This final pre-sleep reverie was not intended to be an induced dream or guided fantasy, nor was it an attempt to employ suggestion to program a particular dream experience. These alternatives may be workable approaches to inducing potent dreams of particular content (30, 36), but are contrary to the spirit of this particular dream incubation ritual, whose theme progresses from preparation, through hard work, to surrender. The suggested imagery was not intended as a thematic starting point for a dream, but rather its purpose was to coalesce the incubant's preceding activity into a particular state of being upon falling asleep-an attitude of surrender, trusting to subsequent autonomous processes-and to provide an opportunity for the dreamlike processing and discharging of surface material related to the incubant's work, in order to free the subsequent sleep and dream activity to deal with deeper levels of significance.

The music lasted for about 40 minutes, and by the time it finished, the incubant's reports would have become almost inaudible. I would then quietly leave the tent, while the incubant would have typically already fallen asleep.

Testimony. The morning after the ceremony, I returned to the dream tent and listened to the incubant relate the dreams from that night. I would ask to hear the dreams at least twice, and then I asked about their possible meanings. In a manner similar to that employed the night before, I would coach the incubant in assuming the role of each dream element, and afterwards we would discuss again the possible meanings of the dreams and their relationship to the purpose of the incubation.

I cautioned the incubant not to rest content with any particular interpretation, but tentatively to apply into practice a hypothesized interpretation, and allow the meaning of the dream to develop over time. I also expressed my belief that the ultimate value of the dream might not in fact lie in its interpretation, but more in its direct experiential impact upon the dreamer. I would therefore prescribe that the incubant mentally rehearse the dream frequently in the future to cultivate a resonance with its images. I specifically requested the incubant to make a picture of the dream to serve as a reminder and a focus of contemplation.

The incubant would then prepare a written testimony of the experience of the incubation ritual, beginning the account with our first contact. The testimony included a record of all the dreams recalled, from this first contact up until the time that the written testimony was completed. The testimony also