Dream Journaling
Interpretation Of Dreams & Using A Dream Journal
There is a guiding principle to dream interpretation & Edgar Cayce had it right when he taught us to interpret the dreamer as well as the dream.
Dreams are just a tool, like the proverbial finger pointing at the moon. Don't focus on the finger or you will miss out on all the celestial magiks. Dreams are the finger & they are pointing to the celestial magiks of the dreamer. Interpreting our dreams is an exercise in self-discovery & self-growth. They are almost always reflecting ourselves back at us & every character, image & emotion is usually referring to various parts of our psyche.
The primary purpose of dreams is the Hooman brains attempt to balance the psyche, giving the conscious brain a rest & sorting the mess of the subconscious. Keeping this in mind can help you understand the meaning of your own dreams & prevent you from getting way off track in your interpretations.
Trying to understand one dream in isolation is like trying to understand a Hooman by spending one day with them. By recording all of your dreams in a dream journal you can, over time, find it easier to understand & unravel the individual dreams you have in the future.
Dreams are like plays or movies that our brains create every night & they have a similar structure! It can be helpful to look for this structure when trying to understand our dreams:
Location: Where does the dream take place? How do you feel about that place? What emotions arise within you as you think about that place? Does it have any connection to a real world place you know?
Characters: Who are the characters? How are you represented? How do you feel about each of those people (including the representation of yourself), & how do they relate to parts of your own personality or do they relate to people you know? Is there an antagonist?
Plot: How does the plot unfold? There is usually a beginning (where the story is established & begins to build), a middle (where a crisis peaks), & an end (where the crisis gets resolved though sometimes dreams don't provide the solution & end in the middle of the story because it is up to the dreamer to provide the resolution).
Sometimes (rarely) dreams can be very literal & they are easy to understand. There is nothing wrong with asking whether the face value of the dream may have meaning for you. Most often, however, dreams are shrouded in symbolism that points beyond the literal image. They can be trying to communicate a very specific message that applies to your waking life, they may be merely trying to balance your emotional life or they may just be hinting at some thoughts or emotions in progress without any final resolution yet in mind.
Dreams are often messages from our subconscious mind that are resisted by our conscious mind. For this reason, the subconscious often cloaks the message in symbols so the dream isn't immediately rejected or simply avoided by the conscious mind.
Unraveling these symbols can be very difficult, but also a lot of fun. It's the ultimate mystery & the most elaborate puzzle, the answer is always within you!
Sometimes the answers are as simple as consulting a dream dictionary for the meaning of common symbols & archetypes. However, each person is different & has their individual dream ‘dictionary’. To make things even more interesting, your personal dream ‘dictionary’ can GROW over time, just like YOU!
Interpreting your dreams can provide you with a life-long quest that goes way beyond the puzzle solving of the Da Vinci Code, & can potentially be oh so much more rewarding!
