Customer Reviews

The Practice of Dream Healing: Bringing Ancient Greek Mysteries into Modern Medicine

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I give this book five stars, and not because I am quoted in it. In _The Practice of Dream Healing: Bringing Ancient Greek Mysteries into Modern Medicine_, Dr. Edward Tick takes us on a journey-literally and figuratively. Mixing travelogue, psychotherapy, and mythology, Tick's book brings us to ancient Greek, where Asklepios, the ancient Greek god of healing, was believed to have worked through dreams. _The Practice of Dream Healing_ is in fact a "spiritual" critique of the entire medical profession as it has evolved in a society dominated by scientific and technological thinking.

This book is the culmination of years of psychologically counseling patients, and years of traveling to Greece with patients and with friends to explore and seek solace in the hot dust of Athens, the cool caves of Elysium, the cutting mountains of Crete. A highly skilled travel writer who has written several pieces for _The New York Times_, Dr. Tick has authored a book that is learned yet wholly accessible. The reader is a valued member of the group, and will find many unexpected turns and interesting "sites"-psychological, mythological, historical, geographical, religious-along the way.

I've read a lot of books in the area of archetypal psychology. This is a great one. Asklepios is a fascinating figure (note: his emblem is usually one snake around a stick. Mercury--god of commerce among other things-- has two snakes. This difference is potentially tellng in and of itself, but another story) What struck me is how prevelant a god and healer Asklepios was at one time. In this current culture, dreamwork still has a tinge of being somewhat marginal to health and even slightly indulgent. Tick successfully describes how this was not always the case. Previously, dream visions were primary, with the medical applications an important secondary process. Speaking of the medical aspect of Asklepios's worship, I found it interesting how modern objective medicine originally found its support in Asklepian temples.
Tick combines his knowledge of Greek history with his psychological practice. The descriptions of his travels in Greece and the pilgrimmages he leads really show the logistics and the ups and downs of being a modern seeker. While reading the book, I started to get a little bored with the drawn out historical chapters, but I must say, in retrospect, that they are essential groundwork to the personal stories and experiences that follow. In general, this is a very rewarding book.

Tick's work is leading edge on turning healing back to the heart/mind/body connection. He not only gives the historical background to substantiate using this method, he has practical approaches to understanding the messages from the soul.
It should be a mandatory read for all allopathic doctors to help break us out of the mechanistic/drug treatment system. It is time for individuals to seek out and restore our healing dreams. Excellent book - best on the subject that I have found.

What I found most interesting about this book was its fascinating combination of material associated with travel writing, in this case on Greece, and its integration with a discussion of the relationship between ancient Greek mythology and contemporary healing practices. The effort to combine those two different genres is quite unusual and made the book an especially interesting "read."

For two thousand years, temples dedicated to Asklepios were active in all the Mediterranean world. Dreamwork was at the center of these places of healing. Flocks of people would come to the sacred premises, the most famous one being at Epidauros, in the Peloponnese, to sleep in their rooms and receive guidance from the God of Healing. His messages would then be interpreted by priests. Like Jesus, Asklepios was half-man, half-divine, he strolled around in sandals, delivering a message of healing and performing miracles. In spite of his resemblance to the Christian Savior, asklepian temples were to be destroyed after the Nicean Creed edicted by the roman emperor Constantine in 325 of our era.

The Practice of Dream Healing is an accessible account of the dreaming tradition of the Mediterranean world at a time in history that was rich with mysteries. Edward Tick makes us visit one after the other the asklepian temples and describes their histories and their practices through the two thousand years the dreaming tradition was alive.

The last part of the book is a modern pilgrimage through the asklepian temples and the description of a personal spiritual awakening to their power. The author is a transpersonal psychotherapist and his anecdotes of healing sheds light on how the ancient dreaming tradition of Asklepios can be incorporated in our times.

This is a very well-written book even if scholarly and of particular interest to people involved in dreamwork or passionate with ancient history.

There are five five-star reviews of this book already, but I'm adding a sixth. This is not because I am cowed by the opinions of the others-- it's just that they are all completely right! Read their reviews. They cover a lot of good points.

Let me add one other amazing feature: Too often, when we read about myth, we get pallid, flattened descriptions. TIck describes how the cult differed over time and place, enriching the book immeasurably!