Thread: Any Tips On Dream Guides?

For my guides, it seems they are there to help me with problems in life, improve myself. I wish they communicated with me more clearly, wherever they appear it is very cryptic.
They did however do something wonderful... I had serious OCD all my life and thanks to them, I no longer have it. They were encouraging me to fight it and walked me through it in a way - it still took a lot of effort so I can't say they healed me just like that but they helped me.

I know I am on hiatus, but working with my dream guides has been a big part of it, so I have been working with them a lot lately.

My dream guides are very good at dream control and they have a few things in common and a few things apart.

They are all pretty quiet. Mostly let their actions speak for them.

One of them is a relative of mine in waking life and has a similar personality except for being a little more quiet.

Two of them didn't like me at first and I had to make them respect me. They ignored me and showed me how much faster and stronger they are than me.

Two of them are are quite a bit older than me and treated me more like an apprentice. They both just teach me each time we are together. Sometimes bring me on missions too.

I guess for me, they seem to take on the idea of senpai or sensei. I do have one kohai and one minahai.

I guess everything for me is a learning experience, so it takes a learning from, learning together, or teaching role. Their purpose seems to have all in dream expectations. They help with persistent worlds, but also are above common DCS and put their own needs ahead of others generally. Though they will fight and protect other dcs, they don't do it as a super hero would, because they have their own agendas most of the time.

I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.

I wouldn't define mine as only a dream guide, but he certainly does guide me through dreams, so I'll share some of my observations.

At first I thought there were multiple different characters, until I realised it was the same entity but that it was able to change its form. Sometimes appearing as a man, a woman, or an animal. Rarely keeping the same shape over consecutive dreams, but sometimes they would. I know when it is them by the way they 'feel'. Sometimes they are just a voice that feels like it's inside my head.

At the start, they didn't really speak to me. They would only appear if I was under threat in a dream (even if I wasn't aware of the threat until afterwards) and back me up. Like a silent guardian.

They are expert at creating vivid dreamscapes, especially locations from my past. I can often tell immediately that they are nearby if I have a dream like this.

They can manipulate the dream images easily, and have demonstrated this in dreams. They may make themselves disappear, or appear to be on the other side of a room, but then touch me on the arm to show that they are actually very close. The images are illusory, and I can imagine tactile sensations in my dreams based on what I see, but if they do touch me it feels very very real and physical.

They get visibly frustrated at me when I miss lucidity cues. Or look confused when I get caught up in strange mundane activities. I told one once that I just needed to go into the next room to pay for the souvenirs that I wanted to buy, and the look on his face was one of absolute confusion. His only reply was *shrug* "Sure".

Like other DCs, we can communicate without speaking.

Most of the time, they just look out for me. Often they teach me things as well related to dreaming or to my other interests. I sometimes feel like I'm just a kid that they are babysitting, but that's not so bad. Sometimes other DCs will comment on them, which always leads to interesting exchanges.

Wow, thanks for commenting guys! From what you guys wrote it sounds familiar from what I experienced in my dreams with guides or what you would call smart dream characters. Blackhammers's experience with his guides helping him overcome his ocd reminded me of when a smart dream character gave me advice during a time someone was bothering me. Sensei's quiet guides remind me of the times when my own guide Dawn was silent most of the time. The showing off part sensei also mentioned reminded me of a smart dc that use to flip the scenery around and playfully tease me in my dreamworld. Than Vivian reminded me of the "feel" you get when their around and the being able to communicate without speaking thing. There's more you guys mentioned in detail that are common/familiar but I don't need to list it all.

However, even though I experienced these things I don't really have these things happen in my dream anymore. My lucids are short and my recall is decent If I sleep early. Also, it feels like my guides come but their being there is without purpose now. Perhaps like these characters are becoming fading in bond too.

Thinking about it though there is another question that came up. As I read Vivian mentioned being a silent guardian. Have you guys experienced that in your dreams? I can't recall a time I was silently guarded. Unless you count the dream where Dawn was sneaking up on me once. But that was probably because I was looking for him. For the most part the guiding part has always been apparent for me.Also, if your reading this Vivian could you give me an example of being silently guarded?

