Working Creatively With Dreams

When you have been recording your dreams for some time you may find it useful to turn one of them into a creative project. This could be a painting, sculpture, or another artistic process; it

could also be a short story perhaps taking the dream further forward, a play, or even using nature creatively – it needs to be something that takes one beyond normal activities.

Look particularly for magical and fantasy

aspects, for you, are trying to access the world of magic in a slightly different way from that of ordinary spell-making and ritual. 

By acknowledging the creative processes in dreams and making them tangible within the normal sphere of reality, you are opening yourself up to all sorts of possibilities and changes of consciousness. In the Dream Spells

and Techniques section overleaf there are

suggestions for setting up such creative projects.

One of the benefits of deliberately dreaming creatively is a different perception of events in the world around you. Colors may appear more vibrant, shapes sharper, and sounds clearer. These changes can be quite subtle, but usually bring more focus to your awareness and

allow you to use creativity to its best advantage in small things as well as more important ones.

Life begins to take on new meaning.

Dream symbols, because they are archetypal and tap into a wider consciousness than your own, give fertile ground for meditation which can allow unconscious insights to come

to the surface, giving rise to even greater

creativity. You may wish to meditate on the overall feeling or one particular aspect of the dream. When you find yourself dreaming about your chosen project you have come almost full circle – from an acorn to an oak tree and back to an acorn – a situation akin to rebirth. 

It does not matter whether the project is good or bad; what is important is the enjoyment that you achieve from doing it. One of the most fulfilling aspects of such a process is the realization that you have entered a stream of consciousness that belongs to all of us, but which so few manage to tap into. This ‘locking on’ can give a strong physical sensation as much as an emotional or spiritual one. The

counter-balance to this is the number of times that you will get stuck or come up against a brick wall in this part of the process, but perseverance does bring about a greater understanding of your inner more magical self.

For self-development you may like to keep a separate journal or record of the processes and stages of awareness

experienced during this strenuous activity – it is worthwhile spending a short while each day working on your project, and a journal allows you to see how far you have traveled in this journey of discovery. It can be fascinating to see, for instance, in looking back over your daybook how you have found it easier as time goes on to recognize when the fears and doubts

arise, and how you have dealt with them.

It may be that your creative journal takes

precedence over the dream one or vice versa. With time you may recognize that

your dreams change when you are in a more overtly creative phase. You may be able to unblock a creative block by asking your dreams for an answer or by using the in-between states.

You will gradually find that you will be able to intertwine the various states of awareness when necessary without losing the reality of each one.

This is the true use of dream creativity and is truly living magically.