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Tag Archives: dreamwork

Soul Medicine, by Edward Tick

Soul Medicine: Healing through Dream Incubation, Visions, Oracles, and Pilgrimage, by Edward Tick
Healing Arts Press, 164411089X, 288 pages, January 2023

In ancient Greece, the sick sought healing through dreams, and patients would retreat to sacred sanctuaries where they would pray and rest, waiting for the gods to intervene on their behalf and impart healing wisdom through oneiric visions. This “temple sleep,”1 also known as dream incubation, was practiced for two thousand years before the advent of modern medicine. Most contemporary physicians dismiss the power of the psyche to reveal cures through dream incubation, but a holistic practice that honors the patient’s relationship with their inner self, combined with a Jungian approach to psychotherapy, bridges the gap between past and present, allowing the gods to reemerge in the present day as archetypal powers that can guide patients on their healing journeys. 

In Soul Medicine: Healing Through Dream Incubation, Visions, Oracles, and Pilgrimage, poet and transformational psychotherapist Edward Tick, Ph.D. offers a soul-nourishing approach to healing trauma, informed by sixty years of studying the ancient Greek healing tradition.  Dr. Tick has been working with Vietnam veterans since 1979, accompanying them on pilgrimages, returning with them to the place of trauma to retrieve their souls2, a topic he has explored in previous works, such as War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (2005) and Warrior’s Return: Restoring the Soul After War (2014). In Soul Medicine, Tick takes veterans to sacred sites in Greece, where they encounter the gods in healing dreams and visions. While he specializes in treating veterans with PTSD, his methods can be adopted by readers who are recovering from any form of trauma or those who are seeking to restore and deepen their connection with their inner selves. 

As a psychotherapist, Tick is an “attendant of the soul.”4 Just as the wounded healer Chiron learned to live with the emotional pain of being rejected by his mother as a child and from the incurable wound inflicted by one of Herakles’s poisoned arrows as an adult, we must learn to accept and integrate our traumas. By identifying with archetypal powers, our own identities are enlarged and expanded, awakening us to universal truths greater than ourselves. 

In Tick’s practice, he seeks to bridge the gap in medicine between science and spirituality with ancient healing wisdom. An atheistic, sterilized approach to healthcare is suffocating for those who crave communion with the Universe, yet modern psychology often labels magical thinking as a symptom of a mental disorder. Existential suffering is numbed by mass consumerism and pill-popping biochemical regulation instead of getting to the root cause. Medical practices devoid of spirituality have detached us from the World Soul, and the severance of the body-soul connection is deeply wounding on a collective level.

In Tick’s mythopoetic approach to illness, he looks for the god within the disease. He found that his own lifelong history of back problems related to the Titan Atlas, who bears the weight of the world.5 An alcoholic may need to transform their relationship with Dionysos6, and a sex addict might find healing in devotion to Aphrodite, the goddess of love.7  Collective problems, such as a pandemic, may be a plague sent by Apollo to punish the hubris and irresponsibility of humanity.8 

The healing process in Soul Medicine involves transmuting personal suffering and victimhood into universal wisdom that benefits the collective. When we understand what our personal trials and tribulations say about the human condition, we transcend our private pain and merge with the archetypal universe. Part of this requires affirming the inevitability of fate and surrendering to these cosmic powers.9 

 “Ananke [Necessity] indicates that we do not have a choice,” Tick says. “What happened cannot be changed but only how we interpret, carry, and respond to it. These are ultimate conditions we are challenged to accept as ingredients of our personal mythic history. This is a necessary step in any healing enterprise, a step I call “affirmation of destiny.” ”10 

This fatalistic perspective might raise some hackles in a New Age community obsessed with personal power and accepting full responsibility for controlling one’s own destiny, but it can be freeing for someone coping with feelings of powerlessness, shame, and guilt associated with past trauma. Unfortunately, the New Age fixation on personal power and the belief in manifesting one’s reality through the Law of Attraction philosophy, which blames bad circumstances on negative thoughts, can be used to spiritually bypass and blame victims, instead of offering them the emotional support they need when recovering from trauma. For those who are tired of accepting personal responsibility for things beyond their control, Soul Medicine is a soothing balm.

