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Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams
An unprecedented, dreamwork-centered guide for exploring and understanding your dreams, presented by three Jungian analysts and the hosts of the podcast This Jungian Life
With Dream Wise, three expert teachers bring you a resource like none before it—a comprehensive, step-by-step guide synthesizing Carl Jung’s renowned theories with the best approaches of those who have followed in his footsteps. Ideal for every level of experience, Dream Wise is for all who are ready to meet “the faithful other, the dream maker, who visits each night with gifts of wisdom.”
The goal is to do dreamwork, not just learn about it…
“Your dreams offer a wealth of wisdom and wonder,” explain the authors. “They are one of the best, most reliable ways to get to know our mysterious depths. But you must—quite literally—rise to meet them. Sustained dreamwork facilitates a dialogue between the surface and the depths and is an essential aid in our process of unfolding.”
In Dream Wise, Lisa Marchiano, Deborah Stewart, and Joseph Lee transform the most useful dreamwork concepts and principles into a unique series of 69 “keys” to unlock the meaning of your dreams, illuminating:
• How dreamwork assists us on the path of becoming whole (what Jung called individuation)
• The three levels of dream imagery: personal associations, factual explanations, and archetypal amplifications
• The shadow—the unconscious, unwelcome aspects of yourself that you can meet and integrate with the help of your dreams
• Animus/anima—the personification of our unrealized possibilities that urges us toward our highest destiny
• The practice of active imagination, Jung’s signature technique for psychological healing and growth
• How to interpret your dreams—including case examples from the authors’ professional practices, 16 daily strategies to boost dream recall, insights into the structure and dynamics of your dreams, and more
“Working with dreams requires flexibility, fluidity, and fluency in the symbolic, but above all, it should be enlivening,” say the authors. Dream Wise gives you a trustworthy map for exploring the vast reaches of your dreams… an exciting new path to creativity and healing… and a faithful compass to your true becoming.
With Dream Wise, three expert teachers bring you a resource like none before it—a comprehensive, step-by-step guide synthesizing Carl Jung’s renowned theories with the best approaches of those who have followed in his footsteps. Ideal for every level of experience, Dream Wise is for all who are ready to meet “the faithful other, the dream maker, who visits each night with gifts of wisdom.”
The goal is to do dreamwork, not just learn about it…
“Your dreams offer a wealth of wisdom and wonder,” explain the authors. “They are one of the best, most reliable ways to get to know our mysterious depths. But you must—quite literally—rise to meet them. Sustained dreamwork facilitates a dialogue between the surface and the depths and is an essential aid in our process of unfolding.”
In Dream Wise, Lisa Marchiano, Deborah Stewart, and Joseph Lee transform the most useful dreamwork concepts and principles into a unique series of 69 “keys” to unlock the meaning of your dreams, illuminating:
• How dreamwork assists us on the path of becoming whole (what Jung called individuation)
• The three levels of dream imagery: personal associations, factual explanations, and archetypal amplifications
• The shadow—the unconscious, unwelcome aspects of yourself that you can meet and integrate with the help of your dreams
• Animus/anima—the personification of our unrealized possibilities that urges us toward our highest destiny
• The practice of active imagination, Jung’s signature technique for psychological healing and growth
• How to interpret your dreams—including case examples from the authors’ professional practices, 16 daily strategies to boost dream recall, insights into the structure and dynamics of your dreams, and more
“Working with dreams requires flexibility, fluidity, and fluency in the symbolic, but above all, it should be enlivening,” say the authors. Dream Wise gives you a trustworthy map for exploring the vast reaches of your dreams… an exciting new path to creativity and healing… and a faithful compass to your true becoming.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published November 12, 2024
134 people are currently reading
2866 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 31, 2024
Until I'd read Lisa Marchiano's "Motherhood" a few years ago, I'd had a lot of misconceptions around Jungian dream analysis. Since then I have grown more interested in it and started to dabble with it a little bit to understand what my dreams are trying to tell me, so I was excited when I heard that Lisa and her fellow podcast hosts were coming out with Dream Wise, a guide to applying Jungian analysis to your dreams.
As a Rationalist and a Skeptic, I'd realized the importance of sleep and dreaming to our mental health but I never put weight behind ideas that dreams had universal or prophetic meanings. I have also been fascinated by emerging research that suggests that disorders such as PTSD result from difficulties with dream processing and the resulting difficulties with emotional regulation that results. That dreams play a role in integrating memory and help us to come to terms with our emotions seems rather grounded in the evidence. As a mental health counselor who is not a Jungian analyst I have found that if a client wanted to talk about a dream, exploring the emotions they felt while dreaming tended to provide relief and insight. But I never thought much about dream symbolism and that seemed to go more into woo woo territory.
