The Secret Language of Dreams: A Visual Key to Dreams and Their Meanings

by David Fontana

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Author: David Fontana

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 0811807282
ISBN 13: 978-0811807289

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0811807916
ISBN 13: 978-0811807913

The interpretation of dreams and the images that pervade them is a perennially popular subject that has challenged philosophers, psychiatrists, and lay people for centuries. In The Secret Language of Dreams, author and psychologist David Fontana combines the theories of Freud, Jung, and others -- as well as his own years of experience in leading dream work-shops -- with a unique, visual approach to dreams and dream symbolism. At the heart of this informative and accessible volume is a 100-page "dream directory" -- an illustrated guide to common dream motifs,organized under both thematic headings (such as "Anxiety," "Change and Transition," and "Sexuality") and symbol headings (such as "Flying," "The Body," and "Animals") to help readers unlock the meanings behind the images in their dreams and to better understand their significance. Complete with a chapter on utilizing the coded messages of dreams to foster self-discovery and personal enrichment, this fascinating and imaginative look at the mysterious landscape of dreams is both an enlightening reference and a resourceful gift for the inquiring reader.

Review

-- NAPRA Trade Journal, Holiday 1994
If you're not already aware of your Dreamtime world, this tactilely and visually stimulating gem will likely get you going, helping you to understand what your subconscious might be trying to communicate. Instead of reading like a dictionary, though, The Secret Language of Dreams is organized by themes, states of being, types of interactions, and, of course, symbols. This broader perspective opens doors for self-interpretation that otherwise might be lost with symbolic interpretations only. There is a new genre of books being created that epitomize "walking the Beauty way" down to the smallest detail. This is one of them.

--Linda Castrone, Rocky Mountain News, September 1995
Everyone can benefit from studying their dreams, says David Fontana, a Welsh psychologist and dream scholar, because "they are like a conversation between our conscious and unconscious minds."

And since we are the authors of and actors in our own dreams, we also are the best judges of their meanings, he believes. Rather than tell us what they mean, he prefers to teach us how to do it ourselves. In The Secret Language of Dreams, he includes a directory of common dream themes:

A house. This usually symbolizes the self. Study the details. Are there rooms you can't go into? They may represent aspects of your personality you aren't comfortable with.

Cars. "Traveling seems to symbolize our journey through life," Fontana says. "Dreams about it may provide us with clues about how to get around obstacles."

-- New Woman, December 1994
Anyone who has ever kept a dream journal knows that dreams can be rich and uncanny sources of insight. They can put you in touch with your deepest wisdom. And they can sometimes be very funny. But they can also be hard to remember and their messages downright elusive. Along comes David Fontana's beautifully illustrated The Secret Language of Dreams to the rescue, with its companion , a blank diary for recording dreams.

About the Author

David Fontana David Fontana holds a Ph.D.in psychology and is a fellow of the British Psychological Society. The author of The Secret Language of Symbols (Chronicle Books, Spring 1994) and many successful books on educational psychology, psychotherapy, and meditation, he lives in Cardiff, Wales.