Dream Tending

“Dream figures are persons of the soul.”
James Hillman
Re-Visioning Psychology

 

Dreams speak in a language of metaphor and symbol. The most important questions in DreamTending are “Who is visiting?” and “What is happening here?” The question is not “What does this mean?”

To tend a dream is not just to analyze or interpret it. There is no instant formula of ‘this image means such and such’. Dreams are not linear; they have their own vocabulary. So, it is crucial to come to DreamTending with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and wonderment.

With this attitude of openness, you and I step across the threshold together into the world of the dream. As your guide, I encourage you to get curious about the landscape and visitors of the dream. I encourage you to dialog with them and to listen carefully to what they have come to communicate. In general, I encourage you to develop a relationship with these dream visitors.

Going ever deeper, you and I explore the archetypal meanings of the images and how they resonate in your own body and psyche. The message may be direct and unmistakable or it may be couched in metaphor and symbol, which we will investigate with an open mind. Above all we will listen for the intelligence of the dream.

How do these interactions in the dream affect you? How can you integrate the dream wisdom into your life? How can you grow from this relationship with the dream world? The dream always has insights that can be brought forward into your everyday life. This is the power of the dream.

Greek column

The Asclepian Temple for Dream Healing in Epidaurus, Greece

“Dreams are like myths. They express something meaningful about us and our world…DreamTending offers a life practice centered on active engagement with the living images of dreams. As we develop relationship to these embodied figures of psyche, we open ourselves to the beauty and wonders of the archetypal imagination.” Steven Aizenstat, DreamTending

“Steven Aizenstat (in DreamTending)is turning to the images in dreams for their own sake…to see what they want to say, why they came, and what they can do for reviving the imagination. Dream figures are mysteries to begin with. We do not know where they come from and why they call on us. Befriending the dream is like inviting something else into your life.” James Hillman

“In DreamTending, the world of dream is the world of soul. The more you work with the dream the more you are stunned by the memory, knowledge of the future, subtlety of emotion, and hidden knowledge that is in the image. The power of it is that it brings you together; it rings a bell right through your psyche and your body. You may have thought something was going on in conscious life but the dream will be telling you the unconscious response from the soul position and it may be quite different from what you anticipated.” Marion Woodman

“Indeed, there is much evidence to suggest that dreams are manifestations of the guiding and ordering center of the personality, the Self, in Jungian terms. Both dreams and outer events can be fruitfully related to as symbolic messages coming from a source that sustains and directs the individuation process throughout the dreamer’s life. The process of dream work over time can convey an extraordinary sense of containment within a constant, supportive, guiding matrix, which supplies the dreamer from an unceasing source.” Whitmont & Perera, Dreams, A Portal To The Source

 

 

 

For more information on DreamTending click here.