journal

On-Going Lessons: Nov 25, 2018

Earlier this year the need for inner child healing work was screaming to be done.  Last year (2017) brought many unhealed wounds to the surface.  I erroneously thought these were no longer an issue, as it turns out they are huge issues begging to be healed.  I was pregnant for most of 2018 and I refrained from diving too deep to inner work because I was very hormonal and emotional.  I didn’t want to cause myself undue stress or anxiety facing the roots of my stress and anxiety.

I am now 6 weeks post partum at the time of writing this and the inner work albeit minimal has finally begun. My husband suggested a couple useful journal prompts for self reflection.  I also incorporate tarot into my self-work, more on that later.  It’s quite interesting when the synchronicities start happening on these inner journeys we take.

I knew journaling would be a part of this process. It’s always been a way for me to get to know the true, inner me. A theme that has come up for me specifically is soul purpose / life path.  I will start the string of synchronicities when I began to declutter our copious amount of paperwork in the house. It was stashed in various locations and we had several out of date and useless pieces of paper. Everything is now centralized and old documents shredded. Can a house lose weight? Because it felt lighter after that clean out.

I came across an old journal with entries dated 2006 – 2008. Seems I was unknowingly using it for the same process that I am embarking on currently. It was interesting re-reading some entries and how they are parallel to current events. Many entries written in pencil I decided I’ll just erase them and use the journal for my current journey. It was a process erasing the entries, but I went through and anything I wanted to keep I typed electronic copies.

I was chatting with some friends online and I had mentioned twice, once to each of them, the word “transformative.” It feels to me on a microcosmic scale to be true and I see this reflected in some of my friends’ experiences also.  The same night I caught a Facebook live broadcast of a friend and psychic/medium, Allison Boswell, was pulling some cards.  Lucky me, though this was no coincidence, a card was pulled for me: Transformation.  Everything Allison said was hitting the nail on the head.  This was confirmation that I am heading in the right direction.  I continued to listen to her broadcast and reading for others in the background as I worked cleaning this journal.  She mentioned in the next reading, as I was literally doing this task, erasing the past and rewriting your story… another BAM.

Screenshot of reading Nov 2018

I finally get my book ready to be re-written in.  I plan on using tarot as a tool for further insight as it will show me things in an undeniable way.  I have several decks and I was having a hard time choosing which one I should use.  I was thinking Dark Carnival Tarot or Tarot of Sex Magic.  They are very specific decks, while they felt right they also felt as though they didn’t quite fit my purpose.  My son came with me to the tarot shelf.  He mentioned the Golden Tarot.  I told him the story about this deck and how I forgot I even owned it and just recently found it in this bag.  I lift the bag up, take the deck out, and hand it to my son.  As I’m telling him that he can have the deck if he wants it I noticed a little baggie and a tissue paper wrapped thing in the bottom of the bag.

The baggie has two small blue-green obsidian pieces and the tissue is wrapped around an aragonite piece.  It took a moment but my son and I remembered getting these things.  The obsidian was his and the aragonite was mine.  This is great as I’ve been working to get all the crystals in the same spot.  When it came to the tarot deck selection I input all the deck titles into a random name selector.  Dark Carnival Tarot popped up first.  I decided to do a top 3.  Mythic Tarot was number two and lastly Tarot of Sex Magic; 2/3 ain’t bad, another BAM.

Photo credit: Echoside Phoenix Rose 2018

I will leave this entry off on this note, as it is already quite wordy and there is so much more.  Just so many synchronicities I can’t possibly list them all!
You can find more about Allison on her webpage: https://allisonawakened.com/ 

Brightest Blessings,
Phoenix Rose
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Dreamwork: Dare to Share

One thing that I came across as a young teen was Scott Cunningham’s recipe* for a prophetic dream tea. I have used that recipe for many years now with amazing results. Sometimes we cannot know the results of prophetic dreams if we are not sharing them. One of my favorite stories, a huge confirmation that some of my dreams have more to tell me than basic dream dictionary meanings is the dream about the freezer and the pizza.

This happened circa 2006-2007-ish. I was attending workshops with my best friend’s mom (whom I’ve become really close with over the years). I had dreamt that I was with her oldest daughter. We were in an apartment cleaning out a broken fridge. She finds a pizza at the bottom of the fridge and says that this should be okay to eat. It wasn’t okay to eat. It was the weirdest thing and we ended up throwing it away.

Fast forward that day to the evening time when I would have went over to their house for the workshop. I tell my friend that I dreamt of her oldest daughter, explain the dream – she’s looking at me wide-eyed – I feel nuts. She said, “Oh my god” and called her daughter into the room to tell me about her morning. Her morning consisted of cleaning up the freezer that had broken and leaked everywhere. She had to throw out a ton of food that was completely ruined. Except for a pizza which she thought would be fine, however it was not fine. She cooked it and it was terrible and had to be thrown out too. Hence why she was at her mom’s house that day, because she and her boys needed to eat.

