The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

Old Shalon is a Dreamwalker

"Okay," he nodded, and rolled out a sheepskin on the ground, and on the other side of the fire, another. And top of both, he laid two thick sleeping bags. "I'm sorry, it's not the most luxurious bed."

"Don't worry, I interrupted, "I've had worse."

"Alright," he said.

When we'd gotten cozy, me on one side of the fire, him on the other, Blue Jay began. "The first thing we want to do is choose the item in your bag that will wake you up."

I was clutching the bag in my hand and fingered the objects inside. This moment seemed to be so heavy--I felt like I had to make the right decision. 

After some thought, I chose the driftwood eye—first of all, it was an eye—so it symbolized opening my eyes. Second, it was wood, which is what books are made of, so it connected me to my favourite earthly, waking pursuit: Reading. 

"Okay, I've chosen," I told him.

"Perfect," he responded. "So next you choose a dream—what do you want to dream about tonight?"

"Really, I can choose?"

Blue Jay chuckled, "Yes, of course—you haven't figured that out yet?"

I frowned, looking up at the stars. The sky was clear and the moon had already set, so the milky way was bright above me, like a banner across the sky. "Well," I started, "I guess in the beginning, when I first started having lucid dreams, when I was taking Lucid, I felt a lot of control over my dreams, but I never consciously decided what to dream about before I went to bed. I always decided inside the dream." I sighed. "And then lately, the dreams I have—I don't remember much if anything, but I do recall a sense of helplessness as if the dream is happening to me."

Blue Jay turned onto his side to look at me. "Well, that's not the kind of dream you're going to have tonight, right?" he said with an authoritative air.

I looked at his face in the firelight—"Right," I nodded. I gulped, feeling scared. 

He nodded back. "You're going to have a simple dream—a fun dream and then, when you're ready, you'll pull out that special item from your pouch and wake yourself up. That's the whole goal of tonight. Okay?"

I felt a great sense of relief, and swallowed a wave of emotion. "Okay," I said when I could talk. "That sounds good."

"So now, relax and think about what you want to dream about."

"Haha!" I laughed, as an idea came to me. 

"What?" he asked.

"The first thought that came to mind was food—like a great feast!"

"That's a great idea," he laughed. "A big pig-out. Perfect."

I sighed, feeling excited and snuggled in my sleeping bag.

"So now, close your eyes, and let's go through a relaxation exercise."

I closed my eyes and relaxed my body as Blue Jay instructed, starting with my toes and then all the way up my body to my eyebrows. I was surprised to know how tense my body was, even my forehead. 

When I'd relaxed everything, Blue Jay said, "Now, just think about your dream and all the wonderful food you're going to eat, and how, when you're full and finished with your meal, you'll wake yourself up. You'll take that item from your bag and say, "Now I want to wake up."

"Okay," I whispered, for I was feeling quite sleepy.

"Now, whenever you're read, you can feel free to fall asleep. You're going to have a lovely dream full of your favourite foods. A dream where you feel safe and secure at all times. A dream where you are in complete control of everything that happens. And when you're ready and finished with the dream, you'll wake yourself up..." At some point while Blue Jay was repeating this over and over, I fell asleep and had the following dream: