I’m reading my third book about dreams.  I’ve been trying to cram in as many books as I

Kalpa Sutra-Jina's mother dreams

can over the holidays, though a couple of nights ago I had a dream that suggests this might not be such a great idea.

There are so many approaches to dreams and I find many of them helpful, depending on the type of dream.  Not all dreams are created equal.  There are some that are warnings, others are prescient in other ways.  For example I knew I would be accepted into grad school as I had a dream that assured me of it before I received the letter.  Some show us our shadow, that is, aspects of ourselves that we have disowned and are needed for our wholeness – if we are brave enough to look.  Others show us a different kind of shadow, what Bregson calls our “opposition,” the part of us that is working against our wholeness.  More about this at another date.  Some dreams may be opportunities to bring opposites within us into relationship.  Some are revelatory, in that they reveal God.  “Big dreams” can show us our life purpose.  Some dreams are just what they are.  They may be visits from ancestors.  They may show us a solution to a problem.  Some might even show us a parallel life in a different dimension.  Many cultures believe our dreams take place in an environment more real and whole than the world we call reality.  I am starting to believe this.

I am cautious about technique in regards to dreams.  I think one needs to have deep respect for dreams in order to “hear” them and technique can become mechanical and distancing.  As I have mentioned before, “respect” means “to look again.”  Often we don’t bother ‘looking again’ at our dreams.  Even if we tell our dream to someone or decide upon an interpretation, we often then forget about it.  Besides respect, I think one needs to develop a feeling for dreams.  I have an image of feeling them and rubbing them between one’s fingers like clay.

To have a feeling for dreams, one needs a kind of empathy, an ability to enter into another world.  One needs to feel the feelings in the dream and sense them.  It might help to ask yourself, ‘what would I be feeling if I were this person (or this one or even myself) in the dream?  It might also be helpful to ask what would I be smelling, hearing, or tasting?  This helps us embody the dream, as well as help us enter into it, and it also brings attention to what is most significant.

I am writing this today because of the dream I mentioned above that made me think I

need to ease off on the reading.  What it suggested to me, along with the one I had the previous night, is that my own creativity has been stuck and I am suffocating my creative voice by the books I have been reading by male authors, as creative and inspired as they may be.  I have things to say about dreams too, and I might even discover more about what those things are, if I start writing about them.

I am reading about dreams, my third book in a matter of days.  I’ve been trying to cram in  as many books as I can over the holidays, though last night I had a dream that suggests this might not be such a great idea.

There are so many approaches to dreams and I think most of them are valid, depending on the type of dream.  Not all dreams are created equal.  There are some dreams that are warnings, others are prescient in other ways.  For example, I knew I would be accepted into graduate school, as I had a dream that assured me of it before I received the letter.  Some show us our shadow, that is, aspects of ourselves that we have disowned and are needed for our wholeness – if we are brave enough to look.  Others show us a different kind of shadow, what Bregman calls our “opposition,” the part of us that is working against our wholeness.  More about this at another date.  Some dream are efforts to bring opposites within us into relationship.  Some are revelatory, in that they reveal God.  “Big dreams” can show us our life purpose.  Some dreams are just what they are.  They may be visits from ancestors.  They may show us a solution to a problem.  Some might even show us a parallel life in a different dimension.  Many cultures believe our dreams take place in a more real and whole world than the life we call reality.  I think there is some truth to that.

What I want to write about here is that I am cautious about using technique in regards to dreams.  I think one needs to have deep respect for dreams in order to “hear” them and technique can become mechanical.  As I have mentioned before, “respect” means “to look again.”  Often we don’t bother ‘looking again’ at our dreams.  Even if we tell our dream to someone, we often then shrug it off and forget about it.  Besides respect, I think one needs to develop a feeling for dreams.  I have an image of feeling them and rubbing them between one’s fingers like clay.

Dreams are not to be analyzed and interpreted.  Just the opposite.  Interpretation distances.  To have a feeling for dreams, one needs a kind of empathy, an ability to enter into another world.  One needs to feel the feelings in the dream and sense them.  It might help to ask yourself, what would I be feeling if I were this person or this one or even myself in the dream?  It might also be helpful to ask what would I be smelling, hearing, or tasting?  This helps us embody the dream.

I am writing this today because of a dream I woke up with this morning.  What it suggested to me, along with the one I had the previous night, is that my own creativity has been stuck and I am suffocating my creative voice by the books I have been reading by male authors, as creative and inspired as they may be.  I have things to say about dreams too, and I might even discover more about what those things are, if I start writing about them.

