The Return: A Book for Frances about Life and Death
             Preface
            Back Cover
      You're in Charge: A Guide to Becoming Your Own Therapist
            Introduction: The Art of Self Observation
             On Dreaming
            Foreign Editions
   Since the New Deal: An Annotated Chronology of the Events That Have Changed the United States
             The C.I.A. (excerpt)
             Origins of the Cold War (excerpt)
             Some Quotations that Demonstrate the Underlying Philosophy Since the New Deal

You're in Charge: A Guide to Becoming Your Own Therapist
Chapter 6 (an excerpt)                    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8      p.9

On Dreaming

As the individuation process moves along, there may be dreams containing progress symbols such as voyages, highways, forks in the road, or wading across a stream from one bank to another.

Some archetypes that are sure to emerge in dreams are those of the "wise old man" and the "wise old woman." They symbolize that you are about to withdraw your projection of wisdom from your outside mentor--- Plato, Christ, Swami Muktananda, your dissertation chairman, Einstein, Bertrand Russell, or whomever--- and give it to the guru within.

Finally, you can anticipate having some dreams that seem to denote pure energy or the unity of all life. I'd rather not suggest illustrative examples here, but let you dream your own.

Mandala Dreams
A mandala is a perfectly balanced design whose center is particularly important. They are frequently circular but they can also be square. They are frequently used in the East, especially Tibet, as objects for contemplation. The design is constructed to encourage the viewer to focus on the center and to ignore the outer designs.

Jung was very intrigued with mandalas and studied them in many cultures. He found that patients often had mandala dreams at that point in time when the Self emerges as the center of the integrated psyche and also at times of psychic dissociation and disorientation when some "self-healing" is needed. Here's an example of a mandala dream:

I'm walking in the woods when I come to a very large cleared area that is square in shape, with four very tall pine trees marking each of the corners. As I move into the cleared area I step over a large, long log that is lying across my path. I notice that it is joined by two other logs which are joined by two more logs which all together form a pentagon. In the center of this pentagon is a small circle of dark rocks, some of which are carved in interesting shapes. Then I see that these rocks must have once contained a campfire. I go over to examine the area to see if there are still any live embers. I hear a roar behind me and realize that the forest is on fire. I look around and see a circle of red and yellow flames leaping above all but the highest four trees. I know that I must stay in the safety of the pentagon and the rock circle until the fire has burned itself out.

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© Janette Rainwater 1997-2001

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