October 2008

  In This Issue:

IASD MEMBER EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD

Learn how to Promote Dreams and Dreaming in the Cyberworld
 

PSIBERDREAMING CONFERENCE STILL AVAILABLE

DREAMS IN A CHANGING SOCIETY: INVITATION AND CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS – “EARTH DREAMING:” IASD’S 26TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

ANNOUNCING THE LAUNCH OF IASD'S HOME STUDY CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE) PROGRAM NOVEMBER 15, 2008 Alan Siegel, PhD

MEMBERSHIP NEWS OCTOBER 2008

REFLECTIONS ON BEING AN IASD BOARD MEMBER
Katja Valli

Also in this issue: 

IASD MEMBER EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD

IASD EXHIBIT CHAIR NEEDED

DREAMING 2.0 – WAYS TO PROMOTE DREAMS AND DREAMING IN THE CYBER WORLD Ryan Hurd

SEPTEMBER MEMBERSHIPS

STANLEY KRIPPNER SHARING DREAMS IN CHINA

DREAMING ABOUT PALIN

PSIBERDREAMING CONFERENCE STILL AVAILABLE

Join Us for Two Weeks of Read-Only

If you missed this year's PsiberDreaming Conference: Dreaming the Future of Dreaming, which ends on Sunday, October 5, the good news is that you can still register for the two-week, read-only period of the conference. You won't be able to join the discussion, but you will have access to great papers and workshops by dream experts like Robert Moss, Kelly Bulkeley, Stephan A. Schwartz, and P.M.H. Atwater, along with many others. You will be able to read the discussion of these topics, which thanks to PsiberDreaming participants is often as deeply thoughtful and entertaining as the papers themselves.

Just go to www.asdreams.org/psi2008 to register and receive your password to the conference.

This year, to date, over 150 people have enjoyed what is one of IASD's most popular events. Participants from twenty different countries have not only shared their dreams and their ideas about consciousness, but have shared conversations about life and music and food and dream work in many different corners of the globe.

Two areas of the conference are open for public viewing, with or without conference registration. Visit the PsiberDreaming Art Gallery for a beautiful display of dream-inspired art work; and read the dreams of the thirty-six inspired dreamers who contributed to IASD's historic 25th Anniversary document, "Dreaming the Future of Dreaming." Links to both of these areas of the conference can be found on the PsiberDreaming pages of the IASD web site.

For those interested in seeing where the future of dreaming might take us, please register for the 2008 PsiberDreaming Conference, an online, global event. The conference forum will remain online until Sunday, October 22.

DREAMS IN A CHANGING SOCIETY: INVITATION AND CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

3rd International Conference of the
Nordic and European Network for the Study of Dreams
Göteborgs Psykoterapi Institut, Vasagatan 16, 411 24
Gothenburg, Sweden
6-8 March 2009

Our society is changing. We live in times of rapid change, of global change, a change that probably will have an enormous effect on all of us living on this earth.

How do we become aware of this global interconnectedness? Can we notice signs of this change in our dreaming life?

Many of us have dreams of a good life for people; we feel an urgent need to change this world into a better one. How do we manage this? Can we dream a better future for our children?
Do dreams change society? Can dream work help us?

We know that a dream can tell us that something in our life needs to be changed – it could be a change of attitudes we have of ourselves or of others, it could be about the way we relate to others. The dream can also tell us about greater goals in our lives. We know that dreams have the potential to change us – a ’big dream’ can change us for the rest of our lives.

Inner change is connected to outer change – the crow that I just heard in my garden, will fly in my dream tonight, and what will I make out of that tomorrow?

This society that we live in is changing, it puts a challenge upon us, and as we are a part of this changing society, how can we join this process of change?

Submissions and Registration

You are most welcome to join the 3rd international conference of the Nordic and European Network for the Study of Dreams, which has “Dreams in a changing society” as its theme.

You can submit a proposal to make a presentation at the conference following the requirements in the call for proposals forms, which are attached. To participate, either as a presenter or simply as a participant, you must register using the registration forms attached.

Submissions for the following are invited:

• paper presentations (20 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions).

