Welcome to Naptown
August 9th, 2006 by Erin Pavlina
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“Last night I dreamed I was a butterfly, and now I do not know if I am a man who dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly now dreaming I am a man.” - Lao Tzu
If you’ve listened to my podcast over at Steve’s site on Lucid Dreaming then you’ll know that I’m an accomplished lucid dreamer with some advanced skills. In the podcast, I alluded to something that I now would like to share.
It started during naps. About 40% of the time that I take a nap, I will have a lucid dream. Years ago I laid down to take a nap and something unusual happened. I had a dream that I woke up in a strange bed. I was in a loft with wooden floors and the bed I was lying in was pushed up against a wall with a small circular window. There was this sort of ladder going down into the main part of the small dwelling that I was in. I carefully climbed down the ladder. On a table in front of me I saw an amethyst wand. It was beautiful. And in the room was an old woman sitting in a rocking chair. She looked up at me and smiled and said, “Ah, I see you’re awake. Are you feeling better now?” Confused I asked her who she was and she laughed like I was asking her what color the sky is. She said, “Why don’t you take a walk and clear your head? You’ve been asleep for a long time.”
I was lucid. I knew I was Erin Pavlina, home asleep in my bed, but I was very conscious here in this dream. I decided to walk outside and check things out. Outside I discovered I was on some sort of boardwalk. Ocean was around three sides of me, and the little dwelling I’d come from was more like a lighthouse or something similarly small, that jutted out on this boardwalk. People were everywhere and it was daylight. The air had that certain feel to it … it was alive, it had energy. People smiled and seemed to be going on about their business.
I walked down the boardwalk and took note of all manner of places and things. I spent probably 20-30 minutes just walking around and getting the lay of the land. I didn’t speak to anyone but there were many friendly faces smiling at me.
I made my way back to my dwelling and walked inside. The old woman was cooking something on a little stove. I noticed the wand on the table and said, “Can I take a look at that?” She replied, “Well of course, silly. It’s yours after all.” Intrigued I walked up to the crystal wand and took it. There was some serious energy flowing through this thing. I told her I needed to get going and she said, “So soon? But you just got back. Please come back soon, honey.” I was thinking, “Er, yeah right. No problem,” but I didn’t say that. I went up the ladder, laid down in the bed with the crystal wand and “went to sleep.” I woke up in my real bed at home. I was just a little weirded out but not terribly so.
Okay now here is where the story gets interesting.
The next time I took a nap I woke up back in that same bed! It was night time and no one else seemed to be awake. I climbed down the ladder, went outside, saw a storm was brewing, lightning everywhere, and no one was around. I will say the air had a more sinister air to it but I really think that was just my own fears welling up. I walked around town again and recognized all the places I’d seen before. I went back to my “bed” and went to sleep. I woke up back in my real bed at home. Totally weirded out.
This pattern continued. Nearly every time I took a nap I found myself waking up in this strange place. It got to the point where I was now recognizing familiar faces and saying hi to them. I started meeting people whose names I could recall while I was there. I often passed by the little Mexican restaurant that was by the fire station and stop to chat with a few people eating on the veranda. I remember once getting a tour of the fire station.  And one time I found a lovely park and sat and played with some children in the sand. I recall someone asking me if I liked working with children and I remember replying that I did.
I started calling this place “Naptown” because it was the little town I woke up in when I would take naps. One day I even discovered that I had acquired a job in Naptown. I was a daycare worker, watching kids while their parents worked.
Finally the day came where I decided to see how much my will could affect Naptown. The next time I found myself there, I quit my job. People fussed and asked me what I would do now and I was like, “Who cares? This is just a dream right? I can do anything I want.” They looked at me quizically like I’d grown horns or something. No one else in Naptown seemed to understand that they were just figments of my imagination.
I noticed that time continued on in Naptown even if I wasn’t there.
