"There is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that...every dream reveals itself as a psychical structure which has meaning..."
-Sigmund Freud
THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS




Q: "DREAM INTERPRETATION.  WHAT IS IT?"

A: "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it."

Dream interpretation is an ancient art. The Egytians prized the Israelites as dream interpreters. Throughout the Near East, the Greek world, all of Asia...dream interpretation was a highly respected profession. Dreams with Divine content -- visions -- were the Source of Religious insight. The same is true of today: dream interpretation is the Key to the New Spirituality. Dream Analysis is its Heart.  It all begins with our dreams and their interpretation...

Q: "WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL DREAM INTERPRETATION AND JUNGIAN DREAM INTERPRETATION?"

A: Traditional Dream Interpretation is very ancient. It goes back to Ancient Civilizations -- perhaps 15,000 years ago, if new discoveries are to be credited. From the professional dream interpreters of the Ancient Near East and Asia onward, the Art has unfolded and deepened. THE ONEIROCRITICON OF ASTRAMPSYCHUS ("To weep in dreams is a sign of utmost joy.") is one of the earliest to survive. A hundred Traditions have added their Wisdom. Chinese and Native American dream interpretation -- Germanic and Celtic dream interpretation -- Traditional Dream Interpretation has grown into a vast library.

When Freud gave the world his INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS in 1899, modern dream psychology was born. Carl Jung followed. His studies in psychology, mythology, religions and literature took Dream Interpretation into the 20th Century. His insights into the techniques of dream analysis guided many others -- Northrop Frye's literary studies have had a profound influence on one of our Team members...

Today's Dream Interpretation is a synthesis of these two explorations... Dream Interpretation is the Key to the New Spirituality. Our excitement in the High Art of Dream Interpretation is palpable...

Q: "DO YOU USE FREUDIAN DREAM INTERPRETATION? ARE DREAMS ALL ABOUT SEX?"

A: By the time Freud's book, THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS appeared, he had already revealed his belief that sexuality was the prime component in his analysis of the Unconscious. THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS had the central theme that dreams were disguised sexual wishes. That book, and his theories, hit the public like a bombshell. Others disagreed. Jung believed that dreams have many meanings, and could be spiritual as much as sexual.

Are dreams all about sex? "Is a sleazy dream always a sleazy dream or can it be spiritual?"  If the emotional content is sexual, then it's about sex. "Sleazy" means sleazy.  If not, then it's about something else. Sometimes, Freud is right. Sometimes not. It depends on the individual dream. And Dreamer.

**For more, see SEXUAL DREAMS in our "DREAM DICTIONARY: 12 Most Common Dreams." 

Sexual Dreams and their Significance...  "Sexual Dreams are an essential part of our dreaming life.  Sexuality in dreams, while often exhilerating, sometimes disturbing, is beyond the dreamer's ability to control..." -Your Dream Team

"SEXUALITY IN DREAMS is a Page created in response to those dreamers -- Men and Women -- who have asked for the best sites to help them with sexual matters." Your Dream Team.

Sexual dreams are an essential part of our dreaming life.  Sexuality in dreams, while often exhilerating, sometimes disturbing, is beyond the dreamer's ability to control.  Sexual dreams, in fact, are considered a key to understanding the dreamer.  Caution -- this is an Adult Site.

Click Here for SEXUAL DREAMS -- A Study of Sexuality in Dreams

See the Latest Articles About Numerology at NUMEROLOGY ARTICLES -- Numerology Birth Charts & Numbers

Q: "WHAT IS DEPTH-CHARGED DREAM INTERPRETATION?"

A: When we first start on a dream interpretation, we subject the written account of the dream to content analysis. This breaks it down into its recorded components. Dream Interpretation then recombines the meanings of those components into an in-depth STORY FORM. That's how we interpret your dreams -- through depth-analysis, we establish the Personal Story that is being told in that dream, or series of dreams.

Psychology

Q: "WHAT OTHER FORMS OF DREAM INTERPRETATION DO YOU USE?"

A: A number of theorists, from Adler to Van de Castle, have added to dream theory and the techniques of dream analysis. Two that have influenced us in dream interpretation are Samuel Lowy, whose 1942 book PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF DREAM INTERPRETATION, and Eugene Gendlin's LET YOUR BODY INTERPRET YOUR DREAMS, have influenced us in many ways, including putting together our popular, "user-friendly" DREAM QUESTIONNAIRE.

