Healing Dreams: Exploring the Dreams That Can Transform Your Life

by Marc Barasch

A new guide to interpreting dreams takes readers a step further in their exploration of the unconscious, explaining how to apply the important lessons of dreams to everyday life. 17,500 first printing.

Genres: Self Help, Psychology, Nonfiction, Spirituality

356 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2000

Reviews

[Robert Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully written exploration of dreams which warn of coming physical ailments, tell of existing problems or suggest a path towards healing. Besides the author's personal story, many other examples can be found here to illustrate the powerful connection between dreams and health.

[Sarah Monsees · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, as I did like the author and enjoyed his general way of expression. But I mostly just felt left 'wanting' by the end. The dream anecdotes were interesting and informative, but overall, the book mainly seemed to be a very long musing on the functions of dreams paired with an endless number of examples. I don't feel like my time was entirely wasted, for there was a lot of information about the diverse views on dreams and their connections to spirituality. I found these moments in the book to be well researched and fascinating. However, the book as a whole was probably longer than it needed to be and had less concrete analysis than I had hoped for.

Initially, I liked that it piggy-backed off of Jungian theory, but the connection became increasingly superficial as the book went on. Although, I don't believe I understand my dreams any better than I did before reading this, I was still able to leave this book with a deeper understanding and interest in my dreams; while being provided with the tools to interpret the seemingly random images my unconscious mind provides.

[diwili · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories of people's dreamlives were good, but I found I didn't trust the narrator when they took it upon themselves to explain concepts taken from Indigenous cultures (or modern science, for that matter). Especially when they insisted on frequently returning to frame things in their own 'default' worldview, something I found akin to a New Age-meets-Christian outlook. With a topic as universal as dreaming, didn't seem the place to project their personal belief system onto other people's experiences in an attempt to make sense of them. Still, despite cringing through those moments, worth reading about people's experiences with dreams.

[Kalle Wescott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read /Healing Dreams: Exploring the Dreams That Can Transform Your Life/, by Marc Barasch:

https://books.google.com/books/about/...

The book discusses healing dreams which can have significant meaning for us, especially in terms of decisions we need to make in our lives.

I would buy the upsell of the psychiatrist to discuss my dreams with me, if Barasch provided that.

[velvetempress · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well-written, fascinating, and mind-expanding. It's the only book on dreams I've read that's gone into this much detail about the purpose and spirituality behind them. I've read this about 5 times and will probably read it 5 times more.

[Astrid de Beer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the longest read I’ve ever did, just because the English to me was not that easy as usual. I have read many English books and never had a problem understanding what I was reading, but this one was something else, altough, there were some very interesting parts in it.

[Iona Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lack words to express the excellence and brilliance of this comprehensive, divinely expressed book.

The author diagnosed his own cancer of the thyroid gland through a series of nightmares he experienced that drove him to the doctor. These dreams saved his life.

He states that healing dreams tend to have spiritual themes rather than purely psychological ones. They address not only our personal situation but also the human condition. They may have the qualities of omniscience, omnipresence, truth and compassion. But our most vital dreams, the ones that spiritually mature us “play out at the level of blood and muck, lack and deformity”.

Healing dreams might be conceived as “visits to an otherworld with its own geography and inhabitants”. Or the Healing Dream might be regarded as a wise teacher. It often comes to redress imbalance. We should note that “whatever we deem most ridiculous upon waking is the fulcrum point of what the dream wants to tell us”. Note also key dream words, since dream language “reveals a dense richness” – a dream word may have half a dozen definitions, “each with a different or even opposing nuance”, and each of these definitions will have significance.

There is a chapter asking “What does the Dream want?” and one on inner journeys of health and illness. One chapter relates to dreams of “personal calling”, and includes healing dreams in childhood and “heeding the call”.

The book comprises exciting chapters on the Otherworld and Healing the Shadow.

The author is exceedingly learned, and refers continually to Freud, Jung (mostly Jung), Milarepa, Cicero, Greek writers such as Macrobius and Artemidorus of Daldis, J.W. Dunne, etc etc etc, and to reports by many of his friends from other cultures, including Indian tribes, such as the Cree.

I don’t think I’ve ever encountered such a learned and gifted writer, who at the same time is so exceptionally articulate and writes in such an enjoyable, discursive manner.

The book is a work of genius.

The author cites innumerable illuminating and insightful dream reports, both on his own dreams and those of many others.

This is an important work, one of the absolute best on the subject of dreams, if not the best, together with “Conscious dreaming” by Robert Moss and “Lucid Dreaming” by Robert Waggoner. I highly recommend that you read this excellent, mind-expanding book.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of interesting anecdotes and insight about "big" dreams that can burst through a person's unconscious and change the course of his or her life. It helped me to not so much interpret "big" dreams of my own, but understand their place in my life, such as heralding the need for change. It was also fascinating to find out just how many people experience these type of dreams (pretty much everyone, it seems) and how long-lasting their effects are on people's lives, especially considering that almost no one talks about them in daily life.

For fairly dense subject matter, this is a pretty easy read. The anecdotes about specific individuals' healing dreams kept it engaging and compelling.

[LemontreeLime · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was like a travelogue to other people's subconsciousness-es (-i?), past and present. I had bought it used two years ago, and never read it until this week when i promised it to another person. Maybe i was too hasty giving it away. Like the dreams Barasch relays, it's a mountain of layers. Not a how-to, not really a self-help book either..but it does have moments when the author insists you really ought to pay attention to what your brain tells you at night.. Highly recommend just because it was fascinating!

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This charming book is an easy read for people interested in the history of oneirology. Mr. Barasch writes deftly and sweetly and has good intentions. By no means is it a heavy, in-depth analysis of the field.