Stephen Larsen - The Transformational Power of Dreaming: Discovering the Wishes of the Soul

Both Stephen and Tom have been mentored by a Wise Old Man who has also helped several generations of psychologists climb out of the box (the one that can never really contain our discipline)! To the immortal Alan Watts Professor of Psychology at Saybrook Institute: Dr. Stanley Krippner

To my beloved partner and lifetime companion, who always shares my dream pillow: Robin Searson Larsen

STEPHEN LARSEN

Anne
Janet
Mirabai and Orion
Sangeeta and Amaya
Four generations of love and inspiration

TOM VERNER

The Transformational Power of Dreaming

More than a thousand books have been written about dreams. If you had to choose just one, you could not do better than this beautiful integration of the biological, psychological, cultural, mythological, and spiritual dimensions of these mysteries of the night. The best, most practical techniques for remembering and understanding your dreams are placed in the rich context of humanitys best dream interpreters, from ancient shamans through Freud, Jung, and contemporary authorities with whom the authors have studied, up to the authors themselves. Just reading this book has enriched our dream lives, and it is bound to stimulate your psyche as well!

DONNA EDEN AND DAVID FEINSTEIN, PH.D., COAUTHORS OF THE ENERGIES OF LOVE

A deep well of knowledge from two of the worlds most respected dream cartographers. This book is mythically oriented, historically detailed, and everyday practical. It also serves as a fascinating personal memoir about the crucial role of dream practices in contemporary mythopoetics. A fine feat! Highly recommended for all dream enthusiasts looking to remember who we really are.

RYAN HURD, AUTHOR OF SLEEP PARALYSIS, COEDITOR OF LUCID DREAMING, AND EDITOR OF THE DREAM STUDIES PORTAL

The Transformational Power of Dreaming is a beautiful synthesis of scholarship, science, mythology, and the many fascinating but little-known facts about the lives of those dreamers who have had an outsized influence on humanityscientists and inventors, philosophers, and even some of the great spiritual heroes of our kind. For me this book is a delightful balance of insight and human touch with generous openings into clinical practice and growth. A great bedside read to usher you into the nights journey.

EDWARD BRUCE BYNUM, PH.D., A.B.P.P., AUTHOR OF THE DREAMLIFE OF FAMILIES AND DARK LIGHT CONSCIOUSNESS

I have read numerous books about dreams and dreaming, but Stephen Larsen and Tom Verner have revealed insights that are both new and old, both practical and entertaining. The Transformational Power of Dreaming takes the reader on a wild trip that spans centuries and continents. Its description of contemporary brain neuroscience is solid but the book also delves into Greek dream incubation, Tibetan lucid dreaming, Jungian dreamwork, and an innovative procedure by which readers can enter the portals of their own dreams. Actual dream reports from the authors clients and students illuminate novel ideas, conveying personal touches that will touch the heart and move the soul.

STANLEY KRIPPNER, PH.D., ALAN WATTS PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AT SAYBROOK UNIVERSITY AND COEDITOR OF WORKING WITH DREAMS AND PTSD NIGHTMARES

The power of The Transformational Power of Dreaming as told by Stephen and Tom is the story of the dreams of historyof how they were incubated, used, and valued by our ancestorsdreams that gave them directions to find health and harmony in the ways they lived. By listening to the dream spirits of our ancestors and of the Earth, these spirits can carry us into a world that heals both us and the Earth and can bring us peace. This book needs to be read and practiced by all.

NICHOLAS E. BRINK, PH.D., AUTHOR OF ECSTATIC SOUL RETRIEVAL AND TRANCE JOURNEYS OF THE HUNTER-GATHERERS AND PAST BOARD MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF DREAMS

The authors lucidly map how consciousness and unconsciousness look at each other and can be brought into deeper, more intimate conversation. This insightful, entertaining book is also an immensely practical guide to working with dreams. Verner and Larsens fascinating stories, meticulous explications, and poetic intelligence inspire our dreaming selves and lead us toward more concentrated, richer lives. They make a wise and convincing case for how, as our roots deepen, our branches blossom.

Foreword

Edward Tick, Ph.D.

His eyes are wild, his mind swirling, his sleep torn by nightmares. As an air force lieutenant in his late twenties, John had been in command of a first-strike team of our countrys nuclear weapons forces. If orders were given, he would have to push the proverbial button to help destroy the world. John posted images of mushroom clouds on his desktop. Time went on, and as it did, John could not evolve his identity beyond that of an immoral and evil agent of annihilation.

Fortunately he found his way to Tom Verner, who, through his dream incubation workshop, led this tormented veteran from personal hell into healing. John had once been an actor. With Toms guidance he reembraced that calling and was able to use the catharsis offered by theater as a means by which to share his torment and purge some of his demons. (See the story of Toms work with Kevin, another traumatized veteran, in chapter 8.)

I was Johns graduate school faculty mentor. As our studies advanced, he was able to reframe his military history in archetypal terms. He saw that he had embodied the warrior archetype but was possessed by its shadowits denied, destructive side. At this point I gave him Stephen Larsens book The Mythic Imagination. He found himself inspired by Stephens work, because it offered him a road map for tracing his own heros journey through his service career. For his graduate school thesis, John was able to write the myth of his own life. With a deeper understanding of his own personal mythology, he finally returned to us as an elder warrior devoted to witnessing truth and healing others trapped in the hell he knew too well.

In this story, as in many instances over the decades, Stephen, Tom, and I have become a kind of mythopoeic healing team, laboring in the fields of imagination and spirit. Our work together embraces dreams, healing rituals, psychodrama, and art. Stephens work also includes neurofeedback for the rebalancing and restoration of brain functioning. Toms work entails his own special brand of healing magic, which you will read about later in this book.

In Robert Frosts poem The Tuft of Flowers the poet wrote, Men work together, I told him from my heart, / Whether they work together or apart. In their long careers as teachers, healers, and creative spirits, Stephen and Tom have worked synergistically, whether together or apart. This new book that they have written, The Transformational Power of Dreaming, is the latest effort of their lifelong friendship and professional collaboration. Herein, Stephen and Tom bring great love and respect, fresh insights and syntheses, and new reports on dreamers and dreams and their creative and healing potentials to our contemporary worlda world that is seriously and tragically deprived of an imagination that is meant to be fostered and nourished by dreamwork. Tom and Stephen tell dream stories, report dream practices, and consult dream visionaries down through the ages. In so doing, we the readers are initiated into millennia of dream practices and guided through numerous creative exercises to make these practices our own.