The Dream Pillow: a User S Manual

The Dream Pillow: A User’s Manual

By Theo Huffman

The Dream Pillow: A User’s Manual

By Theo Huffman

The author would like to thank Lovász Krisztina for her help and support in this project. Many thanks also to Sascha Müller for his generous donation of an original graphic for the cover of this booklet. More of Sascha’s work can be seen at http://www.budapest-art.com/mueller_m.htm and at http://www.sascha-mueller.info/index.htm.

ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΑΥΤΟΝ (gnothi seauton: Know thyself!)

- Inscription at the portal of the Oracle of Delphi

An unexamined life is not worth living.

- Socrates

Prologue

nce upon a time there was a great king who was known for his learning. He had gathered together all the greatest scholars in his court. He had assembled a vast library in many different languages. He studied hard to master all the fields of knowledge he could stuff into his head.

But one morning he awoke with a feeling of profound dissatisfaction. He realized that despite years of study, despite hours and hours of discussion with learned men, he had still not developed wisdom.

Now in that same kingdom there was a hermit who lived deep in the darkest forest of the land. This hermit was believed to be the wisest man in all the kingdom.

The king had the hermit summoned into his presence. Once the hermit was standing before the throne, the king said to him, "I grow weary of my books and my councilors. I wish to find wisdom. Surely you know where wisdom is to be found."

The hermit, who was a man of few words, simply nodded his head.

"Then take me there!" the king exclaimed.

"Follow me," the hermit said.

They left the castle together and journeyed on foot for two days before they passed a monastery.

"Is it here," the king asked, "that I can find wisdom?"

The hermit shook his head.

A few days later they climbed a mountain. When they reached the top, which was windy, and covered with snow, the king asked, "Here? Will I find wisdom here?"

The hermit shook his head.

After more walking they came to the edge of a desert.

"Should I pray in the desert? Is that how I will find wisdom?" the king asked.

The hermit shook his head no.

Eventually they arrived back at the castle. The hermit walked in and led the king to his own bed chamber, where he stretched out his arm and pointed to the bed.

"Here?" the king asked, thoroughly puzzled.

"Yes. Here,” the hermit replied. “I have taken you on this journey to show you that it is always outside of yourself that you expect to find wisdom, and in far away places. But you ignore the raw gems of great value that come from within you, which you are presented every night."

"Do you mean my dreams?" the king asked.

The hermit nodded. "Yes. I mean your dreams. Take these gems. Work with them. Cut them and polish them. Study their many facets. Arrange them in mosaic patterns. If you do this, you will surely become wise beyond comparison.”

Having said this, the hermit departed, and returned to his forest abode.

The king followed the hermit’s advice. He began to keep careful records of everything he dreamed. And his dreams advised him on how to give greater service to his country and his people. They gave him new ways to run the affairs of state, to raise his family, and to provide for the future of his land. The kingdom prospered.

The king became the wisest man ever born in his country. Well, with the possible exception of the hermit.

Do you dream?

There is an amazing amount of ignorance about this in the contemporary world. As long ago as 1952, sleep researchers at the University of Chicago determined that all people dream, every night, several times per night. Yet, in spite of this, an astoundingly large portion of the population will still tell you “I don’t dream.” Well… yes you do! The problem is that most people just don’t remember their dreams.

There are many reasons for this.

One is that it is a direct consequence of our materialist society. Contemporary society conditions us to value only those things which either bring us immediate pleasure, or which promise to bring us material acquisitions in the future. Only in exceptional cases do our families, our schools, our employers or our mass media ever encourage us to focus on “internal experiences.” We don’t remember our dreams because we just don’t pay attention to them.

Another reason is our hectic contemporary lifestyle. Our sleeping habits, and the way we wake up in the morning, are not conducive to dream recall. I’ll be addressing how to overcome some of the aspects of this restless lifestyle later in this booklet.

What are dreams?

The way the majority of people think about dreams nowadays has been heavily influenced by the discipline of psychology. Because of this, they believe that dreams are a phenomenon confined to the brain, and that they are purely the result of biochemical activity in the brain.

You’ll get none of that from me.

Indeed, the discipline of psychology, with its emphasis on empirical proof and mathematical analysis, has brought some interesting perspectives to the study of dreams and dreamers. But the very tools it uses limit the depth to which psychology can penetrate this infinite world. To truly begin to understand what dreams are, one cannot regard human beings from a purely materialistic perspective: you have to accept that human beings are spiritual beings.

We all have two selves. There’s the one that deals with daily mundane life: going to work, cleaning house, making meals, paying the bills, etc. And there’s the other self that’s deep down inside us. In some ways it’s an intimate and familiar part of us: “the real me” that nobody else knows. But in other ways it’s buried so deep that we feel we can barely hear its voice when it speaks to us as the pangs of conscience or the deep longings of suppressed desires. Though many people are uncomfortable with the religious connotations of the word, this Inner Self is none other than your soul. In classical antiquity the soul was called the genius.

The word genius, in association with the soul, is interesting when you consider the powerful things that have been brought into this world as the result of someone getting a message from a dream. Mendeleev saw the periodic table of the elements in a dream. Kekule figured out that the benzine molecule is shaped like a ring when he dreamed of a snake holding its tail in its mouth and rolling down the street. Any number of famous literary works (Stevenson’s Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Coleridge’s Kubla Kahn) were inspired by dreams. These are all “works of genius.”

