Dreams and Self-Development

Contents

Introduction

Dreams and Self-Development

Getting Started

A Short Story

Sleep

The Physiology of Sleep

The Mystery of Sleep

Body, Dreams and Psychic Energy

The Body

The Theories of Wilhelm Reich

The Body during Dreams

Psychic Energy/The Aura

The Etheric Body and the Chakras

The Astral Body

The Mental Body

The Spiritual Body

Symbols in the Aura

Jung’s Personality Model

Self

The Ego

The Personal Unconscious

The Shadow

Animus and Anima

The Collective Unconscious

Dream Symbols from Jung’s Personality Model

Ego Dreams

People

Buildings

Objects

Animals

Dream examples

Shadow Dreams

Negative Persons

Negative Animals

Aggression and/or Angst

The Shadow as Shadow

The Body, the Root Chakra and Grounding

Urine, Feces and Toilet Visits

Nightmares

Animus/Anima Dreams

The Archetype of the Opposite Gender

Animus and Anima as Persons

Unfaithfulness

The Body, the Hara Chakra and Sexuality

Sigmund Freud’s Symbolic World

Intercourse, Pregnancy and Birth

Higher Animus/Anima Symbols Connected to the Self

Polarity, the Body and the Aura

The Collective Unconscious

The Collective Journey

Element Dreams

Examples of Element Dreams

Animal Dreams

Geometric Symbols

The Western Alchemical Tradition

The Transformation Colors Black, White and Red

Intercourse, Death and Rebirth in the Process of Self-Development

A Dream Process

The Collective Field Opens towards Higher Consciousness

The Great Moments in Life

Synchronicity and So-called Coincidences

BFG, Telepathic Dreams and Precognition

The ESP Senses

Hidden Regularities for Psychic Energy

Attraction

Cause and Effect

Truth

Love

The Wise Man and the Wise Woman in the Collective Unconscious

Wisdom Dreams and Transcendent Experiences

Wisdom Dreams and Psychoses

Karma, Quantum Physics and Consciousness

Conclusion

Appendixes

A – Symbol Meditation

B – Chakra Meditation

C – Shadow Meditation

D – Polarity Exercise

E – Drawing Mandalas

F – Triangle Exercise

G – Circle Exercise

H – Auragrams

Summary Diagram of Chakras and Related Dream Symbols

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

The dream-process while writing the book:

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part One

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part Two

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part Three

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part Four

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part Five

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part Six

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part Seven

THE BOOK PROCESS – Part Eight

Introduction

During Christmas of 1997, I was searching for a log-cabin near our therapy center. I needed a retreat – a place where I could find some peace and quiet to write the book I was working on. Therefore, my husband and I were driving around looking at cabins for sale. It had to be a cabin with electricity, so I could use my laptop. We found a little cabin located in a lovely recreational area. The whole environment felt good. We thought we should try to get in touch with the owner.

Life continued as normal, and I forgot about the cabin, but on January 6th, I dreamt about it: I went to look at the cabin with its owner; I had been there alone once. I thought the view was better the second time, and that the large trees were nice. A lot of work had to be done inside; among other things the walls needed a fresh coat of paint. The kitchen was connected to a dormitory. There was a large bed there, where we ate. I gave my son some of my blueberry yoghurt. A pond could now be seen nearby. The large trees also protected the cabin from intrusion. After that dream, it was obvious that we had to go back and have a second look at the cabin.

In this context, a short interpretation of the dream says that view means clarity and consciousness. The trees symbolize protection. In a process of self-development, both are necessary. The kitchen and bed being built together means that one can obtain nourishment and rest for both body and mind and that even my son, who is more concerned with computers and science fiction, would be able to find nourishment there. I had discovered something new – the little pond (which is not located nearby). Water can in this context symbolize a place where the collective unconscious pops up.

On closer examination, the cabin was solid, but worn out inside. Could we stomach this? We have had renovated houses most of our lives because we have moved many times. We agreed that this seemed like just a little too much fun.

