Episode 6 - Carl Jung continued / Dream journaling / Transforming your dreams into art (Part 2)

Hello! In episode 6 I continue my discussion of Carl Jung.  Keeping a dream journal or remembering characters and melodies in your dreams can help you craft unique songs. Turn your dreams into a reality with ease! Come with me as I explore this topic and more in Part 2 of this 2 Part series! Enjoy!! ☆

"Do what though wilt shall be the whole of the law" - Aleister Crowley

"Discover that which makes you shine, always and forever into infinity"

-Joseph Matthew 

Transcript

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Welcome, one and all, to the Magic Music Podcast. I'm your host, Joseph Matthew, and in this series, we will be discussing various occult and esoteric practices in music, art, and culture. So sit back, relax, and let's explore the unknown together. Enjoy. So archetypes in them are shared across humanity. People have very similar experiences, which I think since we are all connected, we're all related. It totally makes sense. And dreams are spiritual tools, not just psychological quirks. So don't dismiss your dreams, people. You should just definitely embrace them and love them, even if they're scary. I know it's hard, but yeah, just try to know really just look at it and say well what is this trying to tell me what can i take away from this so now i would like to touch on some youngian dream work so how can you analyze your dreams so for instance i shared the dream I had a few years ago in Georgia with my great aunts. I essentially typed in a prompt to ChatGPT describing the entire dream as best I could. The most I can remember about it. So, and if you want to try this as well, it's very, very fun. Yeah, just go on ChatGPT and type in whatever dream you want to and it'll spit out something that hopefully helps you. You want to share certain things. One is the setting. So where did the dream take place? Two is characters. Who is in it? Anyone you recognized? Animals, strange beings, spirits, et cetera. Objects or symbols is three. Anything that stood out, a door, a mountain, a mirror, et cetera, et cetera. Four is emotions. How did you feel during the dream? And five is events. What happened in order or as best you can remember. So start with those five. If you can really get a, try to build a clear picture, then that can really, really help ChatGPT help you. Let's see, I typed in the prompt. and it spit out some really interesting points that i never really thought about before the dream scene sitting with your great aunts you're seated between your two great aunts who have passed away but they appear younger your age and speak to you gently and clearly and it says this setup is loaded with meaning So here we go. Ancestral archetypes and the feminine self. In Jungian terms, relatives, especially from older generations, can represent aspects of the self that connect to ancestral wisdom, family legacy, and emotional inheritance. The family legacy one says, really stood out to me because on my dad's side of the family, there are just amazing... Sorry, both sides of my family, I have amazing uncles and aunts, grandparents, so on and so forth. But my dad's side specifically, there was an emphasis on keeping it in the family. There was so much love and just... This caring attitude that I was so fortunate to be able to grow up in and around these wonderful, wonderful people. And my grandfather, my pop-pop, who's no longer with us, he was such an inspiration to me. He was so open-minded. He was so interested in what I was doing at the time. My father as well. My father... is an amazing inspiration to me as well and then i want to carry on that legacy right like into the future for my for my children so them appearing younger at my own age so let's say like 26 25 26 suggests a merging or reconnection of timelines perhaps your unconscious is showing that you carry them within you now You're at a stage in life where you're stepping into the wisdom, traits, or lessons that they embodied. They're not just visiting me. They're reflecting me. I believe that. I believe that they are with me. They're in my DNA, right? I hold a piece of them. And to know that, I have uncles and aunts that have passed away grandparents, and I believe that there's a chunk of them inside of me. I really do. And to carry on what they believed. On my dad's side, I had a lot of family members that believed in God and Jesus and were avid churchgoers, but they were never judgmental. I hear horror stories about These parents that want to force their child to conform to what they believe in. And I don't think that's the right way. I think you should expose your child to your religion and then say, hey, there's also Buddhism and Judaism and so many others. I wasn't introduced to the occult at all. I had to seek it myself. I had to seek that, which I could not find, but I resonate with it so much now. So I took the core aspects of