Posts Tagged ‘archetypes’
Dream Books – Bibliography
This feature is an excerpt from The New Dream Dictionary by Tony Crisp, published by Little Brown, UK. It is therefore copyright material.
Aaronson and Osmond. “Psychedelics”. Doubleday, 1970.
Adler, Gerhard. Studies in Analytical Psychology. International Universities Press 1967. Adler’s view of dreams. To see book click here
Ackroyd, Eric. A Dictionary Of Dream Symbols. Blandford, 1993. To see book click here
Alex, William. Dreams, the Unconscious and Analytical Therapy. C. D. Jung Institute of San Francisco, 1992. To see book click here
Anch A. and others. Sleep: A Scientific Perspective. Prentice Hall 1988. To see this book click here.
Anon. The Universal Interpreter of Dreams and Visions. Baltimore, USA, 1795.
Antrobus, John. The Mind In Sleep. Hillsdale. 1978.
Arthos, John. Shakespeare’s Use of Dream And Vision. Bowes and Bowes, London, 1977.
Barclay, David and Therese Marie. UFO’s The Final Answer? Blandford, 1993. Has a great deal about dreams, the mind, and environmental influence on the mind and hallucinations. To ssee this book click here.
Becker, Raymond De. The Understanding of Dreams – And Their Influence On The History Of Man. Hawthorn 1968.
Bogart, Greg. Dreamwork and Self Healing – Unfolding the Symbols of the Unconscious. Karnac Books Ltd. This is a very readable book giving a great many insights into the dreaming process, how dreams can heal, and how to work and understand one’s dreams. It does this by giving masses of people’s dreams with some commentary and insights from the dreamer, and also from Bogart’s long experience working with people on their dreams. There are chapters giving a client’s dreams and seeing how they worked through to a healing experience. But there are other chapters such as a wonderful list of archetypes and their meaning. The work owes a lot to Jung’s influence.
As some other reviewers say: “This is a book on dreams like no other”. “This book will be a beacon for anyone seeking the guidance that comes from the mystery within.” “That Jungian dream work can advance psychological healing is convincingly illustrated in this book.”
Bogart, Greg. Dreamwork in Holistic Psychotherapy of Depression – An Underground Stream that Guides and Heals. Published by Karnac Books Ltd This book describes how dreamwork can help alleviate depression, in both long-term and time-limited psychotherapy, and in self-treatment. The author shows how dreams shed light on issues contributing to depression—including drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, death and bereavement, conflicts about sex, health and body image, parenting, workplace stress and burnout, and ancestral, intergenerational trauma.
Bonime, Walter. The Clinical Use Of Dreams. Da Capo Press. 1983. To see this book click here.
Bro, Harmon. Edgar Cayce On Dreams. Warner Books 1970.
Bro, Harmon. Edgar Cayce – Seer Out Of Season. Aquarian 1990. Biography of Edgar Cayce. To see book
Bro, Harmon. Dreams In The Life of Prayer. Harper And Row, New York 1970. To See this book .
Brook, Stephen. The Oxford Book of Dreams. Oxford University Press 1983. A dream anthology, from pre-Christian to present times. To see this book click here.
Brooks, Janice (with Jay Vogelsong and J. Allan Hobon). The Conscious Exploration of Dreaming: Discovering How We Create and Control Our Dreams. Published by Unknown, ISBN: 1585005398.
Bunker, Dusty. Dream Cycles. Para Research, 1981. To See this book click here.
Burroughs, William S. My Education: A Book of Dreams. First published Viking Press, U.S.A. 1995. Also Picador, London, 1996. To See this book click here.
Caldwell, W. V. LSD Psychotherapy. Grove Press, 1969. Caldwell travelled widely in the USA and Europe visiting and studying results in the practices or clinics of psychiatrists using LSD as a psychotherapeutic tool. In the book he gives an excellent synthesis of the mass of information and experience gathered. In doing so he maps the heights, depths and fantasies of the human psyche, in a way that is beyond any particular school of thought. Such a map is of great use to anyone seriously investigating dreams.
Campbell, Joseph. Myths To Live By. Paladin 1988. Wonderful reading, although not directly about dreams. Campbell shows how human beings create certain myths, no matter what their culture or historic period. This myth creating faculty is obviously linked with dreaming, and portrays life and death as the unconscious sees them. To see book click here.
Campbell, Joseph. The Portable Jung. The Viking Press, 1974. To See this book click heree.
Cannegeiter, Dr. C. A. Around The Dreamworld. Vantage Press, USA, 1985. To See this book click here.
Capacchione, Lucia. The Creative Journal. Newcastle Pub. Co. 1993. To See this book click here.
Caprio and Hedberg. At a Dream Workshop. Paulist Press, 1988. See this book click here.
Carskadon, Mary A. Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming. Macmillan, 1992. To See this book click here.
Cartwright, Rosalind. A Primer On Sleep And Dreaming. Addison Wesley. 1978.To See this book click here
Cayce, Edgar – For all books about Edgar’s work see ARE Press
Cartwright, Rosalind. Crisis Dreaming. Aquarian Press. 1993.
Cerminara, Gina. Many Mansions: The Edgar Cayce Story on Reincarnation. An affirmation of the age-old belief in reincarnation, a profile of the legendary psychic reveals Cayce’s remarkable healing abilities and prophecies and examines the legacy of his work in terms of such issues as past life regression, hypnosis, parapsychology, karma, and more.
Chetwynd, Tom. Dictionary for Dreamers. Paladin 1974. Good dictionary.
