Harness our Dreams for a More Creative, Introspective and Enjoyable Life

We all have dreams, yet many of us don’t regularly remember them except for a nightmare that wakes us up with fright. But we can train ourselves not just to recognize many of our dreams but to use them to coax the psyche out of hiding, decipher the mysterious messages of the night, and inspire all types of creativity in our lives, says dream expert Victoria Rabinowe.  

Rabinowe, 76, is an internationally recognized author, artist and dream workshop facilitator. She has focused on dreams in workshops through her DreamingArts Studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which she founded in 1993,  and in a book published last year, Conversations with Psyche: A Dreamer’s Guide to Soul-Stirring Creativity. The book offers an innovative approach to dream work that is compatible with the wild and willful nature of dreams of the night. She has guided more than 1,000 workshops investigating the expressive potential of dreams as a source for creative writing, artmaking and theater arts.

We spoke to her recently from her home in Santa Fe. Here's the condensed, edited version.  
 

Question: How did you make the segue from weaving and selling wearable art clothing to being a dream guru?

Answer: In my wearable art clothing gallery, I had one-hour encounters with people. We chatted, and then after their purchase, they went away. I craved more in-depth conversations and more time for artmaking. So, 32 years ago, I sold my business to pursue those passions. I knew about visualization meditation, also known as Jungian active imagination, and decided to learn more about how to embark on a guided journey.  

For the first six months, I perfected my practice by going into my office each morning, going into a meditation journey, handwriting these stories and teaching myself to watercolor, paint and add symbols. Six months later, I received a notice in my mailbox of a conference for the International Association for the Study of Dreams meeting at a nearby hotel. I attended the conference for five days. People came from all persuasions—a broad track of scientists, psychotherapists, spiritual guidance counselors, artists, writers, shamans and more. I learned a variety of inspiring approaches for working in the field of dreams. I already had the art credentials. So, I combined my new studies in contemporary methods of dream work with my creative explorations in the studio. From that point on, my life changed forever. 

A small group from the conference met, and we "collaged" our dreams into storyboards, handmade books, clay figures and more, but not for the goal of polished works of art but to turn dreams into expressive forms that led to greater consciousness. I began my first dream group with dreamers from the IASD conference. Although it began as a peer group, it rapidly became clear that I was leading the group with my innovative methods. This was the springboard of my career in dreams that has taken me on a 32-year-long path worldwide. 

Q: Why do people dream and do our dreams matter?

A: We all dream; most mammals do. In fact, we spend one-third of our lives sleeping and dreaming. It’s fundamental to our sanity, which is based on scientific knowledge. But we’re all busy and often not listening to our inner voice, especially women who are so busy taking care of everyone else. We tend to ignore signs, symbols and dreams, especially repetitive dreams. But they matter because they open our minds to more that’s going on, including traveling through space and time. If you want to remember your dreams, you can help by reading a book about dreams before you go to sleep and leaving a pad and pen by your bedside to jot them down. It may take a while to train yourself.

Here’s an example of what can happen. If you have a dream about someone you haven’t seen or been in touch with for a while, it might be a signal to get in touch with that person. Or it might cause you to remember the time you spent with that person or even who you were back then, what concerned you or how you’ve changed. Our lives are not just about here and now but what has happened and what’s to come. Dreams help us unravel our inner life and each of the stories of who we are. 

Q: How does remembering a dream help us process events and emotions?

A: Having a dream and remembering it helps instigate a conversation much more than that dream. If you dream about lions and tigers, it might inspire you to talk about those animals, your fear of them or trigger other thoughts or fears of certain people and situations you may or may not be able to control. Dreams help us see and understand the story of our lives from different perspectives. When I go to my studio and go to dreamland, I detach from my usual ways and mindset and see people, places and animals through a different lens. I stay open to various levels and layers of collective unconsciousness. 

Q: What about those nightmares?

A: These often wake us up and can be scary. A nightmare is like an inner wound, which can open us up to healing by taking us on a journey. But it takes courage to confront what’s going on. The good news is that there’s always a healing aspect in every dream, even nightmares, in one form or another, for healthy people who haven’t been majorly traumatized. So many mountain climbers risk their lives physically but are too terrified to go on an inner journey. I like to tell people that they sometimes must go through fire to heal. And when you go on this journey you can do it any way you like and through any medium. 

Q: What can people learn from your book and workshops?

A: My book, Conversations with Psyche: A Dreamer’s Guide to Soul-Stirring Creativity, came out last year and explains my approach. But I feel it’s even more helpful to meet and work with me. I hold workshops in Santa Fe but also travel and zoom to teach groups internationally. My approach isn’t a step-by-step journey but jumping in to find what works best for you—as a writer to tell your story or write a screenplay or as a visual artist to draw and paint, or to make masks, mandalas, maps, collages and artist books. 

The visualization of dreams in different ways helps bend the mind to new experiences and outlooks. We start by sitting in a dream group circle for a few hours and talking. The advantage of being in a group helps encourage participants to expand their minds by sharing with others. But we do so without interpreting others’ dreams or saying what others’ dreams mean. Instead, we share how others’ dreams might influence us. 

If you want to attend a workshop or receive my newsletter with upcoming events, email me at dreamingarts@gmail.com. You can also check out my website. www.Victoriadreams.com. 

Q: What are some common misconceptions about dreams and dreamwork?

A: One is that dreams are a bunch of hogwash or floating mind-junk. But I’ve never met a dream without a deep meaning. Some people have a fear of opening and sharing their dreams because they worry it will be interpreted with all sorts of sex and phallic symbols or other pathological messages that may indicate they are damaged or will reveal their innermost secrets or lead to misinterpretations. I don’t deal with any of that. 

I look at a dream as a creative story and learn if there’s any synchronicity, a term coined by Carl Jung, which references meaningful coincidence. For example, I stubbed my toe, which made me trip and fall on the ground. But there, I found a lost key. Or you enter a room and standing right there in the crowded space is the person you fall in love with, so it was synchronicity that led you into that room and toward that person. Some call it bashert. Creative forms of dream work can lead to the same process or journey. 

Q: What else have you done professionally and personally?

A: I went back to teach in Austria where my mother’s family is from and met many people who’ve shown me the importance of bonding between generations. The book I’ve written also opened new doors. Here I am 76 years of age and an author! 

Q: Do you dream that you could have had more time in your early life to pursue this passion and work?

A: I’m interested in turning points in my life. I could have turned many other ways or directions but none of those roads would have led to where I am now. This is where I belong, and I am so grateful to have landed in this place. As I get older, I can still run dream groups, work in my studio, and conduct workshops even if it must be from a chair sitting down. 

Q: Any future projects?

A: I see a large future ahead if I have my health. I am offering more collaborative workshops with other authors and dream experts who take different approaches and perspectives. Dreaming offers so many possibilities and that’s what I hope I offer others--different paths to enlightenment.