WHAT LUCIDITY IS

LUCIDITY just means you notice you're dreaming. Current theory, popularized by Stephen La Berge of Stanford, claims this is like waking up inside the dreamworld--the rational mind becomes like a scuba diver exploring the dream-sea, though with more power than a diver--the lucid mind can shape a dream at will. Literally anything becomes possible--altering nightmares, flying, bodily transformation, telepathy experiments, even constructing shared worlds with other lucid dreamers.

However, in more recent books, La Berge admits it may not be wise to simply edit away nightmares or casually transform dreamworlds. Ignoring your dream's own concerns can be like bulldozing a forest. I've had those doubts all along, for my dreams go to some lengths to show that bizarre, even nightmarish dreams may be wrestling with issues the conscious mind really should face. To be cautious, I think we should treat dreamworlds as real places we VISIT, not construct. As tourists/guests, it'd be rude to trash the house just because we have the muscles to and don't like the decor...

ACHIEVING LUCIDITY

La Berge details how to deduce you're dreaming, by watching closely for discrepancies between your dream and the waking world. I've found this unnecessary--I induce lucidity the same way I induce flying dreams: I just tell myself every night that I'll go lucid, and in a week or two, I have a string of lucid dreams. In them, I generally don't deduce I'm dreaming, it's just obvious.

Given how easy I've found it to induce lucid dreams, the following list is pretty short. There's a reason. Frankly, I don't seek lucidity much. My dreams have proved most things you can do in the lucid state can be done without declaring your dream a dream. The key to changing the dreamworld isn't calling it a dream, but simply realizing change is possible! I see dreams and the waking world the same way: as worlds constructed by their inhabitants (and visitors), who agree on natural laws, subject to revision. Relatively rigid, stable worlds, like the one we inhabit, may be fussier about major violations, like ignoring gravity, but magic and miracles can and do happen in any world, dream- or not. (Yeah, I know I just infuriated half my scientifically literate readers. But I'm won't lie to you. Too many ESP experiments with positive results have forced me to say: on this one, the New Agers are right. Minds affect the world on our scale, NOT just particle-size observer effects.)

Miracle-working (lucid or not) can be fun, but along with the power to bend the rules comes an obligation: being considerate of others' feelings and using power constructively... in dreams AND in waking life! Nothing new here--this is, of course, exactly what shamans have said and done since prehistoric times. But I've been surprised how often now I take responsibility in dreams for helping people or fixing problems, simply because I have the power to do it--even though I'm completely outside the tight tribal community, scrutiny, and expectations that traditional shamans lived in. I'm in big-city America, land of capitalism and self-interest, yet the sense of responsibility grew naturally as the power to alter both dreams and waking life did. It's inherent in the practice of serious dreamwork, I think. Not all power corrupts--dream power apparently teaches responsibility.

THE VATCH PROBLEM

I'd like to introduce a term coined by James Schmitz in his science fiction novel "The Witches of Karres": a vatch is a being from another universe who considers your world a dream, and treats you as a dream-figure: "This isn't real, so I can do what I want. You're just a symbol--part of me." Vatching, to make a verb of it, is like early La Berge lucidity. Colonial lucidity. Don't vatch! It's tempting to play God when lucid, but what goes around comes around. Think about how it feels on the receiving end, when someone else treats you like a thing! Better to err on the side of caution: assume dream worlds and beings are real, deserving as much respect and ethical consideration as the waking world.

BALANCED DREAMING: DANTE OR DISNEY?

For beginning dreamworkers, I recommend letting your dreams take the initiative and just working on the issues they raise. Lucid dreaming isn't that helpful, early on. Well, it is good for a few things:

1. Getting straight answers from dream-figures you can't pin down any other way.
2. Working on recurring nightmares you always wake up from involuntarily.
3. Working on other nightmares you can't face--just too painful or scary.

BEYOND CLASSIC LUCIDITY

Underhand lucidity isn't the only non-LaBergian type. I've included a few technically nonlucid dreams where a dreamer has other insights having exactly the same effects as lucidity, like Xanthe's The Bear's Rip, or my own Jetpack & Tiger; these suggest it's not lucidity but aha-ness in general that's the key. Conversely, Nancy Price in I am a Bird recalls her old human life but doesn't give a damn--what can lucidity offer beyond what she already has? Or... what if you the dreamer don't know it's a dream, but your dream itself notices and takes action, as in Adrenaline Hall, a nightmare that spells out just why I mustn't go lucid to change it, or Marianne A's The Outer Limits. Also, a few nonlucid dreams openly discuss lucid dreamwork and the issues it raises, notably The Ethics of Lucidity.

