Jeanne G. Miller, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by Jeanne G. Miller
A book review of Marie-Luis Von Franz's "Dreams" 7/25/2008 7:50:42 PM
I cannot write it any clearer or more succinct than what is on the back cover. “Dr. von Franz states "Dreams show us how to find meaning in our lives, how to fulfill our own destiny, how to realize the greater potential of life within us."
“These collected essays offer fascinating insights into the study of dreams, not only psychologically, but also from historical, religious, and philosophical points of view. The first two chapters offer general explanations of the nature of dreams and their use in analysis. The author examines how dreams can be used in the development of self-knowledge and describes how C. G. Jung worked with his own dreams, and the fateful ways in which they were entwined with the course of his life.”
“The rest of the book records and interprets dreams of historical personages: Socrates, Descartes, Themistocles and Hannibal, and the mothers of Saint Augustine, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and Saint Dominic. Connections are revealed between the personal and family histories of the dreamers and individual and collective mores of their times. Dreams includes writings long out of print or never before available in English translation.” Parts of her book that spoke to me:
The word amplification-which she defines as the weaving of ideas and experiences here and there around a dream image-was enlightening. I have begun to see dream images in my waking life and her book gave me the answer as to what is happening. Even the participants in my dream groups are beginning to see the dream images that call to them in their waking life.
I was inspired by her multiple examples of symbols and of archetypes. I did not realize that numbers were archetypes. I knew that they had universal meaning, but to define them as archetypes was new.
Her description of the dog brought new meaning to the repeating dreams that I have been encountering. The dog is representative not only a basic instinct but also as my alter ego.
The alchemists compare the inner eye with the eyes of a fish, which begin to shine out of the cooker “prima material.” I once had a dream in which I was being observed by a fish that was in a fish tank. The part I remember vividly was that the eyes of the fish were huge and black. When I read the above description of the alchemical process, I connected to the eyes in my fish dream. I felt that I was being observed by my unconscious by a personified being. Jung says that the eye motif, or mandela, motif represents a reflection of insight into ourselves.
Self is another archetype discussed in the book. The self is the Soul and center of the unconscious. I seek the Self and it is this same Self that leads me in my search for it. My dreams are my way of seeking and discovering.
How I will apply the messages of the bookto my life?
In one of my dream groups, we decided to draw mandalas as representative of our soul. I chose to draw the symbols encountered in my first luminous dream that called me into a deeper consciousness. The egg is the beginning. The white wolf came to me in the snow and spoke of the fact that the essence of God’s essence was in all things. That is what the spider web represents. The radiating rays of the web represent the luminous light that went to everything. The pictures are symbols of the “everything.”
Others drew their life’s journey. We all had fun and were surprised by the insights that came from with in. I am sending as an attachment, a copy of the mandala that I drew.
As a group, we are discussing the symbols in our dreams that call to us in waking life to be honored.
One day I was riding around with my husband and I responded to his question with, what I thought was an ingenious answer. I was surprised to hear myself say what I said. I said to myself, “Wow! Where did that come from?” The answer was” It is me.” And I sensed another person who lives inside me who is the sum of all knowledge and all experience. I discovered she has been with me before I arrived here and will go with me into eternity. I discovered that she is me. I said to her, “Hello. I am glad to know you.” The sense of not being alone is a monumental step for me in my transformation. I am still uncertain what to call her. Psyche, Self, soul, guide, Daimonion, Holy Spirit within are just a few. Using the information in this book of alchemical processes, projections, and in the understand chaos when change is will occur, I will be more persistent in following the inner wisdom so that my Self can remain at peace.
