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In the House of the Riddle Mother: The Most Common Archetypal Motifs in Women's Dreams by Clarissa Pinkola Estés (2009)
, 19 Oct 2017
Pinkola Estes is not only a reputed Jungian psychologist but also a natural storyteller. She is able to link and connect naturally dream themes, concrete dreams from real people, world legends, fairy tales and myths, and look at dreams as part of a whole, as a world of magic that is interrelated to other worlds of magic. She has a very mellow soothing voice, perfect for a therapist, but her whispering is not only a sweet song to your ears, but also a deep poetic and humorous exploration of our dream world. I loved some of the stories she tells, and the fact that her analysis of the motifs is really rich, deep and colorful, multifaceted, and not the usual monolithic this theme means this, and that theme means that. These themes have been discussed in many dream dictionaries and dreamwork books, but I found that Pinkola Estes's discussion about them brings many more things to the table than other analysts.
The themes or motifs that Pinkola Estes discusses in this book are the following: 1/Animal dreams. 2/ Flying dreams. 3/ Precognitive dreams. 4/ Snake dreams. 5/ Paralysis dreams. 6/ Incommunication dreams. 7/ Dreams of blood. 8/ Disaster dreams. 9/ End of the world dreams. 10/ Dreams about giving birth. 11/ Dreams about finding a baby. 12/ Dreams about finding of losing a treasure. 13/ Teeth dreams. 14/ Toilet dreams. 15/ Dark force dreams with a nasty man or woman. 16/ Dreams about having an orgasm, having sex or making love. 17/ and dreams of nakedness.
The most important things that you'll learn from this work (beyond the interpretations and meanings that Pinkola Estes attaches to the discussed motifs) are the following: 1/ Your dreams are yours, and must be interpreted and be related to who you are, your life, circumstances, psyche and soul, and no cookie-cutter of an interpretation will fit two different people. Symbols are universal, but also fit into the psyche of different people in different ways because they are infused in the individual psyche they sit on. 2/ You cannot disregard or ignore the instinctive feeling you get when you have a dream about what or whom the dream relates to. In the past, I have found to be true for me. 3/ Dreams are not only individual, but relate to themes, symbols ad stories contained in old legends and myths and they are part of an interrelated magic world that is also very real, a world pregnant with meaning, a whispering voice that comes from your own unconscious. When your dream relates to a specific theme and that theme makes sense to you, you will get an aha moment, like two piece of a magneto getting together when put together. 4/ Finally, as the title of the book hints, dreams are like riddles, pun confusing intricate queries that are embedded with a message from your psyche to you.
The main downsides of the book are three. Firstly, Pinkola Estes' tone is a bit flat and lacks coloratura, so I found difficult to keep engaged and focused for long periods of time. Secondly, these lectures should be about themes in women's dreams, but many of the themes discussed here are not specific to women, but general dream themes that everybody has; it is not always clear in which way the discussion differs if they are dreamed by men or women and, besides, sometimes the author clearly states that the theme is universal. Thirdly, the author has a tendency to talk assuming that things in our heads are as clear regarding the connection between motifs, myths, legends and specific dreams as are in hers. Finally, the question arises, if dreams are individual and particular to each person, and myths and legends are Universal, how exactly universal themes relate differently to different individuals?
This is a very enjoyable audiobook, quick to listen to, and one of those books that you want to listen to more than once.
The themes or motifs that Pinkola Estes discusses in this book are the following: 1/Animal dreams. 2/ Flying dreams. 3/ Precognitive dreams. 4/ Snake dreams. 5/ Paralysis dreams. 6/ Incommunication dreams. 7/ Dreams of blood. 8/ Disaster dreams. 9/ End of the world dreams. 10/ Dreams about giving birth. 11/ Dreams about finding a baby. 12/ Dreams about finding of losing a treasure. 13/ Teeth dreams. 14/ Toilet dreams. 15/ Dark force dreams with a nasty man or woman. 16/ Dreams about having an orgasm, having sex or making love. 17/ and dreams of nakedness.
The most important things that you'll learn from this work (beyond the interpretations and meanings that Pinkola Estes attaches to the discussed motifs) are the following: 1/ Your dreams are yours, and must be interpreted and be related to who you are, your life, circumstances, psyche and soul, and no cookie-cutter of an interpretation will fit two different people. Symbols are universal, but also fit into the psyche of different people in different ways because they are infused in the individual psyche they sit on. 2/ You cannot disregard or ignore the instinctive feeling you get when you have a dream about what or whom the dream relates to. In the past, I have found to be true for me. 3/ Dreams are not only individual, but relate to themes, symbols ad stories contained in old legends and myths and they are part of an interrelated magic world that is also very real, a world pregnant with meaning, a whispering voice that comes from your own unconscious. When your dream relates to a specific theme and that theme makes sense to you, you will get an aha moment, like two piece of a magneto getting together when put together. 4/ Finally, as the title of the book hints, dreams are like riddles, pun confusing intricate queries that are embedded with a message from your psyche to you.
The main downsides of the book are three. Firstly, Pinkola Estes' tone is a bit flat and lacks coloratura, so I found difficult to keep engaged and focused for long periods of time. Secondly, these lectures should be about themes in women's dreams, but many of the themes discussed here are not specific to women, but general dream themes that everybody has; it is not always clear in which way the discussion differs if they are dreamed by men or women and, besides, sometimes the author clearly states that the theme is universal. Thirdly, the author has a tendency to talk assuming that things in our heads are as clear regarding the connection between motifs, myths, legends and specific dreams as are in hers. Finally, the question arises, if dreams are individual and particular to each person, and myths and legends are Universal, how exactly universal themes relate differently to different individuals?
This is a very enjoyable audiobook, quick to listen to, and one of those books that you want to listen to more than once.
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