Dreaming the Divine: Techniques for Sacred Sleep

by Scott Cunningham, Connie Hill (Editor)

Dreaming the Divine by Scott Cunningham (previously published as S acred Dreams & the Divine) is one of the most unique books ever published on dreams. Most authorities agree that dreams are very important for those on a spiritual path. This book shows you how to push beyond the boundaries of ordinary dreaming, and introduces you to the concept of making sleep a spiritual act.

This process is known as "dream incubation" or "sacred sleep." The technique was practiced in dream temples around the ancient world, including those in Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Dream incubation is the process of creating sacred dreams for a specific healing, advice, glimpses of the future, protection, conception of children, battle plans, and a host of other reasons. Now you can learn this technique in Dreaming the Divine.

Tucked inside this book, you'll find practical and simple techniques for receiving sacred messages in your dreams,
- How to prepare for sacred sleep
- Dream rituals and spells to achieve your sacred sleep goals
- The meanings of dream symbols seen during sacred sleep
- Dream messengers and deities from numerous cultures
- Natural sleep-inducing techniques including prayer, special baths, special foods to eat and others to avoid, herb teas, scented pillows, aromatherapy, and several others
- How to remember and record your sacred sleep dreams.

Seeking communion with the divine through dreams is one of the oldest forms of personal spirituality. Sacred sleep is one way to remove spirituality from the hands of the "experts" and place it where it in the hearts, minds, and dreams of everyday people. Get Dreaming the Divine and make your dreamtime special.

Genres: Spirituality, Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Wicca, Occult, Paganism, Magic

360 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Scott Douglas Cunningham was an American writer. Cunningham is the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects.
His work Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, is one of the most successful books on Wicca ever published; he was a friend of notable occultists and Wiccans such as Raymond Buckland, and was a member of the Serpent Stone Family, and received his Third Degree Initiation as a member of that coven.

Reviews

[Ragnell]

For me, Cunningham was the doorway into Wicca, so I'm likely to read justa bout any book he puts out. This one's rather basic, best for it's historical information on how ancient pagans performed incubation. He gives pretty good advice on building a dreambook, and a basic ritual recipe, so it's good for Wicca 101 level too, but mostly it reads as a sales pitch for adding incubation to your religious practice. This is pretty much all he can do, though, because the insights gleamed from dreams are between you and the gods basically.

I'm a little disappointed he didn't go into Northern Europe, though. Dreams were pretty important in the sagas, after all. They're really important to current practitioners, since that's where most revelations come from.

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Scott Cunningham's work. If you are starting out on doing some pathworking in your dream time, then this book is for you. If you are wanting to know some of the historical content about dreamwork, this book is also for you. It's in my dreamwork/lucid dreaming section of my personal library. Scott Cunningham was a well known pagan (Wiccan) author who wrote many books on paganism -- you really can't go wrong with his work.

[Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

started by reading intently and ended skimming. the first half of the book is a historical + cultural survey of temple sleep and dream interpretation traditions, the second half is suggestions. not badly written, but not particularly useful, and for my purposes it could've been a series of bulletpoints rather than an entire book.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look at that cover unfff!!!

Anyways... this was a good little read, but not a ton of substance. The first part is padding for the book and talks about other cultures and their spirituality regarding sleep. (Learned some cool stuff about Sumer!) It covers some ancient civilizations than kind of bizarrely skips to Hawaii and then North America for a few Native American tribes.

There's a list of dream-related deities and a basic ritual for asking for sacred sleep and how to go about interpretating that dream.

I like the idea behind the book but it could have used so much more. Some ideas: relevant crystals to aid sleep, more discussion on astral travel, discussion on intuition, expansion on relevant herbs, more discussion on the subconscious, more rituals, perhaps discussion on setting the scene... Modern additions might cover reality shifting...

Anyways, if you like Cunningham (and I do!), then it's a treat to sit with him and "listen" to him for a bit. If you just want the "good" stuff, skim for the sacred sleep ritual bits, write it down, return it to your library

[Celea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scotty's work is always a joy to read. The first half was interesting historical background for the practice of sacred sleep, and the second was more practical in nature. Theory, and practice. Scott's writing makes processes I previously thought complicated and tricky seem simple and easy to do. His suggestion to make one's own dream dictionary tailored to the symbolism one's own subcon places on things is worth the entire read and sticker price. It's such a good idea, I'm surprised I haven't seen it anywhere else. Scott sources his research well, as usual, and there are tons of books in the bibliography that I would love to check out after reading this one. Only thing that keeps this review from being a five star is scott's insistence that demons can't mess with your dreams. As a Wiccan, it makes sense why he would believe this, but this is dangerous ignorance.

[Rosea Bellator · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um dos melhores livros sobre os sonhos. Sobre esse mundo que vivemos quando dormimos. Amei as referências que o autor deixa pelo livro, as recomendações de livros. Abriu e muito a minha mente para situações que eu não tinha relacionado aos sonhos e meus deuses. Depois desse livro, preciso buscar mais sobre os sonhos.

[hr arch · Rating 1 out of 5]

started by reading intently and ended skimming. the first half of the book is a historical + cultural survey of temple sleep and dream interpretation traditions, the second half is suggestions. not badly written, but not particularly useful, and for my purposes it could've been a series of bulletpoints rather than an entire book.

[Lexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the basics of sacred sleep.

[Baroness · Rating 2 out of 5]

This read lacked to keep me interested. I didn’t find what I am looking for.

[anarcho · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is extremely dry. The first half is like a history book, and the second half is a mix between instructions and reference.

[Dani Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the history part pertaining to the cultural and religious (sans Abrahamic ones) importance of sacred dreams, though I find it a bit lacking in some aspects. The other half of the book states steps on how to help invoke this kind of dreams. This is a great primer for those who had an inkling to the subject.

I wish there were more examples (well it only does say techniques on the cover) and since it cited its ancient origins I wonder why it skipped mentioning the likes of Joseph the Dreamer, Nostradamus, or even the ones in our era like Carl Jung and Edgar Cayce.

In my own encounters with prophetic and/or psychic dreams often times the steps mentioned are not required. It comes to you when it wants to. Although I agree that some are more subtle in their meaning and even harder to decipher when the moment passes by. Well, anyway, I'm not the expert here.

3.75 stars

[Tait · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cunningham offers a lot of great historical information about ancient and cross-cultural magical dreaming practices. Sadly there are some very definite inaccuracies where he’s altered facts from his source material. The practical section of the book isn’t particularly useful, mainly discussing vague pre-sleep rituals and hoping that you’ll have a divine dream rather than any of the actual science (let alone actual historical magic) methods for inducing dreams.

[Cicely · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of how many cultures viewed Sacred Sleep as a means to communicate with the Gods is fascinating. Then he writes about how we can make Sacred Sleep part of our spiritual life.