r/castaneda

Last night after doing womb dreaming I went to bed. I wasn’t fully asleep yet — I was still in that in-between state — when I noticed a blue energy surrounding me. Then I realized my hand was in a position that wasn’t how it actually was in real life. I was lying on my left side, but in that moment it felt like I was lying flat on my back.

After that I started flying, went through the ceiling and reached a starry sky. I got scared so I came back to my bed, but once I let go of the fear I flew up again and was back in the starry sky. This time when I returned I could see myself lying on the bed while I was also floating near the ceiling, looking down at myself.

I decided to try waking my sister while in that state. Right then I saw a hand stretch out from inside my body toward the right side and it touched my sister, but I couldn’t wake her up.

When I was floating in the air I could see the whole room really clearly, exactly as it was in real life, though it somehow looked bigger.

So at the same time I was floating up in the air, lying on my bed, and seeing that hand.

What does this mean? What exactly did I do?

What was that hand? And how was I both on the bed and floating in the air at the same time?

I am a woman, and based on what I've read here and in books, I can experience the magic of womb dreaming with 'Dreaming Yo' (or Yoo Dreaming). Did I understand correctly?

I usually practice womb dreaming, and when I sleep, I sometimes have experiences. For example, recently, after womb dreaming, I dreamed that I was in a house that has a basement. I found a way through that basement and through nested/intertwined tunnels to access the lower sections of the house, where there are various floors. On each floor, it is full of different tools and objects that I can use to perform magic with and transform into other things. Was this dream part of reality, and did I truly experience it?

Also, once I had an experience where I was in a sleep-wake state—meaning I was conscious/aware. I saw my double come and press the index finger of their right hand onto my left forearm. In that spot, the double's fingerprint remained and was glowing white and luminous. Startled by this, I became completely awake. What do you think the message was for me, and what does this even mean?

When I was about 15 or 16, I had a dream where I was standing next to a building; there was a party going on at the top, and my teacher was standing in front of me—dressed in black with a pointed hat. Everything about him was elongated; everything was longer than it would be on a normal human.
He was my vampire teacher, and I was his apprentice facing a final test: to go to the party and drink blood for the first time.
I started toward the building, but he stopped me; I realized then that I simply needed to fly. I did so, and then I woke up.
In reality, I got out of bed and went to the bathroom, where I saw in the mirror that something had bitten my nipple. There were two puncture marks, spaced in such a way that they fit perfectly around the circle of the nipple.
I showed that wound to my mom; she said it was from a mosquito, but she was surprised the holes were so big.

Twelve years later, I had a dream one afternoon in which I saw a woman on a mattress. Her back was turned to me, and she had very long black hair; everything about her was elongated. I stood there observing the empty white room—containing only the mattress and the naked woman—and I experienced two conflicting feelings. One was something akin to sexual desire, though I wasn't truly attracted to her—even though part of my body was being drawn toward her. The other feeling was a sense of total alarm, telling me to flee the place immediately.

Not knowing what to do, I simply stood there, motionless. At that moment, the doorbell rang.
I woke up; since it was daytime, I went to the door, but there was no one there. Late that same night—around 11:30 PM—my mobile phone rang; it was an old colleague calling, one who hadn't yet visited my new house.
He sounded drunk on the phone, though not quite drunk—more like he was exhausted, as if half-asleep. He immediately told me that a man had been appearing in his dreams for quite some time, telling him all sorts of things. This man had said he would visit a certain friend of the colleague's to give him a specific dream; if that friend dreamed it all the way through, he would continue to dream it for the next six months. My colleague then told me that *I* was that friend and that I had only two options: either stay awake all night or go to sleep without dreaming.

I wasn't entirely convinced by what he was saying; I wanted to know more about that man from the dream. He told me the man spoke to him about mosquitoes and claimed he could now pinpoint the man's location. I was sitting in my room, staring at a Janis Joplin poster, and I said to him—skeptically—"Tell me where he is now." He started rattling off some coordinates, and just as I was thinking he’d lost his mind, he suddenly said, "I found him—I see Janis Joplin."
Whoa—I thought, *fuck*—I’m looking at a poster of her, and he doesn't even know I have one on my wall. I asked him to describe what the man from the dream looked like; he said everything about him seemed somehow longer than on other people. That’s when I remembered my dream about the woman, so I told him I was going to the kitchen to call him on the landline.
When I called him and tried to find out more about this strange man, I felt like someone was watching me from outside, through the window on my right. It was an unsettling feeling, so I asked my colleague on the phone if he could tell me where the man was now. He started rattling off coordinates again and said, "He’s right there at your window, on the right side."
"Okay," I told him, "tell that guest who visits your dreams that he stands no chance with me. I have my own helpers, and I’m going to sleep now—just like every day—and I’ll dream, because he can’t do a thing to me." I thanked him and went to sleep as if nothing had happened.


