INTRODUCTION

This is a dream I had 22 years ago when I was 23 years old. I had just started learning about lucid dreams and as is common with neophyte lucid dreamers, my dreams had a sexual charge to them. In retrospect I am not surprised by the imagery in the dream as I had recently returned from a spring break road trip with some friends. We went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Tijuana and Palm Springs. These were all firsts for me and needless to say, that trip had a profound influence on my psyche.

The illustration that accompanies my dream is a more elaborate version of the quick reference doodles I make in my dream journals which are more like travel journals with descriptive notes pointing out unique features of the dream. I wanted to stay in the spirit of my dream journals with the way I illustrated this dream.

THE DREAM

I am in an Old West town, like a set at Universal Studios. I go into a rustic barn. The interior reminds me of R.E.M.'s video "Losing My Religion" and the barn at Splash Mountain. The familiarity of the location arouses lucidity and I am awestruck by the vividness and clarity of the details. I can feel the texture of the wood and can hardly believe how real it feels even though I know this is a dream. As I climb the stairs to the upper level of the barn I keep reminding myself, "I'm dreaming!"

To my right I see the hayloft doors are open. Outside the sky is a brilliant blue and the leaves on the distant trees sparkle in the sunlight. Despite how far the leaves appear to be from me, I am somehow able to see incredible fractal-like details in them. I am exhilarated and take a running leap out of the loft doors. I feel the warmth of the sun hit my back as I fly like Superman over a road dodging power lines. I then realize that I can just fly through the power lines without getting hurt. I expect some form of electrical sensations as I pass through the power lines but I only feel air. Down below I see some men working on the road.

I yell to them, "Hey! I'm flying!"

"By golly you are!" one of them replies and they wave to me.

I land nearby in some European city. As I approach a building, I hear a man from inside yelling, "Turn off the gas!"

Inside I see two men working on a gas stove. The one whose voice I heard a moment ago is muscular and has long blond hair. He demonstrates how to turn off the gas with a lever. His partner, a chubby fellow leaves the room. The blond man acknowledges my presence with a nod and he walks to the back of the store. I follow him.

"What country am I in?" I ask.

"What country do you think you are in?" he responds.

"European, maybe Scandinavian....No wait! The one that has Thor!" I say.

"Ah yes." he smiles and looks out the window adding, "And here comes Valhalla himself."

Through the window I see a mean-looking group of businessmen approach. The long-haired blond man and I go to the other end of the store where he opens the door and lets them in. As I exit the building I tap a Mexican man on the shoulder as a way to say hi. He gives me a smile.

Outside, I see my friends Greg and Steve. I tell them that I am dreaming all of this, but they don't take me seriously. I argue with them and want to prove that I am dreaming by flying. However, whenever I try to fly, they tackle me to the ground and insist that this isn't a dream.

"Paul, this is reality. You can't fly." Greg tells me.

"Yes, I can. Let me go so I can prove it!" I argue.

"You are going crazy believing in this stuff." he responds.

I manage to wiggle free and run around the building to the road. Greg and Steve are too far away to stop me and they have a look of resignation on their faces. I smile and levitate off the ground.

"See, guys? This is a dream. Won't you fly with me?"

"But how? This isn't our dream." Greg says.

My hands fill with sparkling glitter...pixie dust? I sprinkle it on them and up they fly.

We soar a short distance into the twilight sky before landing in a hallway of a busy maze-like school with no ceiling. The people are dressed in costumes of scaly mermaid pants with flower petal fins emerging from them. They also wear red angel wings on their backs and have metallic halos attached to stems over their heads. They are the mermaid angels. I see Greg and Steve in the crowd. They, as well as I, are dressed in similar costumes as the others here. An attractive young woman catches my attention. I start flirting with her and she responds back very affectionately.

"Who are you?" I ask.

She kisses me and says, "I am Ealswa." She then leads me by the hand to a dressing/shower room. There are many shower stalls and I see couples entering them. She takes me into one of them where amorous activities commence. I can hear the sounds of lovemaking echoing off the stone walls. The lack of ceiling allowed golden-hour sunlight to pour into the stalls. Moments later, the amorous sounds die down and I see lovers leaving their shower stalls. We emerge from ours. A man shakes my hand and says "Thanks for the party." Ealswa gives me a mischievous smile.

I leave the room and see I am in my own house and it is a bit of a mess from the party. Out of my bedroom window I see the child version of one of my cousins run by. It's been years since I've seen him. On the bottom level of a book shelf I see my Darth Vader helmet. I can tell someone had been playing with it, but then I recall that I usually keep it in a box in the closet on the upper shelf.

Then I wake up....

SOURCE: the IASD (International Association for the Study of Dreams) website's 2013 Psiber Art Gallery.

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