Dear Dreamers,
Erik Erikson says that by your 60’s, you’ve reached generativity mode and I agree: it hits you like a triple espresso. I turned 65, and my slow, post-Covid, under-employed, gently caffeinated mornings of personal dreamwork and bookish dithering seemed to be circling around, going nowhere new. Nice for contemplation, but very little creative action.
What do bookish people do when confronted with the need for action? Sometimes, they sit back down and write a book.
So here is mine: By the Light of Dreams: Advent Practices for Listening to God in the Night.
Why do that? Because every morning, many dreamers wake up moved by their dreams, but unaware that dreamwork is an actual spiritual practice. I wanted to invite people, specifically those in the church and on its perimeter, to discover dreams as a path of relationship with Divine Wisdom and also with the waking world of everything – people, problems, cares, discernment, dreary sameness, transitions, shocking beauty and fathomless tragedy. Also because Advent seemed like a good time to start.
And because a lot of you reading this have considerable experience with dreamwork, and maybe this is a good tool for sharing what you’ve learned.
Here’s a short shareable summary: this book centers on the five dreams in Matthew’s narrative of Jesus’ birth. Starting there, you’ll learn the basics of dreamwork by playing with the manger scene as though it were our collective dream, then we trace Matthew’s dreams of call, guidance, and numinous Presence. Throughout, you’ll find other scripture dreams plus lots of contemporary dreams. And I’ve included many suggestions for working, playing, and praying with your dreams, alone or with a group.
I hope this book will help all of you seasoned dreamers introduce dreamwork to friends and faith communities. And I hope those new to the practice will find inspiration to start dream conversations in churches, families, and small groups. I trust that dreams want to be shared when the dreamer is ready, and that Wisdom helps us intuit what we need to hear.
BOOK LAUNCH WORKSHOP INVITATION: If you’re in the Nashville area, I’d love to see you on Sunday afternoon, Oct 18, 2-4 pm, for an in-person workshop. We’ll play with the manger scene, learning the basics of dreamwork as a spiritual practice, and craft some new pieces for your own creche. It’ll be a sort of Nativity Scene meets Godly Play meets Carl Jung meets craft supplies meets short journal writes with tables full of interesting, imaginative people. Let’s see what happens! Bring your creche if you have one, and one more item or figure that you feel belongs in the scene. We’ll gather at the Upper Room building on Grand Avenue.
The event is free – and please register with the QR code below or at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/by-the-light-of-dreams-workshop-retreat-with-author-laura-huff-hileman-tickets-1998984928733 so we can count you in for materials and snacks. I hear there will be moon and star cookies!
Here’s a flyer you can share:
And here’s the 20% off discount code if you’d like to order the book from Upper Room: https://store.upperroom.org/product/by-the-light-of-dreams
Code is: DRM20 (works only at site above)
Finally, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped – family and friends, my spiritual director, and writers who offered suggestions and encouragement. And to the dreamers I’ve worked with for years, some who even gave permission to share dreams in print: you are my greatest teachers!
Personal note: In August, I moved to Pine Lake GA, in the Atlanta area. If I become so generative as to start posting online (unlikely), you will see many pictures such as this, from my morning walks: it is a lovely, funky, forested little neighborhood full of interesting people.
I’m considering a drop-in dream group by the lake in the mornings. Have any of you participated in something like that? Curious to hear how it went.
Deep dream wisdom to you all,
Laura
www.firebynight.net
laura@firebynight.net
Photo credits: espresso photo from Pexels by Wendy; many cups from Pexels by Franco; others by Laura Hileman