DNANZ BULLETIN - Vol: 6: 1, MARCH, 2019
EDITORIAL:
Dear Dreamers,
Welcome to our first DNANZ Bulletin for 2019. I trust that you have all had a wonderful summer with plenty of sun and rest. Our last bulletin, November 2018, advertised the first DNANZ event of the year at Tauhara Retreat beside Lake Taupo and this edition begins with reports from that:
- Margaret Bowater starts with a detailed overview of the Tauhara Retrreat.
- Reflections from the various participants including those of Loretta Westbrook, Eric Bowater and Kathy Mallen follow. And, Sande Ramage, who has experienced Jungian analysis, shares a very interesting portion of her blog recounting her experience of the retreat with great enthusiasm. Margaret Toland tells of her first experience facilitating a group and the impact on her confidence.
- A dream report called Waka in the Sky presents a counsellor’s dream relating to returning to work after an absence of one year and the ambivalence she experienced. The dream is unpacked helping to gain an understanding of a message from her unconscious, motivating her to carry on.
- Margaret Bowater presents research by Philip and Richard Logan from a book called Your True Purpose. Therein, they present one hundred famous quotations from inspirational people throughout the centuries. These messages are often perceived to be from channels beyond.
- Counsellor from Tauranga, Kira Follas, shares her response to my recently published book, Being with Asperger’s. The memoir, which is about the life of a previous member of our dream community, alludes to the usefulness of dream therapy for him in dealing with Asperger’s syndrome
- Finally, we advertise our next biennial Dream Conference scheduled for October this year.
Lynette Papp Editor
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Open Meeting 
Friday 10th April, 2019, 7.15 pm
St Luke’s Centre, 130 Remuera Rd.
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MARG TOLAND will give us a presentation on
CARE OF THE SOUL -
DREAMS IN A LIFE-TRANSITION,
Illustrated by her own drawings of the dreams.
All welcome!
No booking – entry $20 at the door ($10 unwaged). Light supper. Bring a friend!
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REFLECTIONS ON OUR FIRST RETREAT AT TAUHARA CENTRE by Margaret Bowater
- Community: This was an experiment in beginning to create a wider community of NZ dreamers, at a central location, in a venue renowned for its peaceful beauty, warm hospitality, moderate cost, and open-minded spiritual philosophy. Louise Belcher, a member of the Exec, is a Trustee of the Centre, and facilitated our connection. We were warmly welcomed by organizers Cathy and Stephen Grace, who handled the registrations. Our meals were high-class vegetarian cuisine, provided by a team of young Woofers (volunteers working on organic farms). A few fitted in a massage as well!
- Wide spread: The Retreat drew 17 eager dreamers, with apologies from 5 whose circumstances precluded attendance this time. Half came from Auckland, others from around the North Island. Two were new to the Dream Network.
- Practical: We spent the first evening getting acquainted with one another, and the Centre. Saturday was dedicated to practical Dreamwork, split into morning and afternoon groups. Craig Whisker led a day using Psychodrama. Marg Toland led a day for newcomers and “refreshers.” I led a group of experienced dreamers outside, sitting under a shady tree! All achieved significant depth of understanding.
- Dance, music, art: After dinner, Cathy and Stephen taught us two of the gentle Dances of Universal Peace. In the following hour, we had a delightful spontaneous variety concert of music, songs, poems and readings. And on Sunday morning, Jessica Fleming led us in a Creative Meditation. We relaxed on the floor to listen to some evocative music, then drew symbolic pictures with pastels, and shared them in the circle - fascinating soul-journeys.
- Visioning: I gave a summary of the origins and development of the Dream Network, and Louise read out our Vision Statement (see www.dreamnetwork.org.nz.) We invited suggestions for further outreach, and Margaret Thorne recorded them for Exec to consider.
- Impetus: Jessica (now based in Australia) told us not to look outwards forspeakers saying: “You are the experts!” and Louise urged us all to find ways in which we can take action, such as offering talks or small dream groups among our contacts. I added that members are welcome to use my manuals as teaching resources. There was unanimous agreement to offer this retreat again next year – now booked for 13-15 March 2020.
We finished by singing the ancient song “Ubi Caritas et Amore, Deus ubi est.”I came away feeling very heartened for the future of the Dream Network ANZ .
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TWO IMPRESSIONS - from the Tauhara Retreat:
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Like minds sharing
stories, dreams, teachings
delicious healthy food
peace dances
inspiring music
vision journeying
creative expression
Roll it all up and serve in the beautiful setting of Tauhara
green lush trees, flowers, fruit
a breath-taking scene of Lake and Mountain
Joy-filled hearts, new connections
renewed energy,
the first dream retreat.
