AS Katoch, dream researcher

AS Katoch, Dream Winged Gaja-simha. 14:44, 22 March 2025. Himachal Pradesh, India. Dream Image: The Winged Elephant-Lion (Gaja-simha) A white elephant-lion with golden wings appeared before me. It is called a gaja-simha in Indian culture. It looked at me from its side. Then, the hybrid creature turned its elephant head toward me, looking directly into my eyes with deliberate intention. Its body was that of a lion covered in white hair, while elegant golden wings emerged from its hindquarters. A blue sky stretched behind it. It was walking on green grass. The dream then focused on a close-up of the gaja-simha's face and eyes as if it wanted me to know it recognises me.

I'll be speaking at 'Alchemy: Exploring Metaphorical Transformations and Arts-Based Research' at the @ox.ac.uk in November 2025 for @labrc.bsky.social!

My topic is my own dream and the Indian art history of dream omens, oneiromancy, yoga nidra, active imagination, and fine art as yogic rasashastra.

So all my faves have a Deneb Algedi signature, of course we do. It's my heliacal rising star too. Makes me wanna write an ode to the star now, it's worth giving a shout-out for helping us thus far ✨

Deneb Algedi Talismans have dropped…The Deneb Algedi talisman was hand-carved in jeweller’s wax in the form of a goat-fish before being cast in sterling silver, quenched in sea water, & set with a chalcedony cabochon gemstone. Beneath the stone is dried pine and marjoram, harvested from my garden.

That's amazing: your Sun, Kirah's Moon, my MC. All enlivened by Deneb Algedi! Yes, I love S&S DA materia too, genuine lifesaver. I'm due a top-up. You've probably seen @tidesoftethys.bsky.social's absolutely remarkable talismans. Can't wait to purchase one in the future! bsky.app/profile/tide...

It's on my midheaven. Love seeing Deneb Algedi being spoken about on my timeline. Hope you have a lovely lunar return!

Calling all dreamers! Join me at India's first Dreams & Spirituality conference, 14-16 March at JW Marriott Bangalore. I'm speaking at this landmark regional IASD event and have two free passes to give away. In Bangalore or can travel next weekend? Comment or DM now. Please share!

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Join the Dream Circle on X Communities for exclusive insights from—covering AI, tech, arts, literature, lucid dreaming, neuroscience, sociology, spiritual dreamwork, and more! But don't worry, I'll share snippets here too!

It’s the opening day of the 42nd Annual International Association for the Study of Dreams conference!

I’ll be speaking on the culture and history of dreams today, alongside Professors Mark Blagrove and Julia Lockheart, and Dr Perrine Ruby in the dreams and art symposium.

I'm currently in India with my grandpa and dad in our ancestral village. I'm trying to evacuate back home to the UK as Pakistan have been continuously sending drones to the nearest city here and there's explosions now near our village. Please excuse tardiness in my replies during this time.

Thank you Joli! I wish you were there too, would have been amazing. I'll fill you in properly when I head back up to Himachal after the conference 🥰

I love the energy of your studio! It's lovely! 🥰

Calling all dreamers! Join me at India's first Dreams & Spirituality conference, 14-16 March at JW Marriott Bangalore. I'm speaking at this landmark regional IASD event and have two free passes to give away. In Bangalore or can travel next weekend? Comment or DM now. Please share!

Thanks, Nicola! This is also my first invited speaking engagement, so it means a lot that I can finally share my research on India, dreams, art, and astrology... in India! I'll have to write about how it manifested, too, but it involved me invoking my heliacal setting star!

I know... at this point, I just have to go with it! 😅 It'll happen in the house of my Lot of Dreams too... and on Spica(!) which is the only fixed star in paran to the Lord of my Ascendant and third triplicity lord of my 9th House of dreams... Wild!

A FOLIO FROM THE MEWAR SAKUNAVALI (BOOK OF OMENS) MEWAR, CIRCA 1720 Opaque watercolor on paper; Image: 7 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. (19 x 17.1 cm); Folio: 10 x 8 1/4 in. (25.4 x 21 cm) Footnotes A handbook for interpreting dreams, the Sakunavali was a unique commission from the Mewar court. It promised to unveil the mysteries of seemingly inexplicable phenomena. Described in the text above, this omen of a tree full of parrots (in front of a night sky and behind a lotus pool) is one of the most auspicious one could receive: For good fortune and financial gains, a progeny is also promised for constant prosperity and foreign travel, pay homage in the direction of the parrots (34).

