A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine.     March Theme: "In Touch"     Volume 1 Issue 3     ISSN# 1708-3265

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Illuminations Aleesha Stephenson About the Cover Stephanie Pui-Mun Law In Touch with Reality Lynne Gordon-Mündel Who are the Real Survivors? David Suzuki PhD Trial by Wheelchair Shona Steele Staying In Touch (through Massage) Jyotsna Tummalapalli EFT and Your Pet Dr. Jean Hofve DVM How To Communicate with Animals Dawn Baumann Brunke Spend More Time in the Twilight Zone Robert Moss My First Tarot Experience Aleesha Stephenson Aunty Nasty Nasturtium Blackwitt Walk Your Talk Aleesha Stephenson Magik'ly Speaking… Elizabeth Abernathy Cherishing the Earth Toria Betson Meditate a Moment Featuring: David Reber Tao of... Tira Brandon-Evans CH FS Poetic License Our diverse group of talent The Envelope, Please... A Profile Featuring: Tira Brandon-Evans Animal Voices Dawn Baumann Brunke The Green and Burning Tree Tira Brandon-Evans Goddess Getaways Whole Woman Retreats Lakota Sweat Lodge Cards Chief Archie Fire Lame Deer Mantegna Tarot Redesigned by Atanas Atanassov Triple Goddess Isha Lerner Morgan Greer Bill F. Greer, Lloyd Morgan

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The easiest way to become a conscious dreamer is to spend more time in the twilight zone between waking and sleep; or conversely, between sleep and waking. If you can develop the ability to enter and remain in a state of relaxed, free-flowing awareness; images will come. You can simply observe them as they rise and fall, or engage with one of these images or scenes and enter into what may be a full-fledged dream journey.

Experiences in this twilight zone are very similar to those of psychics when they "open up" and let impressions come, or of creative people when they enter a "flow state". Indeed, both psychic discoveries and creative breakthroughs come almost effortlessly in the half-dream state if you are willing to let them - and (of course) catch and use them.

A word about words: "towards sleep".
The hypnagogic area is literally the state leading "towards sleep".
The hypnapompic state leads "away from sleep".
Researchers lump the two together and call them hypnagogia.

Andreas Mavromatis cites impressive evidence which states, "hypnagogia is significantly conducive to paranormal events", including precognition. "Psi states and hypnagogia" are related in their respective psychophysical induction and phenomenology… Hypnagogia is indeed conducive to the production of psi states, and vice versa; the deliberate/experimental induction of psi states tends to render the latter hypnagogic." [Mavromatis, Hypnagogia, p. 131]

Go to a psychic development class, and they will start by directing you to relax, drop your awareness of your body and clear your mind.

H. A. Edwards, a well-known English psychic trainer, counselled would-be psychics to "place their minds into a condition of receptive abandonment".

Reduced sensory distraction, inward focusing of attention, (either by single-pointed awareness, by clearing the mind, or by simply following the rise and fall of images); emotional detachment, and the loosening of ego boundaries, are all crucial to entering a state of psychic awareness

The process of drifting towards sleep (or back towards daylight consciousness) allows psychic impressions and fresh visions to form, and you'll do better by wishing, (rather than willing), the impressions to come.

When you let yourself slip into the twilight zone, you may have the feeling someone is waiting for you, or has something to tell you. When I lie down and close my eyes, I sometimes have the impression of a whole cast of characters waiting for me to arrive.

Visitations are common in this liminal state on the cusp of sleep. As you begin to surface from sleep, you may find you are still strongly connected with the energy and imagery of sleep dreams. If you can allow yourself some undisturbed time to stay in bed, you may be able to slip back into the dream space, fully conscious, and develop the arts of both dream re-entry and astral travel through your personal dream gates.

Robert Monroe observed correctly in his seminal work 'Journeys beyond the Body', the practice of "holding the borderland state indefinitely, without falling asleep" results in "consciousness-deepening" and provides the smoothest access to out-of-body experiences.

We should all spend more time in the twilight zone. In my book "Dreamgates", you'll find many specific techniques for experimenting in the twilight zone - and thrilling first-hand accounts from many active dreamers of what is possible, in addition to my own journals.

(c)2002 Robert Moss. All rights reserved.

"Active dreaming" is the bridge between dream-work and Shamanism. An original method pioneered by Robert Moss, it provides powerful tools for understanding and exploring dreams, for embarking on conscious dream journeys, and for bringing the energy and insight of dreams into waking life. Robert Moss is a life-long dream explorer, a Shamanic counsellor, a former University teacher of ancient history and philosophy, and a student of the Western Mystery traditions.

Robert leads innovative programs all over the world and is actively engaged in many research projects. Visit his website.

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Any advice given is for informational purposes only.