Everyone dreams, but do dreams have the power to heal? Some people think so, including the late Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung, who believed that dreams are a "little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul."

Julia had always been a skeptic, especially about new age, "hocus pocus" subjects, as she liked to call them. Then one night several years ago, Julia dreamt that her sister Ann was lying on a bed, surrounded by white light. She woke with a start; several minutes later her father called to say that Ann had died. Julia had just returned from the hospice where Ann had been living for several weeks, and knew their visit was the last one they'd have together. Reeling from grief in the aftermath, Julia joined a hospice support group. She mentioned the dream about Ann to another group member, who told her it might be worth working with a Jungian analyst to help her with her dreams. Julia decided to pursue it.

She found a dream group led by a local Jungian analyst trained at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. The institute is based on the work of prominent Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung, who worked extensively dreams, including his own. "The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul," he wrote in The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man in 1933. Jung wrote about all kinds of dreams, including dreams he felt predicted the future. Julia didn't know if her dream was a premonition, or if it was about her own sense of peace after her sister's death. But it made her want to know more about dreams and why she was remembering them at this point in her life.

She wasn't sure about sharing her most intimate dream details with people she had never met before, let alone in a smaller community where confidentiality was a concern. Even famed Jungian analyst Marion Woodman declined to share a dream she believed helped heal her of a serious physical illness because, "I cannot let others into my holy of holies," writes Marc Barash about Woodman in Healing Dreams. Still, Julia was intrigued by the process of working with her dreams in a group environment, and knew it was designed to be a confidential process. She also knew it was better than trying to work with her dreams on her own

I discovered dream work at midlife, after a divorce, when my kids left for college and the structure of my life changed significantly. I had been trained and licensed as a counselor, but was having second thoughts about traditional talk therapy, both professionally and personally. Jungian therapy and dream work offered a deeper, more creative approach that granted direct access to the subconscious mind. This was very different from the type of counseling I had studied and practiced. I tried an informal dream group at first, but found it lacked structure and the experience of a trained leader. Eventually I found my way to a Jungian analyst who worked with individuals.

I had been familiar with the work of Sigmund Freud, who was a colleague of Jung's until they went their own ways due to philosophical differences. Freud's belief that dream content was the fulfillment of wishes, conscious or not, differed from Jung's in that Jung felt that dreams offered practical advice sent from the unconscious to the conscious self. He believed dreams were about symbols, which is why his work has been so popular with artists and other creative people.

According to Nancy Smith, mother of two and former participant in Jungian dream analysis, "Delving into dreams and going into the depths with an analyst allowed me to do the most in-depth and creative reflection I've ever done." Smith also believes there is a societal aspect of dream work. "On a cultural level, I think this kind of learning about the collective shadow could be the most healing dynamic imaginable," she said. Looking at her own shadow - which she describes as her own unconscious reactions, based on fear and self-preservation - led her to have deeper compassion for others and the challenges they face.

The shadow is a term introduced by Jung which refers to what is unconscious, repressed and denied. Our shadow is something we tend to push away or project onto others. "To confront a person with his Shadow is to show him his own light," says Jung. "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. It may even be assumed that just as the unconscious affects us, so the increase in our consciousness affects the unconscious."

Jung integrated psychology and spirituality in a unique way which fulfills a need in people who are searching for deeper meaning in their lives. For Julia, Jungian dream work opened a way to explore her dreams more fully and to reveal aspects about herself she couldn't see. One of the ways it helped her cope with the grief from the loss of her sister was that she was able to talk about it openly in the group and effectively bring light to it in a culture that often shuns death and grief. Her sister had been suffering for years - from Hepatitis C, multiple back surgeries, and breast cancer that spread to her bones. She was in excruciating pain and dependent on pain killers. For Julia, the dream about her sister and the white light was partly about the enormous sense of relief and peace she felt when her sister was no longer in such pain. With that feeling of peace and relief came both conflict and guilt, because she loved her sister and did not want her to die.

I found that working individually with an analyst, while more expensive than working in a group, was a better fit for me. I started remembering more of my dreams, wrote them down, and discovered similar patterns depending on what was going on in the context of my life. In one dream, I feel like I am in a scene from The Wizard of Oz, standing outside a giant door to a castle. There is a tiny window in the middle of the door, and I'm waiting for someone to open it. I'm still working on this dream, so I don't yet know what it means given the context of my life, but the image is vivid and the feeling powerful as I stand there, looking up at that big door. I can't say I fully understand the process, but the concept of illumination - or bringing light to areas of darkness - makes sense to me on a personal and cultural level. What's on the other side of that big door? That's what I'm hoping my dreams will tell me.

(Sidebar) Eight Ways to Enhance Dream Recall:

-Keep a tape recorder, journal or pad of paper and pen next to your bed or under your pillow, along with a small penlight.

-Set an intention to invite and welcome your dreams in, rather than trying to capture them.

-Tell yourself you're going to dream tonight and see what happens.

-Don't wait for a complete dream to write it down; write about any parts of the dream you remember.

-Lie very still without moving if possible when you first try to recall the dream.

-Some people find that adding B vitamins to their diet may increase dream recall.

-Set an alarm or take a nap; it can be easier to recall dreams when you aren't as deeply asleep.

 

By Felicia Libo