Monique Aguerre, BA, resides in Petaluma, California, where she creates masks and facilitates workshops. She recently completed her studies in the Depth Psychology Master’s Program at Sonoma State University, and is writing her thesis on the use of masks as tools for personal transformation.
Abstract
This presentation documents my personal experience of using masks as tools for exploring dreams. My approach is to create wearable masks that represent actual dream images, and then employ the technique of active imagination to interact with those images. Active imagination is a method of Jungian psychology that allows for a dialogue to take place between the conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche. My dialogue with the unconscious takes place through the vehicle of the mask. The mask acts as a bridge between worlds, allowing dream images to be carried into waking consciousness and fully embodied. It enables the waking life persona to step aside and make way for the expression of other archetypal figures within the psyche. In working with dream images, a mask can allow the dreamer to reenter the dream while being fully awake – a unique and powerful experience.
I gain a deep level of intimacy with my dreams as I move through the entire process, which includes creating the mask, engaging in movement and dance, dialogue, and written reflection. I then photograph myself wearing the masks, and in many cases, I further explore the images through collage and digital enhancement. These photographic images act as mirrors, providing me with fresh perspective on the meaning of my dreams. My presentation will include many examples of these images, and the stories of discovery that accompany them.
The masks help me interact with the dream images and discover more about them. For example, I have had many dreams about owls, which hold great significance for me. I created a mask of an owl to represent the owl figures in my dreams. The mask allows me to actually become the owl within the context of my waking consciousness. I am able to enact the movements and gestures of the owl, and to allow any messages to come through the owl image that might have been inaccessible otherwise.
Working with masks differs from other types of art processes in that masks allow the wearer to set aside the persona of everyday life and become immersed in character of the mask. A mask can allow the wearer to directly come in contact with the archetypal images that reside within each of us. This is particularly valuable when working with dreams. For instance, by donning a mask that represents the Shadow element of a dream, the dreamer can explore the dream from the perspective of the Shadow, rather than viewing that character as alien or separate. By creating masks that represent different characters within a dream, it is possible to experience the dream from a variety of perspectives by alternately wearing the various masks and looking through the eyes of the various dream characters.
I believe that each character in the dream reflects different aspects of the Self. I feel that by creating and wearing masks that represent these characters, a dreamer may achieve a greater experience of wholeness and integration.
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Emily Anderson, MA, has a certificate of Dream Studies and a Master’s degree in Transformative Arts from John F. Kennedy University. She is a multi-media artist, dancer, teacher and arts administrator and has led and participated in art, dreaming and spiritual groups for over ten years as well as worked at the director level of Bay Area art nonprofits.
Abstract
Through creating collages based on a dream, series of dreams or one image from a dream we will evoke the state of creation, where dreams dwell. Through imagery and reflection, we will explore this expanded state to gain further insight into our dreams. This workshop is based on the wisdom inherent in the dream as well as the individual. Therefore, through the seemingly “simple” technique of sharing a dream with the group and then making a collage, various layers of unconscious connections and insights will be exposed. It relies on the richness of color and imagery to convey the essence of the dream beyond words. Supplies will be provided.
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Elicia M. Arwen, MA, studies Contemplative Psychology and Transpersonal Psychology. She has studied the psychology of Carl Jung and dreamwork since 1994. She currently practices as a psychotherapist in Boulder, Colorado.
Abstract
This article demonstrates how dreamwork can be an essential aspect of the healing process of female incest survivors. Schellenberg (1997) found that symbols played a significant role in the lives of women who had survived childhood sexual abuse and Kane (1989) suggested that acknowledgment of images produced by the unconscious could give the survivor much needed information about her life patterns. The material presented here was extracted from a phenomenological study conducted to expand on these authors’ findings. The study explored dream material described as healing by four co-researchers. Co-researchers’ data indicated that dreams were an essential aspect of healing from childhood incest in the following ways: (a) dreams enhanced awareness of healing processes; (b) the evolution of their abusers in dreams facilitated their perceptions of their abuser as human and no longer a threat; (c) dreams helped them perceive themselves and others more accurately; (d) dreams helped them feel safer in their bodies and the world; (e) symbols in their dreams brought meaning to their healing processes; (f) dreams increased spiritual awareness; and (g) changes in their dreams over time validated their experiences and aided them in rebuilding self-trust.
Co-researchers of this study were recruited through therapists in the Philadelphia area and met the following requirements for inclusion in the study: they (a) were female survivors of childhood incest; (b) were at least twenty-four years of age; (c) had consistently seen the same therapist for at least six months; (d) remembered and used their dreams to inform their conscious lives; and (e) worked well with their dreams.
Data were collected in two ways. First, co-researchers completed a six-item questionnaire on their dream lives and were asked to describe two or three dreams they believed had an impact on healing from incest. Second, co-researchers were interviewed by the researcher to elicit further information on dream experiences they believed informed their conscious lives. This data was used to collect co‑researchers’ perceptions of the relationship to their dream lives, as well as aid in the self-reflection of the researcher during analysis.
This article reports specifically on how co-researchers experienced their dream lives as facilitators of accurate and healthy self-perceptions. The following themes from the study are discussed in this article: (a) dreams enhanced meaning and awareness of their healing processes; (b) dreams helped them perceive themselves and others more accurately; and (c) changes in their dreams over time validated their experiences and aided them in rebuilding self-trust. First, the article briefly summarizes the study from which the data was extracted. It then discusses the data related to the enhancement of self-perception. Brief case studies are presented to explain how co-researchers utilized their dream material to increase accurate and healthy self-perceptions. Finally, the article discusses the importance of dreamwork within the context of therapy with adult female survivors of incest.
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Healing CollageSM Dream Group
Sheila McNellis Asato, MA, www.monkeybridgearts.com, is the founder of Monkey Bridge Arts, a center dedicated to the growth, transformation and healing of individuals and the community through art, dreaming and creative development. She also provides customized training in cross-cultural communication, with an emphasis on Japan, for Family Guidance International.
Abstract
This experiential dream group will focus on the Healing CollageSM process as a means of working with dreams on a daily basis. By working visually, first thing in the morning, participants will see how the dream influences the unconscious placement of imagery in their collages, creating a kind of visual dream journal.
Healing CollageSM is a non-verbal, creative way of accessing, interacting with and deepening one's relationship with dreams, even in the absence of dream recall. Like the collage artist in the studio, the dreaming self loves to cut, paste, and move imagery around in a number of surprising and occasionally shocking ways to get our attention. In this morning dream group, participants will have an opportunity to directly experience the relationship between waking creativity and dreaming in a way that stimulates further creative work with their dreams after the session has ended.
Dreaming is a highly emotional and visual state of consciousness. Upon waking, as one moves into the world of words and linear thought, it is only natural to try to articulate the dream experience in words. After all, verbal fluency is one of the great strengths of waking life. However, as useful as words may be in waking life, the dream itself remains an essentially non-verbal experience. When one relies primarily on words to bring dream content into waking life, a great deal is unnecessarily lost in translation. It’s hard enough to recall dreams without the additional burden of immediately translating them into words upon waking.
The Healing CollageSM offers a non-verbal means of bringing dream material into waking life through the language of form and feeling. As artists throughout time have known, it is possible to bring dreams into waking life through the use of shape, texture, position and color. When one trusts the eyes and hands to guide the way, it is possible to transcend the specific cultural limitations of words. As Jung said, “Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.”
Once dream material has been embodied visually in a Healing CollageSM, it is then possible to begin the separate task of translating that material into words. Through demonstrations, participants will learn how to create a meaningful dialogue based on the tendency of particular issues to cluster together in specific areas of a collage. This will open up new ways of interacting with dreams, as well as deepening one's relationship with the inner world.
At the last session of this dream group, there will be a brief discussion on the Healing CollageSM as a unique synthesis of graphic design techniques, Japanese collage therapy methods, the Watchword technique and Kaplan-Williams' approach to dream cards, followed by an explanation of the underlying compositional principals that guide the unconscious positioning of images. Participants will leave with a deeper awareness of how dream imagery can emerge visually into waking life.
All forms have an underlying structure which holds them together. The dream is no exception. Like art, the dream has a structural integrity that can be observed visually when given free access to a two‑dimensional surface. The Healing CollageSM offers a direct, non-threatening approach to dreamwork that requires no background in art. Because of its accessibility, even people with little or no dream recall will find a way to begin working their images in a meaningful way.
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The Business of Dreaming
Sheila McNellis Asato, MA, www.monkeybridgearts.com, is the founder of Monkey Bridge Arts, a center dedicated to the growth, transformation and healing of individuals and the community through art, dreaming and creative development. She also provides customized training in cross-cultural communication, with an emphasis on Japan, for Family Guidance International.
