Jungian Dream Interpretation
by Celeste Adams with Gordon Nelson, PhD
Our dreams are layered with meaning. Both personal and transcendent, dreams tell us about ourselves and take us on a journey through space and time. As Carl Jung discovered, they also contain archetypal images that connect us to the collective unconscious.
According to Jung, "The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego consciousness extends. ... All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man dwelling in the darkness of primordial night. There he is still the whole, and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from nature and bare of all egohood. It is from these all-uniting depths that the dream arises, be it never so childish, grotesque, and immoral."[1]
Dream Diaries
Jung wrote his dreams down, carried them around with him, and lived with them. He asked them questions and even drew paintings of them. The Red Book contains an extraordinary record of Jung's inner experiences, in which he painted the rich imagery of his dreams.
Jung felt that Keeping track of our dreams was of crucial importance. He once wrote to a friend: "You tell me you have had many dreams lately but have been too busy with your writing to pay attention to them. You have got it the wrong way round. Your writing can wait, but your dreams cannot, because they come unsolicited from within and point urgently to the way you must go."[2]
In my interview with Gordon Nelson, PhD, head of the Jungian Institute of Los Angeles, he said that Jung recorded his dreams every day of his life. Jung had five children, and all of them kept a dream book. He encouraged his children to engage in a dialogue with the unconscious through their dreams, and was very pleased and gratified at their compliance with his instructions.
Nelson said Jung felt dreams were given to be shared. And if you understood the meaning of the dream and it had a connection to the collective, it also had to be lived. "Jung felt a dream had to change you," Nelson said, "otherwise you really hadn't gotten the meaning of it and it just passed through you like water through a pipe." The dreamer and the dream have to become one.
In writing dreams down, Jung recommended that people attempt to interpret them themselves. In a letter to Count Hermann Keyserling, he wrote:
Who or what has come alive? ... Who or what has entered my psychic life and created disturbances and wants to be heard?
To this you should add: "Let it speak!" Then switch off your noisy consciousness and listen quietly inwards and look at the images that appear before your inner eye, or hearken to the words which the muscles of your speech apparatus are trying to form. Write down what then comes without criticism. Images should be drawn or painted assiduously, no matter whether you can do it well or not.
Once you have gotten at least fragments of these contents, then you may mediate on them afterwards. Don't criticize anything away! If any questions arise, put them to the unconscious again the next day. Don't be content with your own explanations, no matter how intelligent they are. ...
Treat any drawings the same way. Meditate on them afterwards and every day go on developing what is unsatisfactory about them. The important thing is to let the unconscious take the lead.[3]
And instead of focusing on the meaning of one particular dream, Jung believed it was important for people to build a series of dreams, because any particular dream had to be understood within the context of others. Dreams also had to be understood in relation to the particular situation of the dreamer, he taught. They could not be properly interpreted without that knowledge.
Archetypal Dreams
Jung was particularly interested in dreams that had archetypal material. He called them Big Dreams. Big Dreams, Jung said, are more vivid and impressive than other kinds of dreams, and are remembered for many years, even throughout one's lifetime.
Jung found that these [Big Dreams] occurred at decisive stages in one's life: from the age of three to six; from fourteen to sixteen; from twenty to twenty-five; from thirty-five to forty; and just before death.[4] .... Big dreams are different in degree but not in kind from the general thrust of dreams, since in the oneiric state we become aware of things we have not experienced in reality, some of them unrealizable in the flesh, some belonging to the past of mankind, and some to its future.[5]
These archetypal dreams that Jung considered so significant have been recognized and valued since antiquity. They often rely on historical or mythological analogy, and by definition they occur in all cultures, belonging to the great Collective Unconscious — a source of meaning for all human beings of all times and places. Archetypal symbols are greater than life. Their power transcends understanding and belief.
When archetypes appear in our dreams, Jung thought, they come forth from this great collective well of knowledge, understanding, and meaning. When we encounter archetypal symbols in our dreams, we may be certain that higher forces are at work in our lives.
The seven main Jungian archetypes are the Persona, the Shadow, the Anima/Animus, the Wise Old Man, the Great Mother, the Divine Child, and the Trickster.
1. The Persona: The Persona is essentially the exterior mask that one wears in the world. It is our conscious presentation of Self. For example, an artist may wear eccentric clothes, or a businessman may wear expensive suits. The Persona displays the superficial values of what one perceives as one's role.
2. The Shadow: The Shadow is the part of us that wants to do all of the things we do not allow ourselves to do. It is filled with the uncivilized desires and emotions that are incompatible with our standards and our idea of who we are. Jung found that our personalities actually need this Dark Side for reorientation of our ideas and standards. The Shadow often appears as a witch, a devil, or a disagreeable person.
3. The Anima/Animus: The Anima is the man's image of woman. She often looks young, yet with a timeless quality. The Anima has two sides — one is wise and good, the other is the prostitute, seductress, or witch. The Animus is the counterpart of the Anima; the masculine unconscious element in women. The Animus represents a woman's own experience with men and the latent masculine principle within herself. It may appear as a group of men, a father, or a dignitary of some kind. On the positive side, the Animus can give courage or strength. On the Dark Side, it may lead to incorrect judgments. In men, the Anima is connected with moods and emotions. In women, the Animus is connected with opinions and judgments.
