Creating a container for dream tending is at the heart of this work. Guided by the question What is happening here? We open our senses to the dream as it presents itself to us: to the landscape and elemental qualities, to all forms of creaturely figures, human and otherwise, emotional tones, the familiar, and to the strange. This may spark an idea, a memory, or an association rich with sensorial material. Oftentimes, dreams unfold in their own way and on their own time, always moving and morphing into something else, offering us a new layer, a fresh angle, and further dimensionality.

With this work, there’s no agenda, or certainly not the kind we’re expecting. It has been said often enough in dream work circles that the most honest approach is to acknowledge at the outset that I have no idea what the dream means. That said, we can explore context and associations, images laden with archetypal meaning, and the dream's morphological impulses. My aim as a dream tender is to let go of any insistence on theory or quick answers, yielding to “a modest ambition and a daring practice” of image-centered dream work.

How can I begin working with my dreams?

There are many ways to engage in this work. Writing the dream down is the first step. Dreams are ephemeral, and writing them down helps us remember them. Many people say they have trouble remembering their dreams or that they don’t dream at all. But dream you do! As many as five to seven times per night. Here are a few suggestions to help you begin or rekindle your relationship with dreams.

• Ask for dreams.  Tell Dream Maker that you would like to start remembering and working with your dreams.  Place a pencil or pen and a pad of paper next to your bed before going to sleep.  Some people prefer to make an audio recording of their dreams if they wake up with one in the middle of the night; this is an option as well. 

• In the morning, upon waking and before sitting up, let yourself notice any dream material that has arrived on the shores of waking awareness.  Is there a feeling, a word, a dream image, or a whole episodic story? Whatever you have, let yourself linger with it by going over the dream material from this position.

• Once you're up and about, take a few minutes to jot the dream down so that you have it to work with in the moment or later on.  Write the dream in the present tense and with verbs that end in “ing”.  This will provide you with a sense of nowness and action.  Date the dream and give it a title.

• Naps can also provide an opening for dreams to emerge.  

• If you’re waiting on dreams to come, consider keeping a journal that you write in first thing each morning. Just start by writing three pages entirely stream-of-consciousness.

• Keep in mind that dream recall is reduced by such things as fatigue, lack of sleep, loud interruptions (including alarm clocks), vitamin B deficiency, and drugs (including alcohol, sleeping pills, antihistamines, and stimulants).