Dream Incubation

“Oh, Great Isis, All-hearing, All-receiving, All-seeing, Giver of dreams, Guardian, Guide, Hallowed, Lady of Visions, Leader of Muses, Mediatrix between the celestial and the terrestrial, Menouthis, Mistress of the Oneirocrits or Intervening Power, Wisdom, Lady of Understanding”

As you learn to dream, the chaos recedes, and meaningful, reliable dreams begin to occur. The ability to dream and remember is a skill that all can learn with application and intent. It is a powerful and magical tool, one that gives us direct communication with the Divine.

The principles used in successful dream incubations in the temples of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and amongst the Celtic Druids, and also the Buddhist monks, are just as valid today as they were thousands of years ago. Information gathered from surviving records show that ancient priests and priestesses were familiar with the principles of dream therapy long before the psychotherapists of the modern world.

Precognitive, clarvoyant, and telepathic messages and imagery can occur in our dreams. But unless we are capable of recalling these flashes of insight, in waking life the importance is lost to us. Recurring dreams often indicate that something important needs attention in our daily lives, or may also highlight a recurring pattern in our behavior. Nightmares have been associated wit stress and are also linked to sensitivity and creativity. There is one principle that is valid both in dreaming and in waking life; unpleasant dreams, like difficult situations, can yield the richest rewards if faced with courage and resilience.

Many cultures place great emphasis on the content of dreams, and they are used as prophetic tools and as instruments of revelation and inspiration. Buddhists also believe that portions of one’s karma can be erased in dreams, as the reality of the emotions experienced in dreaming are equal to that which can be experienced in the everyday life of an individual.

We can make use of our dream experiences by being conscious of them when they occur. This is done in two ways. One way to do this is by cultivating the ability to remember our dreams and write them down in a dream journal. The other ways are through developing levels of awareness to create a state of lucid dreaming, which we covered on the previous post, and to learn the art of dream incubation.

Cultures that actively encourage the dreaming experiences are the tribal Senoi people of Malaysia, the Shamans of the Balinese Hindu culture, and in times past, the Iroquois North American Indians also employed dream techniques. Research has shown that these cultures have had successful results, from their intuitive dream states, when applied in waking life.

DREAM INCUBATION

“She (Isis) stands beside the sick in their dreams providing remedies for their illnesses and if they declare to Her their obedience, then they regain their health contrary to all expectation.” – Diodorus Siculus

In the ancient temples, the priests and priestesses had stele placed about the grounds with detailed descriptions of the dreams and subsequent cures of those who came seeking help. The stele were testaments of the effectiveness of the cures that had occurred to others who sought such help. The pilgrims had most likely already heard the stories of others praising the powers of the Deity who presided over the temple, which is why they continued to come.

According to surviving records, thousands of pilgrims experienced dreams in which they were visited by the Goddess or God of the healing temples and received the healing advice they sought. This healing followed a prescribed period of preparation in which the pilgrim underwent purification, listened to devotional hymn, witnessed rites of worship, made offerings, inhaled the smoke of holy incense, and spent time in private devotions in the surrounding gardens filled with flowers and aromatic plants. In other words, the pilgrims entered a period of stillness, known as incubation, which placed them in a receptive state to their chosen Deity. These techniques date back as far as recorded history. It was a common technique employed in Isian temples for healing work, and preparation of a candidate for the priestess/priesthood. Dream work is a technique that enables intuitive connection to the world of spirit and Deity.

Most of us do not have access to temple incubation chambers, or their gardens. Instead we must make do with our altars or small shrines, often in a corner of a room, or with a small table or a portion or your dresser or mantle for sacred space. But we can still utilize the same techniques employed by the priests and priestess in the ancient temples.

For successful dream incubation the following steps are suggested. Do feel free to set the mood with meditation, prayer, incense, flowers, music. Whatever helps you personally to move to a receptive, relaxed state of mind when you go to sleep is useful.

-Clearly formulate what type of information you need. Then call on your chosen personal Deity for help and guidance.

-Devise a single sentence, which asks the question. Avoid phrasing so as to only receive a yes or no answer. Keep it open ended as this gives more leeway for information to come through.