WordPress on this site has been updated, and hopefully the sp-m will be blocked so we can  receive comments on here again.

It’s Christmas Eve and not so easy to get in the Christmas spirit with all the rain but I am looking forward to getting together with family over the next few days.

My intention of focusing on alchemy over the next year has led (funny, I first of all wrote ‘lead’) me into the world of dreams.  I finished reading Moss’s book on The Secret History of Dreaming, which was fascinating and profound (he is also an engaging writer), and coincidentally enough, he has a whole chapter on the collaboration between Carl Jung and the physicist, Wolfgang Pauli.  Both explored dreams, alchemy, and the connection between the psyche and matter.  I definitely feel I am in the flow of my life and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

Just before I started writing on here I saw a photo of Steve Jobs and the Apple logo.  I guess I am a little slow but for the first time I connected the bite out of the apple as an amazing symbol for a computer company, with its connections to the Garden of Eden and the birth of consciousness.

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and the very best over the holidays!

I mentioned my desire to explore alchemy more deeply this year and neglected to mention another area I am also excited to immerse myself in, that of dreams.  I am starting to get a sense of how the two come together, and part of it has to do with knowing how to attend to the “dreamtime.”

I had the experience of this myself recently.  Since I was over near Alma St. last week I decided to drop into Banyen Books, a dangerous place for me, as I rarely leave empty handed.

I had a brief look at the remainder (I think they call it publisher’s overstock) table and was about to leave when I spotted a single book with a beautiful but slightly bent cover.  It was called The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss.  I was aware of a familiar experience I have had countless times in Banyen.   It is as if for a moment there is only me and this book I am holding and I knew there was no way I would put it down again.  Book in hand I wandered over to the Jungian section to see what was new there.  On their marked down shelf another book called The History of Last Night’s Dream: Discovering the Hidden Path to the Soul lit up in front of me.   Seems there was a theme…  I nestled that one in my arm and hurried to the cashier before I could get into more trouble.  (At least these were both markdowns.)

Interesting to me that not only were both about the history of dreams but they also referred to something “secret” and “hidden”, and I can’t resist a good mystery.  I am reading Moss’s book every chance I can get.

What I especially like about Moss’s book is not only the author’s vast knowledge of both ancient and modern approaches to dreams throughout the world, but he includes in his definition of dreaming, a state of being awake in which one remains connected to the wisdom of the dream realm.

This state has been referred to by all sorts of terms such as altered state of consciousness, but this term puts some people off because it reminds them of drug induced states.  Some call it a level of trance state but that has various connotations related to hypnosis, etc.  Many think of it as connection with the unconscious.  Arnold Mindell calls it awareness of the secondary process, the primary process being our ego state in which we identify with consensual reality.  Aboriginal terms include the dreamtime or dream world.  It is as if one actually enters a different space, as in place and time while remaining awake in the world.  Though few are in this state permanently, it can benefit us by learning how to maintain it as much as possible.  I think of it as allowing the waters of life to refresh the wasteland of our every day existence.

As I said, I am sensing how dreaming and alchemy are inseparable. Through remaining connected and engaging the dreamtime, by day and by night, we are able to respond to our calling and through this we participate in the process of alchemy, that of spiritual transformation.

I’m sensing something beginning to “coagulate.”

Image: A Sleeping Girl by Albert Moore

P.S. I am sorry that for now  I am unable to invite comments as I have had to turn off this feature because of being inundated by spam.  This is temporary.

Well I figured out how to stop most of the sp-m on here (I started getting hundreds a day    for a while) and so I am thinking I will leave the posts up longer and I may even keep writing occasionally on here on alchemy and other topics.

I have loved the process of writing here, as it keeps me so focused on my intentions to live, not like a mystic, and not necessarily like an alchemist either, but just as an authentic and heart centered individual trying to live a meaningful life.

Today I am luxuriating in having nowhere I have to be.  I love teaching but what a pleasure it is to not have to get up at 5:30 to take my dog out (even though I did anyway this morning.)  And I can spend my free time writing and reading – and I plan to go through my blog entries and organize my favourite ones into themes.

I love this time of year, not just the Christmas part but going into the darkest days and bundling up to take the dog out at night when all the coloured lights are on.  Last week I went to hear the Good News Gospel choir and I have been listening to my favourite holiday CD at home – Sarah McLauchlan’s Wintersong.

I enjoy the special lunches and dinners and gatherings with friends.  And I cherish reading and writing on here.

So, I will be back.