Archive for the ‘Dream alchemy’ Category

My guest this episode, Gay, is keen to hear my take on a dream she had six months ago, a dream that profoundly changed her life.

Gay dreamed of moseying along a walkway from a dark museum castle into a room filled with a blinding light where she embraced her estranged granddaughter.

There are many deep and wonderful levels to Gay’s dream, its interpretation, its healing qualities, and we explore these as Gay tells her story.

This inspirational episode will deeply touch your heart, while guiding you – as all our episodes do – in developing your dream interpretation and dream alchemy skills.

Listen here

iTunes: You can also subscribe (free) to The Dream Show here on iTunes.

(Our next show, episode 122, will be released in four weeks, on 10 February 2012.)

Related articles you might enjoy

 

What’s your recurring dream? If you’ve been following my blog, listening to my podcasts, and reading my books, and you’re still experiencing a recurring dream, today’s post is your wake up call. It’s time to put what you’ve been learning into action if you want to enjoy life changing results in 2012!

Let’s review the basics:

1. A dream is the experience you have, during sleep, while your brain processes your conscious and unconscious experiences of the last 24-48 hours.

2. Think of this processing as like updating your hard drive. Your brain and mind compare your latest experiences to all your past experiences, drawing conclusions – beliefs – about how life works. Mostly you consolidate your oldest beliefs. Sometimes you modify your beliefs. Sometimes you completely overwrite an old belief and wake up with a transformed personal view of how the world works.

3. During dreaming, you are more in touch with your unconscious mind, which is why dreams seem surreal. Imagine a painter trying to capture your mind’s fast processing of experiences, emotions, and beliefs, as an abstract picture. She might use metaphor, analogy, colours to represent emotions, shapes to represent belief structures, any number of creative techniques to help you ‘get the picture’ – or, at least, to store it in your archives under ‘update on how life works’.

4. The magic begins when you know how to ‘get the picture’ – how to interpret a dream – because this helps you to understand your unique mindset. You get to understand your unconscious beliefs, both the ones that work for you and the ones that work against you in your everyday life.

5. You can then see which beliefs need to be changed to get the kind of waking life results you desire. If you stop there, you probably won’t see those results. You need to apply a deeper magic – dream alchemy.

6. Dream alchemy is a process you can use to transform an unconscious belief. It’s a way of working with your unique dream symbols to reprogram your unconscious. It works because your unconscious mind relates to your personal dream symbols – after all, it created them!

7. Now, back to your recurring dream: Since dreams reflect the last 24-48 hours, your recurring dream reflects a recurring waking life issue. Have you noticed that most recurring dreams are unhappy, frustrating, or unresolved? That’s because they reflect an unhappy, frustrating, or unresolved issue in your life.

8. To resolve that issue, apply the formula: Dream interpretation + Dream alchemy = Success + an end to your recurring dream.

Ok, that’s your wake up call. Do your dream alchemy to make 2012 your best year ever!

On a more light-hearted level, here’s an hour’s entertainment about recurring dreams. DK, host of At the Watercooler on Z Talk Radio, invited me onto his show. In this podcast, he asks me about his recurring dream of driving a car that goes way out of control, and, excited by the discovery, moves on to ask me about another recurring dream featuring buildings.

Listeners ask about their dreams and we cover lucid dreaming, falling and floating dreams, a variety of toilet dreams, dreams of snakes, dream sharing, and the question of astral travelling. Oh, and we also talk about dream alchemy and much more.

Listen here. Note: the interview starts halfway through the podcast, so move the slider halfway, or enjoy DK’s interview with the guest before me, Jane Congdon, author of It Started With Dracula.

Related articles you might enjoy

 

Gwynne is my guest with a dream about finding a camera with a shocking picture on the viewfinder.

There’s a theme of lost and found, and another of being driven around – always the passenger, never the driver – and sitting so far back in the vehicle that she even falls out of the car.

Who or what is lost? Who or what is found? And how does the shocking picture help Gwynne – once I’ve interpreted her dream – to understand and transform the deep programming that has been limiting her waking life results?

Many will relate to Gwynne’s dream, and that shocking picture carries a dramatic quality that will assist anyone whose life experience is limited by the common programming it represents.

Listen as Gwynne and I discuss her dream, and hear her responses as she relates the dream to what is happening in her waking life.

Listen here or subscribe (free) to The Dream Show here on iTunes.

(Our next show, episode 121, will be released in four weeks, on 13 January 2012.)

Related articles you might enjoy

 

 

 

 

Lea, my guest having her dream interpreted in this episode, dreamed of a poet who had been murdered long ago in a small Chinese town. She found his body parts and laid some out so that they would be discovered.

Later in her dream she told of a man she once loved who caught a fantastical Chinese goldfish by dancing the hook along the water rather than by using bait.

