Psychic Dreamwalking: Explorations at the Edge of Self

by Michelle Belanger

Explaining both the phenomenon and technique of dreamwalking, Michelle Belanger takes readers on an adventure into the subconscious world of dreams.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Paganism, Occult, Science, Magick

208 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2006

About the author

Michelle Belanger is an American author, singer, and television personality, widely recognized for her work on television's Paranormal State. A leading authority on psychic and supernatural topics, her non-fiction research in books like "The Dictionary of Demons" (Llewellyn, 2010) and "The Psychic Vampire Codex" (Weiser, 2004) has been sourced in television shows, university courses, and numerous publications around the world.
She has worked as a media liaison for fringe communities, lectured on vampires at colleges around North America, performed with Gothic and metal bands, including Nox Arcana, and designed immersive live actions RPGs for companies such as Wizards of the Coast. Her research on the Watcher Angels led to the creation of a Tarot Deck and the album Blood of Angels. She has appeared on CNN, A&E, Fox News, Reelz, and the History Channel.
Michelle resides near Cleveland, Ohio with three cats, a few friendly spirits, and a library of more than five thousand books.

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Psychic Dreamwalking has some instruction on lucid dreaming, but it is interspersed with a lot of personal background information and some psychic vampire stuff. That didn't bother me, even though it isn't my particular realm of study. I've found that the mind is a very powerful tool for interpreting reality and people seem to believe all sorts of things that I find to not be compatible with my life experience. But, if that kind of thing annoys you, just stop reading Psychic Dreamwalking before Chapter 9 and you'll avoid most of it.

I rather liked Belanger's opening dedication, "Prayer of the Dreaming": "I commit myself to you, Lord Morpheus! Open wide the Gates of Dream. Grant me safe passage in your realm So I may return with tales to tell. She mentions that this prayer is based on The Dream King from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. I haven't read that comic yet, but it has a great reputation. I'll have to get to it sometime.

What is dreamwalking anyway?: "Dreamwalking is the art of sending forth a part of the self in order to make contact with others through the medium of dreams. Anyone can learn how to dreamwalk, and, as we explore the concept throughout this book, you will find that most people already do. ... The lack of available information on dreamwalking exists in part because there is no consistent nomenclature for the technique. There are accounts of dreamwalking mixed in with experiments in astral projection, dream telepathy, and lucid dreaming, but they are rarely identified as such." pg 1

"But this the fundamental premise of dreamwalking: on some level, the dreamspace is real. It is not real in the sense that the physical world it (sic) real, but it is certainly as real as the astral planes described by writers like Madame Blavatsky and Dion Fortune. Like the astral planes, the dreamspace is a subjective reality. As much as it is a place we can go to, it is also a place that we shape with out (sic) hopes, desires, and fears." pg 25

Belanger talks about Carl Jung a lot in this. I wonder what he would think about dreamwalking...: "Jung's concept of the collective unconscious, a layer of myth and symbol deep within each of our minds that connects all of us in mysterious ways, hearkens back to the ancient notions that the dreamspace is a realm unto itself, a hazy place of twilight where men can sometimes meet with gods." pg 36

The main technique that Belanger uses to access this world within dreams is one that I am very familiar with, namely building a gate: "The Gates of Dream are an archetypal image that I return to again and again in this book. Archetypes and symbols have some objective reality within the realm of dreams, and the Gates of Dream represent the point of passage from your personal dreams to the wider territory of the dreamspace. You can harness this archetypal image in your dream haven, creating a crossing-over point that can later serve as a focus for when you seek to dreamwalk." pg 51

Belanger touches a bit on shamanic practices, but not in depth: The shamanic dreamtime, as a realm of myths and images that is peopled by animal totems and celestial teachers, can very easily be equated to Jung's collective unconscious, the psychological repository of humanity's collective myths, dreams, and symbols. Many of the totems and other mythic figures encountered in the shamanic realms are Jungian archetypes transported from their existence as simple concepts to vivid, potent entities. ... There is a kind of travel that occurs in dreamwalking, but it is, at first, an inward journey. This inward journey, however, can lead the dreamwalker elsewhere. Traveling within can sometimes lead you out. pg 67

The importance of lucid dreaming in various religious traditions: "From the monks of Buddhist Tibet to the 12th century Spanish Sufi Ibn El-Arabi, mystics the world over have proclaimed the benefits of lucid dreaming. For religious thinkers, lucid dreaming has long been seen as a way to illuminate both the nature of the Self and the nature of reality. Tibetan Buddhists were pursuing lucid dreams as early as the eighth century C.E. According to their philosophy, the mastery of lucid dreams was a necessary step in the pursuit of enlightenment. The ability to recognize the illusory nature of the dreamstate directly correlated to the ability to recognize the illusory nature of all things. pg 139 Fascinating!

Belanger captured my feelings about psychic vampires very well in this passage: "Ultimately, you and you alone can judge the validity of your experiences. You should never surrender this right, but you should also not use it as an excuse to indulge in wish fulfillment. Make a thorough investigation of every experience and decide for yourself. pg 181. Cura te ipsum.

