About
Waking Dream Wisdom is a metaphysical pastoral counseling practice. WDW incorporates the Life as a Waking Dream (LAWD) method into its services and programs. The founder of Waking Dream Wisdom is Reverend Rebecca Hanna PhD, an ordained metaphysical minister and a certified teacher of LAWD.
Who would benefit from the counseling services of Waking Dream Wisdom?
I think of metaphysical pastoral counseling as transpersonal psychology or consciousness coaching. I firmly believe that our own life stories provide all the guidance we need to make and mark self mastery progress. Typical clients have a strong interest in self-help, holistic self–healing and are prepared to look deeply into alternative views (and solutions) of problem areas of their lives. If you have a HIGH level of interest, in any of the following subjects: Jungian Psychology(dream analysis and Synchronicity), the Wisdom Traditions, Esoteric studies, Zen, Alternative Medicine, Energy Work, imagination exercises or Visionary Art—I guarantee that you will find the services offered by Waking Dream Wisdom to be a fascinating, life altering experience IF you are committed to doing the work required to make progress.
If you are following a traditional mainstream religious/fundamentalist path this is definitely not for you. This is about dissolving old toxic patterns, self empowerment and rediscovery of ourselves as co-creaters of our reality. Real progress requires objective self reflection, identification of self sabotage, the desire to change (learning from our mistakes) and the willingness to step outside of comfort zones. This is about talking 100% responsibility for our progress. Hopefully that description will help the reader decide if this methodology is a good fit.
What are some reasons that people come for metaphysical counseling?
- To breakthrough creative blocks
- To uncover unconscious patterns and self sabotage
- To get back in touch with inner wisdom (intuition)
- To learn to manage emotions (grief, anger, etc.)
- To reclaim personal power
- To recover from religious abuse (fundamentalism and New Age distortions)
- To rebuild emotional boundaries
- To uncover energetic imbalances (in Yin and Yang polarity)
- To learn meditation or focusing techniques (there are many—one for every type of personality)
- To become realigned with the True Self beyond the ego mind and personality
- To discover and resolve your "shadow" (hidden distortion patterns)
- To discover what your waking dreams are reflecting back to you
About Reverend Rebecca Hanna (Nov. 1, 1963-)
Reverend Rebecca Hanna PhD is a visionary assemblage artist and (since 2003) an ordained Metaphysical Interfaith Minister and pastoral counselor. She earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1985 and has been working as a professional artist since 1981. Rebecca has also been studying world religions, philosophy, spiritual science and metaphysics informally since 1982 and formally since 1998. She is also deeply involved in the esoteric research/conspiracy disclosure networks.
She completed two years of study at the Baltimore School of Spiritual Science (2001) and soon after obtained her Masters degree in Metaphysical Science from the University of Metaphysics. She later received a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology from the University of Sedona (2005).
Rebecca is also a certified teacher of Life as a Waking Dream (since 2004), a Jungian method of self- healing offered by Teleos Institute. Rebecca became a certified Level I Signature Cell Healer Practitioner in August, 2005 and completed Level II in 2007.
Her most recent activities have taken her in two worlds that were previously unexplored, political grassroots activism and the home funeral movement. She is currently (2011-2014) the Director of Public Relations for Maryland Smart Meter Awareness Org.(www.MarylandSmartMeterAwareness.org) and a Home-Funeral Guide in training(2013-). see www.finalpassages.org and http://www.homefuneralalliance.org/
Rebecca is married to David Diener, founder of birthquest.org , a once highly acclaimed online service that allowed registered adoptees and birthparents or siblings to find one another. Rebecca is also the proud mother of adult sons, Alexander and Skyler Newman.
What is Life as a Waking Dream?
Life as a Waking Dream is a Jungian approach to consciousness coaching, developed by Mariamne Paulus. She authored the book Life as a Waking Dream under the name Diane Kennedy Pike and is the co-founder of Teleos Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona. Rebecca was so inspired by her book and transformed by this method that she became a certified LAWD teacher. Mariamne is a highly intuitive and masterful consciousness coach who is aligned with the wisdom teachings.