What’s the connection between China, the poet, the dancing hook, a wise old man, and a bottle of wine that needed to be shared between fourteen people?

Lea is in the process of making a key decision, and today’s dream interpretation helps her to do this with confidence by making her aware of the perspective of her unconscious mind on the subject.

Listen in as we connect the dream-fantastical to Lea’s waking life. Hear Lea’s responses, her story, and the dream alchemy we create.

This is one of those episodes you will love to share. Listen here.

iTunes: You can also subscribe (free) to The Dream Show here on iTunes.

Related articles you might enjoy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Every night the same scene appears in her dreams: a bus, people getting on. She runs to catch it, with a heap of luggage. However, when she reaches the stop, the bus closes the door and leaves. Without her. Nearly every night, for several months, this dream repeats, turning into a nightmare.”

Dana-Sofie Šlancarová, a dream coach, dream interpreter, and dream interpretation lecturer from the Czech Republic, tells this story of a clients’ recurring dream and the dream alchemy practice she created that stopped the dream and brought rewarding changes into her waking life.

Dana-Sofie recently presented her work on dreams to the Inner Winner Festival in Prague, for which she also published a dialogue with me where we talk about dreaming and working with dreams. (You can read the dialogue in English or in Czech.)

Back to Dana-Sofie’s story about her client’s recurring bus dream:

“She realized that the cause of her missing the bus is the amount of luggage she constantly carries with her. As part of the dream alchemy practice she created a different version of the dream:

She walks – slowly and surely – with one stylish handbag to the bus stop. She reaches the stop before the bus comes. Then she gets in and departs. Changes in her waking life followed. She was able to put away her luggage of old thoughts and beliefs that prevented her from living in true freedom and following her inner truth. She lost twenty pounds, quit the job she did not like and started to make a living in a profession that gave her joy and fulfilment.”

Much of working with our dreams is about identifying the beliefs and thoughts that weigh us down and hold us back. Identifying them, understanding where they came from and why we accepted them, deciding which beliefs still serve us well and which we would do well to release, and then applying dream alchemy techniques that actually do that releasing for us, replacing the old luggage with uplifting wings.

Dana-Sofie and I discuss categories of dreams, Aboriginal Dreaming, how and why we each chose to work with dreams professionally, how working with dreams can be incorporated into life coaching and working with companies, and much more. Enjoy:

Interview in English
Interview in Czech
Dana-Sofie’s website in English
Dana-Sofie’s website in Czech

 

 

 

Related articles you might enjoy

Adelaide, my guest in this month’s episode, dreamed of falling from a window. She hit the ground and thought she had died, but a passing cat licked her face and revived her.

Later in her dream, she found the perfect home – old, falling apart, holes in the walls, a broken drinking glass in the kitchen. Yes, she thought it was wonderful! The real estate agent couldn’t believe she wanted to live there, but Adelaide felt it was just right, exactly as it was. No renovation or repair required.

It’s commonly said that if you fall in a dream and hit the ground, you’ll die in your sleep. Definitely not true! These dreams are exciting milestones.

Listen in to find out why, and to hear how my interpretation corresponds with what is happening in Adelaide’s life.

Dream interpretation, dream therapy, and dream alchemy combine to help Adelaide move forward in wonderful ways.

Listen here or subscribe (free) to The Dream Show here on iTunes.

Our next show, episode 119, will be released on November 18, 2011.

Related articles you might enjoy

Anna, my guest, had one of those once-in-a-lifetime dreams, the kind you never forget. She questioned – was it a dream or an experience?

She awoke with the physical sensation of a loving energy pulsing between her ovaries, and a sense that something extraordinary had taken place while she slept.

Her dream included an exciting powerful entity taking over someone’s body, the search for an item of interest in a cave, and a transporting experience involving chanting and yellow and orange lights.

Listen in as we relate Anna’s dream to her waking life and create dream alchemy to anchor her intention.

 

iTunes: You can also subscribe (free) to The Dream Show here on iTunes.

Our next show, episode 118, will be released in four weeks, on 21 October 2011.

PS. The pic at the top of today’s post is a new one, taken last week. I thought I’d share it!

Related articles you might enjoy

When you wake up crying real tears, or simply feeling profoundly sad for no apparent reason, it’s because you have finally touched upon some buried grief through a dream. You may have released it all, or there may be more to come. Either way, this is good and healing. (Don’t you always feel much better after a cry?) Even if you don’t remember the dream, rest assured that tears are better out than in, and although you may become more aware, in the next few days, of a past event that caused you grief, you are well on the way to finally letting it go and moving on.

