KEY ELEMENTS OF DREAM STUDY

Introduction: At Your Dream Study’s Initial Meeting

There are many gates to dream understanding.  After 100 years of serious dream research, both scientific and spiritual, we have only really scratched the surface.  There are a couple of dream specialists who stand head and shoulders above the crowd in terms of understanding dreams.  If you are serious about working closely with your dreams, I highly recommend you put these 2 on your group’s recommended reading list.

Edgar Cayce’s theories regarding dreams are close to that of Carl Jung’s, “Jung and Cayce both believed that all phases of man’s nature are revealed in his dreams for the express purpose of directing him to higher, more balance accomplishments in his physical, mental, and spiritual life.” Sechrist

Cayce (like Jung) was born into a western culture, era and spiritual tradition so we have some work to do to extract the true value of what they had to offer beyond these bias-forming limitations. Limitations such as those imposed from a Victorian type of moralizing, Christian iconography, sexist, and hierarchical perspective. Jung differed slightly due to his education and background (Swiss psychiatry versus American alternative healing modality). Jung’s spiritual background however, was in spiritualism: mediumship and spiritual healing consistent with Cayce’s.

“When an individual has fallen short of his own standards or failed to be true to herself, she may suffer a recriminating dream that pulls her up short. This type of dream exposes the dark or native aspects of the self which Jung calls “the realization of the shadow”. Sechrist

Dream Recall Basics

Why can’t we remember our dreams?

1. Lack of interest and motivation (primary reason)
2. Physical exhaustion or sleep disorder.
3. Impurities in the body or drug side affects.
4. Ego dystolic meaning the dream is pointing to something which is counter to your self image. You might think yourself an honest person for example but the dream is pointing to your dishonesty.
5. Waking up to an alarm which is interrupting your natural sleep cycle.
6. Moving too quickly upon awakening.

Dream Recall Aids

1. Saying to yourself just before falling asleep, “I will remember my dreams.” Keep writing or recording materials by your bedside. Dreams live in the body so the less you move upon awakening the better.
2. Napping –set your alarm for 20 minutes and be ready to record your dream.
3. Meditation – Cayce, “…everyone must at some level of his spiritual progression learn to meditate, because it’s only through meditation will he eventually generate sufficient will power to free himself from his lower self”. Whereas prayer is us talking to the divine, meditation is listening to the divine.
4. Tibetan Method – Concentrate on your desire for dream recall as you lie down to go to sleep. Focus your attention on the back of your throat. Imagine a glowing blue sphere in the throat area and imagine putting your desire for dream recall within that blue orb. Hold that visualization until you fall asleep. (Interesting to note that scientific research has since shown that it is this area at the back of the throat (the stem of the brain) that controls the activation of dream states.)
5. Third Eye Technique – Put a bowl of water next to your bed. Right before sleep, dip two fingers into the water and lightly touch your throat, then rub these two fingers on your forehead in the area of your third eye. As you rub this area, affirm that you will remember your dreams.

It’s Not the Number of Dreams but the Depth of Work You Do

It’s not the number of dreams you recall, but the depth of work you do with the ones you do successfully recall. If you recall one dream a year and work deeply with it, you will gain a great deal more benefit that if you recall 100 dreams a year but pay them little mind.

Special Guidance and Protection Comes to those with Good Intentions

When Cayce was asked, “Why don’t all people receive dreams that will be equally helpful to them?”

He answered that good intentions backed up by action bring special guidance and protection. By good intentions, he meant high ideals and unselfish purposes. A person who tries to live in unselfish service to others will receive protection not only from the Unseen Forces through dreams and visions, but also through the development of intuition. This includes the qualities covered broadly by extrasensory perception.

More Differences Between the Sexes than Across Cultures

In a longitudinal study, 7000 students were interviewed about their dreams (across cultures) and the data revealed that there are more differences in dream content between males and females than between cultures. Furthermore, there are approximately 34 recurrent themes.

Sexual dreams, varying degrees of nudity or exposure, dreams of unpreparedness such as arriving late for a train, bus or plane, falling or teetering on the edge of a precipice, flying under ones own power, fighting, fleeing, gambling, being chased by a lion or dangerous people, and finding oneself imprisoned.

Watch for the Direction of the Energy

Emotion is energy in motion.  Ask yourself, is it…

• Moving forward or backward?
• Positive or negative?
• Progressive or regressive… young to old or the other way?
• Laughter to grief?
• Order to disorder?

This direction of the energy will be represented in the action.

When Presenting Your Dream to the Study Group

• Give your dream a title, and date it,
• Bring enough copies for everyone in the class,
• When recording your dream for presentation, write it in the present tense, for example, “I am walking in an old house and as I look out the window I see a black dog peering in at me.”
• Remember to note how you felt immediately upon awakening and how you felt throughout the dream action. There is a tendency to focus on action and characterization but fail to include how YOU (dream ego) felt throughout the experience.

When Listening to Another Present Their Dream

• Even experienced and knowledgeable dream interpreters, when first hearing a dream feels discouraged by the incomprehensibility of the material the dreamer has presented. This is the rational mind having to admit it can’t figure things out- and thereby leaving space for non-rational faculties.
• Pay close attention to feelings as you listen to a dream. It’s common for the dreamworker to absorb, and feel the repressed emotions of the dreamer – it’s like a symbiosis. But the complication here is:

1. Is this your emotional response to a dream atmosphere?
2. Is this just the way you have been feeling over something that happened today in your life?
3. Is this a feeling you have towards the person expressing the dream?

There will be exercises given in preparation for the next class.

Organize a Dream Binder

Your dreams in one section along with any notes about the day before or following the dream.

Class notes in another.

Any insights you have while I’m talking or you are working with another’s dream.

Your own dream symbol dictionary in another. As you enter new symbols in your dictionary and write out your interpretations of that symbol you are opening a communication channel between your unconscious and conscious minds. You will see that symbol changing over time as you carry it through the light of consciousness. Bookmark this site for guidance in how to interpret and work with your own dream symbol entries.

Project

A project to be presented at the last class. This will involve making a dream character, activity, setting, action manifest. Collage, three dimensional, painting, whatever materials feels right for you.

Confidentiality is critical because dreams are personal and sacred. We’ll be wandering into territory the dreamer may not have as yet fully integrated.

Beware that this type of Dreamwork facilitates a depth of intimacy rarely experienced in group activity. It appears to be a direct, immediate experience of another’s state of mind. Bosnak calls this symbiotic communication.  Picking your membership with this in mind is critical to its success. If you are the one organizing the dream group be prepared to be its leader. It will be incumbent on your to set the boundaries, guidelines and model best practices in terms of punctuality, confidentiality and expectations.