Moonwatcher

EXT. RAILWAY STATION - TWILIGHT

I'm on the ground level of a two-tiered train station. The platform is covered with crunchy cinders.

CLOSEUP on a SOLAR ECLIPSE. The lower left sliver of the Sun is just showing on a black background, as if photographed through a solar filter. Just the Sun, no earthshine on the Moon. (Day residue: I attended an amateur astronomy lecture last night in reality.)

ME
Wait, am I dreaming? Yes!

CUT TO: My point of view, watching the eclipse. The sky is clear, calm, and cool. My vision is exceptionally sharp--unlike most of my lucid dreams, which seem no clearer than an ordinary dream visually (the only difference being my conscious state).

Now the Moon is in a gibbous phase. But the Sun (which has shrunk to about half size) is still being eclipsed as before--by its own Moon! So now there are two moons, one near and one far, with the Sun farther yet. WHO KNOWS what light source is illuminating the gibbous Moon! The incongruity delights me. I remember an earlier, nonlucid dream some months ago in which a solar and lunar eclipse were taking place simultaneously. I gladly accept such nonlocal logic in nonlinear time.

I note that if I shuffle several feet to one side or the other, a great deal of parallax results: I can eclipse or uneclipse the Sun simply by walking back and forth on the platform. This implies that the Sun and moons must be quite close indeed, and very small--or else that I and the train station are extremely large. Because the three heavenly bodies are beyond the atmosphere.

Lucidity having been achieved, I remember my plan of action--formed in waking life--and speak directly to my dream, making a preposterous request in the hope that it will be granted in reality. (It's worth a try!)

I begin to awaken. As the vibrant dream energy dissipates, a black-and-orange blob persists in my vision. If I close my eyes tightly I can still see it for a while as I wake up in my bed. It's about the size of a silver dollar held at arm's length. It seems to be in my left eye, but I can't prove it. I study its contours and hypothesize that I am seeing my optic nerve, but that is only a guess. (Or is it a picture of a tiny brain?)

It was 6:50 AM when I awoke. As I walked to breakfast later this morning I saw the waning crescent Moon, its phase resembling the sliver of Sun eclipsed in the dream. Remarkable coincidence. (Sun, Moon...no difference.) Despite my interest in astronomy I had lost track of the Moon this week. Did my dream calibrate with the lunar phase this morning? Make of this what you will.

INT. CHILDHOOD LIVING ROOM - DAY

Another storm. I see downtown Dallas, Texas out the window. It is closer than in reality, perhaps by half the distance. All at once, the lights in every building blink on. Some of the lights resemble the mercury vapour lamps in the unfinished towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Also, one or two of the buildings are being hoisted up and down, pivoted on their corners, by giant cranes. These strange sights downtown alert me to my conscious state: Dream!

As usual when lucid, I can think very fast and efficiently. I instantly remember the course of action I had planned when awake for my next dream. First, I rub my hands together and demand, "Clarity now! Stability now!" For the first time in a dream I can actually see my hands because I'm concentrating on them. I also attempt to spin around, which is supposed to aid in stabilizing a lucid dream and prevent waking up. But my dream body is unresponsive and does not rotate. Then I remember that my main goal was to try to persuade a dream character that she or he is dreaming too.

I turn to my mother, sitting next to me on the couch. "Look, Mom! We're dreaming! We're in a lucid dream! Did you know you're dreaming?" She gazes at me with a quizzical expression.

Unfortunately the demand for clarity does not seem to have changed anything, nor the wish for stability: I'm waking up. "Mom," I say to her with a hurried hug, "I'll love you and Dad forever." Then I find myself slowly emerging into the reality of my bedroom, four thousand kilometres away.

EXT. DALIESQUE LANDSCAPE - DAY

A squall of storm clouds. A formation of large, metal cubes comes streaking across the sky, toward me and to my left by about 30 degrees. Altitude: perhaps 1000 feet. They are dun-coloured and look like shipping containers oriented the tall way, with proportions of approximately 1:2:3. They moan or hum as they streak overhead, followed by conventional jet aircraft. The cubes and jets are cooperating and not hostile to each other. Perhaps they are all man-made.