Tick compares trauma to the mythical dismemberment of the god Dionysos, who was torn to pieces by the Titans. “Remembering what we have denied, buried, or forgotten is an act of being re-membered—put together in a new way,”11  Tick says. Dionysos is the god of theater, and watching or reenacting tragic plays can awaken our own repressed wounds and provide cathartic release, while also comforting us with the insight that we are not alone in our experience because tragedies explore universal themes of abuse, death, and grief.12 

In Soul Medicine, Tick shares beautifully written anecdotes about pilgrimages to sacred sites and the divine revelations he has experienced at them, coupled with signs and synchronicities, taking the form of earthly messengers of the gods such as crows, butterflies, bulls, and shed snakeskin. He writes about moments of divine inspiration with poetic grace.

During a pilgrimage to the Oracle of Delphi, Tick had “an imaginal conversation with Apollo.”13

“Apollo, the god of the inner light, consciousness, and reason,” he says, “spoke as the voice of my knowing deep mind.”14 

Tick professed doubts about who he was and what he should be doing with his life, and rather than clarifying his purpose, his inner Apollo replied, “You already know.”15 

He was losing sight of his personal path and not embracing it because he was distracted by external human affairs. In fulfilling one’s soul purpose, Tick says, “It is our human task to remain committed against barriers and disappointments.”16  The gods will assist us in mysterious ways, but they will also test our faith and our worthiness.

When Tick asked what he was doing wrong, his inner Apollo replied, “Continue as you are…Nothing is wrong.”17  As if to confirm this telepathic conversation was a true divine message, a black cloud of crows, the messengers of Apollo, circled around Tick as he ascended to Apollo’s temple.

This touching message resonated with me because there have been many times when I have struggled with my own self-doubt and despair over not knowing my place in this world, then heard a reassuring voice inside my mind whispering the same words to me: Nothing is wrong with you. 

This passage also reminded me of a dream I had about a year ago, in which an unseen female deity, who I believed to be Artemis, had instructed me to honor Apollo. I was guided to sit outside at dawn, facing the east, bathed in the rosy pink light of the golden hour, and burn a bay leaf, while praying to him and savoring the sweet smoke. As the burning leaf crackled, I found myself sitting in front of a bronze statue of Apollo reclining on a couch, and his posture reminded me of his half-brother Dionysos, the god of ecstasy and madness who counterbalances his logic and reason. I sensed that Dionysos was with me as well, though invisible, creeping around the edge of my awareness like a serpentine vine. I realized that calling on one of them also summons the other, for they are as light and shadow, and two sides of the same coin.

I have always felt an affinity with Dionysos, and I apologized to Apollo for not being moved to honor him sooner. I sensed Apollo’s presence as aloof and haughty and knew that calling him beautiful would appeal to his vanity. Upon waking this reminded me of the arrogance ascribed to Lucifer, and how self-knowledge is demonized as narcissism. When the sun rose, I grabbed a lighter and a bay leaf from my kitchen cabinet, went outside, and recited the Orphic Hymn to Apollo, which calls him Bacchos, identifying him with his half-brother Dionysos.18 It felt important to me that I reenact the dream in waking life to reaffirm the act of devotion I had taken on the astral plane. 

Soul Medicine has reminded me yet again that I need to remember to honor my inner Apollo and trust in his wisdom. We are all his oracles, if we choose to listen.

