spheres beyond the wall of sleep

I am posting here because I don't know where else to turn. Queries online have come up short, and if I were to ask about in meatspace I know people would start to talk as if I were a crazy person, which I cannot have. My career and reputation, mixed with my age, would put me at risk of high loss if my stability were to be put into question. And This puzzle does not disturb my day to day life so much as it brings about feelings of unfulfilled longing about the moments I go to sleep. I am in great need of any advice, if any such exists. Shared experiences might have insights I would be glad to partake in. A little backstory is needed to understand the full scope of both the subject and the soundness of my mind. I grew up in a rural forested area in the US. The neighborhood kids and myself spent a lot of time in the woods, where abandoned houses of stone and wood stood in various states of decay. Short old stone walls of time-withstanding masonry snaked throughout different parts. probably land divisions. We didn't think much about this since we were kids. We would call these abandoned homes our forts and sometimes shoot paintballs at one another, or camp, or hang out and make small fires in the one with an operational herth. There were parts of the forest which we deemed for reasons unknown sacred and we beleived in ghosts and spirits that lived there (which we made up ususally)(there was a graveyard old and nearly completely destroyed, headstones legible from the early 1800's. some older couldn't be dated whatsoever). One night we set up camp together as we had done before, and I had an extremely vivid dream where I ran through an old village of sorts with my friends. It was like we were invivisible to the people there. The fringes of this town gave away to odd forests, paths, places of impossible architecture, colors and beings. Not everything we saw in the town or among the paths were human. When I woke up the next morning, I was excited to share this dream with my companions, we had a small struggle of who was going to share first because we were all excited. We let this girl, I'll call her Belle, talk first, since she was sort of the "leader" of our group. After she told it, there was a silence, because she had told the same dream that I had. and the others had shared this dream as well. We were incredibly excited about it, and so once every week we would go to the forest to camp and try with success to share this dream. In my own house during the times we were not there, I would dream of places with names and people around this or that world. I would later find out that a lot of these places were real, more on that later. As time went on, I moved away, and my dreams were as vivid and real as day. Sometimes I would dream of places in my own head. somehow I knew they were very local or contained. Pain would come with infliction and dissolve moments after waking if the pain was large enough to jerk me from slumber. I can taste meals and things of that like. Though I can control myself and walk in dreams like it were waking, I don't have much control of the worlds themselves in local dreams. none whatsoever in dreams I would call "non-local." There were times when I would dream further of places I had never heard of or been to. And one day, when playing D&D in the city I moved to for University, I decided to use one of the places I'd seen in my dream as a characters home and backstory location... which to my DM's chagrin told me I could not do because "Seeker, El Nido is on earth and we are in Numenara. You gotta choose something different." I am not a clever man, so I had never thought to look up the places I had seen in dreams I was 19 at that time (this was 10 years back now), and ebooks and tablets for reading them were still fairly newish (I still have my old nexus 7 gen one from those days, fitted with cyanogen mod so it still works!) that night when I got home I googled up the places I had seen, and sure enough they actually existed. In this excitement I changed my university major the next semester to something that would give me more ease of travel and income. Since finishing university I have been traveling and living all over the world. Though my base is currently in China (All hail our loveable honey loving bear of an emperor), the money and free time alloted to me in my career path has given me great freedom to go to and explore these places in my dreams. El Nido in the philippines, Border villages of Ratanakiri Cambodia, The rambling hills and caves of China, Monuments of Thailand, the underground city of Naples, rambling cave dwellings of france, cabins in the north. I took a stint as a janitor/writer in antarctica, in a place I'd seen once too. Each place I've gone to I've met mystics who tend temples, monks, or just stood in awe at the remains or natural beauty of something there. I don't really believe in magic, but I felt like each location was very profound. maybe only because I'd seen it before (In the case of antarctica especially I found some small ridicule for my amazement at parts of the landscape I was allowed to traverse. I still have my glaceir glasses too! Myn only real keepsake of the journey). Now, the dreams I have are most vivid but they are not local. not often. Often I "wake" into my dreams to find places I camped or "fell asleep" in the day before. I meet people frequently that I've met before. I travel through means both magical and modern to places. I know I am looking for something there, and I do not know what. The people I meet in these dreams are too distinct to be of my own personage (as far as I can tell). And those who have died or vanished have never returned in them. It is sleeping to find the same dream world night after night. However, if I drink too much and sleep, I will dream within my own local spheres, and when waking in the world of dreams a night or two later, I will be somewhere else and slightly disoriented for a small time. I am aware of the works of lovecraft (recently sadly. they are good fun but not entirely my cup of tea), and this is somewhat dissimilar. Now for my request: I cannot find any books about this subject. I cannot find any reliable knowledge of the world of dreams. I cannot find guides for walkers, and I cannot seem to find any sort of forum for those who've found similar. Perhaps I do just have a vivid imagination, but that doesn't explain the other things I've seen. I have found online pages of "wiccan" dream walking and spying and all that actual rubbish; pre-teen girl fantasies and the like. Are there any guides out there about what I've experienced? books? occult scriptures? anything? I find more resources towards odd space-spooks and parlor-trick sabrina-the-teenage-witch magicks, than I do dreams despite how dreams seem to be the most real link to something ethereal we have. I don't think I will get much in the way of serious output but I have no idea where to look. I'll keep tabs on this thread in hopes of finding answers. Thank you to those who take me seriously, or who have read this whole large post. Thanks, -Seeker