Though I feel that Psychic Dreamwalking contained a lot of superfluous information, there are some solid dreamwalking techniques in here. I think that the main hurdle to this practice is simply becoming lucid while dreaming in the first place. So, for now, I'll stick with going into trance. But, for those who already have the ability to lucid dream, this may be something that you'll want to investigate. Pick up Otherwhere by Kurt Leland for a first person account of dreamwalking or Multidimensional Man by Jurgen Ziewe.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review originally appeared on my blog Dreaming of Peter at http://dreamingofpeter.blogspot.com/2...

Psychic Dreamwalking: Explorations at the Edge of Self (Weiser, 2006) is one of the strangest books you'll ever read about dreams. Although it is sold as a non-fiction book, don't be fooled -- it really should be labeled as fiction. Author Michelle Balanger has written books and appeared in dodgy documentaries about her life as a psychic vampire.

A WHAT?

This is a vampire that doesn't get involved with all that messy blood stuff. These vampires merely drain your "psychic energy." Victims feel really tired afterwards but do not turn into bats, corpses or psychic vampires.

I bought this book without realizing who Michelle Balanger was. I was hoping for information about people being able to influence someone else's dreams. Now, years and years ago, I was an eclectic witch. It was a fun time but I seriously didn't believe in all of that magick, Deities and supernatural stuff. I just hoped the stuff existed. Now I don't even bother to mess around with it (because I know that it doesn't exist).

However, I did wonder if people could "dreamwalk" or appear in other people's dreams. This is also sometimes referred to as out of body experiences or astral travel. After comparing some of my dreams about Peter Gabriel with other PG fans, I was struck by some of the similarities in our dreams.

You will not learn how to appear in someone else's dreams when you read this book. You mainly read about Balanger's bizarre and yet somehow tawdry life as a psychic vampire. Apparently, there's not a lot of money in psychic vampirism, so for a while she worked in more conventional jobs. There are some history bits about any info Balanger could uncover about dreams and dreamwalking, but the majority of the book is based on her personal history (or, well, the personal history she would like us to believe that she had.)

It is a good read -- if you don't take it too seriously. The pages keep turning. She can write and she seems to have found her niche. However, it's not a good self-help book, history book or book about dreams. Some of the experiences described may help trigger some interesting dreams for you. They did for me, so I still have this book on my shelves, even though now I am an atheist.

If you do want to know more about dreamwalking or whatever you call it, you could do no worse than check out The Dream Walking Society. It seems to be a Tumblr page about photography which makes just as much sense as Psychic Dreamwalking. Whatever it is, it seems to be different depending on who you ask. Make it your own and have fun with it.

[May Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Belanger provides a great description of dreamwalking and her approach to achieving this. Some of the others have cited other authors that go through more depth. Will need to take a look. But I think this is good place to start.

Finally hunkering down and trying to understand what is going on with this after a bit too many experiences. This served my purpose for where you might be able to expand this skill. Bummer that she's got light chi. Mine is huge and I am often a victim of dream vampires. I had a friend do the blessing she described and protect my home and I finally started having better energy levels and health.

P. 34 Inner temples of dreams concept is interesting as a way to launch it out. This concept of the dream haven is fascinating. I have one, I just didn't think of it this way.

P. 38 crafting your eidolon, which appears to be a dream avatar. Very cool.

P. 45, the relationship between dreamwalking and astral projection. Very cool

P. 67, 6 activities you can do: Communication, Interaction, feeding & energy exchange, healing, instruction, spirit contact. There are also potent psychic attacks.

p. 101 the buddy system for lucid dreaming seems an interesting technique.

[Bogi Takács]

Want to write about this a bit longer later for my intersex book reviews series. Intersex author, though it doesn't really come up on this book. Interesting stuff also along the personal-narrative dimension, not just as a howto.
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Source of the book: I got it via book swap

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Michelle Belanger as an author. This book really brings about why there are risks and rewards of Astral Projection. Basically an easy to follow guide with more of her life story to relish in.

[Tait · Rating 3 out of 5]

Belanger falls into the issue of modern metaphysical books on dreams of providing basic information fluffed out with effusive statements and too many personal anecdotes, and namedropping Jung while clearly having never read any of his works.

Despite that, she does at the least offer something unique in her insistence that the experiences she’s had that otherwise sound like astral projection she feels are actually dreams. She also discusses concepts like creating a “dream sanctum” (astral temple) that is not usually found in these kind of books, so my sense is that she’s not approaches this only on the surface like many authors on the topic. But despite that, still too fluffy and anecdotal (and has a thing for vampires).

[Myrna Salgado · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned different phasis of dream states and I also learned how I can go back into a dream and continue with it, although it doesn't always work, I have done it.

It was somewhat interesting but I expected a little bit more information.

[Amie · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed the research and the ideas contained within. if you are curious about lucid dreams, astral travel or other types of spirit travel, then this could be an interesting read for you