We learned Type A and B dreams come from the "personal unconscious", in which the dreaming mind communicates with symbols that are understood specifically by the dreamer, most of these symbols come from events in their waking world.
Type C dreams come from the "collective unconscious" which we have to find their meaning in the archetypes which take the form as special symbols or take personified forms as a particular god, goddess, hero, or heroine, great beasts or powers of good and evil. These "grand dreams" usually take place at important transitions in our life, such as early school days, puberty, adolescence, early parenthood, middle age, or old age. They come at times of upheaval and uncertainty and mark a process towards individuation and spiritual maturity.
Dream archetypes are important to the search for our "true selves". How do we know it was a archetypal or "grand" dream? Well, if our dream contains elements that are rationally impossible in everyday life and leads us to the realms of myth and magic. Examples are if we find ourselves in a shape-shifting world were animals talk, men rise back up from a mortal wounds like nothing happened, people walk through locked doors, trees transform into people, things that create a sense of awe to the dreamer. The setting can be historical or a cultural environment, somewhere outside the normal boundaries of the dreamer's life. They have a "cosmic" quality where the dreamer may experience movement at tremendous speed over vast distances, a comet-like flight through space, hovering about the earth, (room, lake, etc).
Lesson Five
Dream Interpretation
The Spirit -is the opposite of matter which may appear in our dreams as an impression of eternity, spaciousness, invisibility. The Spirit may also appear as a ghost or as a visit from the dead and its presence often indicates a tension between material and non-material worlds.
The Shadow - this dark figure has all the traits of your personality that you consciousness (waking) can not tolerate. It is the primitive instinctive side of our selves. It is the selfish, violent and brutal actions that we conceal under our civilized veneer. It feeds on greed and hate. In dreams, the Shadow may appear as a person of the same sex, often threatening, often taking on nightmarish roles. Since we can never totally eliminate the Shadow it often repeals bullets or blows and usually pursues us past every obstacle. It can also take the shape of a brother or sister, or a stranger, telling us stuff we don't wan to hear. It brings up feelings of fear, anger or moral outrage. But it is not evil itself, the Shadow is trying to tell us something. Its appearance indicates a need for a more conscious effort to come to terms with our moral judgements (of other people or situations), that the message is ultimately for our own good. We need to learn something.
The next lesson we will finish the rest of the archetypes.
True or False
1. Dreams are conversations we have with our selves.
2. Type A and B dreams come from the "personal conscious".
3. Grand dreams are also called archetypal dreams, Type C.
4. Type C dreams usually take place during important transitions in our life.
5. Archetype dreams are not important to the search of our "true selves".
6. Shape-shifty or animals talking could indicate a Type C dream.
7. Magic journeys could be part of a Type A dream.
8. The Spirit is a archetype.
9. The Shadow is the good aspects of the dreamer.
10. The Shadow's message is ultimately for our own good.
