To integrate the unconscious, one must give it  a hearing. In Jungian Analysis, we do this by looking at and listening to dreams. “The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul…” (CW 10). It is the via regia (the royal road) to the unconscious. Dreams contain energies in the forms of the inner figures that belong to the individual. These are parts that have been forgotten, rejected or neglected. These are energies that free the individual from the ego’s  narrow existence.  The dream knows what the ego does not know. “…they are always a little bit ahead of the dreamer’s consciousness.”  If the person understands the message of the dream, it will be an experience they will never forget and will value more than anything else, a treasure that can never be attained from ego consciousness alone.

It is as if there is someone who is giving us a true picture of ourselves, who gives us the answers we are looking for. The ego must participate. The work cannot be left alone to the dream maker, or the dream itself. “The more you work on your dreams and the unconscious, and honor it, the more you understand it and it understands you.” (Marion Woodman). The more you work on your dreams, the dreams respond with more dreams.  It becomes a relationship, a deep inner conversation.

Having a dream journal is very helpful. I suggest that dreams are written by hand,. One must show up and create a sacred space, be a scribe, or pupil, meditate on the dream images. When you write a dream down, other images come. Associations and amplifications can come naturally. Look at each figure and symbol. Do not jump into interpretation but rather, feel the images, smell, see.

There are many kinds of dreams. There are complementary dreams, or compensatory, as well as archetypal dreams. There are also dreams that may sometimes announce a certain situation, or a dream about a past that has been hidden from the dreamer. One must take heed. If we ignore our dreams, or have an attitude of “oh it’s only a dream” then we ignore and dismiss the self that wants so much to live, and wants so much to give us life.