The techniques available to experience a Holy dream, a dream in which we can unveil a spiritual meaning, were and are made use of in many societies. It concerned isolation, prayers, fast, repentance and sleep on the skin of a sacrificed animal and/or contact with a sort of holy animal and especially incubation, i. e. sleep in a holy place. The Latin word incubare means to lie on something, whereas in special terms it is described as to sleep in a cathedral with a view to having Holy dreams. Incubation was already known by the ancient Egyptians from the 15th century B. C., to say the least (the cathedral incubation of Amenofid II. and Thothmed IV. to obtain God’s consent with their ascending the throne). Incubation was also known in early Mesopotamia.

Incubation in Ancient Greece
In Greece, incubation was practiced in the sanctuaries of heroes and in certain rock ravines which were believed to be an entrance to the underworld. The incubation’s patron was Asklepios (the Son of Appolo), the God of medicine and donor of physical, mental and spiritual health (his emblem was a pole – a caduceus – with a snake winding upward). In the best – known Asklepios sanctuary – the Greek Epidaurus – cathedral signs were found bearing witness to the numerous cases of recuperation relating to incubation. Most of those persons mentioned there had recuperated immediately, whereas at another time, in a dream, the others "only" obtained the respective medical prescriptions.
A patient bathed in cathedral water holding the offerings entered the cathedral where the snakes were bred (symbolizing the Resurrection). He would lie down on the ground on the fleece of a sacrificed animal and await the arrival of God. (Later on, in the Middle Ages, a patient had to wait even for a year. As late as in the 20th century, there is information that Greek villagers were still having to wait weeks and months for a redeeming dream). In this respect, mention can also be made of the Egyptian – Helenic God known as Sarapid whose sanctuary and incubation were also in Rome.

Incubation in Christianity
For Saint Gregory of Tours, a dream is a part of the incubation practices of a Christian type. In the autobiographies of the saints, he describes the numerous incubation dreams as follows:
*A woman with a bloodshot arm, inflamed in gangrene sleeps by the grave of Saint Martin in Tours. In a dream, a Saint tells her that her arm has been cured. When she awakens, she discovers that she is really healthy.
*A lame woman sleeps in the colonnade of a basilica in which the relics of Saint Julian of Brioude were being preserved. In her dream, the Saint appeared before her, the chains fell off her body and having awakened, she discovered she had recuperated from her illness.
Incubation cases were still being discovered in the late Middle Ages. The patient was not only recuperated physically, strictly speaking, but a general inner rebirth of a human being including his or her mental and spiritual dimension occurred, – thus worked the past miracles of Jesus Christ and the Saints.

Work With Dreams in Jewish Mysticism
Jewish mysticism conceives dreams as communication channels associating Man with the spiritual empire. On the one hand, certain dreams were considered to be „air holes“ penetrated by Holy messengers in order to give important news. On the other hand, someone was able to evoke the required information in a dream with the help of certain techniques. One particular cabalistic genre even focusses on certain provisions through which questions were worded before going to sleep and it was in dreams when answers to such questions were expected. The answers given to those dreaming persons would then frequently take upon themselves the appearance of a certain biblical verse that was somehow related to that particular question. In order that the cabalists could understand the answer, the verse had to be interpreted within the contents of the question. In other words, the literary form of that dream required an explanation. Such a practice repeatedly appears in many cabalistic manuscripts.
One of the best - known cabalists, Rabbi Hayyim Vital suggests that we pray before going to sleep “Your will be done” and that we select one of the pronunciations of God’s names we have before us in writing, and that we focus our mind on the corresponding mystical sphere. We then ask how we should either decipher a future problem or achieve whatever is our wish. Elsewhere, that same cabalist describes a coloured visualisation technique, by means of which he obtained in a dream an answer to his question.
Jewish apocalyptic literature includes several examples, when in evoking God’s Word in a dream one would pray, cry and fast. The connection between crying and the paranormal perception appearing in dreams is, for instance, evident in a particular midrashic story. The pupil of Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai forgot what he had learned. He entered a cemetery with tears in his eyes. Due to his extensive crying, Rabbi Simeon had approached him in a dream and told him: „While you are bemoaning, throw around those three trusses of hay and I shall come.“ The student then went to the dream-teller to tell him what had happened to him. The dream-teller then answered him: „Repeat your chapter three times and an understanding will return to you.“ The student thus did so whereas it really did come true according to the dream-teller. The connection between crying and visiting a grave points to a practice suitable for evoking a dream.

What Dreams Meant for the Indians
The North American Indians used to perform numerous ceremonies that reflected their dream visions. Some of these were described in a famous book by John G. Neihardt and entitled A Black Stag Speaks – an Indian “Holy man” (1863 – 1950), who belonged to the Sioux from the Lakota tribe (and living in the USA). The members of his tribe who had “holy” dreams used to associate with different societies – bison, deer, wolf, eagle, bear and many others. Those men who would, for instance, dream of a bear would often practice herb medicine, whereas the Lakota tribe Indians believed that these beasts of prey were very knowledgeable about herbs and herb medical treatment. Others who would dream of stones would hold ceremonies during which they would unveil the future, treat the sick people or discover lost objects.
For every Lakota man, a ceremony entitled Searching for Dream Visions was of wholly basic importance. That enabled him to acquire personal experience as well as a holy Unity – an essential condition for a successful life. Prior to this, a ritual cleansing ceremony took place in a dark small cupola–shaped hut in the presence of several experienced advisors. Water poured onto burning hot stones helped to free the spirit of the stones, which ascended in the form of hot steam, whereas the unbearable heat had cleaned the body and spirit. The men would sing Holy songs to call the good spirits, whereupon they would advise the dream searcher on how to behave. He would then leave – wearing only a loin cloth and loosened hair – to a faraway hill where he would pray alone. With him he took only a cloak and Holy pipe. He would call out and cry out loud until a Holy dream had paid him a visit. He did not eat nor drink for a whole period of two to four days. Having returned to the village, he once again entered a sweat hut. There he would tell his dream to experienced men and they would then help explain it to him. They advised him on how he should evoke its power once again and with the help of a ceremony, "telling and performing dreams." This ceremony had become a part of other rituals practiced in future by already experienced consecrator and with whose help he would confirm his power and right to hold each individual ceremony. Quite frequently, the dream vision would grasp the Lakotas spontaneously and unexpectedly as they were resting on a hunting expedition or in a state of exhaustion from the heat of a hot Summer day. In his dream, a man would acquire the capabilities coming from the Holy Unity of God and that made him differ from the other people. Knowledge and power donated by a dream obliged him to not only use them for himself but to the benefit of his tribe. Usually, the men would dream of achieving success in a battle or of how to get cured with the help of herbal medicine, for instance. However, only a handful of them had a dream giving them the right to practice various public rituals and medicinal ceremonies. The dream vision of a particular man had such a powerful impact that the message concealed within it became a lifelong mission for him. This was also the case of Indian Shaman known as Black Stag.