Circlot, J.E. A Dictionary of Symbols. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962.
Clift, J.D. and W. Symbols Of Transformation.
Cooper, J.C. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols. Thames and Hudson, 1993. To See this book click here.
Corriere, Karle. Dreaming and Waking. Peace Press 1980. Exploring the idea of whether, if we meet the feeling content of dreams, they gradually cease to be symbolic. A landmark in dream theory.
Cotterell, Arthur. A Dictionary of World Mythology. OUP, 1986. To see book click here.
Coxhead and Hiller. Dreams – Visions of the Night. Thames And Hudson 1981. To See this book click here.
Crisp, Tony. Do You Dream. Spearman, 1971.
Crisp, Tony. The Instant Dream Book. C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd. 1984. Explains techniques which can be used to transform the fears and emotions of dreams without analysing them. It also considers the different areas of dream activity, such as body dreams, problem solving, extra sensory, sexual dreams, etc. To see book click here.
Crisp, Tony. Mind and Movement. C.W. Daniel Co. Ltd. 1987. Considers the problem solving or self-regulating psychological and physiological process underlying dreaming. It also considers how the process which produces dreams underlies many other puzzling phenomena such as ESP, abreaction, flashbacks to past events, etc.
Crisp, Tony. Dream Dictionary. Macdonald, Optima. 1990. Revised version as . Little Brown, 1994. One of the most comprehensive and researched of dream dictionaries. To see this book click here.
Crisp, Tony. Liberating The Body. Aquarian. 1992. Using the dream process to use resources of the unconscious for health and intuition. An update of Mind and Movement.
Crisp, Tony. Dreams and Dreaming. London House. 1999. To see book Click here.
Crisp – For all 40 odd of Tony Crisp’s books see My Books
Cunningham, Scott. Sacred Sleep: Dreams and the Divine. Crossing Press, 1992.
Dee, Nerys. Your Dreams and What They Mean. Aquarian 1984. To See this book click here.
David-Neel. The Secret Oral Teachings of The Tibetan Buddhist Sects. Published by Martino Fine Books (February 14, 2017. “This is the most direct, no-nonsense, and down-to-earth explanation of Mahayana Buddhism that has been written. Specifically, it is a wonderfully lucid account of the Middle Way method of enlightenment worked out by the great Indian sage Nagarjuna.” —Alan Watts,
Delaney, Gayle. New Directions In Dream Interpretation. State University Press. 1983. To See this book click here.
Delaney, Gayle. Living Your Dreams. Harper and Row, 1988. To see book click here.
Delaney, Gayle. Breakthrough Dreaming. Bantam. 1991. To See this book click here.
Delaney, Gayle. Sexual Dreams. Piatkus 1994. To See this book click here.
Diamond, Edwin. The Science of Dreams. Eyre and Spottiswoode 1962. A fascinating collection of researched information on dreams.
Edinger, Edward. Ego and Archetype. Shambhala, 1991. To See this book click here.
Eliade, Mircea. Yoga Immortality and Freedom. Princeton University Press, 1970.
Empson, Jacob. Sleeping and Dreaming. Faber and Faber, 1989.
English, Jane. Different Doorway: Adventures of a Caesarean Birth. Description of dreams and work leading up to Jane’s memory of her caesarean birth and its influence on her life. To see book .
Evans, Christopher. Landscapes of the Night. Victor Gollancz 1983. The computer theory of dreaming, with excellent survey of other theories. To See this book click here.
Fagan and Shepherd. Gestalt Therapy Now. Harper Colophon 1970. Contains an explanation of Fritz Perls approach to achieving insight into ones dreams.
Faraday, Ann. Dream Power. Hodder and Stoughton, 1972. Good basic textbook, written for lay people, but intelligently. To see the book click here.
Faraday, Ann. The Dream Game. Harper and Row, 1974.
Fay, Maria. The Dream Guide. Centre For The Healing Arts. 1978.
Flanagan, Owen J. Dreaming Souls: Sleep, Dreams, and the Evolution of Mind. Publisehd by Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195126874.
Fordham, Freida. Introduction To Jung’s Psychology. Penguin Books, 1972.
von Franz, Marie-Louise. On Death and Dreams. To See this book click here.
von Franz, Marie-Louise. The Way Of The Dream. Windrose 1988. Recorded conversations with von Franz taken by Frazer Boa – a transcript of the film The Way Of The Dream.
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Allen and Unwin 1955. The first of all modern dream books.
Fromm, Erich. The Forgotten Language. George Allen and Unwin 1952. This is subtitled – An introduction to dreams, fairy tales and myths. To see the book click here.
Fromm, Erich, The Art of Loving’
Fromm, Erich, The Art of Being
Fromm, Erich, The Fear of Freedom
Garfield, Patricia. Creative Dreaming. Ballantine 1974 – 81 edition. Clear description of taking dreams to satisfaction. To see the book click here.
Garfield, Patricia. Pathway to Ecstacy. Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 1979.
Garfield, Patricia. Your Child’s Dreams. Ballantine, 1984.
Gaskell. G.A. Dictionary of All Scriptures and Myths. Crown, 1960. To See this book click here.
Gendlin, Eugene. Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams. Chiron, 1986. To See this book click here.
Gnuse, Robert Karl. The Dream Theophany of Samuel: Its Structure in Relation to Ancient Near Eastern Dreams and Its Theological Significance. University Press of America, 1984. To See this book click here.
Green, Celia. Lucid Dreams. IPR 1968. The foundation research on Lucidity in dreams. To See this book click here.