I tried a few other jobs in Naptown because I felt like I was supposed to work or something. But one day I quit my job as a waitress and decided to recreate myself as someone very rich. I remember commissioning someone to build me the mother of all mansions. The next time I visited Naptown I owned a beautiful mansion. It must have had about 15 bedrooms, it was 4 stories, and it had a dungeon and a moat (not sure why but it did). And so when I would “wake up in Naptown” now I was waking up in my own master retreat. I used to put things in drawers and when I would return they were still there!Â
Okay, if I haven’t lost you yet, check this out. After literally years of having these Naptown experiences, I started to enjoy my visits to Naptown. I was leading an entirely different life there. Whenever I was there I had full memory of my life there and everything that had passed during all my previous visits. I started making plans for my future in Naptown. I expanded on my mansion too. I invited certain people that I really liked in Naptown to come live in my mansion and take care of it while I was away. I started visiting Naptown at night too, instead of just during my naps.Â
Did the people in Naptown know about my other life? I told a few of them but they thought I was crazy. So I just kept it to myself and enjoyed my life there. When I’m in Naptown I feel like that is my real life. When I’m here, I feel like this is my real life. But my life here has way more continuity than my life in Naptown.
Some strange and dark things have happened in Naptown too. There is a dark energy that plagues Naptown at night, and everyone pretty much goes home after dark. There is a strange polarity there that I can’t quite explain. I’ve battled minions of this dark energy, and I’ve encountered Him twice but it was a standoff. He is totally intrigued by my presence and I am, frankly, terrified of his power. He keeps trying to get me to join him to rule Naptown. It’s so Darth Vader. My mansion is a magical fortress that he cannot penetrate, though he has tried many times. The people that I entrust with my mansion while I’m away are well trained in astral battle.
So what happened to the old woman who was with me when I first woke up? I recall going back to that dwelling at some point and she told me it was time for her to go. And I said, “Go? But you’ve got to tell me who you are and who I am and why I’m here and well, just everything!” And she smiled wisely and said, “I’m just a Watcher. My assignment was to watch over you until you came back and keep you safe. Now that you’re here and you remember why you’re here, it’s time for me to go.” And I said, “But I don’t know why I’m here and I don’t know what this place is. Tell me!” And she said, “You’re the light to His darkness. Now there is balance. Now there is hope.” She got into a little boat that moved silently through the water. I tried to follow her but I could not. I even took flight (it was a lucid dream after all!) and there was an impenetrable barrier at the edge of the ocean. I couldn’t follow her. But I flew up high enough to discover that Naptown is an island, and I explored every nook and cranny and kept hitting that strange barrier. It kind of felt like Naptown was in a snow globe.
I’ll be honest. I have NO idea what Naptown really is. An alternate reality? A parallel universe? A dream plane? A special spot on the astral plane? A snow globe on God’s shelf? Just the musings of an overactive imagination? I don’t know. But I know that time passes there even when I’m not there.  I know I’ve got a rockin’ mansion in Naptown, some good friends, and some amazing magical swords. I’ve got an amethyst wand that has a treasured place in my mansion because I think that’s somehow involved in bringing me there. I have to say that although it’s a nice place to visit, I wouldn’t want to live there. 
Does anyone else have a special place they’ve visited in their dreams repeatedly? What do you think that is? Is it real? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
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August 9th, 2006 at 4:35 am
Wow, that was interesting!
August 9th, 2006 at 4:36 am
Did you ever see The Truman Show? Very similar. What if you never went back? Do you think that on some level, it is a real world that would suffer without your help? Perhaps it is a preparation for your role in the future of this world? I think this site I’m recommending is a bit over the top in a way, but please check out http://www.infowars.com. All those years of Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, and renaissance faires may have prepped you. Some in this world want us to return to days of old, of Lords and serfs. And thank you for these posts. I find them fascinating, and very in tune with the path I am going in right now. You and Steve are a big help to me.
Ellen
August 9th, 2006 at 4:55 am
Erin,
Great post ! It shows alot of trust to share these experiences with your readers (and I, for one, appreciate it).
Have you ever considered getting a MRI scan to find out if your brain works physically different from other people’s?
I’m not saying this in a “You’re-crazy” sort-of-way but rather as someone who would like to know if there is a physical reason for your Naptown experiences.
I’ve heard that with certain MRI scanners they can image changes in the brain in real-time and it would be interesting to see if Naptown corresponded to a particular part of your brain. Of course you would have to somehow take a nap in the MRI machine which might be a bit challenging.
