Dreams: The Inner Landscape

The topic of dreams has been coming up a lot lately, both for me personally and among friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Years ago, I was asked to write an article about dreams for publication in a friend's magazine. At the last moment, the article was dropped for one about the man who had become her suitor at that time. It ended badly, with him spending 18 months in jail as a result of torturing her for a period of 18 hours. "No excuse for abuse."

Here is the article, 23 years later (with updates):

Dreams: The Inner Landscape
Copyright, 1987, 2005, Jessica North-O’Connell

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.” – Diamond Sutra, paraphrased

O. proposes but I hesitate, wanting to contemplate it. A large, heavyset woman enters the area and they decide to marry right away. Suddenly I see a man stealing a baby. I am with another man – we follow the man and stolen baby and take the baby back when the kidnapper is not around. I hold the baby. I find out later that the kidnapper is a psychopathic killer who kills, dismembers and eats parts of humans. His bed is bloody and has human limbs in it. His room is dark, dirty and cave-like. I assume he has been apprehended at this point. I didn’t feel right about him taking the baby. I didn’t fear him. I viewed his existence with complete detachment and with interest.


I had the above dream many years ago. Because I have always studied and investigated psychology in its myriad theoretical and practical expressions, I cannot attribute this archetypal to any particular external incident which was occurring in my life at the time, i.e., I was not being exposed to a new theory and so “trying it out.”

This dream illustrates the intrusion of the element of Chaos into what we readily accept as our reality. The dream contains elements of social order (marriage) as well as personal aspects (I am a mother; no mother really wants to lose a child to Death).

“Disorder belongs to totality of life, and the spirit of this disorder is the trickster. His function in archaic society, or rather the function of his mythology, of the tales told about him is to add disorder to order and so make a whole, to render possible, within the fixed bounds of what is permitted, an experience of what is not permitted.” – Karl Kerenyi

One representation of the Roman god of the Underworld was called Dis or Dis Pater. It is fascinating to explore the meaning of English language words which begin with the syllable “dis-,” an exercise I will leave you to amuse yourselves with at your leisure, for we are never far from Dis’ realm.

We all dream; sometimes our experiences in the Otherworld are relaxing, comfortable and familiar. Sometimes the images and sensations are disturbing. In the many years I have studied dreams and dream analysis, I have grown to believe that there are many varieties of dreams. I list them thus:


THE PERSONAL DREAM: a) This type of dream is familiar to us by its highly personal content and features icons and symbols which are elements of our own dream language. This is why I do not recommend the use of dream dictionaries; each of us has our own meanings for these symbols.

The personal dream can be instructional, warning or precognitive (foretelling an event). It may also assist us in solving a personal dilemma or issue in our waking lives.

I am at a place where things are being displayed or sold. Some women have a table on which they have quilts, cushions and dream pillows about 18” square, encased in plastic to preserve the potency of the essential oils. They are patchwork pillows.

I had this dream in 1984 when I knew of no one making dream pillows. The dream had the feel of a country fair, a very homespun atmosphere. The women did not seem as though they would be interested in dream pillows, but the quilts and cushions suggested to me an appreciation for home craft, a familiar subject to most of us.

The commonplace feel of this dream also suggested to me that the dream pillow would become more widely known in the future. I was exhibiting at an ESP Fair a few years ago. At the booth backing mine were two women selling a variety of items, among them cushions and dream pillows wrapped in plastic.

This was for me and instructional and precognitive dream, foretelling of the acceptance and popularizing of various forms of aromatherapy. The plastic-encased pillows represented my own budding interest in the field of aromatherapy, already existent but “preserved” until such time as its development was appropriate in my own life. I have since become a certified aromatherapist.


b) The Recurring Dream: This is a form of Personal Dream which may illustrate the dreamer’s own evolution or attempts to uncover a part of the dreamer’s own “mystery,” one’s purpose or life path.

