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Dream groups are a powerful way to engage in symbolic thinking and dialog. As part of any of my art-based groups I can arrange sessions that include the dreamer's mind and experience. Sometimes just sitting with dream content in a group setting inspires right brain thinking and creativity. I have 5 years of experience leading a community-based dream workshop that at times included the addition of art making.

Dream Methods

Free Assoication -- (Altered from Freud's for my art-based dream workshops.) Freud's discovery of letting your mind free associate to find associations that make sense of objects and happenings in your dream. Take a significant object in your dream and free associate it to whatever words comes to mind. If you want to, relate these words to your own cultural myths and fairytales. This activity then grows to associate actual events in the waking life to the symbolism of these myths and fairytales. Freud believed that there are manifest objects in your dreams (what you dream), and their latent meaning (derived from free assoication to uncover the unconscious meaning). Free association brings unconscious material to the surface to be interpreted, and to discover motives for the dream. Freud eventually abandoned hypnosis for the discipline of free association in his psychoanalytic work.

Art-based Dream Work Using Free Association.
Draw your dream object (simplified) onto paper with chalk pastel. Cover your object with a thin layer of chalk in contrasting color. Draw the first object that comes to mind after meditating on your first layer. Cover your drawing with another thin layer of chalk in contrasting color. Draw a scene that reminds you of the previous layers of objects. Discuss your drawing in a group or with another person, or to yourself (Self-talking).

The Archetype and the Personal Significance of the Dream -- Jung's dream analysis is utilized in an art-based workshop. Technique is also borrowed from Shaun McNiff's technique of speaking with the character. Archetypes such as the ANIMUS (the unconscious male in the female psyche), the ANIMA (the unconscious female in the male psyche), and the SHADOW (the underdeveloped parts of the personality consisting of weaknesses and instincts) can all have a dialog with paper and pen.

Art-based Dream Work Using the Shadow as Catalyst
Draw scary or foreboding dream figures onto paper. Draw the figures in a scene that represents the dream. Discuss how these characters feel in their roles. Have a dialog with them, and write down any thoughts you may have interacting with your figures. Discuss in group or with yourself how you feel interacting with your figures.