09 February 2022

borderlands of dreams

The hypnagogic state of consciousness is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to 

sleep during the onset of sleep. Its opposite state - hypnopompic, is the transitional state from sleep into wakefulness. These are the borderlands of dreams - thresholds of consciousness with extreme potential and possibility.

Mental phenomena that may occur in this phase include hypnagogic hallucinations, lucid thought, lucid dreaming, and sleep paralysis. The latter two phenomena are themselves separate sleep conditions that are sometimes experienced during the hypnagogic state.

In this transitional time between the sleep self and awake self lies a precious void of self-regeneration. Threads between wakefulness and dreamtime weave into the tapestry of cognition and consciousness. 

Moth Moon © K.A.K. Lecky 2018 @arctic.selkie

Waking up, in that moment,⁠
coming from the dream world, ⁠
the real world, ⁠
to this one, ⁠
before rolling over, ⁠
before feet touch the floor,⁠
the feel of other places⁠
still swimming around me,⁠
I am in between time. ⁠

Sometimes lost, ⁠
sometimes found,⁠
leaping from one world⁠
to another,⁠
carrying in my rucksack⁠
more secrets⁠
in the hidden pouch inside,⁠
waiting⁠
for just the right moment to⁠
empty them onto the page. ⁠

~ excerpt © Elise Stuart 2018

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