Capturing Dream Wisdom With the Brush Strokes of the Soul

By Susan Audrey, MA, Dreamwork Guide & Artist
 

The day my mother called to tell me that my youngest brother had died suddenly of a heart attack, I was finishing an art piece with a heart at its center — a broken heart I had sewn together with careful stitching.

That night I seeded my dreams with a plea — to know how my brother, Phil, was doing… Where was he now? Was he okay? My own heart ached, not only with the weight of loss, but with the knowledge that he was alone in his moment of passing.

A comforting, numinous dream emerged… Phil was a young boy again, riding his childhood bicycle, peddling in the sky above the playing field at the grade school we had attended. He wore a helmet and a smile, and tied to the back of his bicycle was a great, old oak tree, roots and all, toted effortlessly behind him.

I found peace in this uplifting dreamscape. Phil was happily doing something he had greatly enjoyed. He was wearing a helmet to be safe and carrying the whole of his life (a Tree of Life) easily behind him.

An acceptance that it was his time started to flicker within me.

This is how the magic of art and dreams works in my life… Spontaneous artistic creations hint at what’s to come. Sowing seeds of intention before sleep cultivates dreams that hold answers, comfort, and glimpses of the future.
 

Beyond the Dream Journal — What Can Happen When You Draw Dream Images

I believe we all need to look to our dreams and the synchronicities in our lives more than ever these days. Overwhelmed, scared, and saddened by the whir of information and chaos around us, the wisdom of our dreams can be a grounding cord that provides the guidance, comfort, understanding, inner peace, and hope we crave.

Even if a dream comes in the form of a nightmare, it is emerging in service of our wellbeing — and working with its images can be truly transformative. For example, a woman attending one of my dreamwork circles had an extreme, lifetime fear of spiders and a recurring nightmare in which a spider was coming towards her. (Interestingly, she and her husband had just relocated to the area for his job, and his new company’s name was the word spider in a foreign language.)

I encouraged her to draw a picture of the spider from her nightmare and put it in a drawer in her home. When she felt ready, she was to take the picture out of the drawer and place it in view. She was able to do this after a few weeks. Then she was to put the picture in view in her bedroom — a huge step. As she became desensitized to the spider image, her spider nightmare came less and less, until it finally disappeared.

Art Forms Help Us Decode Our Dreams

Bringing our dreams to life through drawing or other art forms can also help us connect more deeply with our dream wisdom. It can rouse the visceral aha! that dreamworkers await when working with their dreams — the full-body chills of recognition that validate we’ve received an important message from our soul.

I’ve worked with dreamers who have used pantomime to explore their dreams — one woman imitated a playful dog in her dream, bringing the joyful feel of her dreamscape into the room and her heart.

Another dreamer found healing through the creation of small clay figures. The textural experience of forming the shapes and faces of the wild animals living outside her home, and visiting her in her dreams, helping her to illuminate the reason for their frequent emergence in her dreamscapes.

Sometimes I’ll invite dreamers to employ fellow dreamwork circle participants to act out their dreams in a simple Dream Theater exercise. One dreamer was finally able to see the power her mother had to trigger her in waking life by watching a dreamer roleplay her mother in a dream re-creation exercise — an insight that helped the dreamer break old relationship patterns.

	“Let Spirits Fly In & Out” (Mixed media piece by Susan Audrey)

I’ve created artwork inspired by dreams to illuminate the meanings of dream images and encourage new ways of being. One such image is a blue dress I could have chosen in a dream but instead conceded to another woman. This painting sits in my studio as I write this… A tall, thin woman in a luminous blue dress, windswept tresses with white birds emerging from them, as a reminder of worthiness, and the freedom and joy in honoring the Self.

Sharing a dream with a trusted friend or in the safe container of a dreamwork circle can help us decode its message and uncover our soul’s intention beneath. Yet, the added step of bringing your dream to life through art — in any form (no artistic ability necessary) — can often evoke the deeper understanding necessary to truly start to live your dream’s wisdom.
 

Susan Audrey is a dreamwork practitioner and guide, writer, and artist whose precognitive dreams — and miraculous connection with the sacred feminine archetype of the Black Madonna — have made her a true believer in the power of dreaming to connect us with something greater than ourselves, deepen our trust in life, and grow our sense of belonging. 

Susan holds a master’s degree in Depth Psychology, is trained in therapeutic guided imagery, and is associated with the International Association for the Study of Dreams. She is also a senior campaign strategist and copywriter for The Shift Network.

Click here to visit Susan’s website and find out more about her dream art, Dreamwork Circles, and one-on-one dreamwork sessions.