My own recurring dreams have been in two areas mainly, one being the “Driving Dream.”** In these dreams I am always obliged to drive another person to some destination. Although I say nothing, I am always concerned because I do not have a driver’s license and am worried about implicating another person in my misdemeanor should be stopped by the “authorities.” We inevitably arrive without mishap.

After many years of having this dream, I dreamed that, once again, someone wanted me to drive them somewhere. While still experiencing the same anxieties mentioned above, I told myself that there had never been any problem in the past and so proceeded to drive. This time, however, the brakes failed and we gently bumped into a car which was stopped at a red light ahead of us. The people in the forward car turned and casually looked over their shoulders at us then drove away after the light changed. One waking from this dream I realized that all the skills I had developed from my personal experiences up to then were now in readiness for interaction with others, I could “bump” them into other peoples’ lives without ill effect.

Subsequent driving dreams have taken on a whole new character. In one dream, I was borrowing a computerized car to take for a test drive. I programmed it and sat in the passenger’s seat enjoying the feeling of being chauffered by a driverless car. In another I was driving a big empty school bus.

The “borrowed” car suggested to me that, although I certainly did not discover the science of working with dreams, I would participate in further explorations of the field using existing “new” techniques. The school bus suggests untapped potential which I was beginning to command because of my developing skills

“For too long, the culture has taught us that the subconscious is the garbage dump instead of the communications room.” – Stephen Gaskin

Meeting the Other Self: The second of my recurring dreams involves a different type of dream, which is concerned with encountering my Masculine self, or animus.

For many years I dreamed of being pursued by a man or men whose intention it was to violate me in some form or other. I would only be able to preserve myself by “playing possum,” at which point my pursuer(s) would lose interest or become distracted by some other activities.

In my counseling work, I found it an interesting discovery that women tend to dream of being violated and that men tend to dream of being the violator in the animus/anima dream experience. The complete passivity of my dreaming Feminine self allowed me to view various aspects of my Masculine self without participation in the acts of aggression. When I finally made “connection” with my animus, it was in the form of another archetypal dream.

THE ARCHETYPAL DREAM: My partner approaches me, his face expressionless and full of intent simultaneously. He insists on intercourse. As soon as we begin, I know that I have been deceived; this is not my partner. I spiral up out of the dream during an orgasm.

After having this dream, I encountered two myths which involve deception leading to intercourse and the conception of a child who is in some way exceptional. One is the Classical Greek story of Alcemena, the mother of Heracles, (the original “champion of Hera”) by Zeus who disguised himself as her husband, thus deceiving her. Another is the story of Igraine and Uther Pendragon, the parents of the legendary King Arthur. The difference in this story is Igraine’s knowledge and approval of the plan.

"Myth…is an imagery in terms of which we make sense out of life.” – Alan Watts

Archetypal dreams feature themes which may be found in the mythologies of the world, in symbols which have meaning to whole cultures. Carl Jung’s works present to us the concept of the collective unconscious, showing us how we are connected to one another at the deepest levels of our being. I interpret this to mean that we are literally all one Soul, expressive of the Anima Mundi, or World Soul, and while it is true that we are individuals like raindrops or splinters of wood, we originate from the same source and ultimately return to it periodically in our dreaming state.

The Void, the Dreamtime and Otherworld are names which other cultures have attributed to this level of existence. This territory is the familiar domain of the shaman, the “skywalker,” the voyager between the worlds. It is here we make our “heroic journeys.” The various Books of the Dead from assorted cultures have offered us maps of this place and there are increasing numbers of handbooks now available to those who would consciously explore these realms; rich, fertile, creative ground available to all of us, awe-inspiring and humbling.

ASTRAL TRAVEL: While it is not necessary to be asleep to enjoy the experience of astral projection, I have found that I am most likely to have out-of-body experiences while I am asleep, although not exclusively. Many people can attest to my nocturnal activities, as I seem to do a great deal of teaching and communicating to others in their own “dreams."

