In our shared imagination known as mass media, our heroes slay dragons left and right, and with the violent act comes the annihilation of the dragon’s traits we love to hate: greed, fear, and wickedness.

Western dragon stories, recorded long ago from English and European folk tales, are resurfacing in popular culture with surprising quickness.

Currently, the most popular fantasy novel series, George Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, features the resurgence of fire-breathing dragons to a post-Tolkein landscape that has forgotten the ways of magic. (It’s also a popular HBO series).

And one of the highest grossing video games this season is ElderScrolls V: Skyrim, an engrossing single-player game that has taken dragon-killing to a new level of technical precision.

Yet we don’t actually need the mass-media injection of dragon lore,  because dream and visions bring this classic motif to the surface spontaneously. The dragon-serpent as mighty adversary is a narrative built into our storytelling DNA.

Dirk the Daring faces Singe and his pile of gold in the 1983 classic arcade game Dragon's Lair

In dreams, the dragon—or one of its variations: wyrm, sea-creature, dinosaur – doesn’t just show up so the heroic ego can kill something ancient and vaguely reptilian to score some gold and a black-haired virgin.

That would be too easy.

No — there’s unfinished business after you retrieve the sword from the dragon’s belly.

I learned this for myself in a terrifying nightmare.

Swallowed by the Wyrm

In the dream, I was swallowed up by a giant snake-monster. I fell through its throat and into a dark, wet pit. With startling clarity, I felt the beast’s stomach acids soak into my skin – it burned like liquid fire.

Pulling out a knife from my pocket, I cut a hole in the side of the beast, spilling out onto the ground, and instantly waking up.

Sitting up in bed, the sensations of being eaten alive faded almost instantly, and I was at first proud of my quick reaction to this dream.

But a gnawing remained in my own stomach.

I felt sick and admitted to myself that I had cheated. Sure, I had escaped thanks to some crafty derring-do, but the physical symptom of indigestion was stronger.

“By its fruits,” William James once said, “you shall know them, not by their roots.”  James was speaking about how spiritual experiences can arise from many sources but contain similar kinds of perennial wisdom.

The statement also applies to working with dreams. Often, the surest way to proceed with a dream is to feel how it resonates in your body upon awakening: this often tells you more than the imagery itself.

I had to go back.

So I fell asleep, focusing on the disgusting wyrm as I closed my eyes. Instantly I was back in the dream. I jumped into its mouth, and once again landed in a dark moist pit full of churning acids. When the burning of my skin heated up, I sat through it. It hurt, and I waited as the sticky walls drew closer, filling me with clausterphobia.

I was being digested. It was terrifying, but I was resolved to stay with the dream. Within a few moments, though, the scene greyed out and I awoke again.

This time, I felt invigorated, like I could climb a mountain. This is the physical fruit of a good dream outcome, in my reckoning anyways. I discovered that cunning – my prized first defense again most threats — is not always the way. Sometimes courage is in the waiting.

In my dream, facing the dragon actually meant being killed myself. Jonah and the Whale is the Biblical version of this myth, where being heroic requires surrender to the monster’s power, letting it soak into your skin. Jonah sits in the whale’s belly for three days, repenting his sins and his out-of-balance pride.

The Taste of Dragon’s Blood

Siegfried tastes dragon blood and becomes an intuitive.

Another classic Western story of dragon slaying is the Icelandic myth of Siegfried, which later was cemented into Germanic culture thanks to Richard Wagner’s 1876 opera The Ring of the Nibelung. In this myth, Siegfried is charged with killing the dragon that guards a magical ring.

When he slays the dragon, he extracts the blade from its belly, but his hand is burned by the dragon’s blood. Instinctively, he puts his hand to his mouth, and tastes the blood.

Instinctively is the key word here. What happens next sheds light on the dragon’s power: Siegfried soon realizes he can understand the language of birds, and also can read men’s thoughts.

For Siegfried, killing the dragon means absorbing just a taste of its power, reconnecting him to nature and to the intuitive arts.

How much of the dragon’s power you need to complete the task depends on you, your own life myth, and the particular place you need to grow right now.

