Nightswimming
What are we doing in those sleeping hours?
Episode Intro
We spend roughly a third of our lives asleep. Do you buy the rote reason given? That it's when our bodies heal. And that's it. Not a very efficient pit stop, is it? Eight hours to heal the damage we do during the other 16? The recent addition to that is sleeping hours are when our brain processes, then stores our day. Really? That doesn't quite pass the BS test for me either. I've no doubt that's part of it, but does our computer, once we shut our laptops for the evening spend the next X hours processing what we created, wrote, edited, sent and designed? No. It did that during the working hours. Why would our brains be any different?
All this is a super long way of saying, I believe it's time to take an honest at sleep, or what I've come to call, nightswimming.
Great minds like Carl Jung and Alfred Einstein, Nikola Tesla, hell! even Oprah, have wondered what is really happening during our sleeping hours. What is happening? Let's get into it!
Healing the Body is just part of the story.
If all we're doing is healing cells than why do we wake sometimes with cobwebs of something soul-jarring in our heads? Why do we wake feeling exhausted sometimes? Why is a storyline playing in our minds as we sip coffee? And if we've lost a loved one, why do we wake up disappointed not to find them still there holding our hand?
It's been my journey to treat the sleeping hours as a night job. I've shared some of that with you, from brushing out the burrs on a black dog to learning that is a form of an ancient Egyptian god, Anubis, that predates Osiris, to crossing over souls some nights.
I KNOW there's more to sleep than lumbar support with a Serta mattress. Even before my night swimming got downright weird, it was the place where I was able to untangle plot knots for my books. I'd wake up with the story sorted.
I got a glimpse of the truth earlier this year when I took a spiritual protection class given by friend of the podcast, Karen Rontowski, and her demon guy, Tommy. In it, Karen mentioned that it's important to cut any contracts, ties or tethers we made as our souls traveled at night. She uses the simple word, 'COFFEE!' to do just that. And since then, that's what I do as well. It's easy to remember.
For Karen and Tommy, it's common knowledge that we are astrally traveling in our sleeping hours. They aren't alone. I promise to share more in a bit. But first…
Dreams - at the very base level - hold valuable insights to help us
I'll give you an example super quick, but it comes with a bit of a back story.
If I have the honor of knowing you in real life, then I apologize; this isn't exactly a news flash. I've felt a little lost lately. Imagine for a moment a photograph of a girl. It lies in a sunlit window and over the years the outline of the figure bleaches, fading into the background. Then the colors wash out, blending into some vague shade of tan until all that's left is a hint of detail around the girl's eyes.
The dream I'll share in a moment echoes the same sentiment. I opened a dream journal to look back at my recent sleeps and turned to this quote by the author, "This is your birthright, you are born to fly. And in your dreams, you will remember, the soul has wings!"
I'd forgotten the soul has wings. The soul has EFFING WINGS. Did you forget that? I did. And this episode is my journey to rediscover them, dust off those feathered wings and give them a stretch.
So here's the dream that shook me up.
The Featherless Crow Dream:
In it, I was walking under a clear noon sky when a crow took aim, diving down and smacking into my stomach. On impact, feathers exploded off the crow and the poor bird collapsed on the grass, naked and exposed, a drop of blood forming on the side of its beak. I crouched down, shaping my hands into a clamshell as I screamed, "Crow! Crow!" willing the creature to live.
As I searched for signs of life, I marveled at how small the crow was now that all the feathers were gone. He was slim except for his head. I noticed his eye had the slightest glint of life. He blinked.
I woke up and memorized the dream. I knew it contained an important message. Maybe two or ten, though I didn't know what they were yet.
Yet.
That was the operative word.
Under the gun, my brain doesn't function well. I need time with silence and my guard down, preferably mind engaged elsewhere, to sift and sort messages.
If I'm in an emotionally-charged conversation - like an argument - my brain becomes one giant magic eraser! Swaths of conversation are deleted. I'm certain it is a defense mechanism, one that developed to purge traumatic events as they happened. But when my conflict amnesia kicks in, those hard conversations become almost impossible. I can't track back to who said what and when and how.
I'm not the only one that faces this challenge. Back in high school, my driver's ed teacher gave us advice that relates. It was, if we were ever in a car accident, refrain from making any sort of comment or statement until our adrenaline had subsided. After an accident, most people suffer from shock. They naturally want to feel better and most offer an apology, which comes across as an admission of guilt. He told us to let the police arrive and allow ourselves to calm down before we stated our side. Wait a bit. So emotionally charged situations impact our ability to think.
Why am I sharing all this?
Dreams are a way we can sift through and sort emotionally charged events. That crow dream I mentioned at the top was its own gut punch. I needed time to let my subconscious work out the solution to this particular puzzle, understand the gifts the dream held.
Oh, and spoiler alert. I didn't take the message to heart and I suffered for it. Don't worry. I'll tell you the uglies later.
The Importance of Dreams
Carl Jung once said of dreams, "We also live in our dreams, we do not live only by day. Sometimes we accomplish our greatest deeds in dreams."
Aeschylus wrote; "When we sleep, the soul is lit up completely by many eyes; with them we can see everything that we could not see in the daytime.
Carl Jung also said, "The dream has been regarded as the truth-telling oracle."
As my day progressed, the featherless crow dream played in the back of my mind on a loop. I was doing research for a different episode when I flipped to the front of an old dream journal. On the inside cover was this quote with no author attribution; "This is your birthright, you are born to fly. And in your dreams, you will remember, the soul has wings!"