• workshops (1.5 – 2 hours for the practical demonstration of an approach with maximum audience participation and minimum time spent on presenting material)

We welcome you to share with us your experience from working with dreams, whether this is done in your professional life and academic research, or it is done through your personal life, experiential approaches and from dream work with other dreamers, or you are just generally interested.

You can listen to interesting talks and you can take part of different kinds of experiential workshops and dream groups.

Your contribution in any form to this conference will be much valued as part of building a network of dreamers and persons interested in the study of dreams in Europe.

The official language of the conference is English but if you are unable to present in English you are welcome to bring an interpreter with you. Some workshops may be offered in different languages if there is sufficient demand.


Organization, Venue, Accommodation & fees

This conference is co-organized by the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) and Drömgruppsforum, the Swedish Dream Group Forum, in collaboration with the Nordic and European Network for the Study of Dreams.

The conference will take place in central Gothenburg, which is Sweden’s second largest city. It is beautifully located on the coast in between Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark, with excellent connections via air, train or bus.

The venue is an old villa where the Psychotherapeutic Institute of Gothenburg (Göteborgs Psykoterapi Institut) is situated. The house has a comfortable atmosphere and is well suited for activities including 50 – 80+ persons. Coffee, lunch, dinner, etc will be served at the venues, and is included in the registration fee.

Accommodation must be organised individually directly with providers.

Hostels: Sweden has excellent low cost hostels, which do not differ much from reasonable hotels. Four are available within 2 kilometres, for example: www.minihotel.se; www.hostel-gothenburg.com; www.mastenvandrarhem.com; www.slottsskogenvh.se. Prices range from 17 Euro (per night/person in 6 person room) to 36 Euro (per night/person for single room). Breakfast is extra at reasonable prices.

Hotels: You can easily find hotels at a close distance, a list can be forwarded.

Hotel apartments: Are available 3 km away, easy by tram + short walk: www.novotel.se/hotellagenheter

The registration fee for full conference before January 15th is:
Members (IASD, DGF and collaborating organisations) and students: 1200 SEK/130 EURO
Non-members: 1500 SEK/165 EURO

The registration fee for full conference after January 15th is:
Members (IASD, DGF and collaborating organisations) and students: 1500 SEK/165 EURO
Non-members: 1800 SEK/200 EURO

The full conference fee includes conference program, refreshments and the following meals: Light evening meal Friday, Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch.

Practical Steps for Submissions and Registration
Please submit the Call for Presentations form electronically to sundhulth@hem.utfors.se  with copies to: ib@ibfilmochkonsult.se; nicolina.not@telia.com  by October 24th 2008. Only forms duly filled out will be accepted.

For registration, either as a presenter or plain participant, please follow instructions in attached registration forms.

Please note that discounted prices are available only up to January 15th 2009. After this day the price will go up with approximately 25%.

NOTE: All presenters will be required to pay the registration fee.

Further information & Questions
We look forward to welcoming you to Gothenburg for a weekend of dream work, discussions about important subjects, and also pleasant socializing. Further details will be advertised in due course on the following websites:

https://asdreams.org 
http://www.dromgruppsforum.org.se

Questions can be directed to: Conference host: Gunnar Sundström, Paradisgatan 26 c 413 16 Gothenburg Sweden. Email: sundhulth@hem.utfors.se  Telephone +46 (0)31 42 26 79 or +46 (0)76 211 57 66
 

IASD EXHIBIT CHAIR NEEDED

Would you like an opportunity to work alongside other dreamers and to better know other like-minded people?  Please consider volunteering for the 2009 IASD conference.

The 2009 IASD conference committee is seeking an energetic and enthusiastic Volunteer Chair to coordinate exhibits for the Earth Dreaming conference in Chicago, June 26-30, 2009. Duties involve contacting businesses and non-profits and asking them to exhibit at the conference. The Chair will also be responsible for organizing exhibitors in the conference exhibit hall.

If you are interested in knowing more about this position please contact the conference host, Jacquie Lewis at Jacquie@asdreams.org.

