The ability to have control and consciousness in the dream
state, also known as lucid dreaming. According to Hereward
Carrington (in his book Higher Psychical Development, 1924)
dreamers can keep conscious control up to the moment of falling
asleep. He advises:
‘‘When you have learned to do that, then construct before
yourself, mentally, a definite scene, which you must hold firmly
in mind. Then, as you are falling to sleep hold this scene before
you, and at the very last moment, before you fall asleep, consciously
transfer yourself into the scene—in other words, step
into the picture; and if you have developed yourself to the requisite
point, you will be enabled to carry over an unbroken consciousness
into the dream state; and in this way you have a perfect
continuity of thought; there is no break in the
consciousness; you step into the dream picture and go on
dreaming consciously. That is the process of dreaming true,
and after this dream is fully enacted, then you should remember
perfectly all that has transpired during the sleep period.’’ In the book The Projection of the Astral Body by Sylvan J. Muldoon
and Carrington (1929), Muldoon remarks that these instructions
are in harmony with the method of dream control
used to induce the astral body to move out into space. An article
in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (vol. 26,
July 1913) records van Eeden’s experiments in dreaming true.
The British psychical researcher J. Arthur Hill vouches for the
truthfulness of
the experiences in The Dreams of Orlow (1916),
by A. M. Irvine.
J. Gordon Melton, ed., “Dreaming True,” in Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, vol 1. (Farmington Hills: Gale Group Inc., 2001), 449.
“Dreams have much to teach us about how we “construct” our experiences and sense of identity or self in our waking life. During mindless daily life, we seldom look deeply enough into our perceptions, conceptions, and projections to recognize that our selective attention, biases, preconceptions, and assumptions are actually weaving together to construct our experience. Properly understood as expounded in the philosophy of Tibetan dream yoga, our ordinary life is seen to be a “waking dream” subject to many of the same conditions of our “sleeping dreams.” Learning to wake up within our dreams, and see and understand deeply and clearly what is going on, can be a profound path of awakening. As Thoreau said, “Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.”
Before we get into it, I have a little disclaimer:
Warning: Do not attempt this technique if you have serious physical or mental health problems. I take no responsibility for any damage this practice causes you. You have been warned.
So what the fuck is death posture anyway? You’ll hear lots of chaote’s throw the term around without much explanation. Simply put, it is a kind of alternate form of meditation. Of course, it is a little more complicated than that. Austin Osman Spare, the creator of death posture, defines it in the following way in his book “The Book of Pleasure”:
“Lying on your back lazily, the body expressing the condition of yawning, suspiring while conceiving by smiling, that is the idea of the posture. Forgetting time with those things which were essential-reflecting their meaninglessness, the moment is beyond time and its virtue has happened.
Standing on tip-toe, with the arms rigid, bound behind by the hands, clasped and straining the utmost, the neck stretched- breathing deeply and spasmodically, till giddy and sensation comes in gusts, gives exhaustion and capacity for the former.
Gazing at your reflection till it is blurred and you know not the gazer, close your eyes (this usually happens involuntarily) and visualize. The light (always an X in curious evolutions) that is seen should be held on to, never letting go, till the effort is forgotten, this gives a feeling of immensity (which sees a small form ), whose limit you cannot reach. This should be practised before experiencing the foregoing. The emotion that is felt is the knowledge which tells you why.”
So that’s all well and good, but lets put it into some more modern terms. This is the way that I do death posture. Keep in mind, this is just the way I do it, and there is not an “absolutely correct” way to do something in chaos magick. This is just the way it works for me. Feel free to change any of it to suit your personal needs.
1. Find a place where you won’t be interrupted for a while, preferably a nice, quiet dark room.
2. With your back to a wall, close your eyes (closing your eyes is not always necessary, depending on your goal) and stand on your toes. Lock your arms behind your back with your hands interlocked together. Arch your back and extend your neck as far as you can.
3. Your breathing will become/should become more labored and faster, bordering on hyperventilating. You’ll also start to feel tingly and exhausted. It will feel intense, so be prepared.
4. You will begin to feel incredibly uncomfortable, start hyperventilating, and your vision (if you keep your eyes open) will begin to blur, but stay locked in this pose for as long as it is possible.
5. Right before you collapse from the strain, you will enter a kind of altered mental state. At this point, you may feel like your floating, or like your muscles are on fire. While in this state, it will be possible to do certain acts of visualization. This is also when sigils can be charged, or an affirmation can be said.
