Dream Guides
Dream guides are seemingly native residents of the dreaming world who have an interest in showing us how the dreaming world works. Their task is not an easy one: they are dealing with students who cannot begin to imagine themselves as students, who are self-delusional, and who have limited attention. Dream guides therefore attempt to make obvious truths manifest through parable and allegory. It appears, at times, that they construct entire dreams as the sound stages for their lessons. Other times, they seem to exploit whatever dream is currently running.
They seem to play two roles: one is to take you to a dreamscape that you wouldn’t be able to reach on your own, for example, to a brightly lit idyllic setting. It seems that they are just getting you used to being there; they are broadening your horizons.
The next role is as proctor — to supervise some test. The test might be confronting a personal weakness or it might force you to acquire new skills in the dream world.
Dream guides are willing to let you make your mistakes. They will not save you. It’s a dream, after all; there is nothing to save you from. If you see them watching you flounder and fail without intervening, it is not due to hard-heartedness, it is due to your ephemeral situation.
The dream guides I encounter can be any gender, and any race, but the ages are usually limited, between 20 and 40. If a 50 year old dream guide shows up, the situation has gotten quite serious.
Dream guides are not subject to my magic powers. For example, I cannot levitate dream guides, and this is, for me, the final test as to whether a dream character is one.
It is something of a hobby of mine to interview people about their dreams. I believe many people have dream guide dreams. The characters they describe behave like mine. These dreamers have the habit of shrugging off such dreams, but this is largely due to them not having the concept of dream guides. This blog post is intended to alert its readers of this phenomenon.
Below are some selected dream guide dreams, which I hope show some of the forms such dreams may take.
Parachute tent dream
One of the earliest dream guide dreams I can remember found me inside a tent that was something like a parachute that had been inflated on the ground. As I came to awareness, I was simply standing in this bright and colourful environment, wondering how I’d got there. I felt an hand on my shoulder. I turned, but no one was there. Then I felt a hand on my other arm. Again, no one was there, but I could still feel the hand. I could not see it, but I could feel it. I was very agitated. I pulled it off.
Then came another hand. I pulled it away. Then another. And another. I pulled them off frantically. When hands began to land on my face, I began to panic; I could not breath.
The hands came faster and faster, out pacing my ability to remove them. At some point, I realised that the hands were familiar. They felt like my hands. I realised I was dreaming.
I knew that I could not suffocate because there is no air in a dream. I had nothing to do. And yet, I could not ignore the panic. I struggled desperately with the hands until I convinced myself to try again. My calm lasted only a few seconds, ceding once again to the panic. I tried several more times.
Finally, I was able to stand still for about ten seconds. This seems like a very short time, but when one is panicking, it is an eternity. I opened my eyes.
I was standing at the foot of a sweeping marble staircase of a mansion. Before me stood the front door. Accompanying me were a young man and a twelve-year old girl. To my left were two middle aged men, one black and the other native American. They were wearing the casual clothing of day-labourers. They were talking about how well the girl had done; she had a natural talent, according to them.
They then noticed that I could see them and they smiled. It made me wonder how long I had been standing there, and indeed, whether I had actually been anywhere else. One of the men said, “We thought that you had become so in love with fondling yourself that you were never going to finish!” They laughed, but we students did not.
The Waltz
Here is a dream that was sent to me (not my own):
I was having a singing lesson with my singing teacher [don’t have one in waking life], she had other students there, maybe 4-5. Everybody was to show the others what they had learned, except it was not singing but dancing. Now it was my turn, and as she was holding me like for classic couple dance position, she lifted me up such that I actually couldn’t touch the floor anymore – I was like 20 cm above ground. She started doing waltz dance movements, and was sort of expecting that I’d do something — but I just couldn’t touch the floor, so she had just like a really strong hold on me in this dance position, one arm raised to the side. I said, giggling but also confused: “But I can’t touch the floor. You’re holding me too high, can’t you see?” But she wouldn’t stop. She just continued and then she held me even a bit higher. And I said in a sort of “lol” mood: “I don’t know what you’re doing because I can’t do any steps like this. You’re holding me too high. Don’t you see? Like, look, I can’t. It’s like I’m 20 centimeters above the floor! 🤣” But to no avail – she continued smiling, expecting me to show what I had learnt.
