I read The Flemish Boy Dream in Sandra’s dream journal the other day, and it got me thinking… In many cultures around the world, there is a tradition of burning personal “tokens” (for example hair and fingernails) so they can’t be used by evil sorcerors and the like to inflict injury upon their owners. And often times there is a glimmer of truth behind even the strangest of myths…
What I’m thinking is this… Ask a friend if they’d like to try a shared dreaming experiment with you. A willing partner is probably a good thing. If so, ask them for a lock of their hair (or fingernails if you’re feeling gross). Tie it up good, or put it in a bag or something. Then, before bed put it into your pocket. When you become lucid, pull the token out of your pocket and use it to find the person. For example, you could say out loud “This will guide me to So-And-So!” while holding up the token. Then levitate in the air and let yourself be drawn towards them. Improvise.
If you do manage to find the real person, they’ll probably be suffering from sleep drunkeness (and therefore will probably not remember the encounter). Ask them to count their fingers for you, and when they come up with a strange answer, tell them they are dreaming.
Anyway, that’s the idea. I have no clue if it’ll work or not, but it’s something to try - and I wanted to write it up before I fall asleep and forget it… I don’t think I’ve ever read this anywhere else … But who knows??? Comments are welcome, but please don’t cut it to pieces unless you’ve tried it…
Interesting idea but I think the ‘token’ should maybe be one of the other person’s possessions. The lock of hair/fingernail thing just sounds abit too eerie for me.
Sounds really interesting. I’ll try that out sometime with my other LD’ing friend (off the computer), but I’ll do as MissEvil says and use the person’s possession. If I asked her for a lock of her hair, even for a LD, I think she’d get a bit creeped out by me.
If you do try to use an item belonging to your partner, it might be good to try for something that they’ve got a sentimental attachment to - like an old stuffed animal or a favorite necklace. But they might be even less willing to give that up than their fingernails… Nobody’s getting my dolly!
lol, I think this could work. If nothing else, it could just work by making you think about them more when you fall asleep…who knows. I’ll try this with my girlfriend next chance I get.
This sounds really interesting, I would be very willing to try it if my friend wasn’t such a narrow minded person. My IRL friends think I’m crazy . Imagine that…
Why not ask if you can just borrow something over the weekend? Can’t hurt. Maybe even do a temporary trade thing.
Yea, I’ll do things like ordering fish head soup at a Chinese restaurant (even found where the eye should have been), but my friend’s parents are a bit more conservative, so I’ll not get my friend so directly involved. Maybe I could borrow her copy of Kingdom Hearts II. Of course I have no idea if any of this stuff ever works, but it’s too cool to pass up, you know?
if you know a person and they know you, you both have mental models of each other that you can dream about, so theoretically shared dreaming is more than possible to me.
but the kicker is, just because you are seeing the symbol of someone, YOUR idea of who they are, doesn’t mean it is crossing over into their dreams… but their symbol may be a portal into their dreams if you have permission.
[color=darkblue]You may be having a similar dream but I don’t believe you can actually be in another persons dream. You likely just dream similar things because you live with them and do similar things together. Any other times may just be coincidence, after all many people have similar dream characteristics, especially those that live together.
Also- many dreams can be vague. Sometimes- the mind is very suggestive. If your partner says they dreamt something and it has a few similar themes (as it is likely too as mentioned) you are likely to think you dreamt the exact same thing, because your brain is very good at filling in the gaps by using the information your partner is giving you.
This is further reinforced by the idea of the dream being “shared”. when in reality, it probably just had a few similar themes…[/color]
When you are with someone long enough you form your own language through selective inclusion and exclusion of symbolic patterns, weeding out your normal vocabulary so that you may merge with the other’s understanding of reality.
I meant how dream characters often seem completely unintelligible… Also when I’m in a normal dream, I’ll have a similar aura of stupidity about myself. Same thing with lucid dreams, just not as pronounced - but to the point where it’s difficult to remember things or fully control impulses. I believe someone else actually came up with the term…
it could work, but it might just make you make up a DC that looks just like your friend, and act the same too, you could be kinda confused, im off to bed wish me luck and all that good stuff
[color=darkblue]Yes, I can relate to that. I have mentioned it before here. It often doesn’t seem like all my brain is active in LD’s and I can act irrationally (Always like this in ND’s!). I wake up and think- what a waste!
I recently had an LD though and found my clarity of thought much higher than it has been previously. I managed to fly (I can generally always do this), I changed into a girl (wahoo!) and changed the weather! Couldn’t manage to create fireballs though (And I tried!)
The most important thing to me though was thinking clearly. Even as I just walked around, it all felt so clear and rational. I woke up and it was immediately more vague. I realised it was very high control though, because as I began to feel the dream fading, I kept saying to myself, how I knew it could get vague after I wake up so I kept saying “I know this was high control”.
That’s how I knew it had been when I woke up, since my DR isn’t always too great.
I don’t think I’ve ever read this anywhere else 
… But who knows??? Comments are welcome, but please don’t cut it to pieces unless you’ve tried it… 
And if it works…
. Imagine that…
Also when I’m in a normal dream, I’ll have a similar aura of stupidity about myself. Same thing with lucid dreams, just not as pronounced - but to the point where it’s difficult to remember things or fully control impulses. I believe someone else actually came up with the term…
(And I tried!)