Since I started reading about Jungian dream analysis from people who have studied it their whole life though I have realized that I have more in common with them than I thought and had a lot of misconceptions about them. The authors dispel a lot of myths about dream analysis. While analyzing the symbolic nature of dreams is an important part of dream analysis, the authors emphasize that what these symbols mean to the individual person having the dream is more important and that we should not seek to use cyphers to unlock the meaning of our dreams and that while dreams may try to warn us if we are on a path that is self destructive, they are not prophecies. At the same time, because of shared culture and associations we tend to have with things that we encounter in our world, there are insights to be gained to studying how humans think of bears as opposed to snakes, for instance, and studying fairytales, mythologies and religions to understand the language that dreams speak to us in: symbolism. But it is also a personal symbolism that helps us to understand our unconscious mind and how to use our unconscious mind as a compass to navigate through life and to reach our full potential by learning to have a conversation with it through our dreams.
The result is a fascinating exploration of unconscious thought processes, fairytales, and personal experience shapes dream symbolism and how to apply this to your own life. The most helpful chapter was on Active Imagination, where you can learn techniques to talk to figures in your dream while you are awake. I tried one of the journaling techniques and I was blown away by the insights that resulted.
Let's just say I completely understand why Jungian analysis has survived as the rise of managed care has pushed the therapeutic field away from depth psychology and towards briefer, faster methods. And I must add, I am also starting to see why a lot of Jungian analysts seem to have pushed back against the tide of some harmfully faddish ideas tarnishing our profession and am developing a deep respect for their training. If you enjoyed Joseph Campbell's studies on mythologies and still enjoy fairytales and myths and are curious about your dreams and psychology, then Jungian analysis combines all of these fascinating fields and uses it to help people grow and thrive. And it saddens me that the way Jungian analysis is presented to psychology and counseling students is so watered down that people studying psychology are not getting an accurate feel for it. Because basically this is a book that I think everyone should read and I think a lot of people would benefit from using the techniques in this book. Highly recommend!
As a Rationalist and a Skeptic, I'd realized the importance of sleep and dreaming to our mental health but I never put weight behind ideas that dreams had universal or prophetic meanings. I have also been fascinated by emerging research that suggests that disorders such as PTSD result from difficulties with dream processing and the resulting difficulties with emotional regulation that results. That dreams play a role in integrating memory and help us to come to terms with our emotions seems rather grounded in the evidence. As a mental health counselor who is not a Jungian analyst I have found that if a client wanted to talk about a dream, exploring the emotions they felt while dreaming tended to provide relief and insight. But I never thought much about dream symbolism and that seemed to go more into woo woo territory.
Since I started reading about Jungian dream analysis from people who have studied it their whole life though I have realized that I have more in common with them than I thought and had a lot of misconceptions about them. The authors dispel a lot of myths about dream analysis. While analyzing the symbolic nature of dreams is an important part of dream analysis, the authors emphasize that what these symbols mean to the individual person having the dream is more important and that we should not seek to use cyphers to unlock the meaning of our dreams and that while dreams may try to warn us if we are on a path that is self destructive, they are not prophecies. At the same time, because of shared culture and associations we tend to have with things that we encounter in our world, there are insights to be gained to studying how humans think of bears as opposed to snakes, for instance, and studying fairytales, mythologies and religions to understand the language that dreams speak to us in: symbolism. But it is also a personal symbolism that helps us to understand our unconscious mind and how to use our unconscious mind as a compass to navigate through life and to reach our full potential by learning to have a conversation with it through our dreams.
The result is a fascinating exploration of unconscious thought processes, fairytales, and personal experience shapes dream symbolism and how to apply this to your own life. The most helpful chapter was on Active Imagination, where you can learn techniques to talk to figures in your dream while you are awake. I tried one of the journaling techniques and I was blown away by the insights that resulted.
Let's just say I completely understand why Jungian analysis has survived as the rise of managed care has pushed the therapeutic field away from depth psychology and towards briefer, faster methods. And I must add, I am also starting to see why a lot of Jungian analysts seem to have pushed back against the tide of some harmfully faddish ideas tarnishing our profession and am developing a deep respect for their training. If you enjoyed Joseph Campbell's studies on mythologies and still enjoy fairytales and myths and are curious about your dreams and psychology, then Jungian analysis combines all of these fascinating fields and uses it to help people grow and thrive. And it saddens me that the way Jungian analysis is presented to psychology and counseling students is so watered down that people studying psychology are not getting an accurate feel for it. Because basically this is a book that I think everyone should read and I think a lot of people would benefit from using the techniques in this book. Highly recommend!
