Jungian Dream Interpretation STEP by STEP GUIDE to INTERPRETING YOUR OWN DREAMS

Jungian Dream Interpretation STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO INTERPRETING YOUR OWN DREAMS

Christina Becker MBA RP - Jungian Analyst | November 2016 www.cjbecker.com email: [email protected] telephone 416-483-4317 1 Jungian Dream Interpretation Guide

What is a dream? A dream is a message from the deepest part of yourself – WHAT CARL your soul. Your soul has the big picture of your life and the JUNG WROTE truth of where you have been and where you are going. ABOUT DREAMS Your dreams tell you something that you don’t know “The dream shows the about yourself – your blind spots. They offer your waking inner truth and reality ego an alternative perspective on a situation or of the patient as it relationship. This can be very helpful especially if you are really is: not as I stuck with something. conjecture it to be, and General, it is difficult to interpret your own dreams. not as he would like it However, there are some tricks and tools you can use to to be, but as it is. "The get closer to the meaning of a dream. Practical Use of Dream Analysis" (1934). In CW Dreams can reveal to you: 16: pg. 304

• the state of your inner psyche or soul life “Dreams are impartial, • what you really think of yourself spontaneous products • the true nature of your relationship with others of the unconscious • what inner obstacles or limiting beliefs holding you psyche, outside the back control of the will. They • the nature and source of your psychological are pure nature; they problems. show us the unvarnished, natural Dreams are such a wealth of information. I have prepared truth, and are therefore this guide to give you a way of working with your dreams. fitted, as nothing else is, to give us back an attitude that accords with our basic human nature when our consciousness has strayed too far from its foundations and run into an impasse

"The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man" (1933). In CW 10: pg. 317

Interpretation Guidelines Dreams have their own language. They speak to us in symbols, allegories and metaphors. To understand how to work with our dream, we need to cultivate a symbolic way of thinking. Be careful not to take dream images and actions literally or concretely.

For example, let say you dream that your friend is angry at you for some reason. Interpreting the dream literally, you might think that your friends is really angry and that you have done something to offend your friend. This is a literal interpretation of the dream situation.

However, if you interpret the image symbolically, the friend could be an unknown part of yourself that is angry with you, or you could be the one who is angry at your friend. All aspects of a dream are reflections of an aspect or inner dynamics of ourselves.

To successfully interpret a dream, here are some guidelines:

• Dreams actions and figures are symbols of a psychological truth within you. • Every element of a dream is an aspect of you the dreamer including people and places in the dream; • A door is open to the unconscious when there is an "Ah ha" moment; that is, when you have an emotional connection to the material, • Dreams tend to have a dramatic structure - a beginning, middle and an end / lysis.

Now it is time to write down your dream Create three sections in your dream journal.

1) dream text 2) context or background of what is going in your life, 3) associations.

You could create a fourth section. This could be a place where to capture any thoughts or reflections about interpretations of the dream.

DREAM TEXT If you find it difficult to remember your dreams, try lying in for a few minutes upon waking and allow the details of the dream to emerge. It can also be helpful to have a piece of paper right beside your bed.

When you write down the dream, try including the following things:

• the date • the time if know it • and as much detail as you can remember.

Questions you can ask yourself:

• Where am I? an unknown place or a familiar place? • What am I wearing? • What are the other characters wearing? • What is the weather like? • Is there anything unusual about the dream? • What kind of emotion is in the dream and who is feeling it?

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND Soul/psyche responds to the events of the previous day(s). Dreams often making a comment on what is happening in our daily life. Writing down the living context can go a long way to understanding the dream.

Questions you can ask yourself:

• What was on my mind in the days leading up to the dream? • Was I feeling any intense emotion about something? • Did someone say something to me that upset me and I didn’t understand why it affected me so?

