Keep a pen, paper, or a tape recorder by the bed, and if you have  a partner be merciful and use a small flashlight to prevent waking  them. The journal should be small enough to keep under your pillow or carry around during the day, in case something triggers a memory of an earlier dream. Both pen and pad should only be used for recording dreams. Rituals even as small as these create a sense of something unique, personal and special. It also means that even the sight of these objects, having their special purpose, can be a focus which prompts memory. These are, after all, your passports into another world.

      Make a point of consciously deciding that the journal is the place where you will be recollecting your experiences in the
 dreamworld.  However odd the details might appear, they are only a device to help jog your memory. Most of us have spent our whole lives ignoring our dreams and now you will be carefully recording every detail of them, so do not be impatient.

      Directly before going to bed, there are a number of useful tips. The first is simply to go to bed with a clear head, unbefuddled with alcohol, sleeping pills, or just being too tired. Sit and relax, and allow the mind to clear itself of all the junk accumulated during the day. Of all exercises, relaxation is probably the most difficult for a Westerner under the usual stress of daily life. The most important element in calming the body, to allow an easy entry into sleep, is through regular and rhythmic breathing exercises. Simply breathing slowly or breathing in to the count of five and out on the second five, does seem to be beneficial to many would-be dreamers who find it difficult to drop off. One method is to tense each muscle throughout the body, starting at the feet, as you inhale and let it relax as you exhale. Continue this until you reach the head.

      If you are to make any progress on the royal dream road then it is essential to create an atmosphere of calm. It is almost useless to try any of the methods if you cannot set aside a peaceful time for them.

      The room itself where you sleep should be filled with light and calming colors, or for those with more exotic taste, candles and incense. If you have a sympathetic, as well as compassionate, partner, then a gentle foot massage usually works charms on even the most hardened insomniac.

      Herb such as rosemary, thyme and lavender beneath the pillow are noted for inducing a quiet and natural sleep, as will a hot bath immediately before retiring. Some psychics recommend a handful of powdered ginger thrown into the water, which according to them cleanses the aura.

      Whatever the case may be, it certainly relaxes any tension in the muscles. If you find these instructions a little daunting, you might remember that a mystic would have probably taken years to enter a deep and meditative state where he or she could access their dreams, while a shaman would have gone through elaborate rituals or a long and often dangerous initiation to be worthy enough to meet the spirit-world. It is common, however, that armchair-shamans tend to expect instant gratification. If we pay for a book on dreams, then surely it should deliver the goods on demand. But the realm or particular aspect of ourselves that we are about to enter does not allow for quick solutions or forced entry. So you might as well relax and prepare for what might be a long wait. Now, in a quiet, calm but clear state tell yourself that you will recollect your dreams during the
 night.

      And to really implant the suggestion firmly into an otherwise often reluctant brain, write it down.

      This is a very powerful technique, especially known in Indian Tantra. Before going to bed sit with closed eyes and slowly unravel the day which has passed. Start from the evening and travel back through the whole day until you remember the very way you woke up and what thoughts you encountered in doing so. It is important to be completely accepting and non-judgmental of anyone's behavior, including your own. Be as dispassionate as possible - an observer on the hillside who does not identify with the dramas and passions of what he or she watches. This is an excellent way of ridding the mind
 of unwanted and irrelevant clutter. The quality of your dreams increases and the number of simple rubbish images which are
 collected during the course of the day seems to diminish. At the end of the procedure some practitioners visualize compressing the whole day's experience into a hot air balloon and letting it rise skyward or popping it in a bottle and throwing it out into an imaginary ocean. This discipline also helps you to attain a far greater dream recall than normal.

      It is known from the Dead Sea Scrolls that the religious Essene communities of biblical times believed that sleep was a small death, and treated it with as much respect. As members of the community went to sleep there was an acceptance that they might not awaken, so when the next morning dawned it was greeted as if it were a new life, a new birth. It appears that these people made it a point to leave nothing undone or unsettled at the end of the day. All arguments had to be resolved, wrongs forgiven and quarrels settled so that each person might be released from the life-day to enter the dream-death-night. Such a way of entering sleep would mean that one is unburdened by unresolved garbage, so that dreams would be free to pick up deeper and richer threads.

     The culminating part of all the previous preparations comes at dawn. Do not open your eyes immediately upon waking, or if you forget, have some object by the bed to cue or jog your memory. Prepare this before going to sleep the night before by telling yourself that when you see it in the morning you will remember your dreams.

      Otherwise, with eyes still closed, try to remember even a fragment of the dream which will act as a magnet for the rest. We all know just how ephemeral dreams can become when you really want to remember them. They seem to evaporate, leaving a general feeling of something having happened in an otherwise empty space. To recapture those memories, they must be allowed to emerge gradually and spontaneously into your consciousness. To attempt to hunt them down ruthlessly is futile. So simply relax with eyes closed and wait for a stray clue to arise. Avoid following any thoughts which bring up all the habits of the morning - like what the mail will bring or whether you forgot to pay the electricity bill last week. Just lie quietly, gently fishing for a hint, and the dream will suddenly rush back. If there is no image forthcoming, write in your journal the sort of images which
 appear in your waking moments instead. There is no hurry.

      Give each dream a title in your journal and record the date. List all the details of who was in it, what they wore, and particular objects or obvious symbols present in it along with your general emotional state. Don't be surprised if what you dream seems a bit dull at first. Only when you have written it all down will you suddenly realize that in some peculiar way it was unique and revealing. They invariably are.

      These methods are only a preparation for the subsequent techniques, and are designed to break through the amnesiac barrier. Inducing lucid dreaming is certainly not easy but without preparation the reader will discover it is impossible.

      The simple practice of keeping a dream journal also gives you a fascinating record of your inner workings. If you also keep a diary at the same time, you will begin to see immediate correspondences between the daytime and nighttime realms.

~from Ma'at's Book of Shadows