History

Dream Council began in 2017 as an in-person community program offered through the Seattle-based nonprofit organization Rite of Passage Journeys. In 2020, responding to COVID-19, the in-person monthly gatherings moved to Zoom. Initially, I worried that an online experience would lose the intimacy and power of the in-person gatherings we had come to treasure. However, although Zoom provides a different experience, internet technology itself appears to add an enriching layer to the experience and the power of sharing dreams online continues to move me.  Zoom also expands the geographical reach and accessibility of Dream Council and I plan to offer  Dream Council through Zoom for the foreseeable future.  

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Intentions

• To provide a community space where dreams and imaginal reality are shared and honored.

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• To deepen the participants’ appreciation for the power of a respectful attentive group, and the beauty, complexity, drama, and intelligence of dreams.

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• To create space for nonpersonal yet intimate conversations with others we may otherwise barely know through dreams' sophisticated use of metaphorical and symbolic language.

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• To provide a container that facilitates psychological growth, introspection, and learning.

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AGREEMENTS:

• Dream Council is NOT a support or process group that helps work through the variable emotions that invariably arise when working with dreams. Support often spontaneously arises out of the group and through the simple act of exploring a difficult dream with others, but this is an act of grace and not a facilitated part of this process.

• If necessary, eating during check-in is fine, but we ask that all eating is finished before the reading of the poem and lighting of the candle that mark our entry into ritual space.

• Please indicate to the facilitator during check-in if you need to leave early.  There are natural breaks in the flow of the work where leaving is fine. However, leaving in the middle of the dream work can be quite disruptive and we encourage all participants to stay to the end once the dream has been shared.

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Structure

Each Zoom Dream Council usually hosts approximately 6-8 participants with varied experience levels, including long-term and new members. 

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Dream council follows an ancient indigenous-based practice of COUNCIL: a group facilitation technique that encourages participants to:

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·       Speak from the heart.

·       Listen from the heart.

·       Be spontaneous.

·       Be mindful of time.

·       Respect confidentiality.

 

1. Check-In. Each person briefly introduces themselves, notes what brings them to council, what’s most on their mind, if they recently shared a dream in council, and indicates if they have a new dream they’d like to offer.

2. Ritual Space. After check-in and a brief orientation, we open the ritual space with a poem or prayer and light candles. All the dream work after the opening of ritual space occurs in COUNCIL.

3. When present, people who shared a dream in the previous 1-2 months are invited to update the group—only with material they are comfortable sharing—regarding how the dream moved through their lives after the group process and any insights that may have arisen.

4. A new dream is chosen from those offered during check-in. Dream Council loosely follows Ullman’s (1984) method of working with dreams from the orientation of “If this were my dream…

Group Exploration of the Dream. The dreamer then tells or reads their dream to the group. Sticking to the dream images as much as possible, the group asks the dreamer clarifying questions about the dream content.   Next, the dreamer listens but doesn’t actively participate as the group psychologically wears the dream as if it were their own and provides insight into the dream from their own perspective without telling the dreamer what the dream should mean to them.  

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Sometimes, the group discussion, prefaced by IF THIS WERE MY DREAM is divided into two parts:

Feelings and Moods. First, listeners approach the dream through the feelings and moods the dream evokes in them. 

Image as Metaphor. Rather than a literal portrayal of a particular situation, a dream can be approached like a poem filled with images that metaphorically express the feelings, tensions, and movements of a life situation. Using self-reflection and personal experience, group members explore the intensity and range of ideas potentially implied by the dream. 

 

5. The dream is returned to the dreamer who is invited to respond with any insight into the dream that the group process has opened for them.

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6. Honoring the dream. Once the dream has been shared with a wider audience, the dreamer is asked to consider ways in which they may thank and honor the life of the dream in the world. 

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7. Check-out. Each participant briefly shares what’s in their heart and what the experience has meant to them.  Everyone blows out their candles and the group is finished.

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References

Ullman, M. (1984). Group Dream Work and Healing. Contemp. Psychoanal., 20:120-130.

 

Recommended introductory books on dreamwork

Aizenstat, S. (2011). Dream tending: Awakening the healing power of dreams. Spring Journal.

Johnson, R. A. (2009) Inner work: Using dreams and active imagination for personal growth. Harper & Row.