Lucid and Astral Dream Work: Going Beyond interpretation to Transformation.

Dream Work: Using Dreams as a Tool for Assessment and Transformation.

We often view dreams as prophecies, filled with symbols meant to guide or warn us about future events. Oh but there’s so much more! Active, either lucid or astral dreaming is a type of trance state that can act as a gateway between different dimensions, a tool for divination and healing, and a means to evaluate and create change. Our dreams reveal the internal programming embedded deep within our psyche, which manifests in our everyday experiences. Like a visual library of our emotional landscape, dreams offer profound insights into our true feelings (feelings being the element of programming) about love, family, success, abundance, and more. 

But here's the real magic: we can “wake up” within our dreams, become conscious, and take a look around at what we really feel. By doing so, we can actively reorganize the scenes playing out in our lives, and take steps to creating the change we seek. 

What is a life and what is a dream? 

The 3rd dimension—where most of our awareness is centered—is just one of the many realms where we express our consciousness. In reality, our lives are projections of our consciousness. Indigenous wisdom throughout the world call the projections, dreams. According to the Ifa’Orisa tradition, we choose our destiny, (Ori Apere) before coming to Earth. Each time we incarnate we choose a destiny; we choose another dream. The aspect of ourselves that picks a destiny is our essence, or Iponri. Iporni exists both as an immaterial spirit and as a material presence in the physical plane. While we experience life in the 3D, we are not just this life; we are the consciousness behind it.

The physical world, our 3D existence, is essentially a projection of the immaterial spirit. From within the astral state of the immaterial spirit, we have the ability to program the life we experience on Earth. The truth is, without even trying we are actively programming our experience within our dreams, passive trance states we enter while awake, and through our emotionally charged.  

Transformation Through Lucid Dreaming.

To edit and transform our reality through active or lucid dreaming involves the repetition of several steps over a period of time. However, you can begin, and possibly experience some results, with the format below. 

We’ll use a mock scenario to illustrate.

Tonda wants to create more time freedom in her life. She’s married with one child, works a job in a career she enjoys, and is involved in her local community and church. She always has something to do outside or inside the home and her weekends are occupied with events, etc. She’s not dissatisfied with her life, but isn't exactly fulfilled either. She wants more time to travel, relax, think, do things for herself, just Be. 

Tonda does a scan of her dreams and notices an element that keeps popping up. Whenever she’s experiencing something pleasant, someone offloads their baby on her or she’s reminded of a baby she’d forgotten. She’d always interpreted this to mean she has responsibilities that she’s forgotten or that she needs to help others. But looking at the emotional context of the dream, she understands that it’s her programming to be the “responsible one” that keeps her life full of things to do. It’s such an intrinsic part of her existence, she’s not sure how to reorganize her life; to eliminate any one responsibility or task. 

Tonda decides to go behind the curtain and employ some dreaming techniques to release the pattern. To do this, Tonda will need to become conscious within her dream state. She starts with the following:

*Note this is a beginner-level primer for lucid and astral dreaming. It is meant to settle the mind and bring the spirit to the forefront of our awareness. The fasting and social media restrictions invite discipline and a que to our consciousness that we are reallocating energy for a different task. Contact ife@essenceofife.com ,if you're interested in deeper dream and astral work.

For 30 to 90 days:

1-  No social media after 8pm.

2 - Fast one to two days of the week.

3 - For a minimum of 3 nights a week, find a comfortable place to *sit for meditation. Choose a time when you are not exhausted but also going to sleep directly after meditation. Breathe deeply and fully from your diaphragm for 2 minutes. After, state your intent to “wake up” in your dream state. Sit in a quiet and still, meditative state for 30 minutes. Go to bed directly after. 

*Modification- lay on your back with your arms to the side but not touching your body and you legs about 12 - 18 inches apart. 

Once Tonda is conscious in her dream state, she seeks out opportunities to return or decline the babies (other people's responsibilities and her guilt). Tonda began to feel an inner freedom that was previously stymied by the guilt and burden of the custodian archetype. 

The above is a simplified example of how to examine dream material and our life experiences, thus giving an example of the miraculous possibilities within dream-work!  

Be free,

Iya Ife