Dream Visions

Flow-Dreaming with Friends | BYBS

Recently I reviewed a book and CD set on Flow-Dreaming. I had read the book but had not yet listened to the CD. 

Last night I got to share Flow-Dreaming with a group. We played the first four tracks of the CD and journeyed into the flow. It was a wonderful experience.

Some were old friends; some were new. All of them seemed to really like flow-dreaming. I will let you know if I get any reports of especially good results. I’m hoping at least some of the people will buy the Flow-Dreaming set and keep on using it.

The author of Flow-Dreaming, Summer McStravick, has a very good voice and professional manner. She does an excellent job of leading the guided meditations on the CD.

There is beautiful background music, too, that enhances the experience without calling attention to itself. 

Flow-dreaming with friends. What a blessing!

Dreaming Beyond Death | BYBS

Dreaming Beyond Death: A Guide to Pre-Death Dreams and Visions is a book about the dreams that some patients have spontaneously that comfort them throughout the process of dying, and how to counsel them. It was written by the Rev. Patricia Bulkley and Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D.

Patricia Bulkley is a counsellor who works with people who are dying. Kelly Bulkeley is a dream researcher. They came together to write a down-to-earth, matter-of-fact book to help patients like Patricia’s and those who care for them.

Recently I reviewed another book on essentially the same topic, The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead, by Robert Moss, whose books I talk about a lot here. If you have read some of those reviews, you know that I love Moss’s books and his ideas.

You may also have decided that his books are probably a bit out there for materialists who have no particular belief or interest in dreams. Moss’s books are extremely readable, but they also tend to be long. While they are easy and fun to read, they are also somewhat mystical. 

Dreaming Beyond Death is a short, simple book, written for those who do not believe in dreams but do want to help others make a peaceful transition. This is a book you can give to a healthcare professional or a person with a conservative, orthodox belief system. The book does not assume that the reader believes in dreams or anything mystical. And for those who are not dream believers that is a very good thing.

This book also tells vivid stories of dreams that have brought peace and reassurance to dying people. It provides guidance for helping people understand and accept their dreams. And it does all that in a simple, readable way.

Dreaming Beyond Death is a great book to give as a gift, knowing that almost anyone can benefit from it. They do not have to believe in anything metaphysical at all. I wish I had had it to use in comforting a friend who was dying of cancer a few years ago. 

So keep it in mind. You might like to read it yourself.

And it could be a wonderful caring gift for someone who needs it. In fact, it would be a great blessing.

Dream Books and Synchronicity | BYBS

Lately I keep finding so many great books on dreams that I cannot keep up. I read part of one and then part of another. Then yet another great dream book turns up…

After reading several of Robert Moss’s books on dreamwork, I seem to understand much more of what the various dream experts are saying. And I understand more of other books, such as those of R.J. Stewart. While not about dreams, they do relate closely to Robert Moss’s active dreaming practices. Somehow it all seems to be coming together. 

Today in a site on Mandalas I found a page of great quotes from Carl Jung on dreams. Dream information keeps turning up all over the place. Carl Jung would call that synchronicity.

The wealth of knowledge and of well-written books on dreamwork available today is a real blessing. Watch for more dream book reviews soon on this blog. 

And in closing, here is a wonderful quote from Carl Jung on dreams:

The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends. For all ego-consciousness is isolated; because it separates and discriminates, it knows only particulars, and it sees only those that can be related to the ego. Its essence is limitation, even though it reach to the farthest nebulae among the stars. All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man dwelling in the darkness of primordial night. There he is still the whole, and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from nature and bare of all egohood. It is from these all-uniting depths that the dream arises, be it never so childish, grotesque, and immoral.

“The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man” (1933). In CW 10: Civilization in Transition. pg. 304

Robert Moss’s On-Line Radio Show on Dreams | BYBS

Robert Moss, the dream researcher, teacher and author that I keep talking about, has a radio show on dreams! You can listen over the Internet on the second Tuesday of each month, from 11 am to noon Central Time.