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***Promos Octoberpod and Homewrecker Podcast***
Lucid Dreams
It isn't just a Juicewrld song that breaks my heart because he's gone now, but it is a thing. Lucid dreaming is when you are inside a dream and then realize - wow - this is a dream - I can control the outcome. Put another way, lucid dreaming is a way to remain consciously in control of your dreams. You tell your mind what is going to happen next; if the dream veers into unacceptable territory, then you take the wheel and steer it the direction YOU WANT!
Are you able to lucid dream? I had this skill when I was a kid. It was easy. My mother taught me in her own no-nonsense, matter-of-fact way - I had vivid nightmares and after suffering through them for years, (and scaring the crap out of my family when I woke up screaming) she told me, "Well, you know you can control your dreams. You're in charge. If something scares you, change it."
The next night I did.
Then, sometime around college I lost the ability. My best guess why is because I was away from both my parents' homes for the first time and I was safe to process childhood trauma. Focused on that, my night swimming had a sole focus, to touch those sore spots and heal them. With my mind and soul set on that work, lucid dreaming fell by the wayside.
Some say the key to lucid dreaming is to tell yourself before you fall asleep that you want to lucid dream. Do that night after night and there will be a payoff. The other trick I've heard is while you're dreaming, look at your hands. That will be your queue to yourself that you are in a dream and you can control it.
I've been endeavoring to relearn how to lucid dream with mixed results. Last night I dreamt my father and I were walking in the rain together hand-in-hand. I remember worrying that he might slip on the sidewalk because it was slick. He smiled and removed his shoes, walking on with bare feet.
It was those bare feet - so different than his normal thick orthopedic shoes which protected his feet from blisters or slivers - which with his diabetes - might result in a systemic infection - that helped me understandthis was a dream. We continued to walk until I woke up, and that's when I realized I was still holding his hand.
Place a piece of amethyst under your pillow tonight and then let your last thought as you drift to sleep be, "I want to lucid dream." I hope it happens for you!
Lucid Dreaming's Kissing Cousin - Astral Projection
Here's a quick refresher, if you don't remember all of the Season 1 episode, dream, dream, dream;
This comes from Psychic Spellcraft, “Some people can develop a skill called astral projection, which is something LIKE dreaming, in that the subconscious mind takes over – but in astral projection, your spirit actually leaves this earthly plane and enters a different reality. Basically,” they continue, “astral projection is a way of releasing your spirit from your body and letting it fly free.”
Astral projection can be used to visit loved ones on the other side, to relive moments you wish you could get back, or to gain knowledge from spirit guides.
It may sound too out there to be considered real, but the authors ask us to consider this yet another type of creative visualization, so think of it as a way of opening your mind and exploring its limits.
To give astral projection a try, start like you do with meditation. Find a quiet spot. Light a candle or play music, burn incense and breathe deeply in and out. Then, from the authors, follow these steps:
Imagine a beam of white light shooting from your feet right up through the top of your head. White light is always used for protection from sinister spirits or entities, and it will be important for the journey
Say a prayer asking for protection from your angel guides
Imagine yourself tethered to your bed or to the ground with a cord made of white or pure energy. Psychics use this energy to keep their souls tethered to their bodies while in the dream state and find their way back
Feel your spirit or your soul or your “second body” as some call it, lift! And then rise out of your physical body. Nothing can impede it-you can rise right through the ceiling, through the apartment above you, through the roof, and travel anywhere you want!
If you encounter your spirit guides when you’re out of your body, go ahead and talk to them. Ask them anything you want-that’s why you’re in this state.
If you feel scared, just remember that cord that keeps you bound to your physical body and the physical plane! You can always say, “I want to go back now” and return to your body.
Some experience a jolt or sense of falling when you’re just about to project. Have you ever been drifting off to sleep and then awakened with a start? This is when you know that you are on the brink of leaving your body.
As I was drafting this episode, Sweet Dreams by the Eurhythmics played in the background. Wow. That was a moment of confirmation, wasn't it? I hope it's YOU I recorded this episode for and I can't wait for what exploring night swimming will do for your life and soul.
A few fun facts about dreaming before I wrap the show
From Famous Scientists dot org;
Here are 7 great examples of scientific discoveries made in dreams, " Sleeping on it’ has also led to major scientific discoveries, such as the seven examples that follow."
The author goes on to write, " Dmitri Mendeleev was obsessed with finding a logical way to organize the chemical elements. It had been preying on his mind for months.
In 1869 he wrote the elements’ names on cards – one element on each card. He then wrote the properties of every element on its own card.
He saw that atomic weight was important in some way, but he could not find a pattern.
Convinced that he was close to discovering something significant, Mendeleev moved the cards about for many hours until finally he fell asleep at his desk.
When he awoke, he found that his subconscious mind had done his work for him! A logical arrangement of the elements had come to him. He later wrote: In a dream I saw a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.”
2 - Alfred Russel Wallace traveled in Brazil and South East Asia recording species, trying to understand the differences he saw when species were separated by geographical barriers.
For years he asked how new species could arise, but could find no answer.
In 1858, he had an extreme dream, in the shape of hallucinations caused by a tropical fever. When the fever had gone, he found that the theory of evolution by natural selection had come to him.
Show Close – Thank you for listening to Curious Cat! Be sure to subscribe on your favorite listening app and if you love the content, recommend us to a friend. Until next time, stay curious. I love you!
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Sources and Materials:
https://academyofideas.com/2023/06/carl-jung-and-the-psychology-of-dreams-messages-from-the-unconscious/
https://www.famousscientists.org/7-great-examples-of-scientific-discoveries-made-in-dreams/
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