Originally Posted by DreamCafe11

Thinking about it though there is another question that came up. As I read Vivian mentioned being a silent guardian. Have you guys experienced that in your dreams? I can't recall a time I was silently guarded. Unless you count the dream where Dawn was sneaking up on me once. But that was probably because I was looking for him. For the most part the guiding part has always been apparent for me.Also, if your reading this Vivian could you give me an example of being silently guarded?

Of course. I've had many dreams, throughout my life, where as I'm going about my business in the dream I will become aware of a person who has just appeared. Normally they are standing just behind my shoulder, like they are flanking me. I had never thought much of it or paid them much attention, despite it happening regularly. Their appearance would nearly always occur soon before something 'bad' would happen, like suddenly getting attacked by lions. The thing is, most of the time I had absolutely no idea about the danger I was in but was also provoking the problem. I had one dream as a child where I saw a purple dragon in a forest. My guardian instantly appeared, but I didn't think anything of it. I loved dragons as a kid, and I was so excited to finally see one! I ran over to it, filled with joy, and then all of a sudden it opened its mouth wide and leapt at me, trying to eat me. My guardian was standing just nearby, as though they knew exactly what was going to happen, and then grabbed it as it launched itself into the air. The dragon never had the chance to land its attack.

I have had dreams where they speak as well, still protecting me from other machinations within the dream. At one point, there were these strange cultists who were curious about me. They were pretending to be my friend so that they could take advantage of me. I was not lucid and pleasantly going along with their directions, trying to be polite. My guide appeared and told them a few very strange things about me, things which I knew to be lies. The cultists seemed instantly disappointed, apparently I wasn't what they needed after all. They left without a fuss and I assume that a nightmare was averted

I called them a silent guardian because they may speak to other characters in the dream, but they never spoke to me until they also began to fill the role of 'guide'. Now we communicate without issue. They still show up to protect me from time to time, but now I'm far more aware of their presence.

Thanks for replying again Vivian. Those are interesting occurrences you mentioned. For each of those dreams it seems like they helped you take notice of the possibilities of unfortunate events. But for the dragon dream, if you loved dragons than how were you provoking it? Also, if their still showing up to protect you have you ever had moments where protecting you didn't become the objective anymore? For one of my guides it seemed more about defending myself within the dream. While for my other guide he was my protector.Although to be honest I viewed the one that hardly protected me as something more.(Dawn) Since I was a little girl certain dream images and characters I took interest in and wanted to dive deeper into this curiosity by bringing them back into my dreams. Dawn was a character that appeared during the time I was about to move when I was 5 so that is most likely why I feel more attached. But it seems like their appearance is maybe not as meaningful as I thought it would be as a kid. I don't know. Just these are just some thoughts that popped up in mind. Sorry if it don't make sense.^^"

I experimented with the idea of a dream guide long ago but it never really clicked. But I do have a sort of dream squad or entourage of familiar characters that have archetypal qualities. And they tend to place themselves in just the right spot in a dream to bring some humor or insight or mystery. They're more like pranksters and confidants. I think it's part of the same greater phenomenon.

I've reasoned about it this way. Me personally, I'm very much a self-starter and fiercely independent. The idea of having a mentor doesn't really jive with me, not matter how wise or powerful they might be. What's more appealing to me is to have peers who can challenge me. With whom I can play.

So I think each person's manifestation of a 'guide' will complement their personality and mood. And as moods change, so might the role of the guide.

Pranksters? XD hehe You don't get annoyed? I understand what you mean about the title. I think for most of us we don't consider them as guides at first. Even the role as guide, in a way, has a start and end to it. However, even when you call them guides they can be both a dream buddy and guide in the dream. So the title isn't all that bad.

"Guides that compliment a persons mood and that role changes depending on the person's personality/mood"...I believe that to be true. But than doesn't that just make them sort of like dream puppets that cater to our benefit somehow. As I think about everyone elses and my experiences with these smart dream characters the more I believe there isn't anything too special about them. They just seem special when you encounter a dc that spews out random nonsense and you compare the two.

I guess than the next question would be what do you guys find special and not special about them? ^ - - ^ Also, thanks for commenting sisyphus.