I become lucid. "It's a dream!" I cry. "Clarity, now!" I demand. But the dream does not increase in clarity. Nevertheless, I continue in lucidity by repeatedly reminding myself of my conscious state ("It's a dream, it's a dream.") I attempt to realize some dream goals I've been planning, but to no avail.

Someone tells me that the scene playing out overhead is of a prophetic nature.

I turn to look behind me where the ufos went. Red and blue searchlights rake the clouds in the distance. The red lights are lasers; I can see red dots dancing among the clouds. The searchlights are looking for alien ufo invaders.

[I had this dream < 2 weeks ago.]

INT. CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY

I dreamt I was in the living room of my childhood home. It was an overcast day.
Prehistoric, Ice Age creatures were walking on the sidewalks outside a large window
(day residue from a book I’m reading). A police officer was in the room with me. I
described the animals to him, speculating that one shaggy, tawny species resembled a
cross between a lion and a marsupial. The strangeness of this analysis led me to
consider my conscious state and triggered lucidity. I immediately recalled an experimental
task I have been planning and set to work constructing a square in dreamspace.

Since the cop was standing in the room, I chose to place him in the centre of my square.
Starting with a “westward” first segment and facing the cop, I floated my body to the left.
I felt my dangling feet lightly scrape the floor, and found it difficult to maintain altitude.

On the second segment (“northward”), I chose to remain facing “north” (i.e., I did not
rotate my body). I felt resistance to my motion in space—a common experience in many
of my non-lucid dreams when I have attempted to walk or fly purposefully. The sensation
was similar to that felt when walking through a moving train car, or down the aisle of an
airliner in a turbulent flight (i.e., trying to overcome or resist inertia). I also noticed that I
had not provided sufficient space to make the second segment the same length as the
first: the wall was too close, so I had to cut the second segment short.

For the third segment (translating my body “eastward”), I maintained my “northern”
orientation as before. As I floated, I found to my dismay that the cop was going to be in
the way. When approaching him I glanced over my right shoulder at his face; he was
watching my experiment with a puzzled expression. I decided—this being a dream—
simply to move my body through his without stopping or navigating around him. (I have
made use of this ghostlike ability before in non-lucid dreams when attempting to evade
or escape law-enforcement or other authority figures whose presence I found
inconvenient.)

Unfortunately, as I slid my shoulder effortlessly through the confused officer’s chest—
and as I watched the look of helpless consternation on his face—I found myself waking
up. The scene blackened as I slowly slipped out of dream state. As I am relatively
inexperienced, I do not know if this is the “sparkling void” lucid dreamers refer to—it
may have simply been the darkness of my bedroom as I awoke—but there did seem to be
something sparkly about it in a sense.

INT. TATTOO PARLOR – DAY

I have a consultation with an artist for a small tat on my upper arm depicting Niblet from Sesame Street. I'm ambivalent about it and have promised myself not to commit today, but the artist is getting me closer and closer to closing the deal. There are three artists on staff to choose from and the cheapest job would be $90 plus tax. I manage to wake up before he applies the needle and for once I'm actually glad for a dream to end.

EXT. RESTAURANT - DAY

I discuss lucid dreaming with my friend, Brooklyn, mentioning dream control. "For instance," I explain, "If I were having a lucid dream right now, I could say, 'Let me see a green blimp in the sky with a giraffe in the gondola,' and it might appear--maybe."

Brooklyn seems mildly impressed. "Do you have to pray to make such things happen?" she asks.

"Well, I just sort of talk to myself--to my subconsciousness," I tell her.

[Next time, demonstrate the reality check, please!]

EXT. HARBOUR - DAY

I'm riding alone in a small ferry boat (like an Aquabus plying the waters of False Creek in Vancouver). The boat is travelling very fast; its motor races. I know without being told that the boat is under remote control--controlled by a pirate. He is kidnapping me and bringing me to the cove where he is hiding.

