This method has been created for people who want to work with dreams.

It can be used by practitioners who would like to develop their dreamworking skills, in order to better facilitate clients finding insight into their dreams.

It can also be used by non-practitioners; by anyone who would like to get more from his or her own dreams and work with them in a dedicated way.

The system is based on recognition of certain motifs which occur frequently in dreams. Once a practitioner recognizes a motif they immediately gain a sense of orientation as to what the psyche is trying to accomplish or communicate, and also why it may be having trouble doing so.

In the Dreamreading Manual there is a particular emphasis on dream motifs which have relevance for health care and healing. The potential of dreams to be used in the service of health care is enormous, and still largely untapped.

But all that could change….

Which dreams are suitable for doing dreamwork?

Any dream which has stayed in the dreamer’s mind for some reason, even from long ago, is probably a good one to work with. Any dream which contains a striking image or pattern, any dream which has strong feeling tones in it, any dream which has a repeating quality-- all these are good candidates for dreamwork. All of these cases indicate that the dream’s subject matter is of significant concern in the dreamer’s psyche.

How do we know that we have correctly interpreted a dream?

In the Dreamreading method it is not the practitioner’s responsibility to interpret the dream. The practitioner’s job is to enter the dreamscape together with the dreamer and help them find points of connection to their life. See the Dream Transcript page for an example of how this can work.

Often practitioners are hesitant to begin dreamwork because the are not confident that they will be able to reach the desired outcome of successfully interpreting the dream; they fear that they may get lost or bogged down, or worse still, misinterpret the dream.

It may help to avoid the notion of a “correct” or “accurate” interpretation, and imagine instead an ongoing work-in-progress, happening within a landscape where certain features can be recognized and pointed out, and where some of the insights which happen resonate as being true or helpful.

What distinguishes this method from other schools and styles of dream interpretation?

The key to the Dreamreading method is developing the skill of recognizing familiar motifs in dreams. When we find ourselves in an unfamiliar landscape, we tend to look for orienting landmarks. In dreamwork the landmarks we need to locate are the common motifs.

Once you have trained yourself to recognize these motifs, you will find that you have a sense of orientation, from which you can start to amplify the dream contents, and help the dreamer connect the dream to his or her life.

The method is designed to be used together with the client, it is based on facilitation rather than interpretation. The best outcome is a shared and resonant insight into the meaning and importance of a dream.

Why are dreams generally not used in health care and medicine?

Probably because most practitioners find that they are lacking the needed time, and lacking a consistent method for doing dreamwork.

It does take some time to work with a dream, it is not a process that can be hurried. Be prepared to dedicate an appropriate period of time (not less than 30 minutes).

Most practitioners will shy away from dreamwork if they have not been trained in some kind of method, even if  intuition and training are telling them that a client’s dream may be urgently important. Ideally, the dreamworking method should be readily applicable to a wide variety of health care and counseling practices.

What is the distinction between a “common motif” and “individualized content” in a dream?

It could be compared to the distinction between the type of T.V. show (common motif) and the specific content of that particular episode of the show (individualized content). Imagine that you are channel surfing—you would probably be able to recognize what type of show you were watching within seconds, but to fully catch and appreciate the substance of that episode you would have to watch and listen attentively for a period of time.

This ability to recognize motif types is critical in dreamwork, because it tells you what the dreamer’s psyche was concerned about when it produced that dream. If you don’t know this it is much harder to connect it to the dreamer’s life.

If you could not recognize any features which informed you about the type of program you were watching it would be strange and unsettling, even if it was utterly fascinating. You could appreciate it, but to understand and it would be difficult. It is a similar situation with dreams.

What would be an example of “individualized content”?

Since the sleeping brain can draw its material from anywhere in the entire universe, from all things imagined and not yet imagined, the individual content of a dream could be literally anything. Any aspect of the dream which is not suggestive of a common motif, a type, or an “archetype”, to use the Jungian term, could be taken as individual content.

Also, some things which appear in dreams have a strikingly characteristic and specific quality, as if unique to that person; they carry a message that would only apply to that one individual. These include:

-strikingly odd details, that stand out by virtue of their peculiarity and the emphasis put on them (eg; why would a dream take pains to point out that the basement drain was clogged with two towels, one from India and one western style?—the clogged drain is a common motif, suggesting a problem in releasing and discharging, but the other material is unique to the dreamer and understanding what it ”means” could only be done by, or with, the dreamer).

-a specific number featured in a dream

-a specific name featured in a dream

-a possible pun, wordplay, or joke

-a striking pattern or sequence of events

-a precognitive or prophetic event

The Dreamreading Method divides dream motifs into two groups—the psychodynamic group and the pattern/field group—why?

Some motifs are telling us what the psyche is trying to do (the psychodynamic group) and some are telling us why it can’t do it (pattern/field). The distinction is clinically important because motifs of the first group do not call out for any action or intervention, they only need to be acknowledged and supported. The pattern/field motifs, on the other hand, are pointing to a problem that needs to be actively addressed in some way.

See the Dreamreading Manual Table of Contents for examples of each type.

What is the Benefit of Doing Ongoing Dreamwork?

Although much can be gained from the experience of understanding a single dream, the most effective dreamwork is done while working with an ongoing sequence of dreams that the dreamer brings over time.

Each dream insight is like a flagstone that has been laid down, one insight sets up the next insight; from the vantage point of the recently laid flagstone another one can be laid, and then another, until there emerges a sense of moving along a path.

For this reason I recommend that practitioners wishing to make dreamwork a regular part of their practice, negotiate a dreamwork mandate with a few of their clients. These clients will come to the session expecting to do dreamwork, they will have prepared in advance for it, and over time they will see the benefits of doing it consistently.