Is there a functional integration between what is called "day residue" which contributes to the content and quality of our dreams from areas of the brain more active during REM sleep vs being fully awake? The brain is an incredible organ that creates movies/dreams, even insinuating characters whom we have never met into that movie . This may explain why faces of people in our dreams are not always noticed. It could be argued these "faces" are ghosts in a sense from personal encounters we've had in the past... or even an eternalism example such as "past perfect continuous?!!!" (The past perfect continuous indicates something that began in the past, continued in the past and also ended at a defined point in the past rather than continuing up to the present). Then again, could it be something altogether different? I'm referring to nightmares and the possibility of an associated link to negative influences from "the other side."
The following is a question-and-answer interview I had with my friend Omolkhua, the Cajun Medicine Man originally from the Chitimacha nation which locates in what is now the U.S. state of Louisiana. The conversation focused on trapping unwanted spirits in the home.
MOONJOEY: yá’át’ééh
OMOLKHUA: yá’át’ééh. It's a very interesting world. To give you an example, like you said you are doing research on the dream world and how it affects people, the folks that I am dealing with have suffered some kind of events that has left them shaken to the core. Just thinking about closing their eyes terrifies them as the possibility of nightmares that they wake up and go back into is continuous, so much that they refuse to go back to sleep so they can stop them. Western medicines have not worked. And such a simple thing is put into practice, the same practice that to my understanding the Tibetans use this same type of medicine to allow the spirits to be trapped in water and expelled. I had no idea that they too had the same practice as the one I knew about.
MOONJOEY: trapped in water... fascinating.
OMOLKHUA: When a child has nightmares, has very little concept of that world, only knowing mom and dad and they know bad dreams, that even those that are too young to speak, you can actually stop them and allow them to rest. Those people who have suffered trauma and they endure the continuous nightmares non-stop, use this medicine that I suggest. These other folks I am dealing with, they are professionals, and they deal in their own world, the dreams that haunt them are ones they have no escape from. The only escape they have is during the day but when the night comes, they are trying to understand what it means. They say nothing has worked to help them. I shared my medicine with those who are really struggling, fighting to survive in their own world. I suggested this: 3 glasses of water, the style of cup does not matter, filled 2/3 full, place them under your bed and you go to sleep. When they wake in the morning, the water must be discarded away from their home.
Upon my next day after giving this advice in this particular instance, as I was walking toward the facility to attend a ceremony, from across the yard under a tree they yelled out "no more nightmares!" Why did they try this method? They were at the point of being desperate for relief, for something to occur to help them. I also explained to them what the method means.
MOONJOEY: can you describe in your ceremony what you say and/or do to help others having the bad dreams?
I am very careful how I word a question or a statement because some folks are so fragile that they will go into their world, as dark as it is, in an instant. So, I warn them, stay with me. I walk around the room as a father expecting his child to arrive in this world. I walk in a circle in the direction where the sun rises and sets. This is a ceremonial walk. Everything that I do is part of the ceremony. There are some nations in attendance in the room that have their own medicine. I'm only sharing mine because that's all I know. I might know a tradition from another nation, and I bring that forward.
Dreams, even to the most intellectual, the professionals, to those that have learned even the most basic chemical set of the body and how it works, the processes, to the psychiatrist that tries to intellectually identify their personal journey through the methods they have learned about how the human brain works, I tell them "you might be able to do that, I do not have that knowledge, but I can tell you, from the spiritual world, maybe you do not believe in it but I do. That's good enough for me personally. For you, you can be as reluctant as you wish to be. If that is the case, please hold onto it. I'm not asking you to come into my world. I'm coming into yours. In your world you see things in one direction. In my world I see it 360 (degrees). What you see ahead, I see behind you, above and below. I see in the seven directions the human being that you are. The four you know, the fifth and sixth and seventh you might not.
MOONJOEY: You previously mentioned using Osha. Does that bear any connection to being part of a remedy for those having nightmares?