Another experience, which was not necessarily prophetic, but opened my eyes to shared dreams happened around the same time frame as the dream above. I dreamt I was at a house party. I was with one of my male friends, his girlfriend was no where to be found. We didn’t know why she wasn’t there. My boyfriend at the time was at the party, but seemed to wander off. I went out back, the backyard was really long and lead to a wooded area. I could see my boyfriend down in the woods. I yelled and hollered. I couldn’t seem to get into the woods, I have no idea how he got in there. He looked like he was freaking out, but he wouldn’t listen to me so I headed back into the house to join the party.

I woke up and immediately wanted to tell the boyfriend about him freaking in the woods. As I’ve learned sharing what happened in dreams can result in learning. He cut me off to tell me his dream. He was in the woods. Left from the cabin we were all in. It was something like Evil Dead, I suppose. In his dream he was freaking out because he couldn’t get his way back to the cabin. So, this blew my mind, just how similar those dream scenarios were.  We were seeing the other friends later that day and I couldn’t wait to tell them about it.

I was so freaking excited to share our experience with this couple friend of ours. Like I said, mind blown about the alignment of the dreams between me and then-boyfriend. The male friend, who I was at the house with in the dream cuts me off to say he dreamt of us at the party. Even telling me whose house we were at. Saying the same thing, his girlfriend wasn’t there and my boyfriend wandered off. Holy guacamole! I’m still blown away by this experience. My female friend – the girl friend who did not show up to the party in the dream – says she was dreaming about driving around. That’s all she did in her dream was drive around looking for her boyfriend. Him and myself blurts out, “I/He was at the party!”

I am not sure how, what, why inspired that event to happen between the four of us. From then on, I share my dreams with others, and encourage others to share their dreams with me. I have since noticed other alignments, dreaming about similar themes between people, and stuff like that.

I now keep a dream journal online for the world to see (crazy, right?!)
Can be read here: echosidephoenix.livejournal.com

*Prophetic tea recipe by Scott Cunningham:
Or buy my organic blend here:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/470231858/christinas-herbal-dream-tea-20g?ref=shop_home_feat_1

2 parts rose petals
1 part mugwort
1 part jasmine
1 part peppermint
1/2 part cinnamon

Brightest Blessings,
Phoenix Rose
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Dreamwork: Key Habits in Dream Recall and Becoming Lucid

I have been reading, very briefly, on Huna – a Hawaiian philosophy that uses dream skills as a way to be objective of our Self.  I have found that many of it’s practices are things I already innately do. This system has just given me a set of language for things I was naturally doing which in turn inspires lucid dreaming.

I would love to discuss Huna further, however this week I will list some key behaviours, or habits, which I have used with success:
– Relaxation meditation in bed before sleeping
Lucidity requires the body to be in a deeply relaxed state. Having a good night’s rest also allows our memory to be clearer for dream recall. 
– Setting the intention in my mind that I will remember my dreams
This is very important in telling your subconscious, or Higher Self, your goals. Intention setting is very powerful, not just in dreamwork, but in all aspects of goal-setting.
– Do not move upon waking, stay as still as you can and reflect on what you where just thinking or doing the moment before waking
Jumping up out of bed is really jarring to the body and mind. Some think of me as a person who takes forever to wake up. And it’s true! It’s not that I am asleep, it is that I am recalling and reflecting on the dreamscape. Sometimes I fall back asleep and dream some more. This is where powerfully lucid dreams can happen.
– Ask yourself questions 
Such as, but not limited to: What happened? Who were you with? What did they say? What did the environment look like? What did the atmosphere feel like? What time period were you in? What dimension? Were there smells, sounds, sensations that you felt? How did you feel emotionally, mentally, physically? Did anything remind you of real life? Have you ever dreamt this before?

– Write down anything of importance and interpret any symbols that stood out
I do not write down every single dream, and every single symbol, just the ones that stood out to me. I often find as I’m in the process of interpreting I will remember more of the dream itself. Until you get the hang of dream recall and lucidity you may want to journal daily.
– In waking life create habits that have you questioning whether you are in a dream or not
As I have stated in Strive to Become Lucid, our dream habits will reflect our waking habits. 
I am still in research phase of the Huna philosophy and do not want to talk further until I have implemented other aspects and experienced them, as this blog is based on dream skills that I have experienced.
Happy dreaming!
Phoenix Rose
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Dreamwork: Dream Interpretation

In last week’s post we discussed creative triggers that can spark lucidity in dreams.  This week I would like to discuss dream interpretation.  I will not be listing a dictionary of what all symbols could possibly mean.  There are several resources online where you can find these meanings.

Interpreting your dreams is fascinating work and gives an interesting perspective on your subconscious mind. Even if you remember only one thing from your dream last night, look up the symbol meaning. I have listed my two frequented resources for dream meanings at the end of the post. Write the interpretation down in a notebook or your phone.  Many people suggest keeping a dream journal, to be honest, I very rarely journal, but I do have a place to write down those really weird dreams before they’re forgotten.

When first interpreting your dreams do not over analyze.  The number one factor in interpreting a dream is how you felt in the dream, or immediately upon waking.  The feeling and atmosphere dictate more clearly how the dream symbols should be interpreted than the symbols themselves.  If you dream that you’re in the dark, but you are not afraid then this is good indication that this dream is about learning and integrating unknown aspects of yourself, bringing them into awareness for learning and growth. Another could dream that they are in the dark and terribly afraid – same dream symbol – however, they are in denial or have fears about these unknown aspects of themselves.  Same dream, different meanings.

