Customer Reviews

The Beginner's Guide to Dream Interpretation

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I tend to dream a lot, but apparently we all do . . . according to
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, an author and Jungian psychoanalyst,
we dream from five to seven times each night . . . the problem
is how to remember such activity.

Estes, in THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO DREAM INTERPRETATION
(an excellent CD program which she wrote and read), says you
need to put a pencil or pen near your bed . . . before you go to
sleep, ask your Dreammaker for help in remembering
your dream . . . then as soon as you get up, write down
anything that you can remember . . . or as an alternative:
read what you remember into a recording device

There's much good advice here . . . for instance, if you've ever
been bothered by a dream, make it a point to tell it aloud
to another person . . . you can also make a picture of it, yet
if you do, you still need to discuss the picture with another
person.

As to actually interpreting dreams, Estes advises to list
all the nouns that are part of them . . . and next make
associations for each of these nouns.

Lastly, she explores the themes of several dreams . . . one
that I even have every so often was there--my not graduating
from college . . . apparently, when that happens, I should
anticipate what might happen in my life.

This is great instruction on interpreting your own dreams. Instead of giving you a list of this symbol means that. She explains a process for figuring out what each element of a given dream means to you personally. And then retelling the dream with those meanings substituted. "I stepped into a brightly lit open field..." might become "I stepped into brightly lit freedom..." I applied this to a dream that did not seem very significant. It was about characters from a TV show having a conversation. I figured I had the dream because I'd watched the show before bed that night. I did what she said to do, replacing personal associations for the elements of the dream. I realized that the dream actually spoke to a relationship I was in and emotions I was feeling concerning it.

I realize many of us would listen to Dr. Estes read the telephone book, as she has a wonderfully friendly, soothing voice. The fact that she always has something intriguing to say makes her work all that much better.

This audiobook is about ninety minutes long, and the focus is on subjectivity. Dictionaries of dream analyses can't work, because ten people dreaming the same dream would make ten different associations to it. Dr. Estes is very careful in emphasizing that, above all, we have to place our own subjective interpretations on everything we dream. After forty-some years of reading dream dictionaries with no success, I was glad to hear this.

Although Dr. Estes is a Jungian and does not believe, for example, that a snake represents a phallic symbol, she does give thirteen universal archetypes and their "typical" meanings. I had a problem with this section. For instance, she tells us that one common dream concerns hair loss, which is universally interpreted as losing one's power or strength. The only example she gives is the biblical one of Sampson losing his physical strength when his hair is cut. I had a dream of losing hair decades ago when my angry mother threatened to cut my long auburn curls, and I don't think it had anything to do with strength, as short hair was in style and I'd looked fine with short hair before. I was afraid of my mother, and to me, that was obvious. Also, not everyone believes in the Judeo-Christian bible, so assuming hair loss equals strength loss just doesn't seem like a universal connection.

I had another problem with the audiobook. Dr. Estes tells us to write down the nouns (people, places, and things) in our dreams. Many of my dreams involve emotions; sometimes there aren't even nouns involved. I've spoken to other people who experience nausea dreams or jasmine-scented dreams, and none of us know how to interpret them.

The problems I've listed are small in comparison with the impact this dream interpretation guide had on graphic, semi-lucid, recurring dreams I'd been experiencing. Using what Dr. Suzette Hadin Elgin calls a "thought map," I used what nouns I could remember and interpreted these dreams with the help of Dr. Estes's information. That was about a week ago, and those graphic nightmares have stopped.

If you're tired of reading that a dark shadow indicates impending death, and that rosebuds mean you're about to "bloom" a new idea, give Dr. Estes a try. She provides the sanest information on dreams I've come across in my almost sixty years.

Thank you, Dr. Estes, for another excellent bit of insight.

This book is a practical and sensible introduction to the process of dream interpretation, from the Jungian perspective. There is nothing strange about it. No weird psycho-babble. Just sensible caring advice. So if you want a simple practical guide, that will actually see you quickly getting some insights, then you have found it. You probably should go over it several times over some months as there is a learning curve, and I still pick up new insights even having listened to it several times.

But it is for beginners and does not make one an expert. Don't let anything worry you. If you are concerned see a psychologist. If you specifically want a Jungian psychologist, there are C.J. Jung societies in many cities, but many psychologists have a warmth for Jung even if their methods are more modern. Psychology is all about empowerment, nourishment, ennoblement- these are simple yardsticks to measure a psychologist by.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes is excellent and very inspirational. Only regret I have is that there are not companion books to her tapes.

I really did get a lot out of this, have used several of the techniques she mentions, and plan to reference this again in the future. I also want my friends to have copies too, I think it is very worthwhile. So, I guess it is worth the price of the CD. It is definitely MUCH better than a guide dream/dictionary thing telling you what to reference. I think I would have preferred a book to reference though, rather than a CD to have to skip through to learn the points again. I think the advice is priceless, but it would make a VERY small book.

The information was helpful, and informative. Our small "Dream Group" is learning how to unravel dreams with the help of this disc.

Sounds True, maybe--if I could comprehend what Dr. Estes is saying in much of audio book--sound quality poor. I returned this item.