OMOLKHUA: Osha allows you to experience a dream with all senses. I called them "dreamers," when I walk in, those who had chewed Osha the day before, who would like to speak about their dream or nightmare. One particular guy stopped me wanting to tell me about his dream. This particular person is a professional. He said, "I could not believe the details of my dream. I could see their faces as clear as I see yours. I remember talking to them and they're talking back to me, having a perfect conversation. Then I realized, wait, you're dead! The answer came back, only my body, not my spirit. Then I woke up."
What prevents the nightmares from reoccurring is not the Osha but the water that is underneath their bed. The water is that which traps these demons, bad spirits, when they try to enter the human body, the human mind, the water underneath their bed is a trap. It captures them. They're pulled in and they're caught so they do not bother the living. So I tell them, put it underneath the bed. When the sun rises, when it has pierced the horizon, throw the water out. Do not pour it down your sink. Do not pour it in the bathroom toilet or tub. Do not water your plants with it and do not drink it. Throw it out.
MOONJOEY: Keep it away from the animals also?
OMOLKHUA: Yes. Once you've done that, refill the glasses and put them back underneath your bed and go about your day. You can do this to children, toddlers, little ones that are having bad dreams. They will then be able to sleep through the night.
There are those who have been helped this way ask me how is this possible? I explain to them that from our perspective, our view, water is life. It is the purest medicine that exists and gives life to all things and to all things that don't belong to this world and violate the law of the Creator, they're caught by this physical means of getting rid of them. Those people who have suffered trauma and they endure the continuous nightmares non-stop, use this medicine that I suggest.
MOONJOEY NOTE: Omolkhua suggest that my research concerning the dream world should include Tibetan understanding of this topic. Bing Chat with GPT-4 provided the following about the practices and beliefs that form a comprehensive system for understanding and interacting with the dream world in Tibetan culture.
The Tibetan understanding of the dream world is quite profound and unique. It is deeply rooted in the practices of Tibetan Dream Yoga1 and Vajrayana Buddhism2. Here are some key aspects:
Lucid Dreaming: Tibetan Dream Yoga involves the practice of lucid dreaming, where the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming while they are in the dream state1. This practice has been scientifically studied and validated.
Dream Analysis: The Tibetan Art of Dream Analysis reveals that for over a thousand years, Tibetan dream masters have been able to see the deep link between the dream world and the waking one. They believe that dreams can give clear signs of health warnings, conflicts, or foretell events yet to happen such as death, a birth, or other harbingers of wealth and happiness.
Primordial State: Tibetan advanced Vajrayana (such as Mahamudra and Dzogchen) teaches that there is a natural primordial state beyond the mind (not created or fabricated by mind) that is pure, complete, and all-good. The phenomenal world of experience, both inner and outer, is the radiance of that primordial state.
Thoughtforms: In lucid dream research, an understanding of the apparent autonomy of the figures sometimes encountered during a lucid dream can be sought in terms of Tibetan beliefs. These figures are primarily interpreted as symbolic thoughtforms representing the individual’s ideas, expectations and emotions.
Bardo: In some schools of Buddhism, bardo is an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth. This concept also influences Tibetan understanding of dreams.
SUMMATION: I realize this interview skims the surface of the dream world topic and pertains to a specific indigenous ritual involving the power of water. There are also numerous religions around the world that include water in their rituals. Christianity uses water in their sacrament of Baptism. Islam daily prayers are done in most cases after washing certain parts of the body with clean water. Hinduism has ritual washing and in various festivals where statues are immersed in rivers as a way of cleansing of spiritual impurities. Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, the Baháʼí Faith, Shinto, Taoism, and the Rastafari movement incorporate ritual washing. Whether copied or from original thinking by enlightened guidance, these religions each have found their way to using water to combat, for lack of a better word, evil. Coincidence? You decide for yourself.
- MoonJoey
(Image made by Bing Image Creator powered by DALL-E)