6. Collapse to the floor and relax. Hopefully, you didn’t blackout, but it is possible. You will probably feel fairly strange but this is normal. Do whatever banishing ritual you feel necessary (I usually go with a laughter banishing, but it doesn’t really matter as long as it works for you) and then get up slowly so you don’t accidentally fall over and crack your head open.
So why the hell would you want to do this? It sounds pretty awful.
Well, yeah. It kind of is awful. That’s the point. I initially said that death posture was a kind of meditation, which is true in a sense. Claudio Naranjo once said:
“The word ‘meditation’ has been used to designate a variety of practices that differ enough from one another so that we may find trouble in defining what meditation is.“
Death posture exemplifies this, as it is meditation, just not in the sense of what we typically imagine meditation being. Like any form of meditation, the primary goal is to attain a state of gnosis (something I will cover more in depth in a later WTF is article), but in attaining this gnostic state, you then use it for a work, whether a sigil, spell, or whatever.
But wait, how do I use a mental state for spellcraft/sigil craft?
You’ll hear me often say this, echoing a bit from bluefluke‘s Psychonaut field manual, but visualization, visualization, visualization. You’ll need to hold the image of what your are trying to accomplish in your mind’s eye when the gnostic state is entered (and preferably for the entire duration of the instance of death posture.) I’ll cover different visualization techniques in a later article.
Thanks to enochtopus for suggesting I talk about this. I think I’ll do sigil magick next, then move on to gnosis and visualization.
The yogic posture known as Shavasana (corpse pose) is a foundational element within the field of connatural magick. The versatility of the posture is reflected in its capacity to integrate comfortably into nearly any repertoire of occult practices.
It may serve as the postural basis for developmental practices such as meditative breath control, passive breath awareness, and Samyama applied to the physical body. The posture additionally allows for ease of entry into the hypnagogic state, the liminal corridor between waking and dreaming from which parapsychic operations such as mental scrying and assumptive manifestation can be effectively performed. Lucid dream induction methods such as WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dreams) also rely on the psychophysiological processes that the posture initiates.
Furthermore, Shavasana is frequently assumed as the first step toward consciously separating the subtle body from its physical host, resulting in an ecsomatic experience or out-of-body travel. Lastly, it was notably employed by English occultist Austin Osman Spare as part of a complex psycho-magical technique that he referred to as “The Death Posture”, a practice he exclaimed would lead to the practitioner’s eventual “ascension from duality”[1].
Through this imitation of death, the psychist learns to employ the body as a gateway into those anomalous states that form the very media of magical expression.
Within the field of connatural magick, exteriorization refers to a technique whereby one engages directly with the physical sensation of desire (wanting) and synchronizes it with mental imagery in an attempt to psychically influence the unfolding of future events. It is an organic way of enchanting reality that may be performed at a moment’s notice or, alternatively, dramatized to accommodate a more ritualistic operation. The technique is as follows:
First, internally or verbally state what you want to occur in the present or past tense as if it had already occurred. Next, focus exclusively on the sensation of that desire as it is felt in your body (chest, abdomen, etc.). Once your focus on this feeling is firm, push the desire out of yourself and imagine it coalescing into an amorphous mass and then into a sphere suspended directly in front of you. Continue this process of expulsion until you feel that you are completely released of the desire, then imagine the sphere suddenly growing heavier and falling straight through the floor into the unknown. Avoid dwelling on the desired outcome by simply assuming the sentiment of wish-fulfillment.
Innumerable variations on this procedure can be explored, many of which may prove equally or more effective depending on the disposition of the practitioner. This technique follows the contemporary thesis of magick according to which the object of a desire will preternaturally manifest if it is repressed through symbolic abstraction and seeded in the subconscious. Within the same continuum, the technique may also be likened to the partial creation of a thoughtform, imbued with the requisite amount of psychic and emotional force to materialize the intended event. However it is performed or explained, exteriorization is one of the many techniques that exploit the relation between tactile sense perception, imaginal thought, and nonlocal influence.
The Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream (DEILD or dream re-entry) is a condensed version of the WILD technique, allowing you to slip into a lucid dream from a waking state.
Under the right conditions, it’s a wonderfully effortless way to become lucid.
Once you get to know the DEILD technique, you’ll be able to use it multiple times per night in dream chaining. You can also use it to deliberately re-enter a great dream (lucid or non-lucid) if you wake up prematurely.
Occult Aspects 