We cannot change anything until we accept it.  Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses. - C.G.Jung




Q: "WHAT ABOUT BOSS'S TAKE ON DREAM INTERPRETATION? DOES ANY DREAM INTERPRETATION THEORY HAVE MEANING?"

A: Medard Boss, in his THE ANALYSIS OF DREAMS, thought that we should forget all theories of dream interpretation and study each dream as a unique, creative phenomenon. He explained that..."We cannot consider dreaming and waking as two entirely different spheres." We take this viewpoint into consideration with each dream interpretation. We certainly agree with his conclusion on psychic dreams and their interpretation: "One single verified prophetic dream could have more importance than a thousand everyday dreams."

Q: "CAN DREAM INTERPRETATION REVEAL THE FUTURE?"

A:  Precognitive dreams foretelling the future have been recorded since Biblical times.  The Titanic disaster led to the first serious attempt to collect precognitive dreams (also called predictive or psychic dreams)-- psychic prediction for 2006 and 2007 is being collected.

The PSYCHIC DREAMS PROJECT, which was collecting precognitive dreams, was mysteriously shut down in January, 2007.  The Project's astounding RESULTS gathered a lot of response.

Q: "HOW DOES PERLS' GESTALT THEORY INFLUENCE MODERN DREAM INTERPRETATION?"

A: Fritz Perls drew a lot on Existentialism in his theory of dream interpretation. Perls wrote: "The dream is an existential message...a message of yourself to yourself...every part, every situation in the dream...is a part of the dreamer..." There is some truth in this. When you dream of a HOUSE, that house is usually YOU; the rooms are different aspects of yourself. A Gestalt-based dream interpretation is usually present-tensed, a here-and-now analysis. "In Gestalt therapy we don't worry about Understanding, we concentrate on Experience." Gestalt theory has enriched Dream Interpretation.



Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. -C.G.Jung

Q: "HOW HAVE THE DISCOVERIES OF MODERN SLEEP LABS EFFECTED DREAM INTERPRETATION?"

A: We've all heard of REM sleep, of course. The discovery of the configuration of physiological events that occur as we sleep has been a fascinating one. We know more about what happens with our bodies and brains as we dream. But the expected increase in understanding dream interpretation hasn't been as expected. Except for an understanding of external conditions on some dream content, real interpretation analysis still draws on the central disciplines, especially Traditional and Jungian Dream Interpretation.




Q: "WHAT PART DO LUCID DREAMS PLAY IN DREAM INTERPRETATION?"

A: Actually, not very much. Lucid Dreaming is a whole other study. While fascinating in itself, it isn't much help in dream interpretation. As soon as you are aware that you are dreaming, and take conscious control, you are shutting yourself off from the Source that is messaging you. You are outside the realm of Dream Interpretation.



Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you. -C.G.Jung

Q: "DOES DREAM INTERPRETATION HAVE A HIGHER PURPOSE OTHER THAN JUST EXPLAING A DREAM'S MEANING?"

A: Dream Interpretation should explain our lives: who we are, and where we are going. The American Dream come true.  Jung stressed that a dream's interpretation should "ring true," giving the dreamer insight into her or himself, whether the insight is pleasant or unpleasant. The interpretation should act as a catalyst, setting the dreamer's "life in motion again." Not only is the dream interpretation proved true by later dreams, but by later events in the dreamer's Life. As a satisfied dreamer of a very difficult dream interpretation said: "This wasn't just an interpretation of my dream, it's turned out to be an interpretation of my life!"

In seeking the American dream, dream analysis has proven invaluable.  We see the phrases everywhere: dream theater, dream weaver, dream catcher, dream home, sleazy dreams...sweet dreams... we a going deeper than ever before in our search for Dream Truth!




Conclusion to DREAM INTERPRETATION Explained...

Dream Interpretation is as old as human language, when one person asked another, "What does my dream mean?" The Language of Dreams is much, much older. Which is why we often refer to it as Dream Exploration more than Interpretation. For us, it isn't Space that is the Last Frontier. There is something much more profound going on, and our dreams are our Connection to it. And Dream Interpretation -- Exploration -- Analysis -- is truly the Key...

