CanisLucidus

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #225: Temple of the Dog

It’s the middle of the night and our dog keeps escaping out through the house into the neighborhood. Our house contains a labyrinthine series of tunnels that passes through an old stone church, and I’m convinced that the dog is escaping through some back exit of this church.

I step into the church. It’s mostly dark outside but bright light pours in through a stained glass window to my right. It strikes me as ridiculous to be looking for my dog in an old church that’s somehow bolted onto my house and I become lucid.

I leave the church the way I came in, heading into a dark tunnel. The dream feels wobbly, so rake my hands along the wall to engage my sense of touch. My fingers feel numb and I’m not engaging as much as I’d like. I start scooting sideways down the hall so I can keep my hands locked on and hopefully get this dream to hold together.

The hallway’s starting to get really dark now, though, and I decide to head back for the light. I break off from the wall and rub my hands together as I make my way back into the church. The light’s even brighter now.

I see my dog looking down at me from a previously unseen wooden platform high above. I turn toward the stained glass window, now almost unbearably bright and start moving toward it as the dream ends.

This lucid is from the morning of September 3, 2013.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #141: The City on a Hill

I'm walking alone through the downtown area of some city when two guys in racing bibs run past me. This strikes me as odd, so I nose pinch reality check to become lucid.

I'm walking by a construction site with workers milling around in hard hats. I wonder how I might be able to change it into the Colosseum. This feels like a tough thing to try so I give it up and fly into the air.

The flight works well, although I tend to keep slowly losing altitude, almost like I'm hang-gliding. My feet touch the roof of a building and I leap up again. Now I can see the edge of the city where it meets grassland that slopes smoothly downward. It looks like this city was built on a hilltop.

I touch down at the edge of the grassland and leap again. It's a beautiful day and I enjoy the tranquility of gliding over the hillside. There are few buildings apart from the occasional fenced area and, interestingly, several humble little churches which dot the grassland. Every time I touch down and then leap again, I see one or two of these tiny stone-built churches with a cross at the top.

I continue my downward glide and pattern of leaping along. I see a Greek temple off to my right and I think about exploring it. I'm really looking for the Colosseum, though, so I stay focused on that instead. I set my expectation to see sand, thinking that I can use this to transition to a Colosseum scene.

The next thing that comes into view is a beach with crashing waves. I land at the edge of the cold water. The day is cloudy now. I focus on the sand, wanting to use this sand as my transition into the Colosseum. I reach down into the sand, willing the water to clear away and leave me with a dry patch to use. But after a few seconds, the water keeps rolling back in. I can't figure out how to keep my spot dry.

I look over my left shoulder and see a towering cliffside. I'm exciting by the idea of climbing it, so I try. The rock feels wet and slick in my hands, but my dream body is so light that it's easy work. The slickness seems to get worse as I climb and now I'm climbing up a huge piece of green plastic. The dream starts to feel wobbly to me, so I focus on how the plastic feels, trying to bring everything back to stability.

Okay, it feels better now, although still not great. I keep climbing, approaching the top. I hear the cry of seagulls, and soon I'm awake.