It's dang cold here in Philadelphia.

And it's also St Brigit's Eve, the day before the first day of mid-winter, as celebrated by my Irish and Scottish ancestors as Imbolc.

There's an old story in Ireland that this is the time when the winter goddess the Cailleach gives her power over to Brigit and her warming ways.

As the winter goddess, the Cailleach is a powerful being. She often is depicted as an old woman who lives in a small hut in the forest. Sometimes she is depicted in terrifying form: with blue skin, red teeth and one eye, her clothes adorned with skulls (like you do).

In Ireland, legend has it that the Cailleach would hope that the 1st of February would be bright and sunny. This would wake her up early and allow her to gather enough firewood to keep warm during the long winter which was still to come. But if the day was dark and gloomy, Cailleach would sleep through the day and be unable to gather more firewood– meaning the spring was on its way.

Sound familiar?

This ancient myth is one of the roots of the Groundhog Day celebration in the US, where here in Pennsylvania we wait with bated breath to see if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow.

As a consciousness researcher and dream worker, I'm drawn to the divination power of the Cailleach based on whether or not she sleeps in (and by extension, if Phil sees his shadow).

The lesson I take is -- these are winter cave times. Let yourself sleep in if you need it. If you're up, sure, gather the wood and do the work. But these dark days are variable and resting through them is OK. You are not your productivity, especially during winter cave times.

It's OK y'all.

If you want to read more about my somewhat irreverent mythological deconstruction of Groundhog Day, check out my article here on Substack (and please share!).

Free Talk about the Lucid Void

You’re invited!

When: Saturday February 21st at 2PM Eastern/ 11AM Pacific

Veteran lucid dream researcher Scott Sparrow and I will be talking informally about our recent “citizen science” project where we are mapping the nondual spaces of the lucid dream using some innovative new brainwave sensing headbands from Enchanted Wave.

We will share the initial data from lucid dream sessions providing new information about the “lucid void” (ie imageless lucid dreaming) and the sleep stages occurring during long lucid dreams. We will describe the kinds of experiences we have been having and then recording using the Advanced Lucid Dream Induction Technique (ALDIT), which was pioneered during our previous groundbreaking study of 2018, which established that the supplement galantamine increases the frequency of lucidity by about 2.5 times.

This has been such a fun project, and close to my heart as I have been exploring the lucid void for decades… and still don’t understand exactly what is going on with it.

This project is in partnership with the DreamStar Community which has free and paid levels of membership.

​Register here (it’s free) — if you register but miss the call, you’ll get access to the recording
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Upcoming Interview on Coast 2 Coast Radio

If you're awake at 11PM Pacific this coming Thursday February 5th (and into the wee early morning hours of the Friday 6th)...

Tune in to Coast to Coast Radio as I discuss sleep paralysis with host George Noory. We will be talking about the terrors of the night as well how to work with this misunderstood altered state to encourage visions of angels, ancestors, and, perchance, non-human intelligence.

Here's more info about the show and how to tune in -- we will be taking callers' questions! And if you know this show, you know it's OK to let your weird flag fly.

Last chance for Social Justice Dreaming Discount

Tomorrow's the last day to get 25% off for my colleague Katrina Dreamer's course Social Justice Dreaming.

I am proud to be hosting Katrina's excellent course on my Dream Portal for the fourth season in a row now.

This workshop covers dreaming and intuitive skills and teaches you how to weave them together, practically applying them to activist practices.

Each week will include guiding questions in the forum for journaling and personal reflection on how to connect intuitive practices with your particular arena of activism. Additionally, Katrina will include weekly case studies demonstrating how the intuitive practices in the class can work in your life. As always, folks can connect in the class's special area of the portal to cultivate community.

This course is available a-la carte (separately) for $100 if you enroll before February 1st.

​learn more and enroll here.

If you are interested and ready to participate but can't swing it, hit reply and let me know. No one will be turned away from this course for lack of funds.

Last chance for Winter Quarter membership in the Dream Portal

This quarter we are offering:

• Ancestral dream calibration (we just started but not too late to join us)
• Social Justice Dreaming - starts Feb 6th
• Visionary Hypnagogia -- starts February 24th.

Members in the Inner Sanctum level get access to ALL three of these courses (and more) if you enroll by Monday February 2nd. That's $125 for three powerful trainings, plus my safe and encrypted dream community far from the eye of sauron.

​Register here for full access to the Dream Portal community and classes

This is a subscription that renews every 3 months; you can cancel any time. It's also the best deal I have for working with me in a supportive group coaching environment.

And because you're a subscriber to my newsletter, you can use a 15% coupon off on membership. that coupon is: NEWSLETTER

​Learn more here about the Dream Portal membership and all the benefits I haven't had a chance to mention.

Sleep well and dream strong!

Ryan Hurd, he who probably should not have waited this long to shovel out the driveway