Will You Dream For Me?*

A Qualitative Study of the Dream Helper Ceremony

(part 4)

Appendix A:  Interview Structure

In your opinion, do you think the seeker was helped by your dream?

(For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

(If no dream…)Then how about by the other folks' dreams?

Regarding the things in the other's dreams, do you think they were related to the seeker's issue?

(For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

Did the seeker's issue relate to things you may have worked through in your life?

 (Did you have a personal experience there?)

(For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

Do you now feel like you have a connection with the person you were helping?

           (For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

Is it strengthened as a result of the ceremony?

Would you do it again?

(For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

OK, why would you (not) do it again?

            (For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

How do you think this thing works:  what we did for the Dream Helper Ceremony?

(For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

What do you think we learned about dreams from that experience?

            (For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

What kind of questions do you think I should be asking people to learn more about this experience we had?

            (For consolidated responses to this question, click here.)

Appendix B:  Interview Transcripts

Interview with (male) Helper One (H1)

I: In your opinion, do you think the seeker was helped by your dream?

H1: I didn't remember a dream.

I: Then how about by the other folks' dreams?

H1: I think he was.  I think it kind of reinforced some of the things he was already thinking.

I: Regarding the things in the other's dreams, do you think they were related to the seeker's issue?

H1: Yes.  The interesting thing was that it didn't seem like they were related at first, but then as you heard the individual dream, but then we started talking about them, you saw similarities like the number three as a common thread through most of the dreams, as one example.  I thought it was very interesting how from individual dreams that didn't seem that related at first, as we discussed them, the relationships became apparent.

I: That was true of my group too, how they all just kind of came together.  The issue that the seeker was working with; did that relate to things you may have worked through in your life?  Did you have a personal experience there?

H1: To some extent, but his was more kind of relating to some issues about what he should be doing, in terms of the camp.  So it wasn't directly related, but certainly I think anybody would say I've been dealing with issues of "should I be doing A or B, should I be doing…"

I:  Professional decisions?

H1: Right.  Definitely.

I:  Do you now feel like you have a connection with the person you were helping?

H1:  Oh, yes!  Plus, I knew him before anyhow, so we already had a connection.

I:  Is it strengthened as a result of the ceremony?

H1:  Certainly didn't hurt.  I don’t think it strengthened it a lot, because we already had a relationship.

I:  Would you do it again?

H1:  Oh, sure!  I wish next time I'd remember a dream. 

I:  OK, why would you do it again?

H1:  Because I think it is helpful.  You can get some positive value out of that experience.

I:  So even though your intent was to help someone else, and even though you didn't personally have a dream for him, you still felt that you benefited from the experience?

H1:  Yes, I did.  I was involved in the discussion to some degree, and I could be somebody that would help to look at the other people's dreams and I've had some experience in that.  So in that sense, I think it was still helpful to do it even though I didn't remember a dream myself.

I:  For my own curiosity, do you normally remember your dreams?

H1:  I normally don't, because I don't work at it like I should.  But when I really intentionally work at it, yes I can remember them.

I:  How do you think this dream thing works:  what we did for the Dream Helper Ceremony?

H1:  How do you think that works with all the people?

I:  Right.

H1:  Probably on some type of subconscious level.  I think as we have that intention to help a certain person with our dreams that, subconsciously, as we sleep that night, I think that probably that intention, that suggestion that we've given ourselves, I think that it does affect our subconscious mind in some way. 

I:  What do you think we learned about dreams from that experience?

H1:  I learned…I guess I hadn't really thought before that you could do this…that you could have a number of people dreaming for somebody and that you'd really get something meaningful out of it.  I guess I would have questioned that.  Now that I've gone through the experience, I can see where it works.  That was exciting!

I:  What kind of questions to you think I should be asking people to learn more about this experience we had?

H1:  I think you've asked some good ones.  I'm not sure I could think of anything else.  If I do, I'll let you know.

Interview with (female) Helper Two (H2) (dreamed for Linda)

I: Do you think that your dream seemed helpful for Linda?

H2:  At first I didn't and even after we had gone through and made our hypothesis and I still didn't until I was speaking with her and Maria, just the three of us.  Maria, who wasn't dreaming for her, she had missed the first day; she found some insight more in my dream than in anybody else's dream.  I thought everybody else had more of an emotional connection with her and had messages.  Mine was just kind of a random dream.  But in the end, yeah, yeah, I think it did have a pretty good message, or helped out a little bit. 

I: Overall, by everybody's dreams, do you think Linda was helped by the process?

H2: I think she was helped more by being able to hear people's dreams, hear them talk/dream for her I guess, and let her tell her problem.  That was more of a help for her.  To let it out, discuss it, rather than the dreams themselves, really didn't conclude anything.