Wendy Pannier, (USA), has conducted workshops and dream groups with cancer patients for the past 11 years, as well as coordinating grants to IASD for the work she and Tallulah Lyons are doing with cancer patients. She has worked with Dr. Montague Ullman since the early 1980s and has led dream groups for diverse audiences here and abroad for over 25 years.
Nicole Gratton, (Canada), founder and director of the Dream School Nicole Gratton (École de Rêves) in Montreal. She also acts as a sleep consultant for the business community and has written fourteen books in French on the subject of dreams and sleep, two of which were translated into Italian.
Justina Lasley, MA (USA), www.dreamswork.us, is the founder of the Institute for Dream Studies and director of DreamsWork™ Certification Program for the NY Open Center. She is the author of Honoring the Dream: A Handbook for Dream Group Leaders. Justina also lectures, leads workshops, and facilitates dream groups throughout the United States.
Janet S. Steinwedel, PhD (USA). Building on her dissertation study which incorporated dreamwork in leadership coaching, Janet continues to build the case for dreams in the corporate world. She started her own business, Leader’s Insight, LLC, in 2005. She has worked with Leadership and Organizational Development for 20 years. Her doctorate is in Human and Organizational Systems.
Abstract
Dreaming not only nourishes individuals, but it also nourishes the community. Contemporary dream workers are bringing dreaming out into the world in a variety of ways that are enhancing the lives of dreamers as well as the dreams themselves. In this panel, four entrepreneurs will share their experiences of creating and running dream based businesses.
Justina Lasley in Following Your Dreams to Success will discuss her path toward founding the Institute for Dream Studies. She will discuss how opportunities, synchronicity, mentors, IASD, training and graduate programs, writing and publishing led the way to creating a learning center for dream workers. She will also share tips for following ones desire and interest, creating an identity, cultivating respect in ones field, developing business skills that will allow one to move into the business of dreaming.
Next, Wendy Pannier will speak about The Business of Non Profits. In this presentation, she will talk about the grants she and Tallulah Lyons have gotten and the pros and cons of pursuing this type of funding. She will also discuss the importance of running nonprofit work in a business manner and provide tips on some fundamental Do’s and Don’ts.
In Planning to Succeed – The Nuts and Bolts of Starting a Dream Business, Sheila Asato will share how she has brought dreaming together with her work in the studio arts. As the founder of Monkey Bridge Arts, she has found that dreams alone are not enough to start a business. Learning how to think like a business person, creating a business plan, doing market research, finding practical support, and developing a diverse audience have allowed her to bring her passions out into the public in a way that is meaningful and is leading to success. Sheila will review the practical steps she has taken to get her dream business off to a flying start.
In the third presentation, Running a Dream Business, Nicole Gratton has found that being a small business owner requires a variety of skills. Nicole will address four key areas essential to success including juggling one's public identities as consultant, teacher/ facilitator, professional speaker, and dreamwork practitioner. Tips for getting the word out through marketing tools such as business cards and pamphlets, advertising, the internet, networking, and writing. How to organize oneself for action by reading business newspapers, taking sales courses, and giving back to the community through consultation, workshops, and speeches. And finally, the importance of harmonizing ones professional and spiritual mission through daily meditation, dream incubation and by being a pure channel for Spirit"
Finally, in Dreamwork and Executive Coaching, Janet S. Steinwedel, PhD, asks the question, is there room for dreaming in the corporate world? In this presentation, Janet will share how she has incorporated dreamwork into an executive coaching practice. Through a case study, she will explore the benefits and challenges of bringing dreamwork into the corporate world and the coaching relationship. She will also share the work she’s doing with coaches and dreams in order to further their development and effectiveness.
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Umberto Barcaro is an Associate Professor at the Computer Science Department of Pisa University, Italy, and a research collaborator at the National Research Council. He is particularly interested in text analysis of dream reports and dream associations. He has been a member of IASD since 1999.
Pietro Rizzi is a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in Milan, Italy. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology of the Milano–Bicocca University. His research interests include theory and methods in clinical psychology and psychoanalysis, clinical interview, and psychoanalytic approaches to aesthetics.
Abstract
The memory sources of dreams can be present concerns, abstract assertions, or memories of past episodes. These sources are closely interconnected, very far from separate; the study of the links among sources can evidence interesting features of the dreaming phenomenon.
Possible links among dream sources can be identified by the automatic detection of word recurrences in text files including dream reports and the associations with the various dream items. A graph representation of the links can be helpful, because of its visual impact and its capacity to provide quantitative parameters. The study of the grammar roles of the recurring words allows identifying significant context changes. Based on these changes, plausible explanations can be advanced for the establishment of links among dream sources (Barcaro et al., 2002; Barcaro et al., 2005).
The automatic analysis is based on the detection of word recurrences, a method often applied in computer analysis of literary texts: approaches to text analysis proper of literary criticism can be helpful in the study of dreaming (Kramer, 2000). We assume that the associations provided by the dreamer can provide reliable information about the dream sources (Cavallero and Cicogna, 1993), even though the collection of associations requires carefulness and caution. In fact, most approaches to dream interpretation are based on asking the dreamer about the dream (see, e.g., the various chapters, written by different Authors of the book edited by Delaney, 1993). Establishing (or simply witnessing) links among different sources is an important feature of the dreaming process. Even very young children can have dreams which combine sources related to different episodes of their lives (Siegel and Bulkeley, 1998). In dreams after trauma, the past traumatic experience often works as a metaphor for present concerns of the dreamer (see, e.g., Kramer et al., 1987, Hartmann, 2001, Barrett, 1996): in spite of a tendency of the traumatic experience towards, so to say, occupying the whole dream, the memory of this experience is however connected to other contents. The fact that dream sources are closely connected is in agreement with the idea that cross-connecting is a basic function of dreaming (Hartmann, 1996).
In this presentation, we give examples of application of this method to dreams reported during therapeutic sessions. We have found that the study of the links among dream sources is helpful in therapy. When the patient reports a dream, the therapist exploits ideas, images, and recollections provided by the patient as associations with the dream, thus obtaining an initial assessment of the dream significance. An application of the method proposed can evidence new aspects of the dream content and can allow the therapist to review his first analysis and to discuss the new aspects with the patient. Furthermore, it often happens that the patient re-activates the dream contents in a new session and adds new items or details: in this case, our method can provide a confirmation of the initial analysis or suggest modifications to it.
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Maryann Barone-Chapman is a Jungian psychotherapist in private practice in London where she specializes in women’s issues, including infertility. She holds a Master’s of Science from the British Association of Psychotherapists, Jungian Analytic Section, in collaboration with Birkbeck College University of London. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in women’s unconscious use of their bodies.
Abstract
The patient loves to dream. The patient dreams to love. This dream series chronicles two years of exploration into the unconscious obstacles of a mother bound female patient who is frightened of separating from mother and meeting her male other. The patient longs for home and family but at a time of life when she is most fertile, the journey is fraught with perils that include: images of a fierce mother protecting a young male baby from men with knives to swarms of flying insects and ants coming out of the walls when she is ready to have her man. The clinical use of the dream series and the patient’s use of its’ symbolism through drawings are experienced as creative endeavours differentiating her longing for the male from her longing to integrate her Animus as the “Partner Within”.
In Jungian terms this is the first hurdle toward individuation; the working through of being ‘mother bound’. The emergent themes include the affects of an absence of a good enough and present father to help daughter develop autonomy, agency, dependence and inter-dependence. Without father, the female is left with a one-sided view of the world and cannot form an intra-psychic marriage that allows both anima and animus development
Through the dream the patient is able to work with the split of the syzygy, her fear of penetration and genital maturity. Several transformations in the dream series and in the real time engagement with the male other emerge out of an over-development of Eros and romantic ideals. A second theme emerges within the canvas of the dream regarding the fear, hatred and envy of mother around dreams of sexuality and romantic relationships which serve as battlefield for having authority in her own life.
The struggle to find the other within and in the world is compensated for through a series of dreams representing the task the patient longs to accomplish: adulthood.
Several dreams and attending drawings where the patient has dreamed the dream on will be presented.
