Courtney, I am honored! Thank you for the support. It means a lot that The Artemisian is your first subscription. Hope you enjoy the perks and the content here :)
Last night I had a dream where a frantic woman was trying to break into my apartment. I instinctually ignored her, locked the doors and watched as she tried to scale the walls..
The superpower here seems to be lucidity right? I wasn't quite lucid enough to be curious about her. Would you say that setting an "Next time I dream of this, I will face who is trying to confront me." would help? It's rare for me to have a string of pursuit dreams in a row... so that intention wouldn't really make sense most of the time.
Lucidity helps but isn't required. I think setting or journaling on the intention (face the shadow in my dreams next time) can produce a change no matter what. Sometimes it is increased conscious awareness, sometimes it's just a shift in how the dream ego interacts with the shadow content or an evolution of the dream scenery, etc.
If you want to try having a more conscious interaction, you can bring that dream figure into active imagination.
Some of the traditional literature mentions that a shadow figure is typically similar to you (same sex/gender). I think this is a general rule, but in practice, and as I've seen in other reading, shadow can manifest in all sorts of ways. Many psychological aspects can be in shadow, and thus they show up in dreams as animals, different types of people, environments, symbols, etc.
In the case of your dream, the frantic woman may not be a shadow figure. Active imagination or further journaling on the dream may reveal what it represents :)
Oct 14, 2023·edited Oct 15, 2023Liked by Alyssa Polizzi
Thanks for this Alyssa. It always helps me revisit Jungian methods of dream analysis. A recurring dream of being pursued (often by a humanoid robot, but also by other people, and something by other things -- often in the forest, but also in cityscapes and elsewhere) plays a significant part in my memoir -- I discuss it in these two chapters:
My main interpretation is that I was trying to get away from parts of me that had some important things to tell me... I was trying to get away because I didn’t want to hear what they had to say, which was mostly that there was no "escape" from depression and addiction and that despite my unwillingness to do it "alone," of course, that is exactly what I would have to do.
There's another layer that became clear after, as it happens, working with a Jungian coach and therapist—that I was trying to escape / being pursued by 'my' mother / a mother figure / a woman, and a lot of my desire to escape / get away IRL, so to speak, came from a deep-seated need to escape my mother's own anxiety and depression.
While this dream of pursuit has been coming to me much less often these days (especially since I completed the manuscript for my book), another version did occur just the other day. I dreamt I was in a struggle, perhaps the culmination of a pursuit, that took the form of a frenetic two on two soccer scrimmage. My partner passed me the ball, and I had a clear shot on goal, but for some reason I couldn't kick the ball, and so—in the dream—I dove for it as a goalie would. I woke up as I crashed to the floor beyond the foot of my bed, my head coming up against the bookcase there, leaving a bloody scrape on my forehead. I literally dove out of bed while still in the dream! Yikes.
Dreams and dream interpretation have been very fruitful for me, and one of the things that I also appreciate is how there isn't one fixed or correct interpretation; of course, there can be many, and the 'meaning' can change over time.
Thank you for sharing these dream pieces and linking to your chapters, excited to read more.
One thing that sticks out to me is that you are paired in the recent dream. Did that happen in your other chase dreams from the past? That sense of companionship, someone else on your team, as part of the scrimmage really struck me. I suppose it stands in contrast to what you mentioned earlier in the comment, of having to go it alone.
What I find so wonderful about dream work (and many Jungian/depth techniques for accessing the unconscious) is how it helps us feel held, partnered, allied with parts of ourself that can support the process of self-development. We can feel so alone through it all. But inwardly, there are many resources that are striving towards harmony, integration and health of the psyche/body.
The inability to kick is also quite interesting! The feet cannot make the move, but your hands can? Needing to get a grip on something? Coming down to earth to make the next step? Diving head first? Those are just musings that come to mind...
Oct 17, 2023·edited Oct 17, 2023Liked by Alyssa Polizzi
Thanks for your thoughts Alyssa. I appreciate your symbolic interpretation... a skill which I would love to cultivate more myself, for myself. I find it easier with others, but working with own material is more challenging. Perhaps that's universally true — and perhaps it's related to how it's easier to edit the work of others than our own...?
