Ph.D, S. A. (2011). Dream Tending: Awakening to the Healing Power of Dreams. Spring Journal, Inc.
Connecting to the living images of dreams opened me to a life abundant with possibility. These living images, dismissed as irrelevant in our society, became teachers and guides shaping my life. (p. 12)
He said that dream images are actually “persons of the soul” and “necessary angels.” They are demons, djinn, and gods who show us our fate and await a response from us. In his way of looking at dreams, we needed to go beyond association and amplification to a new process called animation. (p. 19)
Her view fit very well with Hillman’s—essentially, that dream images exist both in spirit and in matter and as such are expressions of both body and soul, psyche and soma, and allow us to connect with ourselves in both realms. (p. 20).
Association comes first, and is closest to the ego; then comes amplification, which has its home deeper in the psyche; and then animation, which arises from the deepest level of the psyche. (p. 21)
When we approach dreams with an agenda to interpret or judge, the living image becomes stagnant, fixed, and eventually dies. (p. 25)
So an attitude of wonderment, curiosity, and presence is a necessary first response to a living image. (p. 25)
The dream itself is a fact. Everything else is conjecture. (p. 28).
In the long run it is much more satisfying and rich to sit with the mystery, wonder, and sometimes, even bizarreness of a dream. In not knowing, dreams stay fresh, alive, interactive, and surprising. (p. 28).
These questions are “Who is visiting now?” and “What is happening here?” … No longer are we playing detective, trying to solve a puzzle with our logical mind. (p. 33).
“It is not we who individuate, but the image.” When a living image individuates, we are affected in turn. Living images, particularly those who carry the intelligence of the ancestors, are at the core of our personal maturation. (p. 55)
