Upcoming Dream Events with the International Association For The Study of Dreams

Be sure to check out these upcoming events hosted by the International Association For The Study of Dreams!

What: 33rd Annual International Dream Conference
When: June 24 - 28, 2016
Where: Kerkrade, The Netherlands
Tickets: members - $525, non-member - $600
Subject(s): Research and Theory; Clinical Approaches; Dreamwork Practices; PSI and Lucid Dreams; Dreams and Health; Culture and History; Mental Imagery, and much more!

What: Tuning in to the Frequency
When: September 25 - October 9, 2016
Where: online
Tickets: free if you become a member
Subject(s): When we turn down our noisy thoughts and slip into dreams, do we tune in to another frequency?

What: First Online Dream Research Conference
When: November 11 - 13, 2016
Where: online
Tickets: members - $125, non-member - $150
Subject(s): New discoveries in dream research





Interested in reading more about dreaming and dreams before an event? We recommend Appreciating Dreams by M.D. Montague Ullman and Understanding Dreams: The Gateway to Dreams Without Dream Interpretation by Markku Siivola. For more titles, please visit Cosimo's Body, Mind, & Spirit page, or our Meanings of Dreams page.

Events Posting from Gloria Sturzenacker, International Association for the Study of Dreams

Hello, dreamers of the New York area,

Summer is my favorite season in New York—so much culture moves outdoors into the breezes off the rivers, bays, and ocean! In an almost-random search, I've come across a number of things you might enjoy attending. The dream connection to some of these might be a tad wispy, but the events look so interesting, I didn't want to resist.




FringeNYC (International Fringe Festival)
Aug. 12, 14, 15: Marvellous. "An orphan in a medieval abbey who loves telling stories, stows away on a ship in the sky and finds himself in the dream he's been waiting for. An illuminated adventure for all ages. With puppets. And pirates."

Aug. 13, 16, 21: The Pawnbroker: Lies, Lovers, and Bertolt Brecht. Well, Brecht just fits here.

Aug. 14, 17, 20, 24: Ain't She Brave: A Play of Poetry (Njozi Ensemble Company: "a division of Dream Variation Enterprises"). "In a journey toward self-discovery four women, Uhuru (Freedom), Njozi (Dream), Nia (Purpose), and Imani (Faith), embark on a heart-pounding trek through America’s past to recover their names. Poetry, song and movement fill this memoir of black women in America."

Aug. 14, 15, 17, 23: Gary Busey's One Man Hamlet (as performed by David Carl). I include this out of my own dream-related Hamlet obsession.

Aug. 19, 21, 22, 23, 24: Enter Your Sleep. "Childhood best friends, Glory Zico and P.K. Whylde, meet in a wild night of dreams to unravel their complex friendship, battle their sadness, and, ultimately, face a looming, dark truth." (This, by the way, is what's called mutual dreaming.)


The Allentown Art Museum
Through Sept. 9: The Allentown Art Museum has what's being billed as a coup and a world-class exhibition (and, experimentally, free): Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums. As a review in the main local paper says: 

"Centuries ago, if you wanted to see the paintings of the great Italian masters, you would have embarked on something called The Grand Tour, a kind of traveling educational experience to the principal artistic centers of Renaissance Italy: Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Siena, Naples and Venice.

"This summer, The Grand Tour, by way of Glasgow, Scotland, is coming to Allentown." 

"The Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley is one of the stops on an once-in-a-lifetime American tour of paintings by some of the greatest names in Italian art. It's a rare opportunity to see the work of artists that quite literally changed the world."



Through Sept. 7: Also at the Allentown Art Museum (but not free), is Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos, a series of 80 satiric and dreamlike etchings. I stumbled on the same exhibition a few years ago at the Nassau County Museum of Art. It appealed a lot to my dream-drenched appreciation of weirdism. Here's The Sleep of Reason Brings Forth Monsters:

If you get the chance to attend any of the above events, or if you discover other events relating to New York and dreams, let Gloria Sturzenacker know by contacting her at the International Association for the Study of Dreams website or at the Dreaming New York Treasures blog. 


Interested in reading more about dreaming and dreams before an event? We recommend Appreciating Dreams by M.D. Montague Ullman and Understanding Dreams: The Gateway to Dreams Without Dream Interpretation by Markku Siivola. For more titles, please visit Cosimo's Body, Mind, & Spirit page, or our Meanings of Dreams page.

Dr. Edward Bruce Bynum and Dark Light Consciousness, A New Book About the Power of Melanin and the African American Tradition

On June 19, psychologist and author Edward Bruce Bynum released a new book on the African tradition with Inner Traditions Press. In Dark Light Consciousness: Melanin, Serpent Power, and the Luminous Matrix of Reality, Dr. Bynum explores the consciousness and the superconsciousness of individuals and the universe, using science and ancient African and Indian traditions to help readers tap into their minds and bodies.

The back cover copy explains,

Within each of us lies the potential to activate a personal connection to the superconscious. Called “Ureaus” in ancient Egyptian texts and “Kundalini” in ancient Hindu yoga traditions, our innate serpent power of spiritual transcendence inhabits the base of the spine in its dormant state. When awakened, it unfurls along the spinal column to the brain, connecting individual consciousness to the consciousness of the universe enfolded within the dark matter of space. At the root of creativity and spiritual genius across innumerable cultures and civilizations, this intelligent force reveals portals that enfold time, space, and the luminous matrix of reality itself. 

