Author
That we come to this earth to live is untrue. We come but to sleep, to dream. – Aztec Poet
BOOKS, CHAPTERS & ARTICLES
My first writing on dreams was a story I wrote at the age of seven about one of my lucid dreams. My teacher doubted I had written it and called my mother in to question it. I felt mortified and didn’t write about my dreams again for many years!
In my mid-twenties, looking for dream guidance, I sent a dream to John Sanford, an Episcopal Priest and Jungian Analyst, whose books on dreams I admired. He rang to tell me that the dream called me to work with dreams and to write about them.
In the ensuing years, I lived in Europe where I taught and published in the field of language and literature. Then, in 2006, a dream reminded me of the earlier call to write on dreams. Subsequently, I wrote numerous articles and book chapters on dreams and dream lucidity. In 2019, Bonnier Books UK commissioned me to write a book on dreams and wellbeing. Following the publication of The Hidden Lives of Dreams in 2020, my second book, Lucid Surrender: The Alchemy of the Soul in Lucid Dreaming (Archive Publishing) came out on the Winter’s Solstice 2021.
These books and other dream-inspired writings are featured here.
Lucid Surrender
The Alchemy of the Soul in Lucid Dreaming
This book approaches lucid dreaming as a means to soul-awakening, a path I call ‘Lucid Surrender’™. It derives from my first-hand experience as a lucid dreamer, my professional work as a psychotherapist and my researches into lucid dreaming. The book explores themes related to surrender in dream lucidity such as the Black Light of the Lucid Void, coloured light, mirroring surfaces, wormholes, and an alchemical perspective on ever-deepening awareness. Lucid Surrender offers readers a new way to be with the unknown so they can intimately know and express the deep Mystery at the heart of life.
Publication Excerpts & Articles
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena in Lucid Dreaming
Have you ever experienced a UAP in a lucid dream? Here’s an article I’ve written on the subject, which was published in the Lucid Dream…Lucid Dream Alchemy
Lucid Dream Alchemy explores lucid dreaming through the twin lenses of alchemy and Lucid Surrender. A debt is owed to Carl Jung, the founder of…Lucid Dreaming From Beyond the Grave
In this article for the Lucid Dream Experience Magazine, I share an excerpt from my most recent book Dreams My Mother Taught Me: Lessons in…The Hidden Lives of Dreams
What They Can Tell Us and How They Can Change Our World
This book initiates readers into both the science and art of dreaming, offering a response to the question, ‘Why write a book about dreams, when the world faces so many crises?’. The many dreams and the therapeutic reflections on them show that the more we develop our dreamlife, the more we take root in life and come into being. When we take time to pay attention to our dreams, our compassion towards ourselves, others and the earth grows.
La Vida Secreta de Los Sueños
The Spanish version of The Hidden Lives of Dreams is available on Amazon. Buenos sueños!
Metaphoric Presence in Dreams
For this comprehensive two-volume collection of research on dreams, published in conjunction with ABC-CLIO and the International Association for the Study of Dreams, I was asked to write a chapter on ‘Dreams and Spirituality’. Drawing on dreams from the Alister Hardy Trust’s Religious Experience Archive, I contributed the pilot study, ‘Metaphoric Presence in Dreams’ researching the sense of healing presence in dreams.
Dreams That Change Our Lives
For this popular book by IASD and Chiron Books, the editors invited me to contribute a dream to the chapter on ‘A Spiritual Presence’. I decided to share a dream I had in 1990 that I call ‘The Annunciation’, one that has been a touch stone for me personally and professionally ever since.
Lucid Surrender and the Alchemical Coniunctio
For this pioneering two-volume anthology on lucid dreaming (2014), editor Ryan Hurd asked me for a chapter on lucid dreaming from a Jungian perspective. In this chapter, I explore what C. G. Jung might have to say about lucid dreaming and what he would think about Lucid Surrender. You’ll find the piece under my maiden name of Mary Ziemer.
Waking Up to the Health Benefits of Dreams
In response to the many vivid dreams reported by the public during pandemic lockdowns, the editor of The New Psychotherapist, published by the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists, asked me to summarise our scientific understanding of dreams and their therapeutic benefits for their January 2021 issue, p. 46.
Wake up to Your Dreams
In view of the growing interest in dreams, Balance Media Magazine, London, asked me to write an article about tapping into the unconscious through dreams to achieve a dynamic balance in life.