The Way of the Dream: Conversations in Jungian Dream Interpretation

The Way of The Dream:
Conversations in Jungian Dream Interpretation

Marie-Louise von Franz
with Fraser Boa
1994 Shambhala, Boston & London

Excerpts chosen by Dr Victoria Shackelford:

“The great discovery of depth psychology is that five or six times a night, the unconscious part of our psyche is portrayed in our dreams, and by recalling the dreams, our conscious mind has the opportunity to view the contents of the unconscious mind.” (p. 22)

The  unconscious reveals itself in the dream by way of images, metaphor and symbol. Like plays, poems and paintings, dream images become the language of dreams. 

C. G. Jung identified several figures which form the basis of dream language. 

All figures in our dreams personify some aspect of our total personality.

THE FOUR DREAM FIGURES JUNG NAMED ARE:

1). Shadow

2). Anima

3). Animus

4). Self

(P. 24)

Shadow:

The dream figure of the same sex as the dreamer.

Shadow figure often represents the opposite or inferior quality and behavior of the ego self of the dreamer.

This dream figure appearing as a female in a woman’s dream personifies the dreamer.

“Best Enemy”, that part of ourselves we hide if we are even aware of this darker side of our way of being in the world. 

“The shadow knows!”

Anima & Animus:

“Analytical Psychology says that every man has an inner woman and every woman has an inner man”. (p. 25)

“Our countrasexual nature is personified in dreams as the figure who is the opposite sex of the dreamer.

Anima

For men it is the anima representing their feminine side, their muse inspiration.

The negative anima in a man has the behavior of feminine traits such as vanity, touchy sulkiness and stickiness, lack of movement.

The positive anima displays his femininity as — receptive, capable of listening, waiting.

The helpful anima is also nurturing and supportive.

Animus

The animus represents the masculinity in a woman as a can-do attitude.

Negatively the anima figure displays itself in determination with biting even brutal remarks, and actions, including being reckless, criticizing and sharp.

This darker animus displays a silent stubbornness and or criticism saying “You can’t do that or your messing things up etc”.

The positive animus is the good father figure or helpful supportive male with a “can do” attitude. “You can do this”. Displaying courage, knowledge, intellect and spirituality.

(pp 26-27)

Self:

C.G. Jung said that the “Self” is at the center of the psyche. 

He called this the Divine center from which all organization stems from. Self written always with a capital “S” is meant to be the ultimate unknowable great divine center of our psyche, which we have to explore for a whole lifetime. 

“No one knows what this Self is or what it wants. We need the dreams. We can say the dreams are the letters which the Self writes to us every night”. (P 27)

The images in our dreams that represent the Self come to us as a center of something — as in a mandala, a square, circle or other abstract form. 

The Self can also appear in our dreams as a divine savior child or other dynamic figure, a wise old man or wise old woman or a psychopomp guide telling us what to do and how to proceed around something of central soulful importance to us. (pp. 28-29)

The Self has a kind of “destiny” vision for us seen in its dream figures, working to tell us about an inner conflict we are struggling with concerning our true being. It is not self-realization, that’s ego self with a little “s”.

THE STRUCTURE OF DREAMS

In Jungian psychology, we have a technique. We compare the dream to a drama and examine it under three structural headings:

1). The introduction—setting the dream and the naming of the problem, (the first sentence introduces the setting and the major dream characters).

2). The peripeteia—the ups and downs of the dream story, as in the center of the dream story.

3). The lysis or the end solution or even catastrophe is usually about what the dream is driving at. Pay close attention to the last sentence of the dream which gives the unconscious solution to the problem, if there is one. 

Some dreams just end and they are not useful.

However the ending of the dream usually is the solution (pp. 33-35).

WORKING WITH YOUR OWN DREAMS

Personal Associations/Archetypal/Associations

1). Take a sheet of paper and half it and write down the dream on one side.

2). Then free associate and write down, on the other side of the paper, your first thought, “a word or image” along side the dream word or image. 

3). Look to see if you see a connection between the dream image and character, or word and the free associations on the opposite side of the paper. 

Archetypal dreams have archetypal associations in the dream images, such as a main character (anima or animus, old man old woman, the Self etc) and large settings such as natural landscapes, town squares, large houses, castles and other such grand images and descriptions can have no personal associations but will often have mythological associations. These associations refer to larger collective themes and patterns of behaviors.

Von Franz recommends to ask the question,  “What is it in me that does that “ (p. 38), concerning what ever is happening in the dream.

She continues to emphasize that “The dream never tells you what you already know, it always points to a blind spot”. (P.38)

This is why von Franz suggests that it is beneficial to have others hear your dream. She recommends staying away from dream dictionaries because they are too general an interpretation taking the life out of the dream, locking its movement in the psyche.  

Von Franz stresses that “individual associations” are best for individual dreamers. In other words, associations and the expanding and amplifications of the dream images depend on what is of most importance to the dreamer that counts.

Von Franz reminded us that after all “Dreams are the only things which come out of the patient itself” (p. 41). If the dream psychotherapist and other dream listeners stay open and objective we have the chance to discover the psychological depth of what that dreamer tells him or her about themself. (p. 41)

The work for the therapist and other listeners of our dreams is therefore:

“We follow the dreams. We work with the dreamer to discover their meaning and we leave it there.” (p.41)

It’s all about us as dreamers learning how to hear our ‘inner voice’ and follow it to learn about the wisdom waiting for us in our inner life.

JOIN DR. SHACKELFORD’S NEXT DREAM TIME GROUP:

Starts April 3rd to 17th each Sunday from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

Call Dr. Shackelford to reserve a spot: (210) 602-3002