Although I can't help with books and resources, I just wanted to say I appreciate you sharing this. I can't remember any such experiences myself, but I believe you.

you may be interested in psychonautics https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Dream

Isn't it just an extreme case of lucid dreaming?

>>2678 I don't know what to tell you, it sounds like your dreams have been guiding factors to your life. My Mum actually talks like this sometimes, but more in terms of seeing me and my brother in her sleep. She called me several times asking If I had heard from my brother because of her dreams about him, then she told me her dream, and minutes later my brother called and explained things exactly as my mothers dream even through they did not talk to each other. When I called my mum she was shocked to find out her dream was real even though they live far away from each other. My mother calls it "mother's intuition," but it seems indicative of a more primal phenomenon. I have had premonition dreams that I cannot explain, and I feel unease when around certain places. I do not travel much in my dreams, but it is the awake feelings that bother me sometimes, like a voice crying "no" from somewhere just before something terrible happens that somehow affects me, even thousands of kilometers away. I have talked with other people who have explained to me voices/sensations/thoughts that prevented imminent personal disaster or accidents (like vehicles crashing meters away from where they were standing). I know a girl who said she experienced this only when she regularly used THC, but all of the experiences I have personally had and most people I have talked to said they were the most sane they had ever been and never used any kind of drugs. Perhaps there are places of immense power, and I think that there must be some energy (EM or other kind of spectrum, not psychic) that could potentially explain the phenomenon.

I haven't replied in a little while, but I am glad to see some responses. The dream has continued, and I am arriving after a long journey to a town. It is plagued with a disease called the red cough. It has been a long avoided place. and I camp on the outskirts. There is a mountain there that looks impossibly large, and I think I am supposed to find someone up there on that mountain. I also spent some time trying to record the writing of this world. In the dreams I can read it fine, but it is not English. It is also very hard to remember, and I've only gotten a few syllables written. I think I will be camping a long time, as I climb this mountain. I will try to keep remembering, but I only have a cluster of consonants and dipthongs transcribed. They seem to be the same between dreams (though there are tons of symbols I've scrapped due to inconsistencies). If anyone is interested I will write and post them. I am seeing how much knowledge I can bring back with me, but it isn't easy. There aren't many things in the ways of books although I am still searching. I am trying to do my own research. I will keep writing about it. In the meantime, if there is anyone else who knows about this world, or experiences beyond normal sleep, I really want to hear it. Any clue is appreciated. Just wanted you all to know I am still keeping up with my work. In three weeks, when I have more time off from my day job, I will be flying to an Island far to the south of the world that I saw in a dream. I will share that too if people are still keeping track of this thread.

>>2707 I'm interested in anything you're willing to share Lain. I can't help you at the moment, but when I have time I'll try to aid your research.

>>2678 Your story was fascinating. I dont have any books or resources for you unfortunately, but i wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. You should update this thread/ or start another if anything big happens in one of your dreams

>lovecraftian >not entirely your cup of tea Dude you can't be serious, I was gonna call you a Lovecraft LARPer while reading most of your post. I don't think you will find any guidance. Maybe people who can explain it with Le Science, or junkies who will try to validate their fringe worldview through your experience. None can put harnesses on dreaming.

