Mining the World of Our Dreams

The Elgonyi, natives of the Elgon forests, of central Africa, explained to me that there are two kinds of dreams: the ordinary dream of the little man and the “big vision” that only the great man has, e.g., the medicine-man or chief. Little dreams are of no account, but if a man has a “big dream” he summons the whole tribe in order to tell it to everybody.
—C. G. Jung, “The Function of the Unconscious,”
CW, vol. 7, par. 276

Dreams have influenced mighty kings, given insights to world-changing scientists and inspired gifted artists. The importance and power of dreams are well established. From the temples of antiquity to the sleep labs of modern days, humans have tried to understand, explain and apply them.

You only have to read Samuel Coleridge's Kubla Khan to appreciate what can be done with material that has been trawled from the world of our dreams.

Go to the guided imagery section here at Soul Food and work with your dreams in the Ancient Greek Tholos. Once you have completed the guided imagery and experienced the world of Ascelpious look closely at what you have written. How do you feel what has emerged on your page?

What resonates for you? What were you doing and saying during the dream? It may seem as though you have a heap of broken images but a dream provides an entrance, a means of communication between one world and another. To bring a dream into the waking world can be a bit like drawing it through the eye of a needle but the rewards of doing so are great.

In this part of the Alluvial Mine artists and writers are encouraged to pick through the information that has been mined from their dreams.

Resources

John Suler has a wonderful selection of material on how to work and play with your dreams. I heartily recommend a visit to his site.

One of my favourite dream sites on the net is presented by Gail Bixler. Go directly to her dream imagery section. Once there you will find that she has collected a number of interesting dreams. Each submission includes an interpretation and I think this delightful gallery provides a great role model to help us kick start our writing.

Prepare a submission for Gail.

Of course you do not have to actually send it but it will provide another valuable insight and be an interesting page in your visual journal.

Recently I decided that I really wanted to interpret one of my numinous dreams --being trapped--and I ended up at the Edgar Cayce site. I was amazed at the archive of interesting dream interpretaions and feel sure that there is a story line amidst them.

Patrons Find Meaning From Dreams

A Numinous Dream - by Anita Marie Moscoso

The Alluvial Mine is the property of Heather Blakey and Miners who have generously shared their work. Please do not replicate any part of this mine without written permission.