A Midsummer Nights Dream
"Beginning dreamwork is rather like pulling at a loose thread on a sweater -- you never know how much will come out as you pull, and there is always the worrying thought that perhaps it's best left alone in case you inadvertantly unravel the whole garment." -Les Peto.
Every single night of our lives, we dream. While we don't always remember these dreams, they're still going on, the wheels are still turning in our minds... producing a rainbow of sounds, colors, symbols, and sensations.
What does it all mean? And how do you put it all together?
Everything we dream of is a represenation of our life -- of what is going on in our mind. Each and every dream is a reminder of something, maybe something we are neglecting, or something important to us, or maybe even something that hasn't happened yet.
Using dream journals and symbolism dictionaries can definitely help in the unravelling and decoding process. But let's look at some dream theories, first.
Prof. C.G. Jung, an expert in psychology, believe that each person has an inner opposite, which plays an important part in our dreams. He named the female's inner male the "animus", and the man's inner woman the "anima". Tuning into your dream opposite can help you to learn more about your whole self.
Dreams are made almost entirely of concrete imagery. You take note of things like "a black horse" or "three white roses". Using our child-like imagination, could we not give each of those subjects their own personality? A black horse could represent strength, courage, beauty, and maybe even a touch of the "dark side". The three white roses could portray love, purity, simplicity, beauty... and then there's the thorns! And the number three, as we all know, is very important to Wiccan and Pagan beliefs. Try personification with each dream object... in other words, reflect their natural traits over to human traits. What might the horse say if it could talk? How would the roses move and communicate?
Try taking advantage of your dreams. If a dream introduces something that you are afraid of -- perhaps spiders, or something of the like -- use what the dream teaches you to overcome that fear. The mind works in mysterious ways to get things done, and if you can be more in tune with that imagination of yours, you'll be surprised how practical its teachings can be.