On January 24th, I dreamt that I asked my husband why he didn’t want to buy the cabin we had looked at. He answered that the veranda was too small. (In this context I interpret veranda as something concerning view and rest.) Thus, my subconscious had not forgotten about the cabin. Still, my consciousness forgot about the entire project again.

On February 20th, I dreamt that we were at the cabin once more: I sat inside the door writing, looking through the window. One of the things I wrote about was birds singing. I didn’t need to copy it, since it was a draft which was to be rewritten several times. I could enlarge the text through my voice, and minimize it in the same way. When I spoke, the text immediately changed size on the screen. Suddenly I noticed that the owner of the cabin was lying sleeping in one of the rooms. Had he been kicked out of his home? I became sad and went outside the cabin to my husband. We came upon the owner’s wife, who was pregnant (I knew she really was). We said that we were there to look at the cabin once more. Needless to say after that reminder we bought the cabin and at a reasonable price.

Please note that as I refer to dreams throughout the book, I find it practical to name them. I call these three dreams The Three Cabin Dreams.

The third dream tells us that the cabin will be a perfect place to write a book. The writing process will, however, take time; the book must be rewritten many times. (It turned out to be true. In 1997, I wrote on a book about psycho-therapy and spirituality, where I used a whole lot of dream examples but the book project came to a halt.) Birds singing refer to freedom, spring, growth and expressing oneself with sound. The same symbols can be seen through my vocal operation of the computer. I also understand that the book is going to be a practical book, expressing how to do dream work. I am going to write it as if I was running a course, taught by my voice. I interpret the owner lying sleeping as him waiting for us, that he was very set on selling us the cabin. A pregnant person refers to something ready to be born, a new beginning. My husband being outside the cabin while I was inside can be interpreted that I was in touch with the project, while he wasn’t really coping with it. (He had actually not dreamt about the cabin.)

The cabin is located along a road named Lindåsveien. The first place in which my husband and I had lived together was in Denmark, named Linå. Perhaps this was a sign that we could return to a time which was very important for us; that we could now address and resolve things we had left untouched for many years? Psychic processes take time. You cannot accelerate or force things to emerge. At least, the two Lin(d)å(s) places have in common the fact that they are located in a green and peaceful area in nature, and that they give me the same feeling of peace and medicine for the soul.

In the same way as you can interpret your dreams, you can interpret the events every day brings. Obviously, you can’t try to interpret everything throughout the day – that would be too exhausting. However it can be worth noticing symbolism when important decisions must be made. Our lives are filled with symbolism – they always have been – because the ability to form symbols is rooted in our psyche. We see it on old cave paintings, in fairy-tales, myths, the technical world, the icons on our computers, etc.

It is important to be open to the possibilities that life has to offer; as well as accepting what you can’t change. My 1997 book project never advanced because something was missing. Later, I was suddenly called by a publisher who wanted to publish a book on dreams. They had heard through a friend of a friend that I was working with dreams. I have been for 30 years, so that was nothing new. As I believe that coincidences are not so coincidental, I feel that the time has now come to write the book. As I see it, there is a universal law of attraction and repulsion. Put differently: You can follow the energy, or oppose it. If you oppose it you use a lot of energy without getting anywhere. In such a situation, it is rewarding to stop and think things through. Perhaps the path leads in another direction, or perhaps you have overlooked something.

This book is about working with your dreams, by yourself, through a process of self-development. Dreams are an excellent gateway to self-development, because they can be a comment on almost everything: your way of thinking, your way of acting, what you have suppressed emotionally. They also reveal events from the past and conflicts between what you might want and what you really need in order to live a better life or advance in your process of self-development. Dreams can be a comment on the past, the present and sometimes the future; dreams can be symbolic or straight down to business; and sometimes you can experience precognitive dreams.

In the book, I will describe Carl Gustav Jung’s personality model using many dream examples and suggest different tools and methods you can try out for yourself. I will also mention the relationship between dreams and the body and the chakra system. Besides this, I will look at some dreams in more detail. Illustrating what to look and ask for is a sort of key to opening and interpreting your own dreams. I will show you ways of thinking, asking questions and associating so that you can continually work with your dreams yourself – even though you may not know the purpose of an individual dream symbol.

