Sleep is the smallest crossing between worlds.
Every night, the familiar room fades. Thought loosens its hold, the body becomes still and the mind travels roads it cannot always remember by morning.
A sleep spell prepares that crossing.
It quiets the noise carried from the waking day, surrounds the bed with a peaceful atmosphere and gives dreams a clear, silver path through which to arrive.
At the centre of this ritual is the original sleep incantation by Paulee Whitehorse—a brief charm built upon the image of many streams joining one deep and restful river.
The Current of the Sleep Spell
This working follows the movement of water.
Small thoughts, memories and unfinished conversations are imagined as separate streams. Left alone, they travel in different directions and keep the mind wandering.
The spell draws them together.
As the streams enter one wide river, their separate voices become a single sound. The river carries them away from the waking shore and toward renewing sleep.
Water gives the ritual depth.
Incense carries its words.
Candlelight marks the final path into darkness.
Choosing the Moon Phase
The spell may be performed beneath any Moon, but each lunar phase gives it a different atmosphere.
Use the waxing Moon when restoring a peaceful sleeping pattern or inviting more vivid dreams.
The Full Moon strengthens dream, vision and remembrance.
The waning Moon helps release thoughts that continue circling after nightfall.
The Dark Moon is suited to deep rest, hidden dreams and questions asked beyond ordinary awareness.
The complete lunar currents are described in the guide to Moon phases in Wicca.
For an ordinary night, the visible phase matters less than the quiet purpose brought into the ritual.
What You Will Need
Prepare:
- One blue, white or silver candle
- Lavender, jasmine or sandalwood incense
- A bowl of water
- A smooth stone
- A white, blue or silver cloth
- A small piece of paper
- A pen
- A quiet place beside the bed
Blue carries peace and dream.
White clears the mind.
Silver joins the spell to the Moon.
Choose whichever color feels closest to the kind of night you wish to enter.
Preparing the Room
Begin before the room has become completely dark.
Clear the space around the bed and remove the remains of earlier rituals. Place the cloth upon a bedside table or nearby altar.
Set the bowl of water at its centre.
Place the candle behind the bowl so its reflection appears upon the surface. Set the stone beside it.
Light the incense.
Carry it slowly around the sleeping space, allowing smoke to pass near the corners, doorway and window.
Say:
Smoke of evening, soft and slow,
Clear the room where dreams shall flow.
Leave no word from waking day;
Carry every echo away.
Return the incense to the altar.
The room is ready.
Clearing the Mind
Sit before the candle without lighting it.
Close your eyes and take four slow breaths. You may use the complete Four Breaths Technique or simply allow each breath to become quieter than the one before it.
Imagine the thoughts of the day appearing as small streams.
One carries a conversation.
Another carries a task left unfinished.
A third carries a memory.
Do not stop or follow them.
Watch each stream move toward the same distant river.
When the final thought has entered the water, say:
The day has spoken.
I no longer need to answer.
Open your eyes.
Thanking the Goddess and God
The original sleep spell begins with gratitude.
Before asking for rest, remember the blessings already present within your life. They may be large or very small: a person, a place, a moment of beauty, a lesson or simply the room in which you now sit.
Light the candle.
Look at its reflection within the bowl of water.
Say:
Goddess of the silver night,
God of ember, branch and light,
For every blessing carried here,
Receive my thanks as night draws near.
Remain silent for several breaths.
Let gratitude become the first calm current entering the spell.
Thanking the Four Elements
Turn your attention toward the four elements.
Touch the stone:
Earth beneath me, thank you for rest.
Pass one hand through the incense smoke:
Air around me, thank you for breath.
Hold your hands toward the candle:
Fire within me, thank you for warmth.
Touch the surface of the water:
Water through me, thank you for dream.
Place both hands over the centre of your chest.
Say:
Spirit within, carry me gently between.
The four powers have been recognized.
The central ritual can now begin.
Naming What Must Be Released
Write one thought, emotion or memory that should not follow you into sleep.
Use only a few words.
Fold the paper away from you and place it beneath the bowl of water.
Look at the candle’s reflection.
Imagine the written thought leaving the paper and entering the water as a dark thread. The water carries it downward until it can no longer be seen.
Say:
What belongs to waking light
Shall not cross with me tonight.
Leave the folded paper beneath the bowl until morning.
The Original Sleep Incantation
Hold the stone between both hands.
Look into the candlelight reflected upon the water and speak the original incantation.
Sleep incantation by Paulee Whitehorse:
As a river flows wide and deep
fueled by many smaller streams
grant me now renewing sleep
filled by enlightening dreams.
So mote it be.
Speak slowly.
Allow each line to form an image rather than passing immediately into the next.
After the final words, remain still.
Listen to the incense and the quiet room around it.
Entering the River
Close your eyes.