Just an idea.
Keep up the good work !
D.Wheeler
August 9th, 2006 at 6:34 am
Very interesting Erin.
I enjoyed the way you described how things happened in this “Naptown” of yours. Well, if it is only a figmant of your active imagination then I simply say, make a book on it. Who knows, maybe this is how many of the great fantasy writer’s of our time get ideas for their worlds!
I have had dreams but they are all foggy now. At one point, after seeing too many things while laying awake in bed and very vivid dreams while sleeping, I made the mistake (I think of it as a mistake now) of asking for them to stop. You see, at the time I was still kind of brainwashed by the way that “normal” people view the supernatural. So this stuff kind of terrified me.
Anyway, I started to write a book with a fantasy/sci-fi twist to it that I feel was brokered from my dreams. Magic does exist. We simply lost touch with it. The world that I saw is simply this world but it has shifted significantly. In order for it to feel more tied to our world I had to create a way for the shift to happen more rapidly and in our time.
So, the world that you describe has many of the qualities that I had envisioned for our world’s future. (Please people, don’t take me literally, I’m not a seer, just someone who is growing and has an active imagination.) Anyway, from what I remember seeing in my world (a view of our world in the future) changes that would seem catastrophic but in fact they were much needed events to help right the balance between our race and our environment. I saw our country split in half by a vast ocean. I saw my home (Seattle area) sunken under water. Many changes throughout the globe.
I drafted this up for a rough map that would be placed on the front inside cover of the book. Then something strange happened. About a year or so after I was watching a show (something like Northwest Afternoon, a local talk show) and they had psychics on as guests. I normally didn’t watch shows like this because, although I felt there was something possibly there, I had been told it was against God for people to practice such taboo. But, I had to watch this show. I just sat there and didn’t shut it off until it was done (and I rarely ever watched this program.)
It was all interesting until this one moment where it became shocking. There was an Indian profit on. They asked him what he saw for the future. He began by saying that nature was going to right itself against all of the wrongs done by man to it. Okay, that rang a bell. Then he began to describe what he saw changing in our country. He didn’t really go into the world. He explained how he saw the middle of our country split in two by a vast lake. The Mississippi will be flooded somehow and will no longer run. Okay, it’s not an ocean but close enough. He explained how the coasts would be destroyed and sunken below the seas.
Well, it was interesting to me. I’m sure that most of the people, including the hosts at the time, were horrified by the thought. I was simply intrigued and didn’t really feel any fear about it. The future that I see will have us in a more “magical” world. A world where we truly do have working relationship with the forces of nature. A world where we can truly heal with our minds and our environments. Where all food is grown instead of hunted. (I’m not a vegan so this was something that was new to me.)
Okay, I’ll stop rambling for now. I’m just glad you shared your event with us. I’m just glad I found Steve’s site and thus yours.
Sincerely,
Mike
August 9th, 2006 at 7:38 am
I have considered going to a sleep clinic and having them record me while sleeping becuase I’m pretty sure I could go astral or at least have a lucid dream while there, and I’d love to see how that showed up on their scans.
I could probably sleep in the MRI machine. I once fell asleep at a Michael Jackson concert (back in the 80’s) while in an outdoor stadium in the pouring rain! If I can fall asleep under those conditions, I think I could fall asleep anywhere.
August 9th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Here’s something weird: last week I awoke from a lucid dream in which I was “visiting Erin Pavlina” in her home–only the home was enormous, with way more rooms than I had expected. (Since I’ve never met you and have no idea what your home really looks like, I can’t say I had any particular expectation; however, if I had had an expectation, this house wasn’t it!) There were staircases that went up and down to all these other bedrooms, as well as a huge hallway that sort of looked like a restaurant. I kept thinking in the dream, “I thought she only had 2 kids and a husband. Why is there a full scale restaurant/ballroom in the middle of the house?”
I arrived in the dark and couldn’t see the other homes, and the house was so large I figured it must be on an isolated piece of property. I just stayed on the main “ballroom” floor of the house because “Erin” disappeared downstairs with some other woman who apparently lived there. I wasn’t sure if I was invited or not, or why I’d wound up in this curious house.