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Image by David Legg by Loretta Westbrook
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Reflection on Leading a Dream Group at the Tauhara Retreat:
by Marg Toland
The invitation to facilitate a workshop using the Dreamwork 101 manual provided an anxiety-provoking challenge for me. I was unsure about my ability to run a group. However, Margaret and Louise encouraged me. I knew that my anxiety was due to the amount of choice of information in the manual. I was feeling vulnerable. Retrospectively, I recognise this as a myth.
At the meal table requests from participants such as, “I want to go over the structure of how to process a dream,” and, “How does sharing a dream and working as a group,work?” helped to grow my confidence and clarity before going to sleep that night.
The combined engagement of individuals processing and expanding dreams brought about powerful insights for the dreamers. I witnessed a flowing energy like a clear brook in the bush rippling over stones. It became a fantastic experience!
Reflection from Eric Bowater
I enjoyed the beautiful setting and facilities of the Tauhara centre, the excellent accommodation, the meals prepared by the youthful team of cooks, and the company of interesting people.
Of the three options on offer, I chose Marg Toland’s group. She described herself as a novice-dream-group leader, but showed considerable expertise in getting new participants to draw a representation of their dream. These images led to group discussion and questions gradually elicited further meaning. I noticed that all the women presented dreams related to their life pathway or work, while my two offerings were about the grief of losing a son. Marg led the exploration of all these very deftly................It was a good day’s learning.
Reflection from Kathy Mallen
I found the Dream Retreat at Tauhara a wonderful experience. The venue of course was perfect. Participating in Psychodrama was such a worthwhile experience. This being new to me, I was not sure what to expect. I was fascinated how a dream was brought to life, and seeing the importance of every element in it. I appreciated how Craig whisker facilitated the process and his sensitivity and respectful approach to all the participants.
Reflection from Sande Ramage, of Pamerston Nth
(sent from her blog)
Two women on a road trip. Hardly Thelma and Louise,
although it did feel a bit like driving off a cliff as we headed
towards a dream retreat. I had been in, and loved, Jungian dream analysis but the idea of talking about dreams with a bunch of strangers was new. However, since we had raised the idea of morphing our Jungian book group into a dream group, we had to do our research.
Entering new spaces or groups always brings on fear and anxiety for me so I dreamt up a few prejudices and held them out in front like a talisman to ward off evil. From behind the shield I wondered about the dream I’d had a few days before where I’d been coming down the stone steps of an ancient temple that was a bit like the Latin American pyramids. I was terrified and felt physically ill. The dream made me think about the fear I experience when trying new things. It can be immobilising, tie me down, stop life happening. This retreat was a way of engaging with the fear instead of walking away.
Everything coalesced for me on the second day when I was in a small group of people exploring, drawing and talking about dreams they were prepared to share. Each dream was individual, unique, to be entertained and gently probed but not trifled with. Our facilitator, who reckoned she was a novice (though I am finding that hard to believe), held the group together with sensitivity, respect, gentle curiosity and humour. There wasn’t a moment that I didn’t feel safe. Despite my initial reservations, I leapt into the deep waters of the unconscious with delight. The process was sound, and it enabled enthusiastic engagement.
Late in the day we got to my dream, a rambling story about a dilapidated house, a dead and skinned pig, fire, water, fake fur and various disconnected people. Once the drawing was up on the whiteboard, and fear not, the quality of your drawing doesn’t matter, we added the context and a few emotions. But, after an initial rush of discussion there was silence. I accepted that the group might be as bemused as I had been about this dream.
Then someone asked a quiet question and suddenly another internal door opened in me and connections spilled out. Ideas flowed from the group. Nobody told me what to think but offered more questions, observations and perspectives that built into a treasure trove to take away and ponder in my own time and in the privacy of my soul.
As we watched the sun set over the lake that night, I thought about my dream library as a  unique sacred text arising deep within me. It is never complete, always a work in progress, open to new discoveries and definitely not an authorised version for others to follow. It has slowly grown into a taonga (a treasure, a highly prized natural resource) that can benefit from careful sharing with others who can see it as sacred and are willing to contribute to its wisdom from their own experience.
‘I don’t suppose all our book group will be interested in this,’ I mused on the way home. ‘Probably not,’ said my friend. How wrong can you be? Everyone wants to have a crack at driving over the cliff!
Thanks to Margaret Bowater who has been a dreamworker for many years. Click the link for her courses and books. I have signed up for Dreams of Death, Grief and Healing in March 2019.
Also check out Sacred Dream Circles: A Guide to Facilitating Jungian Dream Groups by Tess Castleman and Jungian analyst in the United States. It is an excellent resource to help people run safe and enriching groups. We will be using this book as a resource for our group.