November 17, 2024
I have been recording my dreams and working with them for about 10 years. I have read many books about dream analysis, and have found the Jungian approach to be the most helpful and life changing. I have been listening to This Jungian Life podcast since its inception, and their interpretation of dreams has helped me tremendously. Now, this guide enables me to work more deeply on my own. Their approach by providing "keys" with which to approach dream is really accessible. Thank you for writing this book!
September 27, 2025
"Sanjamo samo zato da bismo se upoznali s onim u sebi što nam je najviše strano" - C.G.Jung
Ova knjiga je riznica blaga za sve snovoljubce, predivna je..
Ova knjiga je riznica blaga za sve snovoljubce, predivna je..
December 28, 2024
Not disappointed at all after becoming interested in learning more about dream interpretations, insight into the vast context of dreams and steps to recall them.
October 11, 2025
Dream Wise is like a psychopomp and practical guide into the dream world.
The text is accessible, insightful, and offers a foundational attitude for dream interpretation.
The authors guide the reader through a Jungian approach to dreams, while providing numerous examples of direct dream analysis. The book structure navigates the complexity of the subject matter by taking the reader step by step through the analysis process; whereby each chapter is an additional piece for understanding the dream as a whole (and how it provides wisdom about the self).
The text offers an abundance of questions for the reader to ask in their own dream interpretation process - with several writing prompts throughout the book to engage the material outside of the question/answer dialectic.
Toward the end of the book there is a whole chapter on the method of active imagination (which is explained in an accessible manner) and provides an approach for further inquiry into the dream world. It also offers the opportunity to see the dream as an act of autopoiesis, whereby the dreamer experiences the living quality of the dream world.
One strength of this book is the extensive attention placed on understanding the structure of the animus in dreams (the masculine self/soul within the female dreamer). Most of the texts I’ve read on Jungian dream interpretation center this discussion on the anima figure (the feminine self/soul within the male dreamer) and often neglect the animus all together; or reduce their discussion to a few paragraphs at the end of a chapter. I have often wished for a more complex and nuanced understanding of the animus, and this book provides extensive examples. I also think the authors have a nuanced understanding of the gender dynamics and representation of the animus/anima figure (although there are better texts for further exploration of this issue).
My favorite chapter is Working with a Dream: Using the Keys – whereby the authors demonstrate how all of the previous information is actualized in analysis. I believe this chapter not only brings the whole process together, but also shows the rigor involved in analysis. The book is accessible, but it doesn’t pretend that extensive work isn’t needed to find the hidden gold.
I wish a text such as this existed when I first began exploring dreams almost twenty years ago. Even after the reader completes the text, the authors provide the opportunity for readers to circumambulate the dream by using those keys which are most helpful to their own interpretation process. The choice is yours – the journey is your own.
The book offers the “keys” and you are a doorway – with Dream Wise all you need to do is turn the doorknob, take the step, and see what awaits you on the other side.
The text is accessible, insightful, and offers a foundational attitude for dream interpretation.
The authors guide the reader through a Jungian approach to dreams, while providing numerous examples of direct dream analysis. The book structure navigates the complexity of the subject matter by taking the reader step by step through the analysis process; whereby each chapter is an additional piece for understanding the dream as a whole (and how it provides wisdom about the self).
The text offers an abundance of questions for the reader to ask in their own dream interpretation process - with several writing prompts throughout the book to engage the material outside of the question/answer dialectic.
Toward the end of the book there is a whole chapter on the method of active imagination (which is explained in an accessible manner) and provides an approach for further inquiry into the dream world. It also offers the opportunity to see the dream as an act of autopoiesis, whereby the dreamer experiences the living quality of the dream world.
One strength of this book is the extensive attention placed on understanding the structure of the animus in dreams (the masculine self/soul within the female dreamer). Most of the texts I’ve read on Jungian dream interpretation center this discussion on the anima figure (the feminine self/soul within the male dreamer) and often neglect the animus all together; or reduce their discussion to a few paragraphs at the end of a chapter. I have often wished for a more complex and nuanced understanding of the animus, and this book provides extensive examples. I also think the authors have a nuanced understanding of the gender dynamics and representation of the animus/anima figure (although there are better texts for further exploration of this issue).