In the morning I walked outside and it looked kind of like Candy Land. Everyone’s house looked very colorful and unreal–like a totally alternate universe. The air had that weird, wired feel to it that happens at the beach sometimes when the sun and the sand are “just right.” I don’t know if that means Naptown is any more real or imaginary, but it seemed like an interesting place.
August 9th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
@ Laura
Omg, haha. I have to comment on a strange dream I had lately because it definitely parallels yours. I have to preface this by saying that I’ve never had a lucid dream and hardly ever remember my regular dreams.
When I first discovered Erin’s blog, I plowed through her articles because I was so intrigued. I was also reading Steve’s articles voraciously at that time.
So I fell asleep in a short nap one day and somehow found myself at the Pavlina’s home (haha, sorry for trespassing, Erin!). My first impression was that it wasn’t a normal house. It had a very unconventional design, but it struck me as very home-y, although it was large. The word that comes to mind is “circular” for some reason. The living room, which I believe was circular, (where I popped up) had lots of rooms connected to it. I felt very comfortable and peaceful there. I’m pretty sure it was daytime.
No one seemed to be home, but I wandered around looking for Steve or Erin anyway. I remember peeking into their bathroom that was connected to the living room and thinking that it was quite an unusual bathroom.
After about 5 minutes I saw a figure in the living room and he approached me. “Oh wow, Steve’s home!” I thought, but as I got closer and saw his face, he turned out to be this horrendous dark energy being with a face like Darth Vader or something. Okay, decidedly NOT Steve. This figure terrified me and seemed to be malevolently sucking out my energy. I was paralyzed but screaming inside like my entire body was trying to fight it and escape. It’s hard to describe but it’s the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had, awake or otherwise. I get nightmares like that once in a while.
I woke up right after that. After calming myself down, I shook my head and said to myself “Nahhh… couldn’t have been the Pavlina’s house.” I don’t give much credit to my intuitive abilities because they’re so underdeveloped. And plus, the house was so weird!
I didn’t give it much thought until I read your comment!
It’s quite a coincidence that we both dreamed about going to the Pavlina’s home. We both dreamed of a very unconventional house, although not in the same way. Wow it would have creeped me out if your description matched mine!
@ Erin, thank you so much for answering all the questions regarding the readings! As always, looking forward to your next posts.
August 9th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Well we do have guardians set up in our home to keep unwanted astral travelers out, so I’ll just leave that out there and say you’re lucky you got away with your limbs intact.
Laura, interestingly, my mansion in Naptown does have an area like you are describing, this very large hallway that leads to a ballroom and that is where I throw dinner parties and such. And I’ll add that there are a lot of staircases in the house and plenty of secret rooms and wings.
Anyone else dream about me? Tell me what you dreamed.
August 9th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
@ Jenny, hmmm … that’s quite a nightmare! Sounds like your intuitive abilities are developing.
@ Erin, well, I suppose that “explains” the large hallway and the ballroom and all the staircases. Sorry for trespassing; that’s why I just stayed in the hallway/ballroom area.
Apparently, I was in Naptown for a job interview and had been directed to your home as a place to stayover the night before.
I decided not to take the job, though. The interview turned out to be a thinly vieled MLM scam, in which the organizers were really only interested in having me buy their products, rather than having a sales career with them as advertised. There was a hint of some major corruption, but I just closed the folder. I awoke after reading their “interview packet,” when I realized their not-so-nice intentions.
I wrote down the dream right when I awoke b/c it was similar to something I call “having someone else’s dream.” I sometimes do that for people who don’t remember their dreams, like my mom, for example. Anyway, this was clearly my dream b/c I was in it, but it was definitely not my usual dream universe. Do you “know” the folks with the big MLM scam going on in Naptown? The building was white with light blue trim, and all the employees were kind of skeezy, like a 70’s cult. That would be trippy if you recognized the building! Also, are the houses near the mansion kind of like really dolled up motor homes? They almost looked fancy, but they really weren’t.
