Dream Circles
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A dream circle is a gathering of people who agree to listen to
each other’s dreams and share insights about them.
Dream circles may consist of just a pair of people or several.
I think they work best in small groups of no larger than six
participants.
I recommend that dream circles convene weekly at most, twice
a month at minimum. Longer gaps in-between meetings make
it difficult to maintain continuity in each other’s complex dream
life. Think about how hard it is to find and follow the train of
thoughts to make sense of your own dreams. Then take that
effort times the number of people in your group.
The sustained effort to help each other grow in understanding
about your dreams is well worth it. In time, most people find
they can wean themselves from the group process, going to a
former group member or friend who knows you and your
dreams well for a second opinion, as needed. In time, you’ll
become a whiz at panning for the gold of inner growth in your
own night movies.
Guidelines
Sharing the content of each other’s dream life is a sacred
trust. Dreams are an opening to a person’s soul.
Accordingly, certain guidelines will help keep the circle safe
and the members helping each other in the most optimal way.
1. Invite Trusted Friends Only into the Dream Circle.
Highly personal information is exchanged through each
other’s dreams. Invite only people you trust with this
information to participate. Ask existing members to
recommend only trusted friends as new members.
2. Keep Confidentiality. Nothing in the group goes outside
the group. Regard your time together as having the seal of
the confessional, for often it is confessional in nature.
3. Choose a Competent Facilitator. It’s good to have one
person lead, getting things going at each session and doing
the secretarial work to keep in contact. Consider a leader with
experience in deciphering his or her own dream life. However,
in dreamwork, everyone is equal. Sometimes you can get
dreamwork in a therapeutic setting, where the therapist is the
expert. (Many psychologists and other helping professionals
are trained in it). However, dreamwork is also a matter of
spiritual growth. When approached from this angle, don’t
expect it to be professional therapy. It isn’t. However, there
is also great value in simply supporting each other’s personal
and spiritual growth. You are the living expert on your own
dreams. Like AA and many other self-help groups that focus
on your relationship to a Higher Power, dreamwork can also be
done as a peer-to-peer effort to improve your lives and
relationship to Spirit.
4. Respect That the Dream Belongs to the Dreamer.
While others may have ideas for the dreamer to consider,
the only person who can get that gut-level feeling that an
interpretation is right-on is the dreamer. We must never
presume to know. Even if our thoughts don’t ring a bell with
the dreamer, they may later on or provide a counterpoint for
sorting. That is, others’ ideas may help the dreamer cross off
on his or her mental list the things the dream doesn’t mean to
them. Dreams are the spiritual experience of the dreamer.
No exceptions, and keep strong boundaries on this point.
Participants should be asked politely to leave the group, if they
regularly attempt to force their ideas or interpretation on the
other members.
5. Honor Time Constraints. Choose the amount of time
you’ll meet in each session—say two hours. At the beginning,
have each dreamer state whether he or she wants to share a
dream at this particular session and its length. Perhaps you
can cover only two long dreams in one session. If you can’t
get to everyone that night, quiz the circle on urgency. Who
feels a need for guidance now, and who is OK with waiting till
next session? The waiters can be first up next time. The
dream world is timeless and formless. This is where a good
facilitator is golden to keep the members from drifting into
ineffectual overtimes or under service to specific dreamers.
6. Do Your Dream Circle Your Way. Decide as a group how
you want to run your dream circle, and revisit often how it is
working for everyone. Let your circle be a support system that
considers everyone and the dynamics of change that take place
as dreams stimulate personal growth.
Breaking the Language Barrier
Dreams are a language unto their own. Don’t expect to learn
a new language overnight. Immerse yourself in the culture of
dreams, and you will learn better and faster! A dream circle is
like a visit to Paris when you’re trying to learn French. You’ll
get it by going there, where the language is spoken all around
you, unlike my rusty high school French. I can barely
understand parlez-vous when it’s spoken to me, and if I have
to construct a single French sentence, I’d pray it was one of the
samples in my primer.
Pleasant Surprises
Dreamwork enhances intuition, for you are learning to work
with symbols from the subconscious. I believe the act of
bringing material regularly from the subconscious to waking
consciousness is one of the strongest practices for increasing
your own sensitivity and intuition or psychic skills.
My closest friend and I even dream for each other! You may
find this pleasant side effect in your dream circle. Sometimes
we are not open to see material in the same way our dream
buddy will see or report it. We have laughed hysterically at
times over being each other’s mediums. Whenever a dream
makes no sense, we have learned to check in with each other
to see if we are dreaming for each other again.
If your dreams include your dream circle friends, there may be
messages in your dream for them, too. Be sure to share them!
Dream on …
© Joyce Mason, 2008-2010. All Rights Reserved.
Link freely, quote short passages, but please seek permission
for all other uses of the author's material.
each other’s dreams and share insights about them.
Dream circles may consist of just a pair of people or several.
I think they work best in small groups of no larger than six
participants.
