I have been following the wonderful LD drawings of @DreamingFromHere and enjoying the many dimensions of her work using the Hive. Seeing the creative evolution of her Hive narrative, and juxtaposing her happy imagery with my own disaster/trauma that I have written about, continues to break up and move me past those fears and see before me new possibilities. And the image that @NightHawk999 sent to me of the lotus seeds was another turning point. My question about your drawings @DrawingFromHere is: do you ever have confrontations with your Shadow, do you ever have doubts in the interpretations of your dream narratives? They are so wholesome, whimsical, you are very defined in the interpretations. Do you not include the Shadow dreams in your body of artwork, or they just never appear? Last night I had a vivid nightmare which is enigmatic, I think with valuable interpretive meaning. I am working it out all day. There has been a signature dark element in my body of art work, I have been experiencing and knowing the Shadow for a long long time. Next, can you explain to us something about your LD induction, and intention setting, how you go about having your LDs in your own highly developed series style. Thanks!
This makes me very, very happy to hear, the fact things are begining to break up and you are rising above the fears is no small acomplishment, it is huge! I appreciate you sharing this. Shadow work is definitely not for the faint of heart, it requires a lot of courage and strength,and can sometimes be as painful or more painful than the initial trauma, kind of like a surgeon having to rip open an infected wound to clean it, cut away the rot, and then sow it up again. I am glad you mentioned the lotus seeds, when that image can to mind I felt deeply inspired, it was more evidence to support that dreams connect us to something higher and more powerful than ourselves, and they speak in a cryptic, but discernable language (if you take time to learn it).
@_Barry posted a great video on dream interpretation, highly reccomend it. The woman says it is very difficult for people to interpret their own dreams, because so often dreams show us problem areas in our lives and shadow elements, and these things are by default what the ego is almost completely blind to, or wants nothing to do with, or both.
If you are interested in sharing your nightmare, I would be very interested in hearing about the details. If it is something you want to keep private, I respect that, but it might be beneficial to bring it to a professional dream interpreter, one with a really good track record, and getting their feedback on it. Andrew may know a few skilled people to do this.
@NightHawk999
I won’t share last night’s dream yet, but rather a mutual dream of a couple of weeks ago that I had with my second son, that has to do with a bee attack in an ordinary dream that he experienced while I was dreaming on the same night.
Background: in waking reality, my second son, my sister, and I were having a trial experience using a method of dream motivation, memory and enhancement that my sister is developing
and will be presenting at the next IASD conference. We were on the 7th day of the experiment and had been discussing closely our dreams, or lack of, every day.
My dream: my black chow chow dog, Negra, (a dog that I had 30 years ago) jumps up on my third son, and bites and tears his lower lip. It is bleeding profusely.
My second son’s dream: he hears people walking on the path near my house. There is a man and a woman with a large black chow chow. My sec. son is standing in my vegetable garden, and a swarm of bees then begin to sting him all over his torso. He runs, and the bees fly after him.
I wanted to tell this dream because it reflects a person close to me being influenced by my shadow trauma in their dream. Plus the black chow chow mutual image dreamt by both of us on the same night.
Again, we were all working closely on dreaming in a collective situation. My original attack trauma was acknowledged in his newly configurated Shadow dream.
WOW, I am really glad you shared that and for many reasons. A few weeks ago a lady in one of the zoom meetings told Andrew that she and her daughter shared the same dream. I have read about a few dream authors talking about this expereince, including Charlie Morely, who mentions he and his wife tried this, and had partial success. I definitely believe it is real and it is possible.
I dont know what the message the dream is trying to convey, but BOTH of your dreams share a similar fate: an external force is harming your son. Because it was a particularly impactful dream after several nights of lack of dreams, makes me think this may be a precognitive dream, forshadowing that dangers trying to harm your son may be on the horizon. Might be wise to have him keep his guard up the next few months and be extra careful. It makes total sense to me that a higher power, or the Universe, would use the symbol of the Swarm to warn of possible trouble (this symbol is very well known to you, and becuase you are sharing together, it will inevitably become known to him if he hasnt learned about it from you already). There is very little doubt in my mind that your original swarm dream was a precognitive dream as well.