Pagan Portals – Dream Analysis Made Easy, by Kystrina Sypniewski

Pagan Portals – Dream Analysis Made Easy: Everything You Need to Know to Harness the Power of Your Dreams, by Kystrina Sypniewski
Moon Books, 978-1-80341-178-1, 101 pages, April 2023

Coming from a holistic healing and spiritual background, I have always had an interest in the secret, mysterious world of our dreams. But when I started exploring dream work, there was much less information to find, being pre-internet times. Back then only certain writers and researchers had worked with dreams. Carl Jung became my first port of call, with him being so well known and having written a wealth of information on the subject. Sadly, I found his work lacking the spiritual element I desired. I was then led to the work of Denise Linn and that is where my dream work began.

However, more recently, I have been pondering this question: in today’s climate of information overload, if people wished to start from scratch and enter into the realm of dream research, where would they start? Feeling that it’s necessary for them to start with the basics, Pagan Portals – Dream Analysis Made Easy: Everything You Need to Know to Harness the Power of Your Dreams by Kystrina Sypniewski is a great book for beginners. Sypniewski has touched on most of the basics and the foundation of dream analysis quite well.

Sypniewski rightly begins with an introduction into sleep and sleep patterns. I feel this is very important, as without this background understanding of sleep and its stages discovering much more about dreams would be lacking. We need to understand REM sleep and when it occurs to better know our dream cycles. I found her research fitted with my own understanding.

She then quite rapidly (this book is only 100 pages) moves onto the potential meaning behind our dreams and their use to our own wellbeing and understanding of ourselves. She covers these topics in a holistic way. Sypniewski writes how dream imagery and messages may help us process past experiences, provide insight into our current life situation, as well as be potentially prophetic, giving us clues and guidance toward potential future occurrences.

Sypniewski then moves into the basics of dream discovery. In this section she covers methods of recall-what you remember happened in your dream and benefits of dream diaries and dictionaries. A basic dream diary is a journal that is placed on the bedside, so it is quickly accessible, in order to be able to note down dreams before they slip away. To me a dream diary is vital for recall, and Sypniewski instructs on how to make these diaries more structured and detailed. She covers this well and gives advice on how to format one, which I think is very helpful.

As the book progresses, Sypniewski moves on to dream symbology.  She covers the deeper symbology, as in, what a house or car commonly represents.

“The house represents the dreamer. If the house is a specific dwelling with which the dreamer has a very strong and unique past association, then the house represents either the fear of, or possible recurrence of the situation the dreamer associates with that house.”1

However, Sypniewski does stress that it is crucial to see the process as one of self-discovery. A fleeting symbol to one person may mean something very different to another. Her method of self-discovery provides a very different take than a dream dictionary. Dream dictionaries tend to take a “one size fits all” approach and although she does offer some symbols and interpretations later in the book, she does say they are just potential meanings and it is so important to find your own.

“Although it is essential you interpret your dreams in a personal way, there are a few symbols which are pretty accepted as having a universal meaning.”2

The concept of discovering what symbols mean to you for yourself is reiterated throughout the book. It can be repetitive at times, but I think she just wishes to stress the importance of taking the personal approach and to teach readers not to view dreamwork as superficial.

As the book progresses further, she expands on what we can learn from our dreams and the messages and warnings they can impart. She also reflects on the vital process of healing and insight from working with our subconscious and the benefits of potentially prophetic dreams. 

Having worked in many ways to discover more about myself and the subconscious mind, I turned to lucid dreaming, especially in my youth. Lucid Dreaming is covered in a very brief chapter, which I was a little disappointed about, so if you are looking for detailed information on this topic then you’ll need to do more research. However, she does give enough detail for a beginner and provides great advice for a starting point. I had not read her take on lucid dreaming before, so I did learn something from it, and I am now using the method suggested by Sypniewski.

The latter portion of the book focuses on mythological and archetypal characters and images and what they can represent within the collective consciousness of humanity with questions to ask yourself. She cites many dream examples and teaches how they might be interpreted. Many of these examples prove the healing and beneficial effect of our dreams, which is good for those learning the art of dream work for the first time.

Sypniewski does a great job throughout the book of helping the reader gain the building blocks for interpretation, covering how to almost dissect your dreams and showing the reader the methods of structuring your dream recall in a way that you can learn most from it. These methods are covered thoroughly and re-iterated for clarity as the book concludes.

