Religion & Spirituality Archives | Kelly Bulkeley https://bulkeley.org/research/religion-spirituality/ Dream Research & Education Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:43:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://bulkeley.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/kb-100x100.png Religion & Spirituality Archives | Kelly Bulkeley https://bulkeley.org/research/religion-spirituality/ 32 32 Reflections on Spiritual Dreaming (1995) https://bulkeley.org/reflections-on-spiritual-dreaming-1995/ https://bulkeley.org/reflections-on-spiritual-dreaming-1995/#respond Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:43:59 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4624 An academic dissertation is written in compliance with a host of official requirements designed to focus the project and give it the best chance of successful completion. Those requirements definitely influenced how my dissertation and first book, The Wilderness of Dreams (1994), came to be what it is. As I sat down to write my …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/reflections-on-spiritual-dreaming-1995/feed/ 0 Reflections on The Wilderness of Dreams (1994) https://bulkeley.org/reflections-on-the-wilderness-of-dreams-1994/ https://bulkeley.org/reflections-on-the-wilderness-of-dreams-1994/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2025 20:11:48 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4617 Writing has always been a relational process for me. Relationships with an imagined audience, with the people who have taught and influenced me, sometimes with co-authors, and always with the energies of inspiration I personify as Muses—without them, I would never care enough to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. With them, I’ve …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/reflections-on-the-wilderness-of-dreams-1994/feed/ 0 The Scribes of Sleep – A New Book about the History of Dream Journals https://bulkeley.org/the-scribes-of-sleep-a-new-book-about-the-history-of-dream-journals/ https://bulkeley.org/the-scribes-of-sleep-a-new-book-about-the-history-of-dream-journals/#respond Sat, 15 Jul 2023 00:56:27 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4511 My latest book, The Scribes of Sleep, has just been published by Oxford University Press. It’s a work dedicated to people who keep dream journals, as a new resource for learning more about the fascinating and largely unknown history of dream journal practices. The book is also intended as an argument in favor of dream …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/the-scribes-of-sleep-a-new-book-about-the-history-of-dream-journals/feed/ 0 Dream Journaling as a Contemplative Practice https://bulkeley.org/dream-journaling-as-a-contemplative-practice/ https://bulkeley.org/dream-journaling-as-a-contemplative-practice/#respond Fri, 14 Jul 2023 20:28:30 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4503 Most people who keep a dream journal are initially motivated by simple curiosity and the hope they will gain insights into their waking lives. But as they continue with the journaling and track the emerging patterns of their dreams over time, they often find the process becomes something more than that, something that develops a …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/dream-journaling-as-a-contemplative-practice/feed/ 0 The Essence of a Dream Library https://bulkeley.org/the-essence-of-a-dream-library/ https://bulkeley.org/the-essence-of-a-dream-library/#respond Thu, 09 Dec 2021 01:45:50 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4416 A Dream Library is a playground for studying and dreaming: for studying while dreaming, and dreaming while studying. It’s a spatial technology for stimulating your oneiric imagination. It’s not a shrine to dreaming, but it’s not not a shrine to dreaming, either. It’s your personally crafted portal into the intuitive depths of your own mind. …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/the-essence-of-a-dream-library/feed/ 0 The Inevitable Spirituality of Dreaming https://bulkeley.org/the-inevitable-spirituality-of-dreaming/ https://bulkeley.org/the-inevitable-spirituality-of-dreaming/#respond Sun, 03 Oct 2021 23:08:43 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4354 People make many strange and unexpected discoveries when they begin exploring their dreams. Of these discoveries, perhaps the most surprising is an uncanny encounter with images, themes, and energies that can best be described as spiritual or religious. It’s one thing to realize you have selfish desires or aggressive instincts; it’s another thing entirely to …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/the-inevitable-spirituality-of-dreaming/feed/ 0 How to Begin a Dream-Sharing Process https://bulkeley.org/how-to-begin-a-dream-sharing-process/ https://bulkeley.org/how-to-begin-a-dream-sharing-process/#respond Mon, 31 May 2021 22:13:57 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4303 When someone is about to share a dream with me, either in a group setting or one-on-one, I always ask for two things. First, please tell the dream in the present tense, not the past tense, so the dream feels immediate, like it’s happening right now. And second, please share the dream twice. After you …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/how-to-begin-a-dream-sharing-process/feed/ 0 Christmas Dreaming https://bulkeley.org/christmas-dreaming/ https://bulkeley.org/christmas-dreaming/#respond Tue, 22 Dec 2020 00:27:47 +0000 https://bulkeley.org/?p=4238 Dreams during the holidays bring happy memories, and recurrent anxieties. The holiday season brings many anticipated pleasures, and many reasons for worry. Our dreams about Christmas express both happiness and anxiety, eagerly looking forward to the holiday but also expressing recurrent worries about every possible thing that could go wrong. The Sleep and Dream Database …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/christmas-dreaming/feed/ 0 Do Dreams Have Paranormal Power? Maybe, if Cats Are Involved https://bulkeley.org/do-dreams-have-paranormal-power-maybe-if-cats-are-involved/ https://bulkeley.org/do-dreams-have-paranormal-power-maybe-if-cats-are-involved/#respond Wed, 19 Dec 2018 02:05:28 +0000 http://bulkeley.org/?p=3762 I recently had an odd dream about a cat that left me with more questions than answers. It was, I can personally testify, a dark and stormy night. I had gone to bed in a state of extreme emotional distress. Earlier in the day one of our cats had disappeared, and I was sure that …

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]]> https://bulkeley.org/do-dreams-have-paranormal-power-maybe-if-cats-are-involved/feed/ 0 Dangerous Dreaming: The Spanish Inquisition’s Trial of a Prophetic Dreamer https://bulkeley.org/dangerous-dreaming-the-spanish-inquisitions-trial-of-a-prophetic-dreamer/ https://bulkeley.org/dangerous-dreaming-the-spanish-inquisitions-trial-of-a-prophetic-dreamer/#respond Wed, 14 Nov 2018 23:46:03 +0000 http://bulkeley.org/?p=3738 “It is in dreams that one can catch sight of the most fundamental and stable symbolisms of humanity passing from the ‘cosmic’ function to the ‘psychic’ function.” (Paul Ricoeur, 1967) [The following is the text of a presentation I will make on Saturday, Nov. 17, at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting in Denver, …

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