The Magic of Characters in Dreams: Artistic Inspiration and Dream Spells
by Shawna Galvin
Most people experience characters, stories, and more in their dreams. They talk about them, like in stories, and tell them to others. As a writer, I’ve used characters in my dreams over the years in fiction, poetry, and in other aspects of creating art, such as painting and making altered books. I’ve returned to journals I’ve kept over the years, and used dreams I’d written down in them in the past, not knowing then that they would become part of art.
Dreaming of ourselves or as someone else within a dream or of strangers entering the dream fascinates me, and I make creative use of many dreams I’ve had both recently and years ago. Dreams have been a popular topic of study, and a number of people use dreams for making art—music, stories, paintings, poetry, and even inventions. I often take scenes and characters from my dreams and turn them into poetry or stories, just as things in the waking world (such as overheard dialogue, new experiences, or an atmospheric setting) are often used for art.
I’ve written down hundreds of dreams over the years, and the ones I use within fictional stories include settings, plot lines, characters, and entire other worlds presented in my dreams. I am also intrigued that people I have never seen before or don’t even know enter my dreams and become a huge part of or an entire story I write. Or sometimes, I am that other character, but me—I am living that character’s life in my dream. I am soaring through that person’s point of view. Other times, I am a fly on the wall, watching the story unfold before me in my dream.
I have dreams about people I know or who have passed away, and I have so many types of dreams—scary, disturbing, lovely, spiritual, and magical. We spend so much time asleep in our lives that it only makes sense that we would connect with other realms. Dreams are mysterious; I think we have the ability to time travel or soul travel in dreams, and I believe I have done so.
I have always been interested in the story or particular scenes within dreams, along with the feelings, colors, settings, people, interactions, and time periods. When my mother passed away, I was in the final semester of graduate school, studying creative writing. I found an article she had clipped about dreams, “Writers Finding Muse in Dreams.” The writer of the article, Jordan Lite, talks about how literary publicist Naomi Epel wrote a book, Writers Dreaming, in which one of her own dreams inspired her to interview twenty-six writers, such as Stephen King, about how they use dreams in their writing. In the article, Epel said that most creative people “trust” the dream “information when it comes up,” and I have read about, learned about, and met many writers who have trusted and used their dreams. She elaborates, “Many people don’t remember their dreams every day, but when a big dream occurs, [writers] listen [and] go with their process of exploration.” For example, the article states, William Styron dreamed of a young woman tattooed with concentration camp numbers and the next day wrote the beginning of Sophie’s Choice.
Many writers, such as my late friend and coworker Rick Hautala, write in the morning. He said he would not eat, shower, or do anything when he woke up, except go right to his typewriter in the hypnagogic state to write. Writer Dennis Lehane said the same thing of his own writing process, that perhaps that is why some writers were or are known to use alcohol or other substances: to put them in that dream-like state to write in. Maya Angelou used to play solitaire to “hypnotize herself”; she would play cards to relax her mind as she would go into a creative zone to put herself in another world, writes Lite. Mary Shelley’s dream inspired her story Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The more I got to know fellow and late writers, the more I realized how dreams play a huge part of many writers’ lives.
Nightmares and Negative Energy in Dreams
Nightmares can sometimes haunt our dreams and even our waking life. One in particular happened to me in a hotel room several years ago while visiting San Francisco and Alcatraz. I didn’t connect the two right away, but I think some negative energy came back with me. I cannot prove it, but I certainly believe this, as I experienced a most malevolent presence. It felt as though someone was pushing down on me, I woke up inside my dream, yet I think I was also awake. In my mind, I demanded the evil presence to leave, telling it that it was unwelcome. I said prayers and visualized white light surrounding me. At the same time, I felt as though I was paralyzed; I couldn’t move or wake up from that dream for a long time. Like Poe said, life is “but a dream within a dream.” That was the second time in my life I had a dream of an evil presence that seemed so real. The first case happened in the late 1980s. I wrote it down, had to sleep with my light on for days after, and used the dream in my first novel, The Ghost in You, decades later.