Paired -- good point! No, in the past, I was almost always alone. Diving head first for sure! I don't think the scrape will leave a permanent scar, but it was quite the dramatic, and athletic leap! I used to have a common mental image of a canyon, the other side of which was obscured in mist, with the accompanying thought that—confident in my capacity but blocked in my ability—if only I could see the other side, then I could find my way across. I'm not one to leap blindly. Perhaps this not-kicking, forward-leaping dream presents a new way forward...
And yes, the sense of being alone, how we _are_ all in fact alone, and yet also not alone, because of the wholeness we can feel with parts of ourselves.... that's the beauty of the psychological perspective, and Jung in particular has done so much for me there.
By the way, are you familiar with Harry A. Wilmer's (blue) book Practical Jung: Nuts and Bolts of Jungian Psychotherapy? This is the book that I usually recommend to folks who are interested in learning more about Jung, before going to the source material.
What sort of other Jungian/depth techniques for accessing the unconscious are you referring to? I'm familiar with the techniques from Johnson's Inner Work, like Active Imagination...
It is universally true. Naturally, so much of dream material is shrouded in shadowy dynamics from the unconscious. It makes this work a bit of a slog at times; feeling as if you just cannot identify what an image or symbol may mean. There are some foundational principles I work with to get the most out of dream interpretation and uncovering potential meaning of the inner symbol. Perhaps I will write something on that!
I am not familiar with Wilmer's book, but I am always curious to check out more resources. Especially if it acts as a good primer/introduction to Jung's work.
Some techniques for accessing the unconscious:
- Symbolic/archetypal divinatory systems like tarot, runes, I Ching
- Working with projections
- Active imagination + images that arrive in more passive reverie (spontaneous visions or day dream material)
- Working with somatic symptoms
- Synchronicities and the potential meaning they are disclosing
Def check out Wilmer's book; I think it's a great resource, exactly for that reason.
Your list of techniques is helpful.. I've worked with all of those from time to time. I also especially value what I call messages. While it's often said that the unconscious doesn't have direct access to language, I find that as messages from the unconscious bubble up through the conscious mind, for me at least, they arrive often enough as fully-formed words or phrases.
Looking forward to your piece on those foundational principles!
Fascinating, receiving fully formed words and phrases would certainly make understanding those messages much easier. I think that's what is often tricky for many. That you have a sense of something, an image, etc - but what do you do with it? What does it actually mean? Do you dream often in words as well? Remembering phrases upon waking?
I don't dream in words—that would be interesting too! These linguistic messages come in the waking hours. Sometimes they take some time to fully understand, but it's more like they're a ready-made distillation of material that's already been well-digested. They often make good chapter titles... I'm sure this is common enough for those of us that work a lot with language... have you had the same experience?
Really appreciate the practical ideas for dealing with shadow dream material. Its a timely advice as my dreams currently feature a rat with mouth arched over shit, a fierce doberman that will not let me down a ladder, and Pazuzu from the Exorcist (who scared me witless). They have appeared in response to my dream incubation question ''what is the shit I need to deal with in my life in order to move forward'. I think they are trying to protect me from accessing the shit, but there may well be other explanations. Thank you, as always.
You're welcome, and fascinating to see the variations in shadowy dream figures.
I hadn't heard of Pazuzu before, and upon some searching, I see that the Exorcist character is based off of a Mesopotamian mythological figure who is an apotropaic deity. Interesting indeed! That does seem to support your idea that there is a protective element at play.
But Pazuzu seems quite ambivalent as well (characteristics of destruction but also protection). Maybe there is a "readying" process that needs to happen before you fully access the shadow? Small doses of shadow before you get into its deeper center? I sometimes find that when I am close to some deep unconscious material, there is a slowing down that may happen, protective elements that come up to ensure the psyche/body doesn't become overwhelmed first.
Thanks, I was concerned that I'd never be able to access the material once Pazuzu turned up, and I appreciate your idea of a longer process. I'm planning some sandplay work with Pazuzu that I hope will open a space for sitiing with the dream.
Sandplay is a great way to work with those unconscious figures. It may just get things moving.
Regarding the dreams I was having (and wrote about), it took months for me to cross a threshold with the shadow that was trying to get my attention. Active imagination is what really moved the needle! Once I uncovered this greater archetypal presence, my dreams had a dramatic change.