Cater, N. (2003) Electra, Tracing a Feminine Myth Through the Western Imagination New Orleans: Spring
Hillman, J. (1988) ‘Going Bugs’, Spring 40-72
Jung, C.G. (1913) The Theory of Psychoanalysis Collected Works 4
Jung, C.G. (1954) ‘The practical use of dream-analysis’, CW 16
Jung, C.G. (1963 Mysterium Coniunctionis CW14 New York: Bollingen Series XX
Jung, C.G. (1982) Aspects of the Feminine London: Ark Routledge
Leonard, L (1982) The Wounded Woman Healing the Father-Daughter Relationship Boston: Shambala
Mc Neely, D.A. (1991) Animus Aeternus Exploring the Inner Masculine Toronto: Inner City
Neumann, E. (1955) The Origins and History of Consciousness London: Routledge, Kegan Paul
Neumann, E. (1994) The Fear of the Feminine Chichester: Princeton University Press
Powell, S. (1993) Electra: The Dark Side of the Moon Journal of Analytical Psychology 38: 155-174
Seligman, E. (1985) The Half-Alive Ones. In A. Samuels (ed.) The Father Contemporary Jungian Perspectives
Williamson, M. (2004) The Importance of fathers in relation to their daughters’ psychosexual development In Psychodynamic Practice 10.2 pp.207-219
Woodman, M., Danson, K., Hamilton, M. & Greer Allen, R. (1992) Leaving My Father’s House, The Journey to Conscious Femininity London: Shambhala
Young-Eisendrath, P. Wiedemann, F. (1987) Female Authority Empowering Women Through Psychotherapy London: Guilford Press
Young-Eisendrath, P. (1999) Women & Desire Beyond Wanting to be Wanted London : Piatkus
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Deirdre Barrett, PhD, is author of The Committee of Sleep: How Artists, Scientists, and Athletes Use Their Dreams for Creative Problem Solving – and How You Can, Too; The Pregnant Man and Other Cases from a Hypnotherapist's Couch; and editor of Trauma and Dreams. She is Editor-in-Chief of Dreaming, and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School.
Abstract
There are a variety of ways of combining hypnosis and dreamwork for the mutual enhancement of each. One can use hypnotic suggestions that a person will experience a dream in the trance state – either as an open ended suggestion or with the suggestion that they dream about a certain topic – and these "hypnotic dreams" have been found to be similar enough to nocturnal dreams (Barrett, 1979) to be worked with using many of the same techniques usually applied to nocturnal dreams. One can also work with previous nocturnal dreams during a hypnotic trance in ways parallel to Jung's "active imagination" techniques to continue, elaborate on, or explore the meaning of the dream.
Research by Charles Tart (1964) has found that hypnotic suggestions can be used to influence future nocturnal dream content, and Joe Dane (1985) demonstrated that hypnotic suggestions can increase the frequency of laboratory verified lucid dreams. Many people have also utilized hypnotic and self-hypnotic suggestions for increased dream recall.
The workshop will cover all of these techniques and include experiential exercises with several of them. It would be appropriate for both individuals interested in working with their own dreams and for professional therapists interested in acquiring more techniques for helping clients to explore their dreams.
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Deirdre Barrett, PhD, is author of The Committee of Sleep: How Artists, Scientists, and Athletes Use Their Dreams for Creative Problem Solving – and How You Can, Too; The Pregnant Man and Other Cases from a Hypnotherapist's Couch; and editor of Trauma and Dreams. She is Editor-in-Chief of Dreaming, and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School.
Abstract
What does a theory of dreaming need to explain? I propose the key elements are:
- Why is there any mental content at all to our nights’ sleep?
- Why are dreams so different from waking perception, i.e. what is the explanation for their “bizarre” elements, their heightened visual imagery, motion and emotion; their lowered logic, language, and memory, their abrupt transitions?
- Do dreams have a function(s) – if so, what? If not, how do we explain their existence?
In this paper, I will address these with special emphasis on one aspect of the last question: if it is to fit within modern science, an explanation of any behavior needs to be consistent with evolutionary theory. I’ll outline a proposed function – that dreams are thinking or problem solving in a different biochemical state from that of waking and then discuss why I think the epiphenomena/spandrel model does not sufficiently account for this. I will review earlier evolutionary dream theories, suggest ways in which they may be too narrow, and question the utility of the ‘spandrel’ concept. I posit that dreams are thinking or problem solving in a different biochemical state from that of waking. I will describe how specific characteristics of dream mentation are determined by which sensory modalities we must monitor, the need to remain still and quiet during sleep, and perhaps other physiological parameters. However, dreaming evolved over at least 164 million years of mammalian history, and seems to be fine-tuned to certain psychological purposes. This paper will also examine whether dreams may have been more useful in an ancestral human environment.
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Donald Bender, MFT, is a licensed psychotherapist, who specializes in the linguistic analysis of clinical and forensic documents. He moderates the online discussion forum dedicated to clinical and research approaches to the Thematic Apperception Test. He has a private practice and in addition is Director of Training for ‘TheirWords’.
Abstract
In this presentation you will learn to identify the different linguistic strategies that dreamers typically employ to conceal the subjective "I" in sensitive segments of their dream narrative.
The "I" character is generally recognized as being the most important figure in the dream narrative. The "I" can appear as a main character, part of the supporting cast, or an "uninvolved" witness to the action. The "I" can even disappear from the diegesis completely, confining its role to a meta-narrational capacity.
In their coding system Hall & van de Castle recognize that the dreamer or "I" character has a privileged place in the dream cast. Because the dreamer is such a constant factor in almost every dream they decided not to further code the dreamer (D) in any of their character classes. This decision however, functionally colludes with the subversive proclivity of the "I" to camouflage itself and disappear from the dream text.
The "I" in a dream is often hidden because we do not want to take responsibility for some of the thoughts and acts committed by our dream self. Repression is never total however, and the elided presence of the Self leaves a tell tale linguistic trail. We will follow that trail and expose the hidden "I."
This presentation will demonstrate how the techniques of discourse and forensic statement analysis can be usefully applied to the manifest content of the dream narrative.
Forbidden impulses, acts, and thoughts mediate and distort the dreamer's ability and inclination to accurately recount the dream. The dreamer always has two audiences whose opinion and judgment has to be taken into account. There is firstly any potential listener to the dream such as a friend, colleague, or therapist. There is also and more pervasively the felt moral stance of the dreamer's own waking self. Material might be left out or distorted because it is egodystonic – both embarrassing and incompatible with the dreamer's accepted ideal self construct.
The easiest and most natural way of dealing with egodystonic material is to simply let the forces of repression wash it from waking memory. Frequently the dream affect is too powerful to be completely repressed or too indelible because it has been written down. The censoring function then must fall back on elision, distortion, and confusion. Behind this second tier of defense there is a third tier by which the dreamer is able to linguistically withdraw commitment to and disown responsibility from suspect acts.
Tier 1: "I can't remember what I dreamed last night."
Tier 2: "I stabbed somebody."
Tier 3: "Somebody was stabbed."
Concentrating on the Tier 3 defense I will delineate twenty different linguistic stratagems that are employed in dream narratives to "mask" the personal involvement of the dream ego who goes by the legal name "I". Some of these strategies are semantic; others are grammatical. All of them serve to distance the dreamer from his own dream by diluting actational commitment and responsibility. By doing so the dream becomes not only safe enough to preserve, but also innocent enough to be displayed in public.
Authors Note: Linguistic Statement Analysis has a long theoretical and research tradition. It was first formulated by a German psychologist named Undeutsch in the 1950's to help the legal system distinguish fabricated from real accounts of child abuse narratives. There have been many refinements since then and thousands of clinical and experimental studies (see Vrij (2000,) Yuille (1989), and Ekman (1985) for a historical and literature review.) My own work has been to adopt these linguistic analytical techniques to more clinical material such as therapy session process notes, TAT stories, and most relevant to this occasion: dream narratives.
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Mark Blagrove, PhD, is reader in psychology and Director of the Sleep Laboratory at Swansea University, Wales. He is a Past President of IASD, is a consulting Editor of the journal Dreaming, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Sleep Research.
Abstract
Introduction
Much work has been conducted on the relationship between personality and the frequency of having nightmares. When nightmare frequency has been assessed retrospectively, or as the number of nightmares during a period of keeping a dream diary, significant correlations have been found by various authors with various traits, for example boundariness (Hartmann et al, 1998; Schredl et al, 1996), and anxiety (Zadra and Donderi, 2000). There has also been some work on correlating for single individuals their mood during a day with the presence/absence of a nightmare on the following night (e.g. Cellucci & Lawrence, 1978). The latter authors found that some individuals have a greater relationship than others between daytime mood and likelihood of having a nightmare. This current paper reports the first study to address whether particular traits are associated with a greater likelihood of having a nightmare on a night following a day with negative mood.
Method
42 participants (35 female, 7 male; mean age = 40.1 (19.0) years) who have nightmares at least once per month were rated on 13 personality trait scales. They then kept a dream diary for 14 nights in which they reported the hedonic tone of their dreams on a 7 point scale of very pleasant to very unpleasant. They also reported their level of state anxiety and state depression before going to bed each day.
