| Dreams Our dreams are never arbitrary. No matter how bizarre the content and images they come to provide useful information and help. Often a dreamer has no idea what his or her dreams are about, but if a dream is shared in a small group setting others can offer helpful insights into the meaning of a dream. Here is an example: A woman dreamt she received a parking fine for £174. When we worked on this dream two things came to mind- firstly, this was not only far higher than a normal parking fine, but it was not divisible by 10. Secondly, it was a parking fine rather than any other type of fine. Numbers are always important in dreams. So 174 had some meaning for the dreamer. At this point the dreamer said that her late husband's birthday was on April 17th. This was one of the first occasions she had spoken publicly about her husband's death. On another level the dreamer was desperate to change her job, hence the dream showed she was parked in the wrong place. So dreams help us with our self development because they clarify how we feel about what is important to us. I have worked with a variety of individuals and groups since 1996 and am happy to provide references. The swan image seen above comes from one of my dreams and is now my dream symbol. Training and Experience California, 1996 I trained in group dreamwork with Marguerite Buchanan who has an MA in Transpersonal Psychology from the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, Menlo Park, CA. Marguerite also trains spiritual directors. She had been working with dreams for twenty years by 1996. She sought to integrate Christian spirituality and Transpersonal psychology in her work. 1997- 2002 I ran dream workshops for the University of Newcastle`s Centre for Lifelong Learning at a Women`s Health Advice Centre in an ex-mining village, north of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I also ran dream workshops for women support groups on the housing estates around Newcastle in Stanley, Seaham and Peterlee. The women lived in deprived conditions and suffered from a variety of health and mental problems. I was given a grant to continue this work and write a report. As a consequence I received a Community Champion award in 2000. I returned to the US in 1998 and met Pat Brockman in Cincinnati, Ohio. Pat studied at the Jung Institute in Zurich and has a Ph.D in Community Psychology. She has run dream retreats for many years and published a book: The Community Dream. In September, 1998 I attended a two-day workshop: “Power Tricks between Masculine and Feminine” by Marion Woodman at Homerton College, Cambridge, UK organised by The Society of Analytical Psychology. The emphasis was on dreamwork. Marion Woodman took dreams from the group and worked on them with the dreamer in public to demonstrate her approach. I went back to California in 1999 and completed a week-long training with Jeremy Taylor at the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. I also attended the Association for the Study of Dreams five-day conference. The early morning dream group with other dream-workers such as Curtiss Hoffman were a profound facilitating experience. In 2004 I attended the five-day ASD conference in Copenhagen. Jeremy Taylor conducted a two-hour group dreamwork session which enriched my own work. In 2007 I published my autobiography which includes my experience of How I work with dreams in a group setting. Group Dreamwork: My approach I use the approach and exercises of many dream writers and workers including: Montague Ullman: “Dreams confront us with who we are not who we think we are.” Jeremy Taylor Anne Faraday Morton Kelsey Jill Mellick Jung Freud: Robert A. Johnson Anthony Stevens Marion Woodman Edward Hartmann Delaney and Flowers Harry Wilmer: “Healing is in the quality of the listening”, says Harry Wilmer, a renowned Senior Jungian Analyst who did therapy with Korean and Vietnam Veterans in Texas. He spoke about his dreamwork at Cambridge University in 2002 . He said: “The interpretation of dreams isn`t the key factor. What`s really healing is the quality of the listening. If you can really listen to the dream without anxiety or ego interfering, this is unique, this is healing. Then you can go ahead and say something about what the dream may mean. It doesn`t really matter if the interpretation is Freudian or Jungian. If you draw a dream you remember it for a long time. If you write it out you don`t. And it makes you ask the right questions. Dreams are mostly visual images, so it`s something I tell all students to try.” Most of my work is with groups. Usually the members of the group have never met before and have often never done any dreamwork before, but they quickly feel at ease and respectful towards each other because this process of dream group work is soul work. Signposts in dreams come from the soul, not the ego. Dreams show us the consequences of what we are doing and inform us when the wishes of the ego are threatening our psychic or spiritual well-being. The more the ego censors the dream message, the more disturbing the dreams become. We use dreams as a mirror for issues. Dreams give a different perspective to normal waking ego perspectives. They broaden my perspective on how I am living or not living my life. I ask dreamers to draw a simple sketch of their dream. Sometimes they do this as they are telling their dream. A picture helps the group clarify the details as told by the dreamer and provides extra information. We gather in a circle around a table and have some quiet time before each person says how they are feeling. This lasts about a minute each. It prepares us for dreamwork because dreamwork is about feelings. We use our intelligence and imagination in our approach to our dreams but they are in order to discover how our dreams are showing us how we feel about ourselves and issues in our lives. Dreams are metaphors in motion- movement towards repair and elaboration. We share the titles we have given to our dreams and then proceed one by one to tell our dreams. As each dreamer finishes telling a dream the group asks questions about the dream and when the questions cease each person can offer a reflection on the dream beginning with the words: “If this were my dream this is what it would mean to me.” This is a two-way exercise. What you offer is a projection of your own state of mind and tells you as much about yourself as it tells the dreamer about a dream. Why is this helpful? It is often easier to see what another person`s dream is about while it can be difficult to understand your own dream. The insights others offer help the dreamer to new insights. Dreams are multi-layered. They are about the past, present and future. They can be about work issues, relationships, lifestyle, an event in the past or pre-cognitive i.e. about an event in the future. Only the dreamer knows what the dream is about but others can provide the varied questioning that helps the dreamer to a clearer understanding of what often appears,at the outset,to be a bizarre narrative or series of unconnected images. Information about the meaning of the dream can come from such contents as numbers in a dream e.g .five tomatoes, £174; people, buildings and colours, although many people say they do not dream in colour. The group helps the dreamer with the dream message following the dream work and , most importantly, the dream task. What is the dreamer going to do as a result of understanding her/his dream. This can be a simple action such as making a phone call or a profoundly-felt change in life-style. Yeats: “In dreams begin responsibilities.” Dreaming is essential, not just for the dreamer, but as a stabilizing element of group life. Humanity has lived and evolved in small, intimate groups. Depending on the time available the group can proceed to deeper work, paired, creative and individual work to discover further meaning and direction from their dreams. We use dreams as a mirror for issues. Dreams give a different perspective to normal waking ego perspectives. They broaden my perspective on how how I am living or not living my life. Back |