Category: Dream Interpretation

How Dreamwork Supports Creative Writing

Posted on by runa

Writers are often told to “write what you know,” but few are encouraged to explore the vast landscape of what they don’t consciously know. No writing coach I’ve encountered tells you to dig deeper into your inner realms – to decipher the symbols, emotions, and stories that speak to us in dreams. But for witches, magic practitioners, mystics, and intuitive creatives, dreamwork becomes more than just analyzing the sleeping mind. It becomes a wellspring of narrative insight, character development, a clearer lens on our creative lives, and a spiritual dialogue with the deeper self.

Dreams allow us to remember the parts of ourselves that daily life may silence: the hidden motivations, unresolved conflicts, secret hopes, and stories waiting to be told. They act as the bridge between imagination and intuition. The loosely structured framework of many dreams is just enough to spark creativity, but emotionally powerful enough to leave lasting impressions. For the writer, this is fertile ground.

You have a creative resource that populates each night. The dreaming mind naturally thinks in image, metaphor, and movement. It’s the same elements that make powerful storytelling. Dreams present narrative without the limitations of logic, structure, or practical concerns like semicolons. Characters shift identities, landscapes transform in an instant, and plotlines unfold based on emotional truth rather than linear logic.

As a dreamworker and writer, when I revisit the moments in my dreams with curiosity rather than judgment, new ideas often surface. That strange character in last night’s dream becomes an inspiration for an additional sidebar or short story. Or symbolic events inside the dream translate to powerful plot points that once had you stuck. And many an emotional dream can reveal where your story’s heart needs to step in beat for its best and highest good.

Dreams don’t hand us stories fully formed typically (I have clients that could write entire movie scripts from their dreams), but they will always hand us evocative fragments that ask to be shaped, translated, and spoken into the waking world.

A dream may show anxiety, pressure, avoidance, or blocked emotional material long before we consciously recognize it. For example, I kept dreaming about missing a train. I don’t take the train or subway regularly. In the dream, I carried a briefcase full of printed manuscripts. In waking life, I was running behind on one deadline and procrastinating on another. My dreamscape sent a message to get to the station on time and get on the train. As a writer you could dream of being chased and that could reflect fear of being judged for your work; or maybe your dream highlights losing your voice, maybe a fear or discomfort with speaking your truth on the page. The goal, however, is to approach these dreamed stories with compassion – not criticism – dreams help writers understand where resistance lives and what needs to be supported, strengthened, or released.

Most writers know that the best ideas come when we’re not staring at the page: walking the dog, on a long drive, about to fall asleep. Dreamwork taps that same open channel. By regularly recording dreams, you train yourself to stay in conversation with the subconscious, which is where creativity resides. My creative endeavors and my dreamwork are inextricably linked. This Practice helps improve intuitive decision-making, sustain momentum on long projects, and reduces the ‘blank page panic.’ When you’re in that flow, writing becomes less like thinking and more like listening or watching – much like we do when we’re dreaming.

You don’t need elaborate rituals to start using dreams in your writing. A simple routine can spark extraordinary shifts in your process. It will require you to keep a dream record and write down your dreams as soon as you wake. Then review that record periodically and notice symbols, sensations, emotions, or patterns. Let your subconscious and waking mind collaborate from there. Dreams don’t have to make sense to be creatively meaningful – they just need to be given a place to speak – your dream record.

Dreamwork isn’t just something that happens while you sleep – it’s a living practice that can energize your writing, deepen your creativity, and keep you connected to the subconscious world where ideas and stories are born. When we learn to record, reflect, and work with our dreams, we step into a creative partnership with the deeper self.

If this is calling to you, stay tuned – new courses and guided study sessions for Runa’s Dream Academy and intuitive practice are coming soon. We’ll explore how to track dreams, interpret symbols, and work with our dream experiences to turn them into powerful writing and spiritual insight. Whether you’re brand new to dreamwork or ready to go deeper, there will be offerings to support your journey.

