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Electric Dreams Vol 6.2 February 1999

EDITORS NOTES.

Richard Wilkerson rcwilk@dreamgate.com


I didn't really have a sense last month of what this year was going to be about for dreaming in Cyberspace. Visions, like dreams, are for me like a kind of animal. One gets a sense of them, other times they are elusive. My original project was to connect the experiences we had of Princess Diana and dreams to the Millennium. That is, amid all the media hype and mass hysteria, the sharing of dreams seemed to slow the process down enough for a deeper, more profound connection.

I would still like to see this continue, and would like to hear from people about various ways we might approach the task. Roger Ripert in Paris has been providing us annually with some preparation in the Planetary Dreaming exercises. We recently tried on the Electric Dreams DreamWheel groups a technique to integrate dreams together, moderated by Jaye Belbo, and this may lead us to some processes that will further using dreams to transition into the Twenty First Century.

But something else is emerging as well. In a dream recently: "I was returning from a hike in the mountains where I had been camping and I saw crossing the path the most amazing thing. There was a kind of stream or river in the air, and 6 and 9 foot fish, like slow trouts, were crossing the path in the air-stream and swimming over the hill top."

Besides the personal meanings, the image captured for me a couple of collective images. The first was the end of the Age of Pisces, the fish swimming by and headed over the hill to greener pastures. The second, more cyber-dream oriented take had to do with the flow of dreams in cyberspace. As you may have known, the ed-core eList was changed to dream-flow@lists.best.com . This is the place where all the dreams that are sent to us are entered into the community before Bob Krumhansl organizes them. Comments can be added, interpretations discussed. Each month we include from 30-100 pages of these dreams. (See Bob's comments, editorial and the dreams themselves in the Dream Section).

In previous years, we have seen the Internet as a medium of communication. This year the image can include the Cyberspace as a kind of animal itself and I plan to study more the effect of dreams *on* Cyberspace as well as between people in Cyberspace. How dreams circulate, how they linger, how they inspire, how they flow. Besides study, there will be creation, just as in leaving the 20th century we are already creating the 21st. I would like to see how we can circulate dreams on the Net in new ways, to stir up the digital domain and infuse the Internet with a Dream Flow.

On of the ways of finding new flows is by breaking free of old molds.

Last month's article on poststructural dreamwork brought on some interesting comments. One particular dreamworkers and Idiscuss.jpg (4362 bytes) had a discussion about the dangers and problems of opening up dreamwork in a postmodern universe where morals and ethics and significance seem to all be relative. Robert Lewis and I encourage you to join in this conversation and perhaps help save the universe form collapse into chaos and anarchy! Be sure to read "Is There Significance in a Poststructural Dreamwork?"

Another part of breaking the mold and creating new flows is by confronting the Wizard of Oz. If you would like to take a peek at the structure of dreaming that occurs behind the veil of the dreaming, Linda Magallon offers a suggestion on how to find the grids and what they mean to dreaming in general in her Dream Trek Column, Flying Wires And Other Mysteries.

New flows are created though education and learning. We know this on a global scale now. We can raise the standard of living by education. How does this happen? Education creates new opportunities that were before un-imagined. Dream and dreaming information projects are in the flow this year. The Association for the Study of Dreams is working on a large frequently asked questions document(FAQ). Individual dream sites, like Dream Tree, DreamGate, and many others offer ever more information. I would like to include this year a Dream Emergency Room online. This would be a hyperlinked project where people new to dreams and dreaming could go for quick resources, and resources that fascinate and encourage dream sharing.

If you have dream questions you would like added to these FAQ'a, send them in. These can include questions about working with dreams or dreaming in general, such as dream science, dream anthropology, dream literature, dream arts.

Speaking of questions and answers, Nancy has been responding to dreamers for some time. Ever had a dream about investing the in the stock market? Be sure to get your investment tips from Watch Your Dreams with Nancy Huseby Bloom.

Victoria Quinton explores the serious and humorous sides of dreaming in two interviews with Australian personalities Andy Griffiths and Jane Anderson

noble.jpg (3236 bytes)Are you tired of the reality you are living? Jeri Noble has some suggestions on using pre-sleep intentions in conjuction with post-dream interpretations to remove those obstacles to your better life in "Dreamworking in Metaphysics".

Peggy Coats has been gathering all the latest information on dreams and dreaming from the Net and around the world and offers this fabulous resource in the Global Dreaming News. This service comes to us each month from the Dream Tree www.dreamtree.com  which has recently added forums for dreams sharing and conversations on dreams and dreaming. The Dream Tree also offers the Electric Dreams community updates on dream web sites, the latest events and conference schedules as well as research in dreaming which we encourage you to participate. I would like to especially call your attention in this month's news to the crisis at the Intuition Network. Intuition has provided an ongoing eList for dream discussions for sometime and could use your support. Also, the Association for the Study of Dreams is having a Regional Conference on Dreams and the New Millennium in Orinda CA.

There are many other dream workshops and events, see the list for the events in your area.

Let's get the Dream Flow really going!

Richard Wilkerson


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Richard Wilkerson
rcwilk@dreamgate.com