I love affirmations and use “oracle” decks to provide a positive boost in the morning or whenever I need a lift. It’s my way of telling the Universe I’m open to listening to their message: “Have at it!” “I’m listening!” “Tell me more!” I hope you enjoy as I introduce some of my favorite cards and quotes in my newsletters! These make great gifts for any occasion as well as can be used as inspirational hand-outs in class if you are a yoga instructor.
I’ve owned this deck for several years. Regular readers of my newsletter know that I love dream messages. I’ve dedicated a couple of my newsletters to dreams. This deck will enable you to work even more deeply with your dreams. There are numerous ways to use these cards. You can use the cards in-depth or keep it basic and pull one card randomly.
The description from Amazon is quite long because the deck is just that comprehensive! You won’t be disappointed! See the Dreamwork2000.com website referenced below for more information and to interact with these amazing cards yourself!
Description:
The following is taken from the excellent accompanying book with my own additional interpretation toward the end:
“Chapter One
THE MAJOR TOOLS
The Dream Cards package contains most of the major tools you will need to begin your work on your dreams, to learn what they may teach you about your life and your attitudes and behavior in it. The system can be simple and direct in its application to dreams and your life, yet it is capable of generating considerable depth of insight and “right action” because it is also comprehensive.
THE DREAM CARDS
The Dream Cards comprise a deck of 66 square cards, 49 of which have a main central image surrounded by eight secondary images reflecting the central theme of that card. These images come mostly from specific dreams of people who have been active dreamworkers for a long time. Some of the images are from the author’s own meditative state, based on his knowledge of around 10,000 dreams of his own and those of other people with whom he had worked over the past 20 years.
There are seven cards in the seven archetypal suites representing the outstanding energy dynamics of life and dreams. The archetypal suites are SOURCE, MASCULINE, FEMININE, HEROIC, ADVERSITY, JOURNEY, and DEATH — REBIRTH. Their arrangement and relationship to each other, and to the other Dream Cards, forms the basis of his Archetypal Model which is explained in the accompanying book. It is enough to know at this point that the key to the whole system is that archetypal images (symbols) represent specific archetypal dynamics. There is one Dream Card for every major archetypal dynamic, each with pictorial representations of the most commonly dreamed archetypal images or symbols.
In addition to these 49 cards there are ten Ego cards, each of which also carries nine symbolic images, eight secondary surrounding one central. The ego is a particular function in the personality which uses archetypal dynamics but it is different from them in two basic ways.
The ego has choice, the ability to send energy in one direction and not another. An archetype does not have choice. It just exists as a basic building block of the psyche and the universe. The archetypes would go on functioning in various ways whether humankind with his or her ego were around or not. Secondly, the ego has consciousness, the ability to self-reflect, which the archetype does not have. The archetype just is.
The remaining seven Dream Cards are the Personification Cards, each one associated with one of the archetypal suites. Instead of representing one specific archetypal dynamic or “great image” with its secondary images, each Personification Card depicts four mask-like faces or “personifications” attributable to its archetypal suite. The 28 personifications have been chosen as the outstanding expressions in human form of the seven basic archetypes, and represent those most appearing in dreams and cultural expressions. Thus we have four forms of THE CHILD within the SOURCE archetype, four sub-personalities within the larger personality. At various times these roles will be dominant in our behavior, if only for a moment or two.
THE DREAM CARD CHARACTERISTICS CHART
This chart shows the organization of the Dream Cards into the seven archetypal suites plus the Ego suite. For each, a representative primary dynamic is given, along with overall color scheme, symbolic shape, personality trait and choice.
THE WISDOM CARDS
The Wisdom Cards comprise a deck of 66 rectangular cards, one for each Dream Card. Each Wisdom Card is numbered to match its Dream Card and shows its archetype and the archetypal primary dynamic (always shown in capital letters) it represents at the top.” (See below for text, image, and concept copyright notation.)
What follows is my take on the Wisdom cards:
To me, the Wisdom Cards interpret the Dream Card’s message. In my own experience, I round out the interpretation using the intuitive messages the card evokes for me. The cards help you consider possible reasons the dream images have appeared in your dreams. The neat thing about these cards is that in addition to an interpretation, they also provide a “dream-life task” that will help you work with your dreams. How cool is that? You will not only understand your dreams better, but will be able to do something with the messages. I can just hear the Universe sighing with relief. Can’t you?
THE SYMBOL GLOSSARY
The Glossary in the accompanying book contains a wealth of information on dream symbols as well as explains the concepts the author depicts in the cards.
THE DREAM JOURNAL
The author recommends a dream journal, as have I when I’ve shared my dream messages in previous newsletters. When you record what the Universe is telling you, the Universe sees that you are open to the messages and will increase the frequency of the messages in my experience.
Text copyright © Strephon Kaplan-Williams 1991
Dream Cards concept copyright © Strephon Kaplan-Williams 1991
Illustrations © Linda and Roger Garland 1991
Mandala illustration copyright © Strephon Kaplan-Williams 1991
This edition copyright © Eddison Sadd Editions 1991
I chose the following example from the “Source” archetype since the symbolic shape was a circle, representing wholeness. It contains a mandala highlighted earlier in the Meditation on the Go section. The messages also resonated with me. I hope you enjoy!
