Midsummer Night Dreaming

The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet Are of Imagination all compact... 
Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream” 

Midsummer Night is around the corner. The shortest night of the year could be the most important one for dreaming.  Since day and Age, the Summer Solstice has been a Magical time for Dreamers.

Midsummer: the sun gains power in the Northern Hemisphere. Days get longer, nights get shorter.

Butterflies seem to be kissing the multitude of flowers in an almost endless array of colours…

And even though the nights are getting shorter, dreams seem to be packed with meaning. A special time to tune into your dreams…

 

 

To honour this special time I have created a Midsummer Night’s Week of dreaming, incubation and dream sharing on Mindfunda.  Celebrate this special week with me. You will get 7 incubations to induce dreams loosely based on the tale of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A story in which dreams are magical and nothing is what it seems to be…

Midsummer Night Synopsis

I know that not everyone is familiar with the story of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. He wrote it at approximately the same time as when he wrote Romeo and Juliet.

Here is a synopsis of the story, copied from the site midsummernightfilm.com:

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” deals with the universal theme of love and its complications: lust, disappointment, confusion, marriage. 

The plot focuses on three parallel stories: the trials and experiences of two sets of lovers camping in a magical forest, the world of the Fairy King and Queen and their elves, and a group of rough craftsmen attempting to stage a production of “Pyramus and Thisby” for the wedding of the Duke of Athens.

Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. To escape the arranged marriage, she and Lysander elope into the woods. 

 

 

Demetrius follows them, and he is pursued by Helena, who nurses an unrequited passion for him. A love quadrangle develops among the young lovers when mischievous Puck plays Cupid. “The course of true love never did run smooth” says Lysander. 

Meanwhile, a group of amateur actors rehearses a badly written play in the woods, and soon all find their lives changed by the doings of Oberon and Titania, the warring king and queen of the fairies. 

Magic, action, love and humour are the ingredients for this unforgettable spell.

This work is widely performed around the world, and no wonder – it’s about the world’s most popular pastime, falling in love. But as Puck knows, falling in love can make fools of us all. Love is crazy, love is mad. Will love win out in the end?”

Midsummer Night Online Event

The main theme of a Midsummer Night’s Dream is Love.

1. Love for your soul;
2. Love for your imagination;
3. Love for your archetypical animus energy;
4. Love for your connection with your female side as it is reflected by the radiance of the moon;
5. Love for your inner wickedness;
6. Love for the energies in your psyche;
7. and most of all love for Dreams as you are ready to receive a gift from the realm of fairies.

 

 

Each day you will get a new incubation to help you concentrate on that theme. But it is not only passively consuming information…

You will have to use the information gathered through dreaming in composing your own incubation, using questions I’ll provide. And be ready to receive a dream gift (Receiving gifts is hard for most people).

You are able to share your dreams in an online forum and I will give you my perspective on them using the “If it was my dream” method”.

The dream belongs to you, I can only give my vision on it. And I will do so with the greatest respect.

This event is for you to help you find out more about your inner reality. About your perception. The fools in Shakespeare’s play are easily tricked. What do your perceive as real?

Midsummer Night by Night, the Program

In the first night we will concentrate on the love in our life. The love for our being, the love for our soul, the love that we share with our significant other. If you look back on your life, does your love-balance check out? How can you honour your soul in such a way that it will increase your love balance?

In a Midsummer Night’s Dream the love madness is symbolised by three couples. Two human couples: Lysander & Hermia and Demetrius and Helena. And a magic couple: Oberon and Titania.

The magic that stirs the alchemic transition between these 6 archetypes comes from he Love-in idleness flower. And it happens while you sleep…

So this first night, you will contemplate on the love in the story of your life, and ask yourself what you want to harvest to feed your soul during the winter.

In the second night you will focus on the fairy world. When you fall asleep, you will imagine that you enter a magic forest. Puck, who is very fast will take you on a journey. He will show you mountains in his country (or are they clouds?).

 

 

He will show you his Queen Titania. Is she a Queen or just a whirl of energy? You will witness the energy between her and her husband Oberon. And when they both acknowledge you, they will give you a present. A gift of magic for you to take home.

In the third night, we will concentrate on the animus or male energy in our psyche. The animus has represented by the “sun” god Oberon is a symbol of the ego. Oberon just wants to get his way. He wants Titania to obey him. Just like your own ego can act like a spoiled little child. But it is also Oberon who resolves the confusion between the lovers and make sure that everyone ends up with a suitable partner.

 

How has your animus helped your soul? Tonight you will meet him and ask him a question.

The fourth night we will concentrate on the anima energy in our psyche. Tonight you will concentrate on your relationship with the moon. The moon is important in Midsummer Night’s Dream. Three of planet Uranus’s moons are used as names for characters in the play: Titania, Oberon and Puck.

 

The moon makes lovers go crazy. This night you will concentrate on how the moon affects your dreams.

On the fifth night, we will concentrate on our Puck energy. How, when and where have we been antagonists? Has it served our soul?

 

 

What in our lives need transformation right now? Are we willing to transform? This night you will open up to the trickster inside yourself and hear his or her message.

On the sixth night you need to draw a sketch of the energies you have encountered in the dreams you have experienced this far. You are able to scan and sent the drawing to get feedback on it if you would like so. Most of all, this sketch will make your inner energies more sustainable to you.

Play around with the energies for a day. Add energy where your intuition would like so. Do you need more animus power in your life? How is your connection with the moon as energiser for your dreams? How do you relate to the fairy world? These and more questions will help you to rewrite/adjust the incubation of this night to your specific needs.

On the last night, you will compose a specific question. If you have posted your dreams into the forum that this online workshop provides you with, you can ask me for help to formulate a question about every dream you posted on the forum.

This night you will visit the magic kingdom again and ask what we can harvest right now to nourish our souls. What is it that our should long for right now?

I hope you will join me on this adventure. Click here to register.

This blog is written by Dutch psychologist and dream expert Susanne van Doorn.
I write on Mindfunda every other day. If you like this post, feel free to share or comment.