4. The Wise Old Man: The Wise Old Man represents our unconscious gifts. He may appear as king, hero, medicine man, or savior. When this archetype is awakened, it gives gifts like magical or healing powers. When we can listen to the voice of the Wise Old Man and understand that the power is not our own but something that moves through us, we can then develop and use the gifts.
5. The Great Mother: The archetype of the Great Mother appears as an infinite capacity for helping and protecting. Her Dark Side is the counterpart of the mother who devours her young, dominating her loved ones through helplessness or tyranny.
6. The Divine Child: The Divine Child can appear as a child, elf, animals, a vagabond, or even jewels. It represents the childlike forces in our lives. When part of our consciousness appears too one-sided, the Divine Child may appear, anticipating the achievement of wholeness. The Divine Child represents our creativity, our inherent genius.
7. The Trickster: The Trickster is sometimes represented by Coyote. He can be the model of deception, illusion, and cunning. He is also charming, and can enable us to devise ways to get out of trouble or enable us to avoid difficult situations. He is a renegade, an outlaw, symbolizing all that cannot be tamed or civilized. Whether seen as a man, a god, or an animal, the Trickster is always inquisitive and adventurous — and sometimes obscene and diabolical.
Archetypal symbols in our dreams, Jung taught, carry healing energy, enabling us to change on inner levels that bypasses pure intellect. The subconscious mind actually "speaks" in symbols — symbols are its language — so we accomplish change most powerfully when we communicate with the Inner Self using archetypal symbols instead of words.
Let us say, for example, that we have an exceptionally clear and vivid dream about a robed, bearded figure — a typical image of the Wise Old Man — and he is floating outside the windows of our home. Since the home often represents ourselves, this dream might make us aware that we are seeing wisdom outside of ourselves instead of within. But the presence of the archetypal symbol also tells us that our Higher Self seeks to intervene!
This dream might help us to invite wisdom into our self-concept. In a subsequent daydream, for example, we could invite the old man to come live with us. We might even daydream a beautiful room for him in the heart of our dream-dwelling.
In sharing this dream, we might make connections for others to experience the indwelling of wisdom, as well. A friend might return and tell us she dreamed of an owl perched in her attic — a symbol of wisdom in the "upper story" or brain of her home of the self.
Or we might have an archetypal dream of a Mother Bear. In the dream, this archetype of the Great Mother might be cuffing her young, or refusing to feed them. Such a scene would give us important information about how we are caring for ourselves. Perhaps we lack a certain kind of nourishment. Perhaps we are "beating up on ourselves" about something. In some way, we are not "mothering ourselves" in a good way, and our Higher Self seeks to call this to our attention.
On the other hand, in a time of loneliness and perhaps feeling bereft in our lives, we might dream of being held and comforted by a Great Mother figure — and awaken from the dream feeling energized and ready to go on. The Great Mother in our dream, in a very real way, "kissed it and made it better." Jane Roberts, author of the Seth books, wrote once of being held and comforted by a giant, extremely gentle, silver-colored ape who exuded comfort and loving power.
In looking at these two views of the Mother, we can see the opposite sides, the duality, that Jung pointed out were essential aspects of all the archetypes. It is through integrating this duality that we become whole and at peace.
Subjective and Objective Dream Interpretation
One of Jung's major contributions to dream interpretation was his theory that all the players in a dream are aspects of oneself. I asked Dr. Nelson about the benefits of interpreting dreams in this fashion, wondering when it was useful to assume this approach and when it was wiser to recognize that the characters in a dream might simply be other people.
Nelson suggested that it's helpful to work with a therapist when analyzing one's dreams, in order to decide whether a particular dream should be looked at subjectively (meaning that all the characters are oneself) or objectively (meaning that they are other than oneself).
He commented that there are many kinds of dreams, and the subjective interpretation is only one of many possibilities. For most seekers, the subjective interpretation is useful 90 percent of the time, he said, but this doesn't mean that it's always the most valid approach. Some types of objective dreams are telepathic, parapsychological, prophetic, warning, recurring, shell-shock, and trauma dreams.
Dr. Nelson also explained that there was always a subjective and an objective component to any dream. "If you dream that you are the blind seer Tiresias," he said, "or if you're having Biblical dreams, those are channeled from God. But most dreams are not grand pronouncements from On High. Instead, they are rather mundane, about people who annoy us, or things we haven't done, or our inner struggles and inner dialogue. It depends on who we are and how we look at them, and also on what our task in this life is — what we're called upon to do."
Jung pointed to a few rules for confirming the correctness of an interpretation. (1) The interpretation of a particular dream needs to be supported by the meaning of other dreams in the series; (2) The dream has to have meaning for the dreamer; and (3) It also has to have an effect on the dreamer and lead to results.
Dreams Can Help Us Change
Dreams are incredibly repetitive. We keep having the same dreams over and over until we are able to receive the message. When we finally get it, we become different because of the dream. But until then, dreams keep recycling in myriad forms.
Jung saw that dreams tell us things about ourselves that we might not already know, giving us information that contrasts with our conscious understanding of our feelings, thoughts, and desires.
Jung also believed that dreams can also help us find our true vocation and life purpose. Those who listen to this inner guidance often find new directions in life that set them on a course of greater fulfillment and happiness.
Many new theories about dreams have been developed since the time of Carl Jung. But his work remains as the foundation stone for many varieties of dream theory that have been developed since his death, more than forty years ago.