August 9th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
I don’t know if a place we visit in a dream is real. But I tend to agree with Rick Strassman, M.D. and late Terence McKenna. Hallucination patterns are easy to recognize. They have been clearly described in medical literature. So if it is not a hallucination and the place is so foreign to us that we cannot even define/describe it clearly, it seems like a reasonable to conclude that we could not have imagined it. Therefore, it could be real.
August 9th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
HI Erin,
I jsut found your blog over the weekend. I’ve had ALOT of things happening for me this past week-a long story I won’t go into here-but every “coincidence” has been EXACTLY what I’ve needed.
Anyway, I loved reading this. It strikes a chord in me, even though I’ve never had that kind of experience.
I’ve only had a couple of lucid dreams in my life, but I do tend to have some prophetic ones more often. Sometimes they are symbolic, some times literal. After 9 yrs of being dormant, Im starting to get back in touch with that part of myself.
I’ve been having dreams about the same person for a few months now. I don’t know who he is, but in my dreams he is my partner and its ‘perfect’. Sometimes the dreams are more strong like memories of events that have yet to happen (if that makes sense). I’ve had a bit of a hard time trying to figure out if they are visions or just an over active imagination trying to cope with my current life situation???? And part of this questioning has lead me to looking up things online, and in turn finding Steves Blog, and then yours.
Thanks for posting this and I look forward to reading more
August 10th, 2006 at 3:43 am
These replies made me remember this…
http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/story.html
Also, please check out The Vision by Tom Brown.
August 10th, 2006 at 7:26 am
I think this is somewhat related. I remember that when I was a kid, I used to keep having dreams about a certain house.
I remember it being a white house. All I have been able to remember about it over the past few years are vague notions of things like where the stairs are located, etc…
Well, my friend Michele and I are both interested in psychic development and stuff like that. She swears that I come to visit here sometimes and, honestly, I don’t remember anything about it. But I’ll email you off-line about that sometime.
As far as this house is concerned, Michele did a meditation one night and gave herself the intention of seeing if we were connected by a past life, or if it’s a concoction of the mind.
She had an interesting vision/remembrance, in which she got the notion that I was living out a certain life as an autistic girl named Emily, in what would have been some sort of civil war era, or maybe post-civil war house. as she started describing house, I got the notion that it might be the house that I dreamed about as a kid. I’m not certain though. How can I find out about the house I used to dream about? Would self-hypnosis work?
I love this stuff!
Bill Perry
August 10th, 2006 at 11:20 am
I had my first lucid dream when I was about seven or eight, very much like that one. In the dream, I had a magic wand which I used to shoot energy from. The wand had no purpose except to remind me that I was, in fact, dreaming. Eventually, I developed the ability to channel energy through my fingers (In the dreams), and I didn’t need the wand anymore. This became my reality check; I would stick my fingers out and move energy through them, then I would become lucid.
I even did this a few times while I was awake, but hey, I was seven years old.
August 10th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
I had to read a little about lucid dreams to really understand what everyone was talking about. I have had quite a few lucid dreams in my life (only when I would take an afternoon nap.) The problem for me is that they have stopped (probably because I no longer take afternoon naps) and I cannot really remember them.
However, there is one that I remember from my childhood. I was only 4 (or early 5 because I remember being in pre-school in Arkansas and this took place in Seattle) and I was at my aunts house. All of my cousins were gone so I was left to play in the yard by myself. I remember running around with all of the energy I could ever dream of but then out of the blue I felt the need to lay down.
I sat down in one of her lawn chairs and dosed off. The dream came pretty quickly. However, it was not in another world (well, maybe that isn’t quite right because it was indoors so who knows.) I remember entering into a white room where everything was white (I didn’t know what marble was then but I would say that much of the rooms counters and such were marble.) There was one counter in particular that drew my attention. Probably because there was a man sitting on it dressed in a white suit (I honestly cannot remember really ever seeing anyone up to this point in my young life in a white suit.) He was looking at me and smiling. He said hello such and such, I’ve been waiting to talk to you. The such and such was not my name but something else quite elaborate. I can’t recall it so I’ll leave it at that. We’re talking 30 plus years ago! LOL
All I remember saying to him was hi. He just told me that I am going to be an important person and that there was going to be a big test.