Then I was like, “Okay, well, I’ll dance in the air then!”, and started moving my body, as if I there was no gravity (though she supported my weight), and I pretended to follow a beat (there was no music!)
And that was so cool!!! because I realised that she had indeed done this specifically to push my limits of imagination, therefore she was actually teaching me something very useful. So I started doing dance moves in the air, and she’d only support my weight effortlessly, for example holding me up with one hand under my belly, like a waiter might hold a plate of whine glasses above a crowd, while with her support, I did all kinds of acrobatic and otherwise impossible dance moves, which I greatly enjoyed. 🌈🤸♀️
Bunker Study
I dreamt my dream companion and I were to participate in a psychological study about living in a bunker. All participants in a given bunker were collaborating with the experimenter, except one true subject. There were 4 sleeping places in our bunker. In it was a woman who went to bed early and a Italian man from Saratoga. I immediately looked up Saratoga on my (dream) laptop. He showed me on the laptop where his kids’ daycare was — in some desertified region. In reality, there is no Saratoga in Italy. ‘Saratoga’ is an Iroquois word. It was a 19th century resort town in upstate New York.
The man next recounted his history as an artist. At one point, his mouth came uncomfortably close to my ear; it gave the impression of untoward sexual interest . According to his tale, he ended up making sculptures using pee to dissolve away some soft material. There was never an explanation as to what the material was. He showed us photos of a museum installation of his work, and then began making a new piece, about fist-sized, right there. Urine splashed everywhere, including on me. I said, “Dude, that’s enough.” I left to clean myself. I awoke while wiping myself off in the WC.
I was not angry, but annoyed enough to qualify as ‘irked‘. I had gotten irked.
I thought I was part of the staff, but it turns out I was the subject. I love the subtle irony of announcing a study centered on a naïve participant, knowing that the arrogance of the dreamer should obscure the obvious truth. I recognise this as dream guide humour.
Unneeded Necessary Handbag
I dreamt I was on a ferry, like the kind used in Scandanavia. I was in a passenger cabin with a middle-aged woman who had dark hair. The ferry had taken on a list and it was time to leave. However, the woman refused to leave without her handbag. I decided to help her find it, because the cabin was small and it might well take less time to find it than to argue with her. She described a rectangular pouch that was sewn on all sides. It had no opening. I realised that she had never put anything into it and had never taken anything out. It was useless, or she had made it useless. Nevertheless, she insisted on having this thing with her during this crisis. It was literally useless baggage that kept her from reacting properly to her situation.
I realised that I was dreaming and that this was a message to me and about me. The dream guide was pretending to be me. I am that woman.
I awoke.
The Alligator Test
I dreamt of French actor Alan Delon, who died in waking life not long before the dream. A movie was being filmed on his estate. There was a pool and play area immediately behind his chateau where alligators loitered. In the scene being shot, an actress had to walk naked among them. She had to train first to not feel fear, for that would otherwise excite them. Her being nude must have enhanced her sense of vulnerability.
As it was, she was entirely self-possessed. Her tall, lithe form sauntered among them as if they were so many beach balls. They barely noticed her.
I understood that I was being shown a fact about the dreaming world I already know. I have done similar tests personally dozens of times.
If you see something that elicits a little fear or a little anger, what have you, it creates a thematic gradient — a slippery slope, if you will — that leads you to more of the same. It can happen very quickly, in mere seconds, depending on the strength of attraction. This is how (I imagine) psychedelic trips become bad trips and dreams become nightmares.
I want to note, for the record, that the real horror of a nightmare is not the unpleasant thing that you are fleeing or defeating. It is a mind that chooses unpleasantness when pleasantness is equally possible.
The alligator test dream was a pleasant dream. That statement seems counter-intuitive because alligators were present. But that is the insight. And when you think about it, this insight also works in the waking world. Your experience is going to be more strongly shaped by where you put your attention than what is available for your attention.
Looking upon this dream, I realise that I have been put in remedial education. I had a set-back last spring which is evidently so complete, I must start over from scratch, with the dream guides patiently showing me anew how the dream world works. How discouraging.