Selfie in front of a mango tree grove, I'm wearing a black linen shirt and my hair has fallen in a swoop with one strand over my forehead. I'm looking directly into the camera during golden hour.

I’ll be speaking at two International Association for the Study of Dreams conferences—one online at the summer solstice and the other in India during March's lunar eclipse. Both explore Indian art, dreams, and astrology through painted dream manuals used by astrologers.

SURYA NARAYANA (THE SUN GOD) POSSIBLY BASOHLI OR GULER, PUNJAB HILLS, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1740-50 Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, Surya Narayana kneeling in full regalia, holding the chakra and the conch, at the centre of a radiating sun, on dark blue ground This rare and fine depiction of Surya (the Sun God) seated in a resplendent golden orb combines his characteristics with those of Vishnu (or Narayana). Like Vishnu, Surya wears a peacock feather in his crown and holds a conch shell and chakra (discus) in his hands. The Sun God is usually depicted holding a lotus flower in both hands, seated in a chariot being pulled by one and sometimes seven horses. The intense blue of the background makes the radiating orb even more luminous. Our painting finds close comparison with a painting from a Bhagavata Purana series, dated to circa 1740-45, and attributed by B.N. Goswamy to the master artist Manaku of Guler. This painting is now in the collection of the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida (acc.no.89.16.690.04; Goswamy, 2017, C63, pp.182-183). The Bhagavata Purana folio depicts Dhruva, the pole star, as a youthful king carrying a bow and arrow, with a shield beneath his arm, seated under a canopy in a pavilion, within a very similar golden circle emanating tiny little rays, with a dark blackish-blue surround. Manaku has established a link with Vishnu by adding the Vishnu pada (footprints of Vishnu) outside the circle but still in close proximity to the star.

Today, the Sun enters sidereal Capricorn, the zodiacal root chakra as mapped by Sri Yukteshwar. This marks Makar Sankranti, the great solar ingress celebrated across the Indosphere—a moment of rising consciousness and the return of growing light in the northern hemisphere.

002: The Divinatory Ethics of Imbuement - Awe and Wonder as Luminous Acts of Grace in Divination Image: Caspar David Friedrich, Mountain Landscape with Rainbow. 1809-10.

Discover the second piece of the year, with audio voiceover, on rejuvenating one's ethics of divination. Instead of extracting meaning from the astrological chart, imbue it—nourish it with a loving gaze. Not an eye of grasping, but of awe, wonder, and grace. open.substack.com/pub/askatoch...

❤️‍🔥❤️❤️‍🔥

Oh I love this. So wanna do it!

In honour of Mars Retrograde, share a selfie with your natal Mars placement and house!

12th House Gemini Mars

001: Must I write? Following the Lodestar of Necessity. The image is Odilon Redon's Tete d'Astral. 1905.

For 2025, I’ll share daily writing with audio voiceovers via Substack on dreams, divination, and depth psychology. This will be a space for my work as a dream researcher and mythographer to explore the celestial-imaginal.

To you who dreams, subscribe and join me! open.substack.com/pub/askatoch...

This is wonderful to read on Christmas! Congratulations Aswin 🥰

I am thrilled to announce my course on Indian Astrology. Having had the privilege of learning this profound wisdom, I am humbled to share everything I’ve gathered along the way. Limited seats!

More details: www.theabverdict.com/school

My concerns are sincere and that's why I raised it.

I am. I shared my concerns about what is being claimed by you. I found it troubling.

I sent the post I saw on my feed because I was concerned.

Maybe I should learn how to play the bansuri? Something about listening to these flutes made my eyes fill with water... I'm thawing... 🌬️🪈🧊

VII. Within Without (Liberation) YouTube video by Release - Topic

One of my favourite artists, Kelela, created a stunning breathwork track with Green-House. To me, blends yoga nidra/active imagination, tapping into ancestral realms and genetic memory. The woodwinds—especially the flute I played as a teen—move me deeply. youtu.be/yatdAmFxYg0?...