How do Oracle cards create a waking dream using dream
incubation techniques? A waking dream,
in my experience, is the transformation of my ordinary consciousness into a period
of contemplation that surrenders my ego control of perception, and instead
derives meaning from the language of image and symbol.
Incubation is one of the four states of creativity:
preparation, incubation, illumination and verification. Dream incubation is a technique of “planting
a seed” in the mind in order for a specific dream topic to occur. Dream incubation can also be understood as “a form of quest to
encounter a sacred being, as an attempt to bring oneself physically closer to a
spiritual presence in preparation for a revelatory dream.” By
singling out images, aspects of nature and dream-like pronouncements, an oracle
empowers forces to speak that are beyond our conscious control. The Oracle becomes the sacred being.
How are dream incubation techniques like a Journey Oracle reading? First, one develops a simple phrase for
the incubation, just as one thinks of a situation for advice from the Oracle. The
Oracle card picture of the situation is a waking dream image that shows us how
things are, where we are, and who is with us.
Second, the incubation topic is associated with an emotion
which makes our unconscious wisdom more likely to attend to it. The Oracle card picture of our experience of
the situation is a waking dream image that reveals our anxieties, fears and desires.
Third, dream incubation is aided by visualizing the information
or outcome desired from the dream. The
Oracle card picture of the change we are seeking in our situation is also like
this. When we see in a dream-like image the moment when the action culminates and our story is
transformed, we are visualizing the outcome so we can recognize it when we
return to ordinary consciousness.
Fourth, one searches in the dream interpretation for feelings
and symbolic images which might be a solution to the incubated topic. The Oracle card picture of the resolution shows
our unconscious wisdom what we are now going to do to promote a happy ending in
this situation, once we return to our ordinary reality from the waking dream of
the Journey Oracle reading.
According to Mary Watkins in Waking Dreams, “in the Middle
Ages it was common practice to hold conversations with the Soul…to ask it
questions and to hear answers arising from a source other than consciousness.” Perhaps a most significant awareness in doing
dream incubation or Oracle card work is being certain that you want to know the
answer.
