I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. — Joel 2: 28
Has a dream ever changed the way you saw yourself or your life? In my twenties, I was seeking for deeper understanding of the meaning and purpose of life. Not finding this in my studies at graduate school, I turned to other ways of knowing, including paying attention to the mysterious realm of dreams. I discovered that within me were startling sources of wisdom, creativity, and spiritual guidance.
When the first Quakers made the startling discovery that divine guidance is available from within, they recognized that some dreams contain messages from God, useful not only in guiding individual decisions but also in guiding the Quaker community to envision new ways of living more in accordance with divine love, truth, and justice. The February 2024 issue of Friends Journal contains an essay I have written about how, for hundreds of years, dreams weve an important source of guidance for Quakers, and how collective dream work could help us find our way forward now. https://www.friendsjournal.org/quaker-dreams/
© 2024 Marcelle Martin
A Whole Heart 
Hello Marcelle,
I hope this “hitting reply” will get my response to you…. Thank you for this article Marcelle. I appreciate seeing this about dream work and Quakerism. I am grateful for your deep dive into the history in our Quaker history.
Often dream messages have shown up as guidance. I have more carefully followed my dreams ever since working with a Jungian analyst during a time of deep personal transition and spiritual unfolding in the 1990s. Now sometimes I work though a creative arts spiritual practice to sit with images from the dream resting into the quiet reflective space to open my heart to images beyond words. Although words have been important in my work life as a counselor-I have explored a somatic therapy training since 1998 to help myself and others develop more spaciousness in a felt sense of awareness. So both creating images through creative arts and work in Centering prayer and with a women’s wisdom circle savoring some teachings from Cynthia Bourgeault have also supported discernment thought dreams. The Christian contemplative and mystic or prophetic path nourishes me and many.
I deeply appreciate the faithful seeking using dreams you describe among early Friends
Thank you, Carol Cober Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting
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Thank you for responding, Carol. I’m glad to hear about your experience with different modalities of creativity, images, spirituality, and healing!