That night, I had a very vivid dream—as real as waking life, perhaps even more so. The dream took place in the house where I lived; I was walking down the stairs toward the hallway, fastening a bracelet with silver studs onto my right hand as I went. I knew that hundreds upon hundreds of vampires were waiting outside the door, just waiting to drain me dry and tear me apart. Suddenly, a comical thought crossed my mind—that silver doesn't actually work against vampires—yet something within me felt incredibly strong and ready to fight that horde. I stood before the door, ready to open it, when the doorbell rang; I wondered if it was ringing in reality or here in the dream, and whether I should open the door. I woke up knowing no one was at the door, so I turned over and went back to sleep. I didn't dream that night—or rather, I didn't remember the dream, the vampires, or anything else; I hadn't dreamt in half a year.

I have a question about the seventh movement of a particular Magical Pass. The instructions say that while performing this movement, the practitioner should keep their eyes focused on the movements of their hands. Several other passes contain similar instructions.

However, during darkroom practice, we are required to wear a blindfold, which makes it impossible to see the movements of our hands. These two instructions therefore seem to conflict with each other.

What is the correct way to practice in this situation? While wearing the blindfold, should we simply direct our attention toward the movements of our hands and imagine that we are watching them? Or should we temporarily remove the blindfold so that we can perform the movement according to its original instructions?

If anyone understands this point or has received relevant instruction, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share the correct approach. Thank you!

https://preview.redd.it/kzayo5sjlqjh1.png?width=1204&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4a3471c00d3e1497a6c6afb4859525f9361fe13

Hello! I'm new here.

For clarity, I'll use "Dream" (capital D) for The Art of Dreaming practices and "dream" (lowercase d) for regular dreams. English isn't my first language, so there will probably be some errors or unclear parts, let me know so I can clarify if needed!

So, I'm a man and new to Castaneda's work. I've been practicing for about 8 months. Most of this time, I've been practicing not-doings and gazing, such as "the right way of walking"(since I have to walk anyway, why not use it as practice?), gazing at shadows and the sun, and contemplating the distance. My intent is to fill my entire day with practice to achieve inner silence.

During this time, I've had 4 Dreams. They were very short (less than a minute each) and set in places near my house.

The first one was a normal dream until I became sober and remembered to "look at my hands." I did, but I forgot the next step and just stared at my hands until I woke up.

A month later, I had my second and third Dreams back-to-back. In the second one, I was sober right away and proceeded to look at my hands and then at other objects. This was very difficult because everything looked as if I were looking through a kaleidoscope. I kept doing the exercise until I got fascinated by a detail on a pipe, at which point everything turned to noise and I woke up.

I closed my eyes again and immediately entered another Dream. At first, I wasn't sober; two figures were talking to me and laughing. I had the impression they would attack me as soon as I became sober. When I did become sober, the closest figure grabbed me by the neck, and I woke up for good. This was 2 months ago.

Then, 2 days ago, I was practicing darkroom (I'm new to dark room, just 4 days of pratice). I saw the purple puffs and went to bed. I had a regular dream and woke up in the morning, had breakfast, and went back to bed. This time, I had the most unique Dream so far. I was conscious but had my eyes closed and couldn't move. I remembered a tip to intent rolling out, so I did, and I stood up in a very unnatural way, like a puppet on strings. I couldn't see anything, as if my eyes were still closed. I tried to open them and instantly snapped back to bed, with my eyes still closed. I repeated this process 5 times until my tonal woke up.

Last night I was doing open-eye womb dreaming in a dark room and I saw a black puff that was moving around. Inside that black puff a face started forming.

Then I saw a green puff that kept moving back and forth. At first I ignored it, but it kept moving from left to right right in front of my face, and I also saw a face inside that one.

My main question is about the black puff. What are these puffs?

How should I deal with the black one? What should I do when I see them?

