Craft your own Holistic "Dream Pillow" for self-care and healing: step by step

Aurora borealis over a pine forest — Connecting with the mystical, with the help of your Dream Pillow

In this post, you'll discover:

What a dream pillow is
How to use your dream pillow
What a dream pillow can do
How to create your own unique dream pillow

What is a dream pillow?

Put simply, a dream pillow is a small bag, pouch or sachet, infused with energy and containing ingredients which help enhance the intended purpose of the pillow. A dream pillow often contains a combination of aromatic herbs, incense resins, crystal chips, written intentions and/or images (inside or on the outside of the pillow). The larger-sized dream pillows sometimes have dried grain or seeds added; for texture, weight and in order to agitate the aromats within: releasing essential oils and refreshing the pillow.

How to use a dream pillow

The dream pillow, once finished, can be placed on, or near the bed of the person using it, so that the fragrances, energy and visuals all work together to help create their desired effect.

Some people like to place a dream pillow just inside their pillowcase, so that it's close enough to smell the delicious aromas of the essential oils during the night, but also held securely in place, and less likely to become lost in the blanket, or end up on the floor.

Alternatively, you could hang it up on the headboard, over your pillow, or under the bed, in line with your pillow.

A lit jar candle and some honesty plant in a vase, at twilight, both on a textured white cloth. — Image by Jessica Mangano (via Unsplash.com)

Preparations

Here are a few helpful practical preparations you might want to make, before you begin your dream pillow ritual.

A bottle of drinking water by your bed for the morning or in case you wake.
Place a dream journal or paper, and a pen or pencil nearby, so that you can write down your impressions/dreaming/guidance whilst it's still clear and present in your mind.
If you live with another person or people, make sure they know what you need (even if you don't want to tell them what you're doing, you'll probably want to ask them not to disturb you between certain times.
Make sure your alarm is set for the right time, then turn your phone into airplane mode and "do not disturb". Better still, leave it in a different room, if you can.

Ritual

You can create your own personalised ritual for using your dream pillow - to create a special energetic space which is different to the everyday routine. Your ritual design might incorporate

a ritual bath
drinking herbal tea or cacao;
doing a mindfulness meditation using the dream pillow as your focus;
smelling the herbs and noticing what that feels like;
looking closely at the contents and any decorations outside;
touching the ingredients and feeling the texture of the cloth pouch;
Reading the words or intentions paper/card within;
Focusing on your intentions/wish for the night's dreaming;
Giving the pillow Reiki (if you're attuned);
Inviting in or invoking the energies, qualities, people, guides, angels you want to help you, or to be with you. This is highly personal and should align with your own beliefs or ideas that you feel comfortable with.

Then, once your ritual is complete, place the dream pillow in your chosen location, extinguish any candles you may have lit, turn off the light (if you wish) and settle down to sleep.

Palo Santo, Amethyst, candle and a cup of cacao, on an aqua crystal surface — Attrib: Emily Bauman (via Unsplash.com)

"The Morning After"

As soon as you wake up, after using your dream pillow, it's a good idea to write down:

any dreams/as much as you recall them, whilst they're still fresh and clear in your mind
how the ritual went - including your intentions, step by step, so that you can look back on this afterwards and have any details to hand, if you want to repeat or adapt any elements of it.

Dream pillow uses

This sort of "dream work" has myriad uses and purposes! Whilst we're asleep the subconscious comes forward and takes centre stage in our awareness - in the form of dreams. This means that our inner wisdom can come forward without getting shouted down by the logic brain. It also means that any healing which needs to happen, can take place, without us getting in our own way.

Our energy is also very open when we're asleep, which means that it's a popular thing with people who are looking to progress spiritually or psychically, to bring in traditional, spiritual practices and resources, to support them in that goal.

Dream work and a dream pillow, might also be used to aid someone who wants to connect to their muse, or innate creativity, or by someone who wants to manifest something.

And of course, it's whilst we're asleep, too, that our brain organises, integrates and "learns" from everything that's taken place since we last had R.E.M. sleep. It's also during this time that the body carries out its routine maintenance work (seriously!), and heals itself.