I recommend that dream circles convene weekly at most, twice
a month at minimum. Longer gaps in-between meetings make
it difficult to maintain continuity in each other’s complex dream
life. Think about how hard it is to find and follow the train of
thoughts to make sense of your own dreams. Then take that
effort times the number of people in your group.
The sustained effort to help each other grow in understanding
about your dreams is well worth it. In time, most people find
they can wean themselves from the group process, going to a
former group member or friend who knows you and your
dreams well for a second opinion, as needed. In time, you’ll
become a whiz at panning for the gold of inner growth in your
own night movies.
Guidelines
Sharing the content of each other’s dream life is a sacred
trust. Dreams are an opening to a person’s soul.
Accordingly, certain guidelines will help keep the circle safe
and the members helping each other in the most optimal way.
1. Invite Trusted Friends Only into the Dream Circle.
Highly personal information is exchanged through each
other’s dreams. Invite only people you trust with this
information to participate. Ask existing members to
recommend only trusted friends as new members.
2. Keep Confidentiality. Nothing in the group goes outside
the group. Regard your time together as having the seal of
the confessional, for often it is confessional in nature.
3. Choose a Competent Facilitator. It’s good to have one
person lead, getting things going at each session and doing
the secretarial work to keep in contact. Consider a leader with
experience in deciphering his or her own dream life. However,
in dreamwork, everyone is equal. Sometimes you can get
dreamwork in a therapeutic setting, where the therapist is the
expert. (Many psychologists and other helping professionals
are trained in it). However, dreamwork is also a matter of
spiritual growth. When approached from this angle, don’t
expect it to be professional therapy. It isn’t. However, there
is also great value in simply supporting each other’s personal
and spiritual growth. You are the living expert on your own
dreams. Like AA and many other self-help groups that focus
on your relationship to a Higher Power, dreamwork can also be
done as a peer-to-peer effort to improve your lives and
relationship to Spirit.
4. Respect That the Dream Belongs to the Dreamer.
While others may have ideas for the dreamer to consider,
the only person who can get that gut-level feeling that an
interpretation is right-on is the dreamer. We must never
presume to know. Even if our thoughts don’t ring a bell with
the dreamer, they may later on or provide a counterpoint for
sorting. That is, others’ ideas may help the dreamer cross off
on his or her mental list the things the dream doesn’t mean to
them. Dreams are the spiritual experience of the dreamer.
No exceptions, and keep strong boundaries on this point.
Participants should be asked politely to leave the group, if they
regularly attempt to force their ideas or interpretation on the
other members.
5. Honor Time Constraints. Choose the amount of time
you’ll meet in each session—say two hours. At the beginning,
have each dreamer state whether he or she wants to share a
dream at this particular session and its length. Perhaps you
can cover only two long dreams in one session. If you can’t
get to everyone that night, quiz the circle on urgency. Who
feels a need for guidance now, and who is OK with waiting till
next session? The waiters can be first up next time. The
dream world is timeless and formless. This is where a good
facilitator is golden to keep the members from drifting into
ineffectual overtimes or under service to specific dreamers.
6. Do Your Dream Circle Your Way. Decide as a group how
you want to run your dream circle, and revisit often how it is
working for everyone. Let your circle be a support system that
considers everyone and the dynamics of change that take place
as dreams stimulate personal growth.
Breaking the Language Barrier
Dreams are a language unto their own. Don’t expect to learn
a new language overnight. Immerse yourself in the culture of
dreams, and you will learn better and faster! A dream circle is
like a visit to Paris when you’re trying to learn French. You’ll
get it by going there, where the language is spoken all around
you, unlike my rusty high school French. I can barely
understand parlez-vous when it’s spoken to me, and if I have
to construct a single French sentence, I’d pray it was one of the
samples in my primer.
Pleasant Surprises
Dreamwork enhances intuition, for you are learning to work
with symbols from the subconscious. I believe the act of
bringing material regularly from the subconscious to waking
consciousness is one of the strongest practices for increasing
your own sensitivity and intuition or psychic skills.
My closest friend and I even dream for each other! You may
find this pleasant side effect in your dream circle. Sometimes
we are not open to see material in the same way our dream
buddy will see or report it. We have laughed hysterically at
times over being each other’s mediums. Whenever a dream
makes no sense, we have learned to check in with each other
to see if we are dreaming for each other again.
If your dreams include your dream circle friends, there may be
messages in your dream for them, too. Be sure to share them!
Dream on …
© Joyce Mason, 2008-2010. All Rights Reserved.
Link freely, quote short passages, but please seek permission
for all other uses of the author's material.
I believe the
act of
bringing
material
regularly from
the
subconscious
to waking
consciousness
is one of the
strongest
practices for
increasing
your own
sensitivity and
intuition or
psychic skills.
act of
bringing
material
regularly from
the
subconscious
to waking
consciousness
is one of the
strongest
practices for
increasing
your own
sensitivity and
intuition or
psychic skills.
