Customer Reviews

Cloud Nine:: A Dreamer's Dictionary

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Most of us are visited nightly by dreams. And most of us are puzzled by the fragments we can recall of these elusive visitors. Do dreams mean anything? If so, what? How can we better remember them? Is it possible to "control" our dreams? Sandra Thomson, a psychologist and author, tells readers all about dreams in Cloud Nine: A Dreamer's Dictionary. Thomson says that "dreams show us our conflicts and way to resolve them; they chronicle our inner striving." She adds that dreams can be "a second language." She starts with a general discussion of dreams, highlighting the primary theories of the significance of dreams. People have tried to understand their dreams since the beginning of time, often relying on shamans. The first dream book was written in the second century A.D. Hundreds of people have studied and attempted to explain dreams since then. Freud was a pioneer in dream interpretation. Thomson explains his theories, then goes on the discuss the work of other researchers, including Jung, Adler, Horney, and Perls. She clearly explains what each believed to be true about dreams, which is helpful to readers trying to understand the symbolism of their own dreams. Dreams use symbols and the meaning of the symbols vary from person to person. Thomson highly recommends that each person prepare their own "dream dictionary," in which they figure out the meaning of their unique symbols. The bulk of her book is a generalized dream dictionary that will help readers get started. She offers alternative meanings for most of the symbols, enabling users to better interpret their dreams. She provides extensive instructions for decoding individual dreams. The book is filled with "dreamercises," which are designed to assist in recalling and interpreting dreams. Thomson also explains how to put your dreams to work for you, by asking for solutions to daytime problems. She also describes how to teach yourself how to have lucid dreams, in which the dreamers are aware that they are dreaming before they wake up. Thomson wrote Cloud Nine to "allow you to participate more fully in understanding your own dream productions or in identifying your growth tasks." The guidelines and exercises she provides gives readers the tools they need to understand and interpret their dreams.

I have been using Cloud Nine for about 10 years now to help me interpret my (and others') dreams, and it's by far the best! Once in a while I will browse through other dream dictionaries to see if I can't find a better one, but I don't think there is a better one out there.

It not only gives multiple interpretations for dreams and provides the reader with various dream exercises, but after using the book for a while, the reader can become adept at just KNOWING what their dream is trying to tell him or her. The book gets into symbolism of different cultures, archetypes in general, psychology, philosophy, religion, etc, but not so much as to become overwhelming. It feeds your brain, and definitely your intuition and ability to read between the lines in all sorts of waking-life situations.

It has really helped me be able to understand that dreams can reveal so much more than reality can seem to about what's REALLY going on in my journey through life. I do have this book by my bedside and it has been indispensable to me in trying to establish clarity, meaning, and direction in my life.

I can't recommend Cloud Nine enough :)

I have very vivid dreams and was curious about the meanings behind them.

This book not only explains the symbolism of your dreams, but also has very helpful exercises to help you remember your dreams. There are even ways to help yourself dream better.

I am expecting my first child in June, and had a dream about a pool of water. When I looked it up in the book, it referenced being pregnant. What a surprise to me!

If you are interested in learning more about your dreams, this is the reference manual to buy!

I am one who has been paying attention to, and interpreting my own dreams since I was a kid, however, there are some dreams that I still need help understanding. I had a difficult time chosing a good dream dictionary due to the fact that many dream dictionaries have narrow meanings for their symbologies. However, this book gives you the point of views of Sigmond Freud, Carl Jung, the interpretations of other cultures and esoteric symbologies. So, it gives you a broad view of each symbol. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

Often in other books on dreams you will read ridiculous fortune-telling, like - if you dream of a red dog you will lose money in business. This one is heavily weighted toward Jungian psychology and keeps things more realistic. CLOUD NINE works from the premise that all dreams are either part of your waking life that your subconscious is re-hashing, or symbols of something you know and are either worried about, afraid of, or have other strong feelings regarding in your waking life. Some of the symbols are true, some should be taken with a dose of skepticism. Thomsom does a good job of keeping the field of dreams and their meaning above the level of most dream books. Some people might find the exercises helpful.

I love this book! Keep it by the bedside. Use it for interpretations. It has multiple entries for different words/phrases, only the dreamer knows which one applies. Easy to use. A must have for anyone wanting to know what their dreams are telling them!

As a very basic, breeze over reference book, it does it's job. However, if more in depth analysis and reflection is desired then look elsewhere. Remember that this book is simply a jumping off point to help you in analyzing your own dreams. It is lacking many common terms. Recommended for the heavy-eyed, light sleeping reader who requires immediate satisfaction.

I used to have nightmares all through my teen years into my early 20's, and it wasn't until I started to interpret them that they stopped. I love this book because it gives multiple meanings for some of the symbols in my dreams, so I could understand how they related to things going on in my life.

It also gave great recommendations about what to do if you want to record and interpret your dreams. Even though I don't have as vivid dreams as I did through my teen years, I still keep a journal by my bed in order to record the things I do remember.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is curious about their own dreams and what they could mean.

Seems to be missing a lot, but maybe the alternative would mean it would be the size of a large dictionary?

I have an older copy of this book, and absoluetly love it! I read it regularly, and the information is astounding. I was looking for an edition to buy as a present, and saw that a new edition is now available.

I plan on buying more than one copy, and definetly recommend this to anyone curious about their dreams.