Green, Celia. (With Charles McCreery)Lucid Dreaming : The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep. Publisehd by Routledge; ISBN: 0415112397.
Grof, Stanislav. Realms of the Human Unconscious. All Grof’s books are incredible because he was involved in exploring the unconscious and the different dimensions of human experience for years. An excellent book.
Hadfield, J. A. Dreams and Nightmares. Penguin 1954. Hadfield proposes a biological theory of dreams, which stands between Freud, Jung, and more modern theories. It is also an interesting book.
Hall, Calvin S. The Meaning of Dreams. Harper and Row 1953. Hall worked a lot with series of dreams, and with content analysis. This is the result of his research, written in easily readable form.
Hall, Calvin S. Jungian Dream Interpretation: A Handbook of Theory and Practice. To See this book click here.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Re-issue. New American Library, 1991. To See this book click here.
Hannah, Barbara. Encounters With The Soul: Active Imagination. SIGO, 1981. To See this book click here.
Harary, Keith. Lucid Dreams In 30 Days. Aquarian. 1990. To See this book click here.
Harding, M. Ester. The I and the Not I. Princeton UP, 1965.
Harris, Thomas. I’m OK – You’re OK. Pan books, 1975.
Hartmann, Ernest. The Nightmare. Basic Books. 1984.
Hearne, Dr. Keith. Visions Of The Future. Aquarian, 1989. An investigation of premonitions.
Heyer, G. R. Organism of The Mind. Kegan Paul, 1933. Although Heyer is not writing directly about dreams, the book is an interesting commentary on what was being discovered by Analytical Psychology in the early part of the 20th century.
Hillman, James. Re-Visioning Psychology. Harper, 1975.
Hobson, J. Allan. The Dreaming Brain. Penguin, 1990. Latest information on research into dreams and the brain. A good section on understanding dreams – not as things with hidden meanings, but as straightforward expressions of our own unique self. To See this book click here.
Hobson, J. Allan. Dreaming As Delirium : How the Brain Goes Out of Its Mind. Publishsed by MIT Press; ISBN: 0262581795.
Hodgson and Miller. Self Watching. Published by Century Publishing Co. 1982.
Holbech, Soozi. The Power Of Your Dreams. Piatkus. 1991.
Hubbard, Ron. Dianetics. Bridge 1985. To See this book click here.
Hunt, Harry. The Multiplicity of Dreams. Yale University Press. 1991. To See this book click here.
Jacobi, Jolande. The Way Of Individuation. Hodder and Stoughton 1967. Explanation of Jung’s concept of the stages in becoming a person.
Jobes, Gertrude. Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols, Parts 1 and 2. Scarecrow, 1962. To See this book click here.
Johnson, Robert A. Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth. Harper and Row, 1986. To See this book click here.
Jouvet, Michael. The Paradox of Sleep: The Story of Dreaming. Publisshed by MIT Press; ISBN: 0262100800.
Jung, Carl. Dreams. Ark Paperbacks 1986. Very technical consideration of the subject. To See this book click here.
Jung, Carl. Mandala Symbolism. Princeton University Press 1972.
Jung, Carl. Man and His Symbols. Aldus 1964. The breadth and depth of dreams. It is in paperback, excellent reading. To see the book click here.
Jung, Carl. Memories Dreams Reflections. Collins and Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963. To see the book click here.
Jung, Carl. Modern Man in Search of a Soul. Kegan Paul 1933. To See this book click here.
Jung, Carl. On The Nature Of Dreams. Princeton University Press, 1974.
Jung, Carl. The Portable Jung. Edited with an interpretive introduction, chronolgy, notes and bibliography by Joseph Campbell. The Viking Press, 1971. To See this book click here.
Jung, Carl. Secret of the Golden Flower. Kegan Paul 1942. Jung’s commentary on this ancient Chinese book on meditation, is wonderful reading for those seriously interested in their own inner life. To See this book click here.
Karagulla, Dr. Shafica, an international neurologist, has explored the professional use of intuition in her book Breakthrough to Creativity
Kelsey, Morton. Dreams – A Way to Listen To God. Paulist, P, US, 1978. To See this book click here.
Kent, Caron. The Enigma Of The Body. An unpublished mss.
Kent, Caron. The Puzzled Body. Vision Press, 1969. A voyage of discovery of how the mond and body interact leading tyo depression and human problems. To See this book click here.
Kleitman, Nathaniel, Sleep And Wakefulness. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, revised edition 1963. To See this book click here.
Kluger, Yechezkel. Dreams and Other Manifestations of the Unconscious.
Krippner, Stanley. Dreamtime and Dreamwork. Jeremy Tarcher. 1990. To See this book click here.
Krippner, Stanley. Dreamworking. Bearly. 1988. To See this book click here.
LaBerge, Stephen. Lucid Dreaming. Ballantine Books, 1985. To see the book click here.
LaBerge, Stephen and Rheingold, Howard. Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming. Ballantine Books, 1990.
Langs, Robert. Decoding Your Dreams. Unwin Hyman, 1989. A good basic handbook on learning to discover the wealth of information and wisdom in ones own dreams. To See this book click here.
Layard, John. The Lady Of The Hare. Faber and Faber 1944.
Leach, Maria. Standard Dictionary of Folklore Mythology and Legend. As author, 1949.
Lee, S.G.M. and Mayes, A.R. – Editors. Dreams and Dreaming. Penguin 1973.
Lincoln, J. S. The Dream in Primitive Cultures. The Cresset Press, 1935.