Dreams are messages from that Inner Self. The conscious, day-to-day person that we and others experience is only a small fraction of our personality. That vast part of us submerged beyond immediate perception is much like the 90% of the iceberg that is hidden underwater. And that other 90% of us knows more and is capable of doing more than we can possibly imagine.

At the very deepest levels, this Inner Self is connected to knowledge that transcends time and space. It is also capable of communication with the Inner Selves of all the other people in this vast family known as the human race. This is what Carl Jung called the Collective Unconscious. One of the ways we can access this knowledge and power is through paying attention to our dreams.

Why are dreams important?

Ah, poor contemporary modern man! He struggles in such a complicated and confusing world, trying to make sense of it all with no more than the very limited powers of his conscious mind. Little do most people know that this is nearly hopeless. They are trying to solve the puzzle with most of the pieces missing. They are attempting to know the whole world by surveying the room they are in, and neglecting to look out the window. They are trying to go on a long journey with only a fragment of the map. The Inner Self has those puzzle pieces. It knows where the window is (right there! beneath that veil!). And it is in possession of the entire map.

Ah, poor contemporary man! As if it weren’t enough that he struggles with his difficult fate during his fraught days, how unfair it is that he must even contend with nightmares at night. The scenes and characters of his daily life get all mixed up in the cauldron of the imagination, and he is tormented by his worries and fears all over again, but now it is disturbingly surreal, and at times downright monstrous.

Hold on a minute! Perhaps it’s a mistake to regard these visitors in the night as burdens. There is a parable-like joke about a city woman taking a walk in a village. She comes across a farmer who is having difficulty with his donkey. He is yelling and screaming at the donkey, and occasionally striking it with a large stick. The city woman is horrified, and says to the farmer, “You uncivilized brute! How can you hurt that poor animal that way?” The farmer slowly turns to the city woman and replies, “Hurt him? I’m just trying to get his attention.”

Such is the case with what we call nightmares. Our Inner Self has useful advice to help us deal with our difficult lives: keys to unlock some of the on-going mysteries of our existence. But we’re not paying attention. So the dreams are, shall we say, somewhat dramatic. If you have a “nightmare,” it is a sure sign you should be paying attention. Your Inner Self is trying to tell you something.

Interestingly enough, once you begin to focus more awareness on your dreams, the nightmares go away.

What is mugwort?

The dream pillow accompanying this booklet is a handmade sachet stuffed with mugwort (artemisia vulgaris in Latin, Beifuss in German, fekete üröm in Hungarian), an herb that has been used for various purposes for centuries. One of its main characteristics is that it magnifies psychic consciousness. Although there are many confused and silly ideas these days about what psychic phenomena are, the basic definition of psychic phenomena is: communication with the Inner Self. Considering what’s already been said above, it should be obvious why this herb would be useful for recalling and working with dreams. The author has used this herb in dream pillows for over half of his life, and has known many people who have used it in this way. From my and other people’s experience, I can assure you: it works.

Mugwort is most famous for it’s use as a "Dream" herb. It is known to enhance dreaming, both in sleep and in Shamanic Journeying and other trance work. It is said to enhance whatever level of dreaming one is developed in. For example, if one can not remember one’s dreams, Mugwort will enhance and help the individual to develop this. If one is at the next level of dreaming, cognitive dreaming: (being aware one is dreaming and being able to "manipulate" the dream at will) Mugwort will enhance this.

The final level is precognitive dreaming; dreaming of future events.

No matter what level one is dreaming Mugwort will help you to develop your abilities. But beware, for until you become proficient your dreams may, at first, be difficult to deal with.[1]

An anecdote: when I was in graduate school, I once told a fellow student and colleague about mugwort. She went to the herb store that very day and bought some. She put some in a scarf, tied it in a knot and put it under her pillow. The next day I asked her if anything had happened. No, she said, and looked disappointed. The next day I asked again. Nothing. When I asked the third day, her eyes got real wide, and she nodded her head up and down. “Nightmare?” I asked. She shook her head no. “Violence?” She shook her head. I thought a moment. “Sexual?” Slowly she nodded. In a whisper she said, “I never thought I was capable of such things.”

So probably the simplest and clearest thing to say about the herb is that it alters the usual state of sleeping consciousness. Some people find it unpleasant. Sometimes people find all the dreaming to be exhausting. Some people say it gives them nightmares. In response to that, I say: what are nightmares, really? And I’ll also repeat that once you spend more time focusing on your dreams, the nightmares go away. And ultimately, if it gets too intense for you, all you have to do is take the pillow out of your bed.

How does one use a dream pillow?

Essentially, all you have to do is tuck that little cushion into the slip cover of the pillow you sleep on. Simplicity itself. However, it is essential that you put it somewhere where you can smell it. In my experience the scent is a necessary element of the herb’s effect. That having been said, there are a few other things that should be mentioned about the actual physical handling of the dream pillow.

Be considerate of your spouse or whoever else you sleep with. If the dream pillow is somewhere where they can smell it, they will also be affected by it. They may not like it. If so, put it on the other side of your pillow where it’s far enough away from them.

The pillow will work for a few months, as long as the volatile oils still give off a scent. Every now and then you can take the pillow in your hand and grind it around a little. This will release some of the volatile oils from the herbs and “freshen up” its scent.

If you do not desire the effects of the pillow for a while, wrap it up tightly in a plastic bag and put it in your refrigerator to preserve the volatile oils. Do seal it well, or it might end up smelling more like your refrigerator (yuck!) than like a medicinal herb. When you want to increase your dream awareness again, just get it back out of the refrigerator (remove the plastic bag, of course) and place it under your pillow again.