Jungian Dream Analysis - The Path to Individuation
As many of you know I have regular Jungian Psychotherapy with my analyst Ludwig Esser.
It's often the case that both psychological and self insight comes in dreams. In Jungian theory sleep and dreams give access to both the collective and personal unconscious allowing us to have access to mythological themes from all cultures and times. Freud called dreams 'the Royal Road to the unconscious and Jung insisted that a dream interpretation is only valid if it makes sense to the dreamer. Jung stated ' that the dream itself is its own interpretation ' consequently I have decided to share my own significant dreams from the last five years and I invite you to comment and interpret them. Of course I should point out that I have had Jungian style dreams all of my sixty six years. Some will be surprised at the nature of them both in their imagery and content. Some may be shocked at their explicitness and sexuality as well as their archetypal and Pagan discourse. However I plead Hegel and dialectics as response. I believe that psychological awareness and the elimination of false consciousness is often done at an unconscious level that breaks into awareness for paradigms to break and shift into revolutionary change. This is the process of individuation where we discover the parts of ourself unknown and obscured and integrate them teleologically as a point of insight . I have a number of dreams to share with you and they all date from over the last eight years. The dreams are entitled:
1) In search of the whale
I am looking at a map. It is highly illustrated and at the top left corner I see images of Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton. The map is entitled 'In search of the Whale'. The map clearly shows the continents of Europe and North America . I can see as far east as Moscow and in North America as far south as Mexico City. The other continents are only seen around the outline of their coasts. Africa and Asia are least explored . South America has the Amazon unseen and the mountain range of the Andes is obscured. In Africa the North African coast is clear and its cities are labeled . I see Carthage and Alexandria and Egypt clearly as well as the Cape of Southern Africa. Asia and Japan are faint but are just thin strips of territory on the map. Australia is only clear around Sydney and the Pacific ocean is but a thin outcrop of Islands . The coast of Antarctica has a few landing points clearly seen but is darker than the rest. I realise that I must explore complexity of myself beyond the rational academic and the book knowledge I have developed.
2) The dragon and the boat
I see a boat floating on what I know to be the river Nile. The boat is of the ancient Egyptian form. At the bow of the boat there is an image of the Goddess Isis at the stern is a cabin structure. Between the cabin and the bow is a man and a woman vigorously and passionately making love. The woman is dark skinned and seems both Nubian and Caribbean . The man is clearly European . They make love with the woman on top. Suddenly orgasm approaches after what seems hours of intensity. The sweat can be seen upon their bodies and as the climax is reached out of the cabin bursts an enormous dragon who flies powerfully into the sky and as it does so it calls out in a voice that echoes the ecstatic cry of the man and woman. I realise that only by combining and knowing both my male and female side will I know all that I am . I awake I have been sweating and am very aroused .
3) The Mangrove Swamp
I am walking through a Mangrove Swamp . It is Haiti and I know that it's late in the 18th century. The woman from the last dream walks beside me holding my hand. Her hand is warm and she's wearing a dark strong powerful perfume. As I look at our hands I realise that my skin is dark brown like hers. She kisses me fully upon the lips. After the kiss she points ahead and I see a sparkling light blue sea with the Sun shining upon its surface. Across the sea is a walled city surrounded by deep blue coloured stones . I can see an entrance to the city. And I realise the sea is not deep and we can wade to the entrance. I realise that after the Union upon the boat and the release of the dragon the way ahead is clear.
4) The gangster in the New York Restaurant
I am going to an old style Italian Restaurant in little Italy in New York. It feels like the 1950s and I am wearing a suit from that period. At the door of the restaurant I am welcomed by an amiable man in his late 50s. He is smiling and tells me that he and his friends have been waiting a long time to meet me. He leads me to a table with four seats. There is red wine in several bottles and around four glasses olives, French bread and balsamic oil. The man introduces me to two figures sitting at the table .
The first figure is female . She wears dark glasses and is swathed in blue and silver silks that suggests both eroticism, mystery and spirituality . She tells me her name is Lilith. Her hand is warm and electric. It is the woman from the boat and the Mangrove Swamp.
Another figure is wearing a sharp suit and looks like Michael Corleone from the Godfather Movie He carries a gun but tells me I have the bullets. He says 'I am your Shadow. You will have need of me. I'm your friend call upon me'. I realise that I have met my persona, my anima and my shadow. I am meeting the Jungian parts of my psyche. We drink the wine and hold up the glasses and I see the sunlight shine through the glass and the taste of the wine is rich, Sicilian and powerful. We celebrate the meeting.
5) The pools of Siloam
I dream of traveling with three companions over thousands of miles by horseback. I can't decide if its South America or Africa. The sense of time is endless and repetitive. Eventually after crossing a great plain of grass and we climb a winding road through steep hills to two pools called the pools of Siloam. The first pool is shallow and safe. The second is without a clear bottom and there is a ledge is around the edge of the pool. We could sit upon the edge and dangle our feet into the water. I can see rich colours and light shining in reds, oranges and browns. There is a hint of coral and a sense of spiral pattern of rocks .
We could jump into the Second pool and descend for ever. But there is fear on exactly we would breath. A figure takes my hand the hand is the woman from the previous dreams . I can't decide if she pushes me or I pull her into the water. Two figures are with us one before us and one after us. They are the persona and the Shadow . The water is refreshing and I realise we can breath . And the pool turns to a cavern and beyond it a great sea.
I am of Jewish origin. Siloam means ' old pool' is near the Siloam tunnel near the Gihon spring. The lower pool or ' old pool was known historically as Birket el Hamra literally "the red pool' it dates from the time of the Assyrian King Sennacherib and the Hebrew rulers Hezekiah . [ Book of Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 32.2- 4] . These pools continued through the Roman , Byzantine and Arab periods and were rediscovered in autumn 2004 during excavation work. Oddly prior to looking up the name of the pools I had no memory of ever reading about them. In Jungian terms I explored the path of my ancestry through its Jewish line. The pools exist on the outskirts of Jerusalem . It's very synchronous and numinous.
6) The House, the Library and the Museum
I have inherited a vast house, a library and a museum. It is enormous and the shelves are stacked with books . There are cabinets full of items from all periods of history. I see Celtic , Hebrew , Latin Greek and Arabic scrolls, leather bound books and Astronomical devices as well as a rich burgundy carpets and mosaics and paintings upon wall after wall. I think to myself ' where will I keep these things and panic for a moment. And as I awake I realise with relief and a smile that it is all within anyway. It's a relief and I laugh .
7) The home and the waves
I am in a solid built house.As I look out of the back windows I see a vast sea. There are waves there and I realise I am on the coast. I walk out of the front door and look to the sides of the house. Waves are gently lapping around the house with still a little way to reach high water mark. I understand powerfully that I am nearly complete or are at least are nearly close to what I must do, understand or believe. I awake...
These dreams metaphorically represent the process of analysis I have been exploring since 2017. I have discussed them with my therapist Ludwig Esser and now I share them with you upon my blog, book and on Facebook. I hope I have sketched for you a symbolic process of dreams pointing to individuation and self awareness.
