Nov 29, 2011 -- 2:04PM, Lynleef wrote:

Should we attempt to interpret dreams for others?  I use to think so but now that I have delved deep into interpreting my own dreams I am not so sure it's the right thing to do.  Why?  Because everybody's life situation is different and from what I've learned dreams occur to help us sort and effectively deal with our own life issues. How can I correctly interpret a dream for another when I don't walk in there shoe's?  I am not there at their home experiencing there trials and tribulations, feeling what they feel.  Learning to interpret your own dreams helps you to grow spiritually, do I have the right to take that learning experience away from someone by giving them the answer to there question?  Wouldn't it be better if I help someone learn how to do their own Dream Interpretation?  Maybe I could point them in the direction I went to learn how to interpret my dreams? 

Hmmmmm.  Questions to contemplate.

As  a rule, people are examining their own dreams. We cannot assume that people get involved in dreamwork, and sometimes they need help, both with the dream and the issue the dream tries to resolve. I think it is ok to help someone with a dream on an "emergency" basis. When the session with them is over, they are helped and go their  way. If a person wants to examine dreams in an ongoing way, they should be encouraged to set up their own dreamwork process and not depend on someone else's insights.  I used to open dreamwork chatrooms, and I often did help people. An example thhat stands out is a woman who had pictures of her sister stored deep in a computer "like porn", as she put it. Ther were also indications of her mother's presence in the dream.  In her background, she had been driving with her sister in the country. Something happened where she lost control and her sister died in the crash. The mother relentlessly blamed the driving of this woman for the death (though she wasn't with them), which the false guilt she buried into unconsciousness where it festered. After discussing the dream details, it wasn't to difficult to open the awareness that her own grief in losing her sister was contaminated by the guilt trip she had to unnecessarily bear. This was more her insight than mine

In another case, a vey young man was desperately seeking a spirituality. He had a dream of seeing a constellation of stars making a buffalo on the horizon. Afterwards, his cousin, a female appeared in a bright, white dress saying. "It's time!" This was a difficukt dream to deal with. I was patient, and so was he. Fortunately, he kept discussing his investment in wiccan spiituality, and it wasn't going that well. Finally, I said "buffalo" is important to Indians. they saw it as sacred. This jarred his memory that his grandmother was indian and practiced the spirituality of their ways. However, the family had put that all away as of the past, done and over with. At this recognition, he saw his mission to reactivate this Indian spirituality because,  in a sense, it was already his through heritage. This released his conflict of barking up the wrong tree with wiccan by having what he felt was meant for him at his doorstep, plus a connection to his deceased grandmother. It was time for revival and time for him to do it, giving meaning to the divine message (cousin in bright, white dress), "It's time!" He thanked me profusely over and over. His relief was palpable.

Both of these people were clear about their issues and backgound but, at the time, had no experience with dreamwork. As you can see, they came up with their own insights, but they did so because I was able to "crack the code" with their symbols enough for them to recognize their own patterns.  I think this help is okay.

In another case, a young man told me a very long dream, which remembered well. I could see that this represented the stages of his spiritual journey up ahead in his future. He had a sword from Tibet which his father acquired there and all kinds of paraphanalia. inspite of h is father's many explorations, this kid had no inkling of spiritual growth at all. I had no success with helping him with his dream and decided to leave him as a happy kid. It seems as though those who truly need help, get it.

I am glad that most of us in this forum refer all the dreamwork back to the dreamer, as you suggest. We discourage the view that somple people have the dreams and other have all the answers. I often reflect on dreams here for a long time before replying. I have learned not to reply to all of them. I have belonged to this forum since way back before this format of beliefnet. Things were much more active then. I did not have much time to open chatrooms and came here as a substitute. There was a young man, a nurse, who commented on dreams a  lot and was very into Edgar Cayce. From him,  I learned to better recognize spiritual symbols in dreams. He saw sexual themes, too, and easily pointed them out. I disagreed with his approach but learned nonetheless. So, these forums can  provide enrichment in the knowledge of dreams and not just be here to "interpret" them.