Decoding Dreams pt. 5 - Jungian Dream Analysis

Introduction

In the last post, we looked at different ways and practices to help us remember our dreams. Now that we remember our ethereal adventures let’s discuss the next step: analysis and finding inspiration from them. There are many different ways to do this and a large variety of ways to approach both dream analysis and inspiration. To narrow it down and make things more concise we will be approaching the dream analysis from a Jungian perspective. As stated in previous posts this is the approach to dream analysis I find to be the most worthwhile. 

There are a lot of benefits to dream analysis; it can give us a better understanding of ourselves, our subconscious and where we are in life currently. It’s important to remember that dream analysis isn’t an exact or empirical science; so don’t take it as dogma. Approach it as a creative way to interact with a process of our being completely outside of our control, we often do not control our dreams and therefore there is some other force at play than our active consciousness which we interact with daily. Dreams can be a well of inspiration and amazement or we can make them into mundane occurrences that have little to no meaning. The limit to dreams, their power and their meaning is really up to you. There’s a lot to be amazed and inspired by if you ask me.

As for finding inspiration and acting upon it is of course very individual. It depends on what artistic practice you have and how that can be incorporated. Therefore I will approach it mostly through anecdotes and personal experience. I have found a lot of inspiration in my dreams and it continues to be a source of extensive creativity and expression which I could not conjure up in my waking life. 

When it comes to finding inspiration from dreams it’s important to be realistic, you will never capture a replica of a dream you had. Dreams are unable to be caught like that, at best we can hope for a glimpse which will allow us to weave a more vivid tapestry from the threads we clutch at. 

Before we start there’s a word of caution from Jung himself that we best keep in mind. Engaging with parts of ourselves that we may be unaware of or unwilling to face can not only be painful but also harmful. Be careful and stop if you sense something is wrong, seeing a professional can be a good idea; these are deep and dark waters and if you do not know them it’s easy to drown. Jung himself said:

“We are greatly mistaken if we think that the unconscious is something harmless that could be made into an object of entertainment, a parlour game. Certainly the unconscious is not always and in all circumstances dangerous, but as soon as a neurosis is present it is a sign of a special heaping up of energy in the unconscious, like a charge that may explode. Here caution is indicated. One never knows what one may be releasing when one begins to analyse dreams. Something deeply buried and invisible may thereby be set in motion, very probably something that would have come to light sooner or later anyway—but again, it might not. It is as if one were digging an artesian well and ran the risk of stumbling on a volcano. When neurotic symptoms are present one must proceed very carefully.” - Carl Jung, CW 7:192

Dream Analysis

We’re going to condense the process of analysis into 3 steps:

• Exploration
• Reflection
• Manifestation

We covered last time what we need to remember the dream and the first step to analysis is to write down the dream in detail. This is the beginning of the first step.

Step 1: Exploration

There are three things we’re going to be doing in this first step: the first we’ve already done which is to write it down so that we have it in front of us and can refer back to it. Having a dream journal helps tremendously. The second step to exploration is making clear any associations we have with the dream imagery. 

Jung believed there to be no universal language to dream symbols and that they’re unique to each individual and their associations with them. However of course Jung states that there are archetypes; symbols that are unique not to the individual but the whole human race. These are characters like father, mother, child, hero, trickster and so on. They represent universal traits and experiences present in all of humanity. But outside of the archetypes, a bird for example will represent different things for different people. For one person it may embody the symbol of freedom, but to another, it might be escape and so on. In this step of exploration, we must look at the various images appearing in the dream and our association with them. We best not consult others when it comes to this association as it may skew our interpretation. Analyse the place, the people, the subjects, themes etc that appear and what they mean to us, it’s a good idea to write them down as well. 

The final part of the exploration is to connect dream images to our inner world. Dreams are understood to be aphorisms and symbolic abstractions expressed by a part of our consciousness we normally do not access. Therefore it’s understood to not be read literally. Because of this close connection and communication between them, the unconscious borrows images from our active consciousness to symbolise other things. People appearing in your dreams are not to be understood as their literal, external and real counterparts but as manifestations of associations or archetypes. If your best friend appears in your dream remove the association to that real person and instead explore what they symbolise - in the dream are they a hero? A trickster? Do they represent friendship or a part of ourselves? You can help determine this through the behaviour they exhibit or what they do in the dream. Connecting and understanding dream images in relation to our inner world and state of affairs can be difficult and it requires a reflection not only on the dream but on our feelings and what’s happening internally as well.

Step 2: Reflection

Finishing up reflecting on our inner world and how the dream symbolism is tied to it we can begin reflecting and analysing the dream fully. We’ve written down the dream, and our associations with the imagery and finally connected dream images to ourselves. Taking all of these things we can begin to interpret the dream. Jung believes that dreams are coherent messages from the unconscious that are shrouded in symbolism, they are revealing of sides and things that we are consciously unaware of. It’s important to keep this in mind as well as that dreams are always centered around you, others may appear in your dream but it’s not about them. Remember these things when doing your interpretation: 

• Your unconscious will not deliver a message that you already know. The interpretation will reveal something you are not aware of. 
• It revolves around yourself. Bad characteristics or blame put on others is incorrect. All people that appear in your dream relate to aspects of yourself. 
• Trust your intuition. If your gut feeling is telling you that your interpretation is right or wrong trust that and follow it. Your unconscious is active even when you’re not sleeping and it can help you navigate through intuition.
• While the interpretation is about yourself it shouldn’t be about your ego. Interpretations shouldn’t be self-inflating or self-flattering. The ego is separate from your unconscious. 
• Sometimes it will take a long time of unconscious reflection to arrive at a coherent interpretation. I’ve found this to be especially true in my personal life, it’s as if when some time has passed and a dream has stuck with me I just wake up one day and realise some of the meaning behind it. 