Overall, I do feel Pagan Portals – Dream Analysis Made Easy is a very good book for beginners into the realm of dream analysis and self-discovery. Sypniewski covered all the basics and more, and I was heartened by her approach to self-interpretation of symbols along with her guidance and structures for really getting to know yourself through your dreams.

Hieroglyphic Words of Power, by Normandi Ellis

Hieroglyphic Words of Power: Symbols for Magic, Divination, and Dreamwork, by Normandi Ellis
Bear & Company, 1591433762, 336 pp., 2020

Egypt calls to mind all sorts of mysterious magic. Not only did the Egyptian empire last for over 3,000 years, the esoteric rites and occult magic have continued to be a cornerstone of Western magic to this day. Hieroglyphic Words of Power: Symbols for Magic, Divination, and Dreamwork by Normandi Ellis takes the reader into the mindset of those esteemed priests and priestesses of Egypt by teaching how to read the ancient hieroglyphs for magical and divinatory purposes.

I was drawn to this book because I have been very into exploring asteroids in my astrology chart, specifically Egyptian deities after finding out the asteroid Isis (42) is exactly conjunct Venus in my natal chart at 22 degrees Capricorn. For anyone with a bit of astrological knowledge, this degree of Capricorn has been a focus point of some major conjunctions this year! Since this transit began, I’ve been called to explore the mysteries of Egypt more deeply as I endeavor to decipher the archetype of Isis in my natal chart. Hieroglyphic Words of Power was a very useful book in strengthening my connection to the enchanting energy of Egypt.

What I like most about this book is the way Ellis describes the hieroglyphics as a sort of depth psychological poetry. She writes, “The consciousness of the creative intelligence that envisioned hieroglyphic communication operates in thought waves that defy logic.” 1 When viewed from this perspective, the hieroglyphs become living symbols that can be accessed intuitively in the liminal spaces of divination and dreams, allowing their meaning to be imbued in the context of their original conception, cutting through the separation of time and space.

Ellis divided the book into four sections: Introduction to the Hieroglyphs, The Unique Magic of their Hieroglyphs, The Hieroglyphs, and The Layouts. After delving into the history of hieroglyphs and explaining her own method of practice, study, and research, Ellis moves into how to use the magic of the hieroglyphs for the purpose of ritual magic, divination, and performing dream work.

I particularly enjoyed her writing on numerology with Egyptian meaning of the resonant energy for each digit. For those who may not be familiar with numerology, Ellis includes directions on how to calculate one’s birth path, personal year, and decipher the numerology of words using number-letter correspondences. One question I had while reading was if Ellis used the Pythagorean system of numerology or the Chaldean system because she highlights the influence of Egyptian practices on both Pythagoras and the Qabalah. I figured out by looking at her examples that she uses Pythagorean numerology. If you’re interested in learning more about the difference between these two systems, I have written about it here.

Back on topic now though, with the variety of ways offered to connect with the hieroglyphs, I decided to begin with dreamwork. Amazingly, the night I read that section and decided to try it out, I had my first ever dream of being in Egypt. Immersed in the dunes of sand, I gained the ability to soar into the clouds and overlook the whole region. I can tell you honestly that I never have had a dream like this before, and I fully attribute it to my working the practices in the book to open up to studying hieroglyphs in dreamtime, assisted by specific deities who protect and teach in this realm.

Another useful idea Ellis offers for learning the 60 hieroglyphs in this book is to create your own divination deck using the symbols. I appreciate how this method blends creativity with the process of learning the hieroglyphs and can also be used practically for divination. The entire next two sections are designed to assist the reader with building their own relationship to the hieroglyphs by working with them in the deck, meditation, and dreams.

