How Dream Interpretation Can Change Your Life
Michael Ebbinghaus • November 14, 2021
Using Dreams for Personal Insight and Growth
Initiating a dreamwork practice is one of the most powerful ways to engage with the mystical. It teaches us an entirely new language with which to approach our experience. We spend the majority of our conscious lives in this attentional and relational state, aware of ourselves, our environment, what needs must be met throughout the day, and what we must do to survive and flourish within our cultural system. This is what psychologists would refer to as “ego” and what neuroscientists might indicate as the default mode network or other combinations of prefrontal cortex activity. This is only one way of being. Many things fall below the level of our perception and we must rely on intuitive or tacit ways of knowing. These can be difficult skills to cultivate – our culture does not have reliable or effective frameworks for their utilization. Fortunately for us, once roughly every sixteen hours the ego loses its grip on consciousness as we fall asleep, at which point we are granted entry to a psychic cinema, an entire queue full of fantastic scenes with seemingly little connection to the physical laws of reality and, most importantly, free of intrusion from the ego. If we possess the humility and curiosity to listen to the messages of our nightly dreams, we can take the mythic journey of our ancestors into the depths and expanse of the psyche.
"If we possess the humility and curiosity to listen to the messages of our nightly dreams, we can take the mythic journey of our ancestors into the depths and expanse of the psyche."
Dreamwork is among the most enjoyable ways of exploring the Self. In the beginning, we only need enough awareness to recall them. Setting the intention is often good enough, as a dream will come along that will rapture our attention – we will know when the Unconscious has come knocking. What's more, we are likely to have had dreams in the past that we cannot help but remember. These "first dreams" provide practice material and can be revisited again and again as we gain proficiency. While sleep hygiene is important to enhancing our recall and clarity of dreams, I have found that the dreams I’ve most needed to have occur regardless of how well I’ve set myself up for evening rest.
As we begin to speak the symbolic language of dreams and probe nighttime narratives for their treasure, the dreams begin to deepen and convolute in their imagery and narrative structure, sometimes forming inter-dream arcs. This becomes fuel for the fire as our interest deepens.
It is important to acknowledge that people vary greatly with regard to recollection of their dreams. Some can remember multiple dreams most nights while some may go years without one. Sleep hygiene and our conscious attitudes towards dreams will have an impact on memory. Going to bed at a regular time, eschewing substance use: alcohol, barbiturates, and cannabis 2-3 hours before bedtime, getting regular exercise, healthy diet, etc., will all help the dreamer have better sleep and dream recall overall. That said, dreamwork can begin immediately with most individuals. Patience and perseverance, as always, are required.
"As we begin to speak the symbolic language of dreams and probe nighttime narratives for their treasure, the dreams begin to deepen and convolute in their imagery and narrative structure, sometimes forming inter-dream arcs. This becomes fuel for the fire as our interest deepens."
Setting an Intention
Good sleep hygiene is an excellent start, but intention and intuition are equally as powerful. We will not forget the dreams that we need to remember. Having our tools handy can be part of the ritual of initiating dreamwork. The placement of a tape recorder by the bed is an act imbued with that intention. We can invent ritual exercises, prayers, and dances in any number of ways that ask that the dream world send us its wisdom.
Recording dreams is the first step to working with them. Recall as much detail as possible, noting who or what appears, what occurs, where it takes place, and what feelings and conversations arise. Everyone’s dream language is particular to them but will follow archetypal and ancestral patterns. Developing fluency in the dream world is like learning to speak any other language: it is best to immerse oneself and be at peace with the disorientation.
Dream Language and Interpretation
Dreams speak to us through the language of images, events, narratives, all symbolic in their nature. What this means is that no one element in the dream, whether it be a person, animal, or event, has any fixed meaning. There is no handbook that can decode it, no dream dictionary, as it is dependent upon the entire context: how that element exists in relation to the rest of the dream, including its narrative structure, and most importantly, how it relates to the dreamer. While consistent patterns emerge and certain symbols are associated to various archetypal energies, such as the horse, these must be applied to the specifics of the individual having the dream (a great encyclopedia for archeological depictions of symbols can be found here).
This enigmatic nature hints at the peculiar kind of deduction we need to entertain and hone in order to work with dream material. There are a few guidelines that can be helpful, particularly in the beginning.
- Everything in the dream is indicative/reflective of the dreamer; unconscious complexes and their solutions are embedded within the symbolic content.
- There is nothing random or accidental regarding dream content – everything is interrelated and representative.
- No particular image means one particular thing: every image has multiple meanings or interpretations, and the “correct” interpretation is the one that leads to adaptive change and soul empowerment.