-Repeat the question a few times while waiting to go to sleep.

-Try having a cup of mugwort tea, as it helps to enhance the dreaming experience and greatly assists in recalling dreams. Dreamtime and Divination is a lovely blend of several organic herbs that are perfect for dream work.

-Place a dream pouch under your pillow.

-Record the dream immediately upon awakening. If you have more than one dream, record them all. Separate dreams in a single night can actually deal with the same issues, but give answers from differing perspectives.

Carefully assess the imagery of the resulting dream for the next few days. Consider the dream from different levels, job, health, relationships, any issues currently being dealt with in waking life. Sometimes a new thought, or clue can cause you to shift your original conclusions. There are many dream interpretation books on the market, but I personally feel that since the images and messages which come are aimed at the person seeking answers and clarification, the best person to interpret your dreams is YOU.

Lastly, I would like to stress the importance of keeping your dream journal, and to jot down your feelings immediately upon waking. Even the slightest distraction can vanish the memory of the dream. I have two journals for dream work. One that I keep by my bedside, where I hurriedly scribble my impressions, imagery, colors, words, feelings, etc, as soon as I open my eyes, and another for formally writing down the scribbles into a cohesive (and legible) format.

Many factors will contribute for your understanding of your dreams. Moon phase and sign, your mood, your moontime, your health, what you ate the night before, possible events in the waking time, etc. A suggested layout for the dream journal is as follows:

Day, Date, and Time

Moon Phase and Sign

Moontime phase

Your health status

Mood prior to dream

Any foods/drinks/medicines consumed prior to sleep

Events in the waking time that may affect your dreaming

Description of the dream – as much detail as possible, including colors, sounds, feelings, weather, time of the day or night, etc.

Keeping this accurate record will provide you with a clear understanding of your dream, and after a while you will start to see a pattern.

Until next time, I wish you all sweet dreams ❤

Love and Bright Goddess Blessings

Isis Selenaia

Chrysalis Goddess

Crystal and Gemstone Altars as a Focus of Energy

The act of deciding what to include in an altar and the physical act of assembling it can be very powerful and positive activities. Now that we’ve created and consecrated a simple elemental altar, let’s discuss the creation of more elaborated sacred spaces, and concentrate on making it a focus of energy.

In choosing appropriate objects and symbols, think about what’s most important to you. This may be goals related to your personal life, and may also include your visions for the planet and all of its inhabitants.

You can use an altar as a focal area for meditation and distant healing. You can place on it crystals which you’ve programmed for particular intentions. It can also be for displaying your favorite and most meaningful crystals and any other objects of power. The number of altars you have in your home is limited only by the number of unoccupied horizontal surfaces you have available!

Here are a few different methods for creating an altar, that focuses primarily on crystals and gemstones.

THE CHAKRA METHOD

One way I use is to arrange crystals by chakras. In this method I would begin with first chakra stones, followed by stones of each succeeding chakra, arranged in a circle. You can use from one to however many crystals you have available for this purpose.

I also place crystal animals, power stones, and pocket totems in appropriate locations. For me, appropriate relates to the meaning the particular animal may have for me. Seal for example means to me freedom in one’s body, so my crystal seal is grouped with the first chakra stones. I relate dolphin to communication (fifth chakra), bear to healing (fourth chakra), although it could as easily represent the sixth chakra (dreams, sleep, inner wisdom).

I pay special attention to what I place in the center of the altar. For the chakra arrangement I like to have a quartz cluster or clear quartz sphere, as I feel that this radiates out energy to all of the other stones. With the cluster or sphere in the center, I find that the arrangement seems to create a continuous flow or balancing of energy.

THE FOUR DIRECTIONS/ELEMENTS

Another arrangement with crystals with to work with the four directions/elements, as used in Celtic and Native American systems. In this arrangement, as we’ve discussed previously, North is Earth, East is Air, South is Fire, and West is Water.

Intuition and imagination help in assigning crystals to each element. Hematite is generally an Earth stone; Ruby is Fire; Aquamarine is a logical choice for Water, and Amethyst and Lapis Lazuli seem appropriate for Air.