In the meantime, my dream interpretations are always open, and this is the last chance to get it at this low-low price. Come January, my prices will have to increase. So start your dreamwork journey now and let me do a dream interpretation reading for you.

Getting Stung To Day Dream

Posted on by runa

Unraveling the Messages from the Universe

This week, I was stung by an unidentified flying insect. I wasn’t tromping through the land, or harvesting late, or weeding. I was just sitting having an evening snack and drink with kindred.  From the description of those who witnessed the attack, it was as tiny barely a fingernail width, colored mainly black with a pointed lower abdomen and a narrow waist called a petiole. That description matches a western honey bee, that accidentally flew into my elbow and felt I was attacking it. The jury is still out as to what it was that stung me, but it certainly got my attention.

At the moment that it happened, I felt like I was in a weird dream state. Things were so pleasant and then in an instant they were not. For days, my elbow looked like it was missing because of the swelling and hives. I’ll live, and I’m much better. But the discomfort lasts all week. As I treated my sting site, I recalled the weird dream state that happened in the previous years as well. My body and my energy were on high alert, which often brings in my witchy brain asap. This was worth noting and would lead me down an interesting daydreaming path. Like the wasp sting awakened this creative, intuitive, meditative channel of communication between myself and the Universe.

Each year that I have lived here at Villa Westwyk I have been stung. I don’t have an anaphylactic response, but I always get swelling, pain, hives, fatigue, and in some instances, it triggers an asthma attack. To be fair, as a Witch who works closely with the Land, it is a hazard of the job. Because I apply permaculture principles to my Witchcraft practice, I noticed that behavior, as one of its key tenets is to observe and interact. Well, I’m watching me get stung once a year, every year since residing here. And I think I know what’s happening.

Each incident has involved a different flying wasp or bee each time. The first was a bald-faced hornet. They look like the mean thing they are. They are black and white with an almost skeletal appearance. They can be super aggressive. Their sting is very painful. Being stung by a bald-faced hornet was one of the worst stings I’ve experienced, partly because the bugger hit me more than once. I was weeding a section of Land that had been crying out for healing – removing invasive species – and I must have disturbed a nest. I did not return to that section of Land until the following season. The attack site – my wrist and put me on my ass for a few days with my allergic response. It hurt so badly, I had to ice the sting site like once an hour when awake. Sleeping was hard because it just throbbed, burned, ached, and itched incessantly and restfulness was nearly impossible. I did compresses, tinctures, teas, and all kinds of anti-inflammatory treatments. I give bald-faced hornets a wide berth still today. 

The second growing season here I was stung by a bumblebee. That one hurt my feelings the most. I love the chonky bumblebees as they bungee jump from lavender stem to lavender stem. The physical recovery from that was not too bad, and the result was the setting of the rule that all harvesting has to be done before bee hour (around 10 a.m.). But it still wasn’t a cakewalk. Again, I was super sensitive the rest of the season when one of those very loud bumbles bobbed into view. I would immediately leave the area if one was about. I didn’t scream or cry or make a scene. Just a quick about-face away from wherever it was grazing.

Last year the sting came from the asshole of pollinators – the yellowjacket. Yes, yellowjackets are accidental pollinators as they fly from spot to spot in the garden eating the insects you hate to have in your garden like caterpillars and harmful flies. Yellow jackets eat a lot of the insects that like to harm fruit trees, so I want to give them a chance. But even so, they can be triggered to sting quickly, thereby achieving its asshole pollinator label. Yes, yes, even as an animist there are energies in this world I cannot abide. The yellow jacket has been on that list my entire life. Growing up we called yellow jackets sweat bees because they were always about when you were sweating outside in the heat. However, true sweat bees don’t sting and are sometimes called fairy wasps. But, the yellow jacket? Their sting has an intense pain level. 