While i have not really directly met my DG yet, i feel like DGs are influenced by our conscious and subconscious minds, and i can't really get more specific since i haven't had any experience with them. Surely i'm extremely interested and i will find my DG sooner or later. Did you search for yours, or did he appear by himself?

All my attempts to see my DG so far have failed or resulted in weird things (shadow person, immobile person, ect..) but i could also blame that on my low lucidity at the times i tried.

Originally Posted by TDHXIII

While i have not really directly met my DG yet, i feel like DGs are influenced by our conscious and subconscious minds, and i can't really get more specific since i haven't had any experience with them. Surely i'm extremely interested and i will find my DG sooner or later. Did you search for yours, or did he appear by himself?

All my attempts to see my DG so far have failed or resulted in weird things (shadow person, immobile person, ect..) but i could also blame that on my low lucidity at the times i tried.

I agree with you for the most part when you say they are influenced by our mind. However, I'm not entirely sure since I do have some belief that dream sharing is possible. Also,I'm sure you will find them soon if it is really what you desire. My first dream guide Dawn I considered just a special dream character at first and appeared by himself. My other dream guide Eye was just like a special dream character at first too and i just got him to appear in the dream over and over again. ^^" Same with Kiro however he has not appeared as much as Dawn and Eye have. Although, now that i think about it I haven't really needed their assistance as much as i use to.

Hmm...Have you tried thinking of it in a way that they are already present? Even if they are in another room or somewhere nearby? What helps is also thinking of a purpose. Do you want to see your guide to ask a question? Is there something that they can assist you with in the dream? Its possible that your dream guide could turn out to be what you least expect too. So don't rule the weird looking ones out until you chat with them and can have a decent talk with them.

While i do think of my DG's existence, i have not actually considered thinking that it exists on a physical (dream) manner. And i haven't really had a purpose in mind yet, but either way i think that it would be fun to meet my DG. Here's hoping that i learn to stabilize and get proper lucidity both at the same time in my next LDs.

Still, i think meeting my DG will wait a bit until i get used to dream control and stabilization.

Physical dream manner? Could you explain what you mean by that. Alright. I look forward to reading about you accomplishing your dream goals if you choose to write it as a Dream journal entry.

Originally Posted by DreamCafe11

Physical dream manner? Could you explain what you mean by that. Alright. I look forward to reading about you accomplishing your dream goals if you choose to write it as a Dream journal entry.

I consider my DG as a persona that resides in my conscious and subconscious mind, but when i'm dreaming i forget to consider that the DG could be in the dream itself with a physical appearance.. A girl or a wolf for example.

I will find this DG of mine, it's only a matter of time.. Interested in hearing the name of him/her.

Other than that.. Glad to see that you're finding interest in my journal.

Originally Posted by TDHXIII

I consider my DG as a persona that resides in my conscious and subconscious mind, but when i'm dreaming i forget to consider that the DG could be in the dream itself with a physical appearance.. A girl or a wolf for example.

I will find this DG of mine, it's only a matter of time.. Interested in hearing the name of him/her.

Other than that.. Glad to see that you're finding interest in my journal.

Ohhh Okay. Thanks for clearing that up for me. ^^Also, I use to read dream journals around here before but sort of lost motivation. Hopefully once i start reading yours and other dream journals it will help motivate me to lucid dream more too.

Originally Posted by DreamCafe11

Ohhh Okay. Thanks for clearing that up for me. ^^Also, I use to read dream journals around here before but sort of lost motivation. Hopefully once i start reading yours and other dream journals it will help motivate me to lucid dream more too.

Unfortunately for me, i can't find many DJ entries that revolve around the things i seem to like.

I'm a big fan of anime and fantasy so my goals are generally revolving around stuff like magical powers or swordfights. I have not specifically listed it but for now i have 2 things in mind that i want to do before expanding onto more stuff:

1) to use a certain magical power alongside summoning a sword i drew a while ago.. yelling made-up spells in japanese in the process (lol)
2) to meet my dream guide and have interesting conversations or adventures together

The rest is not clear at this point, but generally it's action/adventure stuff which is quite different from the content i see on DJs around here.. Flying was my goal in the past but i found out that flying apparently sends my dream collapsing, so i delayed it until i get good at handling my lucid dreams.

