Dream Requests (SHE’ELOT HALOM) as Lucid Dreaming in Jewish Magical Literature

• In Event: Psyche and Soma in the Study of Jewish Mysticism

Abstract

Jewish magical literature is replete with recipes and rituals for inducing divinatory and revelatory dreams. The close association between magic and dreaming and the traditional view of dreams as a source of revelation led to the development of a broad range of rituals and procedures for inducing such dreams. In the medieval period, these practices were known as dream requests (SHE’ELOT HALOM) and they typically involved the preparation of an amulet, the recitation of an incantation, and/or the performance of a ritual, accompanied by a verbal or written statement articulating the request. The efficacy of such recipes and rituals generally appears in the literature similar to that of other magical practices as something supernatural—if certain procedures are followed then, by virtue of the magical forces activated, the revelatory dream will necessarily result. However, a number of the recorded recipes betray a much more naturalistic understanding of the relationship between the procedures for inducing dream requests and their oneiric effects. This paper examines a broad range of techniques for dream requests found in Jewish magical literature and shows that at least in some cases they were understood to involve decidedly natural, typically psychological, types of efficacies. Drawing on insights from contemporary dream research, it further argues that rather than being passive experiences, many of the dream states induced by these techniques are phenomenologically akin to certain forms of lucid dreaming—dreams in which the dreamer retains or recovers a measure of awareness and volition within the dream. Introducing a more naturalistic perspective on dream requests will enable a new and deeper understanding of this practice and its psychological effects and will shed light on the cultivation and function of such dream states in Jewish mystical traditions as well.

Author

• Elly Moseson, Columbia University