Lucid Dream Hub

If you were dreaming right now…how would you know? If you had this thought in your dream, chances are you could look around and identify a few things that don’t quite add up logically. Maybe you realize your apartment looks completely different, or maybe you are a different age than you are in waking life, or maybe something as bizzarre as a giant pink elephant is standing in your backyard.

These all would be called dream signs. Dream signs are any indicator that you are in the dream world. These can be any oddity, bizzarre event, or illogical happening that would be impossible (or at least highly improbable) in waking life. Famed lucid dream researcher, Dr. Stephen Laberge, classified dream signs into four distinct types; action, form, context, and inner awareness. This level of differentiation goes beyond the scope of this blog post, but if you want to learn more, try my online course 🙂.

If you record your dreams with consistency, you will begin to notice certain dream signs occuring regularly. These personal dream signs can be used to inform when to perform reality checks during the day, maximizing the effectiveness of reality checks and resulting in spontaneous lucid dreams!

Analyzing My Dreams

Let’s work through some of my recent dreams (straight out of my dream journal) and analyze them for dream signs! Names and places have been changed to protect the innocent…

“The dream is in third person and I am watching an old man. The angel of death appears and says the old man has 1.5 months left to live if he doesn’t make any changes to his life. The dream shifts and I am him now. My eyes have grown shut. The dream shifts again and I am at some Walmart. A shooter starts shooting inside. I escape out the door but get hit three times. The medics pull the three bullets out of me.”

Not a very long dream but a lot of dream signs packed in there! Let’s list them along with their dream sign type:

• Dream is in third person – this qualifies as Inner Awareness (IA) dream sign. IA dream signs include how the dream is perceived by the dreamer.
• Angel of death appears – this qualifies as a Context (C) dream sign. Seeing the angel of death is definately a strange context
• I am the old man – this qualifies as a Form (F) dream sign. My normal waking form is not an old man. My form changed into the old man
• My eyes have grown shut – This is also a F dream sign. The form of my body is irregular
• The dream shifts – Dream shifts are a common IA dream sign.
• A shooter starts shooting inside – This is an Action (A) dream sign. A dream character is performing an action that is bizzarre.

Sometimes classifying dream signs isn’t an exact science. Dream signs can fall into different categories at times. The most important part is being consistent and exploring your personal dream world. You should begin to log these dream signs and pay attention to the what dream signs or dream sign type recurs most in your dreams.