Ling and Buckman. “Lysergic Acid and Ritalin in The Cure of Neurosis”. Published by Lambarde Press, 1964.
Linn, Denise. A Pocketful of Dreams. Piatkus. 1993.
MacKenzie, Norman. Dreams And Dreaming. Bloomsbury Books 1989.
Macmillan, Willian John. The Reluctant Healer, Gollancz 1952. An extraordinary autobiography of an equally extraordinary healer.
Mahoney, Maria. The Meaning in Dreams And Dreaming. Citadel Press, US, 1987.
Martin, P. W. Experiment in Depth. Routledge and Kegan Paul 1964. Martin was one of the early pioneers, along with Rev. Leslie Weatherhead, who started helping people to adequately explore their own dreams – i.e. without the psychiatrist.
Mathews, Boris. The Herder Symbol Dictionary. Chiron Publications, US, 1993. .
Mattoon, Mary Ann. Understanding Dreams.
Maybruck, Patricia. Romantic Dreams. Pocket Books. 1991.
Meddis, Dr. Ray. The Sleep Instinct. Routledge and kegan Paul, 1977.
Mindell, Arnold. Dreambody: The Body’s Role in Revealing The Self. Sigo Press, 1982. To See this book click here.
Mindell, Arnold. Working With The Dreaming Body, 1984.
Moffitt, Alan. The Function of Dreaming. State University Press. 1993.
Monroe, Robert. . Journeys Out Of The Body Anchor Press, 1975. Monroe describes his experiences of leaving his physical body in sleep.
Moody, Raymond A. . Life After Life. Mockingbird Books, 1975. The wonderful description of research into near death expereinces.
Moorcroft, William. . Sleep, Dreaming and Sleep Disorders, University Press America. 1994. To See this book .
Moon, Sheila. Dreams of A Woman. Sigo P, US, 1991.
Morse, Dr Melvin. Closer to the Light. Ivy Books, 1991. An investigation into Near Death Experiences.
Murray, Alexander. Who’s Who in Mythology. Studio, 1992.
Natterson, Joseph. The Dream In Clinical Practice. Jason Aronson. 1994.
Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks. University of Nebraska press, 1979. The story of an American Indian Holy Man. To See this book .
Newland, Constance. Myself and I. Frederick Muller Ltd, 1963. Suffering frigidity, Constance Newland successfully underwent a number of psycho-analytical sessions using the drug LSD. The connection with dreaming is the enormously rich and potent fantasies she met and dealt with during her analysis. The book is therefore a powerful description of the world one meets in dreams, and the personal fears and forces which underlie the strange imagery of the unconscious. She also spontaneously understood some of her dreams.
Noone, Robert – and Holman, D. In Search of The Dream People. William Morow, 1972.
O’Conner, Peter. Dreams And The Search For Meaning.
Oldis, Daniel. Lucid Dream Manifesto. iUniverse Inc. 2006.
Oswald, Ian. Sleep. Penguin 1966. The great landmark in researched basis of sleep and dreams.
Ousby, William J. When I was 15 he taught me a method that changed my life. See his book – Theory and Practice of Hypnotism.
Parker, Julia. The Secret World of Your Dreams. Piatkus. 1990.
Partridge, Eric. Origins. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966.
Patanjali, Bhagwan Shri. Aphorisms of Yoga. With commentary by Shree Purohit Swami and introduction by W. B. Yeats. Published by Faber and Faber Ltd., 1938. There are many modern translations and commentaries still in print. To See this book click here.
Perls, Fritz. The Gestalt Approach. Science and Behaviour. 1989. To See this book click here.
Priestley, J. B. Man And Time. Aldus Books London, 1964.
Rainer, Tristine. The New Diary. Angus and Robertson, 1980.
Rawson, Wyatt. The Way Within. Vincent Stuart 1965. Interesting results of a dream group working together over some years. Arising from the work of P.W. Martin.
Reed, Henry. Getting Help From Your Dreams. Inner Vision.
Reich, Wilhelm. The Function of the Orgasm. The Noonday Press, 1961. A landmark in the perception of psychological stress as it works in the body and mind. .
Rennick, Teresa. Inner Journeys. Turnstone Press, 1984. Handbook on the use of visualisation and fantasy in problem solving and personal growth. It is useful to work with dream images in this way, especially in taking the dream forward toward satisfaction.
Rossi, Ernest. Dreams And The Growth Of The Personality. Pergamon Press, 1972.
Russo, Richard. Dreams Are Wiser Than Men. North American Books 1987. To See this book click here.
Rycroft, Charles. The Innocence of Dreams. Hograth Press. 1991. To See this book click here.
Rycroft, Charles. Anxiety and Neurosis. Penguin Books. 1968. To See this book click here.
Sanford, John A. Dreams And Healing. Paulist P., US, 1978.
Sanford, John A. Dreams – God’s Forgotten Language, Lippencott, 1968. To See this book click here.
Seafield, Frank – (Alexander Grant) The Literature and Curiosities of Dreams. 1865.
Sechrist, Elsie. Dreams – Your Magic Mirror. Cowles 1968. Expressive of the Edgar Cayce view of dreams. To see the book click here.
Shohet, Robin. Dream Sharing. Thorson, 1985. Working as a dream group.
Sparrow, Gregory Scott. Lucid Dreaming – Dawning of The Clear Light. A.R.E. Press, 1976.
Stafford and Golightly. “LSD – The Problem Solving Drug.” Published by Award and Tandem Books.