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DREAM REPORT – WAKA IN THE SKY
CONTEXT:
Marie, an experienced counsellor in mid-life had returned to her practice after a year of sabbatical and was facing her first ethical dilemma. She had been ambivalent about returning and felt anxious at beginning the new year. She recorded the following dream:
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I am with my coffee group consisting of three colleagues from a previous profession who I recognised clearly in the dream. We are walking up a hill. Gradually I realize that I am falling behind and losing sight of them. I look up into the sky and see a Maori waka full of warriors. They look like they are from ancient times. Amazed by this vision, I decide that I want to take a photo and quickly pull out my phone. Before I have a chance to take the photo, the warriors have spilled out of the waka and have become like an extreme-close-up-shot in a movie. They are literally in my face. I am disappointed because now they are too close to photograph. I continue to struggle up the hill to catch up with my friends.
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INTERPRETATION: In discussing the dream, Marie became aware that the up-hill journey represented her difficulty returning to work after a relaxing year away. Having travelled extensively she had completely unwound. The “falling behind” aspect of the dream was a visual and kinaesthetic expression of the anxiety she had about “losing the plot,” and also losing her freedom. She had always taken her profession very seriously and thought her ambivalence meant she was losing her way. However, she came to see that the waka in the sky was a powerful spiritual message. It signalled the importance of her work. With further exploration, we agreed that the close-up on the warriors’ faces symbolized the confronting nature of counselling work in South Auckland. The extreme aspect of the image symbolized her ethical dilemma.
The fact that the men were Maori warriors emphasised the strength required to do this work. We discussed the significance of the old friends’ presence in the dream and she reported that they are all still following their professional paths. Choosing to continue walking up the hill indicated that she needed to put one foot in front of the other and continue as they have done. Marie believed that the dream was an important wake up call, motivating her to carry on.
by Lynette Papp
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Research Corner: INSPIRATION by Margaret Bowater
Inspiration, insight, inner voice, intuition, all refer to a sudden inner experience of discovery, a sense of truth revealed from a deeper level of being. Often this comes through a vision or a dream, whether auditory or visual; sometimes simply through a strong sense of knowing without being told, rising from unconscious depths. Some call it God or an angel, or simply the Divine.
- A wonderful little book by Philip and Richard Logan, “Your True Purpose,”2005, Hazard Press. It presents quotations from 100 of the world’s (mainly western) leaders in different fields, showing how their ideas and actions were guided by following an inner voice or vision.
- The Logans give an outline of the typical process, as experienced by the great scientists and inventors (p.65).
- i. First Insight: the truth of an idea possesses you and directs you to learn more.
ii. Knowledge saturation: you learn all you can about it, using the best methods.
iii. Incubation: you seem to get nowhere, so you give up, let it lie, wait.
iv. Illumination: you realise a new insight in a flash! (a kind of foreknowledge)
v. Verification: you gather evidence to prove the Insight. This may take a long time, seeking to break through the current orthodox belief systems.
- They point out that all the great leaders of religion and philosophy – Including Socrates, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Descartes, Mother Teresa – and many of the great scientists – including Newton, Darwin, Einstein – followed this pattern, often feeling themselves to be channels for Inspiration from beyond.
I feel the same way about the Dreamwork Movement that we are involved in!
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BOOK REVIEW:
“Being with Asperger’s” published by Balboa Press (2018), was written by Lynette Papp. It is a personal exploration through diary excerpts and cartoons kept by her long-term partner Walter regarding his life dealing with Asperger’s syndrome. An avid dreamer, prior to his death in 2014, Walter was an enthusiastic member of Margaret Bowater’s dream group. Walter kept dream diaries over many years and processed his emotional battles through mutual dream work with Lynette. He was eventually able to find balance in mid-life through dream work and other self-care choices. Prior to his death Walter also designed the logo for DNANZ.
Counsellor Kira Follas (Tauranga Counselling Service) commented on the book as follows:
I am totally captivated. What a beautifully articulated and poignant collection of memories of your beloved Walter with educative strands weaved throughout on Asperger’s. An astonishing achievement! Walter continues to live on through a soul-touching combination of his and Lynette’s words. Thank you for sharing this beauty with the world.
“Being with Asperger’s” is available directly from Lynette through her website www.lynettepappservices.com or through email lynettepapp@hotmail.com. It can be purchased in e-Book or softcover versions from Balboa Press, Amazon and Google websites.
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ADVANCE NOTICE: 3rd DREAM NETWORK CONFERENCE
When? 3 pm Friday Oct 4th to 3 pm on Sunday October 6th, 2019.
Where? St Francis Retreat Centre, 50 Hillsborough Rd, Auckland.
Includes live-in accommodation, excellent meals, beautiful grounds.
Theme: Dreams of Inspiration and Guidance.
Speakers, workshops, artwork, discussions, meditations, Playback Theatre
Send indications of interest to Margaret Bowater
Open gateway to Dreams! |
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