No matter how much of the dragon’s power we need, the fruit is transformation. We struggle against it, of course, and try to stay within our comfort zone (craftily hiding our small blades for just such an occasion), but a part of us larger than the ego knows that the bitter medicine is needed.

Why We Slay Dragons

The truth is that we don’t slay a dragon to crush the darkness, but rather to uncage it, to let it out so balance is achieved in our minds, and in the world. This could about the balance of rationality and intuition, as it was for Siegfried, or the balance of cunning and courage, as it was in my own dream.

Joseph Campbell says it well in The Power of Myth:

“Psychologically, the dragon is one’s own binding of oneself by oneself. We’re captured in our own dragon cage….” The goal is to “disintegrate that dragon, break him up, so that you may expand to a larger field of relationships.” (1988, p. 149).

I’m happy to see that the videogame I mentioned earlier, ElderScrolls V: Skyrim, actually incorporates this oft-forgotten piece of Western dragon lore into the game. When you kill a dragon, its soul-essence rises like a mist, and you absorb its power. The dragon soul then can unlock new powers for the character that can be achieved by no other way.

As Amy wrote in her piece about working with Dragon dreams, the confrontation with the dragon might empower you to “face your fears, recognize and claim your inner gifts so you can more easily take them into the world.”

Go on… taste the dragon. Just one sip might do the trick.

However, here in the Western world, she is the Fallen One because she has been abandoned, shunned and even put in exile. This is why she is hidden, veiled from the world. But there are precious moments when the goddess shows up to teach us: usually about something much bigger than ourselves.

The trick is to recognize her.

Dreaming of Kwan Yin

These divine visits from the goddess can happen in dreams. In 2007, I was visited by Kwan Yin in a most unexpected form: As a baby hiding in a brown, paper bag:

There is a little girl that everybody wants. She’s a baby but older (not sure of her age). She is Asian with dark hair and eyes. I feel she wants to be with me. She allows me to hold her—not so much the others, including my sister.

There are others who want to adopt her but they ask the little girl to choose—to write down the name of the mother she wants. She writes my name down, “Linda,” on the paper. She is with me now and I notice how much she loves to play with this particular rattle. It is large, red and shaped like a ball.

I also ‘know’ her name is Kwan Yin. I see her inside a small, brown paper bag and she’s rattling—the rattle is lifted up high so I just see the rattle, not Kwan Yin.

She is strong and wise and “not an easy baby” but I feel up to the task. I feel love for her and want to take care of her. This will not be easy but we love each other and that will ease the difficulty. I feel a lot of support for me to have this baby.

I am now buying Kwan Yin shoes and I realize she is not happy. I forgot to get her all the shoes she wanted—she lets me know she wanted the black patent leather party shoes. I am surprised to find that nothing has changed over the years. That she wants the same shoes I had as a little girl. I tell her I will get her a pair and does she also want the Buster Brown “school shoes” as well? I believe she does.

Kwan Yin’s Manifestations

Before this dream, I had little to no knowledge of the goddess Kwan Yin and was amazed to discover she had many names and forms like The Bodhisattva of Compassion, Goddess of Mercy and Great Mother. She manifests Love and tends to souls both the living and the departed: Guiding both in birth and in death.

But more startling was her depiction in some artwork as to have eleven heads as to hear the cries of the world and a thousand arms to aid and hold the many. In other manifestations, she is sitting on a lotus or riding a dragon out of the sea or pouring drops of “dew” (draught of immortality and ‘pearls’ of wisdom) into the dragon’s mouth.

Sometimes she is seen with two small attendants: A “young man of excellent capacities” and the “daughter of the Dragon King,” both descendents of Miao Shan, one of Kwan Yin’s incarnations here on earth.

Dragon Energy

I later learned that the dragon as “yang” force in Buddhist cultures (the Tiger as “yin”) represents wisdom, transformation and the Universe, as well as the ouraboros (also serpent) in alchemy: Form from chaos.

Yet dragon energy is water energy, revered for bringing good fortune and fertility and can manifest more feminine “yin” principles.