I: Regarding the things in your dream, do you think they were related to her issue?

H2:  The feelings.

I: How about the issue that she asked for the dream for; did that relate to things you may have had experience with?

H2: Yeah, yes, I've experienced it.  But none of the dreams at all foretold what was her problem.  We all thought maybe it was a job or a relationship, but it had nothing to do with that.

I:  Do you like as a result of the ceremony, you have established a connection with Linda?

H2:  A little bit.  I haven't talked to her about it yet.  I'd like to.  I plan on doing so, and I think that it will help connect us.  But, yeah, there's a deeper feeling, not so much a connection, but just being able to feel comfortable that she told us about her problem.  That's a very big step.

I:  Would you do it again?

H2:  Yeah.  Yeah, actually I've done it before, with a much younger crowd.  Sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen year olds, and it didn't work quite as well because they were less focused.  I would definitely do it again.  I'd really like to.

I:  Why is that?

H2:  Because it gives people a chance to really focus on something about themselves, and about the person they're dreaming for. They don't necessarily know the issue, and it's easier to discuss something if you don't know what's going on.  I think it's a lot better that we didn't know the issue before hand.  That way we were able to look at the symbols in the dreams instead of "Oh, well, we know what the problem is, therefore that correlates."

I:  You think that's the best way to do it then?

H2:  Yeah.

I:  How do you think this Whole thing works

H2:  Hmmm…I think focusing on that person and telling yourself that you want to focus on that person.  I think that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.  I think it's definitely a subconscious…being able to tell you in a way that's easy to understand.

I:  What did you learn about dreams from that experience?

H2:  That emotions, or really even simple symbols, things that we call crazy dreams can have a very deep insight…that a shoe isn't really a shoe, it could mean that you are about to travel on, you see footprints.  It's not really what it appears to be.  It has a much deeper meaning if you're able to discuss it.  For me it's a lot easier to discuss it with someone, and then I better understand my dreams and a little bit more about myself if I talk with someone about it.  So I think being able to really look at things in your dream as where you're going, or what or who's been happening in your life and what it means, and what it's trying to say to you and such as that.

I:  What kind of questions do you think I should be asking people to learn more about it?

H2: Hum…I don't know.  If they've ever done it before, or if they keep a dream journal, or if they discuss different types of dreaming, lucid dreaming.  If they're able to communicate with themselves in a dream state.  Kind of focus on the individual and see what their dream life is like.  Because a lot of that has a connection with how they dream   Learn more about the individual and group.  It would/d be better to reach a conclusion that way.

I:  Any general comments about the process?

H2:  I think it was really, really neat.  As a group, we did pinpoint on some emotions, and some steps forward.  I think it's really interesting that we were able, 6 or 7 different people, all had similar dreams.  The same symbols kept popping up in different dreams.  In other groups, Irene for example, a feeling of anxiety revolved around it and the dreamers had a feeling of anxiety before they went to sleep.  They were afraid they weren’t going to be able to remember their dreams…and that all connected with her problem.  I think it was really interesting that everyone was able to connect in that way.

Interview with (female) Helper Three (H3)

I: In your opinion, do you think the seeker was helped by your dream?

H3:  Yes, definitely.

I: Regarding the things in your dream, do you think they were related to the seeker's issue?

H3:  That was real tough for me to see at first.  It didn’t seem possible, with what everybody else was getting that it could possible relate.  It took the processing of the entire group of questions and answers…actually there was a lot that didn't come to me until she revealed what her question was.  Then it made sense, then I realized that I had one of the body-mind-soul aspects and mine was strictly physical, the body.

I: The issue that the seeker was working with; did that relate to things you may have worked through in your life? 

H3:  No, I've never had anything like that happen.  That's probably why what I got didn't seem to relate.  It does in an overall way; it does in taking care of your own body.  That's the only overlap because the question has never happened in my own life.

I:  As far as a personal connection, do you fell that you connected with Linda?

H3:  Absolutely!

I:  Did you have something in common with her before camp?

H3: No.

I:  Just as a result of the Dream Helper Ceremony you now have a connection with her?

H3:  And absolutely just that.  Because even before that exercise, we had never visited at all.  I didn't even know what her name was.

I:  Would you do it again?

H3:  Oh, yes! 

I:  Why is that?

H3:  One is the soul sister feeling, the connectedness.  Two is…it would be to just make the whole experience more meaningful and learn more facets of how to help somebody else process that.  In other words, it would be to teach it.

I:  How do you think that whole thing worked

H3:  What do you mean?

I:  What happened, what transpired, the dreaming, how does that work?

