l think I am in a deserted street. I see a woman being attacked by two masked assassins. I have nothing to defend her with. I think of a long yataghan [Turkish sword] that adorns the fireplace in my study. Why don't I have it at hand? No sooner is this desire formed within me than I find myself armed with this terrible blade, of which I make the happiest use.

By the very fact that my thought was strongly fixed on this object, the image of it immediately appeared, and this was done so naturally that I did not recognise what had happened in my mind until I was awake.

Source: Dreams and how to direct them, 2022, p.120; Daniel Bernardo's translation of Les reves et les moyens de les diriger by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1867.

EDITOR'S NOTE

Here, S-D has functional lucidity even without full awareness that he's dreaming. He pioneered lucid dreaming, but it was not his only interest; here he wants to show that, lucid or not, the will can summon elements and change dream-outcomes--challenging his contemporaries like Alfred Maury, who denied self-awareness or will in dreams.

I posted Yataghan because I see little mention of this type. Yet in my dreams, functional lucidity--summoning tools, flying, or working magic without bothering to ask "Is this a dream?"--is more common than formal lucidity. It feels unnecessary.

Dreamers who ask "Am I dreaming?" and try to catch dreams in inconsistencies often seem certain "I am dreaming" equates to "My mind made all this, these figures are all parts of me." Saint-Denys repeatedly says that. But I can't dismiss the shamanic notion that dream worlds and beings may be real. So I tend to focus on right action, not on what reality-level I'm in at the moment.

Here, for once, Saint-Denys acts more like a shaman--and I like him for it.

--Chris Wayan

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