My favorite chapter is Working with a Dream: Using the Keys – whereby the authors demonstrate how all of the previous information is actualized in analysis. I believe this chapter not only brings the whole process together, but also shows the rigor involved in analysis. The book is accessible, but it doesn’t pretend that extensive work isn’t needed to find the hidden gold.
I wish a text such as this existed when I first began exploring dreams almost twenty years ago. Even after the reader completes the text, the authors provide the opportunity for readers to circumambulate the dream by using those keys which are most helpful to their own interpretation process. The choice is yours – the journey is your own.
The book offers the “keys” and you are a doorway – with Dream Wise all you need to do is turn the doorknob, take the step, and see what awaits you on the other side.
December 9, 2024
Loved the audiobook, read perfectly by Lisa. This guide is really the best book I’ve ever encountered on analyzing and integrating dreams from a Jungian perspective. It is spot on, exactly like dream analysis with a Jungian analyst from my experience. Each chapter features aspects of dreams and how to reflect on them and gain wisdom from the unconscious and it is taken directly from Jungian methods, interpreted by three seasoned Jungian Analysts. There’s nothing like it and it is so good. The keys will most definitely help guide me in interpretation in the future.
March 5, 2025
A helpful guide to dreaming that examines the least controllable expressions of self.
December 15, 2024
If you have any interest in understanding your dreams, and they’re so important that I hope everyone does, this is the book you need. I’m grateful to my analyst for having told me about the This Jungian Life podcast and even more grateful to the three analyst authors and podcasters who have written such a comprehensive and helpful guide to the “exhalations of soul”.
July 16, 2025
I listened to about 50% of the book. The main argument is a good one - listen to Your dreams, for your subconscious has a lot more material about your life than You do. Imagine a taxi driver (our conscious side) going trough a regular day, being on autopilot and not noticing much. But the man in the back of the seat, the passenger (our subconscious) might notice a lot more about the taxi driver and the drive itself.. The same is with our lifes - we think we are in the driver’s seat, yet we live on autopilot and don’t see much what is happening. And this subconscious is the one that “brings” and creates the dreams.
So. Make as detailed notes as You can, and presume the dreams were sent to You for a reason (even the “bad” ones), for You to learn something from them, or uncovers something. And in the past days, I have found some relations myself personally too.
BUT, but. All this you get from the first 10% of the book. The latter (i have been listening 10% - 50%) is just the author bringing so many examples of dreams and the CLEAR understanding what the ment in HER opinion, presenting them as facts. Maybe she is right 2% of the times, maybe 20%, but she thinks it’s 100%. Even I can tell that many of her opinions are weird - she goes as far as saying that when you are not calling out for help your wife/husband in the dream, then this means you do get help from them in regular life. There are a lot of examples like that. So rather a book to skip the most part, but the first 10% is good!
So. Make as detailed notes as You can, and presume the dreams were sent to You for a reason (even the “bad” ones), for You to learn something from them, or uncovers something. And in the past days, I have found some relations myself personally too.
BUT, but. All this you get from the first 10% of the book. The latter (i have been listening 10% - 50%) is just the author bringing so many examples of dreams and the CLEAR understanding what the ment in HER opinion, presenting them as facts. Maybe she is right 2% of the times, maybe 20%, but she thinks it’s 100%. Even I can tell that many of her opinions are weird - she goes as far as saying that when you are not calling out for help your wife/husband in the dream, then this means you do get help from them in regular life. There are a lot of examples like that. So rather a book to skip the most part, but the first 10% is good!
January 1, 2025
This book changed my life!
Dream Wise is, by far, the clearest and most accessible book on dream interpretation I’ve come across. It effectively explains Jungian theoretical principles, recognizes the deeply personal nature of each dream, and provides practical teaching tools for the dreamer to explore meaningful communication from the unconscious. The book is rich with dream examples from the authors' extensive experience, clearly outlining potential interpretations that highlight key insights for the reader.
Additionally, the book presents a few interpretations of Jungian principles that are both totally new and profoundly insightful. The chapter on the Anima and Animus is particularly enlightening, offering a deep, clear, and practical narrative on their roles in the psyche, how they function, and how they may manifest in our dreams.
I’m excited to see more work from this dynamic collaboration of authors!