RELATED TOPICS: shamanic dreams - dreams about dreaming, and dreams within dreams - dreamwork and dream research - self-flagging dreams - out-of-body experiences - astral planes - nightmares - recurring dreams - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

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	ADRENALINE HALL: by Wayan; 1992/2/3, a non-lucid dream. A hall designed to give your fear-glands a workout, because muscles aren't the only thing to buff...
	AELFWINE: by Wayan; 1997/12/4, dreams within dreams... about dreams. I go to a lucid-dreaming party, meet the Child who Dreams the World, and find the Body under the Bed...
	AN ALICORN BLADE IN THE HEART: by Wayan; 2010/12/18; a dream of a lucid flash A witch & I duel with blades of spiral horn. But we both just want to create an utterly truthful oracle. Can't we find a way not to fight?
	AMAZEMENT PARK: by Stan Van Der Beek; 1980/12/30, a dream-proposal for a huge art installation The "Amazement Park", as I dubbed it, was a building long as a football field and three floors high; you fly, suspended, round an oval track, through a galaxy of images teaching that "sharing" is what matters...
	ANTI-LUCID FLIGHT: by Wayan, 2016/8/30, a friendly nightmare begging me to go lucid. I fear falling? The drop increases. Want a softer surface? The rocks turn to dirt, then water. Want help? Here comes a flying dolphin. Oh, but I'm not dreaming...
	AROUND LAKE ERIE AND ACROSS THE HUDSON: by Rachel Hadas; 1997?, a dream-poem. My dead friend Charlie and his sister and I are driving around Lake Erie. We know it’s a dream and he’s dead, and yet we’re joyous...
	BACKWARDS CAUSATION: by Jo; 2008/3/3, a dream where I dream a dream in which I dream No matter who I dream I am, twin secret agents dog me, eating my soup, playing my games... CAUTION: PHILOSOPHY!
	BAND-AIDS: by Bagheera Pardus; c.1985, a lucid re-entered nightmare turned to joy. Giant snakes chased me. I go lucid, turn & slay one. As I woke, the snakes cried. So I re-entered... CAUTION: SNAKES, BEHEADING, REHEADING
	THE BEAR'S RIP: by Xanthe; dreamed 1990 or 1991; a lucidish dream with four sketches. A bear rips open my wall and guides me into a psychedelic space where I learn to see with new eyes...
	BREAK FREE: by Emily Joy; 2006/5/11, an encouraging dream on the price of safety. I search for family skeletons, but then a talking plant on TV inspires me to seek the sun and fly free. But certain velociraptors and barbarian swordswomen object... CAUTION: DUELS, FISH ABUSE, THE F-WORD
	BROWNIE: by Wayan; 1984/9/26, a sexy dreamtale. At last my girlfriend and I manage to peel off the Brown Dress of Shame, and ... CAUTION: SEXUAL HEALING
	Tarot: THE BUILDER: by Wayan; 1974/5/19, a Tarot card illustrating a dream. I met a god. Unmistakably a god. The Builder, hard at work--making Utopia, by hand.
	BUNNY GROPER: by Wayan; 2022/2/4; a dream on harassment's roots and goals A fantasy bazaar full of wolf, cat and rabbit shoppers. But my human friend Mark has a booth by the exit, and grabs a rabbit girl's tail! She glares daggers, but seems resigned to harassment... CAUTION: SEXISM OR SPECISM?
	CAR: by Carrie Elizabeth, 1994?, a lucid nightmare--yes, that's possible! I don't even notice the car until it's hit me and I'm dead. Now I have to lie here forever, even though I know it's a dream. But if you die in a dream, you die...
	CHURCHES BURN WHEN YOU LEARN TO FLY: by Wayan; 1989/9/1, a didactic flying dream. I finally learn the difference between just getting off the ground and the mastery of true flight--but there's a heavy price...
	CIRC CERVINE: by Wayan; 2016/9/16, a dream on... how to catch difficult dreams? At a polyspecies circus, I sketch three acrobat-dancers--one deerish, one human, one... a mannequin? Fiendish to draw! I wake frustrated & sketchless. But my sketchwork in the dream helps me redraw it awake... CAUTION: DEER NUDITY
	CLASSICAL BIRDS: by Anonymous #58, 1979 or before, as told by Gayle Delaney; a wish-granted dream I was tired and sad and mired in routine. I asked for a dream to restore my soul. I found myself under a tree as a chorus of gorgeous birds sang classical music...
	CRYPTOMNESIC TROLLEY: by Wayan; 1991/4/22, a lucid dream of suicide. To prove I really am lucid-dreaming, I let a streetcar run me over. Mm, crunchy! Then I find out... CAUTION: PROFESSIONAL STUNT DREAMER. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.
	CYMBALS: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); August 1997, a lucid dream on, um, cymbalism Hundreds of dusty drawers, clearly not not touched in years. I open one to find cymbals. Some part of me knows it's a dream and sees the pun...
	DAWN'S DIVORCE: by Dawn Z; 2002/3/1-21, an outrageous dream sequence While going through a painful breakup, I kept having sexy, lucid, psychic dreams...
	DEER-MAN DANCING: by "Cmmndrblu"; early 2006, a shamanic dream-within-a-dream at least six layers deep! I met a deer-man in the woods. I go lucid, then wake up... to find I'm still dreaming. And wake again, and wake, and wake...
	THE DOUBLE: by Julie Doucet; Nov. 1992, a lucid alter-ego sex dream. Looking in a mirror, Julie goes lucid. She changes herself into a man and pulls her mirror-image through the glass... CAUTION: CARTOON NUDITY
	DRAGONFLY BUS: by Wayan, 2023/3/28; four dreams on halting runaway feelings A girl writes a whole movie to get a shy boy to hold her; I stupidly summon a monster dragonfly-bus; a devil-suited jerk hogs a musical's stage TWICE; leeches crawl from the treasure-box I opened... CAUTION: FURRY NUDITY, SEXUAL FEAR/GUILT
	DREAM CLARITY, or, the Field of Psychotherapy: by Wayan; 1996/11/27, a dream on dreams While we're making crop-circles in the field of psychotherapy, my hypnotist and I start to argue...
	DREAM FIGURES: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, dreamlets between 1835 & 1865? Why do I treat dream-figures as real people, even in otherwise lucid dreams? And if dreams universally suspended disbelief, how did I know, in one recent dream, that the woman I argued with was another part of me?
	DREAM OF KOA RETURNING: dreamed 2009 or before, by W.S. Merwin; dream poem on a ghost dog I reached back slowly hoping to touch your long amber fur wondering if you might be a dream...
	DREAM PATH: by Joseph Kemeny, 2012, painting of a lucid dream Often while lucid dreaming I find myself exploring a pathway with amazing detail. Sometimes a doorway seems to be asking me to continue on to a higher level...
	DREAMSIGNS: by Joseph Kemeny, 2011?, painting of lucidity prompts This dreamer is starting to notice certain subtle signs that all is not normal and this may be a dream. Well, not that subtle...
	EASTER HEALING: by "Clairity"; 2008/03/23, a joyful lucid dream I will a clay cat to come to life, then start healing real cats and dogs and...
	ELECTRIFIED: by Joseph Kemeny, 2011, painting of a lucid dream I was focusing on emitting healing energy from my hands which resulted in an "electric" flow of energy through my entire body. Later in the dream...
	ELF ETYMOLOGY: by Wayan; 1997/7/14, a linguistic postmodern dream. We escape three trolls, but then our author Tolkien breaks in to explain an Elvish word. Now we're really doomed...
	THE ETHICS OF LUCIDITY: by Wayan; 1994/2/19, a thoughtful dream on time and cause. I'm at a symposium on how our beliefs alter not just the future, but the PAST... CAUTION: CONTAINS IDEAS! EWWW!
	EXPERIMENT WITH TIME by Nancy Price; 1948, a shamanic-initiation dream declined? I meet a girl who's 16 and 61, who tells me dreams are lives, not messages. But then I must fly over a sinister parade...
	EXPLORATION OF TAROT IMAGES IN A DREAM: by Roswila, 1998; an analytical numerate dream Tarot cards fuse and meanings layer, to warn me I've similarly (con)fused> real and trance-induced memories during therapy... CAUTION: ABUSE ISSUES
	FALL INTO FEAR: by Brenda Ferrimani; 2001/9/12, a 9/11 nightmare transformed by lucidity I’m falling into endless darkness. I feel like screaming, but then I remind myself I’m dreaming. “What is for me here?” I demand. “SHOW ME!” I begin rising toward the stars. Huge metal discs with alien writing rise with me...
	FARIBA AND YALDA: by Fariba Bogzaran & her friend Yalda, c.1997, shared/mutual dreams After 18 years of exile, Fariba in a lucid dream visits her old friend Yalda, in an unfamiliar home. That night, Yalda has a lucid dream in which Fariba visits. On waking, each writes to the other...
	FIRST DREAMFLIGHT: by Wayan; 1969/11/11, two dream-results from my first dreamwork experiment. I never flew in my dreams. I felt cheated. So one day I set out to CREATE dream-flight...
	FIVE ELVISH DREAMS: by Dolores J. Nurss; 2005/6/10-2005/6/19, an incubated lucid-dream sequence 1: I visit Elrond and Bilbo in Elvenhome, but overthinking traps me in a timeloop; 2: Elrond says he renounces seriousness for joy, and plans a great, inclusive party; 3: I feel unworthy, but set out on a desert quest with Elrond's young apprentice; 4: I meet joyful, drunken, singing elves but hide in a tree, too shy to join in; 5: I meet a nervous elven singer and a dolphin trapped in a tiny pool in my bedroom...
	FLY AWAY HOME: by Wayan; 1996/12/26, a dream of flight and kindness. I'm an alien castaway, hiding my wings. But Earth feels like home now! If I could fly here, would I stay?
	FLYING BED, TALKING BIRDS: by Wayan; 2015/1/6, a one-word shamanic advisory dream My bed floats high over southwest Morocco. Giant birds come fly lazily with me, croaking "Faster, faster!" But I'm busy with anti-desert eco-planning...
	THE FLYING SCOTSMAN: by J.W. Dunne, fall 1913; a lucid predictive dream Just north of the Firth of Forth in Scotland, a train fell from the track to a grassy park where small groups of people wandered. I sensed it was one of those odd dreams of mine & tried to get the date--next spring. On April 14, 1914, the "Flying Scotsman" jumped the parapet 15 miles north of the Forth Bridge and fell to the golf links below...
	FOR THE FIRST TIME: by Jack Kerouac, Nov? 1954, a lucid dream of escaping a rut I've climbed a cliff and cower on the brink; but for for the first time I need not fall or retrace my dangerous path down. I know I'm dreaming, and wake...
	FOUR TABOOS: by Wayan, 2016/3/15, four dreams on inhibitions I hoped I was over. Climbing out of Childhood Abyss, I literally get a leg up from a girl seeking the Ledge of Teens. A shy girl has to hide she's a were-creature. Gay men make out in the witch-registry to rattle its homophobic guardians. My sister stripteases while scolding me for a mess I didn't make... CAUTION: DUH, SEX TABOOS! KIDS, FURS, GAYS, SIBLINGS
	FREE WAY? DETENTION FOR YOU!: by Wayan; 1997/2/14, a dream of the wages of fun. Zooming on freeways--carless levitation! But the Principal tries to punish us. And we resist... don't we?
	FULL REASON: by Wayan; 1980/5/28, a dream on patience. At a benefit for Rock Psychiatrists, the Spirit of the Convention explains why I can't go on stage yet...
	GENDERBENT LUCID DREAMS: by JHM Whiteman, pre-1961, compared to Wayan, 1979/8/29 Celia Green, lucid dream expert, claims nearly all lucid dreamers keep their waking bodies, their self-image. But Whiteman & Wayan both have genderbent lucid dreams...
	GENNADIUS: by Gennadius, ca. 415 CE, apparently the first recorded lucid dream Gennadius re-dreams a previous dream, prompting him to notice he’s dreaming. His guide points out the spiritual implications...
	THE GLASS MISSED ITS CUE: by Frederik van Eeden, 1904/9/9, a lucid dream experiment I knew I was dreaming but the world looked quite realistic. I struck a wineglass with all my strength--a risky act, if I were awake. It didn't shatter. But when I looked again, it lay broken! Like an actor who'd missed its cue...
	GOOEY DICK: by R. Moreau; c. 2015/12/25, c. 2016/3/12, 2016/3/26, a recurring ambivalent sex dream I keep dreaming of sex with my friend Connor. But a wound on his dick oozes white gunk. He says it's common... CAUTION: SEX, WEIRD GENITALIA
	GRIEF KIVA: by Wayan; 1980/2/16, a lucid psychic dream. In a Hopi underworld, I find even lucid dreaming can't cure guilt and grief over losses yet to come...
	HATCHET JOB: by Ann Faraday, 1972 or 3; a lucid shamanic predictive dream DREAM: I'm in the Arctic facing a hostile mob. I insist "I'm dreaming; you can't hurt me." They try! I look down at my body, stuck full of hatchets, and say "See?" They slink off, looking sheepish... TWO DAYS LATER: I'm in northern England. A reporter snaps "Dreams won't help the miners..."
	HE SAW: by Jeffery Beam; c.1983, a nightmare with three selves I, sleeping me, watch dream-me find a third me who saw too much in the kitchen. Unconscious or dead? I just don't know...
	HEAL THE WORLD!: by Wayan; 2011/8/17, a messianic-inadequacy dream (now there's a new type!) I can heal people with a touch. But they don't want to be merely restored, but resculpted... CAUTION: TRANNIES AND FURRIES LEAVE THE CLOSET
	HELPLESSLY LUCID: by Alder; 2007/6/23, a lucid dream in which I’m powerless! I’m a homeless elf. We’re a persecuted minority group. I know I’m dreaming and try to change it but...
	THE HIGHEST: by Stephen LaBerge, summer 1982?, a lucid transcendent dream Driving down a country road, I go lucid. A gorgeous hitchhiker appears. I'm tempted, but I decide to try for something higher than a sex dream. The car takes off, climbs past religious symbols into a clear sky where I find myself singing a transcendent hymn...
	HINDU GOD: by Judy Landaiche; Dec 1990, a sex dream with multiple twists It started like a nightmare--someone behind me, a groping hand that's not human... It was a Hindu god! He made love to me. Felt great until he said: "You're taking too long!"... CAUTION: SEX WITH A SELFISH DEITY
	HIPPIE MISSILES: by Wayan, 1990/7/23, twin dreams of risky leaps leading to flight 1: I try to grow feathers and fly, but half-fail, half-succeed--experience two bodies at once... 2: I fly to escape a hippie cult. They fire heat-seeking missiles! But I may be too cool to track...
	HOP TO THE SHAH: by Wayan; 2010/5/18, a flying political dream Diplomacy's failed. To stop the impending Iranian War single-handed, I hop like a monster flea across Iran to corner the New Shah...
	HOT SHOWER, NO WATER HEATER: by Wayan, 2024/4/26, a self-misinterpreting predictive dream I dream I'm taking a hot shower, then realize our water heater died; this is a dream. "It means I want hot water!" I blurt (in the dream) & wake. Next day, a plumber's error gets me drenched in hot water with no new heater...
	THE HYPOTHALAMUS: by Georges Perec; October 1971, a dream of embarrassment. Dream #95 I learn my book A Void, supposedly written without the letter E, has lots of them-- crawling with errors. But at least I can spy on the neighbors...
	ICARIAN PAIN: by Wayan; 1982/10/19, a dream of flight, shyness and pinching yourself. I meet some cute dancers, but rather than flirt, I just try ballet leaps too. I get more than I bargained for...
	I AM A BIRD by Nancy Price; 1948, a dream of another life... well, two. I live as a small falcon, glad I'm no longer human. But when that life ends...
	ICERINK: by Wayan; 1980/8/23, a warning dream. Psychodrama seemed like a way to meet cool people. But when I dreamed they were ice-skating rioters...
	ILLUSION: by Georges Perec; December 1968, a prose-poem of a nested false-waking dream. Dream #4 I am dreaming. She's beside me. I tell myself I'm dreaming. I wake. She really is beside me. Delirious joy. I embrace her. I wake...
	IMPOSSIBLE SHIPS: by Wayan; winter 1966?, a child's lucid-prompting dream; & longterm prediction The fog parts. A huge ship's on San Francisco Bay. Impossible--half a mile long! I must be dreaming. But half a century later...
	JETPACK AND TIGER: by Wayan; 1988/3/17, a nonlucid yet lucidlike shamanic dream. After watching both Star Trek & Doctor Who, I find I'm held prisoner by the Rani and her laser-toting tiger guards. So I meditate--and manifest a jetpack and a laser gun! I never deduced I'm dreaming; it's not lucidity. It's simpler. What have I got to lose?
	J.F., T.B. AND ME: by Dream Junkee; 2008/1/24, a lucid nightmare-comedy Lucid, I summon a sexy literary character. But he tries to take over my personality and make it his lucid dream... CAUTION: VAMPIRE-SLAYING
	KESCIA'S NESTED DREAMS: by Kescia, 2001 or before, two false-waking sex dreams I'm alone in bed, but begin to see sensual bodies around me. I start to masturbate, climax, and wake. I feel loose and light-- so light I float above my bed! A beautiful woman's next to me. We caress mid-air. I come intensely, and wake again, alone... CAUTION: SEX
	KETTLE WHISTLE: by Wayan, 1991/10/8, a predictive dreamlet I half-wake as a kettle abruptly starts whistling. Odd, it's quite unlike ours. Wake. Silence. A dream! Dawn. That abrupt whistle again! But this time, real. Somehow, a housemate got our kettle to sound... CAUTION: APPARENT E.S.P.
	LADDER OF FEAR by Mike & Wayan, 2021/2/9; parallel dreams MIKE: A reckless friend races up a hazardous ladder. I follow slowly, reluctant, scared. Almost a nightmare... WAYAN: Mike recklessly climbs an outdoor ladder as lightning strikes. Scary! Wait--this dream feels psychic... CAUTION: APPARENT E.S.P.
	LADY CASTLEMAYNE: by Samuel Pepys, 1665/8/14, an early lucid dream easing his fear of plague I dreamt, and knew I dreamt, and I made love to Lady Castlemayne, and had all my desire. If, as Shakespeere said, death is but sleep, and dreams may come, why then fear death?...
	A LAKE DEMON: by Wayan; 1979/11/3, an anti-lucid dream. I walk through worlds, fight a deadly lake demon, and work magic--but I mustn't go lucid...
	THE LAST JUDGMENT: by Esther Raucher, c.1950; a childhood dream grows into a big sculpture group I fled a snake by flying. I felt guilty, I knew it was cheating. Years passed. I made tiny clay figurines. Years passed. I drew a chicken lady with a halo. Years passed. I sculpted a flock of BIG... CAUTION: NUDE CHICKEN LADIES
	THE LAST MASS: by E.M. Martin; 1914/11/23, a dream of war invading a peaceful dreamland For years Martin's dreams were all set in a parallel world untouched by World War, until...
	LET GO THE SAFE: by Wayan; 2014/2/6; poem of a lucid flying dream I'm pushing a safe off a roof in Berkeley so it won't be pushed off the roof (yep, you read that right) but it pulls me with it! Either die, or go lucid and fly...
	LIE TO AVOID MURDER: by Wayan; 2016/3/3, a sex dream prompting nonsexual action Two jealous women symbolize Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump. Trump wants me to KILL Clinton. I lie to avoid... CAUTION: SLEAZE? OR A SLY WAY TO PROTECT VICTIM?
	THE LOST DUTCHMAN BURNS: by Wayan; 2011/11/17, a smelly dream censoring itself for safety reasons! I smell smoke. I know I'm dreaming; did my sleeping body scent smoke in my home, and insert it in my dream to warn me? But the dream sees my worry, and erases the scent to clarify it's symbolic smoke! Now I can finish my nightmare in peace...
	LUCID FLIGHT: by Lisa Reich; March 2003, an ecstatic lucid dream of flight. I flew as if part of the air--an otherworldly freedom so exquisite I wonder if it's attainable at all in earthly existence...