In the summer of 2023, the whole of the covenstead was infested with yellow jackets. Mr. Troy was stung several times as he played pest control serviceman to root out the massive hive under one of the pine trees not too far from our house. One of our dogs is deathly allergic to insect venom, having been hospitalized early in her life from a bee sting. Yellow jackets, like bald-faced hornets, can sting multiple times and they run in packs. Eradicating such sneaky hives is therefore a must. But not before those little assholes left their mark on both the humans living here. The lesson there was to pay attention more carefully to spaces the yellow jackets are drawn to and to design our landscaping in a manner that helps assist their natural predators – mainly birds like the Western tanagers. We have also heavily planted repelling plants all around the house especially. Plants like lavender, mint, lemongrass, marigolds, and thyme are ones that yellowjackets avoid. Next year we’ll be setting up a predatory pitcher plant bed to also help curb not only the yellowjackets but biting flies. When using our space during wasp season, we keep the yellow jackets occupied with a small offering of ripe watermelon or sliced cucumber placed in a different area from where you’re enjoying the outdoors. Their attention will be on the offering and not on your BBQ chicken and salad.

It’s clearly a trend these annual stings I’m receiving. I can’t help but think this is some kind of message from the Land, the Universe, my beloved dead, Spirit, or all of them. Four years, four stings. Like a fire drill for my spiritual life. I feel like the Universe is grabbing me by the elbow and trying to get my attention. Each incident has made me slow down, prioritize self-care, and remember that life isn’t all about work. After this latest wasp sting, I knew there was so much more to what was going on. Enter my dreamwork practice to the rescue. Dream messages don’t just come at night, Witches. They can come whenever we can switch our brain into that space of receiving messages. Given that understanding, what do these wasp stings annually mean?

In my Dreamwork, wasps, especially, denote social connections – family, friends, coworkers, and even the collective community. Have you seen how wasps work together? Even solitary wasps use other flora and fauna to survive. Looking at where I was stung to lends other clues. The wrist, the shoulder, my neck, and my elbow. The wrist may denote flexibility, adaptability, and certainly connection. But it’s also a super vulnerable part of our anatomy. Raise your hand if you have carpal tunnel, or if the worst part of doing planks is the pain in your wrists. 

The shoulder much like the wrist connects the arm to the body. It also may represent responsibilities ala “carrying the world on her shoulders.” It can symbolize comfort or support. And shoulder can also be about pushing forward – think a football player – or not giving in on the sidewalk to people who don’t move to provide egress. Whereas signs or dream elements that incorporate the neck can mean there’s a throat chakra issue, or an ancestral wound involving the neck (if you know anything about the Witch wound, this is not surprising). Again, the neck connects the head and body and some of the most critical nerves and circulatory systems members are in the neck. It’s the thoroughfare of life in your body.

The elbow is the motivator of hard work when we look at its potential symbolism. Give it some elbow grease, or you must elbow your way to the top – it gives that kind of vibes. It is also a connector between the upper arm and the lower arm. An insect sting on the elbow as a message in dreams or a sign from the Universe tells me that prioritizing pointed connections. An insect sting on my neck says to prioritize critical connections. The responsibility of right relationship is mine to shoulder. And it is critical that I do so in a vulnerable way. 

It might take me a few years to get the message – noted. I’m pretty sure I got it and what I have to do next – besides all the physical mitigation noted above. It’s time for me to spend some time being capricious and pensive. To observe if my connections, my relationships, and my community may need some pointed ‘medicine.’ Perhaps I need to work harder at these connections and take responsibility for where I am not doing so. 

I certainly know that I’m not waiting for next summer for another sting to get to work on these nudges from Divine.

Justice Is Coming: A Look At Current Dream Trends

Posted on by runa

As a dream interpreter I am privileged to begin to see trends in the collective consciousness via my own and my clients’ dreams. Right now the theme is very clear: Justice is coming. 

When I look at astrology during this time when these dreams are happening, it makes sense that collectively we’d be looking at such things. Personally, I do believe it’s past time. Right now Neptune is in Pisces and for the last decade plus I’ve seen more and more people tuning into their dreams. The emotiveness of Pisces and Neptune’s hold on dreams, allows us to connect more easily, if not more moodily.