Return to the river imagined earlier.
It is wide, dark and silver beneath the Moon. Every restless stream has joined it, but the water no longer feels crowded. All separate movement now follows the same direction.
Imagine yourself standing upon its shore.
Place the stone against the centre of your chest.
With one breath, see the river becoming calmer.
With the next, allow its rhythm to enter the body.
The breath rises and falls like water against the bank.
Nothing needs to be solved upon this shore.
Nothing needs to be carried back into the day.
Charging the Dream Stone
Lower the stone until it rests just above the bowl.
Imagine moonlight gathering upon the surface of the water and rising into the stone.
Say:
Stone of river, stone of night,
Hold the calm and keep it bright.
Near my dreaming place remain;
Lead me to the silent plain.
Touch the stone to the water.
Dry it upon the ritual cloth, then place it beneath the pillow or beside the bed.
The stone becomes the physical memory of the spell.
Whenever it is touched at night, the mind may return to the same quiet river.
The Final Candlelight
Look at the candle for nine slow breaths.
With every breath, imagine the flame becoming smaller within the mind even though the physical light remains unchanged.
After the ninth breath, say:
Flame grow distant, dream draw near.
Night is open. I enter without fear.
Extinguish the candle.
Do not immediately light another.
Allow the room to remain within the darkness created by the ritual.
Let the incense continue until its scent has become part of the sleeping space.
A Dream Charm for the Bed
The sleep spell may be extended with a small dream charm.
You will need:
- A square of blue or silver cloth
- Lavender
- A short white or blue cord
- The charged stone, or a smaller second stone
- A written copy of the sleep incantation
Place the lavender, stone and folded incantation inside the cloth.
Gather the corners and tie the cord around them four times.
With each knot, say:
Earth give rest.
Air give dream.
Fire give light.
Water carry me between.
Place the charm beneath the pillow, beneath the blanket or beside the bed.
Pass it through incense whenever the spell is renewed.
Inviting an Enlightening Dream
If you seek more than rest, write one question before beginning the ritual.
The question should be simple enough to remain clear when spoken only once.
Place it beneath the bowl of water, separate from the paper containing what must be released.
After reciting the sleep incantation, say:
River deep and dream made bright,
Carry this beyond the night.
Let the answer come unseen
Through remembered word or scene.
Do not ask the question again.
Let it enter sleep without further instruction.
Upon waking, record the first image, place, person or phrase remembered. The answer may arrive through symbol rather than direct language.
For a fuller divination rite, continue with Getting Answers in a Dream.
Repeating the Spell for Three Nights
The ritual may be performed over three consecutive nights.
On the first night, concentrate upon release.
Let the river carry away the noise of the waking day.
On the second night, concentrate upon rest.
Allow the water to become deep, slow and silent.
On the third night, concentrate upon dream.
Ask for the image or understanding that waits beneath the surface.
Use the same candle, incense, bowl and stone each night. Keep the folded papers beneath the bowl until the third morning.
The river becomes easier to find every time you return.
A Short Version of the Sleep Spell
When the complete altar ritual is not desired, use the original form.
Clear the mind.
Thank the Goddess and God for the blessings within your life. Thank Earth, Air, Fire and Water for their presence.
Light a little incense.
Hold the stone or place one hand over the heart.
Recite:
As a river flows wide and deep
fueled by many smaller streams
grant me now renewing sleep
filled by enlightening dreams.
So mote it be.
Close your eyes and imagine the streams joining.
Nothing else is required.
The spell was always contained within those lines.
Waking and Closing the Ritual
In the morning, touch the stone before leaving the bed.
Notice the first emotion, image or phrase present within the mind.
Write it down before interpreting it.
Return to the altar.
Remove the folded paper describing what was released. Tear it into small pieces and carry them out of the sleeping space.
Touch the water and say:
River travelled, night now done.
Dream returns before the Sun.
What was given, water keep.
I wake restored from hidden sleep.
Empty the bowl.
Return the stone to its place beside the bed.
Recording the Dream
Keep a page for the sleep spell in the Book of Shadows.
Record:
- The date
- The Moon phase
- Candle color
- Incense used
- What was released
- Any question asked
- Images remembered upon waking
- Words or names heard in the dream
- The condition of the candle flame and water
- Whether the ritual was repeated
Dreams fade quickly.
Write first and interpret later.
A symbol that appears meaningless in the morning may return during another night and reveal that it was only the first part of a longer message.
The River Beyond Waking
Sleep does not arrive through force.
It approaches when the waking world is allowed to loosen its hold.
The candle grows dark.
Incense becomes only a lingering scent.
The stone waits beside the bed, remembering the river and every stream that entered it.
The original charm asks for two things:
Renewing sleep.
Enlightening dreams.
One restores the traveller.
The other leaves a silver sign beside the road home.