I have to tell you, this week I got Robert Waggoners book in the mail. This morning I read the back of it, and it said he is (or was) the President of IASD. Not sure if it is the same orginization you will be presenting at, but if so, I think that is a very interesting synchronicity. Last night I was reading about his expereinces with OBEs, becuase a member from our dream Sangha group on NC mentioned Waggoner believes they are real. After reading that section of the book I flipped to Chapter 14, with the intention of reading chapter 15 (precognition in dreams). I did not get a chance to read chapter 15, because I ran out of time and was so captivated by what was written in chapter 14:
It involved a student and skilled Lucid Dreamer writting about and questioning the validity of precognitve dreams. Robert said, youre smart, I bet you can think of a way to test this for yourself, becuase its such a subjective experience, nothing I say can convince you, you have to experience it yourself. The student tested it with his girlfriend. She told him she had a odd shaped freckle on her back, and wanted him to locate it in his lucid dream. (Pretty sure they were newly dating and he had not seen her without clothes on). A few nights later he became lucid, and found his gf in the dream, and asked her to show him the freckle. It was on the center of her lower back. He woke, and went to her in real life, and pointed to her lower back, and she lifted her shirt, and there was the freckle right where his finger was pointing.
Pretty amazing stuff!
I am very excited to hear more about the conference, and your family dreamwork, that is so cool you all are doing that!
Also an interesting synchronicity, I was thinking about checking out Waggoners website and learning more about the IASD. I think your post leaves no doubt in my mind on what I should do. Thank you 
This is my sister’s paper, not mine. I was testing it out with my son as trial participants. I can’t give more information on it until she presents and takes it to the next level. I had multiple dreams every night during the trial, as well as lots of hypnogogia, one sleep walk, and hypnopompic insights on awakening as well as this mutual experience. This is my second trial run. The first trial, I used as the theme, The Swarm, to try to get further insight about this Shadow (the resulting insight is that this particular focus can only lead to madness, because of my particular rather low level of awareness. Let’s just say that I am not qualified for the job at hand! 
! But its strange that in the second trial, my son was attacked by bees! I continue to be reminded of the theme.
I was a frequent contributor to Waggoner’s LD magazine and he was supportive about The Swarm psychic attack. Now my sister interacts with him. Since my LD trauma, I dropped out of the dream community. I used to show in the online art gallery at IASD. Now as a dropout I am only marginally involved in the dreaming community. NC is my first venture out as I feel that I don’t have much to report. Yet behind -the-scenes developments r occuring, even though my vision hunting in LDs is not answered.
Great message! Yes, I’ve done a bunch of Shadow work that brought me to where I am now with my dream drawings. I’m putting together a post that shows the progression. Part of my Shadow work is indeed asking for help along the way. Sharing these parts of yourself – feelings, spirit, love – was not valued in my family, in fact is was belittled and shut down, so it’s taken me 63 years to finally get past the fact that that way of living does not work for me. The way I grew up just kept manifesting in work and home life in destructive ways. I’ve had to be open to Shadow and let go and accept the Shadow’s message as beneficial.
I tend to trust my gut about the meaning of the dreams. Back in my 30’s I relied on a therapist to help me. I use my husband for that as well. But recently I have come to rely more closely on the relationship I have with my dream Self. Interpretation of one dream leads to the next dream, validating my understanding or showing me more to work on. It’s been SUPER helpful to be here with you and @_Barry and @NightHawk999 to get insight about what’s going on now. Many thanks. You guys are the bomb.
This article below was informative for me and I thought that it had some light for others as well. It has a Zen perspective, but I find it eminently relatable. It also addresses how revered teachers can at the same time do horrible things.
From the article:
I vaguely remember a story—I’m not sure if it’s true or a joke, or if I am even remembering it correctly—that someone once asked Sigmund Freud about a patient who successfully completed psychoanalysis but still behaved like a jerk. How did Freud account for this? Freud allegedly quipped the patient was a “well-analyzed jerk.” Freud’s quip points to the possibility of a complex relationship between psychological health and being a decent human being. The two, according to psychoanalysis, are not necessarily the same.
https://www.lionsroar.com/youre-going-to-carry-that-weight /
That is very impressive. Not sure when the last time was that you read his book, but I finished reading chapter 14 and 15 last night and was deeply moved. I am kind of embarrased to share this but I was moved to tears when I read the part about Clare Johnson winning the dream contest at the internation IASD Conference. Was very abnormal, not used to getting that emotional while reading or in any life activity. Its really mindblowing how deep this stuff goes, and that coupled with the synchronicity of your comments, and how similar they were to material, definitely trigger something deep in me. Next on the agenda is to read chapter 16, (Shared Dreaming), very excited to check it out. Really amazes me how deepmthis stuff goes, talk about paradigm shattering!
Do you or have you attended the International IASD Conference before? I checked out their website and the schedule, the material looks pretty interesting.
What did Waggoner and your sister have to say about the Psychic dream attack?
Also forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago, I had a lucid dream about a relative who had died. I shared this with another family member after they had shared that they had a dream about a friend who had died, turns out we had these dreams on the same night.
Wouldnt consider it shared dreaming, but I find the ‘coincidences’ between the two dreams really interesting, and well worth noting.
@NightHawk999
What in particular moved you about the Claire Johnson winning of the contest? I find that to be a surprising reaction! Robert Waggoner felt that I was being warned and that the bleed through was precognitive. He is extremely positive in his outlook about all related LD situations. (As I am not so positive, I did not agree with his conclusion). Yet, of course he is the expert! My sister tended to think it could be black magic because of where I live. And she was accustomed to think more along lines of shamanism, as was I. Waggoner is U.S. based so he wouldn’t perhaps consider first the ethnicity and Old Ways that are common forces around here.
I have not physically attended the IASD conference only have online. Every year in Sept or Oct there is the most important 4 day conference which is fascinating, all encompassing. There is a theme, many speakers. Art gallery
You and me both! It was a very Anomalous reaction, and the even more strange was I kept reading through the tears, and they kept flowing until I finsihed the chapter! I think they were more so tears of joy/awe/wonder at how powerful and profound and deep the dreaming practice is, and to know that these are not fairy tales, the author is speaking truth on topics that most people would think couldnt possibly be true.
I think you may have told me this before, and I forgot. I am sorry. I defintiely think it was precognitive, I dont think that excludes it from also involving elements of black magic. I think there can be elements of both. If you have not checked out his book in a while, it might be worth reading chapters 14, 15, and 16 again. So much wisdom in those pages.
I think a partial downfall of viewing it as exclusively black magic, may be one of the blocks that is obstructing or poisening your LD practice. It kind of places you as a passive victim of the forces of the universe, verses being able to tap into these divine forces and gain vital information. Having the universe warn you in order to try to protect you is no small feat, I think that is a indication that it loves you, wants to help you, and is more benevolent than most people think. Its a huge badge of honor to have achieved a level of openness and connection to these divine forces, many people spend their entire lives blind or completely oblivious to them.
I don’t view it as exclusively one thing or another. I am not a very black and white kind of person. Perhaps one day when I have more depth in either meditation or dreaming or as the years go on, I will understand. Or maybe not. Some things remain an enigma, such is this life. And these enigmas provoke their own spiritual quest that we might embark on for years at a time, searching for meaning or closure or the key to liberation or the answer from the Quest
Great point. The onky reason I brought it up as possibly being an obsticle was the possibility of a negative Self fullfilling prophecy.
But given that you are having big successes, that does not seem to be the case. Did Waggoner give you any tips or advice on how to improve your dreaming and get back to having LDs?
@NightHawk999
I didn’t ask R. Waggoner for any help to get back on track. I just stopped contributing to the magazine because I no longer had an LD practice, and lost touch.
I am thinking, once you have a good functioning practice, don’t let it go. It’s hard to recover it.
Good point, but it is sure worth the effort.
Did you also lose it, then struggle to return?
Yes, I did, and more than once over the years. I believe I have come back stronger now because that cycle has been my pattern in many phases of my life, most of my life. While I have been off the tracks at different junctures, I confess I have a third rail—my wife—who has always been there as an inspiration and teacher, and probably started out at birth further along the path than I am today. I feel more confident now than ever, having so many great teachers and Sanghas in my life for support and inspiration. I have even gotten directions in dreams about being on the right path (for me).
I think that is really great Advice. Its pretty amazing the power of Sanghas. I am glad you mentioned that, because today after we did our dream Sangha group with Mary Ann I took a nap and I had my 7th LD since joing NC. Not sure if that group is something you are interested in joining @Carolel, and Lord knows I found many excuses not to join it when I first started here, but I have found it very helpful and inspiring. I always learn something new, and it keeps the fire in my belly and motivation burning to continue with the daily practices, website videos, and reading of different LD authors at night.
Would also say that you have a much stronger foundation and head start to those people who have never had a LD in their life, and are trying to, but are not having any luck.
I would try not to link of it as a commet hitting your dream life and causing a mass extinction event that cant be recovered from.I think a better analogy would be that you are experiencing a dream Winter, but things are thawing, and you have Spring to look forward too.