All three emphasize the informative capacity of symbolic content – the meaning one can draw is essentially endless, and we may find ourselves reflecting on dreams long past that have renewed relevance to our present situation or from which we derive new conclusions. However, dreams can only relate our own experience. Whether or not this may actually be the case, it holds pragmatic weight. There’s very little our dreams can do to impact or inform someone else. Because our unconscious is an inverse reflection of our conscious selves, the images received in dreams will be particular to our own experience. When our friends or family emerge, the dream does not speak directly about those people, but to the dreamer’s experience of them, the relationship that exists between them and what archetypal energies they typify within our experience. For instance, my best friend is often my champion, an element of my psyche that stands up against injustice and cherishes me deeply.
There is nothing accidental or random about dream images. Many are often confused by the strange things they will witness a family member, themselves, or a close friend do because it is not something that makes logical sense. This is intentional, and the more peculiar the act, the greater attention is warranted.
There is no one meaning that can be attributed to dream symbols and stories. Their interpretation is fully dependent upon the context, which includes when the dream is recalled. One may find that an image from a dream years before will emerge into waking life or be revisited in new dreams. This can indicate how one’s relation to the complex has shifted or illuminate different aspects.
With these central tenets in place, we can now turn to two methods of working with one’s dreams.
Two Methods of Dreamwork
The first method I am going to describe focuses more on understanding dream images which can feel a lot like mining for information, something soothing to the ego. Engaging in this type of work, however, is what permitted my ego to understand the power of dream content and subsequently bow to its wisdom. It is based off of the technique Robert Johnson describes in his book Inner Work.
The first step in this method is to record the dream. As close to waking as possible, reconstruct the dream: speak, write, or draw the dream as if it were happening now. Replay it in your imagination; experience it as closely to how it arrived nocturnally. Don't think too hard. Next, make note of the figures, images, themes, and narratives. Who or what appeared? What happened? Where did it happen? Was there anything peculiar that occurred? What objects are utilized? With these things delineated, make associations to them. When you reflect on x person or y object, what are the immediate images, words, relationships, etc. that come up? Resist the temptation of contemplation: this process should be expedient but considered, relaxed but holding tension. Blocks will be met with, and it is here that the ego does not want to see.
With the dream held in mind and associations to its contents made, one can begin relating this to one’s own presence. What is the dream saying about our blind spots? What difficulties do we meet with in relationship to close others and the world at large that we see manifest in symbolic language? The earlier steps do little good if they are not related to how we present in waking life! We aim for transformation, with the Unconscious as our guide.
Once the dream has been recorded, the associations made, and how the dream is related to our own inner world and our presentation in the outer one, we concretize what we learned and pay our respects to the dream with a ritual. We take what the dream has offered us and perform a sacred act. Going back to our horse example, if a stallion appears to inform us of our enormous animal power, one could volunteer at a horse rescue or make an offering of carrots and apples to some nearby. One could also buck like a bronco and make whinnying noises in an ecstatic dance, really the possibilities are endless. The Unconscious enjoys the symbolic acts of the conscious – this will help to reciprocate the connection and maintain the flow of the fountain between conscious and unconscious.
Soulcentric Dreamwork
The second method is derived from Bill Plotkin’s method of dreamwork described in Journey to Soul Initiation. This method is more symbolic and relies on the ability of the dreamer to “let the dream do its work”. This method is more esoteric and may be more difficult for those just starting out, particularly if you prefer an analytic mode. However, this method provides incredible insight and direction in what one should do in waking life.
“Letting the dream do its work” deserves some elaboration. Essentially, one should record the dream just as you would in the other method, however, the emphasis here is not on making associations and drawing information. One continues to work with the dream over the period of the day or week, however long feels appropriate. One can engage with the characters in the dream in active imagination, meditate on the images, and ask for guidance in what the dream is trying to say. When do you randomly associate back to the dream during the day? What change is the dream asking you to make in your interactions, relationships, and conduct? Bring dream figures into your awareness. Act as if you are them. Allow their movements to become your movements.
Plotkin’s method can benefit greatly from practicing first with the Johnson method. They can be used in conjunction to offer different perspectives, combine their benefits, and strengthen their limitations.
Continuing On
When done with proper respect for their content, dreamwork is a rewarding, fascinating, and transformative process. As one begins to speak the symbolic language of psyche, this same skill can be applied to films and television, interpersonal interactions, world events, and experience at large to better inform us of the unending mystery within. One will increasingly find autonomy in the dream world, capable of consciously exploring the dark corners of the mind and unite with cut off elements of the total Self, as well as actively step into the dream world through imagination. It's a great process that bears fruit once one glimpses the detail and breadth of the Unconscious layers of experience.
The Sentient Soul
Fallen idol, or fallen into idolatry?
Union doesn't require psychedelic drugs, ecstatic sex, or mythic circumstances (though you should still have fun with them!). It can be as simple as a little dash of imagination.