	LUCID FLIGHT TO VALHALLA: by Paul W. Coca; 1991/4/5, a lucid flying sex dream I realized I was dreaming, and flew. My friends were skeptical and held me down a while, but soon I had them flying too. At a party in Valhalla, I made love with a mer-angel named Ealswa...
	LUCID GIRDERS: by Wayan; 1993/8/18, an illustrated dream about dreaming. Stayed up late, painting foreshortening. Then I saw a scene in color, motion, 3D, and knew I had to be dreaming: I was visualizing too clearly, THINKING too clearly, to be awake... CAUTION: NUDITY
	LUCID LIMITS: by Wayan; 1990/2/13, a lucid nightmare. Yes, they're possible! A nightmare. I go lucid as the bullets tear through me. Yet I go on with the dream! Why?... CAUTION: NIGHTMARISH VIOLENCE
	LUCID LIVING: by Wayan; 2007/4/8, a quasi-lucid dream of the future with 9 illustrations Honesty induces a joyful state with lucidlike powers. So I bike across the Lake of Time, open the book of my future, and see... CAUTION: SEXY SKETCHES FROM THE FUTURE
	LUCID ON THE MOON: by Wayan; 1980/2/23, a long-term psychic dream. I'm on the run, on the moon. Cyborgs toss bombs at me. Yikes! Is this what melted Mare Orientalis? CAUTION: NUCLEAR IRRESPONSIBILITY
	MARABOU MONSTER: by Rustling Leaves; dreamed 2014/3/15 I've got too many obligations, an elderly relative to care for, and now giant birds are invading my house. CAUTION: STALKING, KILLER BIRDS
	MARTHA'S FALL: by Barbara, Martha, and Wayan; 1977/5/18. 3 linked warning, sex, and flying dreams Wayan makes love to Martha's double, then sees her soul watching from the shadows... Barbara can't reach Wayan to say farewell... Martha falls off a mountain and decides to let herself die, just to see what happens... CAUTION: SEX, ABUSE ISSUES
	MORNING DREAM: by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, 1926/12/12; a dream modeling the mind I dream I'm ranting about the structure of the mind, postulating four layers--odd, since I think dreams are meaningless--just neurons getting some exercise! So whence this theory? CAUTION: JARGON
	MORTAL MIST: by Wayan; 2010/10/19, a lucid dream of a new sort for me I miss all sorts of cues I'm dreaming, but I ignore my conviction I'm awake and try to fly anyway...
	THE MOST FANTASTIC LUCID DREAM OF MY LIFE: by "Ben"; 2007/8/24, an epic lucid dream I fly, send dreamails, discuss dreams with dream folk, punch a wall to test dream-pain, reach into mirrors...
	MUSCLES: by Gayle Delaney and "John", before 1979, simultaneous out-of-body dreams I dreamt I was out of my body. My friend John was too, so I slipped into his to see how it felt. Big lungs, big muscles! When I woke, John told me he'd had a great out-of-body dream and was reluctant to wake...
	MY CUBIST CONSCIENCE: by Wayan; 1982/8/5; a dream warning of overharsh ethics. I dreamed I was trapped in the maze of my pacifist vegetarian feminist anarchist eco-conscience...
	MY EXPERIENCE OF LUCID DREAMING: by Maria Isabel Pita; August 2013, dreambased photomontage Superimposed photos and movie stills show my typical lucid dreaming--I look at my hands, realize I'm dreaming, dance for joy, meet a guide, fly to strange places--best of all, Egypt...
	NIC THE UNICORN: by Roger Martinez; 2013; a dream encounter I met Nic as he steppd out of the elevator. We were both spooked. Nic asked if I believed in mermaids and unicorns. I said “yes.” I asked Nic if he believed in dreamers, and after a pause...
	THE NIGHTMARE EFFECT: by Emily Joy; 2006/12/14, an anti-nightmare. My own fear creates a field of time/speed distortion; can I use it against my attackers?
	NISROCK: by Dolores, 2001 or earlier; a predictive dream DREAM: a man tries to break into my house. I call for help; the operator says "Oh, that's Nisrock." DAYS LATER: I open a book on the unconscious. It says Nisrock was a Babylonian god of dreams... CAUTION: BAD MYTHOGRAPHY
	NOW WE ARE 48: by Laurel Blossom, 1991; a dream-poem of a rescue. At the beach I dive into deep water to save my drowning friend Kathy, and find it’s not so clear who’s who...
	NUBBINS: by Roz Chast, 2023 or before, a lucid dream My kid and I have mere nubbins where our fingers should be, but I realize it's a dream--I can grow fingers or absorb them
	OCARINA, or, MILLION-YEAR SENTENCE: by Wayan; 1972/5/27, a lucid / predictive dream. I go lucid and drive my bed to the Nevada desert where I see my next million years. And so far, it’s been true...
	ON THE SEASHORE: by Gabrielle Bell; between 1998-2002; a lucid dream-comic I'm on a beach in Mexico with a baby--my only souvenir of an affair I can't recall. I'm a mom? My whole life will change! Wait. Is this real, or...
	THE OUTER LIMITS: by Marianne A.; 1988/3/13, a dream that lucidly intervenes in itself! I'm trapped in the scary show The Outer Limits. A man scolds me: "You think not, but you MATTER!" I try suicide rather than face my worth! But my dream fences off the river, forcing me to confront... CAUTION: SUICIDE ATTEMPT
