She Who Dreams: A Journey into Healing through Dreamwork [Paperback]

Wanda Easter Burch (Author), Robert Moss (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2003

Wanda Burch dreamt that she would die at a certain age; her dreams foretold her diagnosis of cancer, and then guided her toward treatment and wellness. She took advantage of all the usual medical resources available to her, but believes she is alive because of her intimate engagement with the dreamworld. She Who Dreams takes the reader into that healing dreamworld, opening a path to self-diagnosis and physical and psychic health. Through powerful prose and practical exercises, this book describes in compelling detail a life lived and deepened, and a death postponed. In the process it shows that wisdom lives within everyone, and that anyone can tap into that wisdom through dreamwork.

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (September 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577314263
• ISBN-13: 978-1577314264
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #396,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She Who Dreams--Superlative and Active Dreamwork, January 28, 2004

By 

Rita Dwyer (VIENNA, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: She Who Dreams: A Journey into Healing through Dreamwork (Paperback)

She Who Dreams: A Journey into Healing Through Dreamwork by Wanda Easter Burch is a deeply inspiring story of a woman's brave battle with breast cancer, an illness first revealed in dreams and later healed through dreams. She sets the stage early on with rich imagery of her experiences as a southern child whose beloved grandmother is a locally famous healer and dream appreciator. Later in life, Wanda Burch draws on the strength and wisdom of this childhood training as she journeys far and wide in her waking world and her dreamtime. Mystical experiences on an African sojourn precede her passage through the difficult medical treatments she faces, a journey in which four men play important roles as fellow travelers and guides--her dream appreciating husband and son, her deceased father, and her mentor and dream-sharing partner and friend, the well-known author and teacher Robert Moss.

We accompany Wanda Burch on a treacherous healing path, and we empathize as she honestly discloses her fears and feelings--her dread of impending death that a recurring dream portends, her anger at delayed medical interventions and her bouts of deep depression. Yet these stormy seasons of her soul are tempered with an indomitable will to be healed at all levels of her being. Experiencing surgery and then chemotherapy with its dreadful side-effects never stops her from turning to her dreams for help and healing, and she recounts dreams, her ways of sharing and working with them, and using the wisdom she reaps from them. Tested to her depths, she emerges as a beacon to others, a Wounded Healer whose example offers the greatest hope of all to those of us who face life challenges. Her illness may have stolen her breast, but it didn't harm the caring heart beating beneath it, nor her sharp mind, nor her glowing spirit all of which are put to use as she rewrites her life contract and now walks on a new path as a Dream Guide and Dream Bringer to others.

I highly recommend this book and its practical and purposeful exercises and advice, as well as the forward and appendix by Robert Moss, reminding us that we can heal ourselves and reach out to help others and our world if we follow the wisdom and guidance our dreams bring each and every night. ...

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Dream Healing, November 10, 2005

By 

Robert Moss (Way of the Dreamer, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: She Who Dreams: A Journey into Healing through Dreamwork (Paperback)

Dreaming is healing. Our bodies speak to us in dreams, giving us early warning of symptoms we might develop, showing us what they need to stay well. Dreams give us fresh and powerful images for self-healing. Dreams are also the language of the soul; they put us in touch with wells of memory and sources of creativity and energy far beyond the clutter and confusion of the little everyday mind. Beyond this, dreams are experiences of the soul, and can take us - sleeping or hyper-awake - into realms where we can have direct access to sacred healers and teachers.

These themes and possibilities come vividly alive in Wanda Burch's brave and beautiful book She Who Dreams, which is both the narrative of a personal journey into healing through dreaming and an incitement to bring the gifts of active dreaming into our everyday lives.

I have been sharing dreams with Wanda since early in 1987, and I know the depth of experience and the deeps of dreaming from which this book flows. Her dreams diagnosed a life-threatening illness (breast cancer) a year before the doctors found symptoms. Her dreams guided her choice of treatment, gave her powerful imagery for self-healing and recovery, enabled her to grow a creative relationship with her physicians and awakened her to a deeper life and a vital engagement with the world as a dreambringer - one of those who creates a safe space for others to open to the gifts of dreaming, and can bring a dream to someone in need of a dream.

Her personal story is quite fascinating. Her first dream mentor was her Irish-American grandmother, a "wise woman" of the Alabama hill country. Later she met the dreamers of the Iroquois, one of whom appeared at her back door in the form of a white wolf.

But it is the story of everyday trials, more than the extraordinary elements in this book, that will touch the hearts of many readers and bring them practical guidance that is urgently needed. Wanda shows how dreams can get us through. One of her most valuable contributions to the literature of healing and recovery is to show us how we can use the self-healing tools that flow from dreamwork to support conventional medical treatments, smoothing the process and reducing adverse side-effects. For this alone, She Who Dreams is an invaluable resource for healthcare professionals, therapists, healers and caregivers.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dreaming is not for sissies!, October 27, 2003

By 

Cara Anaam (Fonda, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: She Who Dreams: A Journey into Healing through Dreamwork (Paperback)

I'm one of the lucky ones - no breast cancer in my immediate family - yet. So this is not a book I would have expected to be on my "Must Read" list but it is. I do dream and found compelling Burch's unsentimental and honest account of how in her dreams she was given clear images of her cancer, where it resided, and what she needed to do to get rid of it before doctors were willing to make the diagnosis. As her treatment progressed, the dream images changed to fit her need and she found ways, described in the book for others to follow, to create "prescriptions" based on them that she took many times a day. Her oncologist was amazed at her rate of healing and told her: "It was you who brought yourself to this amazing state. The rest is still up to you; it always has been." This is an inspirational story and a great read.