This is the WEB page of Northern Access Television's new program about analysing yur dreams, "Your Night Time Dreams Can Change Your Life", on Channel 31 - Melbourne Community Television, Melbourne, Australia.
The program is on air, on Channel 31 Melbourne, at 10:30pm every Saturday evening for 13 weeks starting 19 September, 2009
*** This page last updated 7/12/2009 ***
This is a program about analysing dreams, featuring people working with their dreams with Psychologist Prema Jansen
The dream that Marlyse presented was certainly an enigma for both of us, except for the aspect of the “sacrificial lamb” and it’s connection to Jesus Christ. Marlyse didn’t think of that even though when she became the lamb she said she didn’t mind being eaten. In fact the lamb seemed to feel that was its role and even though it was being eaten, it never ran out. Also when she was the fox she said the lamb was always with her so that she would always have something to eat.
What was not mentioned was the fact that Marlyse and her husband, Michael, were very influential in mobilizing psychological and material help for the residents of King Lake. They completely threw themselves into this work as volunteers and spent several extremely busy weeks with their response to the situation. They were preparing to conduct a 4 day workshop for those who had suffered loss and trauma just as I arrived for this dream work filming. I feel that the reference to sacrificing herself for others was certainly in harmony with Marlyse’s (and Michael’s) self-sacrificing generosity.
Premonition dreams of this archetypal nature are certainly common just before natural disasters, but I still personally feel that there is some important aspect of the dream I don’t understand. (I am writing this commentary some 3 months after the dream work filming and still feel puzzled about its message.)
It is interesting to recall the feeling of relief that the fox and the opossum experienced when the fox went out of the chook pen, but the chickens were never concerned in the first place. I did something with Marlyse that I occasionally do and that is to continue the dream onward and continue the story. The powerful sense of relief was a confirmation for me that this was a good step to have taken. Even though the conscious mind may not understand the significance of this dream or the importance of its outcome, the feeling of relief signaled some solution was reached. It was a kind of awakening for the fox, who didn’t know why he was in the chook run.
It is important to say that the fox is partly a symbol of the clever mind which, in spite of its intelligent plans, often gets itself into trouble and is seen in a foolish light after the events take place. We can recall here the folk tale of “Brer’ Rabbit” told by Uncle Remus and the tar baby. The fox tricks Brer’ Rabbit into kicking little tar baby who won’t answer his greetings. Brer’ rabbit gets stuck and Mr. Fox catches him, only to have Brer’ Rabbit escape in the end. He tricks Mr Fox into throwing him into the briar patch where he was “born and bred”.
Marlyse’s dream of the fox and the lamb fall into the category of enigmatic dreams, which entice the intellectual mind to move more and more deeply into the unconscious, They take us to a place in life where we can experience the mystery and paradox of human existence, which is more vast and expansive than the limitations of intellectual understanding and interpretation. The intellectual mind is essential for human life, but experientially the dimension of mystery, for me, feels much more fulfilling than mental understanding.
Stay tuned next week for our final episode with Geraldine from Malaysia and her dream about a growing relationship with her soul, the inner male, who is pictured as a young boy.
Previous Programs
28th Nov. 2009 Lany’s Dream:
This dream deals with Lany’s difficult marriage relationship. It describes her coming in and beginning to clean up the house and pack all her things in preparation for leaving her husband. When she relates the dream, it almost seems as if she doesn’t know what is happening at first, but then gradually realizes that she is leaving her husband. She shows us her anger and bitterness, but when she becomes her husband in the dream her rage is seen as an amazingly strong force. Her entire neck and face become red and distended with the emotional charge. This indicates a lifetime of repressed anger and unresolved issues.
While cleaning the house she notices something under the carpet (a veiled reference to things that have been “swept under the carpet”.) As she pulls back the carpet she sees it is a stairway leading down under the house. This is a very common symbolic expression of the entry into the unconscious, that which is underground, and her interest is immediately aroused to find out what is down there. This is a healthy response on the part of the dreamer, because she really needs to find out what is going on here.
It turns out later in the dream that she is told the breakup of the marriage has been pre-arranged by her husband. The dream is beginning to bring up the intense confusion that Lany has been experiencing, but unconsciously. She comes in and proceeds to prepare for leaving the family home, but then is shocked when she finds out that her husband has planned this out beforehand. How could this be? A reasonable explanation is that we are not conscious of what our unconscious is doing and suddenly doubt our own role, which seemed fairly clear only minutes before.