I know what you mean but I just try to be more open minded when I pick entries to read. Lol Yelling the words out loud in
Japanese. It adds a nice touch though and speaking in Japanese is fun/interesting.

Reading your goals I see you are going to have fun lucid dreams. :3 I really need to make some goals of my own now that I think about it.

Here's a thought, in my vein of dream guides as archetypal characters. The essence of a dream guide is in the role they play or what they add to your dreams. That means they might not look the same in every dream; they make take different forms. That makes identifying them tricky. But once you identify them, they might start to take on a more regular appearance. Or at least, you become aware of the details to look for.

For me, I have a recurring female character that I call The Goddess. She always looks different, but she is always the subject of my desire and she serves as a foil to explore the nature of desire. Even though she is different every time, I've started to notice some recurring details. Like she usually wears red clothing even as her hair, skin, and other features change.

Originally Posted by sisyphus

Here's a thought, in my vein of dream guides as archetypal characters. The essence of a dream guide is in the role they play or what they add to your dreams. That means they might not look the same in every dream; they make take different forms. That makes identifying them tricky. But once you identify them, they might start to take on a more regular appearance. Or at least, you become aware of the details to look for.

For me, I have a recurring female character that I call The Goddess. She always looks different, but she is always the subject of my desire and she serves as a foil to explore the nature of desire. Even though she is different every time, I've started to notice some recurring details. Like she usually wears red clothing even as her hair, skin, and other features change.

Sounds interesting.. Have you interacted with her? or do you just see her?

Yeah, she's in almost all of my dreams. She and I do a lot together. I discovered her by looking back over past dreams and looking for recurring elements.

Way back when I started with MILD, I did this for dreamsigns. Later, I started to look for other things -- not just signs to induce lucidity, but for analyzing and interpreting my dreams. I found it was interesting to identify really basic symbolism. Even more basic than recurring characters and objects; I mean colors, shapes, directions, whether it's day or night, indoors or outdoors, whether characters are male or female. (This also improves vividness and recall, incidentally.) When I look though my many dreams with that lens, I start to see threads of possible meaning or significance that run throughout. And once a pattern starts to stand out, it starts recurring more and more in new dreams and gels into a more recognizable character, or theme, or idiom.

So that's how I arrived, in a roundabout way, back to the notion of dream guides.

I couldn't reply earlier but now that I have time I wanted to say that I totally agree with you. As the character comes back again and again you start to notice things about the dc that define its character. Even if it might not be 100% looking like you saw it before, its still possible for most of the characters appearance to be the same from dream to dream. Kind of like how when your family or friends show up in your dream they are easily recognizable but they might not be wearing the same thing or just something about them might be off.

Thinking about the topic of dream guides a question comes to mind now. If you are lucid dreaming and you have the dream guides and non dream guide characters what differences/comparisons can you come up with them?

Non Dream Guide Characters

1.Spew out random nonsense when you talk to them
2.Actions that have no purpose at all
3.Usually stay focused on the dream plot
4.Mostly Uncooperative


Comparisons

1.Their all dream characters
2.Their actions might effect our decisions or thoughts
3.Can apply change in the dream
4.Dream plot can influence their actions
5.Can have morphed or off appearances
6.Both can be uncooperative and cooperative at times
7.Can have a repetitive personality/persona

Dream Guide Characters

1.Can carry out a conversation
2.Assist us in our dreams
3.Have actions with a purpose
5.Mostly Cooperative


These are just some of the things I could come up with. If you want you can add more to the list. Looking at this list though what conclusions can we draw from it? Thinking about it I think since they are dream characters they have more in common than differences. But its the differences that make a big difference in calling them a dream guide/smart dream character or a non dream guide character. This most likely is something we already knew but its something I just wanted to think about more. Although now my last question comes to mind. Is there something special about these dream guide characters? The only thing I can come up with is that although they are dream characters they can make a beneficial difference for us when they are helpful. Their also less frustrating to interact with for us lucid dreamers. Have we really reached a dead end to the topic of dream guides though? Perhaps we have...

That's a great post DreamCafe11. I wonder so much about my dream characters and they do seem to fall into categories. At the same time, they can surprise me and provoke my curiosity, so I'm always re-thinking them and how I relate to them.