H3:  The higher consciousness is all one anyway.  It feels to me that our higher being goes up into a connectedness.  Just because our physical eyes can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.  I was hypnotized once and into the process, quite a ways down the line after the rapport was built, I was asked the question, "So what or who is God?" 

And what I saw before my eyes was a group of people…first of all what I saw was a group of luminescent lines that were coming out…connecting people to people, people and animals, people and animals, people and plants, people and all living things.  Then the lines…it was like this multi-dimensional connectedness to all things.  The last was to inanimate things, it was rocks, it was even cars.  I know that sounds bizarre, but all had a connectedness.  My answer to her was, "All."  She asked me the question again in another way, rephrased it.  "All."  There was no other answer.  I couldn't conceive of another answer.  Then she ask if I was seeing or hearing something, so I attempted to describe for the her the way the connecting went.  The feeling of goodness and wholeness I had was…the words are inadequate, very inadequate.

I:  What did you learn about dreams as a result of your experience?

H3:  Trust them more.  I've done this exercise before, but I've felt the depth of it more than I've ever felt it before.  I think it had to do with being in nature.  Real need, perhaps where she's at and I am at in the process in the process of development.  I'm not sure I could even identify all the components of that.

I:  What kind of questions do you think I should be asking to learn more about this process?

H3:  That one!  (laughter)  I'm not sure what I would ask, but maybe share a questioning process.  In 23 years of teaching school, I learned a process.  I would help them identify their feelings and the feelings in their dream.  Then try to give the dream a title like you would give a story a title, and not a one-word title.  Henry addressed that.  Robert Moss does some of that process.  A suggestion for people when they went back individually to process their own…what is your reality?  How does this relate to your waking life?  What more do you want to know about the dream?  If we shared in a group what more do you yourself want to know, I think that would help the individual.

I:  You mean as part of the dream analysis?

H3:  Yes, for example I dreamed five times of Lambs quarter.  I saw the plant unblemished and I thought at first, "What am I going to be able to reveal?"  I just see it, I hear it, what can I reveal?  But out of that came things like it was completely unblemished, it wasn't even in flower form, let alone seed form, it was young.  The fact that I dreamed it five times was definitely a message of some kind.  I'm still working on that.  So what more do I want?  I want to know the significance of that five.  I don't know if that would have helped her for sure, but someone else's question might.

I:  So the phrasing would be, "What more do you want to learn about your own dream?"

H3:  Yes, and I'm glad you're doing this.  I don't have the net.  I shut my computer off.  I should be out looking at flowers.  I don't want any jokes either.  I would really like to see your outcome. 

Interview with (female) Helper Four (H4)

I: In your opinion, do you think Robert seemed helped by the process?

H4: I did.  Especially just the process of talking about our dreams and having him go through them and see what applied to his life.

I:  Do you think the things you dreamed about specifically related to his issue?

H4:  Yes, The part of my dream that had the Scottish people in it.  I thought it applied to him, but I'm still wondering about how it applied to him.  Two girls in my dream related to his two little grandchildren.  I also think my dream was telling me that I had knowledge to share, and that applies to his situation.  He wanted more [people] in his life, and I think that would be a way for him to do it…share his knowledge.

I: Did the seeker's issue relate to things you may have worked through in your life? 

H4:    I felt that most of what he was dealing with was divorce issues, and I've never dealt with anything like that.  I've seen it in my circle of friends, but never dealt with it personally.

I:  Do you now feel like you have a connection with the person you were helping?

H4:  Definitely.

I:  Would you do it again?

H4:  Oh, yes!  This is my second time.

I:  OK, why would you do it again?

H4:  The first time I did it, I was being dreamed for, and I found it really helpful.  This time I wanted to be on the helpful side of it, because it had been really good for me.  So yes, I think it's great!

I:  How do you think it works? 

H4:  Wow, I don't know.  I've done other experiments before, like writing something on a piece of paper and giving it to someone and seeing if they dream of it.  Sometimes it works.  I would assume that because all of our consciousnesses are somehow connected with a larger consciousness, that at any point anyone could gather information from everywhere.  It's one of those mysteries.

I:  What did you learn about dreams from this last experience?

H4:   [I learned] that they can be helpful for more than one person; that even though you may be dreaming for someone else, there's probably still messages in the dream for yourself, and that even the whole group can gain insight from all the dreams together.

I:  What kind of questions to you think I should be asking people to learn more about this experience we had?

H4:   I don't know.  You have it pretty well covered.

I:  Anything you want to know personally about dreams?

H4:  Where do they come from!

I:  Where do you think they come from?

H4:  Without the Dream Helper Ceremony, you would think that it was just from your subconscious.  But with this, you have to think bigger now. 

I:  Any general comments?

H4:  I think it was a positive experience for everybody.

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