For no particular reason that I remember, I gain lucidity and look around at my surroundings. A firetruck is being transported--upside-down--in a barge on flimsy scaffolding.

My boat runs aground but continues racing in a straight line, its speed unchecked, on the land parallel to the water line. People are on the beach. I begin to plan how, if need be, I will defend myself from ruffians when the ferry reaches its destination.

Two or three hypnagogic experiences while falling asleep. The sensation that I'm walking and my foot slips out from under me. Another "partial OBE?"

Also I imagine I see the purple window in the void again, momentarily, with vague content.

INT. CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY

A white gerbil is sick and dying from starvation. I hold her in a white towel. She struggles in my hand at first but then becomes calm. I place her on a shelf in a closet filled with torn strips of toilet paper.

INT. POLICE INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT

Around 4:00 AM. Straight into dream from wakefulness--WILD--I see a man seated across from me at a metal desk. He's saying something boring. The hand of my "subtle body" goes behind my back. I find this strange, as I always sleep with my hand under my pillow near my face. Once I get used to the idea of having two right hands (one real, one astral) I get down to business: I do the Waggoner thing and ignore the suit at the desk, shouting up at the sky to the awareness within the dream. I ask it to show me the solution to my difficulties with productivity at work. No answer. I ask again. Then I see a purple, rectangular window with a small, convoluted object inside--light purple with dark shadows. I assume it's my optic nerve or something in my head. (Upon waking and searching Google Images, I'm inclined to think it resembled a solitary neuron.) I gaze at it with interest, as it is quite vivid and three-dimensional. I ask what it is but receive no answer. The rectangle moves up in my vision and it's hard to keep my eyes on it--like a floater.

I awake but the vision persists for a few seconds in the darkness of the bedroom. I suspect I was just seeing hypnagogic imagery and the purple thing, however vivid, was not necessarily the dream emissary's answer. (Unless I was being shown a brain tumour that needs removing!)

INT. CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY

I'm reading an old ufo book that has been reprinted in a nice, leather-bound edition. But suddenly the front cover comes off and I see the broken binding. I plan to glue it back together.

INT. CHURCH - DAY

A breakfast of pastries, cheesecakes, and cobblers on two right-angled tables with white tablecloths invites a crowd of diners. They mill about indecisively while women stand ready to dish out the food with plastic spatulas.

A white inclined plane appears in space. I rest on it. Suddenly it turns on a hinge. My astral body falls with that familiar jolt. Still conscious enough to self observe, i smile in my half sleep, recognizing what just happened: "Ah yes, that might have been an OBE!"

INT. HALL IN CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY

I am Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of State (the Exxon-Mobil exec). I'm at the cork board discussing a list of other candidates for Cabinet posts with my future boss. We point and gesture at the list. I see my sleeve cuffs. The shirt i wear under my blazer is dark blue, almost black (like an SS uniform?!?!?!)

EXT. HALIFAX - NIGHT

I watch the snowfall in a vivid city street scene--in full, overcast daylight...but it's 12 AM ADT (Atlantic Dream Time). First Halifax dream since moving here.

The following was--unfortunately but interestingly--a non-lucid dream.

I'm talking to my brother [who is also interested in LD in real life; we recently chatted about it]. I excitedly tell him an idea for something to do in a lucid dream: "Wouldn't it be cool to travel back to the time of Christ and talk to the scribes and Pharisees at the temple in Jerusalem!"

This summer i had success with induction by looking at buildings in my dream environment and getting curious as to what city it was. At first i thought it resembled New York City (where i once worked) because of the sheer density of structures. But i could not recognize any actual NYC landmarks. Then i tried to see if it was Vancouver (where i was living at the time). Still no luck. Suddenly i recognized a building in my home town, Dallas, Texas (the setting for most of my dreams—simply because i lived there for so long, i suppose). It hadn't been there at first; it just popped into view. "Oh but i don't live in Dallas anymore...so this must be a dream!" I'm hoping to learn to use Dallas landmarks as dream signs. That should be efficient because, as i said, most of my dreams take place there.