“Going forth by night”

the potential in our dreams

by Margi Curtis, MCA © 2007

Writers for a century or more have been claiming inspiration for their work from
dreams and visions. It is more probable that shamans, artists and healers have drawn
upon dreams for guidance since the dawn of time. In our contemporary appreciation
of dreams we have preferred an analytical approach, looking to both Freud and Jung,
psychologists of the last century, for some understanding of our dreams.

Stanislav Grof (a Czech psychologist working in the US) says that Jung discovered
dreams and visions often formed patterns of meaningful coincidence with various
aspects of consensus reality that could not be explained in terms of cause and effect.

“This suggested that the world of the psyche and the material world are not two
separate entities, but that they are intimately interwoven. As Yates described it:
“You cannot tell the dancer from the dance.” (The Holotropic mind, the three
levels of human consciousness and how they shape our lives, Stanislav Grof,
MD, with Hal Zina Bennett, New York, HarperCollins, 1990, p12.)

Many who have come after Jung attest that as well as a source of material for each of
us to use on our journey towards individuation our dreams and visions are of global
significance. In exploring alternative spiritual practices and states, an Australian
scholar and occultist, Nevil Drury, explains Jungian thinking this way.

“… motifs common to the whole of mankind were capable of manifesting in

dreams. These motifs were a symbolic expression of the “constantly repeated
experiences of humanity”…. Derived from observations about Nature which had
become embedded in the psychic patterns of the whole species.” (Exploring the
Labyrinth, Nevil Drury, St Leonards NSW, Allen & Unwin, 1999, p8.)

Sometimes, a search for the new vision of our lives, or the original angle in our
writing, requires a completely clear lens through which we might look. Meditation
can provide that clearing of the inner mind. Anodea Judith (yogic teacherer) writes:

“To really “look” we need to let go of our preconceived patterns and see
freshly, taking in new details and being open to the perception of new patterns…
each image in a dream is rich with meaning. Each image combines memory and
imagination and enacts a drama of relationships between patterns, allowing a
new order to emerge if we can allow ourselves to open to it.” (The Sevenfold
Journey, Anodea Judith & Selene Vega, Freedom CA, The Crossing Press,
1993, p228.)

We have the potential to offer avenues, or vehicles of meaning through our art and
literature. The trick seems to be in seizing upon or suggesting the pattern, and the
skill seems to lie in not overexposing the pattern but leaving it to the dreamer (or
audience for our work) to interpret. In the creative process the dreamer and the writer
become one.
 “With the word and the thought: a dark impulse is the ultimate arbiter of the
pattern… one feels utterly exposed to the boundless subjective vagaries of
chance. Over the whole procedure there seems to reign a dim foreknowledge
not only of the pattern but of its meaning. Image and meaning are identical;
and as the first takes shape, so the latter becomes clear. Actually the pattern
needs no interpretation: it portrays its own meaning.” (Encountering Jung:
Jung on Active Imagination, Joan Chodorow, Editor, Princeton, New Jersey,
Princeton University Press, 1997, p 161.)

Often it involves an “Ah-ha” moment, when we suddenly see the pattern that connects
and find the relationship between our dream life and our own waking lives. As the
ancients no doubt found, the story that emerges from these encounters with the
collective unconscious often speaks to the whole community - or across many
communities. According to the mythologist Joseph Campbell “Dream is the
personalized myth, myth the depersonalised dream.” (Goddesses in Every Woman,
Jean Shinoda Bolen, New York, Harper and Row, 1984, P6.)

It is now commonly held that expanding our awareness to see others and ourselves
more clearly is an essential requirement if we want our world to survive. Amongst
the Neo-Pagan communities of contemporary witchcraft and Wicca, for example,
taking charge of dreams is a tool taught in depth. In particular, Starhawk
differentiates between Freud’s approach and the approach taught by those of more
contemporary mystery traditions:

“Expanded awareness begins with dreams. “This we call the Door Without a
Key, which is also the Door of Dreams; Freud found it, and he used it for the
coming forth by day; but we who are initiates use it for the going forth by
night.” … Learning to take active charge of our dreams, to suggest subjects,
to change dreams as they happen, to confront attackers and defeat enemies,
are ways of “going forth by night”. (Spiral Dance, Starhawk, New York,
HarperCollins, 1979, p175. Quoting from Dion Fortune, Moon Magic, New
York, Weiser, 1972, pp.81-82.)

Whichever way we look at it our dreams have the potential to inspire our creative
work. If, as writers, we can trust our dreams we could contribute to the unveiling of
new mythologies reflective of our individual and collective identities. In this way our
artistic contributions may well become an effective and meaningful influence shaping
current society and even the challenging times ahead.