The third section, which comprises the majority of the book, details 60 hieroglyphs that Ellis felt were best for the beginner to learn. For every hieroglyph Ellis offers an explanation of meaning, information about the context of meaning in Egyptian belief systems, and definitions that can be applied for understanding and divination using one’s numerology. Each hieroglyph also has a picture of it from Egypt and a drawing of it done by a graphic designer.

I’ve had a lot of success tracing the symbols in my journal and candles to connect with the hieroglyph. I decided to take the approach Ellis suggests of spending 2-3 days on a hieroglyph to get to know it’s meaning, energy, and wisdom. I am enjoying this slow and steady approach because it gives me the space to open to the hieroglyphs in an intuitive, experimental way. Each hieroglyph seems willing to speak when I am receptive to listening. Plus, I am nurturing my relationship with certain deities to assist with this process. No need to rush this practice. 🙂

Finally, the last section offers readings that can be done using the hieroglyphic images for divination. There is information on calculating one’s numerology, a variety of spreads that can be used, and most helpful, sample oracle readings that give the reader an idea of how to integrate the hieroglyphs to discern a clear message. I haven’t finished creating my oracle deck yet so I haven’t practiced the readings, but I am looking forward to trying them out when the time is right. They all look very useful and soulfully designed to help the reader gain insight into their questions and concerns.

Overall, I believe Hieroglyphic Words of Power is a wonderful guide to establishing the use of hieroglyphs in one’s personal practice. There’s something about Egypt magic that is so intriguing, yet elusive when we have no guide. Ellis has put together a method of study that is comprehensive, accessible, and transformative when undertaken. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking to begin strengthening their connection to the magic of Egypt, whether to develop relationships with deities or learn another method of divination based on the combination of dreamwork, numerology, and hieroglyphs. There’s a lot interwoven in this book and I’m sure it will remain one I refer back to often over time.

Dreams, by Mary Phelan

Dreams: Exploring uncharted depths of consciousness, by Mary Phelan
Mandrake of Oxford, 1906958985, 240 pages, November 2020

I decided to read Dreams: Exploring uncharted depths of consciousness by Mary Phelan because I’m in the midst of an 8-week course with Robert Moss, a pioneer writer in the field of dreams, and am finding myself seeking other perspectives to supplement what I’m learning. I figured Phelan, who has documented all her dreams for 11 years, might have the insider perspective I was seeking! Reading Dreams, it became very evident that her dedication to analyzing her dreams has yielded impactful information that has assisted her in navigating life’s twists and turns. Luckily, this book offers methodologies for readers to effectively understand the messages of their dreams and the great wisdom they hold for us. It was a wonderful complement to the exercises, activities, and dream-timing I am doing these days.

What stands out most about the content of Dreams is the way Phelan recounts her personal experiences to assist the reader with making their own connections to their internal world. Discussing the content of dreams isn’t alway easy, as it calls for a different type of thinking: the mythic, poetic, and creative side of our brain. Phelan helps the reader to get into this state of mind by referring to the great works of Shakespeare and other artists to awaken this mindset for us. She also refers to the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to illuminate the connection between our subconscious and conscious mind. There is quite a bit of focus on the concept of archetypes and the individuation process, especially as it pertains to fairy tales.

Drawing on examples of ingenuity that were prompted by dreams, such as the invention of the sewing machine, Phelan asserts that success in life comes to those who nurture their ability to discern the subtle prompts of their subconscious. A dream isn’t simply random images that appear in your slumber, it’s a jam-packed reel of scenes, feelings, encounters that when examined can lead to revelations about your waking life. Phelan devotes a good portion of the book to describing imagery, settings, and relationships that occur in dreams to explain their web of possible meanings. She has a wealth of experience to share about how she would interpret a dream and, as a result, was able to capitalize on something in her waking life.

A strong sentiment that Phelan conveys in the book is that one must take action in order for this process of working with dreams to be effective. Yes, most people naturally dream every night, but there’s a whole slew of ways to improve one’s ability to have dreams and successfully recall them. Some examples are getting enough sleep, not eating or exercising too close to bedtime, having an evening routine. It is also vital for one to put in the effort of tracking their dreams, both big and small, in order to be able to track on-going patterns. One way she suggests doing this is by having a dream notebook.

