Month: January 2016

Personification of the unconscious

Perhaps the subconscious of the Roman soldiers [, who had seen a vision of the god Pan showing them a safe place to cross a river,] was perfectly capable of making lightning calculations as to the river’s depth and the speed of its current, but was unable to pass it to their conscious minds in the direct manner that modern brains employ. Could it be that the visions of gods or supernatural figures that populate our histories are projections, messages from an unconscious that was at the time unable to communicate in any other way?

— Alan Moore, From Hell (back matter)

I like to think about Alan Moore’s projection idea when I work with visualizations and self-guided meditations. Could it be that apparitions are a pretty good way to talk to your own subconscious?

The first visualization I learned, and still the main thing I do, is to ask to meet a particular character (a dream teacher, a life coach, a friend) and then ask that character questions. At first, all I could do was act out the scenes with my usual conscious mind, but with practice I am much more able to wait quietly until these figures take their own forms, and give me sometimes surprising answers. It feels more and more like asking my unconscious mind to meet up for a chat, and more and more like a mindfulness exercise where my task is to let my conscious mind get still.

The deepest insight I can currently get from these dream figures is on the level of “what should I ask you?” or “why am I anxious?”. In the beginning the answers were often things I knew consciously but didn’t want to admit. These days the answers are more opaque and strange, more like a dream. I am curious whether I could practice enough to get (correct) answers to questions like “where did I forget my keys?” or “is my body healthy?”– things I might know on some level, but can’t think of in my conscious mind. It occurs to me that when I ask to meet someone in a visualization, I should try asking for my unconscious mind itself.

The Bible as a colonial grimoire

As Christianity spread across the European colonies natives wondered whether the Bible was the occult source of power of the white colonizers. Amongst the peoples of parts of Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific, anthropologists have found a widespread notion that the white man deliberately withheld the full power of Christianity in order to keep them in a state of subjugation. This was not necessarily achieved by restricting literacy, but by deliberately withholding some of the true Bible and therefore the complete key to wisdom, knowledge, and consequently power. In the Caribbean today, for instance, the Bible is considered by some as an African divine text appropriated and controlled by Europeans. When asked why he accepted the Bible but not Catholicism, a worshipper of the Trinidadian spirit religion of Orisha explained, ‘The Bible came from Egypt; it was stolen by the Catholics who added and removed parts for their own purposes.’

— Owen Davies, Grimoires: A History of Magic Books

Lucid Dreaming podcast

I’ve been enjoying the Lucid Dreaming podcast with Lucid Sage. It’s non-commercial and amateur in the good way, at least early on, which means no Squarespace ads (yay!) and also minimal editing and long episodes. The host has a humble, passionate vibe that is really lovely. Early episodes cover basics like how to start having lucid dreams, and later episodes include interviews and updates on various devices and kickstarter campaigns.

Some episode highlights:

  • Episode 5 – Going WILD. Host Jay gives a rundown of his core practices (dream journaling, reality checks, dream signs, intentions). This is slightly more elaborate that what I do, and sounds like it works somewhat more reliably.
  • Episode 14 – Dream Yoga with Andrew Holecek. A 90+ minute interview that gives what seems like an informed and thorough introduction to Buddhist perspectives on dreams and the mind, with suggestions for meditation and lucid dreaming practices sprinkled throughout. Lots of new ideas for me– meditating inside lucid dreams, using dreams to practice seeing waking reality as an illusion, etc.

Two spells for burning buildings

A good spell makes new things possible. Years ago I saved this quote from Stone Butch Blues. It is the genderqueer protagonist’s reaction to reading Women’s Studies books.

I felt as though I was rushing into a burning building to rescue the ideas I needed in my own life.

That line made it easy to explain that a book can be worthwhile and problematic at the same time, provided you have a mission. It made it possible to see reading terrible books with a critical eye as heroic instead of embarrassing. It’s a good spell for someone like me who borrows a lot of books from the 000-200 section of the library, and at the same time has enough science background to question using quantum physics to explain serendipity and enough political analysis to see random dreamcatcher cover art as racist.

If that is too metaphorical, here is a short and direct motto from a vanished blog I used to love. I use this as a disclaimer all the time. It’s a spell that can transform a sketchy text into a resource, that can invoke a bigger context and invite all of someone’s history and knowledge into an encounter. I predict this will be a good spell for most things I post here.

Bring your own analysis.