[Originally posted April 30, 2008]
My dream work has become so complex and in depth that it has been suggested that I write some sort of guide out for everyone to help them understand the whole Dream Quest project I've been doing for years now.
The background behind this is that I discovered that my dreams affect and reflect my physical body, my psychological issues, and my spiritual journey in life. I worked with a Native American medicine woman for about a year actively, and her completely different take on healing the body, mind, and soul through a new approach to the dreaming world inspired me. I had already learned to do lucid dreaming (being awake, aware, and in control within a dream) and had a knack for interpreting dream symbology-- yet there was so much more I could do!
SO!-- I started a dream quest that really became 3 separate, ongoing dream journeys:
1. A Dream Quest to help heal my body by learning to TALK to and LISTEN to various parts of my body (digestive system, immune system, etc.) through dream imagery.
2. A Dream Quest to help heal my psychological injuries by learning to speak and listen to various aspects of my subconscious mind through the dramatic story-lines and characters within my dreams.
3. A Dream Quest to help me discover my spiritual purpose and the mysteries of life and of the collective mind of humanity.
I have not written down all of the dreams I've had by any means, only the most dynamic and interesting ones. I notice that vivid or lucid dreams tend to come in waves, and generally when my life is a little calmer OR I'm asking for them. It seems there is a natural mechanism in place that helps us to avoid overloading our own system when we're under extreme stress like an emergency situation. When I'm more open and ready to listen and pay attention, the dreams that have a real meaning are remembered with greater frequency and in greater detail.
As I've proceeded on my various dream quests, I've learned more and more about my own personal symbolic system as pertaining to body, mind, and spirit-- and talking to others about their dreams seems to indicate that everyone has a very similar system with interesting personal variations! We all have similar immune system dreams, for instance-- and they ALL involve robots, doctors/nurses, and/or friendly or invading foreigners. Everyone has psychological issue dreams with very distinct and recognizable "rays" and "shadows" and even "guides." Everyone has access to a higher level of spiritual reality through their dreams. Some of these things are universal-- and that is what Nahili's teachings led me to understand. Further, people from similar cultures tend to have very similar symbolic characters and structures in their dreams. If you can figure out the symbols and learn to listen to and watch what's really going on in your dreams, you can completely re-write your own reality, heal your body, work out those issues from your past, and live a life much more free and complete than ever before.
2015 NOTE: Years later and I still find this work (or maybe its more a type of focused play) fascinating. I found IFS or "Internal Family Systems Therapy" uses a strikingly similar set of characters for psychological healing as well. Exploring more avenues using that at this time...
My dream work has become so complex and in depth that it has been suggested that I write some sort of guide out for everyone to help them understand the whole Dream Quest project I've been doing for years now.
The background behind this is that I discovered that my dreams affect and reflect my physical body, my psychological issues, and my spiritual journey in life. I worked with a Native American medicine woman for about a year actively, and her completely different take on healing the body, mind, and soul through a new approach to the dreaming world inspired me. I had already learned to do lucid dreaming (being awake, aware, and in control within a dream) and had a knack for interpreting dream symbology-- yet there was so much more I could do!
SO!-- I started a dream quest that really became 3 separate, ongoing dream journeys:
1. A Dream Quest to help heal my body by learning to TALK to and LISTEN to various parts of my body (digestive system, immune system, etc.) through dream imagery.
2. A Dream Quest to help heal my psychological injuries by learning to speak and listen to various aspects of my subconscious mind through the dramatic story-lines and characters within my dreams.
3. A Dream Quest to help me discover my spiritual purpose and the mysteries of life and of the collective mind of humanity.
I have not written down all of the dreams I've had by any means, only the most dynamic and interesting ones. I notice that vivid or lucid dreams tend to come in waves, and generally when my life is a little calmer OR I'm asking for them. It seems there is a natural mechanism in place that helps us to avoid overloading our own system when we're under extreme stress like an emergency situation. When I'm more open and ready to listen and pay attention, the dreams that have a real meaning are remembered with greater frequency and in greater detail.
As I've proceeded on my various dream quests, I've learned more and more about my own personal symbolic system as pertaining to body, mind, and spirit-- and talking to others about their dreams seems to indicate that everyone has a very similar system with interesting personal variations! We all have similar immune system dreams, for instance-- and they ALL involve robots, doctors/nurses, and/or friendly or invading foreigners. Everyone has psychological issue dreams with very distinct and recognizable "rays" and "shadows" and even "guides." Everyone has access to a higher level of spiritual reality through their dreams. Some of these things are universal-- and that is what Nahili's teachings led me to understand. Further, people from similar cultures tend to have very similar symbolic characters and structures in their dreams. If you can figure out the symbols and learn to listen to and watch what's really going on in your dreams, you can completely re-write your own reality, heal your body, work out those issues from your past, and live a life much more free and complete than ever before.
2015 NOTE: Years later and I still find this work (or maybe its more a type of focused play) fascinating. I found IFS or "Internal Family Systems Therapy" uses a strikingly similar set of characters for psychological healing as well. Exploring more avenues using that at this time...