To find out more about volunteering at the conference in other capacities please visit www.asdreams.org/2009

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS FOR THE 26^th ANNUAL IASD CONFERENCE, EARTH DREAMING –
CHICAGO, IL

DEADLINE for Submissions -
November 30, 2008

NEW ON-LINE SUBMISSION PROCESS FOR 2009

Submissions for the 2009 Call for Presentations will be accepted thru November 30, 2008 and will be via an Online Submission System.

Continue to check the IASD website for the Call for Presentations link. Once the link is ready applicants will be able to access an online submission form. For ease in preparation we recommend that you prepare your proposal in Word, or other word processing software, and then copy-and-paste it into the online form.

Beginning this year, ALL applicants must use the online form. NO proposals will be accepted by e-mail. If you have questions please write to submissions@asdreams.org

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES
High quality proposals are invited, particularly those that explore the conference theme, Earth Dreaming (ecology and animals, world peace, and fostering future generations). We request that submissions fall into one of the following tracks: Research & Theoretical; Arts & Humanities; Cultural & Anthropological; Education; Religious, Spiritual & Philosophical; Clinical and/or Dreamwork Practice; Extraordinary, PSI and Lucid Dreams, and the Theme Track, Earth Dreaming.

Submission Categories include the following:

• Paper Presentations – typically 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for Q&A that will be assigned to a symposia of similar papers;

• Symposia—a pre-organized seminar of 1.5 to 2 hrs with presentations sharing a common theme (Symposia Chair is responsible for full submission and all communications to presenters);

• Panels—1.5 to 2 hour organized panel of very short presentations followed by discussion (Panel Chair is responsible for full submission and all communications to panelists);

• Workshops—1.5 to 2 hour interactive, experiential sessions for the practical demonstration of an approach;

• Special Events or Major Presentations – up to 1 hour innovative, artistic or participatory events or special presentations.

• Morning Dream Groups – 1 hour every morning at approximately 8AM

• Hot-off-the-Press — 10 minute theory or research briefs; Note that the Hot-off-the-Press may be submitted until 1 March 2009.

Note that the Hot-off-the-Press may be submitted until 1 March 2009. Due to the large number of proposals anticipated, timeslots for Workshops and Special Events or Major Presentations are limited, so if you are able to present your material in a shorter format (presentation or paper), please indicate this option in your submission. Also, although multiple proposals from any one individual will be reviewed, please do not expect that there will be room to accept more than one, even if all are rated highly. If you have questions about the Call for Presentations or the Program please send them to submissions@asdreams.org and they will be distributed to our Program Chair, Curt Hoffman, and other members of the Program Committee.

PRESENTERS MUST REGISTER

Register Early for discounts! Register online this Fall on the IASD website www.asdreams.org/2009. Remember to book your hotel room early as the block of rooms is limited. Book by calling the Hotel directly at 847.297.1234 (preferred number) or at 1-800-WYNDHAM. You can also register through the Wyndham website at http://www.wyndhamohare.com  Enter your arrival and departure dates and click on “Search using Corporate, Promo and Group codes” When the new window appears enter our group code – 0626859dr- in the group code box. Then click on the “Search” button. This will take you to the Wyndham/IASD page where you can click on the room rate amount to start the registration process. Presenters must be registered prior to 1 April 2009 in order to remain on the program.

Located close to the Chicago O’Hare airport, the Wyndham O’Hare Hotel is also near Metra trains and the Blue Line El to downtown Chicago. This location provides an excellent center for easy transportation to the conference as well as to the many attractions in Chicago’s Loop, which is only a 45 min. train ride away.  Visit Chicago’s famed Millennium Park, The Art Institute, The Magnificent Mile Shopping District, The Freedom Museum, Imax Theater, The Taste of Chicago, Shakespeare Theater or Navy Pier  To discover Chicago and its many other attractions, go to:  Welcome to Chicago To view the hotel, go to:  Wyndham O’Hare Hotel  

Program Chair – Curt Hoffman – teximus@comcast.net

E-Mail for Submissions Questions: submissions@asdreams.org

ANNOUNCING THE LAUNCH OF IASD'S HOME STUDY CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE) PROGRAM NOVEMBER 15, 2008 Alan Siegel, PhD

For 2008-2009 our first round of courses will be based on reading books by well known authors, taking a multiple-choice exam, and completing a rating of the course. We hope to add interactive online course formats at a later date. During 2009, new features will include a "book club" format for featured courses, and some form of online chat or meet-up featuring our authors.

