It is often difficult to see how a single dream compensates the consciousness of an individual. If there is a dream series available, the meaning of the compensation often becomes more evident. — Murray Stein, Four Pillars of Jungian Analysis

I had the first dream in what I’ve been calling the Dream Gate series last year and the most recent a few weeks ago.

The dreams so far are as follows:

1. The Dream Gate: Technically two dreams divided by short period of wakefulness but effectively a single dream.

2. The Dream Wall: The longest dream in the series which made the theme of the series (the interpretation of dreams and my Jungian studies) clear to me.

3. The Dream Vault: The most recent dream which can be found below.

In this post I’ll share some of what I’ve learned about how a dream series works, the Dream Vault dream, Jung’s theory of dream compensation and how all of this comes together for me.

About Dream Series

One of the primary functions of dreams, per Jungian thought, is to compensate for (or correct) the many erroneous attitudes of our waking life. This is Jung’s theory of compensation in a nutshell. (For more on this topic, please see my post On the Nature of Dreams.)

While there’s a lot you can say about the dream series idea, the really fascinating thing to me is how a series can help us better understand compensation—and where our waking attitudes may be out of balance. For me, this is a relatively new way of looking at dreams.

Before I was introduced to Jung, I liked to imagine that dreams, were meant to encourage me. Dream series, in particular, seemed to be showing how I was progressing in life. According to the theory of compensation, however, our dreams usually aren’t telling us what we’re doing well. They’re telling us what we can do better.

Not as flattering, obviously, but a lot more actionable.

Unless we’re stuck, the guidance we get from our dreams changes over time—and this is true even within the boundaries of a given dream series. While each dream in a series is a variation on a theme, the specific message will, and should, change from dream to dream. In my experience, these messages usually point to something I need to address.

When I first started working with the Dream Gate series, I was looking at the individual dreams as indicators of personal spiritual progress. Now I see them in a more actionable (and down-to-earth) way.

The Dream Vault Dream

What follows is the most recent dream in the Dream Gate series. This dream was short but powerful. Audio is rare in my dreams but there was sound in this one.

I’m walking through a long underground chamber or passageway As I walk, heavy battleship gray iron doors crash open one after another to let me pass. The mechanism is automatic and the doors are are loud when they open and I know that they are signaled somehow by me. They remind me of doors on a vault. My impression is that the passage is rectangular or square (not arched) with heavy girders overhead. The space has an industrial feel. It isn’t bright but I think lights come on as the doors open for me. I am moving fast and feel a strong sense of purpose. There is an energy to the dream and a feeling of determination or even command.

This is the only dream in the series that occurred underground. It is similar to dream one because the dream doesn’t reveal what’s on the other side of the door (or doors). It is similar to dream two because I am being proactive, In all three dreams, vital information is withheld.

The Series as a Whole

In this present study of alchemy I have taken a particular example of symbol-formation, extending in all over some seventeen centuries, and have subjected it to intensive examination, linking it at the same time with an actual series of dreams recorded by a modern European not under my direct supervision and having no knowledge of what the symbols appearing in the dreams might mean. — Carl Jung Psychology and Alchemy CW Vol. 12

I like what Jung says about tracing particular symbols through a series of dreams. I haven’t read Psychology and Alchemy so I can’t speak to how he did that. But I think it’s okay to make connections between symbols that aren’t absolutely identical.

Dreams are fluid, in my experience, and symbolic elements are rarely fixed. In the Dream Gate series, the first (the Dream Gate dream) had a wall and door/gate. The second dream (the Dream Wall) had only a wall. The last (the Dream Vault dream) had a series of doors. To me, these elements are all closely related.

The common symbolism revolved around boundaries, passageways and a strong sense of the unknown. While these elements presented in different ways, I believe they’re connected.

Dream One (the Dream Gate)

I didn’t know what was on the other side of the door in dream one but the volkknot symbol over the old arched doorframe supplied context. I knew the dream was talking about what I used to call “the other side” but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make that kind of connection or enter into that reality again or how I could reconcile it with Catholicism. Sometime later, a synchronicity provided additional insight.

To me now, the land of the dead and the other side and the collective unconscious and its archetypes are one in the same. And I am not afraid of it.

Back then, however, I was wary.

Dream Two (the Dream Wall)

In dream two, I crossed a wall to speak with the Interpreter of Dreams. This gave me the general theme of the dream. To me, the old man (the Interpreter of Dreams) and the scroll he was holding represented dream interpretation and Jungian psychology—both of which I was then actively studying.

I still had reservations, however, about what I was learning. Not long after the Dream Wall dream a second synchronicity helped lay those reservations to rest.

I liked the imagery in the Dream Wall dream and was happy to have found my way to the wise old man.

This, I thought in the aftermath of the dream, shows progress—but I hadn’t read Jung’s thoughts on compensation then. If I had I would have realized that while I had overcome my prejudice I still had a LOT to learn.

I realize this now. The Interpreter of Dreams did not show me his mysterious scroll or provide an interpretation of the dream I’d brought him. I was in the right place, but I wasn’t getting it.

And, in some ways, this is still true.

Dream Three (the Dream Vault)

The Dream Vault dream is a great example of Jung’s theory of compensation at work.

The person striding through the underground vault in this dream isn’t me. The heavy iron doors of the underworld don’t crash open at my command. There is no actual power or mastery. This is not where I’m at or even where I’m ending up.

Because that isn’t how compensation works.

Dreams aren’t a pat on the back. They're a challenge.

And I understand why I’m being challenged. I have NOT been focused. I have NOT been studying. I have NOT been working with my dreams. And I need to do better. Not crashing through the gates of the underworld better, necessarily, just an hour or two here and there.

Because knowledge IS power and if you want it you have to work for it.

Next Steps

There have been a lot of kind of cool symbols in the Dream Gate series so far. Medieval gates, dark symbols, mysterious scrolls, walls—both broken and intact, underground passageways, wise old men, a journey through a winter wood looking for answers.

I know that each of these symbols are important or they wouldn’t be in the dreams. I know I need to make time to reflect and look individual elements up in my symbol books and journal about Persephone and the Descent of Inanna.

I love doing that and I love that Carl Jung thought myth and symbol were necessary tools in the toolbox of dream interpretation. But I don't actually spend a lot of time filling that toolbox—or havent been—and I haven't been spending a lot of time with my dreams or engaging in active imagination or reading Jung either.

Which makes me think about my prorities and the general structure of my day-to-day life. And it occurs to me that the scrolls that need to be read and the doors that need to be opened aren't actually in the dream. They're here.s.

• If you want to know more about the other dreams in the series, please click on the appropriate links: 1. The Dream Gate 2.The Dream Wall 
• I wrote a post on Jung’s theory of compensation in dreams which you can read here. I’ll also be writing more on this topic. So if you find it interesting, please consider subscribing to my Writing After Dark newsletter (below) or following this blog!