ASSOCIATIONS Symbols are the language of dreams and are awakened through our associations. Symbols through their associative power connects us to the deepest levels of ourselves. Psyche is very specific and deliberate about the choice of imagery/symbol that it chooses. Associations can be a feeling, a memory, a mental image or, in fact, anything that comes to mind when you reflect about the image. Remember that a dream has everything within itself to interpret it.

Here are some examples:

Setting of the dream - where are you? Is this a familiar place? If it is a familiar place then what memories stick out for you about this place. The place that the dream is set alludes the backdrop or context of the dream. Are you in your childhood home? Are you at work?

People in the dream - who are they? What are they? Are they people from your past or friends from the present? In exploring the associations to people, explore your feelings about them. Do you like them? If so why? What are they like? How do you know them?

Nouns – look at the dream and write down your associations to each of the nouns in the dream e.g. situations, colours, sounds, and phrase.

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE Dreams are stories. As stories, they have a dramatic structure - a beginning, middle and a conclusion or resolution. Listen for propositions such as then or suddenly. The propositions signal development or movement in the psyche.

The exposition or setting of the dream: this describes the problem, the theme of the action that is about to unfold and the dreamer's orientation and attitude towards the situation. The Exposition states the theme or the psychological problem that is being presented for discussion. It usually reflects place that is stuck or fixated. It is important to understand the psychological meaning of the setting of the dream and the dreamer relationship to the setting. This can say alot about what the dream is about and the dreamers approach.

The development of the dream: This part reveals the beginnings of movement out of the original situation: trends, dynamics, and possibilities.

Crisis or Impasse: this is usually the high point of the drama where the tension of the opposing dynamics reach a point of culmination. It is the point of greatest possibilities -

positive or negative. It will also likely reveal the energetic opposites within the dreamer's psychology.

Resolution/Lysis or Catastrophe: this shows the ways in which the crisis can be resolved. The Lysis shows a favourable resolution and a way out. This shows the direction or goal of the new possibilities to be created or discovered. It always points to the future to what while is not in actual existence, is in the making. The crisis and/or catastrophe may also be prophetic both on a subjective and objective level. However, the absence of the lysis might suggest an unfortunate prognosis. The dramatic outcome is although conditional: given the situation as it is now, this is likely to develop or happen.

Let’s see how we might put these principles in practice using a dream

DREAM TEXT Veronicai and I go to a place where I have never been before. It is a riding arena. I saddle up and get on a young black horse. I go around the ring several times as a warm up while Veronica stays on the ground and watches.

Then I hear someone say that I should jump even though I think that it is not a good idea. I try to jump but the horse refuses to jump. It is because the approach toward the jump is on a diagonal. I try it again but with the same results.

Then we have to leave urgency because of news that her husband has died. This is upsetting because the horse hasn’t jumped yet and hasn't learnt how to do this yet.

We have to take the body of her husband to a room where it is going to be laid out. This place is like in an old Victorian house in a city where I used to live with high ceilings, wooden floors and molding around the windows. There is lots of discussion about how to set this body out including the formality about such a thing. There is no coffin and the table in the room where the body is supposed to be put seems to be too narrow for the body.( Father or Husband) This table is highly polished good probably walnut and there are chairs around it as if people would sit around the table while the body is on it. The limbs of the body are limp and it is very light. (boneless) We first set it up in the corner - on a chair with a tall back that looks like a throne.

People start to come in and they start to question about the body is sitting. So then we decide to lay the body on the table. And the we sit down around the table looking at this body.

Background/Context The dreamer is in her early 40s and has just started analysis. This is the first dream that she brings. She started therapy because her husband just told her that he had an affair and this was shocking for her. They are working on their marriage however the dreamer realized that there are things that she needs to deal with.

Dreamer's Associations The words highlighted in yellow are the symbols to explore in the associations.

Veronica and I go to a place where I have never been before. It is a riding arena. I saddle up and get on a young black horse. I go around the ring several times as a warm up while Veronica stays on the ground and watches.

Then we have to leave urgency because of news that her husband has died. This is upsetting because the horse hasn’t jumped yet and hasn't learnt how to do this yet.

