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The Stuff of Dreams
The Stuff of Dreams episodes
- 20: Bathroom Dreams: When You Really Need to Go!
Dreams from this episode:
- Boyfriend pees in the living room of girlfriend’s parents
- Trying to find a clean bathroom
- Toilets clogged with diapers or objects
- Knowing where the safe bathroom is
- Dreams of doing pull-ups
- Dreams of finding new rooms or spaces in houses
Themes from this episode:
- Bathroom dreams generally symbolize us needing to get rid of symbolic waste, wanting to eliminate embarrassing or worthless parts of us in private so that no one else can see.
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner46 min - 19: Dream Wisdom of the Capital-S-Self
Dreams from this episode:
- An engagement ring needs repair, but a new ring appears
- A bright white light offers advice
- I’m unable to find backstage access in a round theater on the 31st floor
Themes from this episode:
According to Jung, the Self is "both the center and the circumference of the psyche." It’s the deepest center, but also the whole of us, conscious plus unconscious psyche.
"Our attitude must be like that of the mountain pine...It does not get annoyed when its growth is obstructed by a stone, nor does it make plans about how to overcome the obstacles. It merely tries to feel whether it should grow more toward the left of the right, toward the slope or away from it. Like the tree, we should give in to this almost imperceptible, yet powerfully dominating impulse—an impulse that comes from the urge toward unique, creative self-realization. And this is a process in which one must repeatedly seek out and find something that is not yet known to anyone. The guiding hints or impulses come, not from the ego, but from the totality of the psyche: the Self." –C.G. Jung
Images of the Self often show up when the ego is feeling depleted, as a form of encouragement and a message that there is an overall plan.
The Self can be symbolized in dreams by:
- Circle or mandala
- Square or diamond
- The number 4
- A couple (male + female, king + queen, yin + yang)
- A flower
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner30 min - 18: The Mind-Body Connection—in Life and in Dreams
Dreams from this episode:
- Bald eagles threatening children whose parents tell them to stop screaming about it
- House and world being consumed by a lake of fire
- A child expected to give herself chemotherapy treatments
Themes from this episode:
- Physical violence in dreams usually symbolizes damage being done to the psyche.
- Look for places where people’s actions or emotions in dreams are different than what you would expect in real life. The discrepancy points to something important, usually an imbalance or suppression of emotions.
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner47 min - 17: Violence in Dreams
Dreams from this episode:
- Bloody children outside my house, ready to kill me
- My father abusing and possibly killing my mother
- Murdering a girl in my backyard
- Meeting and befriending the figure of Death
Themes from this episode:
- Violent images carry a lot of energy and emotional weight, so the unconscious can use them to get our attention.
- Death or physical harm in dreams usually symbolizes emotional harm or the death of certain parts of our psyche.
- The unconscious simply wants balance. It wants us to individuate, to move toward wholeness by integrating as many parts of ourselves into consciousness as possible. So if we become too one-sided in some way (whether it’s too masculine, too flighty and ungrounded, too passive, or some other extreme), our dream images will nudge us in the other direction so that we can move toward balance.
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner40 min - Minisode 8. Crowdsourcing Interpretations: The Power of Dream Groups
Although dreams can be intensely personal, they can also be powerful when shared. In this minisode I’ll describe the dream group I attend, as well as some other styles of group dream work, and I’ll tell you about insights I’ve gained from the group that I didn’t see on my own.
Important Links:
Ideas for safely running a dream group by Montague Ullman
Stephen Aizenstat's dreamtending webpage
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner16 min - 16: Cars, Copters, and Crashes: Transportation in Dreams
Dreams from this episode:
- A plane crash, a helicopter crash, and a toy helicopter
- Crashing her boyfriend’s car after the road is blocked by hazmat suits
- Multiple dreams of attempting to get to China
- A blocked tunnel means I have to go deeper, then a woman helps me back out so I can get home
Themes from this episode:
- Modes of transportation in dreams can be important details.
- Airplanes can mean flying high, feeling inflated, or taking a broad bird’s-eye view of what’s going on.
- Cars often represent our egos, showing how we usually get around in the world.
- If a path is blocked for the vehicle you’re in, it probably means you’re feeling stuck in your real life in some way.
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner35 min - Minisode 7: My Attitude Toward Dreams
I hold dreams in high regard and try to treat them ethically, which continues to surprise some people, even those on reddit whose dreams I’m interpreting. In this minisode I’ll tell you more about my attitude toward dreams.
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner15 min - 15: More Animals in Dreams
Dreams from this episode:
- Rats in the basement and in the shower
- A large white owl wants attention, then attacks
- A huge bird and a knight in a birdcage
Themes from this episode:
- Rats are earthy, instinctual, can squeeze into nooks and crannies where others can't go, and can survive on scraps and things that others can't eat. They often represent that instinctual, survivor part of your psyche.
- White owls can represent spiritual wisdom and intelligence, and because they are nighttime creatures, they are more closely related to the unconscious. They are also predators, so can represent a part of you with wisdom and fierce energy.
- When you work with a dream over time, you may see it start to change. For example, in Stephanie's dream, eventually the birdcage disappeared, the bird came back to life, and the cave became a tunnel showing the way out.
Stephanie's website:
https://stephaniezphd.comMythology conference website:
https://myth2021.comImportant Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner1 hr 1 min - Minisode 6: Fire in Dreams
Fire, air, earth, and water: the four elements that make up the universe, according to the ancients. Fire is profoundly archetypal, speaking to us from deep, ancient layers of the psyche. In this minisode I’ll tell you about several different meanings for the symbols of fire and smoke.
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner16 min - 14: Male and Female Dream Characters Often Describe Inner Conflict
Dreams from this episode:
- Finding dead deer parts while urbexing
- Green dye in the ocean reveals sandy caves and a snake
- Fire and water gods shape people into a crystal wishbone
- A car and bus journey in drag
Themes from this episode:
- The unconscious uses masculine and feminine characters and imagery to communicate with us about different parts of our personality.
- Everyone, regardless of gender, has masculine and feminine aspects of their psyche that they can use at different times when needed.
The unconscious constantly uses the masculine/feminine dichotomy to symbolize opposite forces inside us, because it’s such a well-known pair of opposites that we see in external relationships where people balance and complete each other.
Feminine/yin/lunar characteristics:
- Feeling, sensing
- Appreciating beauty
- Connection and relatedness
- Soul, imagination, interiority
- Slower pace, time for reflection, being (rather than doing)
Masculine/yang/solar characteristics:
- Thinking and organizing, order and reason
- Action and doing
- Analyzing
- Differentiating, classifying, making boundaries
- Competing
- Aggression and power
Important Links:
Recommended dream interpretation books
Dream interpretation subreddit
Instagram
Send me a dream!
oruse Send a Dream! tab in upper right corner57 min
About The Stuff of Dreams
From the publisher's feed
Have you ever woken up from a dream totally sure it's important but without a clue what it means? Learn dream interpretation with me, Amy Lawson, depth psychologist (and pediatrician...but they didn't…
teach me about dreams in med school) as we examine real dreams from reddit, my guests, and my own unconscious. This is no dry internet tutorial--it’s a lively conversation that aims to convince you of the importance and wisdom of dreams.