Entering the serpent or dragon’s mouth can also symbolize a ‘wormhole’ or portal as a means of astral traveling to many worlds, attaining new knowledge (altered states of consciousness): Including the Underworld.

Red Rattle/Brown Bag

When I woke from this dream the immediate image that came to mind was the large, red rattle. It is being used by a baby, a common toy in our western culture, but this was no ordinary baby. This was the Chinese goddess, Kwan Yin. Clearly this was something I needed to pay attention to.

It’s a striking image in both its color and function. According to Robert Hoss’s book Dream Language colors are meant to amplify an image The color red for me is pure energy and elicits life, passion and love. It’s the rubedo in alchemy, a final stage of the Great Work when you manifest your divine calling here on earth. It’s the lifeblood in us all and in Asian cultures red is what the bride wears for her wedding. Rattles are used in many ceremonies, mostly by healers to wake the dead.

Was there a part of me that was asleep and needed “waking?” And why the brown paper bag?

For me the color brown is earth, where growth can begin, new beginnings, being grounded and in the body. The bag itself reminds me of the lunch bags I used as a child. It carries nourishment but is no nonsense and more organic than the lunchbox. The fact that she was hiding in there was also an indication that I was not conscious of this energy.

Shoes Fit for a Goddess

Shoes often depict foundation and identity in dreams. When I was a little girl, every year right before school started I would get three pairs of shoes. One pair of sneakers for play and sports, one pair of Buster Brown shoes for school, and a pair of patent leather Mary Jane’s for parties and formal social gatherings.

In the dream, I didn’t think that little girls today wanted these shoes anymore and the tradition outdated, but I was wrong. The fact that Kwan Yin wants the same shoes I had as a little girl is fascinating to me. Perhaps my passions as a little girl have shaped my interests and identity of who I am today.

The Year of the Dragon, 2012

For years, I struggled to find a form and foundation for which to contain my passion for dream work. When I had this dream, I was beginning to take dream research more seriously as a career and considering an MFT in counseling psychology.

It is now the Chinese year of the Water Dragon: An auspicious year for Kwan Yin. And five years later, since the dream, I have graduated from school, finished my practicum and am currently a grief counselor at hospice.

Perhaps the dream visit from ‘baby’ Kwan Yin was (p)recognition of my calling to serve the many in a no-nonsense way. That this calling has been with me since childhood and it is in the last few years that I am integrating and more aware of this energy.

I am certainly riding dragon energy by traveling in the Underworld, walking between worlds, and facing my own fears of mortality: Learning the ways of compassion and mercy by bearing witness to my clients’ grief and sharing their dreams.

And hopefully I will continue to find the courage to recognize the goddess in all her manifestations and in myself.

Have you had a visit from the Goddess?

What form did she take?

What lessons do you need to integrate especially in this Year of the Dragon?

Source for image of Kwan Yin: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kuan_Yin_Sea.jpg

Astrological influences on dreams

As a dreamer, I have been trained by indigenous elders to observe how the solar, lunar and planetary cycles affect my dream state. For example, many of us are aware of how a full moon can influence our dreams.  In general, dreaming tends to be enhanced around the full moon, and full moon dreams tend to be more vivid and intense.

In addition, the position of the moon in the zodiac can also influence the dream state. For example, I have noticed that my most intense sexual dreams occur when the moon is in Scorpio.  Sex and reproductive energy are both ruled by Scorpio, as well as mysteries, secrets, the occult and death.

In many indigenous calendar systems, including those of the Maya, the Mexica and the Hopi, this year of 2012 is prophesized to be very powerful and transformative.  As we move into 2012, and experience the influence of the Water Dragon, I have already begun to notice how dragon energy is appearing in people’s dreams.

Energetic Manifestation of the Water Dragon

According to Asian tradition, dragons symbolized power, good fortune and creativity. In his recent Chinese Astrology forecast, Taoist master Liu Ming described that the energy of this Water Dragon year will feel like a tidal wave.  The year will have the powerful qualities of the dragon, but with a watery twist.

I am curious about how the Water Dragon will manifest energetically in dreams, as well in waking life.  I have already observed that the dragon energy can manifest in dreams without an actual dragon appearing in the dream itself.

