The Mystical World of Dreams
with Tree Carr
Episode 1, Women’s Rituals Series
Women’s Rituals
This is our second season of A NEW MND following a little break. Dedicated to the feminine energy, we are going to talk to some incredible women on rituals, dreams, death and our female cycle amongst other topics.
We want to look at ways how we can connect with our innate natural cycle in different ways as we are experiencing a time of darkness and of earth energies.
Finally, we like the idea of re-examining and reclaiming our sacred relationship with darkness something that all these women in their own way include into their practices.
Tree Carr
Tree Carr is a dreaming guide and death doula who works with the esoteric realms. She deals with topics that are often less talked about, yet a very integral part of our lives. As an intuitive empath, she is self taught in divinatory guidance: The Tarot, Rune Stones and Astrology and has facilitated readings, rituals, classes and courses spanning a wide variety of esoteric subjects. She is also the author of several books such as ‘Dreams’; her latest book project is ‘Arcana’ which encapsulates many years of researching and decodes the Raider-Waite Tarot.
About Tree Carr
Tree was born in 1972 and her formative years were spent in a commune were there was no television, radio or anything like that. As a result, she had quite an enriched inner world and big imagination. Lucky to have been brought up this way she’s developed a very deep relationship with nature, dreams and her inner world.
In the formative years of childhood the brain actually operates predominately in theta brainwaves which is like a dream-like state. Which explains the young behaviour of speaking to oneself and imaginary friends for example. This is why she believes to have developed the ability to connect to her dreams from a very young age. In fact, some of her earliest memories are of dreams, because they were so vivid, real and so present. This is what set her up to a lifetime of connection and exploration to dreams, flow states, altered states, creativity and imagination.
What is lucid dreaming?
Lucid dreaming is the complete awareness of being in a dream. Something occurs in a dream that sort of wakes you up within the dream to this awareness. So, there’s a moment where you go like “wow I am in a dream right now!”. Often a lucid dream can hold quite a visceral quality to it where it feels more real than waking life and all senses are fully awakened.
“Dreams are like mini psychedelic experiences every night”.
How can plants support dreaming?
There are a lot of different plants in the forms of flowers, roots and leaves that can help stimulate and activate dreaming. The are called oneirogens, which comes from the Greek word ὄνειρος (óneiros) meaning "dream" and gen "to create", and can produce or enhance dream-like states of consciousness. They are not like psycho-active plants that alter your state of consciousness in the waking state, but they only impact the liminal states on the threshold of sleep and dreams.
It means they help with memory recall of dreams, to experience more vivid dreams or even lucid dreaming. Some also help with precognition, meaning divinatory or visionary capabilities to receiving insights and knowledge that is beyond your normal baseline state of consciousness.
One particular one is Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), which is a great dream activator and also tastes really lovely! It is found in Europe so you can forage it or grow it at home if you’re based in this part of the world.
How and when would you take it?
You can make it into a hot tea and drink it just before bed time. You can also smoke it or make it into little sachets and have it in the bed with you for example under your pillow.
What other ways can we aid dream memory recall?
One of the things that helps kick-off the memory of dreams is journaling first think upon awakening. Even just a tiny detail, write it down. You might find yourself as you’re writing remembering more and more details. A dream journal is a great foundation for the practice of conscious dreaming and something that Tree would like to challenge us all listening and reading to get into. Just give it a try! Even after just a month you will get fascinating results.
These are all messages from you, your unconscious and can be hugely eye-opening to your waking life and help you to live your life in a more connected and enriched way. They can even be our creative muses. The melody for “Yesterday” by The Beatles famously came to Paul McCartney in a dream. He awoke one night and went from his bed to a nearby piano and played one of the most covered songs in music history for the very first time anywhere.
Another way to help dream memory recall Tree refers to as “Sleep Hygiene”. Habits in and around bedtime can have a big impact on dreams and sleep. For example, exercising close to bedtime or eating a huge meal is too stimulating before bedtime. But also bringing stress or anxiety into bed. One way to minimise that, would be to avoid reading news or connecting to Instagram. In fact, it’s best to avoid any screens in the bedroom due to the blue light that it emanates impacting the quality of our sleep profoundly.
“Claim your space as a dream space so you can experience great sleep and connect to your dreams more powerfully.”
A great way Tree described how to approach Sleep Hygiene - which I love - is to approach it as a sacred ritual or psychedelic journey in a therapeutic context. The set and setting are incredibly important, i.e. having a clean and tidy bedroom, lighting, scent, adding more plants and removing clutter. Last but not least setting intentions are super powerful.
How can we claim our sacred relationship with darkness?
“I believe that the inner world is connected to the Yin energies and everything external would be the Yang energy. These are linked to the feminine (Yin) and the masculine (Yang). The feminine chaos and its darkness is an incredible teacher, it can feel very challenging and quite scary but it’s deeply transformative. It holds the great cycle of birth, death, rebirth which is integral to the universe. Knowing that there is something to learn in this process and that there is always rebirth after death.”
Tree’s current projects
The Arcana: London’s first Tarot Boat
Book an appointment here with Tree
Arcana: Tree’s latest book project
Pledge here
To listen to the full interview with Tree and curated tracklist themed around dreams, click here!
[00:00:13] Isabelle introduces season 2
[00:02:18] Songs for Lucid Dreaming
[00:09:56] Isabelle and Tam chat to Tree
[01:09:15] Songs for Lucid Dreaming
[01:11:54] Episode wrap-up and preview for next season
[01:13:40] Deep sleep and dreaming meditation guided by Tam
[01:21:14] Songs for Lucid Dreaming
Follow Tree:
For more information on Dreams, Tarot, Death, to book an event, workshop or for private sessions head to Tree’s website. You can also order her books "'Dreams”, “Conscious Dreamer” and “The Artists Oracle” here.
Track list:
Hypnosis by Raveena
Beltway by Solange
Abracadabra by Anna Wise Feat. Little Simz
Young Love by Cleo Sol
Female Energy, Part 2 by Willow
Rainforest by Noname
Red Room by Hiatus Kaiyote
Sunday by HNNY
Afterglow by Luna Li
Atoll by Nai Palm
Work by Charlotte Day Wilson
Nature’s Joint by ((( O )))