For the next week, pick out 1-3 things you remember from your dream and note their interpretation. Include the following information: how you felt in dream/upon waking, what resonates from the dream symbol interpretation, what doesn’t resonate from the meaning, how you feel this applies to your waking existence.

If you don’t remember any dream symbols, then take note of how you felt, or how you think you felt in the dream. E.g., happy, sad, scared, weird, etc. For further clarification, dream symbols are anything from a person, place, thing, colour, animal, plant, ocean… You name it and there is a dream meaning for it!

Brightest Blessings,
Phoenix Rose
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Dream Interpretation Resources:
–www.dreammoods.com – they also provide a great app, completely free, you can log your dream symbols, they even offer a voice recorder so you don’t have to type first thing.  Just try and understand your morning ramblings later in the day, hah! 🙂

-The Complete Dream Dictionary: A Practical Guide to Interpreting Dreams, Pamela Ball, Castle Publishing 2000

Dreamwork: Strive to Become Lucid

“To die, to sleep – to sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come…” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet
 
In the quote above Shakespeare may have been referring to Hamlet’s contemplation of suicide, I look into it further than that.  Death is often referred to as the big sleep, a dirt nap, including witticisms such as “there’ll be plenty of time for sleep when you’re dead,” and we put our pets to sleep when suffering outweighs the quality of life.
“Sleep, those little slices of death – how I loathe them.”
Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (misquote of Edgar Allan Poe)

Why would we ever compare sleep and dreams to death and afterlife?  I am of the belief that this waking life is the real dream.  What we see, feel, experience in the dreamscape is actually closer to what is truly beyond.  Beyond life, beyond death.  The dreamscape gives us a window into the true nature of our core essence. This is why dream recall and becoming lucid is important to our personal growth, and its the reason for doing any dreamwork in the first place.

Dreamwork begins in waking life, or the collective consciousness, or the 3D co-reality we have all agreed upon existing.  By this I mean things that we do in waking life are reflected in the dreamscape.  What we make habit here often becomes habit there.  However, not everything from the waking world runs the same as it does in the dreamscape.  You can use these differences between realms to trigger lucid dreaming.

I will list behaviours that have successfully worked for me as triggers to lucid dreaming.

“Am I dreaming?”

Check the time.  Look at clocks throughout your day.  Most of us already do this, especially when we’re dying to get home from work, but we are not checking the time in a conscious effort.  In my last Dreamwork post I stated that intention is the most important thing with dreamwork.  Rotary clocks work best, but I have successfully used digital clocks too.  Look at the time with intention.  Mentally ask yourself if you’re dreaming. Look away from clock, back to the task you were doing, then look back to the clock. Mentally reflect on whether it’s the same time.  Has only a minute or two passed, or has the clock jumped an hour ahead, three hours behind, again ask yourself, “am I dreaming?” Time is not linear in dreams, sometimes hands may disappear from a rotary clock, or digital clocks will have a messed up display.

Most times asking yourself if you are dreaming will not spawn anything spectacular, but what it does do is create the habit and intention for lucid dreaming.

Try reading or writing.  A lot of us spend a fair amount of time reading and writing.  Whether it be on or offline, great works of fiction, or just piles of work orders.  We all do just as much writing, or typing.  Whether it be filling out forms at work, or writing letters to a friend, or typing opinionated posts on social media, it’s what we do, and it’s a huge form of communication.  It only takes once or twice a day to ask yourself while reading/writing, “am I dreaming?”  Try to do this at a different time from when you checked the clock.  Then think about the words you’ve just read, or wrote.  Do they make sense?  Are they solid and unchanging?  Or is it a new sentence?  Did you forget what you just read or wrote?  If possible take what you just read and put it in your pocket, desk drawer, or cover it, then look again.  Did the sentence change?  Are you dreaming?

“If I was a mirror I’d find another mirror, and look each other dead in the eye – crystal clear!” 
– ICP
 

Look in the mirror.  Mirrors do not have the same logic in dreams that they do in waking life.  In the waking world mirrors reflect back exactly what’s around them.  In the dreamscape mirrors sometimes do not reflect back anything at all.  Think of Alice Through the Looking Glass, the mirror can appear as a doorway or portal in a dream.  Look in the mirror with conscious intention of “am I dreaming?”  Notice whether you look as you do in waking life.  Are you older? Younger?  Do you appear to be a different gender?  Is your features staying the same or is your facial features changing right before your eyes?  Again, do this check at a different time from the clock, and the reading/writing.

These are just three things to do during your day that will eventually become part of your dream world.  If you have not lucid dreamt before becoming aware in a dream may cause you to wake up immediately.  This is normal and will eventually stop, it will become less jarring the more you become conscious in your dreamscape.

I am interested to hear your experiences with these techniques and what worked or didn’t work for you.  Happy dreaming!

Brightest Blessings,
Phoenix Rose
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