Dream Wise is, by far, the clearest and most accessible book on dream interpretation I’ve come across. It effectively explains Jungian theoretical principles, recognizes the deeply personal nature of each dream, and provides practical teaching tools for the dreamer to explore meaningful communication from the unconscious. The book is rich with dream examples from the authors' extensive experience, clearly outlining potential interpretations that highlight key insights for the reader.
Additionally, the book presents a few interpretations of Jungian principles that are both totally new and profoundly insightful. The chapter on the Anima and Animus is particularly enlightening, offering a deep, clear, and practical narrative on their roles in the psyche, how they function, and how they may manifest in our dreams.
I’m excited to see more work from this dynamic collaboration of authors!
April 17, 2025
I am a big fan of the ‘This Jungian Life’ podcast and have read everything Lisa Marchiano has previously published. I have a great interest in Dream Analysis, with analysis of my own dreams being formative and a source of reassurance and guidance prior to reading this.
Joseph Lee, Deb Stewart, and Lisa Marchiano provide a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide of Dream Analysis. They provide a lot of examples of the symbology that the Dream Maker uses in our dreams and examples of analysis and reflective questions to contemplate. It builds on Sigmund Freud’s foundational ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’.
I am glad to have read this as it provides a reference to what is discuss in their podcast. The authors encourage the reader to engage with their dream and it is a lot of work (and I do not dream a lot). I can clearly describe my analysis of some of my previous dreams. It is a resource book that I can return to when I have dreams in the future.
Joseph Lee, Deb Stewart, and Lisa Marchiano provide a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide of Dream Analysis. They provide a lot of examples of the symbology that the Dream Maker uses in our dreams and examples of analysis and reflective questions to contemplate. It builds on Sigmund Freud’s foundational ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’.
I am glad to have read this as it provides a reference to what is discuss in their podcast. The authors encourage the reader to engage with their dream and it is a lot of work (and I do not dream a lot). I can clearly describe my analysis of some of my previous dreams. It is a resource book that I can return to when I have dreams in the future.
January 23, 2025
Insightful and grounding, Dream Wise is an assertive primer for folks looking for a roadmap and guidelines to unearthing the hidden meanings of our dreams. I have listened to the authors’ podcast for years now and found insight within each episode. Where I struggled in this working, is how decisive and insistent the interpretation of dreams is presented, which felt counter to Jung’s approach of not knowing what a dream means initially and remaining open to the multiple meanings within a dream. Still, I would recommend to anyone interested in dreams or Jung in general.
November 14, 2025
Being familiar with Jungian dream analysis, I found this book to be an excellent compilation of techniques for recalling, recording, and working with one's dreams to gain insight into one's psyche and what the subconscious might be suggesting as a means of growth. it may be a little more challenging for a newcomer to the subject, but the style of writing is very accessible, with lots of examples, so it would just be a matter of taking it slow and applying the principles.
December 12, 2024
An incredibly helpful guide to working with dreams through the Jungian lens. Much of Jung’s work feels inaccessible to non-psychology professionals, so attempts to bring some of this theory and especially the tool of dream work for self-knowledge into mainstream awareness/use are helpful! This book answers the call of the collective unconscious ❤️
September 11, 2025
This book is essential reading to anyone who wishes to better understand the very personal language of their own dreams and, thereby, their own inner workings. Complete with handy take-away "keys" to highlight helpful information, as well as journaling prompts and guidelines on varied methods of approach, "Dream Wise" is clear and its authors, as clearly, experts in their field.
June 4, 2025
incredible, insightful and easy!
I highly recommend!! If you have any interest in understanding yourself on a deeper, clearer level, this book helps in casual enough terms, anyone can get it.
I highly recommend!! If you have any interest in understanding yourself on a deeper, clearer level, this book helps in casual enough terms, anyone can get it.
November 25, 2024
This is the ultimate guide on dream work from a Jungian analytic perspective.
January 21, 2025
Fanstastic. Well written. A book within a book with helpful advice and journaling prompts to help you as you dive deeper into your dream life. Will be referring to this book over and over.
November 24, 2025
Loved this book, thank you so much for the ARC!
December 15, 2025
really helpful guide to dream interpretation
January 6, 2026
I have read many books about dreams, but this is my favorite, since it explains in a perfect way how to understand our dreams, I love the examples and the final index part
August 27, 2025
4.5
great book if you're interested in learning how to work with dreams
sometimes the writing was a bit scattered, but still good enough to recommend reading
great book if you're interested in learning how to work with dreams
sometimes the writing was a bit scattered, but still good enough to recommend reading
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews