[Holiday]

I was surfing through the internet and found a whole bunch of things that are fascinating, lots of protective rituals, spells, charms, etc.

I found this dream pillow concept on About.com. If you're having nightmares, you can make a pillow and put dried lavender inside of it to protect yourself.

Quote

When at night I go to sleep,
sweet dreams will come to me.
Lavender scent bring peaceful rest.
As I will so it shall be.

There's also this bit about what you would like to dream about, and cutting out shapes. So put rainbows and sunflowers on your pillow, for example, out of bits of cloth.

[Bright One]

How does it work?

[Holiday]

Bright One, on Jul 31 2009, 03:25 PM, said:

How does it work?

Lavender keeps nightmares away, I suppose? I like the bit about cutting shapes into what you want to dream about and sewing them onto the pillow. :)

[RedDice]

I myself had had some nightmares of some sort,
and i looked up the dream pillow theory.
I cut shapes out of different fabric and sewed them onto my pillow, along with some dried lavender inside my pillow.

I'VE NEVER SLEPT BETTER!
the lavender calms me and keeps me in a deep sleep,
its just a homey scent,
like the scent of your mothers perfume when you were younger.
It just makes you feel safe and comforted!

Thanks a lot holiday!
Dice

[misan]

Lavender is a soothing scent often used in aromatherapy to help relax people. It's a very good scent to have in the bedroom.

[Holiday]

Why does lavender work? I wonder if there have been any studies on this... does the scent of lavender really help aid sleep? And why?

[misan]

I haven't seen studies, but I have read often of it's use in aromatherapy to calm people. It is also used for headaches.
Perhaps Innanna would be the best one to respond to that. She may know why it works.

[Pelothedel]

I imagine the cutting of desired dream topics into shapes actually serves to help focus one's mind by the task, itself. From that hypothesis, I would suggest that anyone attempting this actually do this by hand or lengthy process rather than something quick and simple.

Dreams are often affected by heavy thoughts of the day. The item quite likely takes on meaning, creating a lasting impression that one is reminded of every time they go to rest. Especially if retiring involves any process requiring lighting (or early enough in the evening), giving the chance to see the pillow before actually resting on it.

[egoratis]

I tried the rainbow approach. All it really did was make my nightmare somewhat more enjoyable.

[Pelothedel]

lol Well, that's something, right?

People bleeding rainbows is nice and creepy.

Using a rainbow as a prison shank, maybe?

Or being swallowed by pretty colors...

[DoW]

i have read in numerous books about using Anise seeds.. kept in a small pouch or netting like a piece of panty hose its supposed to get rid of bad dreams, tried it once seems to work