Up: [[Cave]] Created: 2025-01-04 Updated: 2025-03-21 I remember being fascinated many years ago when Dr. Murphy, told me of a study where people were put to sleep for a week or more as an attempt to soothe their fevered minds. And there was a novel I loved, called *Bed Rest*, where a woman did the same for herself in protest at being taken advantage of by her husband and children. She went to a store, bought the most beautiful sheets with the highest thread count, and took to her bed for a week. I didn’t know then about ancient Greek incubation caves. People who were ill were taken to these caves, which were seen as places of access to the Underworld, where gods or goddesses were known to manifest. The patient would undergo purification procedures such as fasting and ritual bathing. They would make their prayers and their offerings to the gods and then would lie down, surrender conscious intention and wait, to drift in sleep, vision and dreams in the hope that a divinely inspired dream or cure would emerge. I see a [[Nest]] as serving the same function, a sanctuary of suspended animation where the unconscious can do its work.