I have witnessed this kind of confusion many times in my past work with people going through a relationship breakup. In fact usually both people are deciding to end the relationship, but the one who acts first feels like the winner and the other partner feels like the victim or the loser. It simply depends on who jumps first.
The comments I have made so far are mostly about the external relationship, but a much more fruitful approach would be to look at the dream from the perspective of the “inner life”. We could say that the dream is showing that an old way of relating is coming to an end. We remember that everyone in the dream is part of our own unconscious “cast of characters”, partial personalities that affect our life for better of for worse. So the husband is an expression of her own conditioned male self and the ending of the relationship is actually is a step towards maturity and independence.
There is a clue to this fact when Lany is packing her clothes and she rejects some toys and some clothes that she feels she no longer wants. The dream is alluding to leaving behind some things that relate to her inner child. If this growth in maturity is authentic and practical, then there is every possibility that her relationship with her husband can pass through a stage of transformation and renewal. It requires the letting go of sweeping things under the carpet and learning how to communicate cleanly, with the healing of past hurts and a growth in patience and love. All these require time and effort and can only be won through commitment and courage. I extend my deepest feelings of support to Lany and her husband in achieving these goals, both externally and internally, of this is their choice.
21st Nov. 2009 Luke’s Second Dream:
Luke’s dream is a very clear and direct expression of how his standpoint in life has been deeply hurt by his cousin’s attitude as a child. His cousin was obviously belittling him under the disguise of humor, but making fun of a child is deeply wounding. The cousin was much older and bigger than Luke, so Luke would have felt threatened as a child and unable to defend himself.
The dream work also shows that Luke has become disconnected from his emotions and his body image. This is the reason for his struggle with alcohol and other addictive drugs. These are often used as a way of “feeling good” when deep down we don’t feel confident and worthwhile as a person. Luke experienced his tallness as “a rise”, or, in other words, he felt high. This is one of the main reasons for people taking drugs and alcohol. They are looking for the “high” in life, but they don’t really experience how “low” they feel. It is buried in the unconscious and this is why a dream is formed. It expresses some feeling that is noticeably different than their usual conscious feeling in life. My own case was similar and also many of the people with whom I have worked over the years.
Luke’s feelings toward his cousin are experienced as an intellectual disagreement, but we can be sure that under the surface, Luke’s unconscious carries emotions of hurt and anger. I am able to say this after so many years of experience working with people’s dreams. This dream is an expression of someone who is just beginning on the inner journey, and if Luke were to continue his inner work, then he could gain back his standpoint in life and become confident of himself. However, it would an experience of the emotions in order to release them from his unconscious mind.
During the dream work I was very puzzled by Luke’s reluctance to go fully into the dream and to express his real feelings toward Jason. After the filming finished, Luke admitted to me that he was worried about upsetting his cousin, so he was holding back. He was also worried about being “disloyal” to any of his family members who might watch the program when it was aired on TV later.
The final part of the dream, which we didn’t have time to work on, featured Luke riding on his sister’s shoulders. Luke never shared with me about this sister, but I had the intuition that this sister had been a positive influence in Luke’s life, supporting him when he felt low self-esteem. It was interesting that she fell and Luke had a release of energy as he came off her shoulders. He experienced a warm flush of energy on his face. We can say that he was becoming “grounded” when he hit the ground. This indicates to me that now he could let go of his sister carrying him through life and begin to find his own confidence and personal power through an inner change. But of course, this will require some dedicated inner work to accomplish this transformation.
Thanks go to Luke for sharing his personal life with us in the project of teaching others about the value of dream work and how to work with them. Thank you Luke.
Tune in next week for Lany’s dream which will deal with difficulties in her married life and her relationship with her husband.
14th Nov. 2009 Luke’s first Dream
The setting for Luke’s dream is Telerook (just near Melbourne), which is out in the bush. This indicates that the dream is not from the surface of the unconscious but comes from a much deeper level. It is approaching from straight ahead, indicating that he will be facing this storm soon in his life. He thinks of the recent bush fires a few months back, which were very destructive in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, especially King’s Lake.