Christianity and I still apply it to my life. Like asking, like, what would Jesus do? The story of Jesus, which I'm going to have an episode just dedicated to the story of Jesus. Even though I'm not a Christian per se, I respect it. I respect all religions. So to move on, let's see. Message from the unconscious or the beyond. The phrase, we're both okay and you'll see us soon, which is something that I do remember them saying. It can hit heavy, but Jung would encourage you to not interpret it literally. Instead, it may symbolize a reconciliation with death, accepting the loss and finding peace. A spiritual message of connection that the bond between you and them is unbroken. Or an invitation to embrace your own mortality in a sacred, life-affirming way. And this is a huge part of Jungian individuation. And that phrase could also mean you'll understand us soon or you'll meet the part of yourself that carries us soon. And I think I did. I think it was possibly a sign because when my wife and I were living in Georgia, we were struggling because we didn't have a lot of friends or family around. So we made the decision to move back to our home state. So maybe that was... an echo from my relatives to say, hey, it's time to come back home. And now we're here. So, and it's been a few years. So I know many people who have gone off on their own and they go back to their home state or their hometown and they settle down and they have kids or they might move again, but there's something that calls you back sometimes to the place where you grew up and where you were born. So the couch that we were sitting on, a symbol of holding and reflection. So it says you're all on a couch, soft, intimate, and domestic. In dreams, a couch or sofa is often a space of conversation, support, inner stillness, or even therapy. Which I do not go to therapy, but I may in the future. Still thinking about it. But we know if you guys go to therapy and how it's helping you. My wife goes to therapy. She says it helps her a lot. But I don't know if I have anything in my life that's really stressful right now. I've gone through a lot of stressful things in my life with my house and different things over the years. But as of right now, I think I might hold off for a little bit. But yeah, we'll see. So the couch is a place where the inner psyche, which is you, meets the ancestral or spiritual them. and dialogues so it's almost like a safe meeting spot where you can both transcend into that that's the place where you're going to feel most comfortable whether in a couch or a bed or in a house and it was in a house and i think that's very telling they were always very warm and kind to me so it was very very familiar So the takeaway is that this dream may be an initiation. It reflects a moment where your unconscious is presenting a deep truth. You are now in a phase of integration. You're being shown that those who came before you, especially women, with meaning in your lineage, are still part of you, evolving with you. And the fact that they're at peace, that may be your soul's way of saying, You are supported. You're not alone. And you're walking in alignment. When I woke up from that dream, I felt sadness, but I also felt warmth and love. It might have been a part of me that didn't mourn their deaths properly or other family members' deaths. And I bottled it up and it just all... float out in that one dream of just a surge of emotion. Yeah, this is fascinating stuff. Stuff that I didn't think about before. How can dreams be applied to songwriting? And I know we touched on a few, we touched on a few examples of musicians doing this. taking what they learned in a dream or what they saw or what they heard and writing a song or a riff. So dreams can be a direct line to your subconscious, which means wild imagery, raw emotion, poetic logic, and symbolic storytelling. All the things great songs are made of. So here's how you can apply dreams to songwriting. And this is something that I've never... done before but i would definitely like to try so one you can mine dreams for lyrics and imagery dreams don't follow rules they serve up surreal metaphors and emotional truth that makes them perfect for songwriting so dreamline to lyric if you wake up with a strange phrase or snippet just write it down Just keep a journal on your nightstand with a pen ready to go so you can just roll over, grab it, jot it down, and there you go. Even one weird sentence can be a verse hook or the line in the chorus. Use dream logic. Don't worry if it makes sense. Lean into the mystery. Lean into that mysticism. What does this mean for myself and what can it mean for my fans and for other people? Your fans are going to feel the emotion, even if it's not literal. So if it's a made up story, then that's fine too. It doesn't have to be a personal thing that occurred. So for instance, in the dream, if a voice says, I watched the sky fold into itself like paper, You can write a