Spiritual Direction is an intimate and committed relationship straddling the outer world of ego and the inner world of spirit. In spiritual companionship we often hear questions like “What does God want me to do or be?” “Where is there meaning in this situation?” “How do I know that what I hear is the voice of the Divine?”

What if there is a portal to the answers for these questions that is easily accessible and ever present? There is such a passageway, and it is dream work – the practice of translating messages from our nightly dreams into waking life. Across time and religious traditions and spiritual orientations, dreams are known as a profound source of communication with the Divine or the Beyond.

This online course from SDI introduces the practice of projective dream work based on the analytical psychology methods of Carl Jung; by offering tools for navigating the path toward spiritual maturity, bypassing ego resistance by using the language of symbol and metaphor, and imagery and story. Course participants are invited to bring a dream to share, or to participate in a circle to process a dream. The deep listening and shared inner images of the group experience introduce the profound inner work used to address psychological and spiritual issues frustrating our spiritual growth. Dream work enables practitioners to engage in social justice concerns motivated by compassion and reconciliation rather than projection, anger and self-righteousness. The projective method offers a model for both group and individual work, and many Spiritual Directors find dream work to be a deepening and enriching modality for accessing divine wisdom in spiritual companionship. Lectures with time for questions follows the facilitated dream group experience to expand on the foundational principles of Jungian psychology as a path to psychological wholeness, spiritual resilience and integrated social engagement.