This is an indication of transformation, the destructive power of fire before the emergence of new growth. Because of Luke’s mental connection with the fires, we know that this dream is partly a warning – danger ahead! However, he faces the challenge courageously and is rewarded by a feeling of expansion and liberation.
We know, from many years of experience, that when a person continually chooses to run away from the difficulties of life, these difficulties gather force. They chase us and become more and more threatening. If we turn to face them, they immediately begin to lose their power and even though they may become upsetting to our life, they become growth-producing instead of creating destructive situations. This avoidance we refer to is often unconscious and if continued over a long period, creates an experience which we experience as “fate”. In other words, we feel the victim of what takes place and usually feel no responsibility for it and ask “Why me?” This is true of things like cancer, marriage breakups, car accidents which seem to be “the other person’s fault”, business failure, etc. I have discovered after many, many years, “There are NO ACCIDENTS”.
Early in the Dream Luke asks, “Should we call the police?” This is a common occurrence in dreams. When things seem to be getting out of control in our inner world, we try to control the situation, which thwarts the purpose of our inner process and stifles the transformative experience. We must learn to “go with the flow” and at the same time, keep our head above water.
When he becomes the storm he feels grand and is aware of the smallness of the people. This is a clear expression of how, when dreams are acted out they involve the emotions and the body image and energy. When the dreams are only “talked about” there is normally only intellectual understanding, which does not result in deep and lasting change. I once saw a video in which a scientist was showing filming of the DNA in the human body. It was filmed by an electron microscope. You could see the DNA cells mutating and moving into a new form. He explained that science now knows when people experience emotion, only then does real change take place in the personality.
Luke decides to run out into the storm and begins frolicking in the water puddles. He shows his leadership potential when he goes first and everyone else follows. When I guide him through this stage of the dream and get him to become the storm, the have a wonderful dialogue together. The wind feels accepted, “Thank you for not feeling I was malevolent.” Luke also expresses his gratitude and appreciation to the wind. This is a clear experience of becoming related to his power, in this case, the power of the heart or love.
The final thing to note is that the sky begins to become lighter as soon as Luke runs out to meet the wind. This points to the reality that things in our unconscious are in the darkness. We have not yet developed this aspect of our self in order to live it out in life – in this case, the power of the heart. This is also true of old memories. If we have not resolved them by bringing them into consciousness and working through them, they are sure to be triggered off from time to time and will disturb our life.
Our thanks to Luke for sharing his inner journey with us. And stay tuned next week for one more of Luke’s dreams in which he is being taken into the past, in order to find out where his lack of full confidence comes from.
7th Nov. 2009 Ingrid’s Dream
I am writing this commentary a few weeks after the dream work filming and am amazed at the profound depth of Ingrid’s dream. It is so full, and describes some of the main stages of the journey to personal wholeness. It will take some time for this dream to be “lived out in life”. By that I mean a real and lasting transformation requires the stages of life to be fully lived and integrated before we reach the accomplished state of Wisdom.
It has the nature of a Fairy Tale but is incomplete in-so-far as the man and woman do not yet reach the state of inner marriage or “union of the male and female energies within”. However, it certainly expresses enough to keep Ingrid busy for the next year or two, if not longer. The length of time will depend on her dedication to the inner process she is now becoming involved in.
A few comments are required for the first stage of the dream. Ingrid tells us that a relationship of 6 to 7 years had recently ended and this is the external stimulus for the dream. This is a very common occurrence. When the external relationship ends or is not working, it becomes an opportunity for the person (man or woman) to put that energy into the relationship with the soul, to go inward and find our greater Self, as Jung and many other spiritual teachers have phrased it.
We find this is the case almost universally. When an individual goes deeply inward, the process is so demanding that the external life usually “suffers” and appears to be neglected. Only when the journey is fully completed does the person re-emerge and take up life again. Evelyn Underhill wrote a book called “Mysticism” which describes the lives of many Christian saints. One of the main characteristics these saints shared in common was to pass through a lengthy time of suffering, both physically and psychologically. During this period they could not function in ordinary life. Only when they completed this experience did they emerge and become super creative, super loving people
Back to Ingrid’s dream. In the first stage she is in this massive airplane which is docked next to a massive platform and all the people get off except for herself. Her mum appears as an angel just as the plane begins to fall away from the platform and plummets downward. She mentions the exotic scenes she sees, elephants, rain forests, etc. These are indications of falling into the first chakra, which has always been symbolized by Earth in the Eastern traditions. A huge number of people in the Western world live in their head and it is essential for us to return to the body in a real way.