Results
Dreams rated as very unpleasant were classed as nightmares. Mean number of nightmares over the 14 nights = 2.6 (SD = 1.78, range 0 – 7). Within subject correlations were conducted for each participant who had at least one nightmare and at least one dream that was not a nightmare over the course of the diary, between state anxiety and presence/absence of a nightmare. Mean within subjects correlations = .13 (SD = .33, range = -.41 to .85, n=38). These within subjects correlations were then converted to Fishers r within subjects correlations, and were then correlated for the 38 participants with each of the 13 personality traits. The following traits correlated at the .05 (1-tail) level with number of nightmares: cognitive arousal; fantasy proneness; borderline personality; neuroticism (all rs > .26); the following traits correlated at the .01 (1–tail) level : social conformity; trait anxiety; symptom check list severity (rs > .36). None of the traits had significant correlations with the within subjects correlations of presence of nightmare with presleep anxiety, largest correlation was with number of adverse life events (r=.24, n.s.). Traits generally correlated higher with within subjects correlations of presence of nightmare with presleep depression, only symptom check list approached significance (r=.31, p=.03 1-tail).
Discussion
Individuals differ in whether they respond with a nightmare to presleep anxiety or depression. Such individual differences only have weak (at best) correlations with various traits that were hypothesised to indicate a predisposition to having nightmares.
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The Mediating Effect of Nightmare Distress in Relationships Between Psychopathology and Nightmare Frequency
Mark Blagrove, PhD, is reader in psychology and Director of the Sleep Laboratory at Swansea University, Wales. He is a Past President of IASD, is a consulting Editor of the journal Dreaming, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Sleep Research.
Abstract
Introduction
Many researchers have found higher psychopathology in people who frequently have nightmares than in those who do not, although there iss dispute about the exact nature of these psychopathologies, with some researchers finding associations with shizotypy (Levin, 1998), others with neuroticism but not psychotoicism, and others with waking life stress and general poor-wellbeing (e.g.,Zadra and Donderi, 2000). However, Belicki (1992) found that psychopathology is related to the distress caused by nightmares but not to nightmare frequency itself. As Belicki assessed nightmare frequency by retrospective questionnaire Blagrove et al (2004) investigated whether this is also true for nightmare frequency when assessed by dream log. They found that there are relationships between nightmare frequency and various psychopathology measures, but that these relationships become negligible when the trait distress caused by nightmares is partialled out. This led to the conclusion that waking life stress and psychopathology does not lead to a higher frequency of nightmares, but rather that individuals who have higher distress due to nightmares recall nightmares more frequently: their nightmare frequency is thus an attribution. Blagrove et al (2004) used a sample of students in their study. The present study aimed to find out if the same mediation and attributtion due to nightmare distress is present for a sample with greater psychopathology.
Method
53 participants (44 female, 9 male; mean age = 38.2 (18.2) years) who have nightmares at least once per month were assed for retrospective nightmare frequency and for prospective nightmare frequency on a dream diary for 14 nights. They were also assessed on various psychopathology measures, including neuroticism, anxiety, acute stress, and borderline personality. They were also assessed on Belicki’s (1992) 13 item trait nightmare distress scale.
Results
Nightmare distress and prospective nightmare frerquency had similarly sized correlations (rs = approximately 0.3) as each other with various psychopathology measures. When nightmare distress was partialled out of the correlations between nightmare frequency and psychopathology the latter correlations generally remained significant, although diminished.
Discussion
There is a direct effect of psychopathology on nightmare frequency that is independent of the rarely assessed confound of trait nightmare distress. The results and conclusions of Blagrove et al (2004) may thus not be generalisable to non-student more psychopathologic populations.
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Fariba Bogzaran, PhD, is an Associate Professor and the founding Director of the Dream Studies Program at JFK University. One of the pioneers in dream education and research on transpersonal experiences in lucid dreaming, she is the author of numerous publications on the spiritual dimensions and is the co-author of Extraordinary Dreams.
George Gillespie, MA, is a Sanskrit scholar and has done doctoral work in Sanskrit (University of Pennsylvania). He is an American Baptist Minister and has taught the history of religions at seminaries in India. He writes on the phenomenology of visual experience and religious experiences of light.
Scott Sparrow, EdD, LPC, LMFT, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas-Pan American. He is the author of Lucid Dreaming: Dawning of the Clear Light (1976) and several books on the phenomenology of religious experiences. His recent book is his memoir, Healing the Fisher King: A Fly Fisher’s Quest, in which the lucid dreaming and experience of light figure prominently.
Robert Van de Castle, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of the Health Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. He is a Past President of IASD, co-author with Calvin Hall of the dream classic, The Content Analysis of Dreams, the author of Our Dreaming Mind, and has authored numerous publications including Our Dreaming Mind (1996).
Abstract
The experience of light is widely acknowledged as a core mystical experience by the world’s religious and spiritual traditions. Such experiences occur in dreams and Near Death Experiences, as well as in prayer and meditation states. Recipients report that light experiences coincide with spiritual openings and exert a significant impact on their lives. While light itself is formless, it manifests in a phenomenal context that includes non-representational geometric imagery, as well as representational imagery with clear archetypal and idiosyncratic qualities.
This presentation focuses on four different aspects and dimensions of light in dreams.
Fariba Bogzaran will discuss the relationship between the experience of Light and experience of Void – including hypnagogic, lucid dream, and hypnopompia – and the impact of such experiences in the spiritual growth of the dreamer. Through examples and personal observations, she will present the experiences and visual impressions leading up to the presence of light, qualities of light and union with the light.
George Gillespie will present a particular form of light he calls “stable intense lights.” Stable intense lights can be categorized as: an area of light, a disk of light, peripheral light, a sun-like concentration of light, and/or fullness of light. These forms of light are more characteristic of elementary imagery (geometric and related forms) than the representational or perceptlike forms of dreaming. He will explore the experience of stable intense lights during lucid dreaming in relation to hypnopompic geometric imagery.
Scott Sparrow will present several dreams in which the dreamer reports the interior experience of radiance, and then examine the dreamer’s cognitive and emotional states alongside the imagery before and during the experience of light. By describing the immediate antecedents and correlates of the experience of light, he will raise some hypotheses concerning dreamer states or conditions that may be facilitative or inhibitory of the experience of light.
Robert van de Castle will focus on the association between angels and radiant light in dreams. He will describe several dreams in which a radiant light accompanies the presence of an angelic figure and comment upon the quality of the light which appears and the reaction of the dreamer when such imagery is present
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Fariba Bogzaran, PhD, is an Associate Professor and the founding Director of the Dream Studies Program at JFK University. One of the pioneers in dream education and research on transpersonal experiences in lucid dreaming, she is the author of numerous publications on the spiritual dimensions and is the co-author of Extraordinary Dreams.
Daniel Deslauriers, PhD, is Professor and Director of the East-West Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He was the co-founder of the Montreal Center for study of dreams. He co-authored the book Le rêve: sa nature, sa fonction et une méthode d'analyse and has authored several articles.
Marilyn Fowler, MA, is an Associate Professor and the current Director of the Dream Studies Program at JFK University. She has an extensive background in organizational development, dreamwork, research and coaching. She is also the Director of the MA program in Consciousness and Transformative Studies at JFKU.
Stanley Krippner, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Saybrook Graduate School, served as the President of IASD and APA. A pioneer in the field of dream research, he was the Director at the Maimonides Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory, Brooklyn, NY. He is author, co-author or editor of numerous articles and books.
Abstract
This presentation builds on findings from a 2006 survey, The Transformative Power of Dream Studies (Bogzaran and Fowler), which examined the impact of formal Dream Studies education on the life of JFKU students and alumni. Findings from that research strongly indicate that the study of dreams has a significant effect on the lives of those who choose to study dreams formally.
This panel will continue this inquiry by presenting new research findings from focus groups with JFKU dream studies students and alumni, describing the on-going effects of dream studies on individuals' personal and professional development, as well as the impact of their education on others in their lives.
The panel includes themes from survey with dream educators and their experience of teaching dreams in university and colleges internationally. The themes address the teacher’s observation of student’s development. Examples will be reported. Among the teachers in the survey are pioneer dream educators who have been teaching dreams for over twenty years.
Dream research in academic institutions offering doctoral programs or courses on dreams will be discussed. Stanley Krippner from Saybrook Graduate School will present how dream studies has developed in his institution and his work with MA and Ph.D. students focusing their research on dreams. Daniel Deslauriers from California Institute of Integral Studies, will share his experience supervising qualitative dissertation topics on dreams using, in particular, phenomenology and narrative methodology. They will also include dissertation topics conducted in their academic institutions.
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Kirsten Borum, dream therapist, Denmark, has been working with dreams professionally since 1983. She combines dreamwork with energy work, meditation and healing. She was trained and supervised by Jes Bertelsen and Bob Moore. She has a private practice in Copenhagen. She has appeared in various media on dreams and dream interpretation.
