Repeating nightmares frequently have psychological OR magical reasons behind them. If you can determine what your mind is trying to tell you the nightmare will probably go away. If you'd like help interpreting it, feel free to mail me. I hope you sleep better, I know how much it sucks to have reoccurring nightmares. I've been there myself.
What kind of items do you need for your sleep spell? If you don’t use anything for the spell you could always cast it when you are relaxing on your bed.
When you have the dream, begin lucid dreaming. Then change it. I really belive that cussing whatever haunts your dreams out is a good option, but you must enphasize that your not afraid. The ended the problem for my aunt, it may work for you.
You can't try to lucid dream in a nightmare for crying out loud! If you know or find out it's a nightmare, you are already lucid dreaming. If no, you can't really just make it lucid.
Why don't you craft a dream catcher and weave the protection spell within. You don't need candles or magick circles. And dream catchers are very easy to make. I've been doing them since I was 7 or 8 years old. The difference between buy a dream catcher and making one is that the magick is in making it.
Like the spider that weaves his web to catch insects that pass by, the dream catcher allows good dreams to flow through the web and nightmares to be caught and held back from the dreamer. It should be placed at the head of your bed.
The beads and charms added to the weave are also important. Pick colors or gemstones that signify who you are, each bead/charm should represent a different aspect that hits home.
All you need to craft a dream catcher is green wood (a young flexible branch that when you cut the bark, you can see green underneath) and some kind of twine, flexible cord, or even yarn. I like cotton twine personally and willow branches. You shape the wood into a circle, bind the end overlapping to seal the ring and let it dry out. You can use some glue under the binding to keep it firm. After a few days to a week, the wood will be harder. You tie your string to one side and then loop it around the ring ever two inches or so. I'm sure you can find instructions through google with pictures. Once you reach the original knot, you loop the string segments you've made. I like weaving widdershins, and I sing, hum, focus and chant as I weave. Its very relaxing. Once you reach the middle, you're to leave a small gap or hole for the good dreams to come through. Tie it off in a small knot toward the top of the hole. I like to hang a feather from a dove or bird of prey here to guard the hole, and ask that the dove spirit or owl spirit watch over the dreamer. If you don't have a feather any protective trinket, crystal or strand of beads will do. The bad dreams caught in the web disperse at the first light of dawn.
Its best that everything you put into the dreamcatcher represents something special for you. The number of the beads or charms weaved into the dreamcatcher are also important. The number four is very important, so I tend to use multiples of 4 in my dreamcatchers. And even weave a new charm in every fourth tie until I reach 12. But this all depends on the size of the dreamcatcher. They can very small or very large.
Stay away from black feather's though. A blackbird, raven, or crow could have mischevious influencements on your dreams.
The other hangings from the bottom of the hoop, in pure tradition have specific meaning. But I feel personal meanings hold more influence. Some dream catcher crafters make each dreamcatcher a reflection of the person they are meant for. I use four strands, each with a pattern of beads with both numerological value and material representation.
I've actually seen dream catchers with charms and other things, of all shapes and sizes that would make you wonder if they were in fact dream catchers. It is an art that incorporates medicine (aka magick). So the possibilities are endless.
Once the dream catcher is placed above the bed, it should guard you from such nightmares. Once in a while a bad dream may slip through, but these are believed to be important warnings or messages and not intentionally harmful, so they are not caught by the web.
It will look like a cultural art project to you parents and can be placed out in the open without much question.