I recall when I was first in analysis that I became distinctly aware of being present only in the physical space of my head. This awareness lasted for some days. It was a very strange awareness and sensation, but it was announcing the shift of my conscious self into the body.
However, in the dream she has to pass through the water (always the symbol for the second chakra, or the emotional body). She decides to land the falling plane in the water so that she and her mother will not die. But they end up landing on an island where there is a resort. Ingrid then meets what I refer to as her female “guide” who proceeds to give her a very sensual massage. Her sexual energy begins to become aroused and she feels uncomfortable with this. She is being shown how to integrate her femininity through body sensation. Jung clearly saw these stages in people’s dreams and in external life when he said that the individual must first consolidate their gender (male or female) before they are capable of meeting their inner opposite, the inner “soul mate”. She sees a man standing nearby, observing the scene and she realizes that she is being prepared to meet this man, her animus or soul.
It is interesting to note that even in sleep (as in external life) when we meet someone in our dream and are sexually involved with them, we are integrating this aspect of our self. When we truly become integrated with an aspect, it is initially felt as sexual. Parts of our self are coming together and a pleasurable energy charge is felt. It’s as if a broken electrical wire is reconnected and the energy can flow once again. There is a whole dimension of energy experiences that must be understood and experienced before authentic integration and personal unity are achieved.
Ingrid next goes into the shower and suddenly meets this man again. He is looking at her as she is standing naked in the shower, but nothing else happens as she walks away. The shower in this case is an expression of cleaning or freeing our self from a feeling of guilt about sex. I have found in my experience with groups (even in Tantra groups) that sexual guilt is one of the most difficult layers of our conditioning to get free of. And we cannot fully accept our body until we get free of this deep conditioning. Total self love and acceptance begins here.
In conclusion, it is important to remember that Ingrid’s relationship with her friend broke off, which precipitated this dream. She must become inwardly mature before she can sustain a relationship in external life. This is another clear example of how “Your Night Time Dreams can Change Your lLfe” if you dedicate yourself to the task of understanding and living out their messages.
31th Oct. 2009 Melissa’s Dream:
Melissa’s dream is very unusual in that it features a letter written to her by her future self. She had the dream in 2006 and the letter refers to 1990, which is the time she finished secondary school and took time out to think about her life and what she wanted to do. The future self said she would begin studying the nine cobras and as she reflected back, she realized that she had begun the study of various healing modalities.
Melissa was very moved by this realization and I felt it was the key point of the dream. It was a confirmation that she was on the right track in her life according to her gifts and her healing abilities. The dream shows her travelling to an island and many other people are also travelling back and forth to this place of learning.
The snake is a universal symbol, as was pointed out in our dream work during the filming. It is called “Kundalini Energy” in India, which is the fundamental energy of the human being and lies dormant at the base of the spine. It is pictured as a sleeping serpent until it is awakened through meditation. Then it begins to ascend up the back, opening the various energy centres called “Chakras”. In the Australian Aboriginal culture they often paint the undulating path of the serpent up the back in their rituals.
The fact that Melissa is studying the nine cobras points to the fact that she has 9 potential gifts or abilities that she could develop in her life if she became dedicated to this task. She was aware in her dream that these healing abilities were new and unknown to contemporary society. However, she had a feeling of deep trust that people would come to her to seek direction and transformation. I had a sense of Melissa’s dedication and conviction to follow this path while we were working on this dream together.
It was a real pleasure to work with someone who is on the way to becoming a helper in these stressful and troubled times.
24th Oct. 2009 Dinky’s re-occurring Dream
Dinky’s re-occurring Dream of over 30 years is in regarding her husband’s desire to leave the marriage
This dream was fascinating from the point of view of her projection on her husband. The story gradually unfolded that it was actually her own suppressed thoughts and fears which she didn’t want to admit. And it was clear that this came largely from her first marriage when her husband left her for no apparent reason. However, I have worked with so many people over this past 35 years that I know the basic conditioning about relationships comes from our family of origin in early childhood.