Great post :) inspired me to subscribe and download the Substack app. First time subscribing to someone on here 🤗
Courtney, I am honored! Thank you for the support. It means a lot that The Artemisian is your first subscription. Hope you enjoy the perks and the content here :)
Last night I had a dream where a frantic woman was trying to break into my apartment. I instinctually ignored her, locked the doors and watched as she tried to scale the walls..
The superpower here seems to be lucidity right? I wasn't quite lucid enough to be curious about her. Would you say that setting an "Next time I dream of this, I will face who is trying to confront me." would help? It's rare for me to have a string of pursuit dreams in a row... so that intention wouldn't really make sense most of the time.
Lucidity helps but isn't required. I think setting or journaling on the intention (face the shadow in my dreams next time) can produce a change no matter what. Sometimes it is increased conscious awareness, sometimes it's just a shift in how the dream ego interacts with the shadow content or an evolution of the dream scenery, etc.
If you want to try having a more conscious interaction, you can bring that dream figure into active imagination.
I just realized that can't have been a shadow for me, since it was a female figure..
Some of the traditional literature mentions that a shadow figure is typically similar to you (same sex/gender). I think this is a general rule, but in practice, and as I've seen in other reading, shadow can manifest in all sorts of ways. Many psychological aspects can be in shadow, and thus they show up in dreams as animals, different types of people, environments, symbols, etc.
In the case of your dream, the frantic woman may not be a shadow figure. Active imagination or further journaling on the dream may reveal what it represents :)
Thanks for this Alyssa. It always helps me revisit Jungian methods of dream analysis. A recurring dream of being pursued (often by a humanoid robot, but also by other people, and something by other things -- often in the forest, but also in cityscapes and elsewhere) plays a significant part in my memoir -- I discuss it in these two chapters:
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/the-dream-ive-dreamed-a-thousand
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/learning-to-love-alone
My main interpretation is that I was trying to get away from parts of me that had some important things to tell me... I was trying to get away because I didn’t want to hear what they had to say, which was mostly that there was no "escape" from depression and addiction and that despite my unwillingness to do it "alone," of course, that is exactly what I would have to do.
There's another layer that became clear after, as it happens, working with a Jungian coach and therapist—that I was trying to escape / being pursued by 'my' mother / a mother figure / a woman, and a lot of my desire to escape / get away IRL, so to speak, came from a deep-seated need to escape my mother's own anxiety and depression.
While this dream of pursuit has been coming to me much less often these days (especially since I completed the manuscript for my book), another version did occur just the other day. I dreamt I was in a struggle, perhaps the culmination of a pursuit, that took the form of a frenetic two on two soccer scrimmage. My partner passed me the ball, and I had a clear shot on goal, but for some reason I couldn't kick the ball, and so—in the dream—I dove for it as a goalie would. I woke up as I crashed to the floor beyond the foot of my bed, my head coming up against the bookcase there, leaving a bloody scrape on my forehead. I literally dove out of bed while still in the dream! Yikes.
Dreams and dream interpretation have been very fruitful for me, and one of the things that I also appreciate is how there isn't one fixed or correct interpretation; of course, there can be many, and the 'meaning' can change over time.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you for sharing these dream pieces and linking to your chapters, excited to read more.
One thing that sticks out to me is that you are paired in the recent dream. Did that happen in your other chase dreams from the past? That sense of companionship, someone else on your team, as part of the scrimmage really struck me. I suppose it stands in contrast to what you mentioned earlier in the comment, of having to go it alone.
What I find so wonderful about dream work (and many Jungian/depth techniques for accessing the unconscious) is how it helps us feel held, partnered, allied with parts of ourself that can support the process of self-development. We can feel so alone through it all. But inwardly, there are many resources that are striving towards harmony, integration and health of the psyche/body.
The inability to kick is also quite interesting! The feet cannot make the move, but your hands can? Needing to get a grip on something? Coming down to earth to make the next step? Diving head first? Those are just musings that come to mind...
Thanks for your thoughts Alyssa. I appreciate your symbolic interpretation... a skill which I would love to cultivate more myself, for myself. I find it easier with others, but working with own material is more challenging. Perhaps that's universally true — and perhaps it's related to how it's easier to edit the work of others than our own...?