You Don’t Belong Here
Here is another dream sent to me by chat:
I was cueing at a festival entrance, and things started getting so weird that I became lucid. I entered some door and found rooms in what seemed to be like an office building, which was obviously more interesting. Mostly no furniture and without people, but clean. People seemed to always be busy – but just in the adjacent rooms, never where I was or was going. Like usually in my lucid dreams, I’m alone, this time at least people were nearby [for context, in one of my last lucid dreams, I did finally dare to speak to someone] I did not have the sense that they were escaping from me, but maybe just generally avoidant (of strangers?). At the same time, I felt that I avoided people because I was lucid, and I always worry that talking to dream characters will wake me up. But I learned from last time that that is not a good strategy. I tried to open my eyes but was then awake in my room for a blink and decided to try to continue my lucid dream, which amazingly worked. I realized in the dream that I must not open my eyes to “see” in a lucid dream. Rather, I must just focus on the thing, and I will “see” it. Thus, suddenly, I ended up in a crowded common area and could see more people, and I was apparently supposed to get enrolled into some class or study semester? in this building (a school?), and my goal was to figure out how to get enrolled.
Deciding to overcome my fear of talking to someone, I talked to a dream character that, when approached, turned out to look like half human half “Angine de Poitrine” band member, a very odd face and colors/make up. I asked where to get enrolled, and I think the person/entity said something I could barely understand but motioned to a woman I could ask. I started to see more and more people hustling about, I thought that was because I was now more “grounded” in the lucid dream. I went to that woman, I don’t remember her looks much, not special in any way, maybe shoulder long, reddish hair with fringes, but she looked like she had authority or at least knew her way around here – a senior (?).
I asked, “What do I have to do, like, how does it work?”
And she said, “Well, but, what are you doing here? 🤨” As if I surely did not belong. She got up from whatever she was doing and took me kind of aside, starting to walk, so I walked with her.
I said, “I want to know… I need to get in somehow. ”
She said, “Pfff… Well, but have you even met this other prerequisite yet [which I don’t remember]?”
I said, “No, but I’ve been here before.”
She asked, “Do you even know where we are?” I first appeared to not know, so she said, “Well, but then you don’t belong here,” and I appeared to be on my way out.
I quickly said, “No, but wait, I know, this is a place where lucid people are,” (where one can find them), and then she said, “Hm.. ok, well… let’s see.”
Then we went to some kind of elevator and ended up on a different floor. I thought she is taking me somewhere, but that was it, we ended up in a place that became a very long psychedelic tunnel of sorts without any windows or doors, and I started walking through it alone, then walking faster – the lady was gone. It was not extremely spectacular, but it was like a square tunnel maybe 2.5×2.5m, with tiled walls, ceiling and floor, all the same, that had pretty psychedelic patterns that changed in colors softly as I progressed through it, maybe like being inside a kaleidoscope? I felt immediately that this was a test – because now I was alone, and that, not knowing what this was, one could easily get scared. I tried to do the exact opposite, I had to not be scared, as one could be, but groove with it. So I just pushed through it, speeding up, and then I did feel groovy, a very pleasant though mild feeling… and made the best of it. I thought this morning that eigentlich I was simply doch sent out of the place through that tunnel… but now that I have written it down, the “prerequisite” jumps into consideration. Maybe this was it, and maybe I even passed the test, and the next dream, I can get registered 😉
Tolton: This dream illustrates many things at once: One is this public space which I have elsewhere described as dream malls.
One point of note is the “Angine de Poitrine” character — some dream characters are so alien that they look alien and are very awkward to interact with. I sometimes wonder whether such dreams are the inspiration for South American gods.
Another point is that not all sentient dream characters are dream guides. A child might turn to any adult in a train station for help, but not all adults are equally helpful or interested.
While red-haired woman appeared to be kicking you out of the dream, that was only partly true. She could have kicked you out once you were a couple meters away from her. She instead chose to show you something, or maybe, as you suggested, she chose to test you. Either way, it was a parting gift.
Dictation
I dreamt quite a lot last night. I travelled in CH in ordinary train dreams. I was also in the Swiss countryside and visited a family in a cottage. I became lucid after leaving the cottage. I commanded the dream to take me to the bright country. (ed. this is 8 years before I had the Heaven dreams of 2020-21.) I appeared in the new dream floating above a shallow lake of perfectly clear water. The scene was bright and beautiful and perfect. I was ecstatic. I felt that something was holding up from behind; I wasn’t floating under my own power. I could see a woman out of the corner of my eye, but only a single fleeting glimpse. I commanded, “Reveal yourself.”