This exciting new program furthers the IASD educational mission of building community, generating much needed income for IASD, and attracting new members.

This initial set of courses, beginning in November, will be part of the professional continuing education wing of the IASD Dream Studies Program and will offer continuing education (CE) credits for mental health professionals. Beginning in 2009, general interest books will be added as Lifelong Learning courses that we hope will interest IASD members and other dream aficionados all over the planet. IASD maintains responsibility for all programs and is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. IASD is also a CE provider for the California BBSE.

Here are our first courses:

Dreams and Nightmares: The Origin and Meaning of Dreams by Ernest Hartmann, M.D.

Trauma and Dreams by Deirdre Barrett, PhD

Dreaming in the World's Religions by Kelly Bulkeley, PhD

Dream Work in Therapy: Facilitating Exploration, Insight and Action by Clara Hill, PhD

Many thanks to the folks making this program possible, especially Mary Pat Lynch, Richard Wilkerson, Liz Diaz, Sheila Asato, Jean Campbell, Barbara Bishop, Mark Blagrove, Nick Brink, Jacquie Lewis and the authors of our courses, as well as the MANY volunteer readers who helped or will help to pilot test our courses.

To register or to get updates at https://asdreams.org/ce
 

MEMBERSHIP NEWS OCTOBER 2008

SEPTEMBER MEMBERSHIP TOTAL: 44

New Members: 20
Ms. Nancy G. Fraser
Ms. Sally Gillespie
Mr. Phillip Gregg
Mr. Tony M. Hawkins
Ms.Aisling D. Ireland
Ms. Robyn Johnson
Ms. Joanne Lefferts
Ms. Teresa Rae MacColl
Ms. Colleen Majewski
Ms. Louise Makovsky
Ms. Kelly Matthews
Mrs. Bonnie C. Mitsch
Ms. Billie Ortiz
Ms. Mimi Pettibone
Mr. James H. Raschick
Ms. Mary Joyce Whitefeather
Anonymous 4

Renewing Members: 26
Ms. Carol Ann Bowen
Dr. Nicholas Brink
Mr. John Corbett
Ms. Bambi Corso
Dr. Teresa DeCicco
Ms. Debra Jane Dixon
Ms. Angela DuPont
Ms. Mary Edwards
Ms. Sabrina Hawkins-Saar
Ms. Rita Hildebrandt
Ms. Jacqueline Jennette
Mr. Chad R. Kempel
Ms. Bonnie Kyle
Ms. Therezinha Moreira Leite
Ms. Marcia Lewin-Berlin
Ms. Valerie McCarney
Mr. Richard & Ms. Denise Paseman
Ms. Heather Peace
Ms. Sharon Smith-Mathewes
Ms. Suzanne Wiltink
Prof. Antonio Zadra
Anonymous 4
 

SPOTLIGHT on IASD in United Kingdom:
Update from Kate Adams

The UK group is growing momentum. Following the regional conference in Lincoln last year, hosted by Kate Adams, motivated attendees are now working together to meet roughly 2 or 3 times a year. Each time, the location and format changes according to the expertise of the volunteers who offer to host. The changing locations also provide more accessibility for UK dreamers who are spread far and wide geographically on our little island.

Our last meeting was also in Lincoln, where Kate gave a talk on children's dreams and Camille Archer ran a workshop based on Gordon Lawrence’s social matrix. At the end of each meeting we ask who would like to volunteer to host the next one and it is up to them to suggest a format and location, which can thus offer variety for all concerned. Caroline Horton has kindly offered to host our next meeting in Leeds, in November. Caroline will present a paper on the science of dreaming and in the afternoon Camille will run a follow up workshop on the social matrix.

All meetings have social time built into them in order to strengthen relationships. So far, we have only charged to cover costs of room hire/lunch to keep costs at a bare minimum. With the credit crunch in full force and cost of fuel excessive in the UK, this is currently essential in order to get people to travel and entice them into the ‘dream world’! Our numbers are growing slowly but steadily and some who live in close geographical proximity are looking to start dream groups – currently there are plans to start a group in London. Let’s hope that more of the people involved will also become new IASD members too.