I cannot tell you how much I've been waiting for a thread like this. I've been heavily into this sort of thing ever since I started having spontaneous lucid dreams in my 9th grade (about 7 years ago), and I remember finding things on lucid dreaming and dream walking back then (even trying out techniques during the following year). But I can't remember where I found all of it and some things I'm not even sure if I didn't just make them up at this point (specially about dreamwalking) since I've found no trace of them. The most academic source I can give on this sort of thing is Carl Jung, and his concept of the collective unconscious, but of course, it only gives a theoretical explanation for this sort of experience, and he never mentions dreamwalking as far as I'm aware, but it's always something that comes to mind when I study it. I've just woken up and am still on my phone, so my thoughts are pretty disorganised right now, but I'll be back later and on my pc so I'll be looking forward to this discussion, been trying to crack dreamwalking for years now

>>2678 Dreams are one of the mysteries of the human mind, each night when we fall asleep we see visions of many different kinds of things; most often do we dream of elements of what we had experienced during the day while we were wakeful. Apparently the content of our dreams are inspired by the objects and events of what had happened to use in the wakeful state, for that we can identify those familiar objects and persons in our dreams and as what was the case in the dream you had of this village of odd forests, paths, and places of impossible architectures. Though what is peculiar in that is you claim to have shared this dream with your friends which is most unusual. This could be explained as being purely coincidental in that you and your friends all had experienced the same thing while exploring this forest with abandoned houses of stone and wood and tombstones and your brains had constructed a dream from this common experience. That would be a sensible and mundane explanation however I personally think that what happened to you could be interpreted as evidence for there being subconscious telepathic abilities possessed by the human brain that normally do we not have utility during the state of wakefullness, when you and your companions had entered into the dreaming state this subconscious power had been unlocked and you established a telepathic link among yourselves hence why you had apparently shared the same dream. I think our dreams are a special power of the human mind (and in the case of other animals too) that gives us psychic abilities. Speaking of my own personal experiences, sometimes I am reminded of a dream I had in the past while I was awake giving me the feeling that I had seen this happen before in a dream, this leads me to think that maybe our dreams may sometimes be visions of future events or experiences we will have in our lives. Also perhaps our dreams can enhance our abilities to sense the wakeful world by allowing us to travel to different locations in the form of a disemboddied consciousness as what you may have experienced in your vision of Seeker, El Nido. If any of this is true then our control over these abilities is not reliable and is seemingly random, however in the case of some people they are able to exert their will over the character of their dreams and deliberately chance the construction of their dreams but only when they realize they are dreaming. This is a special type of dreaming known as lucid dreaming which you seem to have experienced according to what you have described as being able to travel to different places you see in your dreams. With all of this said I still can only say that I do not know what happened to you, there are many things I do not know about the brain and so I can only imagine of what may be true. More information on dreams and other things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interpretation_of_Dreams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing

>>2748 An experiment can be performed to verify if humans really do have subconscious telepathic abilities that are usable while we dream. In the experiment, there are at least two participants who are each capable and competent lucid dreamers. They are both capable of lucid dreams and arbitrarily triggering the lucid state while dreaming. Before they fall asleep, they are instructed to think of the other dreamer while they are dreaming and if they successfully evoke the object of the other dreamer in their dream then they must communicate with the figure a phrase invented by the dreamer. When they each awake, they will attempt to recall the phrase they learned from the other dreamer and if they recall the phrase correctly then it must be that they communicated information with each other telepathically! This would be a fascinating experiment.

It makes sense you’d find occult and Wicca stuff referencing dream-sharing. By all means I’m not read up on the stuff, but I think you should give what you’ve previously passed up a second look with an open mind. You don’t need to agree with the explanations... it’s the phenomena that is acknowledged and real. On tangent, does anybody know of the dream walkers that call themselves ‘dredgers’? I have had a run-in with one once maybe a year ago and she was quite fascinating.

>>2752 This is very interesting, where can I find more on this? What I did hear of is rumours of dreamwalkers using dreams to RPG, calling it "psyblade", but this was almost 10 years ago and it could've been someone making things up

>>2707 Have yet to read rest of thread, so don't know if anyone's already expressed interest- but I'd much appreciate if you'd share some of the symbols/writing you can recall Also bumping this so I can find it more easily later when on PC

>>6528 Also necrobumping, I too am very curious!

>>2678 > lelag-leng > every night > lelag-leng > try to walk to yian-ho > no good, wake up before I get there > wake up again in lelag-leng > walk the streets, the same streets > try to swim to sarkomand > black out from exhaustion > all day at work dreading lelag-leng > come home. its friday. should be happy > can barely relax, keep staring at the clock > wake up in lelag-leng again > try to ask around, maybe someone leaving the city > no good. nobody is interested > night after night > don't sleep for 3 days > pass out at work desk > wake up at home. how? late for work > is this it > is it over > go to work > fall asleep at desk > boss shouting at me > take me back to lelag-leng