Dreaming vs. Dream-making, Etc.

[wstein]

There are other skills used in advanced lucid dreaming like activating the watcher who watches the dream from the outside (does not participate)...

I'm curious by what you mean by "activating the watcher."

During most dreams, you are a participant. Thus when you become lucid, you are experiencing the dream first person (participating in it). The watcher does not participate in the dream, rather it watches from the outside as if watching play. Making alterations to the dream is much easier from this perspective. It's possible to do both at the same time, be in the dream and watch at the same time. I use the term 'activate the watcher' to mean that when you become lucid in a dream, you 'wake up' the watcher consciousness in addition to your participation in the dream.

The watcher can be invoked when awake also. It's kind of like watching over your own shoulder to observe your actions and more informatively, watch your motivations.

* Is being able to clearly see your visualizations the effect of getting your subconscious mind to project the image your conscious mind is focused on? Or is it something else?

More probably a function of visual 'recall'.

I'm not sure what you mean by visual recall.

Visual recall is most easily recognized when remembering. When you remember something, some of the sensory experiences are replayed. Especially for visual thinkers, this includes the images associated with the experience. You are seeing it again. The images displayed are not always what you are focused on.