Then the most important step follows: taking action on what the dreams reveal! As much as you are prompted and prodded in your dreams, nothing will actually change or manifest without acting on the knowledge that has come through the dreams. I enjoy this reminder because sometimes I do not take the time to reflect on my dreams, especially on a busy morning. By taking the time to slow down and create an intentional practice, I have already started to be more aware of the content of my dreams and piece together the bits of information I receive while asleep.

The other point Phelan repeatedly brings up in the book, truly more of a warning than assertion, is about keeping one’s dreams secret and only revealing them to a trusted few. I was intrigued by this because I’d never heard any other dream practitioner offer this caution to the dreamer. From what I’ve studied, in certain cultures, such as the Australian Aboriginal, discussing dreams is part of the social bonding. Families will discuss dreams every morning to piece together the information they are receiving to assist the community as a whole by connecting the dots to see a bigger picture, or sometimes messages are sent through the dreamer to share a message with a relative or friend. 1

However, Phelan takes the approach that because dreams contain such sensitive subconscious information, one must be careful who they are shared with. Before sharing your dreams with another, it is worth reflecting on how much of your personal life you are comfortable with this person knowing, and whether they are truly someone you can trust to hold space and respect the content of your dreams. Furthermore, Phelan brings up a wonderful point about how speaking your dreams too soon – before you’ve fully figured out their meaning – can make them confounded with someone else’s interpretation. Above all, Dreams helps the reader to value their own ability to decode the messages of their dreams and respect just how valuable the insight contained within them can be. Thanks to Phelan’s insight, I now can respect and value the aspect of silence regarding dreams and hope to better sense when it is appropriate to share and when it is not.

My only reservation about this book is that at times it can feel a bit scattered. Phelan has packed in so many topics, ranging from the science behind why we dream to the effectiveness of dream catchers to an analysis of the story “Aladdin” that it becomes hard to fully follow along with ease. Sometimes it felt like the book was here, there, and everywhere, with very abrupt transitions from one focus to the next. This may be because I prefer to go deeper into one topic, rather than explore a variety of topics quickly. For instance, there’s a chapter titled “Cosmic Dreams,” which delves into astrology, astral bodies, and aliens, that is followed by “Sleep Disorders and Nightmares,” which describes the phenomenon of sleep paralysis and other sleep disorders. The smorgasbord of it all can feel a bit overwhelming when not in the right headspace to be integrating so much knowledge at once. For those who like to move slowly and really dive into a subject, this book may be too much to handle.

Additionally, although Dreams is meant to empower readers to discern their own meaning of dreams, Phelan shares a lot of personal examples about how she’s interpreted things and not as much insight on how someone can do this for themselves. The amount of archetypal explanations of possible meanings for situations, scenes, and objects in dream described in the book seems like it could steer a reader away from figuring out their own interpretation. I hope new readers are able to use her personal experience as a model without resorting to it in order to draw upon her pre-made associations to interpret their dreams. There is a chart at the end with all types of objects, places, and situations that may appear in one’s dreams. While this tool may be a good starting place, it also seems contradictory to Phelan’s advice to figure out your own personal interpretations because every symbol will have its own meaning based on your personal experience and mindset.

Overall, Dreams: Exploring uncharted depths of consciousness is a candid depiction of Phelan’s journey and process of working with dreams that is a suitable read for beginner or advanced dreamers. It is well-sourced and packed with scientific data, psychology knowledge, and personal experience that offers a strong framework for someone who is seeking to develop their own practice of working with dreams. Phelan effectively conveys how this work can be used for deepening one’s self-knowledge and empowering oneself by getting in touch with the internal guidance of dreams. If you want an overview of all the different facets of dream exploration, this is a good choice because it spans many topics in an introductory fashion that will help you get started in doing your own dream analysis.