Other stones call for more subtle and subjective interpretations. Rose Quartz, being related to the heart and to emotions, might belong in the Water area. But perhaps you may interpret the color pink as a soft or quiet Fire. Green stones are specially interesting in terms of placement. Green Calcite can be considered a Water stone, but being green, it can also be a Heart chakra placement, thus Water, while Malachite’s dark green with black might mean Earth to you.

I find that what works best when I am using this method of arrangement is to experiment, moving the less obviously related stones until it feels that they are in the right place. With this particular arrangement I particularly like to place the various feathers I find in the Air position, and non-precious stones, such as river stones, in the Earth area.

SPECIAL KINDS OF ALTARS

An altar may be devoted to a particular purpose, such as healing, manifestation of abundance, or love (as in relationships, family harmony, etc). In such cases you will probably choose to focus on crystals specifically related to these purposes.

Green stones are always powerful for healing, and special center pieces might be a statue of Kwan Yin, for instance, or the winged staff or caduceus – representing Isis, as Healer. Or a statue of the Winged Isis, my personal favorite, or even a Green Calcite or Aventurine sphere. Frogs and bears, both of which symbolize healing, are appropriate for this kind of altar as well.

For Abundance and Prosperity, which can also use the color green, as well as yellow, an appropriate center piece would be a large chunk of Pyrite cluster.

For love, I generally focus on the pink stones, and if improved communication is part of the state you wish to create, you might choose to add Aquamarine, Chrysocolla, Blue Lace Agate, Larimar, Turquoise, or Amazonite, all powerful communication stones. Helpful power animals include wolf and otter (they mate for life), and hummingbird, for the transcendent aspects of love.

Some people like to create Angel altars for angelic guidance, or Fairy altars for Fae magic. Angelite is the most obvious stone to use, as is Amethyst for its transitional quality (this stone is the color of twilight) and Rose Quartz to symbolize the unconditional love which angels have for us. An symbols of angels work well as a centerpiece.

For any of the above special altars I recommend the use of quartz points to direct and enhance the energy, as well as grounding stones, such as Hematite, Obsidian, Black Tourmaline, Tiger’s Eye, or Smoky Quartz, to ground the energy.

SEASONAL ALTARS

Many people like to either vary the elements of their altars, or have particular ones related to the seasons.

A winter altar might include pine cones, evergreen tree branches, and a focus on clear crystals such as quartz, Calcite, Danburite, and Selenite. Red and green accents often brighten up a winter altar. An owl can represent the inner wisdom associated with winter, while bear symbolizes hibernation and going within.

A spring altar would have focus on green. A vase containing spring flowers could make a meaningful centerpiece. Green stones and green candles help to celebrate the season of renewal. Anything that symbolizes healing and rebirth is appropriate for this season.

For summer, the golden stones nicely symbolize the sun. A nice contrast are blue stones, representing the sky and the sea.

An Autumn altar may include red, orange, and yellow stones. A cornucopia in which a crystal programmed for abundance is placed, can make a wonderful centerpiece.

USING YOUR INTUITION

This is the most challenging way to arrange the elements; it may also be the most rewarding. To use this method, choose the crystals, power animals, or stones, and any other objects you want to use to put your altar together.

Keep your particular intention strongly in mind. If, for example, you are creating an altar for the purpose of healing (yourself and others), you might want to imagine healing symbols as you arrange your crystals. You could visualize the new green grass of springtime, flowers, the trees in full leaf. If you have specific people in mind for healing, see them well and happy. You may also find it helpful to play relaxing classical music in the background as you go about your altar creating. Arrange and rearrange your crystals until you are happy with what you see and feel.

In sum, whichever way you choose to create you altar, know that it will grow in strength the more you feed it with energy and intent. It’ll become the focus of your spiritual growth, and as you infuse it with intention, it’ll grow in light. In the next post I will talk about creating and strengthening you astral temple in unison with your physical one. Until then, I send you my love and bright abundant Goddess blessings.

Blessed Be!

Chrysalis Goddess

Isis Selene

Simple Ritual for Dedicating an Altar

On our last post we discussed how to set up a simple altar. Now that you have all you need, let’s consecrate it by performing an easy ritual to dedicate your shrine to Goddess and make it a sacred space to be the focus of your spiritual development and your personal relationship with Her.

