Glossary 10 terms

Dream analysis

  1. Lucid dreaming Lucid dreaming is a dream in which the sleeper becomes aware that they are dreaming, sometimes to the point of shaping how the scene unfolds. Described since antiquity and…
  2. Nightmare A nightmare is a dream charged with enough dread to wake the sleeper, who often keeps a sharp memory of it. It tends to strike late in the night, during REM sleep, when dream…
  3. Sleep paralysis Sleep paralysis is a brief, harmless state in which the mind wakes before the body regains its mobility, at the edge of falling asleep or waking up. For a few seconds to a few…
  4. REM sleep REM sleep, named for the rapid eye movement that defines it, is the stage of sleep where the most vivid and story-like dreams arise. Discovered in 1953 by Aserinsky and…
  5. Dream interpretation Dream interpretation is the practice of seeking meaning in the images of sleep by tying them to the dreamer’s inner life and experience. Present in nearly every culture, from…
  6. Dream symbol A dream symbol is an image in a dream that carries meaning beyond its surface: a house, a staircase, water, an animal that point to an inner reality. For Jung, these symbols…
  7. Recurring dream A recurring dream is one that returns several times, identical or with variations, sometimes over years. Very common, it often stages universal themes: being chased, falling,…
  8. Dream journal A dream journal is a notebook where the dreamer records their dreams on waking, as close to sleep as possible, before memory wipes them away. An old tool still recommended by…
  9. Archetype An archetype, in the sense of Carl Gustav Jung, is a universal image or pattern present in the unconscious of every human being: the Mother, the Hero, the Shadow, the Wise Old…
  10. Collective unconscious The collective unconscious is, in the thought of Carl Gustav Jung, the deepest layer of the psyche, shared by all of humanity and distinct from the personal unconscious…