In 1996, I joined a dream group and thought to myself, "This will be a fun thing to do on a Tuesday night." Little did I know at the time that I would become a permanent fixture in the group for five years! During this experience, I became completely fascinated at how everyone, no matter their gender, race, religion, or socioeconomic status, everyone received specific, enlightening information necessary for their health and wholeness from a better understanding of their dreams.
At the time of joining the group, I was suffering from insomnia getting maybe three to four hours of sleep a night. Since I wanted to participate in the group, I, of course, had to start paying attention to MY dreams. Once I started recording them, I realized that I was having terrible nightmares! This began to explain the insomnia; I wasn't sleeping soundly because I was continually woken up by disturbing and frightening images. The ensuing deeper exploration of my dreams was tremendously helpful in shining light on unresolved issues from my past and my unused creative potential, all of which was hinted at in the symbolic language of the dream material. Once I began to heed the messages, the nightmares diminished. With each dream that I worked, I began to the feel an amazing resurgence of vitality! The mental and emotional energy that I once unconsciously used to repress feelings of unworthiness, guilt and confusion was now available for the expression of creativity, exploration of intellectual curiosity and renewed physical awareness.
In 2000, I attended a Jeremy Taylor workshop which opened my eyes to the gentle power of the projective method of dreamwork that Jeremy has been teaching around the world for the past 40 years. By everyone in the group using the "if it were my dream" format, I began to see how the comments made to each dreamer "sank in" in a different manner than anything I had witnessed before. I watched, completely enthralled, as a group of 25 virtual strangers was suddenly communicating in an egalitarian and empathetic way. Every dream became everybody's dream. I had an epiphany that weekend realizing, not only are the dreams healing for us as individuals, but the compassionate sharing between a group with the common purpose of a deeper emotional awareness through a better understanding of our dreams can ultimately be healing for the entire planet.
Almost immediately after joining the very first dream group, I started dreaming about "working on dreams." I would often (and still do!) record dreams where I'm in a dream circle or organizing a dream event. It's always been intriguing to me how often this shows up in my dreams again and again. It's as though my Soul has been voting for dreamwork as "right livelihood" from Day One! In 2002, I had a dream I titled, "Dream Camp." This dream 
suddenly inspired me with the idea of putting together a workshop centered around group dream sharing in the projective style but also including other activities; yoga, art, music and intuitive readers with all of us staying in a natural setting, sharing our meals together and getting to know one another. . .sort of like camp! I felt by including movement and visual stimulation, there would be something to "wake up" all the senses in order to expand beyond the standard form of just “talking” about the dreams. In August of 2003 the Dreamwork Retreat was born and is still going strong! Over the years the Dreamwork Retreat has blossomed into a bi-annual event with a community of dreamers from all over the country, many of whom look forward to attending each and every time.
In addition to the retreats, I teach intro dreamwork classes, facilitate workshops, lead groups and work individual sessions, always dedicating many hours to my passion of enlightening others to the endlessly fascinating and infinitely rewarding world of their dreams! However, as Jeremy so often says, "this is way too important to take my word for it." The rewarding mystery and magic of your dreams is something that must be experienced "from the inside out." I encourage anyone who reads this message to take a moment each day to honor and cherish your dreams. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.
(Photo of Billie and Jeremy, Sunrise Ranch, 2003, by Rene Larson)
