I have broken down the process of interpreting dreams into 4 steps: making associations from the dream images; amplifying the image; connecting these images to our life and inner dynamics; and finally, making the interpretation.
This is the second of six exercises that pertains specifically to Psyche’s four tasks as published in Love and Soul-Making: Searching the Depths of Romantic Love (Shelby, 2022, Chiron Publications).
As a reminder, we can read myth as symbolic and dream-like, which informs us more of what the individual’s psyche (from the word psychology, meaning soul) is communicating to us and through us.
If you’re like me, you’ll go see a movie simply because Brat Pitt is in it. It doesn’t matter what role or how big a role, I’ll be there or be square.
It’s been a while since a movie has intrigued me on a depth level, and I have to say it took me until the end of Bullet Train (Leitch & Fuqua, 2022) to appreciate the secret message that was being delivered via the collective unconscious, but I got it eventually.
This is the first of six exercises that pertains specifically to Psyche’s four tasks as published in Love and Soul-Making: Searching the Depths of Romantic Love (Shelby, 2022, Chiron Publications).
Let’s recap the first task demanded of Psyche by Aphrodite in order for her to win back Eros after she shone the lamplight of consciousness on him and he fled, abandoning her.
There are reasons why it may be hard for you to recall your dreams. Perhaps your parents hushed away your nightmares by telling you they were “only dreams.” Or maybe you had a series of scary or uncomfortable dreams and now you blocked dream-recall. Most commonly, you may jump out of bed in the morning and straight into the tasks and routines of your conscious world. Finally, you may not remember your dreams because, deep down, could it be that you don’t really want to look at, let alone change, anything about your life?
We have all likely heard that “The body never lies.” What does this actually mean? How do we listen to the body? How can we find meaning in listening to the body and work towards healing?
One thing that sets depth-psychotherapists apart from other therapists is that they work with dreams. In fact, they take dreams very seriously. But why do we work with our dreams? Why should anyone take their dreams seriously?
In this post, I write about the experience of midlife through the lens of individuation, a term coined by C.G. Jung, one of the founders of depth psychology – the study of the unconscious.