"Life as a Waking Dream is a method that introduces you to a new way of learning from and through your life experiences. You will focus on events that stand out from the rest of your day or week because of their intensity. Allowing your feelings to be your guide, you will learn to understand and interpret messages from your unconscious. You will bring into the light of consciousness your Sense of Self and the themes of your Waking Dreams. Using that material and more, you will quickly discern positive steps you can take to enhance your growth by waking up and consciously directing the course of your life." -Diane Kennedy Pike
"Rebecca Hanna-Diener has a gift for teaching the Life As A Waking Dream method in a most creative, insightful, and stimulating way. She brings to bear the perspective of her metaphysical training, which gives breadth and depth to her presentations. She brings the creativity that is native to her as an artist, helping her to present the material in unique and fascinating ways. But most important, she brings a natural gift for symbolic seeing that enables her to penetrate the symbolism of waking dreams and to help the student learn to grasp the deeper meaning in his/her own life experiences. Finally, Rebecca has the unique talent of writing original fairy tales to illumuninate the primary life themes and senses of self that have shaped a student's life. The symbolic mirror of a fairy tale will serve each student for years to come as a guideline for further growth and unfolding. Seize the opportunity to study with Rebecca. You will be blessed with a rich and insightful experience that will contribute to your growth in wisdom." -Diane Kennedy Pike, author of Life As A Waking Dream (Riverhead, 1997) see more about Teleos Institute at consciousnesswork.com.
Questions that you will have more clarity about upon completion of the Waking Dream Wisdom workshop:
- What is my sense of self?
- How are the yin and yang at work in my life?
- What qualities and characteristics would help me to more fully develop those polarities?
- Am I awake to the information being communicated to me through all the components of my self?
- What is the meaning of the symbols that appear in my life?
- What is not well integrated into my sense of self?
- What is not well developed in me?
- What life themes am I living out, and how can I adopt them as conscious life objectives?
- What is my life purpose?
- What is a particular waking dream episode telling me, or asking me?
What is metaphysical pastoral counseling?
When I use the word metaphysical, I am referring to an energetic and vibrational, beyond just the five senses perspective in which we can view the nature of reality poetically.
The following quote is by Max Planck, the Nobel Prize winning physicist:
“As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear-headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as the result of research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together….We must assume behind this force the existence of consciousness and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.”
Another way to say this could be: All is consciousness. From a metaphysical or spiritual point of view, consciousness is all there is. Consciousness expresses itself through the medium of subtle energy. From a scientific point of view everything that exists is made of variable densities of energy. It is now common knowledge that, what we perceive to be solid matter is energy vibrating at a very low frequency. With this premise, humans could be described as self aware, intelligent, creative beings inhabiting lower density physical forms. Our form is composed of a dense, physical body surrounded by seven subtle bodies.
Metaphysically speaking, the individual form we identify as our authentic self or Real Self is immortal, unique and unlimited. The soul holds the memories of our experiences throughout our many incarnations. The soul uses its human personality to experience the drama or play of life and to fulfill its mission. Some personalities wake up at some point in their life and recognize the soul/personality connection. Their perception of reality expands. They now can see through the eyes of their soul, so to speak. They are able to understand their life from a symbolic point of view. Their identity includes the soul's perspective but is not limited by it. The personalities who are not aware of this connection live perpetually in what can be called consensus reality. In consensus reality there is a more limited and literal perception of life. This is life as most people know it to be. It is like dreaming and never becoming lucid.
Metaphysical pastoral counseling could also be called consciousness counseling or spiritual psychology. All healing, on an energetic level, is a raising of conscious awareness or vibrational freedom. When we rise above our circumstances and see things from a higher perspective we can make wiser choices. Worrying and self-doubt is the equivalent of powerful negative prayer. We need to break the cycle of unconscious fatalism in our thoughts and speech. As a metaphysical pastoral counselor I will guide and support those who seek Self-healing with the following objectives:
- To identify unconscious negative thought, energy and behavior patterns
- To reconnect with your body, feelings and intuition
- To see the deeper symbolic meaning in vivid life experiences (waking dreams)
What is an Early Life Dream or (ELD)?