Reflection takes time and effort and it can be difficult to do it all at once, but it’s important to set some time for it for a really meaningful examination of a particular dream. If you’re a person who finds themselves dreaming constantly you might want to write down all dreams but only deeply examine and reflect on the ones that speak to you. One thing you can always do however is the last and final step.

Step 3: Manifestation

This part is often referred to as “ritualism” when it comes to Jungian dream interpretation, and it is a single step: after interpreting a dream, do something physical to honour and fully integrate it. While perhaps technically we could say we’ve done this by writing about the dream in our dream journal it’s often suggested we do something else to truly integrate the dream. The reason we refer to this step as manifestation rather than integration is the focus on the physicality of the step. Just thinking about the dream or performing a ritual for it is not enough to integrate it from the unconscious into conscious waking life. 

The dream is a message from the unconscious to the waking conscious, and so the manifestation is us sending a message back from the conscious to the unconscious. Acknowledging the communication and responding appropriately. There are many things we can do as part of this step: journal, pray, light a candle, dance, or make art. This physical act should be something small and intimate - we don’t have to throw a festival and holiday for every dream we interpret but we should take some steps towards consciously recognising and acknowledging the dream and its message. Perform a ritual to manifest it into the physical and do so consciously. Now is a perfect time to make art out of it.

Finding Inspiration

Dreams are filled to the brim with creativity and expansive creative expression. It can be a lot so how do we sift out and know what we should use in our art and how? The Jungian method of interpretation acts as a good guide for this, and as we develop our practice and skill for it so can we begin to apply its teachings to our art as well. It’s then about using this model of symbolic interpretation to carve out a language which we can use creatively. By interpreting different things we can begin to understand what our art is trying to say and how we can also say it. 

Art can be both unconscious and conscious - it depends on how we approach it. Unconscious creation can be very abstract and difficult to interpret and hard to follow but if we practice our communication with our own unconscious that expression will become more concise and clearer. If we engage with our unconscious there’s an infinite source of inspiration to pull from there, as we bring its ideas to the surface we can begin to draw upon them for our creative endeavours. 

Dreams can be a very direct inspiration. I had a dream that I was painting in, and the image I was painting in the dream was very clear to me. As soon as I woke up I immediately got to work on bringing that painting to life. Other times there have been symbols, or happenings in dreams that I can pull from and incorporate into my work. But dreams can also serve as less direct inspiration. As stated the nature of dreams is ethereal and abstract, we can use that very structure to give dreamlike qualities to our work. This can be visually, musically or literary. We can use the shifting structure of dreams to tell stories that speak not to the conscious part of the observer, but to their unconscious and we can leave it up to them to interpret through their unique lens that piece of work. In this way, every work of art becomes a dream and its symbols are unique to each observer.

There is no limitation to how dreams can inspire you. If you engage with them regularly and tend to remember them they can serve as a fantastic source for imagery, storytelling and more. You can be inspired by the colours, the scenery, the events or even the people in your dreams, and if you do your dream interpretation you will find new never-before-seen layers to your inner world which you can also use in your art. 

Summary

There’s a lot more to interpreting dreams and there’s a lot of good literature out there on the subject. There are extensive essays on dreams written by Jung himself Dreams: (From Volumes 4, 8, 12, and 16 of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung). But also by more modern Jungian analysts like Robert A Johnson: Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth and some people like C. Roesler have developed research methods like SDA (Structural Dream Analysis) to delve deeper into the subject. The practice and the conclusion are very personal and I hope you find some inspiration, and if it feels worthwhile for you that you dig deeper into your unconscious. 

Jungian dream analysis begins by documenting and exploring the dream, decoding the personal associations and symbolism of the dream imagery. After that reflection is done we begin to untangle our internal world and make connections between our conscious and unconscious. Five things are very important to remember when reflecting: 

• The message from the interpretation will be something new and unknown.
• It revolves around ourselves.
• Trust intuition. 
• It’s not about ego.
• Give it time.

After we feel like we’re done reflecting we need to make sure to manifest and bring the dream from the unconscious into the conscious and acknowledge it through physical means. This means a small physical ritual like prayer, lighting a candle or making art. 

When making art dreams make a great source of inspiration. They are near-infinite in creativity and variation, yet can express some profound universal truths about existence as a human being. By engaging with dream analysis and the dreams themselves we can find a lot of source material for all kinds of artistic pursuits. We can also engage deeper with not only our dreams but also our art if we engage both consciously and unconsciously with them.

Sweet dreams.

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