Dream Card samples Card #1
Corresponding Wisdom Card for Dream Card #1 front and back side information:
Centering
Central Image
At the center of centers shines the pattern
Balancing * Intersection * Essence
The center is the fulcrum point around which the opposites unite.
The center creates the universe and all which surrounds it, balancing everything, one totality, the greatest mystery, the ultimate, the place from which the ALL continually takes its being. Through we must see ourselves as a center, our true center is what makes our existence possible. We affirm circles of relatedness. And from our circles we honor center, our place of origin.
Your task is to affirm yourself as a child of the universe, seeking always the balance point from which to live.
Secondary images
- Altar …Worship, Spiritual Focus
The sacred area has flowers and a whitened shell.
Aimless wandering and endless anxiety come to those who seek not a center greater than themselves.
Humble yourself by focusing on more important things.
- Fountain…Source, Renewal
Water rises high in the garden.
Source runs full when we are available to it.
Know your thirst, seeking what can fulfill it.
- Dance…Celebrating, Joy
They move around the symbol of their joy.
We are only fulfilled by what is greater than ourselves.
Celebrate by letting go to others who can help you center.
- Candle…Illumination, Affirmation
A candle burns at the center.
Evoke center to find your way in life.
Find the value in each possibility you live this day.
- Meditation…Commitment, Purification
The seeker is burned away by his stillness.
True silence is the one song worth singing.
Let go of everything until you find what frees you from yourself.
- Apple Core…Simplicity, Essence
The cut apple reveals its core.
It matters less what you do then how you do it.
Be aware of how you do things, not why or for what.
- Rose Window…Intersecting, Mysterious
The rose window is put into place.
The essence of spirit is to use our lives for what is greater than life.
Ask yourself, who or what is greater than I am?
- Comet…Originator, Magnificence
The comet arrives manifesting brilliance.
The readiness for anything prepares us for everything.
Find in each day that which inspires awe.
The following is the “interactive” message for this card given online:
1 – CENTER
Your choice is to center yourself within that which has greater value. Why resist when life has so much to offer?
Resisting opportunities because we are stuck in our images of wanting something else is folly. Go with reality, not against it. When you resist you use up your energy. Go with things as they are and create with them. The ego is being tested to follow what is wanted from it.
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About the author: Strephon Kaplan-Williams (1934 – 2009) was an internationally recognized dreamwork psychologist and the author of several books on dream interpretation. His Dream Cards became a bestseller in the early 1990?s. Strephon Kaplan-Williams was the first to create the genre of dream cards. In 1978 Strephon founded Journey Press in California to publish the first dreamwork manual ever: The Jungian-Senoi Dreamwork Manual. His other books include Dreamworking, The Elements of Dreamwork, The Practice of Personal Transformation, Dreams and Spiritual Growth and The Dream Alphabet.
Strephon Kaplan-Williams has originated the dreamwork techniques of Objectifying Dreams, Following The Dream Ego, Dream Re-entry, Symbol Immersion and Dream Tasks. He taught his dreamwork psychology processes in California, Great Britain, Norway, The Netherlands, Romania and Canada.
Strephon Kaplan-Williams was co-founder of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD). In the last years of his life Strephon established the International Dream and Dreamwork Psychology Association (IDPA). Developing the first training curricula in dreamwork psychology, in partnership with the Romanian Dreamwork Center.
Strephon Kaplan-Williams is the only son of poets, Gene Derwood and Oscar Williams. Oscar Williams was famous in his day in the USA as the best poetry anthologist of his time. Strephon carried on the heritage of love of writing but as an applied psychologist in his own field of dreamwork psychology.
Since 2005 Journey Press is owned and operated by Fotografica Nijmegen in The Netherlands. Journey Press The Netherlands is copyright owner of the Dream Cards in all languages, the Dream Cards Recipes, the Dream Alphabet and also of earlier dreamwork publications of Strephon Kaplan-Williams.
In 2003 in Bucharest the Romanian Dreamwork Center was founded. Strephon’s pupil and later good friend Ovidiu Brazd?u Ph.D., now carries on Strephon’s heritage by promoting the scientific approach to dreamwork psychology and dream interpretation.
In October 2009 Strephon Kaplan-Williams died at age 75 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
http://www.dreamwork2000.com/StrephonKaplan-Williams.html
You can buy your very own deck of cards at: http://www.dreamwork2000.com/index.html
This website is amazing! See the interactive page to participate in your own sample reading, or browse the “Dream Cards Recipe Book” for fun ways to use these amazing cards!
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In my very first newsletter, November 2009, I highlighted one of my favorite decks—a wonderfully whimsical, inspiring, thought-provoking Enrichuals© deck, created by local author, artist and creativity coach, Suzanne Vadnais Monson. Suzanne has graciously agreed to let me make them available on Better Day Yoga’s product page online!
