Lori Joan Swick is a popular speaker and retreat leader specializing in women's spirituality and religious, mystical, and mythological topics. She is an adjunct professor of religion, mythology, and philosophy at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. Swick is also a poet, novelist, and award-winning essayist.
"Dreams have shaped the spiritual history of humankind. The pervasive power of the sacred dream is well documented throughout the scripture and lore of virtually all the world's religions," she writes in this accessible paperback exploration of this sacred art. She notes that dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley has written about the variety of spiritual dreams and concluded that for most people mystical dreams stand out from the others.
Swick begins with dream incubation methods: creating your own dream temple, performing rituals, setting and declaring your dream intention, and incubating your sacred dream. She then discusses the thin veil between waking and sleeping consciousness. In the same section, she shares her thoughts on sacred lucid dreams.
Swick hits high stride with her suggestions for remembering dreams after waking and decoding significant dream symbols. The last section of the book probes the gift of bringing sacred dreams to life in creativity, personal introspection, and self-healing. Spirit is at work in sacred dreams and that is why dreamwork as a spiritual practice is so vast and exciting.