That is all that I remember. He said some others things to me that ended up scaring me. At the age of 4 (or 5 hehe) I guess it was just a little too much for me to comprehend.
Okay, maybe it was just a weird dream but when I think back on it I am just amazed at how it just doesn’t seem like something a very young kid would come up with (and I’m amazed that it is the only lucid dream that really sticks out and it seems to be the first one I ever had.)
I’m starting to meditate now with the hopes of recapturing the memories of my other dreams. However, this practice also provided me with some very startling results the first time I really tried it. Is this the place to share? I’ll try to keep it brief since it may be related in a way.
I tried to meditate for the first time about 4 months ago. Maybe I took on a bit more than I should have at the time. I did read that I should start out with a less aggressive approach first but I find that I believe I can always do more than I am supposed to at a certain point. So, I focused on my breathing and began summoning up my inner self (soul). I moved it upward from my lower chakras to the point where I focused it within my mind. This is when things got a little strange for me and caused a pretty severe break in the meditation.
First there was a sensation of expansion. At first it was slow and tingly. Then, as if I took off in a jet, I felt like I was expanding to immense proportion. Shortly after this there was a pretty bright oval light that seemed to hit me right in the eyes (that were shut) and that pretty much did it for me. My heart started racing and I was jerked out of my meditation.
The one thing that I do remember is the total feeling of peace and serenity that I felt afterward (along with a major rush of energy that I found out later might have been from me not resettling the energy evenly back within my chakra points.)
Thought I was share that and my dream. I’m just excited that I have found this site and people that can share freely what they are experiencing.
Mike
August 10th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Hi Erin et al
I really enjoyed reading about your experiences in Naptown. I, like some others, have returned to certain places in my dreams, and definitely asked myself to think hard - “Haven’t a I been here before? Gee, that person is familiar, have they grown up a little?”
Reading your experiences suggested that my initial memory of those places wasn’t false.
One thing I have always found though, is that I always have far more lucid dreams when I nap during the day than when I sleep at night. Not sure why that is, or if anyone else out there can explain that. I’ve also experienced my most terrifying dreams during the day too. I always try to white light myself before I nap to avoid this, but recently I had such a terrifying experience that I couldn’t even compare it to anything else.
It’s funny though, cos afterwards, I wake and the fear is so fleeting. I feel like I am strong enough to deal with it, or like I will always be more powerful than that fear.
Anthony
August 11th, 2006 at 7:39 am
So it is *you* who has been killing my minions! Your attempts to save your magic castle have been impressive. Most impressive. The old woman has taught you well. You have controlled your fear. Now, release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me. *evil laugh* Erin, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy. Hugs and kisses, Him.
August 11th, 2006 at 7:42 am
@Him: I’ll NEVER join you! Wait, where’s my hand?
ROFL… thanks for the chuckle, Him. See you on the other side of midnight.
August 12th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
Weird. A few weeks ago, I dreamed I was going to buy the same “circular” style house, and I can distinctly remember a young blonde woman (who was married) showing the house to me, (obviously not Erin, being blonde, right?), and the ballroom really stands out. That and the many staircases. There was a piano there, which I, being a pianist, thought was wayyyyy cool. I mean, a ballroom type hall with a piano to play?? Wow. I was definitely going to buy this house, but then I realized that I was actually “haunting” it, in a sense, and that the people there could see me and sense me, but that I wasn’t actually supposed to be there. I sure didn’t realize it was Erin’s house, though, until I read this post and the comments!! Hope I didn’t scare anybody too badly. Tee hee. Crystal
August 14th, 2006 at 1:24 am
Hi Erin,
This is so very interesting.
When I was young, I used to dream in series. Each night, I would pick up where I left off the previous night and each dream would be interesting and exciting. It got to the point where I couldn’t wait to go to sleep because I so wanted to see what was going to happen. I loved every second of it–the good and the bad, and always seemed to awaken refreshed. So, I wanted to ask you if you are tired after lucid dreaming, or do you feel rested?
I have come to realize over the years that one of the most important aspects of dreams is the way in which we interpret them. Sometimes, our own interpretation of a dream can show us more about ourselves and where we are–or need to go–than anything else. In considering your dream, the thing that stood out more than anything else was the statement, “you are the light to his darkness.” Is this not one of the purposes of your life? Maybe the purpose? To be the light to the darkness, maybe within individuals and maybe also in general?