Stevens, William Oliver. The Mystery of Dreams. George Allen and Unwin 1950. Examples of different types of dreams.
Sugrue, Thomas. There Is A River. Dell. The extraordinary life of Edgar Cayce. If you read no other book about the possibilities of human life, read this. To See this book click here.
Talbot, Michael. The Holographic Universe. Grafton Press, 1991. Not directly about dreams, but fascinating reading for those trying to understand the dimension out of which dreams occur, and occasionally reach beyond the normal. To See this book click here.
Tart, Charles. Altered States of Consciousness. Doubleday Anchor 1969. Has a whole section on dreaming and self induced dreams.
Taylor, Jeremy. Dreamwork. Paulist Press 1983.
Ullman, Montague. Working With Dreams. Delacourte, 1979.
Ullman and Krippner, Dream Telepathy. Turnstone 1973. Researched results of telepathy during dreaming.
Ullman And Limmer. The Variety Of Dream Experiences. Delacorte, 1979.
Ullman and Zimmerman. Working With Dreams. Crucible, 1989.
Van de Castle, Robert L. Our Dreaming Mind. Aquarian. London 1994. Too see the book .
deVries, Ad. Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. North Holland Pub. Co., 1974. To See this book click here.
Walker, Barbara G. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Harper and Row, 1983. To See this book click here.
Weaver, Rix. The Old Wise Woman. Vincent Stuart Ltd. 1964. To See this book click here.
Weatherhead, Leslie. Psychology In Service Of The Soul. Epworth Press (Sharp). 1929.
Webb, W. B. Sleep, The Gentle Tyrant, Prentice Hall, 1975.
West, Katherine L. Crystallising Children’s Dreams.
Whitmont and Perera. Dreams: A Portal to the Source. Routledge, 1991. To See this book click here.
Williams, Strephon K. Jungian-Senoi Dreamwork Manual. Aquarian Press, 1991. See: Dreamwork 2000
Wiseman, Ann Sayre. Nightmare Help.
Zeller, Max. The Dream, The Vision Of The Night. Sigo, 1990. To See this book click here.
Zimbardo, Philip. “Psychology and Life.” Published by Scott, Foresman and Company, U.S.A. Harper Collins, 1992. Excellent summary of psychology today. To See this book click here.
Zweig, Stefan. Mental Healers. (Contains a chapter on Anton Mesmer.) Cassell, 1933.
For any of these books that are out-of-print, try Used Booksearch. They trade in UK and in USA.
The Ancient Mystery of Baptism
The act of baptism long pre-dated the Christian community. One can find water for purification outside very ancient temples. Therefore the tradition of baptism is older than the historical Christian church. It had its ascendance in the love a mother felt for her children, and beyond that the love she felt and gave to other children. Beyond that still, a loving woman might suckle a creature and extend her love beyond the normal boundaries. She might hold that other child, or that creature, with the same tenderness that she held her own baby. In such a moment she would know something that was beyond herself. It is something that flows through all of us. We symbolise it as the water, the milk, the wine, or the blood. It is the flow of love that comes from beyond our own small personality.
The urge that enables us to reach out to another person who is not our own kin, or to another creature, is a small awareness of that universal life and consciousness that pervades all things. It is an expression of the Mystery that we can perhaps never understand, that is Life.
Baptism represents a conscious opening or an introduction to that Life. It is an experience of that life flowing into and through us. It is also an entrance into the recognition of the wider family; of that mysterious body we call Christ. We become brothers and sisters in a wider community. It takes some skill to recognise who these brothers and sisters are, and what part they might play in our life. Calling yourself a Christian does not necessarily mean you have been truly baptised in that spirit of life and love. In fact you might still be imprisoned by attitudes of class, creed, skin colour or gender.
Fundamentally baptism means a change in the stance or condition of your inner attitudes. It means relinquishing fixed opinions and having an open mind. It means opening the doors of your being to new experiences, to new possibilities, pleasurable and painful. It means learning to love without bending others to your will, without grasping them for your own needs. It also means becoming a channel for that river of Life to flow through. This path does not dangle a carrot of eternal bliss, or the resolution of all human problems. “I come”, that flow of Life in us says, “not to bring peace, but a sword…. take up your cross and follow me.” What is offered is participation in everyday life and death in a new way. We can become workers in the vineyard – that is, co-workers with the processes of growth and evolution in the worlds of nature.
From a scientific view we are all of the same kin. We all started our journey toward humanity as a single celled creature. We go back to that beginning when we reproduce and start our growth for the sexual ovum. Also it is now known that virtually everyone had the same mother – this has been shown through the analysis of our genes. Countless generations ago a woman gave birth to children that became our present race. Some us changed skin colour as we moved into darker climates because vitamin D was essential to our health, and with dark skins we could not absorb enough of it. Unfortunately we also inherited the tribal tendency to look at a slightly different sister and brother as alien and enemies. See archetype of baptism.
Archetype of the Scapegoat / Martyr
As explained already, all of the archetypes are embodiments of behavioural stances that humans have developed, or established patterns in nature. Such patterns were originally in a primal state, but over millennia have refined in extraordinary ways. Countless people have lived out the various modes of behaviour, everything from hermit to leader, saint to horrific and malefic destroyer. Each of these depict a direction each of us can go in making choices in life. Perhaps we only embody an archetype such as that of the sadist for moments, or perhaps our whole life is given to it. Whichever it is, our personal life and what we do, is still only a tiny portion of the immense range of behavioural possibilities even within that one stance.
