Dream Incubation with Machiel Klerk

Jun 16, 2022

Machiel Klerk, a mental health therapist and dream worker, discusses the ancient practice of dream incubation and its potential for personal guidance. He outlines a five-step process for harnessing dreams to address life questions, emphasizing the need for intentionality and reflection. The conversation touches on the interplay between dreams and consciousness, offering insights into how engaging with dreams can lead to profound transformation. Klerk believes that everyone has access to this inner source, encouraging listeners to embrace their dreams for personal growth.

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INSIGHT

Ancient Roots of Dream Incubation

Dream incubation is an ancient technique where people ask dreams for guidance about problems before sleep.
It appears globally in many cultures and is embedded in healing and spiritual traditions.

ANECDOTE

Personal Journey to African Dream Traditions

Machiel's personal connection to African dream tradition began after dreams urged him to revisit South Africa.
He engaged with Sangomas who used dreams for healing and divination, discovering a shared curiosity.

ADVICE

Five-Step Dream Incubation Method

Use a five-step process for dream incubation: identify the issue, formulate a question, perform a ritual, sleep, and write the dream.
Take the dream seriously and reflect on how it may respond to your question practically.

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Guest Machiel Klerk has worked with dreams and healing traditions worldwide; his new book is Dream Guidance: Connection to the Soul through Dream Incubation. Religions, shamanic practices, and depth psychology have recognized the significance of dreams and sought their aid. Dreams open into a deeply intelligent source Jung called the two-million-year-old man. This inner companion is interested in our development and life purpose, and he transports us nightly to worlds of vivid images, fulsome feeling, and embodied experience. Dream incubation invites these encounters into consciousness through a well-defined process: identify a problem, develop a question, and create a ritual of receptivity. Questions related to life direction are especially likely to elicit response. Record the dream immediately upon waking, reflect, and relate its wisdom to waking life. Everyone dreams, everyone is connected to this mysterious source, and everyone has something meaningful to live and give. Our dreams are willing to help us.

Lisa’s Dream Incubation Question: What is the most important thing I should bring forward for this podcast?

Lisa’s Dream

“There is a guy who is maybe on a skateboard; I am maybe on a bike and with Deb. We are following him. He is enjoying the speed bumps and the twists and turns in the road. I have a somewhat superior attitude. I am going very straight. I think that we are exactly the wrong people to be following him because we have such different approaches. He seems to really be enjoying himself. When we stop, he comes over and is speaking to me. It is clear he is attracted to me, flirting and telling me I’m beautiful. It is hard for me to hear, but I make myself stay with it. I make myself continue to meet his eye. I make myself say “thank you” and accept the compliment. I know he is totally sincere. He says he knows that one day I will be tucking him into bed. I respond that I don’t think that is going to happen, and he says he knows it will happen. I know that our lives are very different and he can’t really understand mine. I mention something about almost having gone to college in the South, but there were no gothic universities. This man asks me what that means, and I am noticing how “out of his league” I am. Still, I can feel his real sincerity and my own surprising attraction to him.”

LOOK & GROW

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