Throughout recorded history man has used dreams as an oracle, as a means of gaining information from the unconscious mind not easily obtainable elsewhere. In recent years numerous writers in the dreamwork field have described methods for programming dreams on pre-decided topics. Usually these incubation techniques involve some sort of affirmation before sleep as to the information desired, with an analysis and recording of the following night's dreams the next morning.
In general, incubation methods using ordinary dreams suffer from a number of unavoidable shortcomings. First, very few of us can recall all of the dreams that we have on a given night even under the best of conditions. Thus, you might succeed in incubating a dream and yet fail to recall it! Second, you might erroneously choose a dream as the answer to your incubation simply because you did recall it. Third, dream recall itself often seems fragmentary, which opens the possibility that you might not include crucial dream events or symbols in the morning after interpretation of the dreams you recall. Even in the ideal case where you do recall all of your dreams completely on a given night, how do you correctly decide which dream (or dreams) deals with the incubated topic? And finally, once you have chosen a dream as the incubated dream, you have the not exactly trivial problem of translating a series of multiordinal dream symbols into some sort of a definitive answer. Personal bias and simple confusion, given the usual complexity of dream symbology, makes at least some interpretive errors in the analysis of an incubated dream almost unavoidable. Thus, it should hardly surprise anyone that even after a successful dream incubation, one can still end up with considerable doubt as to the actual meaning of an incubated dream, and of the best way of acting on the information so acquired.
Although the incubation of ordinary dreams can result in a profound experience of considerable psychological impact, the meaning of the incubated dream itself often seems far less than definitive in any practically useful sense. This can result in a fair degree of frustration and dissatisfaction with the more ordinary dream incubation methods. How delightful it would seem to sometimes obtain a simple YES or NO as the answer to a dream incubation topic question such as "Should I take the new job offer?", instead of receiving a Salvador Dali dream scenario whose meaning you can only guess at! Ideally, I think most of us would appreciate (when appropriate) simple, easily understandable answers as a result of dream incubation techniques. Unfortunately, incubation methods involving ordinary dreams rarely achieve such a result.
The lucid dream state (which I define here as the dream state where one has the same degree of consciousness and free will as in the physical reality waking state) offers a number of advantages to the ordinary dream state for dream incubation. In a lucid dream in May of 1985 I finalized a Lucid Dream Incubation Technique (LDIT) that has worked quite well for myself, as well as for others, in obtaining clear and easily understandable information on a variety of topics.
"In a lucid dream I demonstrate an incubation technique using a silver bowl to a group of other dreamers. Basically the technique consisted of the following First the lucid dreamer decides on a question, in which he or she asks for the information most needed at the present time. After deciding on a specific question, the dreamer inverts the silver bowl and consciously focuses on the question. After waiting a few seconds for the answer to materialize, the dreamer then turns over the bowl to find a materialized note with the answer written on it. I took a number of my fellow dreamers through this incubation technique, and each received a clear and discrete answer. For myself I asked for a message from an official in a government agency about the possibilities of future research grants, and received the answer "Goodbye!", which I clearly understood meant that I would receive no further funding from this agency (note: which incidentally, has proved quite true). In cases where my dream students didn't understand the answer, I told them to get the meaning from their own unconscious that materialized the answer, and not to ask me!"
Since that time I have experimented with variations on this LDIT. The essential principle behind this technique involves first finding a medium for the materialization of the answer (such as a bowl, or a closed drawer) asking the question, waiting a few seconds, and then reading the materialized answer (after turning over the bowl, or opening the drawer, etc). I have found it most important to pick an appropriate medium in each dream for the LDIT, as in my experience some mediums work far better than others. One lucid dreamer to whom I've taught this technique has gotten good results by simply asking the other characters in his dreams for the information he requires! The best mediums give you discrete, specific answers, easily remembered in the transition from the lucid dream state to the physical reality waking state.
The LDIT has proved itself amenable to getting information on any topic which can have an answer consisting of a few words or a simple diagram or object. One could ask for example for solutions to health problems, investment advice, etc., etc. As an oracle of one's unconscious information, it has no equal in my experience, and I have found the information so received of a very high quality. This does not mean that I always get usable answers to the questions I ask! In one case, where I had requested investment information, I got my answer on a clay tablet in what looked like cuneiform!
Despite its utility, the Lucid Dream Incubation Technique has one considerable disadvantage as compared to ordinary dream incubation methods, in that it requires that the dreamer maintain a clearheaded lucidity in the dream state. Within the dream, one must decide on, or clearly remember, an incubation question, find a usable medium for providing the answer, consciously focus on the question, and then consciously retain and clearly recall the answer on returning to the physical reality waking state. Obviously, the LDIT may only find practical use among experienced lucid dreamers. Despite this disadvantage, I recommend the LDIT highly, and I hope that any dreamers who make the required effort to give it a try will meet with success!
