VIDEO
AUDIO
“The monsters that chase you in dreams are not trying to hurt you. They just want to reunite with their creator…………… that’s you, dummy.”
(Quoted from an unnamed Jungian analyst overheard at a cocktail party.)
Today, we analyze four nightmares submitted by listeners: BBQ Cats, Blood Red Sky, Tsunami, and Malevolent Presence.
Our dreams are always trying to correct our waking personality. They are a kind of psychospiritual medicine tailored just for us. When we avoid healing advice from the dream maker, pressure builds in our unconscious. Gentle suggestions become urgent pleas, which over time become fierce demands that insist on recognition. Once we recognize we are running away from essential insights, we can turn around and embrace them.
Prepare to discover who is causing our nightmares, whether nightmares simply replay traumatic events or help us process unresolved emotions, what sets post-traumatic nightmares apart, when to seek help to address chronic nightmares, which techniques are effective in resolving them, why they occur more frequently in certain individuals, where the nightmare is set reveals essential information and so much more…
HERE ARE THE FOUR NIGHTMARES WE ANALYZE
BBQ CATS
I am grilling on the BBQ. I anticipate seeing chopped, spiced meat on a plancha-type grill for tacos. I am hungry and can’t wait to eat. But when I lift the lid off the grill, I see charred cats. Their teeth are exposed, and their eyes are bugged out. Some are lying directly on charcoal briquettes. I try to move them with tongs, but they are stuck to the coals. I try to scrap off some charred fur, but it is hopelessly unappetizing.
THE BLOOD RED SKY
I was inside a large cave with a clear view to a large opening showing a blood-red sky, the light of which filtered into the interior, casting everything in shades of dark red and shadows. I was lying flat on my back, bound by invisible chains to a metal surgical table and unable to move. I am either still pregnant and about to have my baby surgically removed, or it has already happened, and I’m lying there, cut open. I can see and hear many other women in the same position and situation as myself on other beds scattered throughout the cave. The atmosphere is dismal, and the feeling is one of despair and inevitability. There is no fight within me, only a deep sadness and overwhelming dread.
TSUNAMI
I am walking alone on a beach. The beach is pristine and expansive. The overall feeling is peaceful and calm. The light is either early morning or late afternoon. I’m not sure. But the light is soft and misty. I was neither hot nor cold. I remember looking out at the ocean, a typical open surf beach. But then my attention was drawn to a roaring sound, and the ocean started to change. The feeling changed to apprehension. I faced the surf and almost immediately saw an enormous wall of ocean building up in front of me. All I could see was a wave, and all I could hear was a roar of water. I felt overwhelmed. I could not move. The wave engulfed me. I felt totally alone and exposed. Then I woke up feeling anxious, breathless, my heart pounding.
MALEVOLENT PRESENCE
There are people I know in a room that I enter. I sense a malevolent presence. I ask the people to leave because I think their fear feeds this entity and strengthens it. I think that I can remain calm and thereby weaken the thing. The entity pushes the rug and all the furniture to one wall. I am swept along with it, now pinned to the wall, and beginning to feel a rising panic. It then slams me against the ceiling. I am terrified, and the entity is getting stronger and coming closer.
UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF YOUR DREAMS
Dream School provides a gently paced program with live interactive webinars, an uplifting online community, thought-provoking audio modules, and guided journaling to deepen your experience. Lisa, Deb, and Joe crafted the program with you in mind and companion you through the process. “Step-by-step, we’ll teach you how to interpret your dreams.” Join the revolution of consciousness! Join Dream School and Transform Your Sleep into the Greatest Adventure of Your Life: LEARN MORE
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Thank you for this excellent episode. I am currently in training as an art therapist and want to include dream work into my practice. This episode was very insightful in how to approach nightmares respectfully, yet with the curiousity and courage needed to harness their transformative potential. I will definitively try the mentioned methods on my own.