We begin by clearing the space. That can be accomplished by smudging with dried herbs such as white sage or rosemary that are placed in a heat proof container and lit to create smoke. If you don’t have herbs available or the smoke bothers you, clearing can also be accomplished by sound. You can shake a rattle, or use a drum, or even use pots and pans with a wooden spoon. Remember, the important thing is always YOU, the tools don’t have to be fancy.

Take three slow, deep breaths, and focusing on your breathing, visualize all the negative energy and psychic debris dissolving as you walk around your altar with the smudging herbs (or sound making tools). Begin in the East (Air), and proceed to South (Fire), West (Water), and finally North (Earth), stopping at each direction, and reverently asking for each of the Element’s presence and assistance and thanking them for their presence.

Next begin to set up the altar as you please, placing each item gently where you wish it to be, and visualizing it becoming pure and cleansed and dedicated for your highest good and the good of all.

Continue to visualize your altar becoming the center of your home, cleansed and purified, and inviting the the presence of the Goddess, and as you do it, light the candle, and if you chose incense to represent the element of Air, you can offer it at this point.

Next take the olive oil and use a small dab to bless yourself to the work you’re about to begin in your newly consecrated sacred space.

Dab the top of your head as you say:

“Goddess Bless me for I am your child”

Dab your Third Eye chakra (between the eyes and above the brow) and say:

“Goddess Bless my sight that I may see You and see the Divine in all of Your creation”

Dab your Throat chakra and say:

“Goddess Bless my voice so that I may always speak Your truth”

Dab your Heart chakra and say:

“Goddess Bless my heart that I may be open to love all things”

Dab your Solar Plexus chakra (right above the belly button) and say:

“Goddess Bless me and give me the strength that I may live life to the fullest and always know my soul purpose”

Dab your Sacral chakra (Lower abdomen, about 2 inches below the navel and 2 inches in) and say:

“Goddess Bless my passions with balance for all acts of love and creativity are your rituals”

Dab your Root chakra (Base of spine in tailbone area) and say:

“Goddess Bless my instincts with clarity of purpose”

Dab the soles of your feet and say:

“Goddess Bless my feet that they may always walk your path”

Dab the palms of your hands and say:

“Goddess Bless my hands that they may always be open to give and receive Your love and that of all Your creation”

Place the olive oil back on your altar and now spend some quiet time meditating on what this altar means to you, and filling it with love and energy. Feel the presence of the Goddess all around you, breathing in Her love and light. Feel the magic all around you. Visualize yourself revitalized, becoming healthier, whole, and wiser.

When you’re ready to finish the ritual, thank the Goddess for Her presence, and go around the altar once again, this time starting with North, going towards West, South, and ending with East. As you do, thank the Elements for their gracious presence and assistance. Come back to the altar and put the candle out as you say a quiet prayer of thanks to the Goddess.

Your altar is now consecrated and ready for you to begin your wonderful journey in the love and light of The Great Goddess. And so it is!

Love and Bright Goddess Blessings

Chrysalis Goddess

Queen Mother Isis Selene

Living the Magical Life – Creating an Altar

Your altar is part of the space between the worlds, the place to focus energy which will enable Goddess to manifest in your home, a place where you strengthen you relationship to Her, and where you do magical works. It is apart from the mundane, every day life of your household. Even if you must use your dining room table or an old coffee table, or a bookcase, the top of a an old trunk, visualize it as sacred space. In a perfect world we would all have a permanent altar that could be set up as magical space all the time, but that may not be possible for you. Don’t let that deter you, or think you can’t do magic because of that. If you live alone or with people that are respectful of your beliefs and can do as you like in your home, wonderful, if not then do the best you can. There was a time when I was living with my mother, and sharing a room with my brother, neither very accepting of my faith. I still managed to have a small sacred space next to the TV, in the room we shared, all disguised as mere “decorations”. However, it is not even necessary to have an altar to do magic, it is entirely possible with some practice to do all your rituals entirely through visualization with no tools, no circle, and no altar at all.

