Dreams, dream work... dream play

[Diana]

Natural Mystic Guide mentioned in a post that she is an ordained priestess with Kohenet, the Hebrew Priestess Institute. Also she mentioned that one of her personal interests is dream play. I do hope she'll step in here and tell us more about what "dream play" is. It sounds lovely.

I have a particular interest in dreams and it's getting stronger and stronger this interest, because of a recurring and very frightening nightmare I've been having for about 15 years. It's always the same theme and it is so full of utter despair and desolation that you would all weep with me if I could take you into it with me. I wake up with tears running down my cheeks, sometimes it's even the sound of my sobbing that wakes me. It's heartbreaking.

So as I'm also keen to learn a bit more about Judaism, I decided to go and look up a bit what Judaism has to say about dreams. It's a bit risky, because I know as in all religions there are different strands and brands of Judaism. But I think what I found seems to be something that could not be controversial. I hope Natural Mystic Guide will come and debunk and shoot down what I'm going to say, if I'm heading down the wrong path. I know nothing about Judaism so it's hugely presumptuous of me to start such a topic. May the gods forgive me if I've put my foot in it - they know my intentions are pure.

So this American scholar, Rabbi Pinchas Taylor, gave a talk on dreams in Judaism and I made a very short and succint resume of it which I will share here, in the hope that it will engender some discussion. And that it lures Natural Mystic over here ! So consider it just as an introductory post to get things going. This Pinchas Taylor seems to be a very nice guy. The link to the talk is here : https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/video ... dition.htm

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There’s an ancient tradition in Judaism that says that during sleep, the human spirit temporarily rises, ascends to the higher realms and the soul is recharged and that through dreams it is possible to make contact with the supernal realms. Sleep is seen as a taste of death in the Talmud - 1/60th of death - and dreams are considered 1/60th of prophecy. So you have a glimmer of what death is in sleep and a glimmer of what prophecy is through a real dream. I believe that by a real dream is meant one that contains prophetic value.

The word for dream in Hebrew is related to the word “to strengthen”. The dream experience is seen as the strength of the soul overcoming the body.

In the Middle Ages dreams seemed to have a certain degree of prophecy, (in Judaism), although the age of prophecy was long gone, but there was a certain divine intuition and there were people who would ask dream questions – before going to sleep they’d pose a question and hope to get the answer from the upper realms. There is a famous example about one of the sages, Rabbi someone (sounded something like Yakob Marvich) who presented over 70 questions requesting to be answered. These weren’t things concerning his life, but more long standing debates about Judaism. I bit like we’re doing in Plato’s Cave when we ask philosophical questions to the Tarot. The answers he received were recorded so available still today.

There was an 18th century Talmudist and kabbalist in Italy who wrote that there are two kinds of dreams. The natural ones and the spiritual ones. Most of the time in our day and age we have natural ones – with no significant deep meanings – because the spiritual aspect of life has taken a backseat and we’re more concerned with materiality – and we therefore don’t have the same spiritual perception as before.

[Natural Mystic Guide]

I really like the term 'dream play' instead of 'dream work' just because it sounds like more fun. Work feels so onerous. I love playing in Dream Time and it's not work at all -- except, of course, on those occasions when a clients has actually asked for a dream interpretation or help in processing a dream. Then it's 'work', but I actually really love my work, too! There is just a little more pressure to really invest the prayer and energy into getting it right.

There is a place in the Talmud where it says that a dream is like a letter unopened. So there is a message there, and if we don't play with it or work with it or share it with a dream interpreter, then the message goes unheard. How sad. When you think of how much time we actually do spend sleeping and often dreaming -- it seems such a waste to not play there. I shall happily share some more later.

[Diana]

I shall happily share some more later.

Diana looks at her watch and drums her feet impatiently.

[Natural Mystic Guide]

Diana looks at her watch and drums her feet impatiently.

For me, dream time is slow time. Or time outside of time. I used to feel a little bad when, if someone asks for a dream interpretation... I explain to a seeker my method of inhabiting their dream for about a week. I use a method I learned from Rachel Pollack. I identify the key elements of the dream. These may be people, animals, objects; actions.... whatever. I clearly identify these. Then I do a spread with a card for each of these. Then I mull around with that for a while.

Sometimes dreamers hope for instant interpretations. The Biblical Joseph could do this. If I prayed really hard, I might be able to do that, too. I enjoy, though, the process of inhabiting the other's dream space.

Then I participated in a recent dream forum. One dreamworker -- a Native American -- spoke about how the meaning of a dream could take years to become clear. Years! Then I felt better about taking a week.

One place in the Talmud, a seeker approached many different dream interpretors with the same dream. The seeker received a different interpretation from each. Which one was right? All were true!

We do want to find someone who will be sympathetic to us.