The Dreaming Way: Courting the Wisdom of Dreams

by Toko-pa Turner

A revelatory new book about dreams and dreaming from Toko-pa Turner, award-winning author of Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home

You don’t need an expert to tell you what your dreams mean. Understanding their language is as natural as grasping the moral of a story or finding beauty in art. In The Dreaming Way, Toko-pa revives an ancient yet revolutionary idea to bring dreaming back to the people. To retrieve, from the psychology rooted in rationalism, our dreaming authority. Through a unique blend of animism, Sufism and Jungian Psychology, Toko-pa introduces us to the friend who lives within and around us: Wisdom.

With eloquence and insight, she guides us in her dreamwork method for Courting the Dream, which reverses the idea that we should try to acquire something from our dreams and attempt instead to discover what the dream longs for. Using vivid dream examples and real-life stories, Toko-pa reminds us that we already possess the tools we need to remember, understand, and embody the wisdom of our dreams.

Drawing on ancient mysticism, she shows how nature’s animating intelligence is also patterning our dreams. When we learn to follow that wisdom, we discover that it’s calling us toward a unique purpose. A purpose that, Toko-pa says, is nested within the larger intent of nature. As instructive as it is enchanting, this book contains guidance on how to:

• Improve your dream recall

• Understand the language of metaphor

• Work with archetypes and other patterns

• Engage in shadow work

• Discover dream incubation

• Practice active imagination

• Cultivate synchronicity

Genres: Nonfiction

362 pages, Paperback

Published September 20, 2024

Reviews

[Taylor Reddeman]

Me and a mysterious other have been fighting for custody of Multnomah Library’s one copy of this, and again I did not finish in time

[Holly Friesen]

I thoroughly enjoyed this insightful and timely book about dreaming. We spend so much of our lives in this other dimension which is rich with poetry and metaphor. It is well worth learning ways to be in communication with this part of ourselves which is ripe with symbols and meaning tailored specifically for our own growth. Dreamtime gives us direct access to the imaginal realm- the source of all creativity. Tokopa explores so many aspects of Dreamtime in wise and wondrous ways. An enlightening and delightful read.

[Margaret Wallis]

I am listening to this as an audiobook, but its message is so valuable, I have ordered it as a book as well. It is a long time since I paid attention to my dreams, and previously I was tempted to wear them as trophies, rather than recognising them as gifts of wisdom from beyond, companioning me along the way .
Since embarking on this book many of my old dreams are jumping to life, showing me new ways of looking at them.
A recurring dream I had in childhood, was of realising the car I am in has no driver, and though I thought I was a child, I am supposed to be the adult with the skills to drive and be positioned in the driver's seat., neither of which are the case.
This terrifying dream is now opening up other possibilities, as I realise the car is not out of control, despite not obviously having a driver. What if there is an unseen driver?
I am looking forward to receiving more wisdom, and ideas of how to receive and work with dreams.

[Meg MacLeod]

Toko-Pa lushly and articulately weaves her own journey with huge challenges of a runaway teenager and a year-long painful illness as an adult to make the tapestry of how her dreams guided her through it all. Her writing and stories encouraged me back to regularly recording my dreams and how to befriend them and begin to use their messages in daily life.
Soon afterwards, two people "coincidentally" came into my life who wanted to do dreamwork / dream play with me. Since then I've experienced synchronicities coming regularly into my life, which have helped me make difficult, courageous decisions. I'm so grateful for that, plus the loving nature I'm experiencing in Life, similar to the loving nature I feel in Toko-Pa's writing.

I do not know her, but from her writing and whimsical drawings I feel she is a beautiful and wise friend and guide. I've also posted a review on her other wonderful book, "Belonging".

[Andrew Marshall]

I have read several books on how to interpret dreams and bought this one because it covered leading a dream group. I can thoroughly it (and did to the people attending the retreat).

Thoughtful, well written and full of love.

[Ethan M Teed]

This book is absolutely spectacular and wholly necessary for us to remember ourselves back into wholeness; in both our inner and outer worlds. Beautifully resonate and transformative! Thank you!

[fede]

Beautiful and rich and intricate. I felt my life raising up into more dimensions as I read it :)