Welcome Dream Sojourner! I can’t wait to share with you all that I know and continue to learn about dreams and our relationship to the dream world. I am deeply passionate about dreamwork, empowering others to explore their dreams, and sharing the benefits and opportunities for transformation in traversing the symbols, images, and stories that befall us at night.
Dreamwork isn’t just for the benefit and examination of our inner life. Dreams have a way of spilling over into our waking lives. We tend to separate ourselves and our daily activities from the dreaming as though it were irrelevant or disposable. Dreams are often referred to as “strange”, “weird”, or “bizarre.” This may not be arguable; and yet, this is not all that they are. Our culture has moved us further and further from the dreaming. From the industrial age to the present day tech era and digital spaces we have been bound by the clock and excessive working hours, sometimes hard labor and other times rarely glancing beyond the screen. It may be the time we spend on a quiet walk, doing dishes, or gazing the distance from a window where we may find our bridge between the ordinary world and the unconscious, where we begin to wander and wonder. During these activities, we tend to let go of thinking and sink into a meditative or imaginative state. We do this quite naturally. Every night in deep sleep, it’s this bridge that we cross entirely from the conscious to the unconscious. The thing is…we cross back every day we awake. Sometimes the dreams come with us.
Have you had a dream that’s sparked your curiosity? Maybe it’s a dream that you can’t forget. It was so real to you, the colors, sounds, smells. Your dream was palpable, visceral, and yes, completely out in left field. Maybe you’ve had nightmares. Those are dreams too, and they can carry a lot of energy into our waking life. In fact, I’ll be using the word “energy” quite often in reference to dreams and dreamwork. Our “energy” gets constellated around specific images, characters, storyline, and other aspects of dreaming. Sometimes dreams take us to a memory, a place or a person from our past. We may awaken and wonder, “why that,” or “why now?” This is energy. We may have experienced an intense dream, something scary, possibly repetitive, and we’re shaken awake. It stays with us. This too is energy.
I imagine you have many questions. It’s this curiosity that spurred my own journey with dreams and continues to place me in wonder and awe with each awakening. It’s my hope that this space will offer you ways of reflecting and building relationship with your dreams. Rather than offering you answers, I will be a guide, helping you navigate your dreaming. Any good dreamworker worth their metal won’t give you answers. A dreamworker’s role is to help you uncover your own meanings and associations. I won’t tell you what your dreams mean. What I will do, is say, “let’s explore here,” and we’ll do it together. I would like you, the dreamer, to experience how metaphor is working and shaping your life. In Jungian work, this is done primarily by exploring the images that arise from the unconscious and awaken us to aspects of our greater Self. Sometimes dreams awaken us to things we don’t want to see or acknowledge about ourselves, things that may be challenging to look at. We can work with these dreams too and embrace them for all they have to teach us. I know it may sound impossible, yet dreams, including the nightmarish ones, can be turned into gold. Having said that, only you, the dreamer, truly knows what your dreams mean.
In my work with individuals, groups, and organizations, it’s not one size fits all. You and I could dream of a similar image and it will have a completely different meaning for each of us. You have specific associations to imagery that contribute to the meaning you make. Context is also important which is why I don’t interpret. This is about exploration, and in doing so we find much deeper, richer, more imaginative ground upon which to see ourselves. This has been my journey and I hope to bring my practices and experiences to you. I am here to guide that journey so that you may find your meaning, your path of exploration, and ultimately the story that you can carry forward in your waking life.
In forthcoming blogs, I will speak to the inquiries I often hear when someone first finds out that the stranger they’ve just met is a dreamworker.
The Flying King Dreaming, Watercolor and ink, D. Delaney Wamer, 2021