See the Latest Articles About Numerology at NUMEROLOGY ARTICLES -- Numerology Birth Charts & Numbers

Jungian Archetypes: The Characters in Our Dreams

"Archetypes were, and still are, living psychic forces that demand to be taken seriously, and they have a strange way of making sure of their effect.  Always they were the bringers of protection and salvation, and their violation has as its consequence the 'perils of the soul,' known to us from the psychology of primitives.  Moreover, they are the unfailing causes of neurotic and even psychotic disorders..."  -Carl Jung, PSYCHE AND SYMBOL: A Selection from the Writings of C G Jung

From the beginning of his studies of Dream Interpretation, Jung was aware of "potent primordial images" and "dominants of the collective unconscious."  Jung quickly recognized Mythical themes and symbols rooted in the common history of Humankind that were appearing in ever dreamer's dreams.  These themes, these motifs, these Characters weren't coming from the personal experiences or memories of his dreamers, but were coming from a deeper, ancient source in the human unconscious.

Jung found the same characters, or Archetypes, in every person, every culture he studied.  He concluded that to deny the power and the message of each of these Archetypes could lead to an empty, meaningless, unspiritual life: exactly the state many find themselves living in the modern techno-driven society.  The Africans called the state a "loss of Soul."  Neurosis and Psychosis then, was the result of not understanding the Archetypal Characters who come to us in our dreams.

Who are they, then -- these Archetypes, these Characters who come to us in our dreams?  What are their potent messages that, if we ignore or do not understand them, can lead to spiritual emptiness or insanity?

Jung described Five Major Archetypal Characters:

THE SHADOW  The Shadow is literally our 'dark side' or 'other side.'  Jung called it "the thing a person has no wish to be..."

At the same time, everything must cast a shadow in the light of day if it is truly three-dimensional: psychically whole.  Our Shadow Character is that part of us that we may deny but remains attached to us, just like our own daytime shadow.  The Shadow is the primitive, instinctive part of us.  The more we attempt to deny its existence, the greater the chance that it could "burst forth suddenly in a moment of unawareness."

Like Shakespeare's Caliban or Dr Frankenstein's Monster, it exists and must be understood or it will rage out of control.  Confronting your Shadow takes an act of courage.  It means taking a mercilessly critical look at your own behavior.  Projecting the Shadow onto others ("He/She is to blame, not me!") is self-destructive.  The Shadow must be faced.  We not only learn more about ourselves, but become more complete, more at peace with one's own self and the world.

THE TRICKSTER  Sometimes confused with the Shadow, the Trickster is both dangerous and fun.  The Trickster is the child within us.  Jung said, "Trickster is a figure whose physical appetites dominate his behavior; he has the mentality of an infant..."  Although, like a child, the Trickster can be cruel, self-centered, mocking, even unfeeling -- it can also be a laughing, fun-seeking and emotionally vulnerable character.  Charlie Chaplin's Tramp is one of our great Cultural Tricksters.  Native American folklore is full of Trickster stories.  Unless we have deliberately taken all the fun out of our lives -- the Trickster's message is usually just a gentle reminder to "Lighten up!"

THE PERSONA  The Persona is the Character we have made of our own Self to present to the world.  The Persona is what we wear, the job we do, the personal mask we wear, what we want others to think of us.  Jung said: "The Persona is a compromise between individual and society as to what a man should appear to be."

Since we must survive in the real world, we all must assume a Persona to some degree.  It's only when we assume the outward Persona too much and deny our inner true self, that the Shadow or Trickster can appear in our dreams to remind us that we are MORE.

THE ANIMA/ANIMUS  Just as we have an Outward Image: the Persona, we also have an Inward Image: Soul Image, represented by the Anima/Animus.

We have within us the whole potential of the Human, including masculine and feminine.  The Anima is the Feminine Principle: emotional, mysterious, inward, a character of feelings.  The Animus is the Masculine Principle: logical, outward, exploratory, moral, a character of steadfastness.  If ignored, these can be the characters of temptation, seduction, treachery and betrayal.  If understood, these are the lovers, the friends, the partners, the Soul Guides.  To fully understand these characters often takes serious dream interpretation.

