoint of your own personal feel-
ings about them.Lesson 4: Nightmares
Nightmare means literally a monstrous black spirit-
horse that carries us away on a terrifying and uncon-
trollable ride through dark and scary places. Night-
mares are like a stuck replay, with added dramatiza-
tion and special effects, of experiences too frightful
to think of in our waking state. In very young chil-
dren, such nightmares may be remembrances of a
tragic death in their previous life. Especially if they
died by violence, these “night terrors” can be so fright-
ening that they cause insomnia (the inability to sleep).
Throughout my own early childhood, I was haunted
by nightmares in which I kept reliving my last death.
I had died of a heart attack, and I experienced this as
if I was falling backwards down a bottomless well,
with the world I knew shrinking into a smaller and
smaller circle until it was gone from my sight, and I
kept falling endlessly through total darkness...until I
awoke as a baby in my new life. Another source of
nightmares can be traumatic experiences in this cur-
rent life. Children (and even adults) who have been
exposed to violence or abuse; lived through tragic
accidents or fires—especially if others have died; or
who have had severe and life-threatening illnesses or
experienced other traumas will have nightmares inwhich they will continue to relive these horrors—of-
ten symbolically.
Particularly frightening nightmares are sometimes
caused by a disconnection between the brain and the
body as one is falling asleep or just awakening. The
Japanese, who have long known of this phenomenon,
call it kanashibari, and Western researchers refer to it
as “sleep paralysis.” About 4% of all people experi-
ence it regularly, and 40–60% at least once. Some hear
disturbing sounds and incoherent voices. Others hal-
lucinate evil supernatural beings and creatures. Most
find themselves unable to move or speak and feel a
weight on their chest. Also common are sensations of
levitation, flying, and passing through spiral tunnels—
all with a great sense of dread and terror.
Kanashibari nightmares often involve shadowy
demonic creatures, such as the Dementors of Harry
Potter’s world, or the Ringwraiths of Lord of the Rings.
Many such creatures have been identified in myth—
such as succubi and incubi who lie upon sleepers and
have sex with them, or ugly old hags, goblins, and
ghosts that squat on a sleeper’s chest and choke them.
The Lethifold is a floating black cloak that envelops
and suffocates its victims. And the fire-eyed black
demon-horse we call the Nightmare is common to
many cultures. Many “alien abduction” experiences
may be explainable as kanashibari.
The best antidote to all types of nightmares is to
learn to seize control of your dreams, through lucid
(“clear”) dreaming (see following). You can wield
spells and powers to combat these monsters of the
dark, just as in a video game. In fact, a video game is
a very good way to visualize The Dreaming when you
are having nightmares!Anti-Nightmare spell: Hang a small wreath of
gray feathers over your bed to prevent nightmares and
bring restful sleep. A pyramid-shaped crystal under
your bed will protect you from psychic attack in your
sleep. Hang up a red onion and place mugwort under
your pillow to keep away evil spirits. Then set a
magick Circle of Protection around your bed each
night before you go to sleep, like this:
Stand in the middle of your bed and hold up a
small mirror, such as a makeup mirror, facing out-
wards, so that the walls of your bedroom are reflected.
Turn around deosil (clockwise) in a complete circle,
and visualize a circular reflective wall spreading out-
ward from the mirror in your hand, as if you are on
the inside of a mirrored Christmas tree ornament. As
you do this, say:Circle of Light surround my bed;
All fears of night gone from my head.
May peaceful dreams come unto me;
As I do will, so mote it be!- Wizardry.p65 41 1/14/2004, 3:23 PM