Three Entries in One Night
By Eugene Raphael · Night Report · Liminal Light Lab
Technique: the direct method with hand rubbing (exteriorizing sensation) and peering, after waking around 3 am. Outcome: three consecutive entries into dreaming.
I don't post every dream; I don't want the spirit of my dreaming to turn into "Hey, look at my dreams!" But when someone asks and there's potential benefit, I'm happy to add detail. This walkthrough is meant to show what "exteriorizing sensation" means in practice. A coworker of mine got the gist of the whole method from a ten-minute conversation, and a week later she intentionally entered dreaming aware for the first time in her life.
Waking and choosing the direct method
Before bed I set an intention to wake around 3 am. I woke at 3:18 am and stayed up about 20 minutes, mulling over my plan.
Normally I'd go back to sleep, intend to wake, and enter dreaming at the next awakening (the indirect method, which has the higher chance of success). But lying back down, I was a little too alert, so I began immediately without falling back asleep (the direct method, which has a good chance after 4 to 5 hours of sleep).
Hand rubbing and peering
With my hands across my chest, I tried to feel them rubbing together vigorously, exactly as if I'd lifted them and were warming them in the dark. I combined this with peering, my go-to for creating imagery in silence: waiting for images and looking through or beyond whatever appears. Looking beyond imagery creates more of it.
At first there were only diffuse colors, and I couldn't feel my hands. Here I'm careful. If I get agitated and push for longer than about a minute at a time, I get pent up and end up with insomnia. So I try for a minute, relax a few moments, and try again.
After about ten minutes I was more relaxed. I moved my hands to my sides, since touching hands on my chest gave conflicting input. Then, for a moment, I could feel my hands rubbing together.
That moment is my cue: a sensation of limbs outside myself. It ended quickly, but I insisted on sustaining it. After several moments like that, there comes a point where I realize I've been rubbing my hands for much longer. I've transitioned.
Entry one: the windowless house
Everything still says I'm lying on the bed, so I enter with my whole body by simply standing up while still rubbing my hands. I was standing next to my bed, very aware, with no lapse.
Tired of the old route of trying to escape the house, I grabbed the bedroom door handle and intended a new scene. I stepped into someone's dining room next to a small kitchen. Damn it, I thought, just a different house.
There was a flaw: no windows, plain cabinets, no appliances, and black silhouettes of furniture that weren't fully formed. I pointed my pinky at the silhouettes to try to see energy, and they were enshrouded in a purple glow. It reminded me of imagery coalescing into scenery, often tinged purple, so I concluded it was a product of my intent, not something energy-generating. Then the dream began to fade.
Entry two: the yellow room
Here is one of the most interesting aspects of this method. A fading dream isn't the end; it's a chance to enter again. As soon as I started to feel my body on the bed, I began rubbing my hands again. Since my sensation was already exteriorized, the response was immediate. I stood up and entered a second time.
After a brief lull I was in what was supposed to be a living room, somewhat faded. With an effort of intent that I felt emanating from me, and a flash of white light, it burst into stark detail and clarity: pale yellow walls, four walls, no exits, no windows, and an old popcorn ceiling.
This place needs at least a window, I thought. I waved my right hand, intending one centered on the wall. A window appeared, complete with sill, curtain rod, and dark blue drapes speckled with white flowers, but in the corner, across both walls. I waved the other way, and it moved to the right wall but stayed offset to the right.
I suck at this, I thought, chuckling. My thoughts were unusually normal. I wanted to go outside, but there was no door, and it occurred to me why: there is no door because there is no "out there." I let the dream dissolve.
Entry three: the false awakening
I woke to my partner fighting me over the blankets. But I was lying still, so I knew it wasn't happening. I was still dreaming. I rubbed my hands again, stood up, and was in a dream copy of my bedroom. I looked around a bit, decided it had been enough for one night, and woke up.
This method has a definite feel of second gate dreaming: multiple awakenings and changing dreams, letting you enter again and again.
A reader tried it
After I posted this, a reader tried the hands technique and entered a lucid dream at will for the first time. She traveled to two cities, woke up, went back in, and had a second lucid dream, the first time she'd ever had two in one night.
It truly astonishes me how easy it can actually be. Many times in the past I got into dreaming easily without knowing why, and chalked it up to timing, circumstances, and energy. I spent way too much time waiting for something to happen instead of expressing intent. Now I'm not chasing dreaming as much. I know I can do it at will when I need to.
Which gate was that?
Afterward I asked myself which gates I'd actually touched. My honest answer: I may have reached several, but I didn't validate or cross any.
The first gate. I was aware of falling asleep. Don Juan gave Carlos no steps here, only that "one just intends to become aware of falling asleep" (Castaneda, The Art of Dreaming). I think that was on purpose, to steer Carlos away from the old seers' pragmatic methods. But there are simple, repeatable steps to reach the first gate.
The second gate. Waking into another dream is the exercise of changing dreams, which in the book is preparation for isolating and following a foreign energy scout. So this was reaching the second gate, not crossing it.
The third gate. I can't be sure, because I didn't validate seeing my actual body in my actual room.
You don't need a precise technique for any of this. Experiment with whatever creates the exteriorized sensation for you; it may change over time. With my dreaming consistent now, I may work through all the gates again. I'm fairly certain I've done all of it before except following a scout. I remember telling a scout to get lost, which may be why I never see them anymore.
Related
Community: Which gate are you working on right now, and how do you know when you've crossed it?
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