However, beyond the current moon in Libra (the moon is transiting here as I post this),  which traditionally has everyone looking at fairness, balance, and justice, I think Uranus in Taurus is helping us get more energized about what is right for our society. Uranus is always pushing against the status quo and is known as the rebel planet. It’s waking up the entire planet. 

To see this influence from Uranus dancing in Taurus, all you have to do is look at what’s going on around you, let alone the current global and national news. Climate change is a constant. Healthcare access and equity. COVID-19 has taught us lots. But how do we raise the importance of such a critical part of human life? The War in Ukraine rages still, more than a year now; yet, that looks young to places like Syria, Yemen, Myanmar. But don’t forget the newest conflict in Sudan. In the United States, how many people were shot today? How many of them were People of the Global Majority? Meanwhile, those lacking housing are pushed out of small camp communities they’ve tried hard to maintain. Most telling from the news yesterday, the Supreme Court is about to hear a case that may put in jeopardy the ruling of more than 19,000 other cases. It’s a biggie. If you haven’t heard about this, read up, friend. And those just seem to be the top seven. There’s so much more push and pull going on. Uranian energy all the way, folx. 

Dreams sending me to this conclusion include more clear-cut “sentencing” in some of the dreams I’m interpreting, but also, more personal justice issues (wronged by a member of your kindred, which can be a friend or family member) or scenes that have clear signs and actions that point to that. These symbols go beyond the commonly known scales or other legalese characters of the ancient Justitia, but include things that many may not know is pointing to some kind of legal recompense. And you thought prunes were just for gut health. 😉

Understanding this it seemed only right to share the information to the collective. How have your dreams been? Are the consequences incoming? Do you see an uptick in Justice symbols in your own dreams or waking life? Uranus is going to be in Taurus until 2026, so let’s all keep an eye out – dream out, perhaps – for more upheaval and push towards Justice.  

If you want to learn more about dream work, consider joining my Patreon, where we work on incorporating it into our Craft practices. Come join the Covenstead and learn about this and other cool witchy shizzle.  

Is This Message For You?

Posted on by runa

Divination through Dreams

If you’ve been following me here or on social media, you know that dream work is a main focus of my work and life. Recently I had a dream but it was more than a dream. This dream was a message. There’s no doubt about it. But who it’s a message for, I haven’t a clue. When you have a visitation in a dream it’s so deftly clear that it’s a visitation and a message. It took me a minute to get this posted, but the dream was about a week ago. The woman visited me last night again, just as I was fading back to sleep after another dream telling me that I’m on the right path.

Upon having the dream the first time, I wrote the dream down right away and in my notes I titled this “Message For The Young Man In The Hay Loft.” He was featured in the dream and the visitor, a woman, wants me to find and deliver the message. But this man is not in my life anywhere. So, I’m turning to the power of the internet.

And from the hayloft she was pushed.

Message for the Young Man:

The dream opens in the hayloft of a barn, although it also has kind of a clubhouse vibe to it. So maybe it was a hayloft at one time, but isn’t really used as that any longer. Dreams, you see sometimes are a kind of movie, like reels, and other times they are snapshot collages. This dream was like watching an episodic program. First episode, there’s this young girl (late teens, early 20s). She has dark hair. Glasses. She wears a long thick braid. She is sad. The energy is all dark and desperate. She isn’t crying but looks very much like she is crying. She can look out that hayloft window (many barns have an opening at the roof’s peak to make sure the stored hay gets air to not combust and to move the hay more easily to the animals below). She is looking out across a farm and an old two lane road leading to the property. I can see a big Elm tree — at least I think it’s an Elm tree. It looks to be maybe the beginning of fall because some of the fields in the background across the road look like wheat ready to harvest. She is wearing a flowered top and blue jeans. I get the sense from the clothing maybe this is the late 60s or early 70s. She’s breathing in the air and I can see she’s trying to calm herself. She is not bracing herself, but letting the light breeze blow on her face. One navy sneaker, like a classic Ked, perched on the sill of the loft opening, the other on the loft floor. She has one hand on the wall of the loft opening and the other is on her heart, as if, again, she’s trying to calm herself. And from behind, I see, feel a presence. In an instant, you see that there is a hand on her back. The nails are painted a light pink. It reminded me of the color my mother would allow me to use as a young teen, because it was very sheer. The hand pushes. And the young girl falls to her death. In the dream I see her on the ground. The leg that had been on the floor of the loft is bleeding. Her eyes are open. She sees the shadow in the hayloft. 

