The ascension teachings say that a great part of the real work of the path is done at night. While the body sleeps, the soul is free to travel, and many people are said to attend what are sometimes called the night classes: periods of instruction, healing and rest in the etheric retreats of the Masters and Archangels. Most of this is not remembered. Some of it can be, and this page describes how.

The Night Classes

According to the teachings, the soul is not confined to the body during sleep. It can travel, in its finer body, to the etheric retreats and to the temples of Venus, where the beings of light receive those who come. There it may be taught, healed, encouraged or simply allowed to rest in a light that is hard to find in waking life.

Serapis Bey is said to invite those who are serious about the ascension to his temple at Luxor in their sleep. Kuthumi is said to teach many souls at night in the Cathedral of Nature. The Venusian Council receives souls in its temples at turning points in their lives. People who have been to such places often wake with a decision already made, a problem dissolved, or a quiet, unaccountable gladness.

Asking Before Sleep

The beings of light honor free will at night as by day, and the teachings say that it helps to ask.

  1. Before you lie down, sit quietly for a few minutes and let the day settle. The evening review is an excellent preparation.
  2. Call on Archangel Michael to protect you through the night.
  3. Ask to be taken to a particular retreat, or simply: I ask to be taken tonight wherever I most need to be, for whatever I am ready to receive.
  4. If you have a question, write it on a slip of paper and put it under your pillow or beside the bed.
  5. Place a notebook and pen within reach, or a means of recording your voice.

Kinds of Night Experience

Not every dream is a message, and the teachings advise against treating every dream as one. It helps to recognize the different kinds of night experience.

  • Ordinary dreams. Most dreams are the mind sorting through the day. They can be useful for self-understanding, but they are not channeling.
  • Teaching dreams. Dreams with a clear symbolic structure and a calm, instructive feeling, often involving schools, libraries, temples or a wise figure. They tend to stay with you.
  • Visits. Experiences that feel different from dreams altogether: vivid, clear, peaceful, and remembered more like an event than a story. People describe them as more real than waking life.
  • Waking with an answer. No dream is remembered at all, but you wake with a question resolved, or with an instruction or idea complete in your mind. Gabriel is especially associated with this kind of guidance.

Recording and Reading Dreams

1. Write immediately

Dreams fade within minutes of waking. Before you move or check your telephone, write down whatever you remember, even a single image or feeling.

2. Write in the present tense

I am standing in a garden. A woman in blue is speaking. The present tense often brings back more detail than the past.

3. Note the feeling

Record how the dream felt, as well as what happened. The feeling is often the most reliable guide to what kind of experience it was.

4. Do not interpret too quickly

Leave the record for a day or two before you decide what it means. Many dreams explain themselves in the light of later events.

5. Look for patterns

Over weeks and months, read back through the notebook. Recurring places, figures and themes are often more significant than any single dream.

Difficult Dreams

Frightening dreams are common, especially in the clearing stage of the path, when old fears are rising to be released. The teachings regard most of them as part of that clearing rather than as messages. They are not warnings from the beings of light, who do not frighten. If a nightmare wakes you, call on Archangel Michael, picture his blue light around you, and give the fear to the violet flame. Then, if you can, return to sleep with a simple prayer for peace.

If difficult dreams are frequent or are disturbing your sleep and your daily life, please talk to a doctor or another qualified professional. Sleep matters for health, and care for the body is part of the path.

Testing What You Receive

Guidance that comes in sleep is tested in exactly the same way as guidance that comes in waking meditation. Is it loving? Is it free of fear, flattery and command? Does it leave you more able to live your own life? Is it consistent with what has come before? A dream that tells you to make a sudden, drastic change, or that sets you above others, should be set aside. A dream that leaves you kinder and steadier can be trusted, gently, and acted on in small ways first. See Discernment and Protection.

Questions People Ask

I never remember my dreams. Am I missing out?

No. The teachings say that what is received at night is not lost because it is not remembered. It surfaces in other ways: as intuition, as a change of heart, as a sense of direction. Recall often improves with the practice of keeping a notebook, but it is not essential.

Can I meet loved ones who have died in my dreams?

Many people report such meetings, and the teachings regard them as possible. They also counsel gentleness and discernment. A true meeting usually brings peace and leaves you more able to go on with your life. If dreams of a loved one leave you more distressed, a grief counselor may help.

How do I know if a dream was a visit to a retreat?

Visits tend to feel calm, vivid and real, and to involve light, architecture, gardens or a teacher. They are remembered more like events than stories, and their effect lasts. But the teachings advise holding such conclusions lightly. What matters is what the experience leaves behind.