For example, a few nights before the Chinese New Year I had this dream:

I am with my friends Heidi and Marcela.  We are walking on a hilly path that looks like the landscape of Maui.

Unexpectedly, the path turns into a slide and we start descending downhill quickly. But then, we are moving like a rollercoaster, up and down, faster and faster.   It feels both exhilarating and intense

Suddenly, the path dumps us into the ocean.  We are now underwater, in a long clear glass tube.  I can see fish and huge sea creatures on either side of me, but we are moving too fast to identify anything.  I think I see a shark, but everything is blurry.

Abruptly, we are catapulted out of the tube and land back on shore.  “What a fun and wild ride!” I think to myself.

About a week after having this dream, I met with my friend Heidi who had attended the Chinese Astrology forecast for the year of the Water Dragon with Liu Ming.

When Heidi described to me the energy of this year, I immediately thought of my dream. The energy in the dream was big, fast, intense, watery, exciting— all qualities of a water dragon year. The energy in the dream moved in wave-like undulations, just as if we had been riding on an invisible dragon.

Heidi, Marcela and I started a non-profit organization five years ago called Circle of Ancestors.  As a non-profit we have grown very slowly over the years.  However, if this dream is correct, 2012 may be a very expansive year for our organization!

Emotional Manifestations of the Water Dragon

This past week, I have observed another characteristic of the Water Dragon energy that has manifested in people’s dream states. On Sunday night, my partner had an intense dream in which she woke up sobbing. The dream is too personal to relate here, but what struck me was the raw emotion of grief that was released through her dream.

A few days later I was meeting with my dream buddy Erin. As we shared our dreams, I mentioned my partner’s dream experience. Synchronistically, Erin shared that a few days ago she also had a powerful dream in which she woke up crying. She wept as well as the wrote the dream down.

That same day, I got home and received an email from a student of mine telling me about last night’s dream. She wrote: “I had a crazy vivid dream about Oscar Grant.*  I was crying so hard in the dream and woke up crying.”

These three emotionally intense dreams all happened within days of each other. From a perspective of indigenous science, three is an important number when gathering spiritual data.  When a pattern, message, or symbol repeats three times, this is called triangulation.

As someone who hears a lot of people’s dreams, I can say that dreams that wake people up crying are infrequent, and it is even more unusual that it would happen to three people that I know in one week.

In indigenous science, we are trained to observe and interpret the language of the universe. “All the universe is intelligent and alive,” says my mentor Dr. Apela Colorado.  Dreams carry messages from the universe and common themes in dreams are important to observe.

My interpretation of these three dreams is that they relate to the energy of the Water Dragon. The emotional intensity of these dreams reminds me of the intensity of the water dragon, the “big tidal wave of energy.”

Also, water often symbolizes emotions. Sadness and grief, which release the body’s own water in the form of tears, are the most watery of the emotions.

So, as we move boldly into this big Water Dragon year of 2012, I suggest that we all notice how this particular cosmic energy is influencing our dreams.

Take note of dream themes of water, floods, tidal waves, or dreams which seem emotionally or energetically big and intense.

As the year unfolds, we will most likely observe many more Water Dragon themes in the dream collective.

How is the Water Dragon manifesting in your dreams?

How does the energy of the Water Dragon change as we progress through the cycles and seasons of this year?

Afterall, some dragons guard the gate to the underworld where hidden treasures await us. Other dragons guard the gate to the heavens, the place that holds insight and inspiration. And still others are the monsters we fight in order to prove our power (mostly to ourselves) so we can evolve as beings.

Indeed, dragons are multi-faceted creatures who often symbolize benevelonce in the East and malevolence in the West, and when you dream of dragons it’s probably a good idea to know which one you are confronting.

Why we dream of dragons

Western dragons are large and scaly, scary and fierce. They perfectly capture the essence of what it’s like to be tormented by our fears.

What better image to represent the inner demons we must face in order to grow as people?