There will be times, in your past, where you were unable to express your grief, or where you felt you should try to hide it. Perhaps ‘boys don’t cry’, or you were advised to ‘keep a stiff upper lip’, or you accepted a hurtful situation as normal or something to be endured, so you packed grief away, out of sight. Or perhaps the only way to get through a situation was to pretend to yourself that it wasn’t happening, or wasn’t important, or that you were coping wonderfully, or needed to smile for others, or that you had already healed.

These, and other forms of denial, are like bandaids. They work on the surface, but the deeper wound still hurts, affecting how you live your life.

One day the grief finally breaks through – perhaps accompanied by a dream of a dam bursting, or a tsunami breaking – and you wake up crying.

If you can remember your dream, look for clues about your grief, as understanding the past will help you to accelerate your healing.

Look for a young child or younger person who seems sad, or hurt, or trying to cover up his or her feelings.

What age is the child?

Ask what happened for you at that age, or that number of years ago. It doesn’t matter whether the child or person looks like you. He or she most likely symbolises the event or your hurt.

Also look for historical markers in your dream, perhaps cars, houses, clothes, or numbers that help to give you a time period to explore.

When you have found the source of your grief, do this dream alchemy practice:

Close your eyes, and visualise hugging and comforting yourself as you were back then, or hugging and comforting the child in the dream. Let her cry all her tears dry, then let her smile and laugh and grow strong and happy. Tell her how wonderful her life will be now that her tears have washed it all away, and see her growing, before your eyes, changing and becoming a strong, happy, powerful, and relieved new you. Merge with her in your mind’s eye, and take her, fully healed, into your heart.

[Extract from 101 Dream Interpretation Tips, Jane Teresa Anderson]

Related articles you might enjoy

 

Today’s new August podcast features Emily, from Northern California, with a dream about moving into a new but dusty house. While cleaning, she discovers a dark hallway with a poker table and some lumberjacks from the 1850s.

“How exciting, a haunted house!” she tells her husband, in the dream.

There’s an animal and some clue-bearing numbers too. And there’s more, but who am I to spoil a good dream story?

Listen in as we discover how Emily’s dream reflects what’s going on in her life. Join us as we identify conflicts and blocks from way back that have been unconsciously influencing her actions and decisions in life. We then create a dream alchemy visualization to transform those blocks and open Emily’s way. Listen, learn more about dream interpretation and dream alchemy, enjoy!

Listen here (Episode 116)

iTunes: You can also subscribe (free) to The Dream Show here on iTunes.

Our next show, episode 117, will be released in four weeks, on 23 September 2011.

Related articles you might enjoy

Had a tough day? Ready for a spot of light relief, a bit of fun, a dream interpretation game that’s easy to do yet powerfully insightful? You may never look at your dreams in the same way ever again. It’s called Spot the Belief. This is what to do:

For each of the following dreams, see if you can spot the belief affecting the outcome. Let’s start with a simple example.

Jim’s dream

“I was waiting in line to buy a theatre ticket, but people kept pushing in front of me. Finally I got to the front, but then the ticket office closed and I was directed to join a long queue at another counter.”

Can you spot Jim’s belief?

It’s probably ‘My needs are less important than other people’s’.

Did you guess differently?

You might have got ‘I always seem to be kept waiting,’ or ‘Just when I think I’ve made it, I’m right back to where I started, or worse’. Or you might have got, ‘Patience doesn’t pay,’ or ‘You’ve got to be pushy to get what you want in life’.

These are all good answers. They’re also very similar. We’ll come back to look at these similarities later, but, for now, you know how to play the game. Don’t worry about getting the right answer, as there may be several similar right answers. Just write down the belief that you see in each of the following dreams. So, are you ready? Go, spot the belief!

Greta’s dream

“I was climbing a hill and decided I wanted to go back down again, but there were too many rocks and precipices below where I was standing. I thought that if I walked along one of the precipices I would eventually find an easy way down. The trouble was, even the precipice path led upwards, so in my endeavour to find an easy way back down I just kept climbing higher and higher. I ended up feeling stranded with no way back down.”

Can you spot Greta’s belief? Write it down. (I’ll give you my answer later.)

Nelson’s dream

“I am standing waist deep in water when I notice a shark coming towards me. I am so terrified, I freeze. I close my eyes and hope it will go away. All is quiet for a while and I think the shark has gone, but when I open my eyes I see several more sharks lurking in the water.”

Can you spot Nelson’s belief? Write it down.

Bronwyn’s dream

“I am standing waist deep in water when I notice a shark coming towards me. I am terrified but I try to make friends with the shark to stop it from biting me. I look it in the eye and begin to talk and, amazingly, as I do this it changes from a shark into a huge playful fish. We end up playing swimming games. I am aware it is strong and powerful, but it doesn’t frighten me any more.”

Can you spot Bronwyn’s belief? Write it down.