THE WISE OLD ONE  The Wise Old One brings messages that will guide you truly.  Jung called the Character a mana personality, a primal source of vitality and personal growth.  In dreams, this archetype can appear as a Wise Old Man -- a Magician or Spiritual Guide (an Indian guru), a King, doctor, and so on.  Or as A Wise Old Woman -- a priestess, Earth Mother or Great Goddess, a Spirit of Nature, Queen, teacher and so on.

The Wise Old One is usually the same sex as the dreamer.  But not always.  The most important thing is to listen to and understand the Message the Old One brings!

Jungian Archetypes, then, draw on all the potentialities of the human psyche -- "a vast store of ancestral knowledge about the profound relations between God, man and the cosmos.  To open up this store in one's own psyche, to awaken it to new life and intigrate it with consciousness, means nothing less than to save the individual from his isolation and gather him into the eternal cosmic process."

To live a full, happy Spiritual life, we must understand the archetypal Characters who appear in our dreams.  And we need to know their messages.  That is why we cannot stress enough that Dream Interpretation is truly your personal Key to the New Spirituality!

Recommended Reading for Dream Study and Dream Interpretation:

Man and His Symbols, edited, with an introduction by Carl G Jung.  If we were to pick just one book to recommend for dream study, it would be this one.  MAN AND HIS SYMBOLS owes its existence to one of Jung's own dreams.  The great psychologist dreamed that his work was understood by a wide public, rather than just by psychiatrists and dream interpreters, and therefore Jung agreed to write and edit this fascinating book.  Here, Jung examines the full world of the unconscious, whose language he believed to be the symbols revealed in dreams.  Convinced that dreams offer practical advice, sent from the unconscious to the conscious self, Jung felt that self-understanding would lead to a full and productive life...

The New Spirituality: It Began With Dream Interpretation

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you."  -Ezekiel 36:26

At the end of the 20th Century, we were calling it the New Age.  But with the dawn of the 21st Century, we could see that there was something more substantial going on.

"Psychic Revolution" comes closer to describing what is going on all around us.  New psychic talents are using Astrology, Tarot, Runes, Numerology, clairvoyance, mediumship and biorhythm readings to discover powerful, insightful elements about their client's lives.  Psychic online chatrooms are booming.  Naturapaths and medical intuitives are uncovering more about holistic medicine.  The establishment of the amazing PSYCHIC WEB is making news.  Crystals, gemstones, jewelry are giving focus to magical insights.  Businesses not even directly connected with the Psychic Revolution are calling themselves "ethical" and "holistic" and "spirit-based" and "Christian."  Feng Shui consultants are playing an important role in the designing of new buildings.  Subjects from Aliens to Yoga, Angels to Zoroastrianism, are capturing the interest of the general public.  We are speaking now of the intigration of "Body, Mind, Spirit."

Dream Interpretation -- a field in which YOUR DREAM TEAM has been called "The Net's Premier Dream Readers!" -- has grown to become a Key Element in what is now unfolding around us.  Dream Interpretation, drawing on Traditional -- such as Medieval Christian Mysticism -- and Jungian dream study and on an intuitive insight of its new practitioners, is unlocking insights into our personal lives.  But also, Dream Interpretation -- following the lead of Carl Jung -- has linked psychic study with the symbols and story-lines of Myth, Legend and Religion.

And it is here that the direction of what is happening all around us is becoming clear.  The late 20th Century brought a much needed re-awakening of the Goddess and Feminine Wisdom.  To that, an awakening interest in all Religious thought, from Old Biblical to Wiccan, is resulting in a Spiritual intigration.  We at Your Dream Team have added a fascination with Medieval Christian Mysticism.

And it is with this insight that we truly see what is happening all around us.  It is a Spiritual Revolution that is occuring -- a time of New Spirituality.

It was Jung's major contributions that helped us see that we don't have to live in a "box system."  That by exploring and embracing the New Spirituality, by learning first from our dreams, that we can grow into full Spiritual people.