Regional Contact Representatives

Next month we will publish a new and updated list of Regional Contacts. Several IASD members have contacted me about becoming Regional Contact Representatives for their area and I hope bring them into this network in the coming month.

Also, we hope to get pictures of ALL of our Regional Representatives to make a full photo collage for the IASD website comparable to the partial but very popular photo page of your Representatives which many of you saw in Montreal. Sorry about the delays on both fronts, they’ve not been forgotten.

To find the list of Regional Contact Reps go to the IASD Website. To become a Regional Contact, or participate in a Regional meet-up contact Jody Grundy, Membership Chairperson: grundyj@fuse.net 

Jody Grundy
IASD Membership Chair
 

Call for Nominations for Complimentary Memberships

Each Fall the Membership Committee extends an invitation to our members to nominate students or others of limited income who might be eligible for a complimentary membership to IASD for one year. Individuals who have made contributions to IASD and are of limited income may qualify for these awards. A small team within the Membership Committee will review the nominations and make recommendations for these awards between the Fall Board Meeting (October 25-26) ) and the end of the year. New complimentary membership awards begin in January of 2009 and are for one year.

Contact Jody Grundy with nominations. grundyj@fuse.net

REFLECTIONS ON BEING A BOARD MEMBER

Katja Valli, Turku, Finland

In this article, I will focus on conferences, past and upcoming. Conferences, at least for me, are occasions that bring us dreamers together, whether online or in the physical realm. These meetings always give me a huge boost, and add meaning to my work as a researcher. The sharing of thoughts and ideas, and the warm family feeling always associated with the meetings, are things that keep me going.

This year’s PsiberDreaming online conference was a success, and even if you did not participate, you can still enjoy the fruits of the conference by reading the “Dreaming the Future of Dreaming” – document on IASD web site. Dreamers world wide were asked to think and to dream an answer to the question “What will dreams discover and what will dreamers accomplish over the next 25 years?” All answers have been collected to a single document as a gift to the future of dreams. Have you already checked out what the future of dreaming may look like?

I also want to remind you about the next year’s conferences, although it may seem a bit premature. Well, it isn’t! To begin with, a regional “Dreams in a Changing Society”, the 3rd International Conference of the Nordic and European Network for the Study of Dreams, will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, on March 6th to 8th. The submission deadline for the presentations is October 24th 2008, so do not forget to contribute!

As to our next year’s Chicago conference, the deadline for the Call for Presentations is earlier than usual, 30th of November 2008! Do not miss it! This year submissions for the presentations will only be accepted via an Online Submission System, not by e-mail. Check the instructions and submit your proposal in time. See you in Chicago or in Gothenburg!

The conference organizers are sure busy this autumn, but so are the Board members. The fall Board meeting is closing fast and committees are preparing their reports. The meeting is going to be a phone conference, and it will take place on October 25th and 26th. For me, and for many other European Board members, this means staying up most of the night. But do not worry about us falling asleep: the meetings are actually so interesting that I have no trouble staying awake. I only wonder what will be on the agenda.

Read more next month and also look for more news and updates on the IASD website.
 

DREAMING 2.0 – WAYS TO PROMOTE DREAMS AND DREAMING IN THE CYBER WORLD

BOOK ON LUCID DREAMING BY ROBERT WAGGONER

Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self by Robert Waggoner is available at Amazon.com. The book has been reviewed by several notable dream experts including Stanley Krippner, Bob Van de Castle, Robert Moss, Jayne Gackenbach, and others. For additional information or to purchase a copy visit Moment Point Press

STANLEY KRIPPNER SHARING DREAMS IN CHINA

IASD member Stanley Krippner visited China recently and gave a talk on current dream research to a standing room only crowd of students at Normal University in Wuhan.

