Dreams in Spiritual Mentoring

Dreams have been a reliable source of healing, divine contact, and prophecy throughout the world’s religions. Recently, I have had the opportunity to create a class for seminary students on using dreams in spiritual direction. I am pretty excited about teaching this semester, and have pulled together tons of great material for it. Here is the class description from Cherry Hill, a Pagan Seminary:

Dreams have played an important role in Pagan traditions historically, as a reliable means of direct communication with the Gods, ancestors, and nature spirits, for healing, prophecy, and intercession. Our use of dreams today is heavily influenced by Jung and other modern thinkers, as well as traditional and shamanic ideas about dreams. This course highlights some of the ways human cultures have viewed and interpreted their dreams, and used them in a ritual or sacred context. The class treats dreams as a modern source of divination and spiritual direction. Using written sources, their own dream material, and an interactive class dream group, students will develop a framework for using dreams in spiritual mentoring, and identify approaches to dreams that make the most sense for contemporary Pagan ministry. Students will be expected to participate in regular discussion forums, as well as submit periodic reflective writing.

I have taught versions of this class in workshop format at a Jesuit seminary and interfaith settings, and look forward to working with other seminaries to create a similar class based on their own spiritual dream traditions. That is the wonderful thing about working with dreams: you don’t have to be Hindu or Catholic, Pagan or Muslim, Buddhist, Lutheran, or Shinto to be able to benefit from them. Everybody dreams, and our dreams always have something to say about our spiritual practice, our relationship to the Divine, and how to lead a good life.

For those of who are interested but can’t commit to a semester-long program, I will be leading a workshop on the same topic at Pantheacon in San Jose next year. Monday February 15 at 11 am is the stated workshop time, but that is of course subject to change. I will also be on the East Coast in the Spring—schedule to be posted sometime soon—and may be able to teach it there, too.

It will be a busy year of travel for me, and if you are interested in hosting a workshop or book signing in your area, now is the time to get it on the schedule! Call my office at 707-875-3225 or fill out a comment, and I will get back to you right after the New Year.