PrimarySpots PrimaryCare PrimaryCare 2013;13: Nr. 23 414 Arthur Funkhouser Your dream cow is not how I imagined it to be! Dreamwork in dream groups and palliative care Interest in dreams and their interpretation has a long and fascina- ting history, too long, though, for it to be included here [1]. It can also be said that this interest can be found in just about every cul- ture and, in some cases, concern with dreams and their meaning is more advanced, especially in some indigenous peoples, than here in the West (there are historical reasons for why we are so far behind, but that would also take us too far afield). 1 Dream «languages» In classical dream interpretation, attempts were made to arrive at dream meanings with all sorts of means for this a plethora of dream books are available (just have a look at the appropriate shelf in your local bookstore) and almost just as many approaches and methods. And they have met with a certain amount of success: there are dreams, for example, that are clearly Freudian and there are also those where the Jungian «amplifica- tion approach» is just the right thing (e.g., so-called «big» dreams from the collective unconscious with their impressive and often unforgettable symbols and situations). There are, though, problems: – Most dreams are not especially or obviously symbolic. – Each dreamer has his or her very own dream «language». A cow for me has a very different meaning than it does for someone making cheese on an alp! – Dreams often have several meanings/interpretations: depend- ing on the point of view, one discovers or sees something else. 2 This means that if one assigns a dream a particular meaning, it is then finished and «dead», so to speak, and this sort of dream «murder» should be avoided. What, then, can be done? Discovering a dream’s meanings carefully Over the years, a fairly simple means of working with dreams has evolved (and is being taught and used in the dreamwork seminar at the C. G. Jung Institute each semester). This approach (which can also be used with friends and family members) utilizes four main «tools» (which should always be used) and a few auxiliary ones (to be used when appropriate). Among the auxiliary tools are methods such as painting and/or modeling dream scenes and/or characters, acting dream scenes (as in «psychodrama» or «gestalt » therapy), Jung’s techniques of amplification and active imagination, and so on. Here I would like to concentrate on the four main tools: – Clarify – Ask for information – Inquire about feelings and emotions – Learn the life situation in which the dream arose Clarifying the dream story When someone has told his or her dream one should make sure that everything said has been clearly understood. This is what is meant by clarification. In many cases, it isn’t necessary but it is al- ways good to take time to reflect on what was said and thereby make sure the dream is clear. Asking meticulously about each particular information One should also ask all sorts of questions in order to obtain the greatest amount of information about the dream figures (persons, animals), places, objects, colors, weather, time of year and day, etc. When one hears a dream, one automatically makes pictures/ images of what has been said. These, though, are not identical with what the dreamer saw and experienced. Thus, one reason for this step is in order to correct the own inner image using these questions. Here it is very important that the questions are open, honest ones (i.e., not attempts to lead the dreamer to some truth that the listener has arrived at). It is also important to ask very con- crete questions and stay as close to the dream as possible. For in- stance, should the dream contain a ring, one asks what was the ring made of, did it have a stone, how big was it, and so on. The hope is that the dreamer will answer the questions from his or her memory of the dream and not from some theoretical ideas and notions. One of the advantages of working with dreams in this way is that it often happens that more of the dream is remembered while it is being worked on. It also often happens that the dreamer discov- ers new aspects of the dream that he or she didn’t pay attention to on their own. Telling a dream and working on it in this way also 1 Those wishing to learn more are invited to have a look at http://silenroc. com/funkhouser (User ID: Jung, Password: dreamwork). 2 It is said that a rabbi once took his dream to 26 different dream interpreters and he received 26 different interpretations. It is said that, with time, he realized that all 26 interpretations were correct. Cow Parade: San Jose 2008; R. Picado and A. Enciso