People start to come in and they start to question about the body is sitting.

So then we decide to lay the body on the table. And the we sit down around the table looking at this body.

Table: it is like a refectory table that they have in English University dining halls. Highly polished walnut top

Body: the make-up is kind of grotesque like actor's make-up and the face looks kind of like a clown. The body feels light like a straw dummy and the limbs are limp - boneless.

Sitting with a body: there is a custom in England or old Celtic tradition of sitting with the body. It is called shemira. From the moment of death until burial the body is constantly attended. Tradition holds that now the soul of the deceased is in a painfully confused

state, hovering over the body it recently inhabited. It has neither left this world, nor has it yet entered the world to come. Members of the community take turns sitting with the body, reciting psalms and other prayers to comfort the soul of the deceased.:

Veronica: about the dreamer’s age maybe a little younger. It is not clear whether the dream said that the person who died is either her husband or her father. There seems to be some confusion in the dream whether the Veronica is her daughter's age ie 16 and the person who died was her father. The dreamer describes her friend as a typical rider person, sweet talkative, set in her ways, loves routine and likes to settled in the dream. She is a 7-day a week rider. In reality, Veronica doesn’t own horses but rides her neighbour's. She is also a very particular kind of person. In the dream, Veronica role is as the trainer and so in standing on the ground telling the dreamer what to do.

Horse: young, broken and trained, frisky maybe 5 or 6 years old. The horse is not experienced to jump and it is probably asking a lot of it to do what is being asked in the dream. Dreamer described the situation as knowing that it is not a good thing for the horse to jump but does it anyway. She must jump the second jump and the approach is only on the diagonal but she says that it was the only approach and the only alternative.

City: dreamer lived there for about 6 months when she was 24); she was living with a boyfriend at the time; he was a lawyer. trying to decide whether she would go to medical school and so was added some courses including anatomy and physiology. She had to dissect a body during these courses. She was also working in a food cooperative. It was a time when she was trying to make a choice about whether to continue in environmental studies and to go medical school.

Setting The setting of the dream is in a horse’s arena. It is a place where the dreamer has never been before. An “arena” is a setting where an activity, debate, or conflict will occur that could have spectators. It speaks to performance of some kind. This theme is echo later in the dream where the young horse needs to learn how to jump. Therefore, psyche is saying that psychologically, the dreamer is in a new place. There is a beginning of something that is unfamiliar.

Dramatic Structure Each new development in the dream is marked by a “then” which serves to introduce a new element in the dream. The text in red suggest that turning point in the dream action.

Reflections/Questions Something has died for the dreamer and it is time to sit with the body for a period. Body has a very interesting character. It is boneless. The idioms that come up: spineless,

without a backbone. Bones provide the structure for the body. However, this body doesn’t seem to have any bones. Questions that I might ask of the dreamer:

• What were the expectations and hopes that you had at that time of your life that have now gone? • How are you unable to stand up for yourself?

Her friend in the dreamer reflects some shadow energy in her psyche. The role that she places is that of the trainer. In the dream, she tells the dreamer what to do. That needs to be explored. How does that feel to be on the receiving end of being told what to do? What aspect of the dreamer tells people what to do?

Given that it is possible that it is the Father of the friend who has died. Some aspect of the father complex for the dreamer needs to be explored and maybe that it no longer helpful for the dreamer in terms of her place in the world.

ABOUT CHRISTINA BECKER, MBA, RP JUNGIAN ANALYST Christina Becker received her Diploma in Analytical Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich Switzerland. The Diploma is a PhD equivalent in psychology. She is the author of The Heart of the Matter: Individuation as an Ethical Process, and is working on her second book Soul-Making and the Return the Heart: Psycho- Spiritual Perspectives. She has a private practice in Jungian Analysis and Psychotherapy in Toronto, Ontario Canada. Christina lectures widely and leads spiritual retreats.

i Names and other details of the dream have been changed to protect the identity of the dreamer.