We begin with the similarities between the mental state one gets into writing poetry and the dream state. Then shift to dreams and film using as an example Hitchcock’s Spell Bound and how films reveal cultural stereotypes about dreams. Our guest Bernard Welt describes the “Hollywood Freudians” and how they influence our understanding of dreams to this day. Bernard recommends that artists keep a dream journal both as a bank of ideas to draw from and as a way to keep the artist in touch with their unconscious mind.

We then shift to A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Bernard tells us that imagination and creativity were not valued during Shakespeare’s time but that dreams were evidence of the dreamer’s health and moral condition and could even result in charges of treason for the dreamer. Bernard argues that both Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer’s Night are similar plots and are both strong arguments against the patriarchy through respectively tragedy and comedy.

We take a call from Barbara who asked a question about social dreaming and the Tavistock Institute in that dreams may be for the groups that the dreamer belongs to and not just for the dreamer alone. Bernard mentions two resources which are the JungPlatform.com and also MuseumofDreams.org. Dr. Welt ends by reading parts of one of his poems called “You Are Dreaming”.

Bernard Welt leads an online dream group on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month, 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific, through the auspices of the Washington DC grassroots arts organization Rhizome DC, “promoting creativity as a force for personal empowerment and community engagement.” The Dream Café is a lay dream-sharing group, using a gentle, non-intrusive method within boundaries controlled by participants. The next Dream Café is June 9; register at rhizomedc.org

On Tuesday June 15 Bernard will co-host with Kelly Bulkeley a presentation on approaches to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream through the ages; on Wednesday, June 16, he’ll present at a session on Dreams, Imagination, and Creativity. Each morning from June 14-17, he will co-host a dream group for first-time conference registrants with Loren Goodman. You can find the full conference schedule here: IASDconferences.org/2021/program-listing/ Times are Pacific Daylight Saving. You can register for the conference at IASDconferences.org/2021/registration/

You can find Bernard’s article on “Dreaming as a Fundamental Academic Skill,” along with some of his other essays, at GWU.academia.edu/BernardWelt

Write to him at bernardwelt (at) gmail.com for more information

The IASD Dreams and Ethnicity Portal links to many resources offering information and perspectives from people and organizations representing traditional and Indigenous dream cultures.

The Museum of Dreams is an unusual and valuable resource: “a hub for exploring the social and political significance of dream-life.” MuseumofDreams.org/ “a hub for exploring the social and political significance of dream-life.”

The Bridge Theatre’s spectacular 2019 production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” brought the audience into the action and sent them out of