Jung taught that dream images are the back side of the instincts and emotions. In the images lie emotional realities unknown to consciousness. Working with the images and symbols produced by the unconscious – that which lies outside our everyday awareness – can illuminate how the different, affectively-laden parts of ourselves are interacting with each other on the inner stage and thus influencing our day-to-day ego, our felt sense of self in the world.
Dream imagery provides a snapshot of how the larger Self is responding to the events and experiences, attitudes and emotions of the past 24 to 48 hours. This becomes like unto a compass, illuminating the landscape of experience from the perspective of soul, one’s deepest subjectivity. The information provided often compensates for, or rounds out, a one sided or maladaptive conscious attitude or position, increasing self-awareness and enhancing personal responsibility. Themes or storylines frequently have their counterpart in the collective dreams of humanity, imaged, in part, through the world’s great symbol systems of religion, mythology, and alchemy – again linking the individual life with the life of collective humanity.