Dreaming has a very long and rich history which can be of help to your own endeavors into dreams. Since ancient times, dreams have been utilized to provide answers to every day life questions. They have been inspiration for music, literature, mythology, inventions, technology and political decisions. For example, Karl Jung (a psychologist, Freud’s friend and later enemy) dreamed of people being thrown in ovens and other war images which came true in WWII. Dreams have very powerful uses, some of which are precognitive (which is when a dream tells of the future, like Jung’s dream) and others are problem solving.Dreams are a powerful problem solving agent because the conscious mind can’t access all the information that the unconscious mind can while dreaming. Dreams also have a history of being used for medical diagnosis and treatment.
Mesopotamia
The first dreams were recorded in Mesopotamia in the 7th C. They were recorded by a king. Dreams were used here to make political decisions. They were the first people to use dream incubation, which is to think of a problem and have it answered in the dream. The Mesopotamians did this very ritualistically. They have special songs and prayers, called upon gods and even had a special place for the incubation to take place. This was done by priests, not the average man. They also believed that dreams had three categories (which are also important today):
1) Message Dreams: call on a messenger and a dream is brought to you when a decision has to be made.
2) Mantic Dreams: told of the future
3) Symbolic Dreams: thought to mean danger, but about the personality of the dreamer. These dreams were not to be shared and if they were, they would get stronger.It was recognized even then that dreamers must learn their own unique symbols to be able to interpret their dreams. However, they also believed that dreams were from outside the self and uncontrollable. Also, it was believed that the soul would travel outside the body during dreams.
Egypt
They believed that dreams came from the gods, but unlike the Mesopotamians, they were not all demonic. The Egyptian god of dreams was called Serapis and the temples they erected in his honour were called Serapeums. In each temple there were priests who were experts on dreams. This was also the place where dream incubation was done. Like the Mesopotamians, it was very ritualistic, with fasting, chanting and other ritual components. The Egyptians also had surrogate dreamers, which is a practice still done today. A surrogate dreamer would dream for another person, who was too ill or inexperienced to dream for himself. A surrogate dream can be recognized by the fact that the symbols and contexts are very different from ones own normal dreams. They also believed in soul travel.Chinese
It was believed that the hun (the soul) left the body at night to gather information. If the soul didn’t return you would die. Like the others, they practiced dream incubation. It was necessary for rulers and politicians to take part in dream work as a part of being a ruler. The Chinese had very elaborate categories for dreams.Indian
Soul travel was possible, but the dreamer creates images in their own mind based on inner desire and the information gathered by the traveling soul. The Indians had an elaborate time system for dreams. Dreams which occurred early in the night were believed to be about the future while dreams which occurred last were about the preceding day. Dreams also evolved, getting more and more elaborate while they worked through the problem.Greek
Greek emphasis on dreaming was on health dreams. Their god of dreams was Aesculapius. Greek dream incubation temples still exist today and I am told it is possible to sleep in them still. They would receive information on treatment, healing, diet etc in dreams. They also had surrogate dreamers at the temples. The Greek physician Hippocrates (from whom the Hippocratic Oath, which is still sworn by every doctor, comes from) believed that dreams were from organs in the body and that it was possible to detect which organ was in ill health from dreams. Likewise, the philosopher Aristotle rejected divine intervention in dreams and believed that dreams came from the internal. Galen, a scientist, also used dreams in medical practice.Romans
The Roman god of dreams is Morpheus (yes, from the Matrix). Otherwise, their beliefs and achievements are pretty much parallel to the Greeks. However, they had Artimodoras who wrote the “Onecirocritica”, which was a series of books on dream symbols and meanings. This was the very first and one of the most thorough dream books ever written.2nd C. to 18th C.
With the introduction of Christianity, most religions began to believe that dreams were demonic and dreamwork fell out of practice. However, in the non-Christian worl (ie. Japan, China, Hebrew & Muslim) dreamwork flourished and still does to this day.Modern Uses for Dreams
Today there is a lot of research being done on dreams. It has been found that health dreams do exist and that they are, in fact, usually more able to predict death than our technology is. Dreams can show the progress of illness, where the illness is located in the body and are even predictive of illness or recovery. Dreams provide insight into mental health as well.There are also many studies being done on precognitive and clairvoyant dreaming and studies seem to indicate that the results are better than chance (which means that it is significant). In dream labs dreamers send images or themes to other dreamers, and remarkably, these themes are picked up by the other dreams.