I’m struck by the term light–light is something that can guide us, can show us the way in darkness. It contains all colors–I could just go on and on.
Anyway, I think the most important thing is what the dreams mean to you.
And what fun!
Best,
Joanna
August 29th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
I call mine “The Dreamscape.” I always begin in this cute, secure, but totally haunted and scary, cottage. It’s made of dark wood and stone with gables and a high slanting roof and was full of old dolls, musty white dresses and victorian antiques. I think there is a gurgling little stream running beside it. I remember having to take all of these secret passages to get outside. Sometimes I have to lead my “little dream sisters” out or go inside to rescue them before they turn into rabbits. Once I had to defend the cottage from ghosts trying to turn the place into anti-matter.
Outside was an enormous grave yard with a misty, stinky swamp on both sides. Certain graves are covered with hot lava or quicksand. In some of the larger monuments, I can hear moaning, as if someone was being tourtured. In other monuments, ghosts will be having orgies. There are places where the monuments give way to birch trees. I think there are women trapped in the trees. Some of the trees have bulges as if they are pregnant. I don’t know what happens to the children they have. There’s an old woman who takes care of the trees. She’s kind and wise, but doesn’t like men very much. I think she turns them into cats or owls for something they’ve done, but I don’t know what.
I often lead some very mundane people through the graveyard and through the wooded areas. They never seem to see the scary/strange parts. They only remark on the amazing “history” of the area. I have no idea what that history is, but I think it has something to do with a Civil War battle. I think some of the mundane people I lead are Confederate soldiers because they wear gray wool jackets with large brass buttons.
If I can get through the graveyard/woods, there’s an almost deserted amusement park on the otherside. In the front of the amusement park there’s some sort of museum. The museum is the safest place in the whole dreamscape. It seems to be the only place where non-magical things happen. The amusement park has some really great rides. I haven’t explored the whole thing because it doesn’t seem safe after 6pm. I have to retreat to the museum for sanctuary.
Not very lucid. But certainly repetitive.
September 27th, 2006 at 7:32 am
Oh man, I looove your blog Erin! =)
Thought I would share some of my lucid dream experience with you. =)
I found out about out of body experiences and lucid dreaming when i went to a barnes and noble, and found “Out of body adventures” by Richard Stack. I read the book in one sitting, and had my first experience that very night. Basically, he made it sound so fun that my enthusiasm was thru the roof– and i had no resistance to the idea, so it did not take much for me to first have a lucid dream, and then to go out of body from there.
I would always be very conscious of the entire thing. As my body went to sleep, i would keep my mind awake by offering coherant thoughts– even tho my thoughts would drift into a sort of dream state, i would keep them feeling continuous from the reality i was used to on earth. Since it was my first time ever trying it, I was sort of in and out of consciousness, but started to have a dream. I was in a car with a friend, and like nap town– they had no idea of who i was, other than what i was in my dream. So when I explained it to them, they would just look at me like they were puzzled– but once i finished explaining, I would go thru a sort of vortex– which looked like flashing blue and white static in outer space… if that makes sense. I would hear a sound similar to a transistor radio which is on a channel without a full signal– and I would begin to pick up voices “around me”– conversations and what not. And then, bam, I am floating above my bed and everything is glowing. lol
At the suggestion of the author, I decided to keep it short so I would remember it. I moved around the room clumsilly, and ended up getting “stuck” between the floor and the ceiling above me– so I sort of laughed it off, and decided i wanted to wake up then, and I did right away. It was really a lot of fun.
In the weeks ahead, I had more lucid dreams, but when i tried to go out of body, I noticed I would find myself laying in bed, paralyzed from the neck down. As if my body was sleeping, but my mind was awake. This is the state you are in when you are sleeping– it so your body doesnt move when you dream. Everyone’s body does that. But, it was certainly an odd sensation to be consciously awake during it. So I would sort of just hang out till my body got awake–seemed like around 5-10 minutes. I’d feel a weird tingle, some frequency noises, and i would be fully awake.
