The Starry Sky: Backstroking Out the Front Door
By Eugene Raphael · Night Report · Liminal Light Lab · Jul 27, 2025
Technique: phase methods: wake back to bed, then intending to notice each awakening and not move. Mask: LucidMe. Outcome: a false awakening that turned lucid, and the stars.
Lately I've been working through the dreaming section of the Magical Passes library, and my body seems to really like the passes.
Sleep onset
I began by observing the darkness of closed eyes, intending to peer through everything. Imagery began swirling in front of me. I tried to touch and feel it, and it turned into a complete dream scene in intricate detail. Trying to enter it through touch, I could almost feel a brick wall in front of me, which made the scene last longer. As I got distracted staring at it, it dissolved.
After that came a lot of purple, and images that came and went too fast to cohere. About twenty minutes in, I heard a loud, almost mocking voice, only in my left ear: "What is going on in Sacramento?"
4:00 am: setting the intervals
I woke at 4:00 am, drank some water, and focused on dreaming for a few minutes, thinking through the steps of this preplanned session. After about ten minutes I lay back down. I didn't attempt anything; I just set my attention to notice the next time I woke. The plan was to not move and then try to get into dreaming.
From then on my sleep was interrupted by awakenings every 10 to 20 minutes, each one an opportunity. The first few were unsuccessful, so after a minute or so of effort I went back to sleep.
The bar of light
On the third awakening I put sufficiently more energy into it. In that moment of waking, I simply intended to stand up without moving my physical body.
I got up, but I lost awareness. It was a false awakening. The bedroom light was on and I was staring at it. My partner stirred and said to turn off the light. "I will," I said, glancing at her.
I looked back at the light. It was all wrong: no lampshade, just a bar of intense light standing vertically on the nightstand.
"I will, because this is a dream!" I told her. She rolled over and went back to sleep.
Two feet tall
My vision was very poor. I moved toward the light and then found myself stuck lying on the bed, unable to move. Nope, I thought, refusing to give up. I am standing next to the bed.
I was indeed standing next to the bed, but something was wrong: I was maybe two feet tall. The room was very dark. I demanded clarity of vision, but the dream stayed fuzzy.
Out to the stars
Ignoring the fuzziness, I willed myself through the bedroom door to the top of the stairs, floated over the railing, and floated straight to the front door. I wanted to go outside and see the stars. I launched through the door backward, levitating out over the front yard, doing a backstroke through the air without needing my arms to propel me.
There it was: beautiful stars, the trees around me, and the silhouettes of rooftops against the starry sky. I gazed at the dream stars in wonder and forgot to keep moving or do anything further. I had achieved my goal.
It was beautiful, and I woke up. Seconds later I went right back in; that's The Rocks.
Takeaways
Notice the next waking. Setting that one intention created a whole night of opportunities.
Check what's wrong. A lamp with no shade turned a false awakening lucid.
Refuse the stuck feeling. "I am standing next to the bed" was enough.
Related
Community: What was the first thing you did the last time you realized a false awakening was a dream?
Liminal Light shares personal practice, not medical advice. Read About & Safety first.
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