Dream Spells and Nightmare Protection
I come from an Irish and English background, with a touch of Mic Mac Indian, and using crystals, dream catchers, and prayer have been part of my upbringing. I furthered my studies for about ten years while taking meditation classes, experiencing polarity and spiritual readings, and also becoming a Reiki II practitioner. I’ve always used universal light force energy as protection to keep bad dreams away or to help get a good night’s sleep. In the two worst nightmares of my life, where both times an evil presence came to me, I stood up to them. The experiences were terrifying, but I do not allow evil spirits in my life. I am not immune to evil, but I have learned to use tools such as imagining a white light around me, my house, loved ones, and even my car for protection.
Dream catchers are something my family has always had around, and I even remember making them in summer camp. My son has had one hanging in his room since he was old enough to recall his first nightmares, mainly about an alien living in the basement of our over-200-year-old house at the time. The dream catcher has come with us to our new house as well, hanging up in his window. Dream catchers, which originated with the Ojibwe people and Native American cultures and beliefs in general, are both magical and spiritual. A dream catcher is said to attract dreams to its web. The good spirits find their way through the center hole and float along the sacred feathers to the people sleeping below. The evil spirits get caught in the web and are melted by the morning Sun. Patron of the Arts, a website on art and creativity, has a guide to making your own dream catchers (www.patronofthearts.com/2015/02/meaning-magic-dreamcatchers).
If a bad dream occurs, one can still clear out negative energy after a nightmare lingers on in the mind, even if that energy extends to one’s surroundings. Back when I was in San Francisco and felt that horrible presence, which felt like an evil spirit in my dream, I smudged my home with white sage to clear out any residual parts of that energy when I arrived back in Maine. I felt at peace afterward and believe that this ritual worked. White sage smudging is something I’d learned to use back when I was practicing Reiki and other spiritual transformations in my life. After having a nightmare that really hangs on, I burn my white sage smudge stick and walk around my house fanning the smoke to each corner of the rooms as best I can with my hand or a feather, and think good intentions. I also visualize white light surrounding myself, my family, and my home as protection. Sometimes I say prayers, but mainly I trust my instincts and use good intentions only. Smudging with white sage is good to use for any feelings of negativity that arise.
Traveling in Dreams
I’m fascinated by the fantasy worlds I visit when I dream and by the ones that seem real, like when friends and loved ones who have passed visit; it feels mystical to connect to them this way. Sometimes in dreams I feel like I’m traveling in another dimension—communicating with this world and another world. They often take me back in time to other lands, perhaps in a parallel world. Other times, they are a mixture of this world and another world, as in Gabriel García Márquez’s stories of magical realism.
Dream worlds can be mysterious, bizarre, shadowy, and surreal, and they often feel like a real place separate from experiences in the waking world. And from these, for me, many stories, ideas, poems, and other forms of writing art can spring forward.
Some dreamers have out-of-body experiences or perform astral projection. I have dreams where I am outside of myself, looking upon a dream world story as it unfolds. I am like a wallflower, observing. This type of observation in dreams has become a part of my and other authors’ writing. Ebenezer Scrooge of A Christmas Carol was awakened from his dreams (or was he?) and traveled around to his past, present, and possible future. Dorothy was knocked unconscious by her bedroom window during the tornado, and what dreams did that bring her! Or perhaps she wasn’t dreaming and really did soul-travel to the Land of Oz.
Lucid dreams can offer powerful inspiration as well. Ryan Hurd, a dream studies specialist, explains that galantamine, which is supposed to promote dreaming sleep as well as lucid dreaming, “has been used for centuries in China as a memory enhancer, and was even noted by the ancient Greeks for its powerful mind-inducing effects.” He writes that it is also used for some Alzheimer’s patients to increase memory. (Consult your physician before taking any sort of alternative supplement.)
Many people try to control or train their mind to have lucid or other kinds of dreams. I have found that the best way to get the most out of dreaming is to write down my dreams. There is no magic spell for this—just try to catch them before they slip away. I’ve lost a few because I couldn’t remember them; I was too tired to write them down after waking in the middle of the night, and they drifted away, as memories of dreams often do.
As I finished writing this, a close friend, who was also a writer, had been fighting cancer and was under the impression she was doing better. Then, just like that, the cancer spread like wildfire. She was told she had a few weeks, maybe a month, to live, but passed away days later.
