Healing Dreams
© 1998 E.J. Gold
Healing and dreaming have been linked and their connection used since ancient times.
Healing comes from the word 'hal' and whole, holy, heal, heil all have the same origin. It implies an nonbrokenness, an integrity, which allows for functioning as it should be. In Hebrew, the word for dream is halom.
According to some scholars the verb (halam), "to dream," and "to be in good health," are related.
Healing may be physical, emotional, or on various levels of psychological and higher levels of the energy field. It may occur in the thinking process and belief system.
Dreams often reveal parts of ourselves that lie in the unconsious, waiting to be integrated into the whole of who we are.
Even everyday dreaming is essential to our health and well-being on many levels. Some dreams however are "different", big, or numinous. Dreams can be of revelatory nature, life changing or prophetic.
If you are stuck, feel something is wrong or you are facing a challenge to your health, working with your deeper being, your unconsciousness, subconscious or essential deep nature through dreams may provide you with the direction you are looking for.
Once we commit ourselves to a dream healing pilgimage, then we start our jouney of healing.
Start YOUR dream healing journey with wonderful and invocational tools created with dream healing as intention by master artist, shaman and spiritual teacher E.J. Gold. Click here for dream journals, etc.
In dream interpretation you can work alone, with a shaman, dream counsellor or someone else well versed in dream interpretation. In every case, one of the most important tools for dream work is keeping a DREAM JOURNAL. Write down the first thing you remember in your Dream Journal when you wake up. If you wake during the night, write down whatever you remember.
Get into the habit of writing down the first thoughts right after waking up, no matter what. When analyzing, individual dreams might not be clear, but look for patterns. Repeating themes give you insight into deeper issues and may have meanings beyond themselves. You can also work with AFFIRMATION and INTENTION as well as SOUND.
Dreams indeed are an amazing venue for healing and deeper knowing.
In ancient Greece, when somebody could not be cured by modern practices, the physician would acknowledge this and would then look towards asclepius, the Greek god of healing.
People would go on a pilgrimage to his healing sanctuaries, called Asclepions, which could be found all over the Hellenic world. This tradition was active for almost 2000 years starting from around 1300 bc. In those healing centers they would be offered bodywork, hydrotherapy, psychotherapy, good food and changes in diet. They also enjoyed theater, music and poetry, which can touch on a very deep soul level and thus provide healing.
When the temple Therapeutes (therapists) considered a person ready, they would be introduced to the Abaton. The Abaton was a space where the patient would pray and sleep - expecting a visitation from Asclepius in their dreams. Healing would come about through a visitation of the healing god (or one of his totems) in a dream. Often the dream would result in a spontaneous healing or provide an indication of what needed to be done or undone for healing to occur.