There are certain considerations that you must take into account when deciding where to place your altar. If possible it should be in a space where it can remain undisturbed. If you leave your altar set up all the time, and you do not live alone, you must let everyone know that the items on your altar are sacred objects and should not be touched. Ideally, no one should handle your ritual tools except you. It is also possible to have an altar “box”. A place where you store all your altar items, and can upon opening can be your “shrine”. You can buy a simple wooden box and decorate it to infuse with the energy of your own creative fire.

Your altar can be as simple or as elaborate as you want.  For the sake of simplicity and ease of creation, let’s work with objects you probably have around the house already. There are many ways to compose your sacred space, this one in particular is an Elemental altar. For that, you will need something to represent the 5 Elements of Creation – Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. A small cup or bowl of water, or a seashell can represent the element of Water. For Air, you can have incense or a feather. Fire is best represented by a candle, and for Earth, you can select your favorite gemstone, or simply a small dish with salt. And finally, for Spirit, if you happen to have a Pentacle or an Ankh, beautiful, if not, a small vial with olive oil is perfect, and can be used to anoint yourself and for self blessing.

In some traditions, the altar is placed facing North, in others, facing East. If that is possible, great, if not, do what you can. My main altar is in my bedroom, right next to my bed, and the only place I could have it set up permanently is facing Northwest. Is it any less effective? Absolutely not! My motto is “do the best you can with what you have, and remember, YOU are the magic, YOU are the tool”.

How you place the items on your altar is entirely up to you. Traditionally, the placement is according to the directions corresponding to each element, but again, if you would like to set up your altar in a way that is more aesthetic, that’s perfectly fine. Below is a diagram of how to place the elements on your altar.

East – Air – Censer or feather

South – Fire – Candle

West – Water – Bowl of water or seashell

North – Earth – Gemstone or bowl of salt

Center – Spirit – Pentacle, Ankh, or Oil

This is as basic as it gets. If this is all you can manage to gather to create your first altar, is perfectly fine, and it’s a great start to your development of a daily devotional practice to establish a deeper relationship with Goddess. As your practice grows, you might want to start adding other elements to your altar. You could find a suitable representation of the Goddess, such as a statue or a framed painting, or even a nature symbol that you resonate with. On either side, you could have pillar or taper candles, if possible, a black one to the left, and a white one to the right. Those Altar candles are meant to direct energy. Energy enters on the left and exits on the right. Black draws energy and is receptive like the the left hand and White reflects energy and is projective like the right hand, functioning like a transmitter sending out energy from the altar. Black altar candles represent the Deep Essence of the Sacred Feminine, and White, of the Sacred Masculine. Together they promote the harmony of the sacred inner marriage.

I also keep fresh flowers on my altar, as a an offering to Isis, and as a symbol of my love and devotion to Her. At any given time, there are several gemstones on my altar as well, the ones I am currently working with, on a grid or not, depending on their specific purposes. My pendulum and Tarot cards are always on my altar, constantly recharging from the energy contained in it. Another thing I love to do is to re-arrange my altar once a month, and use colors, flowers, and other items that correspond to that particular month, to enhance the magical vibration and energy of my sacred space. Below it’s an example of what my altar looks like at the moment.  It’ll be reconsecrated and rededicated in the next New Moon to reflect the energies of the work that I have recently begun, as well as the vibration of November.  You will notice that I do not follow the cardinal placement, but instead, I arrange my altar in a way that is visually appealing and pleasant. I am after all a Libra with a whole lot of Libra in my chart, so aesthetics is very important to me!

As you see, your altar is not an ecstatic space, it is ever changing, not only with the items that you add, and how you re-arrange it, but also with the energy you gather in it, through daily devotion, meditation, magical work, and simply the quiet moments you spend communing with Goddess. In time, your sacred space will become the focal point of your home, the place where your divine essence radiates to and from, and the more you tend to it, the stronger it becomes. Most importantly, as you tend to your physical altar, so should you tend to your astral one, and with that, you will carry your temple everywhere, all the time. But that’s the subject of our next post 🙂

In sum, you should not let lack of “fancy” ritual items deter you from creating your own altar right now. Even the most basic, simple household items can be the beginning of a beautiful sacred space.

Love and Bright Goddess Blessings

Queen Mother Isis Selene

Chrysalis Goddess