Overview
In this special edition, we will apply some basic concepts of precognitive dreaming to an actual case study. First, we’ll introduce some of the considerations that may influence our ability to attract predictive dreams, and then we’ll apply that information to the case study. The case study, entitled Dream Believer, was written by Katy Kane, a Master of Art student in Transpersonal Studies.
Intention
Can we intend to dream certain things? Absolutely, and in fact, intentional dreaming was a core concept that birthed Project August.
I began intentionally dreaming when I found Dr. Henry Reed’s Dream Solutions program. In this highly experiential, 4-week dream journey, one can literally solve any problem they’re facing….all through the power of intentional dreaming. Without going too far into the details, each night during the program, the dreamer is directed to “incubate” a dream. The incubation is simply writing down the intention on a piece of paper (“Dreams, please show me a better way to fix this problem”), and placing the folded paper under your pillow.
At first, the incubated dreams didn’t seem to have anything to do with my problem statement, but toward the end of the program, I was getting instructions for my problem directly out of the dream. For example, in one dream I was in the garden with a big whiteboard. I was actually sketching out the solution for myself to the two other dream characters. When I awoke, I immediately remembered the dream, and recognized that my problem was fixed!
Intention can come in many forms. The more obvious form of intention is to verbalize what you want out of the dream, but a strong emotional connection with someone can also be a form of “accidental” intention. Of course, this is not to say that only intentional dreams are worthwhile, nor that you must intend in order to receive dream. Many precognitive dreams come to us without any intention at all, but they may be valuable nonetheless.
Proximity
Dean Radin shows us in Entangled Minds (2006) that the distance between intention and object of intention can determine how strong of an effect the intention will have. Radin presents Roger Nelson’s “Field-Consciousness Experiments” where random number generators (RNG) around the world would become more orderly (meaning that the randomness would decrease) the more it registered an intention.
However, with odds against chance of 37,000 to 1, Nelson and his team noticed that the level of order in the far RNGs were significantly lower than the closer RNGs. Basically, the closer you are to the object of your intention makes the intention stronger (p. 192).
Timing
We are attempting to better define the timing of precognition, as this is one of the biggest sticking points to predicting future events. Some regular precognitive dreamers claim that their dreams come true in a couple of days to a week. Other experts, such as Ian Wilson, claim that their regular “come true” time is about 3 weeks to 3 months. In Project August, we actually attempt to confine the dreams to predict a specific timeframe, and thus the early dreams will have to come true later than the dreams that are delivered closer to the month of August. Basically, each person seems to be different as far as their typical prediction timing. In our case study, Katy’s timing was about 5 months.
Summary and Application
In the following case study, we see all these considerations and more. The intention in this case was very subconscious, but nonetheless, I believe it might have played a factor in the precognitive dream. Many precognitive dreams require a connection in some way to the event. Clearly the author had at several times in her life held the dream object (the pop singer) in her mind very strongly. It was enough to develop a very strong, albeit subconscious, connection. This connection can and does serve as an incubation or intention to dream. Therefore, while reading, notice the strong connection thread that is established and maintained throughout Katy’s life.
Katy felt remorse when she realized just how close the pop singer had lived to her. I am so glad she provided this bit of information, because it gives us a data point on the idea of proximity. There is no way to tell if she would have had this dream if Jones was on the other side of the country or world, but Nelson’s experiments do seem relevant to Katy’s dream.
We’ve already discussed the timing, so the only thing left is to offer a lesson that the National Dream Center seeks to popularize. This is certainly not to place blame on our special guest, but rather to extract a lesson that can help other dreamers. It’s the concept of action.
So many dream experts and interpreters never want to frighten their clients by posing scary dreams as real possibilities for future events. I hear it all the time, “Oh, that dream doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen…” In a way, they’re just playing the odds and trying to keep the client from feeling worried. Instead of scoffing a horrifying dream, how about we seek not only to interpret what it could mean, but also seek to minimize the possibility of it happening in real life?
I want to personally express my gratitude to Katy for offering her heart-wrenching story. It takes a lot of soul and fortitude to bring personal testimony of this nature into public consciousness. If you have a story that you would like to share with us, please contact us. Thank you!
Go to Katy’s Story
References
Radin, D. (2006). Entangled Minds. New York, NY: Paraview.
Reed, H. (1989). Edgar Cayce on Channeling Your Higher Self. Virginia Beach, VA: A.R.E. Press.
