“I feel things are coming together,” a client told me recently. “Something is speaking to me and I want to hear what it is saying.” This young man was working on his dreams in psychotherapy. He faithfully recorded them and through his therapy worked to understand and learn from them. Over time he observed patterns…
A retired teacher had the following dream: I found myself at a party for retired teachers at my former school. I felt that I was not really welcome there. The hostess seemed very insincere in welcoming me. I noticed a large basket on a counter which held gift mugs for the retired teachers. There was…
In her book, On Dreams and Death, Jungian psychologist Marie-Louis von Franz shares the nearing death dream of a woman who did not believe in the existence of a spiritual reality: I am standing, quite confused, inside a courtyard. There is no exit. On one side of the yard are garbagemen who say that I…
One challenge in determining if a particular dream relates to the approaching death of the dreamer is the fact that the psyche treats death much the same as it treats any other major life transition. Death and rebirth imagery is used in both cases. Death of the body is treated by the psyche no differently…
About 3½ months before her death and 1½ months before her diagnosis of cancer, a woman in her early 70’s had the following dream: I enter a large barn. It is empty except for an older, maroon-colored car, similar to one I used to drag race back in the 60’s. It must have been restored…
Lila (not her actual name) is a woman in her early 70’s who had a number of dreams that hinted at her coming death by cancer. At the time of the dreams discussed in this series she did not know that she had cancer. The dreams that follow occurred approximately one month before her diagnosis…
In the previous post I shared the dreams of a woman in her early 70’s who was dying of cancer. At the time of the dreams she was unaware that she was ill. Nonetheless, the dreams hinted at an unfolding death process that is further elaborated upon by the following. I’ve gone to a thrift…
Dreams can be difficult to interpret. This is not just because they speak a language of images and symbols, but also because it’s not always obvious what aspect of your life they are referring to. While most dreams offer insight into your current attitudes, relationships, and life situation, some dreams bring insight into your past…
When you are dealing with symptoms, especially annoying and irritating ones, you may want to be cured. You want the symptoms, illness, or injury to go away. If you are cured of an infection, the infection is gone. If you are cured of insomnia, you no longer have trouble sleeping. We like cures because they…
In the movie Arrival, twelve space crafts are positioned by an alien race over different countries of the world. The reason for their presence is a mystery. However, every 18 hours they allow a human research/diplomacy team to enter each craft and interact with the alien beings. The aliens communicate using a language of smoke-ring…