In the appendixes you will find different meditative methods and other techniques which further support your dream work. In the back of the book you will also find a glossary, with a short definition of the terminological expressions. The index contains central notions and dream symbols from the text. Here you will also find the dreams mentioned as a subgroup under the named dreams, for example The Three Cabin Dreams.

The purpose of working with your dreams is to learn some methods for self-development. Dreams can certainly be used for entertainment, but the purpose must be to use this greater awareness of your inner life as a guide to your outer, awaking life. In this way, you learn to understand yourself better and thereby think, feel, and react more purposefully.

Dreams never lie, but obviously you can interpret them incorrectly, especially if you think the dream says something you do not want to hear. Then you may choose a more flattering interpretation. It is therefore important to be as honest as possible! It can be an advantage if you work with dreams in a group, since the others will give you suggestions and ideas. Yet ultimately the one who knows best whether an interpretation fits is the dreamer him/herself.

This book cannot be used as a comprehensive dream encyclopedia. However I hope it can be a practical guide – a sort of skeleton – that the individual dreamer can build upon and use in his/her own process of self-development. I have given numerous examples, and I occasionally include theory; mainly that of Carl Gustav Jung, Jes Bertelsen, Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen and Bob Moore, who are my frame of reference. The fact that these particular people have meant a lot to me is connected with the history of my own self-development:

My relationship with dreams has developed through my knowledge of body therapy and the subtle anatomy of man. When I studied at the University of Copenhagen, Gestalt therapy – and later body therapy – ensured my continuing attendance. The connection between body and psyche gave my study of psychology a purpose, and led to my professional degree (specialty as it was called in Copenhagen) on the theme of Body, Psyche, Energy and Body Consciousness in Relation to Body Therapy.

Body therapy was not commonly accepted at the University of Copenhagen at that time. As a matter of fact, it did not exist as a topic. Along with a group of students and innovative teachers I began an in depth study of the work of Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen. We invited scholars to Denmark and we had an experimental group, where we tried out different types of body therapy together. We had a massage group where we progressed according to the manual, and I gradually learned Esalen massage. In time, I grew curious about what was really happening during the massage. I could sense something non-physical through my hands when I gave massage, and when I was giving massage myself many things happened to my body that I could not explain.

My instructor referred me to Bob Moore, who opened the energetic universe for me and articulated some of the experiences I had been through. Bob Moore is Irish, but he has lived in Denmark and taught self-development there since 1974. He has for many years worked with meditative practices, counseling and healing. He left the physical world on January the 6th, 2008. He has taught me most of what I know about psychic energy today, and we are going to hear more of him when dealing with the relationship between dreams and chakras and auras. Sadly, Bob Moore has not wished to write books himself, but many of his pupils have written about his methods (for example Helen Gamborg). I have attended his courses since 1978.

During my time in the massage group, some of the participants started with dream courses, and we gradually developed into a dream group. I had started with Bob Moore, which led to contact with Jes Bertelsen. Therefore, I soon found myself on Jes Bertelsen’s courses while he was a university lecturer. He filled the largest auditorium at the University of Århus (in Denmark) when he lectured about dreams. He later founded the Vækstcenteret (The Growth Center) in Nørre Snede in Denmark. I can thank him for showing me the path into Jung’s exciting universe. Jes Bertelsen has a considerable authorship. Unfortunately they are not in English. (I can recommend his Dreams, Chakra Symbols and Meditation and his four books about depth psychology. He has also written several books about the self, higher consciousness and dzogchen).

My husband, Harry Jensen, has also played a part in my personal development. Without knowing it, our paths have crossed several times since childhood, and we have been a couple since 1980. Harry has been influenced by Rudolph Steiner’s anthroposophy, the Danish priest and psalm poet N. F. S. Grundtvig and the Danish author Ole Sarvig. He has indirectly influenced me through this background, and he has taught me a good deal about how music and sound can have a healing effect. In 1986, we left our therapy center in Søndervig in Denmark and moved to Norway, partially because some dreams pointed us in that direction. For several years, we have been each other’s sparring partners and assistants, and together we now run the therapy center Lerkenborg in Vestfossen, where we work both with a more traditional psychotherapy as well as self-development.