In the Life as A Waking Dream method (LAWD) a participant is asked to write the story of his or her life from the ages of 0 to 7 as if it were a dream. Accurate details are not as important as impressions or feelings of the memory of the first seven years of life. Participants are asked to write the bare bones of the story without embellishment. Some participants can do this in a paragraph or two and others have written a few pages. After writing out the ELD, the participant is asked to answer some questions about it. It is just as important to take the time answering these questions as it is writing the ELD.
A LAWD teacher can interpret this information on a symbolic level and guide an individual into a deeper understanding of their early senses of self and energy patterns. A wealth of information is uncovered in this process. The participant is then given an opportunity to evaluate some of the unconscious life themes that have been uncovered through this process and see them objectively. It is truly a magnificent process and will clarify some of the mysteries about our individual operating systems and idiosyncrasies.
What is a VLE (Vivid Life Experience)?
VLE’s or Vivid Life Experiences are Waking Dreams. They are those mini-psycho-dramas we find ourselves caught up in throughout the week. If you come home and call a friend and begin the conversation with: “You’re not going to believe what happened to me today”, you have probably had a waking dream. A VLE or waking dream is an emotionally charged event that stands out from the rest of the day and can be on either end of the feeling spectrum from inspired elation to disgust and outrage. A waking dream can also be a minor or major crisis from your past. Typically when we have a VLE we will replay the scene over and over in our head trying to make sense of it. Vivid life experiences are also called waking dreams.
In the Life as Waking Dream Method (LAWD) we keep track of these stories in a journal or notebook and then use a formula to interpret them as if they were dreams. Metaphysically speaking, these events are very much related to our night dreams. Night dreams and waking dreams are both generated from the storehouse of our unconscious minds. They both contain elements from the collective unconscious and are filled with symbolic language and recognizable energy patterns.
The Life as a Waking Dream Method reveals unconscious psychological software that left unchecked can undermine us. Our waking dreams contain a gold mine of information about unconscious thought patterns. They also tell us where we are losing energy and where we are out of balance. Sometimes the choices we make are not based on clarity and inner wisdom but on outdated ‘thought- ware’ programs of misplaced guilt, shame, fear and low self -esteem. This self-sabotage tends to repeat itself like a broken record and we feel stuck in a negative groove. We think to ourselves, “Here we go again”.
Our waking dreams alert us to these patterns so that we can end the cycle and alter the way we perceive life experiences. They tell us how to regain a healthy energetic balance, which manifests as a healthier mind and body. LAWD method will give you access to a higher perspective on personal conflicts and as a result will improve the relationships in all domains of your life.
What is a personalized fairytale?
When I compose a fairytale for someone, they become the main character in a unique, highly personalized, adventure story. It is designed around the life themes and objectives that were revealed in their ELD and VLE assessments. Using the classic Hero’s Journey template, I incorporate archetypes and symbols, which reinforce the issues that they are still working through. I reveal undeveloped parts of their personality and highlight their strengths. The fairytale is a more right brained transmission than the assessment report. As the main character (always) triumphs in the end, the participant can vicariously experience him or herself breaking through their limitations and obtaining some degree of Self-realization. It is extremely healing.
What is the Waking Dream Workshop like?
The Waking Dream Wisdom Workshop is a Jungian and metaphysical method of Self- realization and healing. The workshop is six class sessions long. Each session is about 2½ hours long. The dates of each class are at least two weeks apart except the first two, which are only a week apart. The class size is never more than six and never less than three.
In short, Waking Dreams are emotionally charged, dramatic events that stand apart from the rest of the day. In this workshop, the participants will be expected to complete two simple preliminary waking dream writing assignments before coming to the first class. Instructions will be mailed out after registration. By the completion of this workshop, each participant will have the tools to analyze their own waking dreams methodically.
The workshop feels like a sophisticated group therapy session even though it is instructional. If you are not comfortable sharing your personal life with others, this isn’t for you. Participants in the past feel that the time passes too quickly and the extra half hour is appreciated. A sense of humor is appreciated. The exercises are fun and deeply insightful. Each participant will receive a comprehensive analysis of their written waking dream work in printed report form as well as a personalized fairytale and five workbooks to take home and keep.
Be prepared to be amazed at what your own life experiences are teaching you.