lyric that says, the sky folded like origami and I walked into the crease. So things can be interpreted so many different ways. It's however you feel is going to best be applied to a theme or whatever you were writing about or going through. Two, you can use dream journals as creative prompts. So yeah, just keep a notebook dream journal by your bed and write down strange images, dialogue, feelings, or settings. Then ask, what's the story here? What's the emotion trying to surface? Let me try to pinpoint that, you know? Your dream might not be the full song, but it's the spark. You can shape it into verses or structure it around a chorus that captures the dream's message. That spark is important. The spark of life itself, whether that's what started the Big Bang or an idea in your head, it's the same thing. If you take that jump, if you take that initial snap of intuition and will to go through with something, even if you're terrified, you're still enacting that will upon it. Three, translate archetypes into characters. Young style dreams often contain archetypes. The shadow, the guide, the lover, the inner child, etc. These can become vivid characters in your songs. If you see a shadow figure, it might become the villain or a ghost in the song. If it's a dream lover, it could be an idealized version of intimacy or a longing. there are so many love songs that i thought they were so corny when i was younger but now and i listen to it i go wow like i love the band Sade and there's this whole stereotype about them it's like you just listen to Sade when you're gonna have sex or be intimate with somebody but i was i bumped Sade in the car like you know the sweetest taboo It's a masterpiece. I have Love Deluxe on vinyl too, which is a brilliant record. I love all their stuff. They're an amazing band, amazing live band. So if you see a spiritual guide, maybe they sing you a truth and you haven't owned it yet. Like there's some kind of wall that's up and if you write it down in real life, then that wall will come down. Four, dreams. equal emotional blueprints. Sometimes you don't remember the full dream, but you remember the feeling that you had. Use that emotion as your production guide or melody inspiration. Did the dream feel heavy? Use a slower tempo or maybe write in a minor key. Was the dream mystical? Maybe add reverb or delay or phase, flange, different effects and plugins. The sky's the limit with that stuff. Or shimmering synths or guitars. Was the dream chaotic? Use glitchy textures or rhythmic tension. Maybe you have someone singing a vocal line That's in 4-4, but then you have the instruments are in a different time signature, like 7-4. That could be kind of interesting as well, how they intertwine and circle back to the same point of reference, maybe. Five is lucid dreaming and song incubation. So get a little weird with it. Get a little esoteric. Who gives a shit? Before sleep, ask yourself, what melody does my soul want to sing tonight? Are you anxious? Are you calm? Are you jealous? What's going on in your life? What message do I need to turn into my music? And some musicians would keep an instrument nearby to record ideas that they dreamt. If you keep your phone next to your bed, just hit the voice record button. and keep the guitar like right next to your bed. And if you wake up with a melody, try to remember it and play it so that you have it saved and documented. And then a month later, if you're sifting through your voice memos, which I have many of and many song ideas, you might find that specific one and just run with it or it fits into what the drummer was playing, something along those lines. So we talked about, yeah, real world inspiration like Paul McCartney, Dream the Melody for Yesterday, Billy Joel, drum to full chord progressions. Tori Amos, brilliant pianist, brilliant singer. I suggest you check out her music. She often writes songs from dreamlike or subconscious states. And the great Tom Waits once said he hears songs in his dreams like they're coming from a ghost, ghost-like radio station. It's creepy as fuck. So yeah, let's try to conjure a song from the subconscious. It's part ritual, part creative exercise. It's designed to take a dream fragment, emotion, or image and spin it into a song form. So you'll need a notebook or a digital document. You can use your laptop if you want or your phone. Optional is instrument voice recorder or a DAW, digital audio workstation like Logic Pro or Pro Tools or even Audacity. They have some really good free ones out there. And last but not least, a quiet vibe or candle to set the mood if you're into that. So step one is to recall a dream fragment. Think of a dream that you've had. It can be recently or a few years ago. Something that kind of stuck with you. Ask yourself, what was the strongest image that I saw? What was the emotion? Was there a line of dialogue, sound, or a symbol perhaps? Step two is free write. So you can set a timer for