The resolution of such long standing conditioning requires the clients willingness to go deeply into the unconscious in order to re-experience the emotional content of early childhood situations. There are many methods for doing this, including regular dream work, rebirthing, gestalt processing and role playing and various other methods to open the door into the unconscious mind. The process is long and intense and the feint hearted usually turn away before they reach the ultimate and lasting solution.
It must be said, however, that when this journey is undertaken with determination, the results are truly life-altering for the better. The people I have known who have dedicated themselves to this “inner work” and come out on the other side, testify to its ultimate benefit for living a life of fulfillment and deep purpose. Two main benefits can be pointed out; 1. We find our purpose in life and 2. We experience the balance between our male and female energies, which results in finding self love from within our own soul. C. G. Jung referred to this as “The Inner Marriage”.
The other discovery of this dream work session was for Dinky to realize how confused and unclear she was. This is very often the case with honest dream work. We find out how and to whom we have been projecting our unconscious shadow side. This often causes embarrassment and brings up hidden conflicts in the beginning of the work. When these issues are faced honestly and clearly, the result is a growth in true relating and the emergence of authentic love. Even though it was difficult for Dinky to accept aspects of herself that were coming to consciousness, it became obvious at the end of the session that she had actually enjoyed it and learned some significant things about herself.
The final realization of the dream came when she began working with the new woman that her husband was going to be with. It was fortunate that Dinky had already shared with me before the dream session that she had been doing training with Marlyse Carroll, especially in creative dancing. So the name “Carol Danza” was a thin disguise of the unconscious to lead her toward her creative expression through dancing. It is true that the inner male of the woman (her animus or soul) is that aspect that leads her into developing her unlived, creative potentials. When the woman or the man listen to their inner opposite side and act on it, their life begins to take on the quality of “soul” and their creative expression begins to flower. They become less dependent on their partner in marriage and experience a deepening sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.
I am very interested to meet up with Dinky someday and see where her life and her dreams have taken her.
17th Oct. 2009 Anjali’s Dream
After working with this dream, Anjali reported that many things began to happen in her life. She got out her sandplay collection of miniatures and began to prepare herself to work as a therapist once again. As a support for this new beginning she invited us to come to Byron Bay, NSW to conduct a 2 day dream workshop and a 5 day sandplay training workshop. (I am writing this commentary from her home near Byron Bay at this very moment, and we have just completed day 2 of the sandplay workshop.)
This dream is a response to her questioning about her life’s direction. When a person has spent many years doing what I call “inner work” then the unconscious becomes very responsive and cooperative if they truly ask, “What do I do next?” Anjali is a very intuitive woman and it seems that her intuition told her she had had enough of healing herself and deepening her self awareness in the desert. But she still wasn’t clear about whether to continue her 4 year retreat or whether it was time to resume helping people through her sandplay therapy.
I must also mention how our meeting took place. She had trained with me in sandplay therapy over 20 years ago in Sydney and we had not had any contact for at least 18 years. She began trying to find out where I was and after about 10 days she finally contacted my wife in Malaysia via email. My wife replied that it would be difficult to reach me because I was in Melbourne, Australia doing dream work filming for TV. Anjali fired back an email and said she was in Melbourne visiting her daughter and she would be leaving for Byron Bay the next day. (This is what C. G. Jung termed “synchronicity”, which is a highly meaningful coincidence.) The result was that Anjali stayed on for a few more days and participated in our dream work filming project. And of course, this is the commentary on her dream work session.
The dream pictures the situation of a door that would not close. It no longer fitted the door frame – it was no longer appropriate to her life to keep her door closed. She admitted that she would welcome the fact of working again but she simply was not quite ready. Working with this dream was fun and I realized later that the dream was helping her to open up to new possibilities in her life and supporting her to take this new step. We see this over and over in working with dreams, that people are supported and guided to live a full and complete life. When an individual does this, then the end of life is not frightening, disappointing, or tragic. I worked with dying patients at the Sacred Heart Hospice in Darlinghurst (Sydney) for 3 years and I began to learn this basic fact of life. When we live out our full potential during our lifetime then death is easy. It is the next adventure.
