Created by Linda Mastrangelo for Psiber Dreaming Conference 2008
In the winter quarter of this year, I experienced a most unusual dream while participating in Dr. Fariba Bogzaran’s Lucid Dreaming class at John F. Kennedy University. I had been practicing Dr. Bogzaran’s breathing and meditative techniques all week when suddenly in the midst of a dream about joining a consciousness group, I became lucid. I had left for a moment with a friend to get some refreshments at a snack bar. I had ordered hot apple cider to my delight and then looked up at the bright blue sky. Then my whole perception changed like I knew I was dreaming but it was beyond that. It was a new or altered state of reality. I felt a burst of excitement as I waited expectantly to see what was about to emerge from behind a cloud. (Interestingly enough, in my ‘waking world’ I could feel my cat, Bunny, sleeping soundly next to me in the crook of my arm.)
Suddenly, a black and white creature flew from behind a giant cloud and headed straight for me! It was like an illustration from my art work come to life with a moon shaped face, smiling teeth and odd shaped bat like wings. I was too afraid to move because I didn’t want this experience to stop. As the creature headed towards me it ‘disappeared’ and I saw ‘nothing’ however I realized with awe it had actually manifested in my room! I knew it was there because I could hear it flying around my head, like the sound of a flying machine, clicking its gears and cogs right up against my ears. I could also hear an ‘air pump sound’ as if it came straight out of a science fiction movie. What was even more startling was the reaction of my cat. She jumped up and I could feel her head moving right to left against my cheek as if she was watching the flying creature dart about the bedroom. In essence, it had shifted from a lucid dream to the hypnopompic state. I lay paralyzed, too afraid to move an inch as the thing circled the room. After a few moments it ‘left’ and the noise died down. I opened my eyes and noticed the bottom half of my body was completely numb like a giant lump with no legs. It took strong concentration and will on my part to wiggle and feel them again. By that time, my cat went back to sleep and I was left in complete shock and wonder.
Afterwards, I became inspired to recreate this dream for another class taught by Dr. Bogzaran called Dreams, Art and Inner Worlds. Luckily my husband, Eric Whitman, is an animator and he showed me how to render my creature using Macromedia Flash software. By following his guidelines, I was able to draw the creature directly into the computer using a Wacom Tablet. Afterwards, I drew a series of wings at different points to create the illusion of flight. (I did this with the air pump and head movements, as well.) I later chose a photograph as the backdrop and for scale positioned the creature behind the cloud, shrinking it to make it look like it was far away and then gradually expanding the image. Adding audio was the final touch and my husband and I got really creative with the sound design by using tissue paper for wing sound and socket wrench for mechanical gears and cogs. Overall it was a very satisfying process that has inspired me to create more dream reenactments using animation; certainly an exciting art form for the future of dreaming.
