by Mark Edwards Crowe

Mitote is a Toltec ritual in dreaming performed throughout the night. It has been passed down through the various Toltec lineages and bands of sorcerers, as a means to transform one’s own personal dream. It works to transform the individual’s dream on multiple dimensions and in “the onion” layered universe we all exist in…

Intent of the Mitote
There are overlaying, multiple intents woven together in this ceremony, designed to propel/evolve an individual along their transformation, like the butterfly.

1. The first intent of the Mitote ceremony is to be conscious in the dreaming.

Each time we go to sleep, the mind passes from the waking dream through layers, to the sleeping dream. Each time our awareness passes through these dimensions of dreaming, we have an opportunity to become aware that we are dreaming. This is often referred to as lucid dreaming. When we become aware that we are dreaming, we can be conscious in the dream. We can start to interact and influence the dreaming and be an active dreamer.

In this way the dreamer can practice changing the dream, instead of the dreamer simply reacting to the dream or unaware. Mastery of this aspect of dreaming has many benefits for the warrior. It especially has benefits in the waking tonal world of our daily life. The dreaming and tonal worlds always interact in a subtle interplay.

One of the easiest ways to become aware in the dreaming is after waking in the night, at the moment that the body begins falling back into sleep, even as the mind continues the dream while being aware. ONCE THIS SPLIT OCCURS, A DOORWAY OPENS TO ALLOW THE BODY TO CONTINUE TO FALL ASLEEP WHILE THE MIND-AWARENESS REMAINS AWAKE. We can become aware in other ways, but this is one of the easiest.

Exercise: Once you awake in the middle of the night, begin allowing your body to fall asleep, recite the following: “I am falling asleep, yet I will remain awake. I will remain conscious and aware yet allow my body to fall asleep…I will safely dream awake and explore this beautiful universe… i will travel out of body as my physical form remains asleep and safely resting….. etc.”

During mitote dream work, there are multiple opportunities to take advantage of this window of dreaming awareness as we wake up periodically throughout the night and then lay down to sleep again. The mastery of this requires a period of time to practice this nightly (for at least two to three weeks). Results may take more or less time, depending on focus and individual Intent, etc.

2. The second intent is NOT DOINGS – the breaking of patterns and routines.

Most of the actions, thoughts, and emotional responses we engage in are patterned routines upheld by the internal dialogue and our image of self. These routinary patterns are programs that keep us repeating the same dream (waking and sleeping). We could say that our actions in this state are partially unconscious. Our reactions, motivations, and beliefs are usually programmed, habitual responses. This is the same behavior we often experience in a dream, where things are just happening and we are just reacting as in the tonal world.

We find ourselves just doing things in the dream in reaction, and not conscious of the action or intention. We could say that in this experience we are not exercising our will. To truly make a choice, one must first see or intuit the choice. Habitualized patterns imprison us in a generic, artificial reality-perception and usually generate negative reactions, addictions, and compulsive behavior.

This is similar in the waking dream, when we are just reacting or behaving in a routinary pattern. We choose the path that our personal history and self importance have invested in, and play out these patterned routines, which provide a comfort zone. In habits, we lose our opportunity for NAVIGATION.

By breaking our routines, we can recover the energy that we have invested in them. When we have recovered our personal power, we do not have to react as an automatons. The routine and personal history no longer dictates our behavior, and instead we can NAVIGATE using intuition, omens, synchronicities, and the indications of power.

One of the fastest ways to recover our personal power (luminous energy) is to break up the patterns that run our life. One of the biggest of these is the habit of sleep. We have a lot of cultural, scientific, and perceptual agreements about sleep and dream realities. We believe them, but they are not necessarily true. We can modify and evolve them. When we change them, we can recover the investment of our luminous energy in that belief. In mitote dreaming practices, we consciously intend to break up the sleep patterns and recover the power we have put in agreements and routines about sleep.

When you practice this aspect of mitote, you can become much more aware of other places where our awareness and energy are invested in routines that don’t serve ourselves or others. Once you realize that you can break up the patterns around sleep, it gives you more confidence and personal power to break other patterns in the tonal world and frees your awareness to travel to other bands on the cosmic radio/universe.

3. The third intent is the energetic work of an experienced guide (Nagual) in the dream state.

We are a multidimensional beings living and existing in multiple realities at the same time. We perceive on many dimensions. However, from the time we were very young, the world trained our attention to focus on a limited band of these dimensions (the tonal). In the dreaming, our awareness is still working to evolve whether we are conscious of our dreams or not. During a mitote, a Nagual/Seer can work with individuals in the dream state towards this dreaming transformation. This evolution happens in realms that we are often not consciously aware of until later, if ever.

The general format of the Mitote ceremony:

The mitote is done with a dreaming group and should be led by an experienced guide who has dreaming/shifting abilities. If possible, the group gathers for a ceremony at sunset to connect themselves with the light of the sun (crack between worlds). Afterwards, the group will gather to perform the dreaming ceremony.

The first group will hold the energy for the others through inner silence and/or chanting, generally in the center of the room. The rest of the group will lay down to dream and sleep. At intervals throughout the night, the smaller group will wake the next group. Each group can take a turn meditating and consciously holding the larger group’s intent. This continues until sunrise, the second doorway between worlds.

Each person’s experience will be different according to his or her own energetic development. Some people have had extraordinary mitote experiences and remember many dreams, only to remember nothing until their next ceremony. Thus it is best to not have too many expectations, and this should be repeated at least twice a year under guidance! We set our intent, but we don’t expect that things will turn out a particular way. We must leave room for Spirit to co-create with us in Its own way. We can adjust the sails, yet we cannot control the wind.

Through a 27-year ongoing relationship with indigenous “medicine elders” in America and Mexico, Mark Edwards Crowe provides a unique form of intuitive spiritual guidance and direction. He has been a student of Victor Sanchez, Don Miguel Ruiz, Robert Moss, James Van Praagh, and Lillian Celic. He has appeared on the Rolanda Show, Network News, Wild Chicago, the M.U.F.O.N. lecture series, and Channel 5 News. His numerous articles have appeared in the Monthly Aspectarian, the Roosevelt Journal, the Sun Times, Magical Blend magazine, and the Hyde Park Herald. To learn more, visit www.edwardsees.com.