Some of you may be aware that I ascribe to the understanding that dreams are God’s Forgotten Language. In biblical time – ancient times in general, dreams were considered to be ways in which God or gods spoke to people. The Christian and Jewish scriptures are full of accounts of God speaking to people in dreams and visions.
Both the Christian Old and New Testaments have
accounts of God doing just this, speaking to people in this way. By
one count, there are 39 times in which God speaks to people in dreams and
visions. Can you think of any examples of this?
If we accept the understanding of dreams by those
people in biblical times, does it follow that this is true for us today?
Today, dreams are generally not understood as a way that God speaks to
us. The understanding of dreams changed in the Enlightenment with the
development of a scientific approach to the world and things had to be seen
under a microscope or through a telescope or in a test tube to be
believed. Even the development of psychology puts dreams into a
reductionistic, materialistic approach to understanding them. This began to
change in the twentieth century through the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung
among others.
How then can we approach our dreams today to learn
the language of dreams in which God or the divine is speaking to us? The
first step in this understanding is to realize that dreams come from a place in
which our logical, rationalistic minds are not in control. Dreams use the
language of symbols. In considering what our dreams are saying to us, we
need to explore what these symbols mean for us. The next step in the
understanding is to be aware that in dreams it really is all about us i.e., the
content of the dream is a representation of aspects of the dreamer. A
third step or understanding is that dreams come in the service of health and
wholeness of the dreamer.
One effective way of exploring what the dream
images is through a process that has been dubbed ‘the Six Magic
Questions’. This is not actually ‘magic’. However, this
was the way one participant described the process as it seemed to work like
magic at getting to the meaning behind what can be rather puzzling aspects of dreams. Here’s
a brief introduction to the six ‘magic’ questions which can be used to explore
images in dreams:
Six Magic
Questions
I am...X
1. My purpose as X is...
2. As X I like...
3. As X I dislike...
4. As X I fear...
5. As X My greatest desire
is...
6. As x I would tell the dreamer..
I used this method on a recent dream
in which there was a car with the paint job was on fire but apparently not
consumed. Here’s what the method
revealed:
Six Magic Questions
I am... car paint job
1. My purpose as a pain job is to
protect the car from rust and to enhance the appearance of the car
2. As a car paint job I like how I
look
3. As car paint job I dislike it when
I am damaged by accident and become rusted
4. As car paint job I fear that I will
not be cared for by the car owner
5. As car paint job my greatest desire
is to appear perfect and spotless
6. As a car paint job I would tell the
dreamer that it is okay not to be perfect.
I am offering an opportunity to
explore this method in a workshop in which the participants will be introduced more
fully to the method and have opportunities to apply it to a biblical story and
well as dreams of the participants.
DREAMWORK
CANADA is an ecumenical group (Anglican,
Mennonite, United Churches) that tries to reconnect, develop and
help carry on the vital Judeo-Christian dreamwork tradition which has
functioned in the Church from the time of the Old Testament. We are
offering two opportunities via Zoom to explore our dreams as one of the
ways God speaks to us. Each session will enable participants to explore
dreams from different approaches within a Christian context using the
concepts of Carl Jung.
Tuesday,
February 28, 2023 6:30PM—8:30 PM ET
Exploring Dreams Through Six Magic Questions
Led by Rev. Greg Little
The participants will be introduced to the process for using the “six magic
questions” approach to exploring dreams. This approach can unlock
the meaning of dream images and the meaning of their dreams. The
participants will have opportunities to work with other participants in
applying the method to dreams in a small group setting.
Tickets
and Information dreamworkcanada.squarespace.com/
May you have a blessed dream life on
your journey.
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