How To Have Lucid Dreams:

A Practice for Meeting the Tarot in Your Dreams

“Each man should frame life so that at some future hour, fact and his dreaming meet” -Victor Hugo

Lately I have begun experimenting with lucid dreaming, and it has become such a rich practice that I wanted to share it with you.

Lucid dreaming means knowing you are dreaming while you are still inside the dream, awake and aware within your own sleeping mind.

It found its way to me through the Tarot, the way these things tend to. It is August, deep in Leo season, and I have had Leo's card, Strength, on my mind.

Strength carries the infinity symbol above her head, which is really just the number 8 lying on its side.

Smith Rider Waite Deck, Strength

Maybe that is why, not long ago, the number 8 came through in a vivid dream.

In the dream, I was reviewing my own past. I could look at events from my childhood and adolescence as if they were passing by on a conveyor belt, and because I was in the driver's seat, none of them stung the way they might in waking life.

I kept holding the number 8 up to each memory like a little tool, and I was flooded with the sense that every single one of them had been lucky. I felt my grip on the old stories loosen.

In waking life I would tell you, of course, that every experience is a gift, but I had never actually felt it in my body until that dream. When I stumbled awake to scribble it down, the feeling stayed with me. I can still feel it now.

That is the quiet magic of this practice. Lucid dreaming is not only a way to explore your own mind, but it's also a way to deepen your relationship with the Tarot.

You can carry any card that is asking for further interpretation into the dream with you, and let your subconscious show you its meaning from the inside.

Imagine meeting Strength there, and actually feeling what it is to soothe the lion within you.

Training yourself to dream lucidly is a practice, not a single event, so give it time, ideally a full stretch of days or weeks.

If it helps you commit, you can anchor it to a Moon cycle, beginning at the New Moon and carrying it through to the Full Moon. My free Moon Manifesting 101 guide is a lovely companion if you want help setting intentions along the way. Mostly, be patient and playful with yourself.

Most of the science and technique behind lucid dreaming can be credited to Stephen LaBerge. I am no expert, and I encourage you to learn as much as you can, but here are the basics to get you started.

Step 1) Good Sleep Hygiene: The best way to invite lucid dreaming is to start with good sleep hygiene. That means going to bed at a regular time, turning off all screens an hour before bed, and keeping your bedroom as quiet and dark as you can, or wearing an eye mask. Even if you never have a single lucid dream, better sleep is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself.

Step 2) Reality Checks: To prepare for a lucid dream, spend time in waking life attuning to reality with simple reality checks. The goal is to build a habit of verifying whether you are awake, so that you eventually do it inside a dream and realize you are dreaming. Keep them quick so you can do them ten to twenty times a day. Press your palms together and feel them resist. Look in a mirror and notice your reflection. Read a clock or a line in a book, look away, then read it again. Or the classic, gently pinch yourself. Each time, ask yourself: am I awake or dreaming?

Step 3) Keep a Dream Journal: When you wake, from a dream or first thing in the morning, write down anything you can remember. Keep a pen and paper by your bed so you are not fumbling to text yourself at 4 AM, as I once did. Thinking about your dreams while awake makes you more likely to recognize a dream while you are inside one. Think of it as field notes from the subconscious.

Step 4) Use Affirmations Before Falling Asleep: As you drift off, repeat a phrase like, "Tonight I will know that I am dreaming," or "Tonight I will fly." Repeating your intention helps your subconscious register it.

Step 5) The MILD Technique: Right before sleep, think of a dreamsign, an unusual thing that often shows up in your dreams. Hold it in mind as you fall asleep and tell yourself you will notice it in your dream tonight. This is the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, or MILD.

Be patient with yourself, because this takes practice.

The gift of a lucid dream is that it gives you a space with no real-world stakes, an ideal place to meet your fears and practice a little courage where nothing can truly harm you.

friend once asked me, so matter-of-factly, "Do you have to do something when you fly in your dreams?" and I realized she assumed everyone flies. I generally remember my dreams, but I have never been a flyer, so one of my own intentions is to finally take flight.

Yours could be just as simple, asking the Divine, "What would you have me know?" before bed. As you go, you can begin choosing what you would like to visit: a feeling, a question, or a tarot card whose meaning you want to know from the inside.

I hope you will join me, and if you do, please share in the comments whatever you discover!

Highest and Best,

xoxo Meredyth