Paired -- good point! No, in the past, I was almost always alone. Diving head first for sure! I don't think the scrape will leave a permanent scar, but it was quite the dramatic, and athletic leap! I used to have a common mental image of a canyon, the other side of which was obscured in mist, with the accompanying thought that—confident in my capacity but blocked in my ability—if only I could see the other side, then I could find my way across. I'm not one to leap blindly. Perhaps this not-kicking, forward-leaping dream presents a new way forward...
And yes, the sense of being alone, how we _are_ all in fact alone, and yet also not alone, because of the wholeness we can feel with parts of ourselves.... that's the beauty of the psychological perspective, and Jung in particular has done so much for me there.
By the way, are you familiar with Harry A. Wilmer's (blue) book Practical Jung: Nuts and Bolts of Jungian Psychotherapy? This is the book that I usually recommend to folks who are interested in learning more about Jung, before going to the source material.
https://bookshop.org/a/96231/9781630512668
What sort of other Jungian/depth techniques for accessing the unconscious are you referring to? I'm familiar with the techniques from Johnson's Inner Work, like Active Imagination...
It is universally true. Naturally, so much of dream material is shrouded in shadowy dynamics from the unconscious. It makes this work a bit of a slog at times; feeling as if you just cannot identify what an image or symbol may mean. There are some foundational principles I work with to get the most out of dream interpretation and uncovering potential meaning of the inner symbol. Perhaps I will write something on that!
I am not familiar with Wilmer's book, but I am always curious to check out more resources. Especially if it acts as a good primer/introduction to Jung's work.
Some techniques for accessing the unconscious:
- Symbolic/archetypal divinatory systems like tarot, runes, I Ching
- Working with projections
- Active imagination + images that arrive in more passive reverie (spontaneous visions or day dream material)
- Working with somatic symptoms
- Synchronicities and the potential meaning they are disclosing
Def check out Wilmer's book; I think it's a great resource, exactly for that reason.
Your list of techniques is helpful.. I've worked with all of those from time to time. I also especially value what I call messages. While it's often said that the unconscious doesn't have direct access to language, I find that as messages from the unconscious bubble up through the conscious mind, for me at least, they arrive often enough as fully-formed words or phrases.
Looking forward to your piece on those foundational principles!
Fascinating, receiving fully formed words and phrases would certainly make understanding those messages much easier. I think that's what is often tricky for many. That you have a sense of something, an image, etc - but what do you do with it? What does it actually mean? Do you dream often in words as well? Remembering phrases upon waking?
I don't dream in words—that would be interesting too! These linguistic messages come in the waking hours. Sometimes they take some time to fully understand, but it's more like they're a ready-made distillation of material that's already been well-digested. They often make good chapter titles... I'm sure this is common enough for those of us that work a lot with language... have you had the same experience?
Really appreciate the practical ideas for dealing with shadow dream material. Its a timely advice as my dreams currently feature a rat with mouth arched over shit, a fierce doberman that will not let me down a ladder, and Pazuzu from the Exorcist (who scared me witless). They have appeared in response to my dream incubation question ''what is the shit I need to deal with in my life in order to move forward'. I think they are trying to protect me from accessing the shit, but there may well be other explanations. Thank you, as always.
You're welcome, and fascinating to see the variations in shadowy dream figures.
I hadn't heard of Pazuzu before, and upon some searching, I see that the Exorcist character is based off of a Mesopotamian mythological figure who is an apotropaic deity. Interesting indeed! That does seem to support your idea that there is a protective element at play.
But Pazuzu seems quite ambivalent as well (characteristics of destruction but also protection). Maybe there is a "readying" process that needs to happen before you fully access the shadow? Small doses of shadow before you get into its deeper center? I sometimes find that when I am close to some deep unconscious material, there is a slowing down that may happen, protective elements that come up to ensure the psyche/body doesn't become overwhelmed first.
Thanks, I was concerned that I'd never be able to access the material once Pazuzu turned up, and I appreciate your idea of a longer process. I'm planning some sandplay work with Pazuzu that I hope will open a space for sitiing with the dream.
Sandplay is a great way to work with those unconscious figures. It may just get things moving.
Regarding the dreams I was having (and wrote about), it took months for me to cross a threshold with the shadow that was trying to get my attention. Active imagination is what really moved the needle! Once I uncovered this greater archetypal presence, my dreams had a dramatic change.
Thank you for your great insight 🙏