DreamWalking While Awake

Starting a few weeks ago my girlfriend said she has been having nightmares, knowing my my own past with things that don't belong in this section of the forum I asked her if I could help, she has always had a vivid imagination, and told me that all her dreams start the same way. She appears before a large purple Victorian style door with a single light above it, and many locks on it and only she can unlock it, where she then enters and closes the door, being led by a white wolf named Kyon through a lush meadow if they stop there the dream will start will be a good dream, but if they keep going to a foggy forest at the entrance is a black wolf name Ukyro. And then it's a bad dream.

I asked her to leave her door open so I could follow in. She did, when I was inside I can't describe anything to you because I can't see anything, what happens is I'm not asleep myself, I physically called out for her and her dream self replies in kind through her physical body, talking in her sleep. Initially the nightmares start when mirrors appear and she becomes trapped in a room of them, and if she looks in the mirrors she see's a flesh rag-doll, mouth sewn shut and buttons over her eyes, known as buttons, what I initially did was when she told me "Do you see them? The mirrors!" I talk to her and told her to close her eyes, and when she opened them they'd be gone, which they were. Then a little after I told her I took her nightmare away, which I know now as what I did was I took away a repressed memory then was causing her dream-scape to become unbalanced, and she now can no longer remember that memory.

The second day I did the same but rather than going through her door I had unknowingly created my own door which resided in the dream-scape sky. I was there to make sure her dream went well, and then she again said the mirrors, and I again told her to close her eyes and when she opened them they'd be gone. After which a new voice spoke to me through her body. The voice belonged to Buttons who at the time said "You don't belong here, leave." and I refused, saying I was there to help.

What I know now is that my gf has five segments of "things or people"inside of her that all make up who they are. I learned about Buttons is a manifestation of anger that can induce nightmares that will in a sense reboot her and flush away repressed memories which resided behind a third door in the back of the forest. Buttons was once her own person in the 1800's, her name was Lucille Maxwell and passed away in an unfortunate way and in a sense Lucille is a past self of my gf. The second is Amelia, a girl who is the manifestations of many lives compiled into one and represents the past mistakes of her life. the third is my girlfriend herself in her dream state, the fourth is legitimately the manifestation of her heart, which resides inside the mirrors in a door that leads down, I was able to meet her heart and the consequence of doing so made my girlfriend abnormally attached to me. The fifth piece I have yet to meet and I only assume exist which would be the manifestation of her soul.

I am able to create and manipulate her dream in anyway I want, I can force the nightmarish manifestation of her repressed memories back but there has been something bothering me for some time, related to myself and her we are both sensitive in ways. And things have followed me inside her mind, two of the only known things I successfully removed by force, one was a simple trickster who took form of my girlfriend and put the wolves in cages, the other, something possessive which created nightmares for my girlfriend when I was not inside her dream, he made it cold, and he was able to over the period of a few days feed off her enough strength to create real bruises, and before I pulled it out while she was awake it touched her hair.

Reminder is that during all of this, I am awake talking to her as she sleep talks and guides me through her dream. I myself have a difficulty sleeping and when I do I don't dream often. My question is can anybody else do this or know of others that can? I do have more to the story but it isn't dream related.

Thank you for sharing your fascinating story.

What you have been doing is almost a kind of hypnotherapy, but it's not, because she's completely asleep. I call this a "guided dream" like a guided meditation.

Okay, yes there are many things your Gf can do as ultimately this is something she will have to deal with now or later, whichever really.

You have a really good grasp on the basic idea behind their creation. So I guess to gauge where you are or your approach/background on this and I'll come back later to type as well as put together a list of books/resources/etc........so when you lock them up, have you noticed if they "escape"? Anyway, there are several books on the subject, some better than others...Have you had a dialog with them?

So I'm back...anyway, I agree with WakingNomad, that what you are doing is like a kind of hypnotherapy.

I'm going to just limit this strictly to the dreaming aspects, and try to keep it watered down, due to the nature of the forum. What your GF is experiencing is actually quite classic, and I want to just give some words of encouragement. :). Although it may be frighting, there are many folks who have gone, and are going through similar, she's not alone. And it is perfectly natural, just like some people have brown hair, blond hair, etc., such goes the way of consciousness and personality structures.

So anyway, depending on what circle you run in, there are many terms or labels for "this." So if you are coming from a more psychotherapy angle some terms people use are "parts" or maybe inner child, there are various archetypes that may arise depending on the complexity(or ingenuity) of the subject. Those archetypes may be called a protector, inner child, exile, gatekeeper, interject, guide, inner self helper, core, etc.

In the more esoteric traditions as well as depending on regional/cultural history, you may find more information under soul fragments, shadow self, other selves, higher self, lower self, soul, shamanism, etc. as well as those archetypical terms mentioned earlier but with a term "spiritual" as an added filter. Either way the advice and results are generally the same.

Generally these things occur covertly within people as say whispers in the background of one's dreaming. And something occurs, a trigger, or catalyst for these to become more overt. Maybe a person may deny their existence, but it's a part of this person consciousness(even though they may deny it), and may have episodes of a more overt nature such that one cannot deny their existence.

So you may have experienced that forcing them into subversion or caging doesn't work. This is because it is a part of the person, no sooner can you deny an aspect of a person's mind as one can deny and aspect of one's body. They may go into hiding for a bit, but should something happen that triggers them, say an event for which they were created, the mind automatically releases them. Usually you can tell by the reoccurring nightmares and whatnot. Suppressing or locking memories away are also what I call a "stop gap solution," certainly useful, and has it merits, but ultimately, the memories need to be released, felt, and integrated such that they no longer "carry their charge" or have that painful element to them.

Ultimately, the goal is communication. This can be achieved in waking and sleep/dreaming state. Depending on the structure, one may have to speak with, and befriend a gatekeeper, or protector before reaching to the root of the problem. I highly recommend seeking or locating a guide(asking around in the dream), if they don't know how to help, they know how to locate those in the dream who can.

So some really helpful questions to ask are:
What's your purpose?
What's your role?
What do you need? Or how can I help?

Many times even the most maligned character really has the best intentions at heart, they are just using an old, outdated model to function. Depending on the characters and their roles, there may some struggle involved, or negotiation involved, it helps to stay objective and neutral. Positive results of handling these aspects or parts of one's self and transforming them, well a person becomes more whole, even if they don't integrate per se, just removing the walls blocking communication can have a dramatic as well as positive result, generally each aspect/part/whatever holds a positive trait, some people that I've talked to gained skills, abilities, some of which I refrain from discussing here, but also things such as better memory, balance, more dream power/control or whatever skill was held by that aspect of the person(such as artistic abilities, etc.)

Let's see.....there are a lot of books on the subject... Once again depending on whether you want something more Western/Eastern based, or scientific/esoteric based. Maybe some books to look at would be:

Self-Therapy: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, A New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy, 2nd Edition: by Jay Earley(He is a prolific writer, I found him rather thorough.)

Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict by Tsultrim Allione(A friend absolutely loved her book, helped her alot)

Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self by Sandra Ingerman(same idea as the other authors, just tailored to a different audience)

There's many more authors but from what I know, those are the top ones, there are other books too, case examples, they are a fun read, but if you want to get to the techniques I recommend something from above.

Anyway, best of luck on your endeavors, and well wishes.