In 1985, Bernhard came into my life. He is now grown up, but over the years he has taught me about pirates and knights, the sinking of the Titanic and last but not least Star Wars – an amazing universe of heroes and heroines, villains and strange creatures. I cannot write a book on the corridors of the mind without including the Star Wars universe. Children are a lot more in contact with fantasy and the archetypes – the fundamental elements of the psyche – than adults.

It is an advantage for a therapist/counselor to gain insight through the client’s dreams in the process of self-development. The dreams tell of the client’s problems and possibilities, and the progress or difficulties of the therapy process and the causes for this. At this point of the book, I would like to thank everyone who has willingly put their dreams at my disposal, as well as those who otherwise in various ways have supported and helped me during the writing process.

The process of publishing this book in English has not been possible without the help of good friends. First of all I must thank my two translators Carmel Bourke and my son Bernhard Aaboe Jensen for their help. Bernhard has also helped me with the English illustrations. I am also grateful to Thelma Patricia and to Daniel Perret, who has introduced me to Books on Demand. My friend Lynda Petterson has patiently supported the process in many ways and I must also thank my husband Harry Jensen for his patience. Finally my gratitude goes to Kitty Ensby for kindly making her front-page of the Norwegian edition available in the English version.

It is a great pleasure for me to finally see this book publish in English. I hope you the reader will find it helpful in your request to your dreams and useful in guiding you to work with dreams for your process of self-development. I wish you all the best on your journey.

Dreams and Self-Development

Self-development is about unfolding your unique self. Jung speaks of the self as the gathering principle of the psyche. The self is the wisdom level of the person – our inner spiritual guide. The self must not be mingled with the ego, which is the awareness about who and what we are and what we think and feel about everything. The ego is not in possession of the same wisdom as the self. The ego can be greedy and selfish. For example, we did not find the cabin pretty enough on the inside, but it was apparently the cabin we needed. The cabin has until now given us much joy as a vital retreat. The cabin wanted to be bought, and the energy wanted to go in that direction. The self had its way, but it had to manifest itself in three dreams before I listened.

Being ruled by the self rather than the ego is a much deeper way to be in contact with yourself – therefore you must uncover the self. The self, however, is encapsulated by our stiffened norms, attitudes, feelings, experiences, traumas, desires, etc. These limitations must gradually be worked through and understood in order for wisdom to become apparent. Everybody has the ability to access this wisdom as the paths to inner wisdom/self are cleansed. The more you listen to the messages from the self, the more messages it sends to you.

Self-development is a slow process which can continue throughout your life. A psychologist can help a person in crisis, or address a more limited problem that can be solved relatively easily. However if you want to get to know yourself better, you must go deeper and farther. In a process of self-development – alternatively a process of individuation as Jung calls it – you must try to understand yourself to the depths of your being and live according to your true self. In a way, the process of self-development can be split in two: The first part concerns getting to know different sides of yourself. Possible traumas must be resolved, reaction patterns must be studied, the language of the body must be learned, and body blockages must be loosened up through, for example, body therapy, yoga or massage. You must discover and learn about your stiffened attitudes and emotional reactions and your sexuality. This is the area of the psyche that Jung calls the personal unconscious. Our personal problems must be read and understood. Circumstances must be accepted, and we must take control ourselves. We do not need to let unconscious aspects of our personality dictate our actions – if that is the case we are, in a way, asleep while awake. Self-development does not mean that you must not be angry or sad. It means that we can get to know our feelings and become aware of the causes, in order to choose whether to just touch the feeling or express it fully. Most importantly, we must become aware of the feelings we have. In such a process you become an integrated, harmonious human with a clear sense of who you are. A good and lasting psychotherapy can be helpful here.