It is good to repeat that the experience of the young boy pushing his way into Anjali’s sandplay room was the same message from external life as the dream was from the inner life. With the message coming from both dimensions we can more confidently follow the guidance that is being given.
This again is a clear example of how “Your Night Time Dreams Can (help to) Change Your Life”.
10th Oct. 2009 Kristine's Dream
Kristine’s dream features two friends, both of whom she felt had cheated her or abused her kindness. The opening scene is in Anchorage (I assume in Alaska) which indicates something is cold and frozen.
As we worked with the dream the story unfolded and showed that Kristine was still in a state of shock created by the two incidents with her friends. Many people have these shocks buried in their unconscious mind and only when these experiences can be brought to consciousness and healed can life move on and develop.
It was interesting to hear that the first friend who had taken Kristine’s boyfriend, had been a friend for 20 years and that was the time when Kristine had started her job in a nursing home. She has been feeling for several years that she wants to move into the area of intuitive healing, but so far has not been able to make the change. This dream clearly points to the reasons.
Kristine spoke powerfully about stealing money from her father as a child and her mother “betraying her” by telling the father. She was very strongly punished, which left its mark on her unconscious mind, and is part of the background for this particular dream.
She is frozen in time symbolically speaking, and is possibly trying to nurse herself back to life. But all these indirect approaches never work very well until we explore the hidden web that life has woven and we start to untie the knots that keep us tied to the past. They also keep us in unfulfilling work, which probably served a good purpose at the time we began, but have long gone past their “use by date”.
This dream also describes the scene at night where it is snowing. This is similar to Kami’s dream of last week. The main scene takes place in the darkness of night, indicating the unconscious realms of our mind, and the scene gradually moves into the light of day. This points to the potential of bringing the whole situation to consciousness, thus healing and releasing us from our past conditioning. Simply by recalling and “reliving” any old emotional content, we melt those memories and experience a newness in our energy and our attitudes to life.
Like many dreams, this situation needs further work to fully experience the past in order to understand and integrate the changes necessary for life to move on. Another example of how “Your Night Time Dreams can Change Your Life”.
3rd Oct. 2009 Kami’s Dream of Horses
Kami’s dream is a classic example of blocking the expression of emotions because of past fear and conditioning about the consequences of speaking out.
She begins to speak about the dream and already her emotions begin to pour out. Her unconscious intuitively knows that she may be heard and understood by someone. But she is confused, she doesn’t yet know what the sadness is about. It will only be after a time of extended inner work and going deeper that she will begin to remember what happened to create this habit of suppressing her emotions.
The clues are already present in this dream. The perpetrators of this horror story are male, pointing to an early life influence of the father. Perhaps she was threatened with fearful threats as a child if she disclosed what was happening.
Her mother acts as if nothing much is happening even though Kami and her sister are terrified. The mother is taking pictures with a camera from inside the house, which shows she has separated herself from the emotions and reality of what is actually happening. The child then learns this kind or repression at an early age as a way to survive, but the emotional wounding is still buried there in the darkness of the unconscious.
I will remind the TV viewers (and the reader) that everything in the dream is symbolic of some aspect of our self. Thus Kami has become hidden and unconscious in her effort to protect herself from exposing her emotions and also mentally negates the importance of her emotions. This means that, when we work with people’s dreams, we encourage a full remembering of the emotional situations that caused our original pain. At the same time we support the person in moving away from blame and begin to face these tendencies that have become part of their own personality.
The second half of the dream shows Kami flying, which is often an indication of avoiding the emotional and physical aspects of life. This is very often the case with people who still carry some unresolved, traumatic energies. There is a tendency to avoid remembering fully through experience.
This dream points to a deeper, unknown trauma that has occurred to Kami but she is still running away from facing it. With very sensitive support and by building her trust she can eventually face this buried memory (or memories) and experience the healing that will be necessary to live a more fulfilling and creative life. This is another example of how “Your Night Time Dreams can (Begin to) Change Your Life”, if you continue the process.
26th Sept. 2009 Jennifer’s Dream
Jennifer comes from a family of 13 children and during her childhood the family was very poor. This experience sets the stage for Jennifer’s attempted suicides in her early and mid twenties. The dream mentions that the mother jumps from the 12th floor balcony.