Combining physics, neuroscience, and biochemistry with ancient traditions from Africa and India, Edward Bruce Bynum, Ph.D., explores the ancient Egyptian science of the Ureaus and reveals how it is intimately connected to dark matter and to melanin, a light-sensitive, energy-conducting substance found in the brain, nervous system, and organs of all higher life-forms. He explains how the dark light of melanin serves as the biochemical infrastructure for the subtle energy body, just as dark matter, together with gravity, holds the galaxies and constellations together. With illustrated instructions, he shows how to safely awaken and stabilize the spiritual energy of the Ureaus through meditation practices, breathing exercises, and yoga postures as well as how to prepare the subtle body for transdimensional soul travel.

By embracing the dark light of the shining serpent within, we overcome our collective fear of the vast living darkness without. By embracing the dark, we transcend reality to the dimension of light.

Fans of Dr. Bynum's work know that he uses his psychological and scientifc background to assess the human brain, whether it be dreams, humanity's African roots, or the consciousness and the soul. He continues this trend with Dark Light Consciousness, earning praise for his research. Teri Degler, author of The Divine Feminine Fire and the Fiery Muse commented, “In this fascinating book, Edward Bynum throws down a gauntlet to science that may very well result in the most revolutionary research ever done on consciousness. His groundbreaking ideas challenge not just what we know about enlightenment but the very nature of light itself and--more importantly for each and every one of us--our journey toward it.” 

Other of Dr. Bynum's works include Families and the Interpretation of Dreams (Paraview Special Editions, 2003), Why Darkness Matters: The Power of Melanin in the Brain (African American Images, 2005), The Roots of Transcendence (Cosimo Boks, 2006), The Family Unconscious (Cosimo Books, 2006), and The African Unconscious: Roots of Ancient Mysticism and Modern Psychology (republished by Cosimo Books, 2012).

Cosimo Author, Markku Siivola to Speak at the International Association for the Study of Dreams Conference

The 29^th Annual International Association for the Study of Dreams Conference is in Berkeley, California, this year at the Doubletree hotel. The location is beautiful, but that’s not all this interesting conference has to offer. This year there are over a dozen presentations to choose from. Topics range from shamanism to neuroscience to dreams of soldiers and dreaming in prisons. Among these informative and scintillating presentations will be one from Cosimo’s own author, Markku Sivvola.  

In November 2011, Cosimo published Markku Siivola’s book Understanding Dreams: The Gateway to Dreams without Dream Interpretation. This informative and interesting book about the dream group process was originally written and published in Finnish and is now available in English from Cosimo. 

While Markku’s presentation will surely be exciting, the conference has much more to offer as well. There will be art and other workshops, academic papers, a juried art gallery, and morning dream-sharing groups and the annual conference ball night of fun: the Dream Ball and its dream-character costume contest.

So, you think you're ready to write a book? (and other writing tips)

Being in the business of publishing, we get a lot of questions from authors and would-be authors about the publishing process, the time it takes from acquisition to publication, ebooks, distribution channels, marketing, and everything in between. These questions are valid and important, but sometimes in the midst of all the excitement of getting a book published and learning about the ins and outs of the publishing business, authors forget about the importance of focusing on their book.

This will be the first in a series of posts offering tips to authors who are curious about the publishing business. I'll not only address all of the usual concerns mentioned above, but also things like query letters, agents, submitting unsolicited manuscripts, finding the right publisher for you, what to expect (and not to expect) from your publisher, and how to focus on the goal for your book. To begin, we'll talk about whether you're even ready to write a book, let alone publish it.

Review of Understanding Dreams

In Understanding Dreams, Markku Siivola offers a practical, clear, easy-to-follow formula for conducting dream groups according to the Montague Ullman method. The beauty of this method is that it can be applied by anyone prepared to follow it to the letter, and requires no prior knowledge of, or training in, dream theory. Siivola likens a dream to an artwork, a fine sculpture, whose different sides and aspects can be revealed by illuminating it from different angles, until the dreamer receives an emotional connection – an aha – that enlightens his personal understanding of his dream. Siivola is careful to state that the goal is not dream therapy or psychotherapy, but simply that the dreamer reaches an understanding of his dream, though this in itself can be therapeutic for both the dreamer and the dream group participants.

Siivola is at his best in his final chapter where he freely explores and adores the sense of mystery inherent in and beyond dream reality. He draws on physics, quantum physics, biology, brain science, philosophy, metaphysics, spirituality, and art, to entice us toward connecting with the deeper realities of our existence.

-By Jane Teresa Anderson, Dream Therapist, author of Dream Alchemy

June O'Brien, Author and Dream Blogger, Reviews Understanding Dreams

Understanding Dreams is an exciting and remarkable book.  It avoids the formulaic and dictionary-like approach of most dream books which are so misleading, and even destructive. The process presented by Dr. Siivola provides an approach to understanding dreams that is distinctly useful to individuals, or informal groups. It respects the poetry of dream language while empowering the individual dreamer to understand.  The group process he offers is structured enough to be safe for participants, but with enough exploratory freedom to allow the dream to unfold.  Ordinarily I avoid dream-books and encourage others to do the same, but I am pleased to have this one brought to my attention.  The approach he presents is similar to the one I use, but I had not organized it into usefulness to others as he has.   

June O'Brien is the author of From the Bone and A Language of Shape and Shadow. She is also the blogger for the blog Dream Talk.