Dream Magic
As a species, we’ve been interpreting dreams almost since the beginning. Because of their fleeting, surreal, and emotional natures, they have captured our imaginations. Where do they come from? What do they mean? Some people believe that dreams are nothing more than our exhausted brains processing the events of the day. But I believe that they are glimpses into the inner worlds of our psyche, the push and pull between the conscious and unconscious. If we can learn to interpret the extremely abstract language of our sleeping minds, we can harness the magic of dreams.
“The real magic
is tapping into your intuition.”
The first issue one might encounter when diving into dream interpretation is the inability to remember dreams upon waking. There are a few techniques to handle this:
Drink Tea - teas made from chamomile, valerian root, peppermint, and ashwagandha will help aid in deeper sleep. We dream during the REM cycle, so if we don’t enter REM enough times during the night, we might not have memorable dreams.
Meditate Before Bed - putting away screens and taking a quiet moment to yourself as part of a nightly routine will not only increase the chances of falling asleep faster, it will also prepare the mind to receive dreams.
Set an Intention - intention setting is a powerful form of magic that helps align one’s goals with the universe. As part of a ritual or routine, write down or say aloud the intention to remember the night’s dreams. Then put a journal and pen by the bed to solidify the intent. It may take a few attempts, but it’s all about repetition and conviction.
The next step is to start writing your dreams down. Even when awoken in the middle of the night (I almost always have to go pee five hours into my sleep cycle), if you remember a dream, write it down. At first, the dreams are likely to be fragments and largely incoherent. That’s ok because the more practice, the more you’ll remember. Besides, the two most important parts of dreams are 1) the emotions, and 2) the symbols. The narrative of dreams has some significance, but more often than not, we create the narrative upon waking. The brain automatically fills in gaps, sometimes in a way that makes the dream clearer but sometimes in a way that twists the original meaning of the dream to one that suits the conscious.
As for the meat and potatoes of dream interpretation, making sense of it all, I would like to write a lot more than this blog post, but I will start here and expand further at another time (and maybe place). For now, I will address the mindset one should approach dream magic with. There is no need to do extensive research about Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud to parse out the meanings of certain symbols. Not everyone believes in the universal nature of symbols like ravens, roses, and railroads. I believe in the magic of hundreds of millions of humans putting the same meaning into the color red, but only insomuch as if the meaning also resonates with you, your magic is charged with that tradition.
Dream interpretation is highly personal, so any research into ‘accepted’ meanings for certain symbols is only a supplement to the real magic. The real magic, of course, is tapping into your intuition and letting it translate what the conscious and unconscious are trying to say. I have a tarot spread I like to do while I meditate on the dream. Once I’m in touch with my intuition and have my thoughts and ideas about the meaning of my dream swirling in my head, I draw my cards and let them guide me toward the true meaning.
The key is to be open to unexpected or painful significances. Dreams are usually trying to reveal something you are ignoring, even when the surface dream is about something you think about a lot. Magic is often fun and comforting, but when used to aid in self-reflection and growth, magic can be painful. Do not be afraid.