Hi everyone, I recently stumbled upon your supreddit and am very impressed with what you do. I have a question: does everything you describe really happen in reality and in a sober mind, and are your visions not just hypnogothic images? I say this because I sometimes have hypnogothic visions during sleep, for example, a landscape quickly appears and then disappears, or are your visions more persistent? It's just that what you're describing sounds very fantastical and hard to believe. Has anyone else received any confirmation that the results you're getting aren't just fantasies, but something truly real? I apologize if my questions are too stupid.

This is a quote from ”Stalking With The Double” (page 338) that stood out to me while looking up something unrelated, about the relationship between shimmer and gazing. I brought it up to other practitioners in chat, and one of them created the image to go with it. It was suggested that they be shared here:

https://preview.redd.it/hcorefnm0zih1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f5cc2f0e9a85d8b8edadf0bb01842103caf2ce72

‘Dreaming and gazing go hand in hand,’ Zuleica began. ‘You already caught on to that when you gazed at the ripples in the pond. Now let the sound of the water take you. That’s how you start. You find something in the world that shimmers or has a glow to it and you gaze at it. Then you find a sound, like rain, water from a stream, even the noise of the city will do, and you follow the sounds. Then you transfer it into your dreams by gazing in your dreams or hearing that sound in your sleep.’

When I managed to stop my internal dialogue for a few minutes, I clearly felt a very intense energy around me that was spinning. It was so strong that I became dizzy and closed my eyes. While my eyes were closed, I could no longer tell how I was sitting or what clothes I was wearing. I felt completely merged with that energy, and at times I even felt like I had no physical body.

I don’t know what I experienced or what that energy was. Can anyone guide me about this experience?

Is it possible that it was my double (dreaming body)?

I have been doing the dark room practice and dreaming with the womb for a while now. For about two months, I keep seeing a very large dog in my dreams. This dog takes on a different color each time. Sometimes it's a mutt/street dog, and sometimes it's a purebred, but it is always big. I am always scared of it at first, but then somehow it manages to come close to me. Sometimes it plays with me and comes onto my bed, and sometimes it just looks at me.

In my most recent encounter, it came and stood over my head. I was sitting on the floor, and it placed its teeth on my neck, but it didn't hurt me at all, and it wasn't even pressing its teeth down at all.

Is this a type of scout? Or is it an ally? How can I tell if it has become my ally?

I was going through the posts, and I am really amazed by details people provide here.. But I have to ask - what is the end goal of these methods?

To be a better husband/father/friend? To have a better relationship with suffering? To be at peace?

Hi,

First, let me talk about my own experience. Since childhood, the double has always been with me. In my teenage years, when I was living with my aunt, who had the ability to see certain things, she saw me several times sitting next to myself, but my clothes were different, or I was thinner, and I smiled at her. She was scared at the time because we didn't know what that was.

But now I know that it was my energy body. Also, the double has saved me several times. Once, when I was crossing the street, a car ran over my foot, but nothing happened, and I didn't feel any pain. Another time, I was falling down the stairs of a commercial complex when it grabbed me from behind and held me. I quickly turned around, and there was no one there; I just felt a force holding me. Until I read the books and got acquainted with Carlos, I didn't know I had an active double. When I read the books, my energy body became intensely activated. When it was activated, I could see with my eyes closed, and I could involuntarily move my hands, which were actually the double's hands. Many times, when I was on the verge of sleep, I saw that it communicated with me and sat next to me. Whenever I ask it to switch, and of course, provided that I have done mental silence and the passes beforehand, I can have lucid dreaming where I am conscious. Then, suddenly, it's as if the double switches places with me in the real world, but I experience sleep paralysis and I can't move at all, and my body locks up.

I wanted to know what this means, why my double is already active, and how can I use this situation to improve in my practices?

For those committed to Castaneda's teachings: how have you felt, and could you give me any advice on how to eliminate it?

I have a question, I don't know if it has already been asked here. And probably addressed to "danl99" as you are the most experienced here and practice darkroom regularly and for a long time. How do you feel during the day when you regularly practice darkroom for 2-3 hours at night. are you tired during the day? or when the assemblage point moves, you are rested even though you are awake for 3 hours during the night. I think that it was also said in the books that when the assemblage point moves, the person is basically asleep, at least it appears that way or something to that effect. But I would be interested in how it is practically, how you feel during the day, those of you who regularly practice darkroom at night.

Thanks for answering