P. W. Martin, writing in his book Experiment In Depth about archetypal influence and how it overpowers the person if they are possessed by it, says, ‘A man so driven will not necessarily be self-regarding in his action. He may be completely disregardful of his own personal interests, a fanatic, a martyr even, for the cause. But archetypal energy is inherently ambivalent, as destructive as it is constructive, a dynamic which in the end is self-annihilating.’
The archetype of the scapegoat has, like all the others, different aspects. One can be a martyr in giving oneself to a cause, or one can be a martyr in that one forever feels one is being abused or used by others. There may be a sense of being asked too much by those around you or by the events of life. In such martyrdom there may be a hidden belief that if one does what is asked, if one sacrifices ones life for another, then one will be appreciated and loved. If one gives enough, maybe one will be recognised and rewarded.
Parents, but especially mothers, often have a sort of inbuilt martyr at work in them. It is from this they manage so many years of self giving. At one side of the martyr archetype there is the power of enormous self transformation; the development of the ability to go beyond ones own personal needs, decisions and awareness and enter another life through action and love. The other side of the archetype is the dark world of fanaticism and self glorification. The seeking of pain or even death as a means to fame or renown or regard in the eyes of ones peers. Such might be the drive in suicide bombers.
Martin’s whole theme in Experiment In Depth, is that there is a way between the opposites of being possessed by an archetype, or living a life in which there is a connection with wider energy or real individual creativity. Finding this balance is particularly relevant to the martyr archetype. See: processing dreams; therapeutic use of dreams.
But another important point is stated in Identified Patient in Wikipedia, and says, “The term emerged from the work of the Bateson Project on family homeostasis, as a way of identifying a largely unconscious pattern of behavior whereby an excess of painful feelings in a family lead to one member being identified as the cause of all the difficulties – a scapegoating of the IP.
Examples –
- In a family where the parents need to assert themselves as powerful figures and caretakers, often due to their own insecurities, they may designate one or more of their children as being inadequate, unconsciously assigning to the child the role of someone who cannot cope by themselves. For example, the child may exhibit some irrational problem that requires the constant care and attention of the parents.
- In the book Dibs, an account of a child in therapy, Virginia Axline considered that perhaps the parents, “quite unconsciously…chose to see Dibs as a mental defective rather than as an intensified personification of their own emotional and social inadequacy” (Thanks A)
Useful Questions and Hints:
Do I feel others have abused me?
Am I happily self sacrificing, or do I try to get acclaim or love in that way?
Am I ready to die for a cause – if so what cause or belief?
How would I describe the martyr in my dream. Try Talking As and Dialogue with a dream character.
The Archetype of the King/Queen/Ruler
In some ways the archetypal symbol of the king is not unlike that of the hero/ine and father. The difference is that the king is an established and acknowledged authority figure, whereas the hero is trying to deal with difficulties and meet strange fates and changes, and the father usually has a more personal connection. The king therefore represent control, or aspects of control such as taking control, relinquishing control; re-establishing control; recognising loss of control, and so on.
The king is one of the most powerful symbols of fatherhood, which in its widest sense means the source that gave rise to us – as with the concept of God. But there is also a power aspect to the father, which often gives rise to dreams about fighting with, being unloved by, or killing or disempowering the father in some manner.
In some myths the king is sick and dying, and this theme occasionally appears in our dreams. Whether we prefer to relate this to our father, to the image of the Self, or to God, the theme still suggests that what had governed ones life, what had directed feeling responses and decisions, is now losing power, perhaps dying/disappearing from ones life altogether. Therefore it denotes changes. It shows the person taking a difficult step in maturity – that of taking more responsibility, accepting more liability for creating their life.
King Solomon is a figure depicting the positive side of the king archetype. In this phase the king is an image through which we contact those immense resources of certainty, of being loved and loving, of being sure about what we should do in life, and of having powerful rights to social action and the worlds resources. Of course, at certain stages of our life, this would be stultifying. Most of this still relates directly to two things – our relationship with our father, and with the overall circumstances of our life – how Life or God is treating us. In other words, how we relate to the events and circumstances of our life.
The archetype of the king or ruler has developed out of thousands of years of social interaction between rulers and subjects throughout the world. To explain this social side of the archetype I include the following description of how identity of a group and of individuals, is deeply connected with a leader figure such as king, queen or Pope.
The attitudes toward leader figures and royalty seen in modern individuals appears to have developed out of the way humans originally related to each other in small groups. This was added to and refined when humans began to live in larger social gatherings. In both circumstances virtually all early human groups looked to leader figures for guidance and protection.
One of the greatest factors influencing this relationship between a group, the individuals in it and a leader is that of identity, both of the individual, and of the group.
In a small group, such as the hunter gatherer groups which preceded the larger tribal or national groups, we see that the identity of the individual was largely formed out of the relationships with members of the group, and from their collective beliefs and customs. This was and is very evident with tribal peoples – the history of tribal Africa and the Jewish people gives graphic illustrations of this. Thus the ‘identity’ of the Jewish people is still very much alive today, forming obvious links with people otherwise separated by nationality and national culture. The religious beliefs and customs of such a group form a major part of this personal and group identity.
The identity, and the way of life connected with the identity, appear to be quite vulnerable, and when threatened, bring about as much reaction from the members of a tribe or nation as one sees when something like an invading bacteria threatens the integrity of the body. In both cases there is massive defence and counter-attack, especially where the apparent attacker has different religious or cultural beliefs. In the body the bacteria or virus are attacked and where possible destroyed. In early communities this was exactly the way the tribe or nation defended against invasion by a foreign culture or group.
