Art · Image · Dream
“A great work of art is like a dream. To grasp its meaning, one must allow oneself to be shaped by it, the way it has shaped the poet.”
―C.G. Jung, The Spirit in Man, Art and Literature
…holds multiple meanings at the same time, beyond the limitations of talk therapy. For example, the line of small, dotted circles in this image represents the stars in the heavens, the passage of time from night-to-day, and contradictory feelings of others unseeing of her pain, as well as the multitudes who became aware, reaching out to support to this depressed client. “I could not explain my suffering to anyone. It was in a different language known only to me.”
Symbology of the Imagination
We encourage dream journaling at home so that we can process the images and events in session. We also guide attention to mental images that naturally arise while processing somatically (in the body), and phenomenologically (when someone gestures while talking). In general, we encourage images to arise without judgment to allow the unconscious to speak. The time for processing is after the fact.
Multiple interpretations of the jellyfish and sea snakes in this image include uneasiness felt in the stomach area, consciousness (yellow jellyfish) being pressured by the unconscious (grey jellyfish and sea snakes), and the chance of renewal and rebirth towards wholeness.
“One can actually see the conscious mind coming into existence.” (C. G. Jung, Collected Works)
Images are Messages from the Unconscious
Processing of this dream image yielded, variously, the four trees representing the wholeness of Self, the felt connection to nature, and the Self held in community, while at the same time, the treetops could be “clouds on the horizon.” The colored pinwheel in the center also reminds us of the excitement of childhood circus tents, mixed with the painful absence of the father.
“Dreams…wake me to new awareness of the shackles left from my unfortunate childhood [and]…by continually providing evidence of my current psychological landscape, they give me the information and courage to advance both consciously and unconsciously.” (Daniels, Dreams in Pursuit of Art)
Finding the Self…
“Dreams are like archipelagos. Each dream may be unique and specific in its own right, but under the surface we may glimpse the presence of a continuum, the dream of dreams, which is the mythic fingerprint, the unconscious life theme, the theme of themes, for the dreaming subject.”
- James Grotstein, 2000:7
Night-Horse arose from an image seen on a semi-truck on the freeway. Images are chosen by the psyche because they speak to the Self, often in an unconscious manner. Journaling with images can reveal fascination and connection to experience, as demonstrated by this journaling passage:
Night-Horse is of neither the physical realm nor the spiritual — she is of both simultaneously. She has nautical tentacles for navigating the depth. However, in launching into the air, the tentacles reconfigure into the wings of a Pegasus. The Night Horse has an unbreakable spirit that carries it through life, with an unsatiable appetite for freedom itself. La Conquistadora arises from snake-ridden waves into full glory. Unfettered, though previously branded (on the horse’s flank), she bears the scorched scars as a testament to her raw strength and beauty. She moves with ease between realms ever looking forward, sure of her footing even beneath the waves.
Night Horse
Pillar Nebula
Birthplace of new star systems, Pillar Nebula was created during an excruciating grief process. As the name of this drawing suggests, new star systems and psychic growth are each created by intense eruptions of pressure. The upward movement of this piece is interpreted as promising, with acknowledgment of the tremendous ongoing pain.
“Art has a way of anticipating future changes in man’s fundamental outlook.”
―C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul
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Dream Tending, Dr. Stephen Aizenstat; Pacifica Graduate Institute
Working with Death-Related Dreams, Marybeth Carter; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Dreams, Dr. Robert Moradi; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Active Imagination, Marion Anderson; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Discovering the Self through the Mandala, Dr. Mai Breech & Dr. Susan Frankl; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Jungian Approach to Spontaneous Drawings: Window to the Soul, Patricia Anne Elwood; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Jungian Sandplay Training Program*, C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles *current enrollment in Year 1 of 2-year training program
Reading Group of the Book “Painting Therapy”, Marion Anderson; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
The Language of Symbols (Sandplay), Marion Anderson; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Jungian Concepts as Expressed in the Arts, Sheila Traviss; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Alchemy, Janet Muff; C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles
Endurance, Transformation and the Power of the Imagination: A Weeklong Seminar, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Donald Kalsched, Connie Zweig, Ashok Bedi, Sylvia Brinton Perera, Monika Wikman, Thomas Elsner; NY Center for Jungian Studies
“The therapeutic discussion confronts the painter’s ego with symbols that the hand has discovered and painted, …adding this material to…consciousness.”
―Reidel & Henzler, Painting Therapy