Ars Somnium

Author's Note: For further notes on Carlos Castaneda's The Art of Dreaming, please refer to Wikipedia.

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Ars Somnium


Sevenfold be the sorcerer's gateways to dreaming (each gate is first reached [i] and then crossed [ii] although not necessarily consecutively):

Manual Setup — [i] Settle the outcome, 'mano a mano'. The Second Attention is only awoken by our conscious intention. Find your hands in a dream and look away briefly before returning to them intently. Rinse and repeat; this stabilizes one's nocturnal 'double'.

[ii] Fall asleep while remaining lucid. Having forged your energy body, you must learn how to use it. Take baby steps. Will yourself into action. Attempt to interact with ethereal objects.

Nesting Instinct —  [i] Once proficiency is achieved, start dreaming within dreams. Master awakening from deeper and deeper theta states. One can also focus on ancillary items in order to transition toward different dream scenes.

[ii] Consistent years of practice should pique the interest of Inorganic Beings. Project confidence and they'll surely rally to you. Avoid fear at all costs. Try tracking Inorganic scouts back to their own abodes. Those who play their cards right shall gain allies who can heighten our awareness more than ever thought possible.

Dreamer & Dreamed — [i] At some point you'll come face to face with your actual sleeping self. Your two Attentions are now merging. The energetic double is Being completed, thus does it begin touching upon everyday reality. It's imperative that you develop a method of confirming without doubt that this is indeed your physical form. Heed Don Juan's advice and observe everything here "with great care and curiosity".

[ii] Beware of rational mind or else end up trapped in superfluous minutiae. Rely instead on irrational abandon so that your perception doesn't linger too long on any particular detail. Fluidity is of utmost importance.

Sightseeing & Sharing — [i] Use the 'dreamt' to visit familiar locales. Go back to the same spot a few times and try to verify what you see there later on during waking life. Follow up by visiting places that are less known, including situations outside mundane experience.

[ii] Enter the dream of another dreamer, or occupy a mutual dream together. Such feats require bounteous reserves of personal power, which are usually obtained through abstinence or energy exchanges with one's allies.

Bridging Gaps — [i] Switch out the aforementioned double with your material embodiment. The double can be sent ahead and exert its pull upon physicality. Transposition becomes possible. Practice astral projection at its finest. Most people won't be able to tell the difference between either manifestation anyway.

[ii] Split in twain, catapult into unknown realities. There you may temporarily inhabit the viewpoint of an otherworldly entity. While we're prone to impute human qualities on such alien experiences, just gaze directly (rather passively) at those energies, and witness as vast mysteries unravel!

Spirit Animals — [i] Sometimes when we traverse outlandish dreamscapes, natural obstacles arise. During these times, it's not uncommon for the double to react instinctively by assuming a feral physique: birds, felines, foxes and wolves are common totems.

[ii] Moreover, once shamans become comfortable enough in 'beast mode', they can actually awaken elsewhere as animals. This is a dangerous threshold that one ought to cross only if utterly confident and after much training.

Tonal & Nagual — [i] Duality is breached for good as both the First and Second Attention are unified. In a manner of speaking, it's like 'dreaming awake'. This is Seeing proper, since sufficient Impeccability has been cultivated, and it's ripe for harvesting. The dreamer beholds daily life through the eyes of the dreamt.

[ii] The island of one's Tonal is now flooded by elements flowing from the Nagual's oceanic emanations: Assemblage Point, luminous cocoons, power plants, Rolling Force, Voladores, etc. You might even hear the Voice of Seeing itself. Whatever you do, don't tell the uninitiated about these things (because they'll probably have you committed)!

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