This is Mindfunda's presentation for the Dream Weekend organized by the Dutch society for dreamers: Vereninging voor de Studie van Dromen (VSD) . Unfortunately influenza payed me an uninvited visit. I was not able to attend the weekend. Aad van Ouwerkerk, author and dream worker read my presentation to the visitors. I thank him for doing that. This is a series of blogs about my proces of dreaming my way through the Red Book. I have divided it into five steps: Carl Jung Psychic Power and dreams Animus/anima dreams God the Self.
The Self in dreams, that is the subject of this blog. In Jungian Psychology Defining “The Self” is the Grail, the ultimate goal of the journey of life…
The Self in Dreams: an example
You kind of know who you are by now. But in ancient times Know Thyself was an ultimate wisdom. How can you use dreams to get to know yourself better?
As a Jungian you have to be aware that you are creating and co creating your Self. Your persona, your shadow it is all part of your authentic self. Everything I talked about in the other four steps leads to the acknowledgment of the Self. So I am going to end this blog by sharing a wonderful dream of Jodine. In my eyes it represents the Self. The dream theater of the soul, the loss of the familiar family and the acceptance of the relative unknown as aid to find your way back home. To her surprise she finds a baby in a red cradle. A child of joy The red book is like the passionate eros, baby and grown man. I hope you have fun reading it!
Dream location is a small theater space. There is a director working with actors who are practicing and producing a play. He is an older man and seems familiar to me, reminds me of ? Can’t quite place him though I see him with grayish short curly hair, intelligent, very perceptive and also aware of me as well as the actors and everything going on. The creative authority.
The scene develops into a very grand theater, like one in London where there are massive balconies all around as well as the main floor stage and seating. The play is now proceeding in full costume and action and the cast is enlarged.
I am with others, a group of us, on an upper level watching the performance. Our group is maybe a dozen people and Terry and David (my son) and other familiar people are with me. We are very excited that the “house” is full, every seat taken. A big success.
Before this scene or perhaps after, the time is Dream time, not chrono time, and so proceeds in a circular or all at once kind of time: there is this action-
I am with my gang though a smaller number than in the theater. We are in a large bookstore which is also a meeting place, like Shakespeare & Company( the real store in London & also the original one in Paris which appeared in the book I was just reading in waking reality).
I receive a message, a physical slip similar to a telegram on blue or purplish paper. It indicates the name of the theater director/playwright who I am to look up & make a connection with. The note was sent from Joy Fatooh. Even as I receive it I discover to my surprise and pleasure that Joy is right there in the store! We are thrilled to see each other. Her son is with her and he is a small boy or infant who has been placed in a red cradle, a very quaint old-fashioned one, by the cash register. There are many layers of cool little shirts for him in the cradle. Seems he or Joy can choose which ones to take and wear. Her son is both a baby and also grown- there is a timelessness about him. I am very happy to see Joy and also Joy’s son.
Final scene of dream which seems to come after the theater performance:
As the play ends and amid great celebration of the success & huge turnout for it, we rise and start to leave our seats. I want to talk to the director and commend him so I’m a little behind the others who are leaving.
My group is moving fast exiting the theater & I hurry to keep up but lose sight of them outside the hall. We are in a university like area, perhaps Cal Berkeley. I try to follow where I think they’ve gone but lose track of them. I see a formal sculptural medallion or shield made of porcelain which appears to be the insignia of the university or institution &’I see it as a potential landmark to find my way. I had noted a similar one inside the building as well as now seeing it on the outside.
There is a long ramped walkway and as I proceed on it remembering we’ve come this way I realize it has changed or isn’t the same ramp- walkway & so won’t help me get to where I need to go to reunite with my group.
I then decide I need to call someone to locate them. I call Dave Emerson who was with my friends/ family! (This is a surprise, it would have been more expected for me to call Terry or David.)
So I hope to have helped you soul searching. I certainly enjoyed dreaming my way through the Red Book. if you have any questions, be sure to post them. Just remember: It is all about love. Like “We fall in love not just with a person wholly external to us but with a fantasy of how that person can fill what is missing from our interior lives”.
< Jumped in from elsewhere? Start at part 1
Do you like this post? Feel free to share!
Please sign up for my YouTube channel to enjoy all the beautiful Mindfunda interviews with inspiring people. People like Jean Benedict Raffa, Anne Baring, Connie Kaplan, Ralph Metzner, Stanley Krippner and P.M.H. Atwater, Catherine Wikholm about her book the Buddha Pill and Justina Lasley about her book Wake Up to Your Dreams: Transform Your Relationships, Career, and Health While You Sleep! Evan Thompson about his book Waking Sleeping Being.
GRAB YOURSELF A FREE E-BOOK WITH 10 TIPS ABOUT DREAMS
Join me on Facebook
Twitter @susannevandoorn
