If you type "dreams" into Google's search engine you will get a myriad of websites that will give you either, free dream interpretations, a dictionary of dreams and their symbols -or a person who will interpret your dream for less than what it would cost for lunch. Why do we do this particular type of research and why is it so important to understand why we dream at all? Freud implemented the first clinical study of psychiatry along with the clinical study of how and why we dream - concluding that we dream because of repressed desires and the inability to play out our sexual fantasies. His clinical theories were later scrutinised and it was suggested that Freud did not invent the wheel but he did point it out. Later, Jung followed suit and declared that not all dreams were "sexual" as Freud stated but culturally influenced and many time largely prophetic. Although considered a breakthrough in psychiatric research, Jung would also discover that a great majority of his research would be scrutinised and placed under the category of metaphysical. But, should dreams be dismissed as metaphysical? |
Dreams have been physiological phenomena that have been researched and debated since the days of Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, and Buddha - ending almost always with the argument that dreaming had no direct relation to cerebral activity but more a personal spiritual experience left to perception and interpretation. Ironically, today the phenomena of dreaming has brought heated debates which have brought full circle the clinical study of dreaming - followed by new dimensions of study within the field of neurological research. This research has documented and recorded patients in their dream state, their reactions within that state and how the pattern of brain waves change within the course of the dream. During their research it had been discovered and recorded on numerous occasions that cerebral activity had departed from what was deemed normal activity with the dream state. Was he dreaming or did he enter into another realm of consciousness? Ah, the question again, is dreaming a metaphysical phenomena? In this workshop we challenge these questions, both scientifically and culturally - symbols are studied, recorded and interpreted along with the theories of Belandu ideologies. |
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The dream catcher was not used by all Tribal Nations, it was genearlly used by the Ojibwe Tribe of the Great Lakes and was introduced to the western world by Frances Densmore in her book 'Chippewa Customs' - it has since become a global fascination but with little to no understanding of its meaning or use. |
| D R E A M S |
| The fascination of the dream catcher |