Here is the link: http://www.healthylife.net/RadioShow/archiveWD.htm

There is even an 800 number so that you can call in with questions during the show as he interviews other dreamworkers and dream researchers. 

What a blessing for all of us!

Dreaming on the Edge of Sleep | BYBS

Awhile back I wrote about dreams and problem-solving. I don’t think I was very clear, judging by one of the comments. I think I gave the wrong impression by talking about sometimes feeling that you have worked all night instead of really sleeping.

I know that worrying can interfere with sleep. And I agree that a task or problem that seems impossible at the end of a long, hard day can seem like a piece of cake after a good night’s sleep. But that’s not what I meant.

Since then I have been reading a book, Dreamgates, by Robert Moss. In it, I ran across a passage that clarified my thoughts. As always Robert Moss says it better than I can.

Talking about dreams and “half-dream states,” Moss writes, “Active dreamers tend to spend a lot of time in the twilight zone, even whole nights….As you spend more time in the twilight zone, you will discover a notable increase in both your creativity and your psychic awareness. Going with the flow of spontaneous imagery in the twilight zone puts you into the stream of the creative process. It puts you in league with your creative source,…coming through cool and clear as a mountain stream.”

Later he writes, “You may enter the twilight zone before or after sleep, but you may also enter it wide awake, with no intention of sleeping. It is not the relationship to sleep that defines the twilight zone; it is its character as border country.”

Needless to say, Dreamgates is another great Robert Moss dream book. This one focuses more on dream journeys to imaginal worlds, but it has already covered a lot of other valuable ideas, and I’ve only read the first 50 pages. The part I just quoted was on page 10!

Since I have just started reading Dreamgates, I can’t tell you much more about it. So far, it is a fascinating book with lots of wonderful new dream lore and inspiration. I’ll write more about it later. Finding this book has been a blessing to me. 

If you have read Dreamgates, what do you think of it? Have you put any of the concepts into action? Do you have a story to share? Please leave a comment and let us all know your thoughts—and dreams.

The Dream Book You Write Yourself | BYBS

The best book on interpreting dreams is the one you write yourself. Oh yeah, I’m talking about recording your dreams again. When you read back over dreams from past months and years, you can start to see patterns, and your dreams start to make more sense to you. The meanings start to be more clear.

One of the blessings of having a weekly metaphysical discussion group is that people remind you of things you once knew but have forgotten. And they give you brand new ideas from their own experience, too.

This week the topic was magical journals, which are simply records of everything magical or metaphysical that you do, what the conditions were at the time, and any results that you know of.

Some people are intimidated by the idea of journaling. They think of it as having to write every single day, and having to write formally and well. So I brought a couple of books on art journaling to show that journals can be anything you want them to be.

I recommended getting a sketchbook or notebook to carry everywhere and write down whatever you want to remember, including dreams. I brought a few of my own messy sketchbooks as examples. 

I also repeated what dream expert and author Robert Moss says, that if you take time to jot down whatever dream memories you have during the day, you can remember whole dreams bit by bit. And I stressed that the book you take everywhere is the book you have with you when you have a few moments and something to write.

Dave, who is a computer guy as well as a metaphysician, does his journaling on line. That’s a great idea if you are at the computer all the time.

We all talked about recording dreams and other events in magical journals, and we had a great time. People seemed to like the idea of combining dream journaling with other kinds of journaling, lecture notes, or whatever, and always being prepared to capture ideas and memories.

Becky had some great ideas keeping dream records and other topics separated in the same book.

Karen decided that all journals are magical journals because they are filled with thought-forms of ours that can become real. Like dreams that come true. Dreams as magical thought-forms. As though writing them down makes dreams more real.

What Karen said reminds me of a saying that was handed down in my family: “Tell a dream before breakfast, and it will come true.” We were always careful not to tell bad dreams till after we had eaten.

It is not the same as writing dreams down, I know. But telling about dreams does make them seem more real. Eating first allowed time for scary dreams to fade a little—to seem less real (and less scary) to us. Having friends or family to share your ideas and dreams with? What a blessing!

But remember, the very best dream book is still the one you write yourself.