Two days before she passed, a book release party was held for my small publishing company, through which my friend published a story based on true experiences. I imagined her walking in to the party, feeling better, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I learned of her latest development and prognosis. I had planned to go visit her the following Monday morning, as I knew she’d be surrounded by hospice and such, but I wanted to hold her hand for a moment and give her a picture that my son drew of hers while they were in preschool together. Saturday evening, perhaps into the twilight hours of Sunday morning, I had a dream that my friend and I were walking through Rome in the summer, by ancient architecture, but it was also blended with Portland, near where we both live. I woke that morning, feeling that perhaps she had already passed, and we would continue to roam around in dreams together from there. We also shared a love of the B-52’s song “Roam,” which is pretty much about soul-travel. Perhaps the dream of us in Rome was a symbol of us being able to roam around the world in our dreams.
Later that Sunday morning, I was told she was probably going to pass that very day. It was later in the evening when I had that feeling she had let go, and indeed it was so. Since then, I’ve had dreams of my friend, and I often talk to her in my mind. I feel her presence, treasure life, and know she’d want me to experience life to its fullest as I have been lately. I’ve been inspired to write new things using my dreams since she passed, and some of my dreams about her have led me to new creative endeavors in my writing.
Pay attention to your dreams. The more you do so, the more of a ritual it becomes to write them down; perhaps tell them to others, write a poem, or make a picture or collage about them—do something that helps you to remember and use your dream. I think the more one pays attention to dreams, without forcing or trying to control them, the more likely one will be to have lucid or other types of dreams. They might not come every night; they might come on certain Moons, or certain days of the year, or at random. For those nights they don’t come, just focus on getting enough sleep and be grateful for the rest. A nice relaxing spell you might try follows next.
A Dream Box Spell: Folk Magic
This dream spell can be done during a Full Moon or anytime you like. I choose colors at my own working altar. I like to work with lavender scent and herb and a soft lavender color, because it is associated with relaxation, peaceful sleep, insight, and dream work.
For Your Altar
Spread out a cloth to place your items on. Anyplace you want to set up an altar is fine, as long as you feel comfortable. I prefer a sacred space that keeps me close to my ancestors.
Set out your dream box, perhaps a small bundle of lavender, a candle to light during your ceremony, lavender essential oil, and a small statue or charms that have meaning for you. This is a place for you to create your own sacred space, so add whatever you like to your altar.
For Your Dream Box
You can really have fun with this, as you can choose any sort of box you like. You can select a decorative box and even embellish and customize one of your own. Let creativity flow when putting the dream box together on your altar. You can collect things to put into the box and adapt this dream spell for many purposes. Perhaps you are working on the art of lucid dreaming, or maybe you’d like to dream about a loved one who has passed. Whatever the purpose, an easy way to make your intention clear is to write it down, roll it up, tie a ribbon around the scroll, and place in the dream box. Other things one might place in the box are a piece of amethyst; a handful of dried, loose lavender; aromatherapy, such as few drops of essential oil; a photograph; a piece of jewelry; a specific tarot card; or whatever has meaning for you.
Clearing Your Space
I always begin and end rituals and spells by clearing the space and bringing positive energy in. The use of white light visualization to surround a space and smudging with white sage are two things I prefer, along with a prayer sometimes.
Place the box under your bed before falling asleep, say the following chant, and dream away. This is a wonderful way to start paying attention to your dreams and start a dream journal. You can add to or modify this however you like. You might even have a dream catcher nearby as well.
May the universe guide my dreams tonight.
Be with me, peaceful, restful sleep.
Let my mind be eased;
Let my body be calm.
Let in the sight of night,
And let the dream be clear.
Let my troubles drift away,
And let me dream.
When to Do This Spell
Do this during a Full Moon. You might want to smudge or do some kind of closing ceremony the next morning or during the day. Try visualizing a pure, healing white light surrounding the area around your bed or smudging with white sage, drawing and keeping positive energy in while ridding it of any negative energy. End by thanking your dreams, spirits, or whatever guidance you believe in for the experience.
For Further Study
Hurd, Ryan. “Galantamine: Reviewing the Lucid Dreaming Pill.” Dreamstudies.org. Accessed on November 6, 2015. http://dreamstudies.org/galantamine-review-lucid-dreaming-pill.
Lehane, Dennis. “You and Me This Morning Talks to Dennis Lehane.” YouTube video, 6:13. October 19, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e45cnK43FJ8.
Lite, Jordan. “Writers Finding Muse in Dreams.” Associated Press. August 12, 1999. http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1999/Writers-Finding-Muse-in-Dreams/id-d438dfb9b521cfff8f41bcef19bd8942.