about five minutes and try to write without stopping based on that dream image or the emotion that you felt. Let it flow. Don't be afraid to be messy. Don't be afraid to be raw. Just try to splurge everything out onto the page that you can. There's no right or wrong here. Just enact your will and get it down on paper. Don't overthink it as well. I'm a big overthinker. So from me to you guys, don't overthink this. It's supposed to be fun. So here's some prompts if you get stuck. So for instance, you can say, in the dream, I felt like... The couch was a place where... If I could have asked them anything, it would be... Just let your unconscious mind speak for itself. Use the pen and paper as a vessel for the subconscious. If you think too much into it, it might not be what you want. And then you'll have to go back and correct things. So step three is pick a vibe. So translate the emotion of the dream into a musical vibe. If it's a peaceful dream, dreamy chords, you know, seven chords, really just lush, full sounding chords or soft, intimate melodies. with beautiful textures imbued throughout. If it's mysterious, try a minor key or eerie textures, dissonance. Grief but love can be bittersweet, folk, or indie ballad. Surreal can be, again, glitchy, ambient, or spoken word. If you're using an instrument, play with progressions or rhythms that feel like the dream. Try to get in touch with that part of you and let the dream manifest in reality. Step four is extract the song seeds. So look back at your writing and highlight vivid lines, which can be lyrical gold, like a fucking gold mine, repeating ideas and emotional anchors. These are your building blocks for your song or multiple songs. So for example, a dream line, could be, they said they were okay and I'd see them soon. And a lyrical hook could be, they said they were fine and I'll find them in the quiet. But that's just an example. There are so many ways to spin that and so many words to use. But just write down what you feel is right in your heart. Step five is build your structure. Pick a structure to start shaping it. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, or a freedom or free form piece that builds organically from your dream. So like what's gonna be the chorus-worthy emotion? Do you want it to start off sad and melancholic and then burst into very positive and uplifting? chorus or do you want it to be the opposite start out really upbeat and then get really like ambient and a little maybe a little sad in the chorus depending on the vibe whatever the vibe you want to be like what's the message or the transformation that's happening throughout the song it could be very you could have a happy song that's just continuously happy throughout or a really sad song that's really sad throughout And this is optional, but you can name the song based on the dream. So dream titles can be killer song titles. Like, you know, in terms of my aunts, it suggests couch between worlds, when the dead look young, soon, or folded sky. So guys, in conclusion, dreams are fucking crazy. And There's an unlimited possibility of messages and ideas to pull from. The dream world is your oyster, but also the physical world is your oyster. If you have good intentions, there's nothing that's stopping you from achieving what you want. As long as you're positive and you do your best to help other people and you in turn will help yourself get better. And collaboration is a big aspect as well. You can talk to people who've had other dreams and get inspiration from them. Or if you're in a band, just the collaborative effort between, let's say a group of four guys playing in a band, all of them bring something different to the table. All of them have their part to play. There are drummers that write lyrics, guitarists, just singers that write lyrics in a band. But I suggest that you go out and you collaborate with as many people as possible. It can only enrich your life. It can't diminish it. Unless you encounter really just narcissistic, horrible people that are very self-absorbed, then you should probably stay away from them or hope that they can learn from their actions. But guys, let's make the dream real. And I'd love to hear if you guys try this or have tried this in the past. You could just comment on the page, comment on the podcast. You can shoot me a text as well. I have the link set up on Buzzsprout. So if you go to the profile, you should be able to text me. And in conclusion, I just want to say say thank you so much everyone from the bottom of my heart for listening to this segment on dreams and all the different parts that i posted and i also want to give a shout out to joel from sweetwater um i recently ordered a condenser microphone from them it is the um the p120 condenser microphone And I love it. It's incredible. And huge shout out to them and the team for making that a reality for me. So thanks, guys. Thank you for listening. And I will see you next time.