Conversly, Eastern dragons are often colorful and beautiful, eloquently representing the magical and supernatural qualities of life that protect us and grant us wishes. These dragons might also represent our inner power, the aspect of ourself that is calling us forth into new territory.

In dream-land, dragons may represent various aspects of our internal and external lives, the parts or our personality we fight against, the battles we win and lose with ourselves and others, as well as the struggles we overcome.

Learning how to work with dragon dreams might empower you to face your fears, recognize and claim your inner gifts so you can more easily take them into the world, and make peace with whatever frustrations plague your life.

But what if you’ve never dreamed of a dragon?

Although you may not have dreamed of an actual firebreathing dragon, chances are you’ve dreamed of an adversary or helpful guide who was dragon-like. Snakes, serpents, and sea-monsters can fall into the “dragon” category since they are the progenitors of the species.

Regardless of the type of dragon in your dreams, these impressive beings can simultaneously evoke awe and fear. The trick is to summon the necessary courage to stand your ground so you can determine how to interact with the dragon. Should you slay it or ask it for guidance? To better understand the answer it’s useful to explore the history of dragons.

Dragons In Mythology

In Eastern mythology, the dragon is a long, snakelike creature with four or five claws and is a symbol of auspicious, benevelont power. “The association between the dragon and vigilance (which it can personify in art) is evidenced by many tales in which dragons appear as guardians linked with the underworld and with oracular knowledge.” Source: page 54 Symbols and their Meanings by Jack Tresidder

There are many types of dragons in Chinese mythology. For instance, the Heavenly Dragon Tianlong (Tian – heaven, Long – dragon), is a dragon who guards the heavenly palace. The Underworld Dragon or Treasure Dragon, Fucanglong, lived in caves below the earth and protected natural and man-made treasures. Source: Encyclopedia Mythica.

In Westeren mythology, the dragon is typically a two legged creature who possesses the ability to fly. Most of Western Europe experiences the dragon as an evil adversary.

In Norse mythology, for instance, “Nidhogg (“tearer of corpses”) is a monstrous serpent that gnaws almost perpetually at the deepest root of the World Tree Yggdrasil, threatening to destroy it. Nidhogg (also) lies on Nastrond in Niflheim and eats corpses to sustain itself.” Source: Encyclopedia Mythica

Dragon Slayers in Poetry and Literature

Dragon slayers are the reveared heroes who face their enemy with ferocious and cunning skills, usually saving a virgin or community from impending disaster.

In the Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo it is written,

(ll. 300-310) But near by was a sweet flowing spring, and there with his strong bow the lord, the son of Zeus, killed the bloated, great she-dragon, a fierce monster wont to do great mischief to men upon earth, to men themselves and to their thin-shanked sheep; for she was a very bloody plague. … (ll. 334-362) Whosoever met the dragoness, the day of doom would sweep him away, until the lord Apollo, who deals death from afar, shot a strong arrow at her.

Another famous dragon slayer was St. George, William Shakespear refers to him in Richard III:

Advance our standards, set up on our foes

Our ancient world of courage fair St. George

Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons

Richard III, act v, sc 3

Dragons In Jungian Psychology

When the hero fights the dragon it is a battle with

the regressive forces of the unconscious which threaten to swallow the individuating ego. The forces, personified in figures like Circe, Kali, medusa, sea serpents, Minotaur, or Gorgon, represent the Terrible side of the Great Mother. The Hero may voluntarily submit to being swallowed by the monster, or to a conscious descent into Hades so as to vanquish the forces of darkness.

This mortifying descent into the abyss, the sea, the dark cave, or the underworld in order to be reborn to a new identity expresses the symbolism of the night-sea journey through the uterine belly of the monster. It is a fundamental theme in mythology the world over — that of death and rebirth. All initiatory rituals involve this basic archetypal pattern through which the old order and early infantile attachments must die and a more mature and productive life be born in their place.