DREAMING ABOUT PALIN

It seems that dreaming about political figures has become all the rage. A recent article in the online magazine, Slate, calls for those who are dreaming about Sarah Palin to share their dreams with their audience. To find out more or to contribute your dream visit www.slate.com:80/id/2199661

by Ryan Hurd


The world needs dreamers like never before, especially in this time of economic uncertainty. As Reverend Jeremy Taylor has said, dreaming is not a frivolous activity but the workshop of evolution. That’s why there has never been a better time for researchers, psychologists, and passionate dreamers to begin sharing their message about the importance of dreaming on the Internet.

I am an Internet marketer by profession, so I follow the trends that folks are searching for. My analysis: people are desperately searching for answers, for comprehension, and for wisdom, and these searches are clumsily moderated by the self-appointed oracle of the 21st century: Google. The Google knows all, but it cannot provide meaning during anxious times. That’s up to us.

However, currently the loudest voices about dreams on the Internet are websites that reduce dreaming down to crude dictionary equations, herbal supplements for lucid sex, and plagiarized philosophy from the IASD’s collective knowledge. It was a sad day when the public face of our consolidated wisdom, Electric Dreams, stopped publishing last year. What has filled the first few pages of Google’s search results since then is fractured pseudo-information, much like the debris that is sucked into a vacuum from an exploding star.

Internet culture moves quickly, and it is moving on without us. Type the word “dreams” into Google, and you’ll see what I mean. The top results are about dream interpretation, Freud and Jung: is that all there is to the power of our dreaming mind?

The good news is that it is easier than ever to spread your message via the Internet. I invite all dreamers to consider what we have to offer cyber-culture, because it is this culture that is increasingly deciding norms and mores in our information-saturated lives.

5 Ways to Get Involved Online

1. Start a blog, or even better, a group blog. Web-logs are more important than ever, because traditional media is consolidating and becoming homogeneous. Blogs are the grass-roots of knowledge, and they perform well in the search engines. We need as many perspectives about dreams as we can get, and a personal or professional blog is the easiest (read: the least technical) way to start a website. Even easier, commenting on other blogs is an easy way to join the hundreds of conversations already taking place. And it’s easy self-promotion too.

2. Join social network sites like Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com, and Gaia.com to start networking with other dream professionals and the educated lay public. These sites are rapidly becoming major hubs on the Internet, and by joining these networks and participating, you have an opportunity to position yourself as an expert to a forever growing audience.

3. Publish those dusty manuscripts that have never seen the light of day. There are many free venues for publishing articles to build your name and add to the collective knowledge about dreaming. The latest is Google Knol, which is like Wikipedia except it verifies experts’ identities and credentials. And it’s wide open for dream articles. Hubpages.com is another site that makes it easy to share your passions and connect with others.

4. Do you have videos of presentations or lectures about dreams? Online video is rapidly becoming the most popular activity on the Internet. Video blogging is another easy way to tap into Internet culture... all you need is a second rate digital camcorder and some decent lighting to spread your message. YouTube is where our next generation’s celebrities and politicians will be found, so the potential for cultural transformation is staggering. Especially considering that it can be done with a two minute clip.

5. Participate in online forums. I consider this community service, because you’ll never be done and may never be thanked, but will seriously impact peoples’ lives with a thoughtful comment, a book recommendation, or a little non-medical advice. I used this technique to promote this year’s PsiberDreaming Conference.

This is just the beginning of what I call “Dreaming 2.0.” The time has come for us to decide if we wish to participate in the global information culture, or leave it to the unscrupulous, the plagiarizers, and the snake oil salesmen. The Internet needs our collective wisdom now more than ever before. Otherwise, the Oracle will only offer up more fractured information in a world that does not remember how to sleep, much less dream.

Finally, I’d like to thank all the dream bloggers who helped publicize the PsiberDreaming Conference this year. This was one of the most popular PsiberDreaming conferences ever, in part due to the wide distribution of viral marketing by these cyber-allies:

• http://www.publicparapsychology.org
• http://www.integralpraxis.blogspot.com
• http://www.dedroidify.blogspot.com
• http://www.realityshifter.com
• http://www.dreaminglife.org
• http://www.lucidipedia.com

Ryan Hurd is an Internet consultant and freelance writer. He maintains the dream research blog http://dreamstudies.org
 

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