In ancient Babylonia, seeing a ghost could be downright deadly. Dating to around the first millennium BC, ancient Mesopotamian texts on clay tablets went into great detail about illnesses and misfortunes stemming from the “Hand of Ghost.”Hand of Ghost seems to refer to both the illness and the method by which it was given.

Power Trips: Controlling Your Dreams

A number of techniques facilitate lucid dreaming. One of the
simplest is asking yourself many times during the day whether you are
dreaming. Each time you ask the question, you should look for evidence
proving you are not dreaming. The most reliable test: Read something,
look away for a moment, and then read it again. If it reads the same
way twice, it is unlikely that you are dreaming. After you have proved
to yourself that you are not presently dreaming, visualize yourself
doing what it is you'd like. Also, tell yourself that you want to
recognize a nighttime dream the next time it occurs. The mechanism at
work here is simple; it's much the same as picking up milk at the
grocery store after reminding yourself to do so an hour before.

At night people usually realize they are dreaming when they
experience unusual or bizarre occurrences. For instance, if you find
yourself flying without visible means of support, you should realize
that this happens only in dreams and that you must therefore be dreaming.

If you awaken from a dream in the middle of the night, it is
very helpful to return to the dream immediately, in your imagination.
Now envision yourself recognizing the dream as such. Tell yourself,
"The next time I am dreaming, I want to remember to recognize that I
am dreaming." If your intention is strong and clear enough, you may
find yourself in a lucid dream when you return to sleep.

Even if you're a frequent lucid dreamer, you may not be able
to stop yourself from waking up in mid-dream. And even if your dreams
do reach a satisfying end, you may not be able to focus them exactly
as you please.

During our years of research, however, we have found that
spinning your dream body can sustain the period of sleep and give you
greater dream control. In fact, many subjects at Stanford University
have used the spinning technique as an effective means of staying in a
lucid dream. The task outlined below will help you use spinning as a
means of staying asleep and, more exciting, as a means of traveling to
whatever dream world you desire.

Before retiring, decide on a person, time, and place you
would like to visit in your lucid dream. The target person and place
can be either real or imaginary, past, present, or future. Write down
and memorize your target person and place, then visualize yourself
visiting your target and firmly resolve to do so in a dream that night.

To gain lucidity, repeat the phrase describing your target in
your dream, and spin your whole dream body in a standing position with
your arms outstretched. You can pirouette or spin like a top, as long
as you vividly feel your body in motion.

The same spinning technique will help when, in the middle of
a lucid dream, you feel the dream imagery beginning to fade. To avoid
waking up, spin as you repeat your target phrase again and again. With
practice, you'll return to your target person, time, and place. When
spinning, try to notice whether you're moving in a clockwise or
counter-clockwise direction.