Developing the Intuition in Group
Dreamwork
Dr. Curtiss Hoffman is an
archaeologist and consciousness researcher who has taught in the
Anthropology Department at Bridgewater State College, USA, since
1978. He is particularly interested in Jungian approaches to
dreaming, and has led classroom dreamwork groups since 1997. He is
the host of the 2006 conference.
Abstract
Jung once wrote that he found it
useful to approach each dream of his analysands with absolutely no
preconceived idea of what the dream might mean. This discipline
helps to eliminate the interference of the conscious mind in the
dreamworking process and allows for the entry of intuitive wisdom.
Anyone who has done dreamwork for long enough is likely to have
had many of what Jeremy Taylor calls “ahas” – intuitive insights
which help not only the dreamer, not only the person commenting on
their dream, but the entire group which is working the dream. By
using the Ullman-Taylor method of group dreamwork, which involves
assuming that the dreamer knows better than anyone else what
his/her dream means, and then attempting to elicit the multiple
meanings by a question-and-answer methodology without imposing the
dreamworker’s views in an authoritative way, these intuitive
sparks can be nurtured and the capacity to recognize them can be
enhanced. This is especially likely to occur in a group setting,
as the group works together over an extended period (in this case,
4 days) to generate bonds and interaction patterns that resonate
with one another and their dreams also weave together in mutual
patterns. As a way of augmenting this yet further, dreams will be
explored beyond the personal dimension with reference to the
archetypal ideas emerging from the collective unconscious, using
the method Jung referred to as “amplification”, which draws
historical and mythological and literary material into the orbit
of the dreamwork, again in a non-authoritative manner, using the
“If It Were My Dream” approach developed by Ullman.