Abstract
The background of my teachings of dreamwork and meditation/energy work are based on my intensive and long-standing studies with Jes Bertelsen and Bob Moore, see above.
There is a correlation between the images of our nightly dreams and the subtle energy of man. Dreams will prompt certain specific energy exercises to be performed, and energy exercises will have an impact on the contents and symbols of the dream.
I have studied in great depth the subtle energy system of man for 25 years throughout which period I have regularly done energy exercises and meditations. I have taught dreamwork and meditation/energy work separately, and I have had several ongoing groups in which I use dreams, dream symbols and energy work in different combinations that I have developed. My own experiences as well as those of many participants in my "dreams and meditation" groups have confirmed this correlation.
I also make use of the correlation between the dreams and the subtle energy system with clients in dream therapy. Apart from the dreamwork as such, I look at the dreams in their energy aspect. This enables me to select specific energy exercises for the clients to do at home to support and further their process, and gives me a clue of how to work on their energy system in a form of healing that I call therapeutic healing.
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Ghazaal Bozorgmehr holds an MA from Tehran University, Tehran, Iran. She teaches English to children and is one of the translators of Masters of Children’s Literature. She also collaborates with the authorized representative of ‘Kids’ Skills’ in Asia, teaching Kids' Skills.
Hooshmand Ebrahimi holds an MA from Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. He is a child counselor. He is the first ‘Kids’ Skills’ instructor in Asia, officially recognized as such by Ben Furman, MD, the founder of ‘Kids’ Skills’.
Abstract
“Kids’ Skills”, developed by psychiatrist Ben Furman at Finland Brief Therapy Institute, is a solution‑oriënted method by which children overcome problems in a positive and pleasing way by learning new skills. Through Kid’s Skills the child’s parents and instructors can convert the child’s problem into a corresponding skill and teach this skill to the child in order to solve his/her problem. Kids’ Skills method comprises systematic tasks. It begins with the task of converting a problem into a skill and after exploring the benefits of learning the skill as well as naming the skill by the child, is followed by choosing a power creature. In addition, there are also other tasks to be accomplished such as building confidence, practicing the skill, dealing with frustration and, celebrating success.
Converting nightmares into goodmares is one of the skills which the child can learn with the help of Kids’ Skills method. In the process of learning this skill, choosing a power creature is very important because, as Patricia Garfield, the internationally known dream researcher, points out, a child who has nightmares, needs help and must find someone to get help from. Harry Potter is a power creature who can help the child to learn the skill of converting nightmare into goodmare. The media got everyone interested in Harry Potter. Harry Potter, according to William Glasse,r the founder of Reality Therapy, lives in an external control world that pushes him around. But what makes him a hero is that it fails to control him. Harry Potter uses both his brain and magic to escape the external control that surrounds him.
This proposal discusses the power creature from a Kids’ Skills perspective and reviews the characteristics of Harry Potter as a power creature. Then it shows how Harry Potter can help a child reclaim his or her resources and overcome nightmares.
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Mary Brill, LCSW, is an experienced psychotherapist who uses her skills in problem solving and mentoring to help people develop their inner resources. She leads national and international seminars and tours focused on personal growth, dreams, feminine wisdom and spirituality. She is known for her unique ability to tame the inner critic and foster self-acceptance.
Abstract
Main principles
a. Participants will learn to identify and use their unique, artistic language to map their dreams.
b. Participants will understand the use of combining dream mapping and art, voice dialogue, movement, etc. as a way to make life changes, break free from old patterns, and for self empowerment.
c. Participants will learn a set of tools for mapping their own dreams and the dreams of others.
d. Participants will explore the creative process of self empowerment by accessing and developing their innate healing abilities and personal resourcefulness in contrast to seeking the answers from outside themselves.
e. Participants will have an opportunity to work with the tools learned for dream mapping.
Examples and Studies
a. A history of the use of Dreams for healing and guidance.
b. A Power Point presentation of 6 Case studies that illustrate the process of dream mapping and demonstrating the clients process of making life changes, breaking patterns, and identifying shadow.
c. A video demonstrating the use of dreams and creativity in coping with illness, life changes and transformation.
Experiential Learning
a. Participants will practice using the dream mapping tools to gain insight into one of their own dreams.
b. An exploration in how this insight can then be used to guide decisions and choices.
Conclusion
a. A summation of the use of dream maps and individual creativity in working with self and/or clients.
b. A discussion on the effectiveness of using a client’s dreams in gaining insight, healing psychological problems, making life changes, breaking free from old patterns and empowering our clients.
c. A questions and answer period.
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The Roots of Healing Dreamwork in Welsh Mythology
Nicholas Brink is a clinical psychologist. He is Past President of the American Association for the Study of Mental Imagery. He is book review editor for the journal Imagination, Cognition and Personality and author of Grendel and His Mother: Healing the Trauma of Childhood Through Dreams, Imagery and Hypnosis.
Abstract
The ancient Welsh myth of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, the Second Branch of The Mabinogion (1), when examined as a dream of our ancestors portrays our continued struggle with and the death of the shadow and the rebirth of innocence. This workshop is a continuation of last year’s Bridgewater IASD workshop that dealt with the First Branch of the Mabinogion, the story of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed (1).
According to Clara Hill (2), dreams can reflect experiences of waking life, parts of self, the dream experience itself, spiritual issues and relationship issues. Dealing with one’s shadow can be considered a process of dealing with parts of self. There are many parallels between Branwen and Loki’s Children, the myth I presented at the Copenhagen IASD conference, both dealing with parts of self and with more specifically with the shadow. Yet, in that myths are very central to the spiritual values of a culture, myth necessarily also reflects spiritual issues.
In the beginning of Branwen, the Welsh King Bendigeidfran come face to face with his shadow, the Irish King Matholwch, who arrives unexpectedly from across the sea. To form an alliance between the ego and the shadow Matholwch seeks to marry Branwen, the Welsh king’s sister. This marriage takes place, yet the trickster, Efnisien the half-brother to Bendigeidfran attempts to prevent this alliance. Matholwch and Branwen return to Ireland and after an initial year of bliss, resentments arise with Efnisien fanning the flame to where most everyone in this story eventually dies, allowing the rebirth of innocence.
This workshop will function as a dream group with the story of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr being the dream/myth to be explored. It is my belief that we each gain much in personal growth by experiencing the myths of our culture when we examine and understand them as myth-dreams of the culture. This understanding is greatly facilitated by a dream group. For the purpose of this abstract I am tentatively offering my interpretation of the personal struggle with the shadow, but that will be left for the group to discover if that is what they should discover.
Jean Gebser (3) suggests that human consciousness is in the process of changing from or going beyond our current rational/perspectival consciousness way of thinking to the transparent/aperspectival way of thinking. In his book the /Ever-Present Origin/, at this newly developing level of consciousness we are now capable of understanding ancient myth more transparently.
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Nicholas Brink is a clinical psychologist. He is Past President of the American Association for the Study of Mental Imagery. He is book review editor for the journal Imagination, Cognition and Personality and author of Grendel and His Mother: Healing the Trauma of Childhood Through Dreams, Imagery and Hypnosis.
Abstract
Felicitas Goodman, who died this last year spent many years as an anthropologist studying the body postures found in ancient and primitive art and contemporary shamanistic practices of healing. She identified several dozen postures that she has found produce specific dream experiences. As teacher of anthropology at Denison University and founder and director of the Cuyamungue Institute, she presented her workshops at the Institute and around the world and collected the dream experiences of a large number of participants. From these experiences she found commonalities in the dream experiences of individuals standing, sitting and lying in specific postures. She also found that in being true to the posture, including the use of costumes and facial or body paint used by the dreamer, the dream experience would become more vivid.
Goodman suggests that certain postures produce an experience of a “spirit journey,” either into the heavens, the earthly realm or into the underworld. Other postures produce divination experiences to provide answers to specific questions held by the dreamer. Other postures provide healing and birthing experiences and healing specific to women. Shape shifting, celebration, death experiences and life after death are the dream experiences for other postures.
From reading one of her books, “Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences,” I expect that expectation and practice play a significant role in determining the vividness of the dream experience. Though I do not believe that these factors diminish the significance of her research, in this workshop, propose to ask part of the group to leave the room for a couple of minutes while we tell the rest of the group what might be expected in the dream experience, thus add one more dimension to the replication.
Goodman typically had the dreamers hold a posture for 15 minutes, timed by as long as she shook her rattle. Using this time frame and sharing dream experiences, possibly two postures could be experienced in an hour. A two-hour workshop might allow for up to four replications, while the morning dream group might allow for more.
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Kelly Bulkeley, PhD, is a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union and teaches in JFKU’s Dream Studies Program in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a Past President of IASD, and is author of The Wilderness of Dreams and The Wondering Brain, co-author of Dreaming Beyond Death, and editor of Dreams: A Reader and Soul, Psyche, Brain.