In larger social gatherings, even within one tribal or national group, the individual may at times lose a sense of direct relationship with all the members making up the town or nation. There may at times arise a sense of being ‘lost’. I mean by this that the individual loses their direct perception of kin relationships within the group; of how they are an integral and useful or respected member of the group; and of any shared bonding experience within the group. A ‘face known to all’ such as a king or queen – a person given respect by all – can act as a means of representing the whole community to the individual. Through this connection the individual has a psychological or even mystical participation with the whole group or culture. Social rituals in which every member of the community could take part were of special help in bonding the individual with the group. In our own times in the West this is so lacking that enormous division and schisms occur in our communities, leading to conflicts and destruction.
Apart from the leadership skills of an authority figure such as a king or queen, it is in this area of being a point of recognition, a beacon, a face common to all, that royalty had and have a powerful role. The politician and film-star do not fulfil the same role.
An example of this from history clarifies what is meant. It was at one time common for people of strength to be asked to swear allegiance to the ruler. In this situation, if I, as one of the countless members of the social group making up the nation, witness such a ‘swearing in’, and if I feel myself identified with the nation, then I feel the person who has given allegiance to the ruler, has also sworn to support my own interests. This is because of my unconscious identification with the group/tribe/nation. If however, I see someone who shams their allegiance, or refuses it, then through my identification I feel such a person is at odds with me. I can therefore suspect them of the possibility of working against my personal needs, and against the social environment which is my domain.
There is a hidden aspect of this which I feel may often have been misunderstood. It was the statement that the ruler stood as God among the people. When one understands the importance of identity, of integrity and how the king or queen represents the collective tribe or nation, this point is no longer mysterious.
For instance, as a British subject, it is impossible for me to hold in mind all the members of my ‘tribe’. I cannot even get any clear view of what activities throughout the world all my tribal kin are doing. This may seem unimportant, but there are deeply practical issues which make it of great power in an individual’s life. But with a little thought these can be clearly seen.
To start with, the things that are a needed part of my life and work, such as my home, transport to work, the telephone and power to heat workplace and house, are not produced by any one individual. It is only out of our COLLECTIVE EFFORT, our unified endeavour, that such wonders as a house, a town, electricity, are forthcoming. This miracle of creativity cannot arise out of any one person’s life or work. We are immersed in this miracle, yet we cannot put our hand on it at any time. It is something that is not physical except in manifestation. Yet it is perhaps the most important issue confronting us. To lose sight of it, to lose it as a working part of our own life, is to lose sight of reality and our best interests.
So humans need a symbol of this collective spirit, this miracle of collective effort. A monarch is such a symbol. The king or queen fulfil such a role. They remind us of something of utmost importance. They remind us of our collective power, our ability to create and survive through cooperation. A politician doesn’t do this because they are fighting for and representing only a polarity of public interest. A film star doesn’t do this because they are depicting an individual within society, with the possible wonders, threats, struggles and triumphs of that.
Another factor is that the individual within the group, does not in fact have existence unless given identity by the members of that group. This is evident in very ordinary ways, but also in the most profoundest of ways. In 1994 I moved to Australia. I lived there a year. It was a very difficult period. The reason being that in the UK I was known, my family lived there, I had work contacts. In Australia I was an unknown. I didn’t arrive with a fanfare. My family did not live there. The result was my self esteem dropped immensely, along with sense of hope and the possibility of work. I also lacked the support of friends and family.
At the profoundest level, research has shown that babies reared outside of human contact – such as those lost and reared by animals, or such children as Helen Keller who was deaf and blind – do not develop self awareness and a human identity. This suggests we are given identity by our kin and countrymen, in particular by the teaching of language. In fact my research suggests that our very mind is barely our own, but is constructed largely out of ready made pieces of family and national culture and attitudes, and from the concepts integral to the language we are taught. We add tones and ‘furniture’ and call it our personality. But language, ancestral influences, family contact, personal experiences; national culture, are the building blocks from which our being is formed.
Therefore we have a very profound link with our language, culture and nation of birth. Although we may not admit this consciously, it is known in our depths. The ruler is a symbol of this collective humanity of which we are a part, and out of which we have arisen. This collective culture is, like the collective and cooperative effort already spoken of, a very difficult thing to hold in our hand. Once again though, it is of greatest importance to our own existence. This collective spirit which, in a very real sense, has created us, doesn’t have an external form. It is though, as suggested, sensed by us, even if as an individual we do not have great intellectual perception. So although there are other meanings for the word, we often give the name ‘God’ to this powerful influence in our life. The action of the millions of people who make up our ‘tribe’ is, after all, incredible potent and formative in our life. The influence of this action is both mysterious and profound. Therefore the national religion is, in this sense, a synthesise of the development and wisdom of this collective spirit or action. The church as an establishment, represents the spirit, the culture and the history of this strange wonder from which the individual arose. Therefore, on state occasions, the church needs to be represented along with the reigning monarch. But it is the reigning monarch who represents both the culture, history and spirit of the people, and their collective effort in the present.
The reigning monarch is therefore God to the people in that he or she is the physical manifestation or symbol of both the creative spirit out of which each individual was given existence, and also their collective creative power today.
Present Day Problems For Royalty
Early tribal groups, such as the Jews, fought for their identity by externally, or internally, killing out whatever threatened their beliefs or customs. Modern warfare still seems to be based on the same drive – the fight to maintain ones identity or existence as an individual and group.
Various changes in the world have battered at the traditional way individuals and groups maintain their integrity. This is well and good. If thought of in terms of a computer program, the traditional social program in which a person swore allegiance to a religion and monarch worked well in the past. But its success rested upon fighting, as our body fights, aliens entering it – by killing them. Thus nation fought against nation, religion against religion. It would be chaos to run this program in today’s world. Those nations running this program in its old form are still in bloody conflict. Obviously there are other factors than identity involved, but this is still a major force.
Of course this social program needs updating. I don’t have any ready made formulas to do this. I believe as a species we are in process of experimenting and developing this new ‘program’ or programs. Even so certain things are fairly obvious. With the breakdown of old forms from of which we gained identity, massive personal uncertainty and feelings of social alienation have developed. I believe the huge modern development of such competitive sports as football or baseball are one of the ways some people deal with the loss of their tribal or national identity. They erect a ‘virtual’ tribe which they join, enabling them to feel a form of identification. The fighting that breaks out is in line with the old program. Immigrants also bring other cultural forces into the nation which are difficult to integrate.
Nevertheless the old needs still remain :-
1 Collective effort still needs to have a symbol to remind us of its mystery and power. This in particular can forge a link between the various cultures within the one nation.
2 We still need a sense of kinship, or recognition within the community, and a meaningful role within it.
3 We still need meaningful shared activity within which we can find bonding. That millions of people watch a TV soap at the same time is not bonding in the same way that gathering and celebrating a harvest together was bonding to older communities.
4 Individuals still need a meaningful way of linking with the spirit of their culture and history. For these are the very womb of their personality, the mother and father of their identity.
I believe there are forces at work which are binding people’s identity in ways that are difficult to predict the results of. The Olympics and international sport have awoken the commercial interest in the possibility of grasping the attention of a vast and world-wide audience. The move toward cable and satellite television opens the way for such commercial interests to grasp not only attention, but also give a form of identification. As can be seen from the guru phenomenon, wherever people place their identity, there also flows their work energy and cash.
I believe that a form of super-augmented hero figures are being developed by the large corporations – figures who will have enormous power to sway peoples interest and allegiance and take the place of monarchs. Not only are these figures being presented as having a god-like life, living standard and power, but the public are also led to believe they can share this life, perhaps through a contest or winnings such as a lottery.
In contrast to this, I believe people still need a realistic hope to motivate them. They need a sense of contributing to the society which gave them existence and a realistic and satisfying reward for their part in collective cooperation – living on social security breeds a sort of half life. They need to be recognised for something of worth in their activities toward other human beings. They need moments during which they feel a part of something greater than their own limited self. And they need symbols of the wider life and culture of which they are an integral part.
Archetype of the Ascetic/Hermit
In his book Sex – Death – Enlightenment Mark Matousek tells how his direction in life was completely turned around when he saw signs of the Aid’s virus in a close friend, and realised he might have the virus himself. From someone totally immersed in the world of competitive New York work, sex and money making, he became more of an ascetic and hermit. Illness, loss, death, often turn people around to meet an aspect of themselves which is an archetypal form of behaviour – that of the person whose awareness is turned toward the non-material, toward realising themselves as part of something universal, toward the possibility of meeting a deathless self, toward a withdrawal or even avoidance of social life and involvement with others.
The archetype of the ascetic or monk is latent in each of us. As a form of human behaviour it has an immensely long history and is seen in all cultures. It may even be that some animals exhibit it, as in many chimpanzee groups, there is a ‘monk’ who lives alone and refrains from the activities of his group. In dreams and visions, the ascetic links us with experience that comes from beyond our personal life and memories. It arises out of a sense of connection with something that unites all the separate people, creatures and objects in the universe. Our relationship with the ascetic or monk depicts our involvement with the rest of life and with this sense of the Whole. In action it may point to a turning of the energies usually expressed in outward action and ambition in a new direction, usually inward toward self exploration or understanding. Perhaps the newly directed energy now goes toward self transformation. Part of this new direction is often the discipline of the mind, emotions and even sexuality.
The monk can also depict turning away from everyday life, the rejection of what the world offers, or a fear of or sense of inadequacy in connection with external life and society and sex. Difficulties with or withdrawal from sex frequently play some part in this drawing back from life. Sometimes this arises out of feelings of pain or alienation of some sort, or rejection of the sexual roles.
Withdrawal does not of course always mean ineffectiveness. Monks have in the past, and in some countries still do, form very large parts of a community, and have been and are great and effective workers in certain areas.
At a personal level the ascetic may connect with feelings of pain or failure in our experience of how we relate to sex or society. Through such pains we may have withdrawn our enthusiasm or involvement in what life offers. Positively it represents an internal question we may be unconsciously asking – what is the value of worldly goods, of worldly activities? What or who am I? Am I anything other than this changing body and constantly shifting emotions and thoughts? The denial of personal urges and hungers can lead to strength and ability to stand independently of the needs that control most people. It can also be an expression of fear and weakness, as when a person becomes anorexic through denial of their need to eat. The redirection of our energy can flow in two major directions. Negatively it can bring to life all the neuroses latent in the personal make-up. Or the can use the energy like a wonder tool to meet and transform the neuroses into more available energy and break through into a wider world of possibilities. See archetype of the outsider.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Is the ascetic influencing the way you relate to the world and people?
Are there difficulties I experience relating to sex or relationship – or do I feel repulsed by either of these?
Is my ascetic one that leads me to an awareness of unity and the world of mind beyond the limitations of my waking personality?
What if anything have I gained from my ascetic?
To explore more fully the meaning of your dream see Processing Dreams.