	PALE BLUE: by Wayan; 1997/5/12, a dream on denial. I pray for love and promptly meet Blue, whose mom treats her like a kid. We change that, but it's messy...
	PET ME DARE!: by Wayan; 1996/2/7, a sexy healing dream; 2p. dream-comic (or ill. text) After whining all day that I lost my anima, I dream I'm petting a cat. Who purrs, and grows, and grows, and purrs "Pet..." CAUTION: PUSSY TROUBLE
	POIROT'S FLIGHT: by Wayan; 1994/11/15, an anti-lucid dream. I summon an aeroplane to escape a trap. Lucid? Not at all! Why should Poirot bother with such abstractions?
	PRACTICE IS REAL: by Wayan; 1998/1/6, three small dreamtales. Three teasing sex-dreamlets chipping away at my shyness with women I like... CAUTION: SEX TALK
	PRINCESS OF PASSION: by Wayan; 1993/7/10, a chthonic dream. Led by a rebel demon into the heart of a Chinese mountain, should I wake the Sleepers in the Cave?
	PRISONS AND STRIPES: by Emily Joy; 2007/10/4, a lucid dream. In a museum full of spacetime-bubbles holding lost souls, the museum-goers are as weird as the exhibits...
	QUADRUPLE WEDDING: by Wayan; 1995/5/15, a unifying dream. Day: Why did I get sick from figure-sketching? Guilt? Dream: I'm at a group wedding; shall I wed a dwarf, a feral boy or a horse?
	THE QUICKSTEP: by Gayle Delaney, 1976, a joyful lucid dream I face the Quickstep, the final test for high-level ice dancing. I do well, yet the judges fail me--for trivia. Then I realize I passed this test years ago! These judges are my nitpicking inner critics. I ignore them, and joyfully soar, spin and fly...
	RANGE: by Wayan; three 2019/8/19 advisory dreamlets plus 2020/1/8 followup 1: My dad can't see my world. Literally can't see my world... 2: The House of Busyness is unlivable--busy, crowded, noisy... 3: Achievement takes twelve factors; any one can block you...
	RING OF STARS: by Gayle Delaney, c.1967, a transcendent lucid dream I knew the universe worked perfectly. Its existence was joyous, and I was part of it. This was imageless insight, but to aid recall, I summoned images; I depicted the universe by a flowing circle of stars. And I was one...
	ROAR OF THE SAILS: by Wayan; 1973/9/6, a magical scavenger-hunt dream goes lucid--absurdly. Our teams search through fountains and pavilions, finding & trading the glowing stones. None of the magic makes me go lucid, but as we sail toward the finish line...
	ROCHAN'S DREAM: by Rochan, c.1977, a verified out-of-body dream At 16, Rochan dreamt she rose from her body and explored outside, seeing a white car and brown bag. She woke--and checked! White car, brown bag. Now, adult, she trusts her dream intuitions about larger things...
	RUNNING BIRD: by Alder; 1953, a kinetic nightmare with double selves. I'm a flightless bird hopping down a line of marble columns rising from the sea, as they topple behind me...
	THE SATURATION DIAL: by Wayan; 2015/11/7, a surreal lucid dream with a control knob! Night. Two moons. I go lucid! Find a knob adjusting the dream's color saturation. Dial it up--and meet ghosts of pure color, invisible til I luridified...
	SEA-SPHINX: by Wayan; 2021/9/26, a nightmare? or advice on desire? Three successive attacks! I escape the Roadrage Nut, I withstand the mob of Angry Ghosts, but the Tsunami floods all. Strange--that angry, glowing, blue Sea-Sphinx who summoned the flood is really sexy. Why is she mad at me?...
	SELF-CENSOR?: by Wayan; 2022/11/4, an art-dream about dreams themselves I'm in an art class drawing a dream image--a dog-taur or wolf-taur girl. But I hesitate to draw her flashing me as she did in the dream. Should I risk offending half my class, or make her modest and innocuous? CAUTION: FURRY NUDITY
	SHOOT ME, I'M LUCID!: by Wayan; 1997/10/17, a predictive didactic nightmare. I distract a mad gunman in a crowd. I suspect I'm dreaming, but it still seems a bit too noble... CAUTION: DON'T TRY THIS ON CRAZED KILLERS AT HOME
	SKEPTIC AND DRAGONFLY: by Wayan; 1988/1/28 and 2/8, twin flying dreams. Big Blonde and her officemates don't believe in flight; but the dragonfly-girl I meet hatched in mid-air...
	SPIRAL LAUGHTER: by Alder; 1953, a child's feverdream The world is a whirlpool, a black and white spiral pulling me down toward a black hole, and it’s laughing...
	SPLIT THREE WAYS: by Wayan; 2010/8/24, a quantum dream of overwhelm On the freeway, my car and I split into quantum possibilities. I steer both entangled cars till I split again--now I have to steer three cars with just one pair of hands and eyes...
	STRANGE SERVICE: by Gordon B., early 2006, a transcendental dream The old man sang in the empty church, then looked at me and snapped his fingers. I was filled with voices...
	THE SWORD DANCE: by Wayan; 1988/4/29, a very unlikely predictive dream. I visit my friend Xanthe's lungs, where I meet a swordswoman in a red bikini. I get a unicorn pendant, go lucid, and become a heron too, but next day, it's the red-bikini-swordswoman I actually meet...