"The further we delve into the origins of a Collective Image (or, to express it in ecclesiastical language, of a dogma), the more we uncover a seeming unending web of archetypal patterns that, before modern times, were never the object of conscious reflection.  Thus, paradoxically enough, we know more about mythological symbolism than did any generation before our own,  The fact is that in former times men did not reflect upon their symbols; they lived them and were unconsciously animated by their meaning."  - Carl G Jung

It was Carl Gustav Jung who intensified the modern understanding of Eternal Symbols.  Jung knew that the greatest study was that of the Psyche("Psyche" means "spirit" and "soul" and "mind" and it is this sense that, to us, Dream Study is central to the discovering of all three: Spirit, Soul and Mind.).

Jung taught about the importance of dreams.  Out of his exploration came the revalation that each of us has his or her own personal Mythology -- both a part of and separate from the Collective Mythology.

Jung uncovered the characters and story-lines that make up our dreams.  He told us of Heroes and hero makers, the archetypes of the Initiation and Trancendence, the Shadow within each of us, the Anima (the Feminine) and Animus (Masculine) -- and the Wise Old One.  Jung admitted that it was always in him to grow up and play the Wise Old Man.  There are worse roles one can play.

Although best known for his influence on psychotherapy and Dream Study, Jung also studied Spirituality and brought to it his gift of profound insight.  Jung's exploration of the emerging New Spirituality was intensified with a dream...

At 69, Jung suffered a heart attack.  While unconscious, he had a vivid dream: "Far below I saw the globe of the Earth, bathed in a gloriously blue light.  Far below my feet lay Ceylon... I knew that I was on the point of departing from the most glorious thing I have ever seen.  I had the feeling that everything was being sloughed away.  Everything I aimed at or wished for or thought, the whole phantasmagoria of earthly existence fell away or was stripped from me -- an extremely painful process..."  But it was then in his dream that he saw the "primal form" of his personal physician who told Jung that he had been sent from those of Earth "to tell me there was a protest against my going away.  Profusely disappointed -- now I must return to the 'box system' again."

Jung woke up and continued to contribute to his fascinating studies and interpretation of the Psyche for another 17 years...

Interesting, are the strange events surrounding Jung's death.  Jung had never promised any "afterlife incidents," saying such occurances weren't nearly as important as the study of the living Psyche.

However, Jung's close friend, Laurens van der Post, while on a sea voyage, had a dream in which he saw Jung wave at him and say, "I'll be seeing you."  Next day, Laurens learned that Jung had died, and at the exact time of the dream.  He was also told that, just as Jung was "giving up the ghost," a bolt of lightning hit Jung's favorite tree in his Kusnach garden.  A few years later, van der Post was making a movie about Jung in that very garden.  Just as he was describing Jung's death, a bolt of lightning struck the same tree!

"Millions of surfers are checking horoscopes, getting tarot readings and consulting with Psychics on a daily basis.  It's a PSYCHIC REVOLUTION!"  -Psychic Revenue

Be part of the PSYCHIC REVOLUTION!  There are a number of ways.  Our Recommended First Step would be to *SCROLL* Up  on this Page and go to DREAM WORLD!

"I dreaned that I fell down my uncle's well.  What does it meam?"

We got a chuckle out of the misspellings, of course.  But when we E-mailed our dreamer for more details, what unfolded was a very heart-wrenching account of childhood abandonment and loneliness.  The dream was a reminder that there is very little comedy in dreams.  Comic dreams exist, but they're a rare event.
 
At times, in fact, it seems that the misspellings (and we do them, too!) are the best humor found in dream reading -- examples: drean meaming, dream interpetration, dream analsis, dream redding, dream weaber, dream symbles, drear catcher...

HAVE YOU "DREANED A FUNNY DREAN"?  CONFUSED BY "DREAN SYMBLES"?  HAVE TO KNOW WHAT YOUR "DREAN MEAMS"? 

Click Here for HUMOR IN DREAMS -- I Had A Funny Dream... And Find Out What All The Laughter Is About!!! 

There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion. -C.G.Jung

The C.G.Jung Page:  What's New...announcements of new articles and features at the Jung Page, upcoming events, new web sites in Jungian psychology, the Society of Jungian Analysts, new publications, etc.  A great introduction to Jungian dream interpretation theory, Jung himself, his theories of analysis, analytical psych.  Jung has inspired dream readers worldwide.  At the end of the day, Jung and Jung psychology are at the heart of the new Spiritual process...