The second aspect of self-development is more advanced as it concerns an expansion of consciousness. Although humans use all parts of the brain we probably just use a small part of the brain’s capacity. One can learn to administer this well, but the human brain can do much more than just that. By learning to utilize more of your brain capacity, you increase your consciousness. Imagine a person in the top of a tower and one on the ground. The view from the tower is the best one, but both the tower and stairs must be solid. A person on the ground cannot see as much as the one in the tower. You can simply say that the one in the tower has a higher consciousness than the one on the ground. The second aspect of the process of self-development then becomes qualitatively expanding consciousness in the direction of higher consciousness. If we imagine that we can use 20% of the brain capacity and not for example 10–15%, then our consciousness will be considerably expanded.

The self is something far deeper than the ego. The ego is developed during our early childhood years. We develop the ego in order to differentiate between ourselves and our surroundings and also to attain identity. If we did not possess this ego, we would be mentally ill or deeply stunted.

The self is the source from which our inner wisdom flows. The problem for most humans, however, is that hearing what the self is trying to tell us is not easy. That is because we, throughout our upbringing and into our adult lives – yes, perhaps even previous lives, if you will – have been exposed to a variety of experiences which have left their mark on our psyche. Fortunately we do not remember everything that has happened in our life. The ego usually only remembers a little of what has happened – namely what you need to use here and now. The reminder is stored in the memory.

If, however, one is exposed to traumatic experiences or other psychic strains over time, these experiences can be so painful that our ego does not want to remember them at all. Therefore, we forget them permanently. In that case, life is partially ruled by these awful forgotten emotional strains of which we are unaware. Sigmund Freud was one of the first to speak of repression. That means that we cannot consciously recall the forgotten episodes – even if we should wish to do so. However with the help of a psychologist or other aid, meditative work, healing, etc. one can remember. The self also remembers, and that is why it sends us dreams. The self wants to help us understand our problems better by getting to the heart of the matter, and also presenting suggestions for solutions. The more we appreciate the self, the clearer messages becomes.

Between the self and the ego’s daily awareness, we find all the repressed material we have pushed away in the past. The more material that separates the ego from the self; the more difficult it is for the self to call upon the ego and awareness. But the self is doing its best to be heard, and that happens through our dreams. The self clarifies what is blocking the communication, and as one has gradually learned to process problems differently our contact with the self becomes clearer. The self disentangles itself from the repressed material in the psyche as the repressed material gradually becomes conscious. This is what we understand as self-development. The self is entangled in all of our old repressed traumas, but the contact between the self and ego becomes more distinct when the disturbances are removed. Thus, the self can manifest itself more directly in our awareness.

One could say that while a person lacking awareness is being ruled by the ego, the self gradually becomes more distinct through the process of self-development. Eventually, it replaces the role of the ego as the center of command. That does not mean that the ego disappears. The function of the ego has to do with our individual identity and awareness. Therefore we do need the ego, but as Jes Bertelsen puts it, the ego becomes more like the hands and eyes of the self. The ego becomes the tool of the self.

Bob Moore expresses it this way: He says that man is normally ruled by his wants rather than his deepest needs. The wants are ruled by what you think you need and what you greedily want. For example, the ego wants to take a trip south with friends and drink wine day and night. But maybe the person has to look at why he is having an increasing alcohol problem, and really needs a week of sobriety and self-reflection in the mountains. A trip down south is apparently more fun, but the alcohol problem is destroying his life. What, then, does he really need? The ego wants to go to the south while the self wants to go to the cabin. The self will communicate this through dreams; for example in a nightmare where his friends want to kill him or where he is drowning in a bottle of alcohol. Or he has a comfortable dream where he is in a cave in the woods with a simple candle.

The process of self-development can sometimes be revealed in dreams in a quite peculiar way. Here is an example: The woman dreams about a meat sausage or something similar. A wire is twisted around it, or vice versa – the sausage twisted around the wire. Suddenly the wire unfolds, and it turns out that the sausage is a dirty and groggy little girl. This dream is most certainly about self-development. Although her entire self does not unfold, quite an important aspect of it does. Children in dreams represent the self. Through different experiences, most of us have been given roles, which prevent us from addressing the deepest needs in ourselves. We adapt, and deny the little girl within us. But she is something real and unique that we need to care for. (One could also say that this dream points to a shadow aspect, as it is about a person of the same sex as the dreamer. This is, however, not the common understanding of a shadow. Angst or aggression is often present in the usual shadow dream – in this dream case we are talking rather about neglect!) We can call it a part of the self, or a part of herself. We do use the word self quite often in our language, we do not say a part of her ego very often. We will later refer to this dream as The Self-Development Dream.