It is significant to point out that when Jennifer was herself in the dream she didn’t feel much, only “moody”. When she became her mother she could connect to the feelings of despair and not being cared for. This shows the value of “acting out” the dream and becoming the different characters in order to access the deeply buried unconscious emotions from this past time.
Jennifer shared that, at the age of 12, she went through a terrible time and felt so homeless that she was even sleeping on the streets (thus the dream reference to the 12th floor). My intuition told me that she was being flooded with her mother’s longing to commit suicide and the dream seems to support this idea. The mother doesn’t show any emotion in the first part of the dream and later admits in the dream work that she has been hiding her despair from her children.
Many parents try to suppress their emotions and the mind says they are trying to protect their children from their bad feelings. But I have discovered that this actually makes things worse for the child. Emotions that are suppressed “leak out” and little babies and small children soak them up like a sponge. The children are forced to feel the emotions that the parents refuse to face and work through. After 35 years of experience I have enough anecdotal evidence to show me, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is the case.
This present dream shows clearly how we carry certain emotional suffering in our unconscious mind for years and years that will cause our life to be blocked in some way or another until it is released and healed. Jennifer is 40 years old and this traumatic experience happened when she was 12. This session also points to the incredible value of recording and working with dreams experientially in order to free ourselves from our past.
The dream also points to the amazing intelligence of the unconscious mind and its ability to present past experiences in a symbolic form. Only when we dissolve our past conditioning will we become free to release our full potential and become our complete Self.
19th Sept. 2009 Simon’s Dream
Simon’s dream is significant for a number of reasons. First of all it shows the classic conflict between living a life “on the surface”, as opposed to living a life on the deeper dimensions of our soul.
The dream begins with him organizing a party (life on the surface, with lots of drinking, etc.) but then leaves before anyone arrives. He meets a woman he is attracted to but she is not so strongly attracted to him. (In reality Simon had been out with this woman the night before. )
He returns to his house to find a party in full swing and is attracted to another woman there, whom he doesn’t know. An unknown woman in a dream is symbolic of the anima or soul (according to Jung), which is that unknown aspect of himself. There is no real relationship between them yet, which results in the feeling of no purpose in life. He has only been living on the surface of life up until now.
She has been drinking and he invites her up to his room, but when they get close she vomits and some of it gets on his face. He then goes downstairs to find that everyone has left and he is faced with cleaning up the mess. He feels despair. (End of dream)
Every aspect of the dream is part of our self, even if it is someone we know. Simon shared that a few years ago he was in relationship with a woman who was diabetic. She was also allergic to peanut butter, and when he gave her some peanut butter she had a very strong allergic reaction and died. There was some reference to manslaughter charges, which was also very traumatic for Simon.
We must also acknowledge Simon’s courage to work with his dream on TV and go into his strong emotions. This inner work is truly a hero’s journey. He was aware that this project was to help people learn about dreams and hopefully to work with their own dreams.
This dream makes no reference to his past girlfriend and the traumatic event, but it presents it in symbolic form so that the unresolved trauma and guilt can be resolved. Even his friends in the dream, who are suspecting him of getting the woman drunk so he could take advantage of her, are symbolic of the parts of himself which say he is guilty.
It is important to know that whatever we avoid in our life, in this case our inner “spiritual” dimension” will visit us as fate. Simon gets the vomit on his face which means he loses face, he feels guilty. But it is a wakeup call and he is left to clean up the mess of his life, the result of his unconscious actions of 4 years ago and his excessive use of alcohol at the present time. Only when he attends to this situation inwardly and gets insight will his life be able to go forward. And only when he begins to form a real relationship with his inner feminine, his soul, will he be able to form a creative relationship in his outer life.
This episode shows the importance of having the participant act out the dream. An intellectual interpretation alone does not allow the powerful emotional realizations that result in a deep transformation. Getting them to move physically into another position allows them to move into the new character in the dream and feel the emotions that are in the unconscious. These emotions are not accessible to the conscious mind until we find a method to cross the barrier between conscious and unconscious.
One of the main aims for this dream series is to teach a wider audience some simple and powerful tools that will help to gain access to our own inner wisdom and learn to become our own healer.
This is a very moving example of how “Your Night Time Dreams can Change your Life”, but only if we get the message and act accordingly.