Abstract
The basic precondition for dreaming is sleep. If people have no place to sleep in peace and safety, what happens to their dreaming? And if they can’t dream, what hope do they have for a healthy and creative life in the waking world? This is the reality for the countless homeless people in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationwide, and it’s an issue that should be of special interest to dream researchers. If it is true, as decades of research have shown, that sleeping and dreaming have enormous benefits for healthy human functioning, then more attention should be given to the psychological, social, and economic conditions that either promote or disrupt regular sleep. The Gubbio Project at S. Boniface Catholic Church in San Francisco offers a remarkable illustration of the challenges and rewards of working to extend the benefits of sleep and dreaming to society’s most vulnerable members. This presentation will include interviews with the Gubbio Project staff and the people who regularly sleep at the church, providing information about the impact of the program on their dreams. For many of the homeless people, the church is the only place they feel safe enough to sleep deeply and dream freely, since life on the streets poses so many dangers that the people must maintain constant alertness and anxiously resist falling asleep. The spacious sanctuary of the St. Boniface cathedral, with its lofty arched ceiling, beautiful stained-glass windows, and ornately carved wooden pews, provides a latter-day dream incubation space in which the homeless people can relax their fearful waking alertness and enter the realm of “sacred sleep.”
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Patricia Bulkley, DMin, is a Presbyterian Minister who earned her doctorate of ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary. She served for ten years as Spiritual Services Provider at Hospice of Marin, has taught pastoral care at San Francisco Theological Seminary, and is co-author with Kelly Bulkeley of Dreaming Beyond Death.
Kelly Bulkeley, PhD, is a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union and teaches in JFKU’s Dream Studies Program in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a Past President of IASD, and is author of The Wilderness of Dreams and The Wondering Brain, co-author of Dreaming Beyond Death, and editor of Dreams: A Reader and Soul, Psyche, Brain.
Abstract
Pre-death dreams and visions have been reported throughout history by people in cultures all over the world. The same is true today, when terminally ill people experience strange dreams in the final days of their lives. These dreams often have a remarkable impact on the dying person: as a direct result of the dream or vision, the person’s fear of death diminishes, replaced by a new understanding of living, dying, and that which lies beyond death. This presentation combines fascinating stories of contemporary dreamers, the latest scientific research on dreams, and the insights of the world’s religious traditions to provide a simple, spiritually-sensitive approach to understanding these remarkable end-of-life experiences. Intended for those people (family, friends, clergy, medical staff) who are in a position of caregiving for someone who is dying, this presentation is an invitation to discover the surprising potential for personal change and religious transformation that opens up as mortal life draws to a close.
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Jette Fabiola Cabo [may be presented by alternate] is an anthropologist and Chair of the Danish Association for the Study of Dreams. Her thesis explored a group of 10-year-old Catalan girls’ dream stories on power relations in social school life. She is currently conducting a research project in Copenhagen focusing on how children may benefit from dreamwork in the classroom.
Abstract
This presentation discusses, how dreamwork with teens may become teambuilding though cultural norms and values, that are at play in the politics of everyday school-life, may collide with dreamwork knowledge.
In Denmark the awareness of dreaming is low and the conscious users of dreams are few and mainly adults to be found within the field of therapy and self-development. The presentation argues that a society that prides itself of its liberal education should and may include dreaming in the primary school curriculum and apply dreamwork as a pedagogical method to help children develop the necessary competencies to meet curriculum goals and master social norms and values. Three forms are suggested: A scientific, cultural and historical approch to create awareness of dreaming as a natural and universal phenomenon, which may be used and understood in a diversity of cultural ways. Aesthetic dreamwork to open a shortcut to creativity. And thirdly reflective dream-teamwork to create a social free space for reflection on self and others.
The presentation offers an evaluation of dreamwork done along these lines in a primary school in Copenhagen during a 4 month period. 200 children ages 6 -14 were introduced to dreaming and dreamwork chiefly in Danish language lessons, but also in drama, art, religion, history and math. All children worked with dreams as narratives within aesthetic learning processes, the teens were also presented with the first part of the Ullman-method and Delaney’s dream interview method.
Benefits and challenges within the different age-groups are outlined; the main focus being on the teens.
Some of the Danish teens developed a new identity as storytellers, quite a few came to see their dreams as reflections of their lives and cultures, others became conscious yet sceptical dreamers. The sceptical dreamers engage eagerly in the dreamwork and even grasp the opportunity to use their dreamstories as a free space to reflect upon their own life circumstances and express critique of cultural norms and values. Rational boys express feelings of solitude and fear, empathetic girls express aggression and jealousy. But the next moment they return to a widespread Danish cultural conviction that dreams are just entertaining or scary nonsense, i.e not related to social life. The dreamstories of these sceptical dreamers and their contradictory perspectives on dreams are discussed in the light of values, gender roles, and power relations within the group. It is suggested how the expression of such contradictions may be valued and respected in the classroom.
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Manlio Caporali, MD, is a neurologist and psychiatrist. He was Assistant Professor at La Sapienza University, Rome, Department of Neurology and since 1988 has been Assistant Professor at Tor Vergata University, Rome. He has published over 150 scientific papers, two books, and now works in the fields of Group Analysis and Dream Textual Analysis.
Abstract
The authors present the findings of an analysis of dream reports collected from patients who attended group psychotherapy. The data show a correlation between behavioral changes that reach a more mature level and dreams’ images that show an analogous development in richness and complexity. This process, to the authors, reflects the inner perception of the individuation process as experienced from the patients.
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Lucidity and Dream Messages from the Dead
Deborah Coupey is a Dream Studies and Consciousness M.A. candidate. She has worked with dreams here in the US and internationally. Deborah conducted a dream group in the Washington, DC area for three years. She is a member of IASD, and has served on the Nightmare Hotline since 2001. She has kept a dream journal since 1974. She has traveled to over 100 spiritual places in the world.
Abstract
In our group topic of lucid dreaming and death, my particular concentration is lucidity and messages from the dead. I will concentrate mostly on the writings of Patricia Garfield’s book: “The Dream Messenger”, even though I read many other interesting books on the subject. In short, she does not give many examples of lucid dreams that involve contact, even though several of the dreams are lucid in nature. These dream encounters are eternal, and arrive at the dreamer’s doorstep for many reasons. The hope is that the dream can help heal the bereaved, loved ones left behind.
According to Garfield, there are 9 steps in receiving a message from the dead. In this order:
1. The Announcement
2. The Arrival at the Meeting Place
3. The Dream Messenger
4. Attendants of the Dream Messenger
5. The Dream Message Delivered
6. The gift of the Dream Messenger
7. The Farewell Embrace
8. The Departure of the Dream Messenger
9. The Aftermath of the visit
She gives us very detailed descriptions with each of the nine steps of receiving a message, and an idea as to what to expect. These messages might be positive, negative or neutral. She also devotes chapters to ten types of dream messages from the dead. “I’m not Really Dead” and “Goodbye”, for one type. Each of the messages are instructive, and some dream messages are quite rare.
The best example of lucid dreaming and a message from the dead is about psychologist Paul Tholey, in Frankfurt who studied lucid dreams, and used them as a therapy for grief. He had many images of his passed on father usually as a dangerous figure in the dream. Finally one night when Paul became lucid in the dream he was able to confront his father instead of running away, and in the end he grew through admitting some of his father’s criticism, and he changing his behavior. In the end of the dream they shook hands, and Paul was able to feel most liberated in his dream and waking life. This action was very therapeutic for Paul.
If one is talented in becoming lucid in dreams, one might have an advantage of incubating dreams from the dead. Or receiving dream messages from the dead in the hypnogogic or the hypnopompic state.
In the back of her book she details many exercises for closure with the dead loved ones. They are very therapeutic, and I believe more of this kind of therapy is needed in our culture.
Culturally, I believe that we need to honor our dead more through dreams and ritual. For instance, in France and in Europe there is a “Day of the Dead”, whereby people remember their loved ones as it is a formal holiday. Also in Kelley Bulkeley’s Book on: Dreaming Beyond Death, he and his mother Patricia have shown the need for the dying to address their dream journeys that they have before death for a necessary and peaceful closure of this life. He explains this in the chapter on what is a ‘good death’? I also believe what Elisabeth Kübler Ross states about dreams from the departed that they are definitely a spirit connection. Culturally we need to embrace and work with these end of life dreams.
Future Research Questions:
In my research I found a many books on communication with the dead, and we have ideas about how to incubate and communicate with them. But it seems little is said as to how those passed over decide to communicate with us? We have ideas about states of consciousness, that they might be in, i.e. the bardo, or as the Tibetans believe that if one is read : “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”, while one is dying or after one dies one might discover their own map of where to take the death journey.