The same direct self-development symbolism can be found in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ book Women who Run with the Wolves. She tells the fairy-tale about a fisherman who catches a female skeleton in the ocean. He gets scared and runs home with the skeleton woman in hot pursuit. Eventually he pities her and untangles her from the fishing line. After several events her body is covered with flesh, and we get a happy ending. (We will call this fairy-tale The Skeleton Woman.) This story is about another aspect of self-development. The man exposes his sensitivity, which apparently has been blocked: He feels compassion and unites with her. The developed imaginary person here is a woman, of the opposite sex to the fisherman. This is about the man’s anima, the female aspect of the man, which he captures and disentangles. Both the shadow and anima are archetypes – that is, basic structures of the psyche. Aspects of these two archetypes are disentangled in the two examples. Corresponding to anima, we say that the woman has a masculine side named animus, which can also be unfolded.

The self is also an archetype. The self appears as a direct symbol in dreams – for example as wise men or women. In order to get more in touch with our inner wisdom, we must get to know repressed material, feelings, experiences, thought patterns, etc. which block our vision. Getting to know the shadow and anima/animus means getting closer to the self. So one could say that the shadow and anima/animus are aspects of the self, or emanating from the self - the archetypes are the language of the self.

When repressed material between the ego and the self is cleared, the self will manifest itself in everyday life and not just in dreams. This is because the ego gets in touch with its needs – therefore it is no longer ruled so much by its wants. So the person will not let himself be controlled by his emotions, but rather by intuition and insight, although things he encounters along the way can be very tempting. Take the case of our alcoholic tourist. If he is governed directly by the self, he will say thanks but no thanks to travelling down south; since he feels that what he really needs is peace and quiet and time for self-reflection. He will not question his choice at all and will wholeheartedly wish his friends a nice trip.

Consciousness and awareness are other key terms in self-development. They are somewhat related to the ego, but they are not the same. You can describe some things intellectually, while other things are more subtle. If, for example, you met someone yesterday, you will be able to recognize them if you meet them again on the street among hundreds of others. However if you are only told about a person with fair hair, a large nose, big ears, brown eyes, etc. you will not be able to recognize that person if you meet him. Thus, our awareness is more than intellectual understanding. We need other things to hang our awareness on, for example our feelings and all of our senses. In order to separate awareness from consciousness one could define awareness as the knowledge aspect of consciousness.

We work on our dreams to become aware of our repressed problems. When you become aware of something previously unconscious, it can turn out to be concrete. Here is an example: The dreamer is walking up a steep stair towards a loft room with an old, large door. She has been given a key previously in the dream. She is afraid and hesitates, but she eventually decides to stick the key in the lock and turn it around. The door opens, and she stands face to face with… (gasp) the witch. (This dream will henceforth be referred to as The Door Opener.) This is a standard dream which can uncover anything. Doors being opened are in themselves always positive, because it means that we have opened an aspect of the psyche which was previously unconscious. The witch represents an ugly, nasty or wise aspect of the dreamer. The point here is that something which has been locked has opened and the light of consciousness is thrown upon it.

Getting Started

As you dream every night, you can start the dream work right away. The first problem you might encounter is that you cannot remember what you have dreamt; yet the ability to remember dreams can be learned. Some people remember many dreams every single night, others remember dreams only if they are considered very important, and some never remember what they dream at all. Yet it is possible to train yourself to remember more dreams and more details. You can also learn to be more aware in dreams, so that you are awake to a greater degree while you’re dreaming. The more interested we are in our dreams, the more we remember. So our attention must also be sharpened - nobody bothers to speak when no one is listening; neither does the self. If we listen, we will be rewarded.

First, you will have to sleep. Perhaps this may seem unnecessary to say, but many people have a very irregular sleep pattern. Certain regularity can be positive. You also have to get hold of a dream book and a pen, and place it next to the bed so you can easily note the dreams during the night. Some