Dreams versus meditation

[Lucid]

Meditation is something I have trouble doing .I was in a coven briefly , I won't say it was a "bad" coven , but it was not for me . The hps ridiculed my form of meditaion so much that now when I try it I hear her words ( I used candles in meditation). But I do fairly well at throwing out a question before bedtime and getting the answer in a dream . Sometimes I do not ask but get a profound dream. I was curious if anyone else does this . So far I have gotten an animal ( not sure if its a spirit guide or totem animal or both ) my secret name , and some very powerfull dreams about a certain stone .

[Mnemosyne]

Sorry to hear about your past experience. No one should make fun of you. We are all unique individuals, so no one has the right to say that you are doing things the "right" way.

I don't use your techniques. My dreams vary from night to night. My dreams are usually more deep if I have an intense day. I think that you might get more answers in dreams instead of meditation since you are at a different state of (un)consciousness.

[Flar's Freyja]

I used your technique just last night! I'm looking for ways to motivate myself and asked for a dream. I did get a dream which doesn't seem to be very connected to what I asked. It's been bothering me all day and I know that I at least got part of the answer.

I think that when we get dreams without specifically asking a question, those dreams are still an answer to a question that we have in the back of our minds.

I don't look at dreams as a way to predict the future, although I do believe that there are specific premonitory dreams. I see them more as a tool to figure out where I am and where I should be going, and that's the same way I use runes and tarot.

[Lunacie]

Hi, I took part in a similar discussion on another site a while back. I too have trouble simply sitting and meditating. What I have found works for me is to focus on a question or a problem and then turn it over to the little man who's in charge of the file room in the back of my brain. Then while I am doing something rather mind-numbing like washing dishes by hand or mowing the yard, the little man gets busy and all kinds of ideas come to me. It's like I have to distract the physical me before the psychic me can cut loose.

[Flar's Freyja]

Originally posted by Lunacie

Hi, I took part in a similar discussion on another site a while back. I too have trouble simply sitting and meditating. What I have found works for me is to focus on a question or a problem and then turn it over to the little man who's in charge of the file room in the back of my brain. Then while I am doing something rather mind-numbing like washing dishes by hand or mowing the yard, the little man gets busy and all kinds of ideas come to me. It's like I have to distract the physical me before the psychic me can cut loose.

I love the way you put that! That's similar to the way I feel about prayer and magick - I put the request out there and the little eneriges in the universe get busy to make it happen :) When I get stressed I have a little phrase that I repeat to myself, "I worked a spell, now all is well." Oh, wait - that's for Magick and Rituals ;)

[Xeen]

I see aboslutly nothing wrong with using candles for meditation. I I believe that it can actually help a lot of people focus. Me, I've got an uber hard time focusing on anything, but that's just 'cause I'm human.

As for focusing on meditation, try it with a friend. I've only had one 'successful' meditation session, with the aid of a very experienced friend. And try it in the forest. That's all the advice I can really give there.

Anywaste, I've tried asking questions and requesting things in dreams. It's never worked, which is rather depressing. I've even asked for nightmares (yes, I'm sick and wrong...). But it never works.

[Derry]

It took me a long time to learn how to meditate so that I benefited from it. I had to truly let go and let the higher conscious (sp?) take over. It's a form of altered state. I too use candles when I meditate so phooey on what that hps of the coven told you. Each person does it differently. The first time I truly reached an altered state, the phone rang and I literally was thrown back into my body!!! It actually hurt. Now I turn off the ringer. I have meditated before going to bed for either peace or a possible answer. A few times I have dreamed about the outcome of something, other times I just slept more peacefully than normal and found peace and calmness the next day.

[KaliGiri5]

For me..
meditation is to clear the mind...not for answers to anything.
I visualize nothingness..
I block out everything..

dreams on the other hand..
I'll focus on a problem before I sleep..
over & over and set my clock 1 hour earlier..
when I wake up,
I write everything down

[Flar's Freyja]

and I wasn't even asking........I had a very vivid dream last night about a situation with some clients and I'd be willing to bet I was talking out loud in my sleep when I was talking on the phone to one of them in the dream. A solution came from one of the children - not surprising, because she's a wise little seven year old - and it's a logical, feasible plan (although I'm going to have to get up very early!) that just might make everyone happy :bigredgri