Are these dreams more of a projection of our mind wanting to connect with our loved one?
How can one weigh the spirit?
Where does the spirit really go?
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Linda Cunningham, PhD, MFT, is the author of Relational Sandplay Therapy, as well as many articles in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy. She is Adjunct Faculty in the Depth Psychology Program at Sonoma State University and at New College of California, and is in private practice in Petaluma and San Francisco.
Abstract
The initial dream in psychotherapy may symbolically inform the course of the therapy, or even the advisability of undertaking therapy at all. The initial dream illuminates the problem, as well as possible resources and potential solutions.
We will explore a clinical case as it is illuminated by an initial dream, foretelling the problems, resources and solutions within a ten-year therapy. This dream seemed both to summon and to herald archetypal energies – the maternal, compassionate, embodied attunement of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, more popularly known as Kwan Yin. Kwan Yin is the “Regarder of the Cries of the World,” and the Bodhisattva of Compassion. According to Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is an enlightened being who is ready to move into Nirvana but who chooses stay behind in order to help all sentient beings whose enlightenment is not yet accomplished. Kwan Yin hears the cries of suffering, and appears whenever the sufferer cries her name. Kwan Yin heals through the use of compassion, as embodied in her main tools: seeing, hearing, holding and skillful means.
As intimated in the initial dream, this therapy proceeded as a meditation on sound, a meditation on the disguised cries of suffering profoundly experienced in the relational field. Through the course of the therapy, the presence of Kwan Yin held both therapist and client, helping them to tolerate the suffering, activating a vital force within the depths of each of them, and awakening bodhisattva qualities. The initial dream and the ensuing therapy illustrate that qualities of embodied compassion for self and other are archetypal energies of psyche. Kwan Yin is the personification of a generous and loving force that flows from Self. In Blofeld’s (1988) words, “the essence of practice” is not to know Kwan Yin, “but to become her.”
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Linda Cunningham, PhD, MFT, is the author of Relational Sandplay Therapy, as well as many articles in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy. She is Adjunct Faculty in the Depth Psychology Program at Sonoma State University and at New College of California, and is in private practice in Petaluma and San Francisco.
Abstract
Often called a “waking dream,” sandplay is a Jungian symbolic method of psychotherapy. Like the dream, it is a royal road to the richness of the unconscious, and to the transformative energies of the Self.
Dreams may slip away as we awaken, but a world made in the sand is concrete and visible. We can capture a sandworld in photographs and others can witness it. When we view a sandtray, we viscerally experience the energies of symbols in the sand. Simultaneously, we gain experience visualizing, embodying and understanding symbols in dreams. Immersing ourselves in the experience and understanding of a sandplay process may enrich our understandings of the structure and dynamics of a dream series, and vice versa.
We will explore an entire sandplay process through the visual images of seven sandtrays. We will give special attention to the initial tray, which like the initial dream, may symbolically reveal the dreamer’s problems, resources and solutions.
In the case we will consider, a twenty-nine year old man suffers from depression and blocked creativity. As he unearths layer after layer of grief in the sand, he gradually experiences a more active, vital connection with the unconscious. As the process deepens, these energies grab him and he has a transformative experience through nightly visions, leading to a peacefulness and a grounded creativity he had never known. This sandplay series will demonstrate how dreamlike images of depression, loss and trauma lead the “waking dreamer” through creative blocks, and how the use of the “waking dream” of sandplay may help the dreamer to integrate shadow and more consciously to connect with the Self, thereby experiencing a dramatic shift in attitude.
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Layne Dalfen, author of Dreams Do Come True: Decoding Your Dreams To Discover Your Full Potential, founded The Dream Interpretation Center in Montreal. She appears on radio shows and lectures. She has a certificate in Gestalt Counseling, is a member of the C.G. Jung Society and is a board member of IASD.
Abstract
Attempting to understand a dream's meaning is exactly like trying to do a puzzle. You try one piece. It doesn't fit, so you try another. I call these attempts different points of entry, using the theories and frameworks of Perls, Freud, Jung and Adler with each try. I will explain the different points of entry I use, with the goal of better understanding the dream's meaning. Participants will learn how to discover what point of entry works best for a particular dream, or is the most comfortable for the dreamer. I will teach ways to look at and work with symbols, emotions, and noticing the atmosphere in the dream space.
The workshop will run from between one and a half to 2 hours and begin with a 45-minute lecture. I will pass out notes on the lecture portion to each group member so they can relax and focus on the discussion rather than the note-taking. Once the current issue the dream is addressing is uncovered, solutions to the problem as they may be presented in the dream become the focus of discussion. In this section, I have two goals. As we so often focus on the negative or frightening aspect of a dream, one goal is to show participants how to recognize and apply the strength in the dream. Very often the dream actually discloses the solution to the problem. I will also look at polarities that present themselves and how we might benefit from noticing and working with them. My second goal is to help dreamers see the solutions our subconscious introduces before our conscious mind catches the message.
In my use of an eclectic approach to understanding our dreams, I strongly emphasize practical methodology and individually directed results over abstract theory. For example, I will ask the dreamer questions such as: What familiar stories, fables, movies, or characters come to your mind when you think about the story and people in this dream? What do these stories or characters have to teach you about your current situation?
We will then attempt to understand the dream of a volunteer from the group with the participants using an “If this were my dream” format. The group will help define the layers of the dream using these different approaches, as the dreamer connects to each level of the dream. I will reserve 15-20 minutes at the end of the workshop to reexamine the process and answer questions or engage in discussion.
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Making a Book for a Dream
Betsy Davids, MA, from Berkeley, California, USA, is a writer/artist whose primary medium is the book. She is a longtime member of the graduate and undergraduate faculties at California College of the Arts (formerly California College of Arts and Crafts), where she teaches book arts and writing.
Abstract
Why Books?
The book as a cultural artifact has long been understood as a container for memory, insight, and preservation of knowledge. Making a book by hand can be a fulfilling way to honor a memorable dream. Moreover, books are an especially appropriate site for creative arts dreamwork, because the book is a culturally sanctioned place for combining words and images. Most dreamworkers habitually document their dreams in writing, yet dreams are also highly visual. An art form that combines the verbal and the visual has much to offer to our field.
Personal bookmaking (such as journals, scrapbooks, photo albums) is a widespread cultural practice, and artist's books in the last few decades have explored new creative possibilities of the book form. In particular, many simplified book structures suitable for brief workshops have been developed.
Workshop Process
The workshop leader will briefly show some examples of artist's dream books and will introduce two or three quick and intriguing book structures. Participants will have the opportunity to create a personal dream book using the tools and materials provided as well as any relevant materials they have brought. At the conclusion of the workshop session, a few minutes of sharing the book-in-progress with a partner (or with the whole group if feasible) will bring acknowledgment of the creative act and the dream it honors.
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Dr. Teresa L. DeCicco is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, specializing in personality, abnormal psychology, health and dreams and dreaming. Research and applied interests include personality, health and dreams, and dream imagery directly relating to the waking state.
Abstract
There have been many dream interpretation techniques that have proven to be successful in dream research and/or dream practice. A few of these techniques include those by Gayle Delaney (Delaney, 1988), Clara Hill (Hill, 1996), and Carl Jung, (Jung, 1964), to name a few. One method that has had great influence on the field of dreams and dreaming is The Ullman method of dream interpretation (Ullman & Zimmerman, 1979). This method has been widely adopted since it provides safety and discovery for dreamers. Also, the method is very useful for group therapy and dream groups in general.
The technique involves a dreamer telling a dream to a group and then each group member telling the dreamer what the dream would mean, if it were their dream. The dreamer listens to everyone’s input and then decides if he or she has discovered something meaningful from the input.
This presentation will present research from 53 dream participants taking a third year dreams and dreaming course at a university in Canada. Each participant told a dream to 3 other people and then they told the dreamer what it would mean, if it were their dream. Dreamers then recorded any discovery that occurred for them.
The actual dreams for all 53 participants were content analyzed via the Hall and Van de Castle method of content anlaysis (Hall & Van de Castle, 1966). All possible categories were coded for each dream. Some of the categories included familiar female, familiar male, relatives, stranger, architecture, good fortune, animals, confusion, anger, unhappiness, objects, etc. The discovery for each dream was also coded with as many possible categories of the Hall and Van de Castle method. Discovery categories included familiar female, familiar male, relatives, stranger, architecture, good fortune, animals, confusion, anger, unhappiness, objects, etc.
Correlation analyses of the dream content categories revealed many significant correlations. For example, high scores on animals were significantly correlated with apprehension/fear. Also, high scores on strangers were correlated with males, females, relatives, unhappiness and, low scores on confusion. Results and implication of 17 categories will be discussed.
