Practical work on dreams with Tarot

We all dream, but the secret for inner growth lays on interacting creatively with your dream: I want to show you an example of practical work on dreams using Tarot as a creative tool.

What we dream of is like a raw material to recover and transform into fuel for our personal growth. This is the purpose of dream interpretation: it is like a progressive refinement of the dream material, through a creative work on the elements dreamed of.

Practical work on dreams means first of all interacting with the various dream elements, reviving and analyzing them creatively. In the OniroTarology method, the Tarot is used as a tool to carry out the practical work on dreams, helping us to visualize the symbolic shapes underlying the dream and stimulating the right questions to come to an enriching interpretation.

So let’s see this process with a practical example, based on a short dream proposed by a friend of mine, Laura.

Practical work on dreams with Tarot

Laura named her dream “The hostile employee” and the description is as follows:

“I’m in my office. An employee I have never seen sits behind a desk. He hates me deeply and I don’t know why. “

Working on Laura’s emotions and her personal associations, we understand that Justice is the Tarot that captures the essence of the dream: feeling judged and under the threat of a punishment.

With the Justice Tarot card under our eyes we then begin the practical work on the dream, being inspired by its symbolic elements and proceeding with a small interview.

The look of Justice: the exam

Me: “The Justice looks into your eyes. What aspect of your soul was the employee scrutinizing? “

Laura: “Lately I’ve been a little lazy at work; I believe the employee was angry with me for this reason.”

The sword of the Justice: the punishment

Me: “Why did you fear the employee in the dream? What kind of punishment did you expect? “

Laura: “I was afraid he would put me in a bad light with my boss.”

The balance of justice: the elements of judgment

Me: “What elements was weighing the employee in judging you?”

Laura: “Probably on the weighing plate the employee was weighing the energy I put into my work. I admit that I am much less motivated than I used to be. “

The knee of the Justice: the false judgment

Me: “The Justice affects the impartiality of the judgment by distorting the balance between the scales with her knee. Why was the employee biased against you? What injustice were you witness of? “

Laura: “It is true that lately I am less energetic in my work, but I have always been very cooperative with my colleagues. I felt that the employee did not evaluate my potential fairly. “

The throne of justice: the authority

Me: “The Justice woman sits on a throne. From the height of which throne did the employee judge you?”

Laura: “I felt that the employee had a more important role than mine. He looked like a workaholic, a nerd, one who has always worked hard and neglected his private life for his career. He deserved that prestigious role. “

The key question of practical dream work

Me: “Is there a part of you that looks like that employee?”

Laura: “Bingo. Yes, I believe that the employee represents a part of me. In the past I was very ambitious and a workaholic, but over the years I have softened, focusing on keeping good relations with my colleagues rather than getting my hands dirty with hard work. That part of me that belongs to the past would probably hate me right now. I must try to reconcile myself with this old me. I am realizing now that I’ve even come to the point of hating employees who are too diligent and workaholic! That biased Lady Justice is me!”

Practical work on dreams: final considerations

According to Carl Gustav Jung it is not so important what we dream of, but how we relate to our dream.

At the end of the dream interpretation work, once the basic message has been identified, we should ask ourselves: “What do you intend to do now?” Laura could try to pull out of the dust her old “workaholic inner clerk”, or maybe change her attitude towards who puts work at the center of his life.

But she could also decide to do nothing to change things: this is also a choice, but taken consciously. Don’t ever let the unconscious decide for you!V