DREAM DECODING

A workable "do it yourself book on dream interpretation requires presenting a proper balance of general principles and specific, step-by-step exercises. General principles are necessary to guide and encourage us to improvise our own dream interpretation methods. Too much theory, however, tends to lull us into passivity. Specific exercises are required to coax us into actively working with our dreams. But not every dream lends itself to a particular exercise, so without the general principles we may not recognize that improvisation on the given exercise is possible. In the final analysis, learning how to interpret dreams requires practice, as we must learn to intuit which approaches to a dream might prove fruitful. We must be willing to play and experiment and learn to trust what "feels" right. A book that can promote enlightened practice and experimentation in dream interpretation is truly of service. Dream Dynamics and Decoding is such a book.

In fifteen lessons, enriched by suggestive artwork, Ms. Baylis leads us through the many mysterious pathways dreams travel while raveling themselves. She then gives us specific exercises in unraveling our dreams. Several different theoretical approaches—Freud, Jung, Cayce, Gestalt—are effectively presented and integrated into exercises that range from the deeply probing and analytical to lighthearted and self- expressive, and from brief word play to long-term projects. Some of the dimensions of dream psychology that are unique to this book include a comprehensive section on literary and word- play devices occurring in dream construction and experiments on using the Tarot and I Ching for dream interpretation.

Here are two brief excerpts from the book that should provide some interesting practice.