The scene changed immediately to the interior of a house in which people were making preparations for a party. I went to the kitchen and there was a middle-aged lady with glasses who was preparing food with other women. I asked her a string of questions about her activities, what she was doing in my dreams, how she found me, and so forth. Her answers were playful and evasive. I was slightly annoyed at having been deceived at the lake, although I understood that it was my lack of awareness that was to blame. Then I was ejected from the dream. As I returned to ordinary consciousness, I became aware that I had been quite distant from my normal awareness, and that I was forgetting what had just happened, all in matter of seconds. I began rehearsing what I still could remember, in order to be able to write it now.
I returned to sleep, intent on continuing my adventure. Another dream guide was speaking to me. This was yet another distant dream state which I cannot remember; I can only remember what I had rehearsed during the waking process. The dream guide recited a series of words, and bade me repeat back each one. This was a test to determine how well I could receive information clearly. From my perspective, I was repeating back what I’d heard, but from her perspective, I was distorting what she’d said. She concluded that I could not receive. She stressed nevertheless that it was important that I acquire the skill. There was a practice that I ought to undertake that would help me. I wrote down the key words in a notebook; she repeated the words several times, and they seemed to become a little clearer each time, although I felt I was nevertheless guessing. She made it clear that at least she, and perhaps other guides, wanted to pass information to me. Then she woke me up so I could write down her instructions in waking life. However, during waking, I became aware that I was forgetting everything very quickly, and was only able to retain some fragments of what I’d written in the dream: thais thessalou 1977 filling cups
Bewildering Breakfast Invitation
I dreamt of being in a village that was in the form of a shopping mall. People were gathered to watch some performance or to attend some meeting; I don’t remember because I was immediately approached by a husband and wife pair in their 20s who spoke with a heavy Slavic accent.
“Do you want to come with us?” the woman asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” I replied. “Who are you?”
She began to lead me away by the arm, and I immediately resisted. Then she grabbed me forcefully, so I beat her back forcefully. The escalation continued into quite intense hand-to-had combat. At some point, a knife entered the fray. I don’t remember from where it came, but once I got control of it, I stabbed her; she fell, mortally wounded.
This whole time, the people in the mall ignored us, as though we were ghosts.
Then the woman stood unharmed, as though she had merely stooped to tie her shoe laces. Her husband grabbed me from behind. He broke one of my arms. While I was screaming in pain, his wife stabbed me, then began cutting and slashing with a fury. It was a painful, bloody, nightmare.
He let me go. I thought I would fall to the ground, but I did not. Instead, I looked at my unharmed body in wonder. I realised that I had merely imagined the pain as a response to what I perceived was happening.
“Now, do you want to have breakfast with us?” the woman asked.
“Yeah, okay.” How else do you respond after such an experience?
Without transition, we were immediately in the kitchen of an uncoloured artificial apartment. The furniture was undetailed, like CGI from the 1980s. The whole kitchen was comprised of very simple, featureless white objects.
I was somehow convinced that we were in the apartment of the man’s mother. I don’t remember seeing food, but I nevertheless had the sense that she was serving us breakfast. I also do not remember seeing her, but her presence was completely obvious somehow. The man and woman were trying explain something to me, but I can’t remember what it was. All I can remember was the woman, who was seated next to me, blossomed into a scaffold made of many arms and legs, without torso or head. This was part of what was being explained to me, but it was beyond the limit of my comprehension; I awoke.
Are Dream Guides Real?
If you read enough of my posts about dream guides, you might suspect that I think they have an existence that is independent of my brain. I do not have a theory about any independent existence. That doesn’t mean that I refuse to believe that I might some day.
I have received through dreams many lessons of deep insight. You can judge for yourself the value, but the simple observation I have made is that, whatever the value, I have dreamt much more wisely than I have lived. If I thought I were wise, I would have tried to start a religion. After all that has happened to me, I would have certainly started a religion if I thought I were special in some way. However, I my dreaming career has been characterised by uneven progress and disastrous set-backs. Maybe I am wise, but in a tragic split-brain kind of way. This is as far as I have been able to think it through. I’m not sure it matters because the lessons are real enough.