This dragon fight and liberation of the captive is the archetypal pattern that can guide us through those major transitional passages in our personal development where a rebirth or reorientation of consciousness is indicated. The captive represents the ‘new’ element whose liberation makes all further development possible. Source: http://www.cgjungny.org/d/d_mythpsyche.html

Draco, the Dragon Constellation 

In Greek mythology, the constellation Draco, which is a constellation in the northern hemisphere, “was identified with the dragon Ladon, which had a hundred heads and was in charge of guarding the Garden of the Hesperides, the orchard of the goddess Hera where golden apples that gave immortality grew. When Hercules was given the task to steal the apples, he enchanted Ladon with music and put him to sleep before stealing the apples. Hera later placed the dragon among the stars.” source: http://www.topastronomer.com

As an aside, Draco is also the name of one of Harry Potter’s main adversaries, Draco Malfoy, who is a member of the Slytherin House whose mascot is the serpent.

How to work dragon dreams playfully

Dragon dreams, whether they entail snakes, serpents or giant creatures, are often powerful, big dreams. Although it might be useful to explore the imagery symbolically, enacting them through dream theater might yield more profound results.

This is most easily done in a dream group setting, but if you’re all by yourself you can use props like pillows and chairs.

Start by sharing the dream. Then have the dreamer choose people to play various parts of the dream, everything from dream characters like the dragon to emotions like fear. Have someone else play the role of the dreamer, too. If you have enough participants, assign people to play significant landscape characteristics, like an erupting volcano.

Once roles are assigned, have the dreamer walk everyone through the dream scenario step-by-step. Then do it again as a seamless play. Once you’re done, have the dreamer play him or herself so s/he can experience the dream in waking life.

When you’re done, you might “dream the scene forward” by having the characters continue to act from an intuitive place, everyone imagining what happens next and acting it out.

The dreamer can ask the characters questions, like, “Dragon, why are you near this erupting volcano?”. Participants reply as though they are that character. (E.g. the person playing the dragon speaks as though she is the dragon and answers the dreamers question from the dragon’s perspective. The person playing the volcano does the same.)

Encourage everyone to trust their intuition and any insights they glean from the experience. 

How to work dragon dreams symbolically 

When it comes to dreams, it seems fitting to reflect on the two opposing views of dragons – benevolent and malevolent. Like two sides of the same coin, one dragon is the bringer of good fortune while the other is a scary monster who must be overcome.

Since dreams often reveal the obstacles we need to metaphorically slay before we can grow as people and connect with our Greater Self, our dream dragons might represent our need to confront our internal and external enemies in order to find the gold within and without.

When a dragon or dragon-like creature appears in your dream, contemplate your reaction or interaction with it. 

Did you fight it?

Flee?

Ask it a question?

Receive a gift?

How you act in a dream may be an indicator of how you are acting or responding in waking life.

Outer dragons

If your dream dragon causes you fear, ask if there is something in waking life that feels overwhelmingly frightening. It could be a person, place, thing or event. It could be a calling to a specific vocation that causes you to feel fear about the prospects of letting go of the past. It could be anything.

If your dream dragon causes you to feel joy or gives you a gift, ask if there is soemthing in waking life that feels larger than life that needs to be approached and accepted. It could be a job offer or a new relationship. Again, it could be anything.

Inner dragons

Your dream dragon can also represent inner struggles, like feeling fearful of moving forward or nervous about an upcoming event. It might also indicate the need to muster up the courage to stand your ground in difficulty or trying circumstances.

Have you had any dragon dreams?

If so, share your dream and what it meant to you in the comments section below.

To find source information for each photo, scroll over the photo.

The First Dream: Train Station in England

The first was Jonathan. I posted a picture to Facebook of a train station in Carlisle, England. Within a few minutes he commented that it was the train station from a dream he’d had in 2009. In 2009 he and I were in a class on facilitating dream groups.

Here is part of his dream:

I am outside on what appears to be a nice sunny day. I am talking to a nice looking but older dark haired woman. She has short hair and is dressed like she is on a business trip. I think we are both on a business trip. We seem to be outside a train station, a nice modern train station. We have just arrived from somewhere but are going our separate ways. We don’t seem to know each other well, but yet we are intimate in some way. I am wanting to or considering having an affair with her even though I think she is married. Her name is Mrs. McDonald. I think she says her first name but I do not remember.  She tells me that she lives in Carlisle.

