Dream Recall Technique: Creating A Sleep Temple
"Make thou space of sacred slumber a temple, and in thee temple, create a shrine unto Dream. -Xaphor
The Sacred Ritual Paradigm
Paradigm, Perspective, view, science, magick, spirit. We combine these ideas to tune our brainwave frequencies to ones most conducive to dreaming and living the Big Dream Life. This technique involves creating simple to complex rituals for oneself upon going to sleep, and upon waking in order to dream more vividly, and remember more dreams. Meditation alters one's brainwave frequencies from Beta (awake) to Alpha (Meditation/Hypnogogic Hallucinations/Half-Asleep.) In this state, one remembers one dreams which happened in the Theta (REM/Light Sleep) frequencies.
Whether you are religious, spiritual, scientific, atheistic, these techniques will alter your brainwave patterns no matter what you believe.
We make our sleeping space a temple, we make our sleeping place peaceful, a place we feel safe, sleep well, and remember many dreams from the mundane to amazing.
Creating the Temple
The Temple is wherever you sleep. These are the attributes of a Sleep Temple.
1) Clean. Firstly, clean your sleeping area, completely.
2) Beautiful. The Temple should be free of clutter, and gently pleasing to the eye, giving a calming effect when entering.
3) Quiet. The Temple should be as quiet as possible. Reduce noise with thick curtains, and soft furniture. Use peaceful music (on the 432hz scale, if you can) to negate the effects of noise. Experiment with earplugs.
5) Dark. The Temple should be very dark while the Dreamer is in sacred slumber. Use dark curtains (or dark sheets) over windows, and experiment using a blindfold or sleep mask.
6) Warm. Experiment with different layers of coverings, and see how temperature affects your recall.
7) Lovely Scents. The Dream Temple should be free of chemical scents. Use fresh flowers, burn sage or incense, or organic essential oils. Experiment with using a certain scents with different rituals.
8)Comfortable. The bed and pillow should be as supportive and comfortable as possible.
9) The Shrine. The Shrine is a focus of the Temple. The energy of the Temple guides one toward a simple shrine. The Shrine is a thing of simple beauty which the Dreamer sits in front of to meditate.
Creating The Shrine
The Shrine can be made of anything, and have anything the Dreamer desires. A statue, a mirror, a sacred scroll, a painting, a poster, or a single candle may be the central focus of the shrine. Start simply with a small table. Place a cloth over the table and a pillow for sitting in front of the shrine. Place one simple central object that you enjoy looking at on the table. Thus your shrine is complete. Slowly add other optional elements to the shrine as time and money permits, if you so desire.
Candles
Candles, an offering of light, give us the element of fire, and staring into a flame calms the mind.
Chalice
A Chalice, or sacred cup, is filled with the element of water, and aids in purifying the air. If water is left standing over night, the chalice should be emptied.
Flowers
Fresh flowers fill the room with lovely natural scents, and emit a beautiful energy of sacred geometry. Flowering potted plants are even better than cut flowers.
Greens
Evergreen branches or small houseplants filter the air, exhale oxygen, and are pleasing to the eye.
Incense
Incense or dried herbs burning such as rosemary or sage create a lovely scented smoke which cleanses the air.
Crystals
Crystals emit a simple geometric energy. Charge crystals in the sun, and cleanse them in saltwater. If you have no crystals, you can use a small bowl of sea salt.
Bell
A Buddhist ritual bell, a Tibetan singing bowl, offerings of sound, emit peaceful vibrational frequencies when struck and played.
Add or subtract elements whenever you see fit. Keep the shrine simple, clean, and free of clutter.
Entering Sacred Slumber Ritual
As you prepare for bed, embark on a journey of habitual rituals which ease one into a most peaceful sleep.
1) Clean the body.
2) Clean the Temple and The Shrine.
3) Play music, if you desire, and light one or more candles.
4) Sit in front of your shrine and do a Reality Check. Meditate. You may chant if you wish.
5) Meditate until your mind is calm. Release worries, fears, and thoughts of the day, and thoughts of tomorrow. Allow yourself to think about those things. Write down anything you need to remember for your waking life in a waking life journal, planner, calendar, or notepad. (You may find as you drift off to sleep, you remember some important thing about tomorrow. Make sure you write that down so you can forget about it until the morning.) You can chant anything, as long as it's a simple repeating phrase. Think about your dreams, what kind of dream you want to have. Tell yourself you remember your dreams. You love dreams, and you love remembering your dreams. Imagine yourself waking up, and writing many dreams down. Imagine you are dreaming. Do a Reality Check. Blow out the candle.
6) Lie in bed, and tell yourself, I love my dreams, I love remembering my dreams. Do one more Reality Check, and go to sleep.
Dream Recall Ritual
1) Upon Waking, lie still, and leave eyes closed.
2) Move eyes as if you were in REM.
3) Jot important notes down on a notepad.
4) Use the bathroom, drink water, return to the Temple.
5) Light a candle and complete DJ. Record effects of various stimuli to your body on your sleep. (For example: Slept with just one sheet. I remember more dreams when my body is cool while I sleep, it seems. The polyester sleep mask was uncomfortable, and woke me up.)
Wake-Back-To-Bed/Nap Ritual
1) Do the Dream Recall Ritual. (Unless you are taking a nap, of course.)
2) Light some incense or diffuse a scent you use only for early morning and naps.
3) Play soft music reserved for early morning and naps.
4) Do a Reality Check, and go back to bed.
The purpose of the scent and music is this: Dream Signs. Play the music and create the scents when you are most likely to be in REM, which is around 4am til we wake up, and during naps. Hopefully you hear the music and smell the scents in dreams, and this makes you lucid which will help you remember your dreams.
In summary, anyone can use this Sleep Temple technique to create a peaceful space for Dreaming no matter what religion, spiritual view, or scientific belief system one operates in. The benefits are obvious from a scientific point of view, but can still be tailored to any spiritual memeplex.