The visitor then guides me to look in a different direction and I instantly know I’ve moved perspectives and it’s like a stage change. New episode. In the next scene there’s a young man. Dark hair. Glasses or maybe they are some kind of safety glass? Thick black frames. The young man is plain in that country sort of way, but he is strong, from working the land or learning to blacksmith? I’m not sure. He’s also like in a barn, but only three-sided, more of a lean-to. He’s learning to be a blacksmith, maybe even a farrier, as there’s horses in pasture not so far from this lean-to. He has kind of a cloud over his head. He knows he needs to be here, but he’s just so sad. There’s an older man, I feel like they are related, and perhaps this is an elder uncle or even grandfather. The familiarity between them as I observe them work metal and the older man instructing this young man gives the watcher (me) the sense of relationship. At any rate, the young man has this tool. It looks like a hammer, but there’s a sharp edge on the one side and a weird type of funneled-shape head on the other. The two men are taking a break, drinking tea or coffee, the mugs look like coffee but there’s a kettle in the background. Anyhow, the young man is sitting on a stool at a two-person table kind of in the opening of this lean-to. I can see an anvil to the side of him, where the older man has his mug resting. The older man is talking. I can’t hear him. And likely I can’t hear him because the younger man has my POV and he’s not listening. He’s thinking of the girl from the barn. You know how “in love” people have that far away look. I feel it without knowing it. Intuition is strong here. He’s thinking of the one who was pushed. But he thinks that she jumped. He feels guilty. I suddenly see the spirit of the dead girl, her leg still bloody in her flowered shirt and ked sneakers. She’s trying to tell him that she was pushed. She didn’t jump. She loves him. She wanted to be with him. She tries to reach the mug to push it, to get him to see her. But instead she moves the tool he’s holding, and the sharp end begins to swing toward him, but just in time the older man is there to catch it and he berates his younger to pay attention, that this craft is not something to mess with. I see the dead girl’s face. She’s talking to me now. Tell him, she says. Tell him I didn’t jump. Let them all know that she pushed me. She killed me. I loved him. We were supposed to be together. Then she screams this awful, awful cry of someone in so much pain and torment. 

I wake up. 

I have received dreams like this before. Messages from beyond. But I have known who the people are, or I get a name that I can then relate to whomever I come in contact with that day. I don’t know these people. I don’t recognize their landscape. I was super distressed by the scream at the end of the dream. Waking with a start. Disturbing the Viking. I often have nightmares as I am a survivor of much trauma in my life. He patiently asks me to talk about my dreams. I tell him. But the distress after relaying this particular dream is more about how do I reach the people who these messages are for. My intuition says that the old man is likely passed on. The young man is probably receiving social security now. What of the woman’s who’s hand with pink-painted nail pushed the other woman? I don’t know. I only saw a hand and the nails. Why I didn’t get to see the face? I don’t know. My distress again is that I do NOT know who this is a message for. I do now I’m suppose to relate this message. Tell him, she said. Tell who, lady? This is a gift that is to be used, although for so many years I dismissed it because I didn’t understand it and it can be perceived as unhinged.

My Viking suggests that I should write about it. Post it as a message knowing that the person who is supposed to receive it will see it. Ah, my Tech Witch Hubby is brilliant. So here we are. I’m posting it here. Who knows, maybe it will find the intended receiver. 

It’s all I can do, I suppose. But on the night of the Virgo Full Moon March 18, 2022, I had this message come through. 

Is it for you?