Jonathan’s astonishment at seeing the train station from his dream was apparent. He said it looked exactly like the one in his dream and he didn’t expect it to be in England, because in the dream he assumed it was a place in Southern California. The fact that the woman in the dream was from Carlisle added to his excitement.

The Second Dream: Mount Diablo in California

The second friend to write about one of my photos was Trude, a woman I met while in Norway this summer. We had an immediate connection when we met and have since maintained email contact. I sent out an email about re-opening my online photography shop, and not long after she emailed me.

“The photograph of Mount Diablo is an exact image of a dream I once had, a long time before I met you. In this dream I was running in a landscape and feeling extremely light. Happiness is perhaps the best word to describe the feeling.

“I can’t remember ever having seen such a landscape other than in my dream. I remember this dream so well because I had it in a time where I had a lot of terrible dreams, and I started to draw my dreams in a book, and interpreted them. This dream was one of comfort and joy.”

Trude has never been to the United States, so she wouldn’t have seen the Mount Diablo landscape in waking life. She did draw the dream after having it and said the drawing looks similar to my photograph.

So how did this happen?

How did Jonathan dream of a place I visited in England?

How did Trude dream of a landscape in California that I photographed?

Is there some innate connection between me and Trude and me and Jonathan that allowed this kind of synchronicity to occur?

There are no straightforward answers to this question, but one place to find clues is in dream telepathy research.

Dream Telepathy Research

In the 1960s and 70s, Stanley Krippner, along with other researchers at Maimondes Medical Center, conducted a study on dream telepathy. In the experiments, one person was asleep in a room. In another room, a second person looked at a picture. The scientists would wake the sleeper from REM (rapid eye movement) sleep while the second person was looking at the picture. Often, the sleeper remembered dreams that included images from the pictures seen by the person in the other room.

This research seems to indicate telepathic communication happens between the dreamer and the “sender,” the person looking at the photograph. Of course, this communication happens in real time. How can we explain dream telepathy that occurs with a gap of several years in between?

In the case of Trude’s dream I took the photograph in 2006 and she had the dream in 2010. Jonathan dreamed of the Carlilse train station in 2009 and I didn’t visit it until 2011.

This leaves me with more questions than answers. If time is an illusion and everything is really happening at once, that might get us a little closer to an explanation. It doesn’t matter what year I took the picture or what year the dreamers had their dreams.

Another question: why did I photograph these specific people’s dreams? Often, when people are incredibly close, like twins or spouses, mutual and/or paranormal dreaming occurs. But Jonathan and I don’t know each other all that well and Trude is someone I only met for a few days this summer.

Something dream researcher Montague Ullman said about the unique relationships formed during communal dreamwork might explain why I photographed Jonathan’s dream. As I mentioned, Jonathan and I were in a dream group facilitation class together. The class consisted of a two-hour dream group once a week for several weeks.

Ullman writes that, “Experiential dream work generates emotional closeness among the participants. It is expected that this developing rapport in combination with the natural psi facilitating effect of the dream itself, would result in an increasing number of identifiable psi occurrences among the members of the group.”

Since Jonathan and I did experiential dream work together, it makes sense that we’d have a “psi occurrence.”

But how to explain photographing the dream of a woman in Norway who I’d never met before and only spent time with for a few days?

All I can say is that, from the moment I met Trude, I knew on an intuitive, gut level we had a connection. I felt like I knew her from somewhere. A past life? A dream? It was one of those moments where you just know you’ve met the person before.

We met at a shamanic workshop weekend, another emotionally intense and experiential field where psi comes into play. Perhaps the same principles apply with me and Trude as with me and Jonathan. As a result of the time we spent together that weekend, Trude and I formed a tight emotional bond and we have remained close even though I’m now back in the United States.

Have you ever photographed something from someone else’s dream?

Have you ever seen a photograph and thought, “that’s my dream!”?

Share with us in the comments below.

Reference: Ullman, M. (1979). Psi communication through dream sharing. Paper presented at the Parapsychology Foundation Conference on “Communication and Parapsychology,” held August 9-10, 1979, in Vancouver, Canada.