Seems to me that you are attracting STS minions towards you, which could be seen as a good sign because it means you are challenging the powers that be. Serves as a confirmation to say the least, but do we really need more proof? I'd strive to look beyond that, as I am sure you have been considering.
As you fight off the lesser demons, it opens up a delightful challenge for more powerful negs. BE CAREFUL OF THIS. As you already know, some negs enjoy playing about with people's lives and make it difficult, but there are some that are supremely experienced in harming human beings and delight in taking down a well meaning soul.
I've found that I often attract demons when I'm in a certain mind state, or when I have increased psychic awareness (Normally when stoned). Working on dreams is a Yin activity, so you could unbalance yourself if you focus on it too much. Try to ponder what attitude you are holding to life at the moment; have you recently undergone positive transformations? (I know it's an ambiguous question, you are obviously changing all the time, but try to determine in which way, why and how, Yang or Yin for example? If you classify the changes in this way, it may offer you clues as to what is going on, how to deal with it and what you should expect as a result) Also, do you both understand the transformation in your mind and in your heart? I've come across many realisations for example in my head, but don't really believe it in the heart, this is an incomplete transformation, Thus making you momentarily vulnerable to attack since there is a chance you could still be put back to sleep, or worse! An opportunity STS would be stupid to neglect. Also, when your body hasn't fully adopted the change, the body is either to Yang or too Yin in places and thus more susceptible to nasty attacks of various kinds. If your physical body isn't manifesting any problems however, then I'd say you're probably alright.
Sometimes an attitude, even of positive orientation like confidence in yourself can be used against you. Thinking to yourself that you are mentally or physically strong can tempt negs for example to destroy this attitude so as to bring about unjustified confidence in yourself, and there are many traps in ego. As I said, some of them LOVE a challenge.
You've always struck me as an extremely Yang person Ben, so any pursuits in building your Yin and reaching for balance is bound to cause some problems. This may just be normal and something to get used to, there may not be a problem at all, but might just be suffering preceding immense change. I've had the same when I started cultivating Yang by doing physical exercise on a daily basis. Since Yang is always the manifestation of Yin, your Yang, although strong and suited to this world, you might be largely unaware of your own essence that created the Yang, this is due to the fact that you've never had to really think about your internal life seriously until recently, the world deems that unnecessary, so while developing your personality at a young age you might have many buffers designed to bar you from further internal progress, this is just speculation though, I can't say for sure that this is the case, but from what you've described as your past perception and beliefs, it would seem likely that living in an environment that doesn't encourage spiritual development might be what's causing problems.
Take it nice and steady, all activities; whether Yin or Yang contributes towards the benefit of each other, the key is balance. I would suggest simple Qi Gong in the morning and before going to bed to balance the body, Qi gong not only builds your strength, increases mental sharpness and awareness, it also stimulates your "Guardian Qi", which wards off physical and spiritual attacks.
Strive for balance, I've found that when the body is harmonious, internal work like lucid dreaming tend to happen naturally anyway. People who concentrate on astral travelling (Yin) without working on their physical body for example tend to end up with horrible physical problems, I assume your external (Physical) body is strong, but compared to that, your inner self is still like a child, with many childish assumptions, not only that, but it might not be disciplined or wilful enough to handle strong attacks.
You called this place a negatively unbalanced place, if you mean our 3rd density world and our controllers then you are right, it is unbalanced, but if you account for all the dimensions working through this plane at the moment and throughout the past, balance is quite apparently "here" in a different way. I've found it well useful to tune into STO forces to help me, there is no harm in it, call it prayer if you will, in my opinion, there is no difference between the work and this.
In the work, I strive mainly for a "complete" system, that is, work that accounts for all levels of our existence, it seems to me that your internal self and external self isn't in tune with each other, so that might be where the problems are arising, what am I talking about?! That's basically the source of ALL problems. Your spirit, mind and body cannot be separated, work on one means work on the other.
EQ Said: You have an all too vivid picture of STS, but can you generate such vividness or even a feeling regarding STO?
Ben Said: Of course I imagine how things could have been and how they could be in the 'future', but I didn't really see the value of this as compared to doing the work in this severely negatively unbalanced place.
EQ, in my definition of terms, that's a fine example of spiritual regulation I think, it opens up and builds upon a channel between you and higher forces, which is in the same spectrum as the work.
Taking EQ's suggestion of going against a tree is a good idea, but if you are going to do that, you might as well take up some form of Yoga so you can benefit the same way while cultivating a skill of doing so. The benefit here of course is increased and balanced Qi flow, which I can safely say will sort out your current problem, and then some.
I don't think these entities are attacking you for the sole purpose of scaring you; more often than not they are here to confuse, manipulate and distract you from further progress. Maybe you are developing a good way of interpreting your dreams, so they want to distract you from this, whether you are scared or not might be beside the point. The fact that they can distract you serves their purpose, we all have higher guardians we can call for help, and perhaps learning to fight these negs is something you consciously have to learn for some reason. Don't underestimate the cunning of STS, a while ago you shocked me by saying you think the powers that be has underestimated us, I don't think this is the case at all, speaking from experience and how they have "worked" on me.
EQ said: You have obviously become overtly focused on a certain level, as I mentioned above. This is manifesting acutely because there are probably no indications in your external life, due to natural defences or just your karmic predisposition, so it is all focused in the subconscious (actually I may be confusing you with Novelis here).
I'm not sure what you mean here, maybe I have the wrong idea of what you mean, but by no means have I become focused on a certain level, quite the opposite in fact, it's true that I have had the tendency to focus on my inner life, which is indeed due to karmic predisposition and my past experience I believe, but I have found that I have only felt completely satisfied with the method of my work once I understood the importance of working on as many levels ranging from absolute internal to absolute external. By no means have I perfected my method, but since your statement is based on my previous posts, I have obviously not made myself clear enough because that wasn't my point.
Ben, I have a good few books I think you would really benefit from, I'll let you know what they are when they will be available for your use if you like.