There are other varieties of dreams which I categorize under this heading, not because they are necessarily out-of-body experiences but often they have such a flavor.

For years I dreamed of a blond-haired young man who always appeared to me as my brother. Nothing about the dream stands out in particular except that he always looked the same and always had the same relationship to me.

Many years passed. I was living in San Francisco when a friend suggested that I accompany him to a party and do Tarot readings for people there as a way of supplementing my income.

When he and I walked into the house, who did I see but the same young man from my dreams of all those years! He looked at me, jumped up out of his seat and, after giving me a great hug, proceeded to drag me around the room excitedly introducing me to everyone there as his sister. Since then he has ceased to appear in my dreams, as though it was enough for us to know that we are simultaneously incarnate.

I have also had dreams of journeying into the “Grey Zone,” a place where it is possible to meet with those who have died. (I have also had archetypal dreams in this particular realm.) Five years after his death, I dreamed of my first love, and spiritual twin who seemed lost and trapped in that place. I was so delighted to see him, although he was very despondent. What I know of that realm is it holds such potential that one may spontaneously create anything one wishes with merely a thought or intention, and this I told him. After our brief interchange, I left to the waking world. The next time I dreamed of him, he was about to walk through a gateway into a wonderful garden. His good spirits were restored and I knew that he was going to be all right; he had learned the secret of his post-mortal creativity.

Others I have spoken with refer to this type of dream experience as “rescue work.” It is not uncommon for dreamers to assist in the passage of those who are the victims of disasters by offering solace and support. The ancients acknowledged the relationship between Sleep and Death (Hypnos and Thanatos are the Classical Greek deities, brothers who are associated with these states.)

I personally differentiate between a true astral projection and these other forms of dreams thus: when I have been out of body, I awaken exhausted the next morning. Otherwise, I am usually rested, (or as rested as I can be, living the life I lead!)

"Remember, that with your dreams and the dreams of others, the object is not to control and nail down the inner world, but to learn to live there.” - Tolbert McCarroll

This type of dream is one in which the dreamer recognizes that s/he is, in fact, dreaming. With this knowledge comes the realization that the dreamer is in control and can do whatever is desired. One can train oneself to dream lucidly, just as one can learn astral projection. All it takes is practice. I do not feel, however, that one ought necessarily to control all of one’s dreams, as dreaming is a medium which a person’s unconscious mind uses in its communication with the conscious mind. It is enough that we impose left brain functions upon ourselves as much as we do in this culture without allowing our control issues to over come our dreaming selves as well.

INTERDIMENSIONAL DREAMS:“To me, dreams are a part of nature, which harbors no intent to deceive, but expresses something as best it can…...” - Carl Jung

Another which I think warrants exploration is the inter-dimensional dream. These are the dreams from which we return with a jumbled sense of what occurred. My theory is that we may contact items and experiences here for which we have no frame of reference and so we either approximate or grasp after meaningful symbols to take with us into waking life. I am looking forward to exploring this area further, as I feel we may discover much about the “aliens” with whom we re so preoccupied lately.
“At the place of our greatest fear lies our power…..”

Dreams are our scrying mirrors, our sacred ground. Dreams bind our splintered collective Soul together, the amazing potential of which enables us to create and sustain a common “reality.” Each one of us plays a major role in this momentous act of creativity, for we all dream from the cradle to the grave.

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep… – William Shakespeare, “The Tempest"

*I had this dream in 1985. In 2001, my middle daughter died with complications of leukemia. The person who proposed to me in the dream was her biological father. The fact that I “ saved” the baby in the dream mirrors my attempts to protect her during her childhood. On the last night that she and I spent alone together in the hospital, I had a dream where I was, once again, protecting a baby, while attempting to save an adult caught in factory machinery. Despite my efforts, the adult died.

** When I was having these dreams on regularly, I did not have a license in waking life.