I would suggest that, what makes a DG more than just a recurring DC is that they remain with you even outside of dreams. Not literally, but I mean that your interactions with them invite you to explore more than just the content and meaning of the dream. They invite to you explore your identity, or imagination, or past memories, or the nature of reality and fantasy, and all those "big" questions. They make dreaming a part of your whole life, rather than just isolated to the sleep state.

Originally Posted by sisyphus

That's a great post DreamCafe11. I wonder so much about my dream characters and they do seem to fall into categories. At the same time, they can surprise me and provoke my curiosity, so I'm always re-thinking them and how I relate to them.

I would suggest that, what makes a DG more than just a recurring DC is that they remain with you even outside of dreams. Not literally, but I mean that your interactions with them invite you to explore more than just the content and meaning of the dream. They invite to you explore your identity, or imagination, or past memories, or the nature of reality and fantasy, and all those "big" questions. They make dreaming a part of your whole life, rather than just isolated to the sleep state.

^^ Thanks. Actually now that you mention provoke your curiosity, could you give examples of the things they do that grab your attention? Perhaps things that seem unexpected,unheard of or out there.

Yeah, that's true. On some level the non dream guide characters can influence you to explore those things too. But the dream guide can do the things you listed on a better level. However, when you mentioned "whole life" it brought me to the thought of how people can have multiple guiding dream characters. They could also just be a passing by helpful dream character that you might not notice or forget about. So how can the ones you forgotten make dreaming apart of your whole life?

Than another question arises. Can you really separate a dream guide into separate dream characters? Since they both come from the same mind aren't they one? Its most likely the way they interact with us that can make us feel like their different. And yet on some levels you just can see when one seems more connected to the dreaming mind so to speak. My battery is running out so I'm just gonna ask you guys what you think about it. XD

I have enjoyed reading what you have been speaking about - I personally connect to the ideas put forward by Sisyphus and yourself just recently - Especially concerning looking through my DJ and connecting dots between archetypal characters/places/situations ... The more I ponder it the more interested I am in my dream world as a whole, as part of me. It makes it feel meaningful without trying ...

The actual Smart DC interactions I have had in Lucids are few but each one evokes a depth I find most compelling and feel very drawn to explore...I am noticing some iconic/symbolic places/colours etc showing up too that evoke something more - like the smart DC's - interesting indeed

Here's an example from my DJ of the clever, prankster/comedy troupe nature of my recurring DCs who might rise to the qualification of a DG: Tilting At Windmills - Dream Journals

It's long and there's a lot going on in that dream, symbolically. The short version is that I go on an adventure with Don Quixote to save a damsel in distress. But as I learn at the end, she is not in distress and doesn't need saving. The role of the damsel is played by The Goddess, though uncredited. This was one of those dreams that provoked me to reflect a lot afterward. In my interpretation, the symbolism points to a theme of "things are not what they seem" and more generally the comic/tragic folly of human endevours. The journey is to rescue a girl, but she doesn't need rescuing. Which seems to invalidate the whole thing. But the journey was fun nonetheless, so does it matter? Quixote, too, is symbolic of this irony of appearance vs reality. He looks and aspires to be a valiant knight, but is actually a buffoonish, possibly insane, dreamer. The title "Tilting at Windmills" is obviously tied to Quixote and is an idiom in the same theme: waging war on imaginary enemies. I see this a lot. I might call it the anti-archetype, and it's a source of both wonder and humor. The damsel-in-distress... but not really. The knight-in-shining-armor... but not really. The mis-adventure. The anti-climax.

But there's another interesting thing in that dream, one of those things I only notice after putting it in context of all my dreams. It's a very colorful dream and color plays a symbolic role in my dreams. Curiously though, The Goddess is holding an orange that I eat from. The color orange doesn't play very prominently in past dreams. The usual suspects are the duality of light and dark, and then blue, red, green. Orange is interesting because it's both a fruit and a color. So the orange was a unique thing that stood out, and eating it was the most sensually pleasing part of the dream. Might that mean something? The most innocuous and everyday thing about the dream (eating a piece of fruit) was the most rewarding part. Kismet? Maybe, maybe not. But what drew my attention to it, in recall, was that The Goddess was holding it. And that's the allure of dream guides. Everything around them has the potential for meaning.