Karen’s dream

“I keep having dreams involving babies aged about one year old. The dreams are different, but it always turns out that the babies fail to thrive after their first birthday. They become weak, or sick, or I lose sight of them.”

Can you spot Karen’s belief? Write it down.

Your dream

Yes, that’s you! Choose a recurring dream or a short one that’s easy to summarise. First write your dream out in a few sentences to match the length and style of the ones in this article. Then, to get some objective distance, pretend it’s not your dream.

Can you spot the belief? Write it down.

Now, keep an open mind, please, as you read on!

Dreams reveal your unconscious beliefs. They’re not so much about the beliefs you know about, they’re about the beliefs you have carried with you, deep in your unconscious mind, for a long time. How long? Usually from childhood or from traumatic events in your life. They’re the beliefs you take on because they seem to make sense at the time.

The trouble with beliefs is that you act on them. If you believe there’s a pile of gold buried under the tree, you’ll dig it up. If you believe you’re not worthy of being well paid for your skills, you will apply for lower paid jobs or set your fees low. This is as true for the beliefs you don’t know about as for those you do know about. In fact, it’s worse for those you don’t know about because your actions are automatic, with no chance of being vetoed by your wiser judgement.

Most dreams reveal your unconscious beliefs. You can identify them using this Spot the Belief method. At first you may reject them. ‘No, that’s not my belief! Quite the opposite!’ But stop and ask yourself, ‘What kind of actions would a person with this belief take?’ If the belief you’ve spotted is right, you’ll recognise those actions as ones you have taken. I promise you, when you strike gold in identifying that belief, your eyes will be opened and, once you’ve recovered from the shock, certain aspects of your life will suddenly make a lot more sense.

Let’s see how this works for Greta, Nelson and the other dreamers.

These are the beliefs I spotted for each dreamer:

Greta
‘Backing down is not an option.’

Nelson
‘Ignoring my fears and hoping for the best works for a while and then things go from bad to worse.’

Bronwyn
‘When I face my fears I overcome them.’

Karen
‘Things go well for about a year, and then they stop thriving.’

I bet your results were similar. For example, for Greta you might have had ‘The only way is up, no matter how this makes me feel’. Or ‘There’s no easy way out’.

Usually, when you look at the whole dream instead of just a summary of it, you will see plenty of clues to help zone in accurately on the dreamer’s deepest belief. However you really do need to start by working with a summary of the dream, as illustrated here, to get an idea of the belief, and then move on to examine the longer version of the dream to increase accuracy. The final step comes when the dreamer gets the big ‘aha’ and can see how the belief has been driving their decisions and actions, delivering the results they are experiencing in their life.

So there you have it. Beliefs lead to actions, and actions lead to outcomes. Unconscious beliefs lead to blindly driven actions, and blindly driven actions lead to outcomes that may not match the goals you consciously set yourself.

I can hear your question! ‘If an unconscious belief is not creating the results you want, how can you change it?’

That’s where dream alchemy and, in particular, the use of dream alchemy practices come in. You can read more about this, and how to create suitable dream alchemy practices to change unconscious beliefs on my website here: Dream alchemy practices.

Not all unconscious beliefs work against you. Bronwyn’s dream revealed a magical unconscious belief. Such a dream may come along as a prelude to a challenging time, a gentle reminder that all will be well. Remember, though, that night by night your dreaming mind updates its grasp on ‘what life is all about and how to survive it’. We all change, and, from time to time, a dream will reveal the death of an old belief or the birth of a new one. When Nelson applies a dream alchemy practice to change his beliefs about the best way to cope with fear he may dream a dream such as Bronwyn’s.

Now you know a little about the unconscious beliefs driving Jim, Greta, Nelson, Bronwyn and Karen, how do you imagine their lives to be? What kind of actions do you think they have been taking in their lives? What beliefs would better suit them?

Take Karen, for example. Karen had a dream job very early in her working life. Sadly it came to an abrupt end after a year when her employer absconded with the company funds. It was a traumatic time for Karen. She had put so much of her energy and hope into the job which she saw as a beginning to a perfect career. At that point, Karen took on the unconscious belief that ‘Things go well for about a year, and then they stop thriving’. In the years that followed, whenever a job, relationship or project that Karen was involved in neared the one year mark she began to make decisions and take actions based on the expectation that the job, relationship or project would fail. And so they did. And, until she understood her recurring dream, Karen was totally unaware of any of this.

How did you go with spotting the belief for your dream? Has this belief driven your decisions and actions? What kind of outcomes resulted in your life? Are you happy with these, or are you ready to apply some dream alchemy and start to see the kind of outcomes you would prefer? It’s your life!

[Copyright Jane Teresa Anderson, March 2007. First published as a Dream Sight article.]

Related articles you might enjoy