Bereavement Dreaming and the Individuating Soul

Description

When we lose a loved one, the experience is simultaneously mythical and personal. Grubbs anchors the mythical aspect of loss in the story of Gilgamesh and the loss of his beloved Enkidu, which sets him on a quest for his beloved and the meaning of life. The personal aspect arises in the particular path we take in recovery from loss. Both realms blend in the dream space where we often encounter our lost beloved. Detailing the grieving process and the types of dreams that manifest during its various stages, Grubbs reveals the enormous, positive potential for our individual soul-growth. We, also, learn how our lost beloved grows with us in his or her own soul process. She presents several personal stories of people who have worked through their grief through their dreams and provides practices for readers to catch their dreams, honour them and their departed loved ones and grow in a healthy direction from the experience. Her description of The Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico provides an insightful example of how other cultures accept death as part of the life process.

In 1984, while studying for her master's degree in social work, Dr. Grubbs suddenly lost her son, Michael, to a freak accident. While in the throes of grief, she religiously recorded her dreams, which became the precursor to Bereavement Dreaming And The Individuating Soul. Dr. Grubbs studied at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, has been practicing depth psychology since 1987 and is an experienced workshop and seminar leader.