Very Dark Lucid Dreams. Opinions?

[Vanish]

When I first began lucid dreaming a couple years ago, they were vibrant, beautiful, and generally positive. What's been happening the last 6 months or so is...the dreams have changed character. 75% of the dreams I become aware in, within minutes turn dark and ugly. Satanic in nature. I'm a very positive, loving person. I'm aware there are many deep fears my body/mind has, and I think I may be finally tapping into the deep areas of the subconscious and creating a lot of this dream imagery from these fears. Let me give you an example. Last night I became lucid. It was pretty ordinary, just walking around a comfortable house. Slowly, the lights all begin to turn off and I'm left in near darkness. I'm still able to see my hands. I meditate some, just being quiet and non fearful. Ominous characters begin appearing in the house. It is like a party is beginning, and I am the torture guest. People poke at me, literally, with their hands and sharp objects. one person comes behind me and sticks a knife in my upper back and drags it down to my lower back. I feel the intense pain from this and tell them to stop doing it. I'm fully lucid, I realize it is a dream, but these dream characters are absolutely relentless. Even when I've showed love in the dream, trying to hug them or talk gently with them, they do not retreat whatsoever. The entire dream was me being beat around by dream characters. I have never been good at creating a completely new dream scene at will. My best bet would to be simply walking out of the house. But outside, when I open the doors, it is a wasteland. Broken trees, dark skies, nothing for miles... At another point in the dream, I'm pushed to the ground by bloodied, butchered looking corpses. They lay on top of me and press me into the floorboards. I'm calm about this, I understand it is a dream, but I have little control of them. I push them off of me, calmly and get back up to my feet. Has anyone here heard of such dark lucid dreams before? I really do think I'm getting deep into my subconscious, and it is manifesting these bizarre things. I'm looking for some pointers, maybe some advice, tips, some new techniques I could try to get a little more control in the dream, or to help further resolve this darkness. I'm involved in spirituality and have broken a lot of belief in the psyche away recently...this further makes me believe it is very deep fears surfacing and showing themselves in ugly ways in dreaming. Thank you for any pointers, advice, techniques I could try. I'm not looking to run away from the things in these dreams, I'm looking to understand their nature and confront in positive ways.

[MarineRecon]

Wow that sounds a little disturbing. Try to meditate before bed and do a MILD type of thing and imagine your LDs the way YOU want them to be. Remember, this is just your mind annoying you

[paigeyemps]

Oh wow, that does seem scary. This may sound bad, but have you tried fighting them? You mentioned that you tried to show love and kindness and not mind them, and that you'd tell them to stop. Ever thought about getting physical with them? Maybe zap them with a superpower or something. I think it might be possible that because of your kind nature, your subconscious might crave a different approach to the dreams it's feeding you. Almost as if it intentionally wants you to try to defeat it or something. But that's just an idea. But yeah, you could also try MILD and do some mantras like "They will listen to me" or "they will do as I say", in order to reinforce to yourself that you WILL be in control the next time they bother you. Good luck man

[Vanish]

I have definitely fought back against them, in many of the dreams. when these dreams first began, the characters were usually old friends or "normal" strangers. slowly it became horrific, in character, and it seems to be getting darker and darker each time, like I'm digging deeper and deeper into my subconscious and it's spitting out darker stuff each day. when I have fought back, the dream characters absolutely love it! they get even more intensity and joy in what they're doing. I definitely think love is the best approach, and I'm really trying to understand them now in dreaming. i understand it is projections of my own mind, so fighting it doesn't seem the best approach to me. Understanding seems the best approach. but it is hard, I get distracted and caught up in the dream stuff, and a lot of the time just play avoidance the whole dream, rather than trying to learn something. This morning I began to go lucid, and because I knew the darkness that would begin, I gave back in to the dream and lost myself in it. I remember thinking...I could go lucid right now, but do I really feel like doing all that? My normal dreams are generally always very positive and fun. It is curious why it is only my lucid dreams that bring up this stuff. Thanks for the replies guys.

[Kaenthem]

I don't believe it's them you should be talking too. Since they're not cooperative. Try to find a different way to question your subconscious about this stuff and what does it represent. maybe you could imagine a beam of light breaking the darkness and overflowing you with nice and comffy Feelings. Because you mentioned that you were fearless but you seemed very cold and emotionless to me. hope this helped!

[Vanish]

i wouldn't say I am fearless when it happens, and if I did use that word, it definitely is not accurate for what I'm feeling during these dreams. Rather, it is more of a aloofness I intentionally take on...I usually end up trying to remain meditative and distant, unaffected, as much as possible, by the bizarreness going on around me. There is definitely some fear in me during these dreams. I'm really not sure how to go about dealing with it. When I show love, nothing changes. When I fight back, little changes. When I ignore it all, nothing changes. I began by fighting back. Then I began showing love. Now I just distance myself from it all...mostly just avoiding the happenings in the dream...because I'm not sure what direction to take. I haven't considered questioning the mind directly, rather than the characters. A lot of the books I've read have suggested speaking with the dream characters directly, and that is why I try and do so. They absolutely are not cooperative, so it seems maybe about time to go about directing questioning in a different way. I have not been very successful with visualizing new things in dreams...like beams of light coming in and encompassing me in warmth. I'm going to think more about that and possibly try to practice incorporating in dreaming. Thanks for the advice!

[paigeyemps]

Oooh another idea i forgot to mention is: try to mimic them? I had a few lucids where the DCs were very annoying and instigating. So I mimicked everything they said and did. Eventually they caved in and left me alone and said they were only messing around x)