	TAG WITH A BOUNTY HUNTER: by "Caradon"; 2010/3/3, a playful lucid dream A bounty hunter stalks me through a jungle, but lucidity turns a potential nightmare to joy...
	TEMPLE OF DREAMWORK: by Wayan, 2006/11/13, a flying & predictive dream DAY: I have to read three academics who mock ancient, shamanic and modern amateur dreamwork as superstition. DREAM: I'm learning to fly in the Temple of Dreamwork, next to a cute new colleague. NEXT DAY, I meet her... CAUTION: APPARENT E.S.P.; DISSES ACADEMICS
	TEN HEARTBEATS OF WILL: by Wayan; 2011/1/2, an experimental dreamflight A friend says lucid dreaming doesn't matter--you can even fly awake if you clearly will it. So I jump...
	THE TERROR OF ACCOUNTING: by Wayan, 2011/11/27, a twin-realities half-lucid nightmare I'm biking on a crowded, steep San Francisco hill, but at the same time an inexplicably terrifying office meeting gets superimposed. And the AI feeding me the virtual office gets all snarky about my fear...
	THERE I WAS: by Michelle Brand, 1972, stream-of-consciousness lucid dream comic Kaleidoscopic constellations? No thanks! A nudist town in Italy? Ugh. Ah, but singing vaudeville in a monk's robe & roller skates... CAUTION: CARTOON NUDITY
	THE THING ABOUT DREAMS: by Julia Wertz, a dream autobiography, 1980-2010 As a kid, my nightmares were of Sesame Street characters. In my teens I graduated to slasher nightmares and recurring lucid dreams. Alcohol trashed my dreams for years, but now they're not nightmares--just surreal. Hitler wrecks my sex life! What a spoilsport... CAUTION: (MOSTLY FRUSTRATED) SEX
	THIS CAN'T BE REM!: by Wayan; 1981/8/18, a predictive stinky dream. An article claimed smell is rare to absent in dreams. My dreams felt insulted and sent me a stinky one! But why THAT stink? Well... next morning on my way to work...
	TIGER DIALOGUES: 1973-4 by Ann Faraday, plus a dreamlet by John Wren-Lewis; recurring dreams When I overwork, neglecting my body's wants, I dream of an angry tiger. Over time, I've learned (mostly) to feed my tiger, and sometimes he's an ally now...
	TONSIL: by E.W. Kellogg, 1989 or before, a healing lucid dream Kellogg jabbed a wooden skewer through one tonsil. It got infected. In a lucid dream, he willed it to heal. In the next twelve hours, the infection vanished...
	TORNADO AND STARSHOWER: by Dream Junkee; 2008/8/15, a nightmare that goes lucid A killer tornado traps us in the cellar. I bite my finger. It's boneless--I'm dreaming! I summon...
	TORNADOES AND TESTOSTERONE: by Dream Junkee; 2008/9/3, a lucid dream of transformation I've always been scared of tornadoes, until I went lucid and became one... CAUTION: HORNY TORNADO
	TRAVEL: by "SchlofM"; 2008/2/10, a dream about protection I'm on a trip to who knows where, with my young-again mom, my dead dad, and--who's that guy?
	TWO PLANES: by Ed Emshwiller, c. 1977, a lucid dream modeling the mind I saw a vast transparent plane inscribed with pictograms and symbols. Through it, at an unknown distance, lay a second plane of less clear shapes and colors, but with great mass, depth, and unknown currents...
	TWO PLANES: by Wayan, 1994/9/6, a multistaged psychic dream. An assassination plot using two planes triggers an invasion of our kingdom. Flee? Fight? I'm a peaceful hobbit who'd rather be playing Frisbee with the dryads...
	VERITY'S WINGS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/8/21; painting in the Box of Dreams My friend Verity's given a beautiful set of wings. I'm envious until I consider what angel wings imply...
	WHY I BECAME THE SEA: by Wayan; 1980/6/19, a vengeful flying/transformation dream. I get so mad at some gaybashing cops and gangsters that I become the sea itself and chase them... CAUTION: UNCHARITABLE REPRESENTATION OF OUR SAINTS IN BLUE
	WILD W.I.L.D.: by Dream Junkee; 2008/1/19, an epic lucid frustration dream? I'm lucid but paralyzed. A weird child spies on me; is she controlling me? Then I'm having sex--but if I come, I'll wake up! Then some thugs jump me. I make sure they won't bother me again, but... is everyone in this dream out to distract me? CAUTION: SEX, MUGGER-STOMPING
	YATAGHAN: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, c.1840?, a dream of rescue--and summoning Night street. Two masked assassins attack a woman. I intervene. But I need a weapon! I picture the Turkish sword on my mantel. The yataghan appears in my hand and I...
	ZELIG FLIES: by Wayan, 1984/4/29, a psychic, lucid dream epic. I careen from a sacrificial marriage-altar to the Oracle Harper's secret pool, into the jaws of Leviathan and the joys of lucid flight, shifting from male to female and gay to straight--till I meet the Dragonfly People themselves... CAUTION: STUPID, STUPID SEX CULT!

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