Some beautiful words from Dreamworker Toko-Pa Turner

Each of us have a private gateway back into kinship and mystery - through our dreaming life. The practice of dreamwork is a powerful weaving back into intimate relationship with what the Sufis call the beloved, that divine coherence, the holy in nature from which all beings originate. As we remember it, it remembers us and it is the bridge between two river banks. Our conversation is the practice of belonging together.

Dreaming is nature, naturing through us. Just as a tree bears fruit or a plant expresses itself in flowers. Dreams are fruiting from us, the production of images and stories is a biological necessity. Without dreams we could not survive.

Though it is possible to get by without remembering our dreams, a life guided and shaped by dreaming is a life that follows the innate knowing of the earth itself. As we learn to follow the instincts of our inner wilderness, respecting it’s agreements and disagreements we are also developing our capacity for subtlety. This sensitivity is what makes us more porous and multilingual, bringing us into conversation with the many languages of the world around us. Sensitivity is the privilige and responsibility of remembering.

Toko-Pa Turner

A phrase from ‘The secret history of dreaming’ by Robert Moss

“In modern western societies, we think of dreams as sleep experiences. But for many cultures, dreaming is fundamentally about waking up. In the language of ancient Egypt, the word for “dream” is rswt, which means “awakening”. The implication is that, in much of ordinary life, we are in the condition of sleep-walkers, following programs and routines. In dreams, we wake up. This may happen during sleep, or in a twilight state of reverie, or in a vision or meditation or shamanic journey, or through the dreamlike play of coincidence and symbolic “pop-ups” in the midst of everyday life - all of which may be viewed as modes of dreaming and may provide experiences that can be reviewed and honoured in the manner of dreams.”

GROUP DREAMWORK

In many traditions dreams, received by one person were often seen as relevant to the group and were shared and explored together. I have found this to be true when facilitating dreamwork groups. One person’s dream does not only hold personal relevance but can also represent wider issues in the greater field and have layers of meaning which speak to everyone. We are not isolated beings after all. I also find it a fascinating and refreshing way to balance a cultural tendency toward individualism.

“It is on the whole probably that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. A dream that is not understood remains a mere occurrence; understood it becomes a living experience.”

Carl Jung

LIFE MYTH

Childhood dreams, early memories and recurring dreams can give us indications of our life journey. They give insight to long term tendencies and underlying patterns and speak to our life calling. As children we are more immersed in our true nature and therefore closer to the mythical aspect of our whole lives.

“No amount of skepticism and criticism has yet enabled me to regard dreams as negligible occurrences. Often enough they appear senseless, but it is obviously we who lack the sense and ingenuity to read the enigmatic message from the nocturnal realm of the psyche.”

Carl Jung