There are probably as many different uses for a dream pillow as a person can imagine! But here are a few that I tend to offer, for people to choose from, in my workshops (and as pre-made Dream Pillows in my online shop):

A dream pillow, candles herbs, crystals and pine cones, on a rustic wooden table. — Created on Canva - for illustrative purposes

Dream Pillow for deep, nourishing sleep: when your body is crying out for sleep - this is all about rest, repair and rejuvenation.
Dream Pillow for healing: releasing anything we're carrying, that no longer serves - helping our healing journey to move forward, without getting in our own ways. Some people like to invite in an ancestor, guide, deity or guardian angel to heal them, with a dream pillow like this.
Dream Pillow for protection: energetic protection, for better boundaries in the waking world, and personal relationships etc, for sleeping easier if we're feeling threatened or under attack, and other more individual situations can be catered for, too.
Dream Pillow for connection, development and guidance: connecting to our potential, opening to receive spiritual gifts, or to "level up" in one area of our lives, spiritually, or to ask for wisdom, guidance and/or connection from someone - from our own inner wisdom, from the Universe, Source, or from a deity.

How to make your own Dream Pillow

Ingredients

A cloth pouch or small bag which can be tightly closed (so dried herbs etc can't escape). I like to use natural unbleached organic cotton bags, with a drawstring.
Fabric pens or embroidery thread & needles - to decorate and tailor your dream pillow. This can be as simple or layered in subtle meaning as you wish.
Dried herbs (really do your homework here, and consider all the levels they need to work on: for example, a herb might be really great for protection, but it might also have a very active, "wakeful" type of energy or traditional use - so it wouldn't be appropriate for a dream pillow. Or another one might be perfect for your purpose, ideal for dreaming, but might smell a bit unpleasantly "whiffy"! Take your time, look at a few different reference sources; let the info you've absorbed percolate, and then let your insights and practicalities guide you - as well as your intuition.
Loose incense/resin. Be mindful that this will be kept close to the face, and make sure you don't get something that's too strong, or which contains a perfumed oil. The more natural the better, and even though it's not going to touch anyone's face, just be on the safe side and treat it as you would if it were. Think about the purpose of the resin - what's its historical use? Its cultural significance? It should be a good fit both with your dream-work's intention, with the other ingredients (aroma, purpose, and symbolism).
Crystal chips. This is the most likely to be disruptive to sleep, if not properly researched and pragmatically chosen. Sleep needs to be on the cards, otherwise the dream pillow won't work at all! For example, a crystal like Tiger Eye (one of my all-time favourites) is definitely not a good fit for a dream pillow, given its energetic qualities. That's a real shame, as it's a beautiful, mystical and powerful crystal. But bottom line: you need to be able to get to sleep and sleep well enough to dream. So I put my Tiger-eye back into its bag, for another project :-(
Nice paper, and coloured pens/pencils: Write some words which align with, and specifically state, your purpose for this dream work. And/or you could use these to inscribe a sigil, seal or other symbol related to a figure, an energy or an archetype whose help or qualities you want to invite or draw upon, to lend power and practical help to your purpose.
Rice (cheap rice is fine - this is purely functional) or buckwheat, or flax-seed - any type of grain or seed which is suitable for stuffing /filling an eye pillow or other herbal bag.
A small bowl or cup - or a paper cup

A wooden table with various different containers of fresh and dried herbs — Image by Annie Spratt (via Unsplash.com)

Method

This is part of the process, and so is totally up to your intuition.

Before you start creating though, try to meditate or bring your consciousness out of your head and into your body. That way, you'll be coming from an energetically coherent, grounded place; with better focus to apply to your purpose. That's a good thing.

Decorate your pillow/pouch before you fill it, and if you've used fabric pens, make sure to allow it time to get dry to the touch, before filling it.

You might wish to combine all of the ingredients in the paper cup or bowl, before adding them all together into the bag, or alternatively, add each one separately.

Really take time to connect to each of your ingredients, their look, feel, weight, texture, colour(s), aroma, temperature, sound they make, how they make you feel - their nature, and the physical experience of using these materials. This will make the process more powerful, more meaningful, and means you'll be more present with the process - which is also a very good thing for your end result.

Once decorated and filled, take a minute or two to hold, look at, and consider your dream pillow: the finished article! Let yourself come into a feeling of realisation of its completion. You could symbolically state your intention or address it in words, to say that it's now completed, and to charge it with purpose.

Then seal your dream pillow, and keep it somewhere safe until you're ready to use it.

I hope this article has been interesting, insightful and (ideally) that it will have given you some ideas for crafting your own dream pillow. Whether it's as a wellbeing sensory accessory, or as something more spiritual, dream pillows offer a lovely way to approach and immerse ourselves in the experience of sleep and the many benefits it offers.

What type of Dream Pillow resonates with you?