But here is the kicker.. when I was younger, I would have seizures. Not out of the blue– but upon awakening. And it always started with that feeling, with my body feeling paralyzed, upon awakening. So when this happened for the OBE’s, it scared me a little bit.
So as I continued to try and go out of body, and have lucid dreams– I would find myself in a similar state– but now as I laid in my bed, waiting for my body to wake up, I would hear someone in my room walking around.
Now, I used to have a lot of friends would would just walk in without knocking, and watch tv, or play games till I woke up, so I didn’t think much of it at first. But then this entity started to go thru my things– something i know none of my friends or family would do. And since i was fully awake, i started to get angry that someone was going thru my stuff without my permission. Not just common areas– really digging thru all of my stuff, as if they were looking for something. But the angrier I got, the more prominant it became. And it would respond directly to my fears.
So I would want it to go away, and it would come closer. Because i was more or less resisting him, not releasing him. And then I thought, “fine, do whatever you want, but just stay away from me”, and as soon as i thought that he came over to me– moving closer, as if reacting to my level of fear, stood within inches of me, and I could feel its energy very closely, and feel a sort of breathing over me. So at that point, I sort of freaked out, and even tho i was paralyzed, with all of the determination I could muster, I willed my body to move– because at the time, I thought it was a real, physical person. But I used so much force in getting my body to spring out of bed, that i popped right up, and pulled a muscle in my chest pretty bad, and went charging towards where i thought he was, only to find noone was in my room, noone was in my house, and the doors were locked.
I did confirm with everyone i knew to make sure they didnt come in my room– but i was sure any way that this was some sort of manifestation of some fear.
It wasn’t until a few years later, when Erin did a reading for me– my guides told her that the reason i wasn’t letting in the abundance I was looking for was because of control. And then things really started to click.
As Abraham says, life is full of variety– like a well stocked kitchen. And we put what we want in “our pie” by giving our attention to it. But instead of ignoring it, laughing at it, making fun of it– I tried to get this entity throne out of the kitchen! And that is some real resistance right there. And with that much attention focused towards it, and that much resistance, of course it only made this entity a more prominant visitor in my pie.
So, I think the key with that guy, and the evil guys in Erin’s lucid dreams is not to stand up to them and fight them. I think the key is to feel good in spite of them. To laugh at them, ignore them, make fun of them– and know they have no power over you.
Kind of reminds me of the ninja turtles, or any of those 80s chartoons, where the bad guys were just scrubs, and could never really cause any harm. And in the first episode when you saw them, they posed somewhat of a threat– but later become the focus of comic relief.
Now that those entities are created, they are created. All we can do from there is change our perspective, and not put it in our pie by giving our attention to them– especially in a resistant sort of way. =)
We’ll see how that works out… haha
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:24 pm
[...] Originally Posted by Mark Lapierre The difference between the dream world and the real world is that the real world is consistent. Erin and I both experience persistent dream worlds that we can visit again and again. Time even seems to pass when we haven’t been there in a while. For details see Erin’s post on Naptown: Erin Pavlina - Spiritual Wisdom for Conscious People » Blog Archive » Welcome to Naptown __________________ Steve Pavlina Personal Development for Smart People http://www.StevePavlina.com [...]
January 24th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
[...] You’ll want to read my blog entry called Naptown: Welcome to Naptown __________________ Erin Pavlina Psychic Medium, Author, Speaker, Blogger, Wife to Steve Pavlina "Erin’s reading was unbelievably insightful. In just 20 minutes she helped me sort through 4 major areas of my life that I’ve been struggling with in therapy for more than 8 years! I was stunned. I’m truly amazed at her abilities, and I am so thankful I found her when I did." - Jeanette in Tulsa, OK [...]
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[...] In order to see where Erin’s exciting journey leads her, you’ll want to go to her personal blog, http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog. My favorite stories by Erin are Welcome to Naptown, Fighting Supreme Evil , and When Life Appears to Be Against You. I would love to hear your favorites as well. [...]
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 am
[...] of my best lucid dreams happen during naps. Welcome to Naptown __________________ Erin Pavlina, Psychic Medium Book a reading | Readings FAQ | Testimonials [...]
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