Group Dream Work

Working with our Dreams as Window to the Soul.  The understanding of dreams is that in the dreamtime, we have greater access to the subconscious material, our own as well as the collective. Dreams are the subconscious mind’s way of trying to bring something to consciousness, it is our subconscious knocking on the door. And the conscious mind is resisting this material, thus our quickly forgetting or dismissing of our dreams. Sometimes the knocking becomes quite loud however, in the form of a nightmare, an urgent call from the subconscious, literally wake up and pay attention!

“Projective group dream work” developed and espoused by Jeremy Taylor, helps the dreamer explore the symbolism in thedream with the support of other dreamers, but only the dreamer can say for certain what the dream holds for him/her. http://www.jeremytaylor.com/dream_work/

Projection: the process of deflecting our own positive or negative qualities that we have difficulty owning as our own onto someone else, and thereby disowning them for ourselves. It is the daily process of viewing the world from our highly personalized lens and placing our interpretation on the world from that limited perspective and calling it truth. To be able to recognize our projections can be tremendously helpful insight into the truth about our selves that we may not want to see or acknowledge. Dream work helps us to become aware of our projections, and that much of what we perceive is in fact projection.

The basic idea is that at one level, dreams are messages from our unconscious mind trying to break through to consciousness for the purpose of our health and wholeness.  But our conscious mind resists and we can draw on support of the group to help us see the messages in the dream images to which the dreamer is often “uniquely blind” as Jeremy Taylor warns.

As each member of the group takes on the dream and projects their own experience and perspective onto the dream, the images come to life in a plurality of possible meanings.  The dream is for each of us who are gathered, each receiving some piece of wisdom from the gift of the dream.  But we come back to the dreamer to close the circle of what resonates for them and where they may want to take the dream.

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.  W.B. Yeats.