Therapist interprets what dreams tell the dreamer

St. Louis Post Dispatch
Monday, October 13, 2003
by Theresa Tighe

In one of the world’s most common dreams, the dreamer is lost in school and unable to find his class schedule.  Panic ensues.

Jean Walters-Lucy says that dream is telling the dreamer he is lost in life.  Instead of dismissing the dream, the dreamer needs to ask himself some questions, Walters-Lucy says.

Questions such as:  “Why am I feeling so out of control, so desperate?  How can I slow myself down to grasp the lessons life provides me?”

Walters-Lucy says dreams are an objective, nonjudgmental, self-generated resource for self awareness available to everyone.

“Dreams are another way to look into your own deeper psyche and to understand yourself at a deeper level,” she said.

Walters-Lucy, who lives in Chesterfield, has been helping people understand their dreams and realize their full potential for 30 years.  She has written a book, “Dreams and the Symbology of Life.” that is an instructional manual for dream interpretation.

Her disposition is sunny, her demeanor calming.  She became interested in dreams and the metaphysical because she had so many questions about life and because she finds people fascinating.

She has doctorates in divinity and in metaphysics from the School of Metaphysics in Windyville, which is about an hour northeast of Springfield, Mo.  She is a certified reality therapist through the Institute of Reality Therapy in Los Angeles.

She doesn’t answer questions about age.  She said age is a hook people use to limit themselves.  She is separated and has four grown children. 

She helps clients understand their dreams and transcend their limitations in one-on-one sessions as a consultant and in classes.

She starts her classes by telling her students how to remember their dreams.  Before they fall asleep they can program their minds by saying to themselves, “I do want to remember my dreams.”

She instructs them to keep a tablet and a pen near their beds to make notes on their dreams because everything in a dream represents the dreamer.  A house, a car – both of these can be the person.  The condition of the house or the car gives clues to the dreamer’s mental state.

A tornado is a sign of conflict.  Animals in dreams are symbols.  An eagle can symbolize idealism, or achievement; a deer signifies gentleness; and a squirrel can represent fun.

She said all the people in a dream are aspects of the dreamer’s personality.  A mean person may appear when the dreamer is feeling mean, or is hard on himself.  A generous person dominates the dream when the dreamer is feeling generous.

Nightmares are a signal that the dreamer is dealing with many fears, and the dream may make clear what those fears are.  If the dream takes place in a hospital, it is about healing, either healing that is taking place or that needs to take place.  The healing could be physical or emotional.

In her dream interpretation classes, she tells students to pay attention to the dominant feeling in the dream.  She said that feeling would give them important clues about how they dealt with yesterday’s activities.

She also tells them to break down the meaning of a dream and to make practical use of the information it offers.

For example, she once dreamed she was having coffee with President Bill Clinton when a scruffy motorcycle gang pulled up.  Clinton joined the gang and she was forced to leave.  It was only when the gang left and the president reverted to his official self that she was able to talk to him again. 

Walters-Lucy said Clinton’s office, the presidency, represented her highest authority.  The gang stood for a group of people she knew who were draining her energy.  She said she realized it wasn’t in her highest good to spend time with them, and she stopped seeing those people. 

She said that there were thousands of symbols and that every dream had an individual aspect.  Dreams are revealing of a person, not a formula.  One of the questions a dreamer needs to ask is, “What does the dream mean to me?”