Results of correlations among dream content and discovery categories also revealed many significant and relevant relationships. For example, high scores of anger in dream content correlated significantly with discovery of males. High scores of females and activities in dream content were correlated with discovery of females. Also, high scores of apprehension/fear in dream content were correlated with discovery of misfortunes. Results present 9 significant findings in terms of dream content and discovery content. Finally, the results of 6 regression analyses will present dream content that predicted discovery. For example, significant dream content of anger, groups of people and negative on relatives, predicts discovery of objects. Finally, past research findings are linked to the findings in this study and, limitations of the research are discussed. Future directions in terms of research and applied dreamwork are suggested.
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Dr. Teresa L. DeCicco is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, specializing in personality, abnormal psychology, health and dreams and dreaming. Research and applied interests include personality, health and dreams, and dream imagery directly relating to the waking state.
David B. King, BSc, is a student at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He recently completed his undergraduate degree in psychology and is now pursuing his Master’s degree under the supervision of Dr. Teresa L. DeCicco. His current research interests include dreams, spirituality, intelligence, sexuality, and health.
Abstract
The Storytelling Method of Dream interpretation is a new method that was designed and then scientifically tested (DeCicco, 2006). This method has been found to significantly predict discovery when used properly (DeCicco, 2006). The method has also been tested with a control group and it was found that the method predicts discovery in a statistically relevant manner.
The purpose of the Storytelling method is to lead dreamers from their own dream imagery to discovery about their waking day circumstances. The method provides “safety” because dreamers do not have to reveal any private or sensitive material to anyone, including the workshop leaders. Complete confidentiality is assured.
The method is easy to use and not time consuming. Once participants learn how to use the method, they can do so in a relatively brief period of time. This will encourage participants to continue dreamwork since it is so practical. Also, because successful discovery occurs so quickly, this will encourage participants to continue with their dreamwork long after the workshop is over.
The Storytelling Method of dream interpretation will be conducted by first giving all participants a worksheet to follow. Participants will be taken through the worksheet in a step-by-step format. Questions and queries from participants about the steps will be encouraged. Once the steps have been taught, each participant will then analyze one of their own dreams with the worksheet.
Workshop leaders will help participants work through the worksheet with their own dream imagery. Leaders will be available to answer questions or guide participants through the process. Once dreamers have created a story from the dream imagery, the workshop leaders will then assist them in bridging the story they have created to an insight they may have relating to their own life. Again, privacy and safety are ensured, as the dreamer does not reveal any insights to the group with this method.
The Storytelling Method is an excellent starting method for novice dreamers as it will provide discovery very quickly. It is especially useful as a starting point for all dreams as it may immediately bridge to waking day circumstances. If a dream has many layers of meaning then the Storytelling Method is an appropriate starting point before more difficult methods are employed. Participants will be given handouts that will include the Storytelling Method Worksheets both for the workshop and for future use.
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Dream Interviewing and Emotional Competence Education and Training
Loma K. Flowers, MD, is a US psychiatrist with 38 years of practice. She is President of www.EquilibriumDynamics.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching adults and children how to build a life in which feelings empower – rather than sabotage – relationships, activities and careers. She still supervises psychiatry residents and trainees.
Gayle Delaney, PhD, is a US dream educator and author. She is President of Delaney & Flowers Dream Center, in San Francisco and founding President of IASD. She is creator of the Dream Interview method, www.gdelaney.com. She is also romance coach, www.ChooseRomance.com, using the strikingly insightful feedback offered by dreams in dating and mating.
Abstract
This workshop gives participants experience in using Dream Interviewing for insight into their own personal or professional development, with emphasis on the twin components of emotional competence: interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.
We shall begin with a brief overview using examples illustrating the basic principles and dynamics of emotional competence and the steps and strategies useful in increasing it in ourselves, our students, or patients. We shall then summarize the basic steps of the Dream Interview method of interpretation and how this approach to dreaming can facilitate the development of the skills necessary for emotional competence. The intrapersonal skills include recognizing feelings, managing their changes, identifying personal values, and coordinating feelings, thinking, and judgment before taking action. The interpersonal skills include listening, conflict resolution, boundary definition, and communication.
Drs. Flowers and Delaney will demonstrate the integration of Dream Interviewing with the long-term goal of enhancing the dreamer’s emotional competence by working with the dream of a volunteer among the participants.
Attendees will then practice interviewing each other’s dreams in dyads and triads with a view to identifying how a given dream could advance the dreamer’s emotional competence beyond the usefulness it serves in grappling with a specific life concern.
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Gayle Delaney, PhD, is a US dream educator and author. She is President of Delaney & Flowers Dream Center, in San Francisco and founding President of IASD. She is creator of the Dream Interview method, www.gdelaney.com. She is also romance coach, www.ChooseRomance.com, using the strikingly insightful feedback offered by dreams in dating and mating.
Abstract
Gayle Delaney will discuss the various ways dreams provide insightful feedback on:
1. The attitude and resourcefulness of the dating dreamer in his or her efforts to meet potential sweethearts.
2. The conscious and unconscious selection process the dreamer uses to choose a long- or short-term partner. This of course includes the clarification of psycho-dynamics that mercilessly drive the dreamer into the wrong arms.
3. The “management” of early dating relationships including identifying early-on, fatal and challenging red flags, noting ways the dreamer may sabotage the relationship, and sounding the bell when it is appropriate to make timely and kindly exits.
4. The Creativity and Flair with which one does or COULD infuse the early relationship to lay the groundwork for later elaboration of a richly romantic and deeply generous bond.
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Daniel Deslauriers, PhD, is Professor and Director of the East-West Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He was the co-founder of the Montreal Center for study of dreams. He co-authored the book Le rêve: sa nature, sa fonction et une méthode d'analyse and has authored several articles.
Abstract
Intersubjectivity calls attention to the fact that shared cognition (and, to a certain extent, emotions) are essential in the shaping of our ideas and relations with others. In this light, language is viewed as communal rather than private. Thus when dreams are shared by means of language or other forms of expressions, they enter the intersubjective space. It becomes problematic to view the dreamer as partaking in a private world only.
In an integral approach to dreams, we do not only pay attention to the subjective dimensions of dream meaning but also to the context of intersubjective (conscious or unconscious) collaboration in meaning making. This is called the “2nd person approach” to knowledge and engages a wide array of phenomena and practices. This presentation will investigate the pervasiveness of the intersubjective nature of meaning making in dyadic work (including psychotherapy) and group work. It will discuss the various dimensions of intersubjectivity as commonly understood: projection, setting of boundaries, the context of dream telling, transference, countertransference. We will also discuss also less commonly recognized dimensions such as dreams arising as a result of intersubjective interaction. The major goal of this presentation is to highlight the importance of the intersubjective dimensions in the work with dreams.
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G. William Domhoff, PhD, is a Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he hosted the IASD meetings in 1988 and 1992. He is the author of The Mystique of Dreams (1985), Finding Meaning in Dreams (1996), and The Scientific Study of Dreams (2003).
Abstract
Using quantitative content analysis, this paper shows that the 143 dreams about his deceased wife that a widower wrote down over a 22-year period as a form of solace and remembrance embody his main conceptions and concerns in regard to her, thereby supporting a cognitive theory of dreams.
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Jennifer Dumpert received her BA from York University in Toronto and her MA from the New School for Social Research. She achieved ABD status from GTU, wrote half her dissertation, and abandoned academia. She has published and lectured on dreams, Buddhism, ritual, and hula hooping. Her web site is www.urbandreamscape.com.
Abstract
Urban Dreamscape: SF is a self-crafted practice based on dreams, a declaration of spiritual authority, an act of establishing sacred space in the city.
This presentation begins with a description of how to create practices of our own based on that which holds meaning for us, such as dreams. The talk introduces the notion that practices have three specific definitions and values: as evocations that summon whatever one considers holy into one’s life; as means of giving form to the ineffable, thus manifesting meaning in ways that allow one to perceive it; and as ways of, literally, practicing abiding within the sacred, entering sacred space and moving gracefully within it. The discussion moves next to practical steps toward evolving a personal practice, to taking on spiritual authority to determine what in our lives holds deep ineffable meaning and then entering into interaction with that ineffability.
The talk focuses primarily on Urban Dreamscape: SF, a practice that grew from a rich dream life and the drive to create sacred space in an urban environment. Loosely based on Art of Memory and Australian aboriginal Songlines practices, Urban Dreamscape: SF involves overlaying the city with dream narratives, layering the architecture and features of San Francisco with images and stories carried back into the waking world from the realms of sleep. The practice reconnects inside and outside, psyche and lived space, arenas that easily become severed in the lives of modern people. Urban Dreamscape: SF remaps the city according to a personal cartography, juxtaposing meaning over the str
