IASD mourns the loss of Rev. Jeremy Taylor and invites you to celebrate his passing. Jeremy, who was one of the Founders of IASD, died of a heart attack in his sleep at his California home on January 3, 2018; following, by only two days, the death of his beloved wife, Kathryn.
Jeremy Taylor, DMin, was a Unitarian Universalist minister, who led dream workshops all over the world for many decades. He was an IASD past-President and co-Founder, winning the IASD Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He was also co-founder and director of the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work, and the author of four books on dreams, including the 1992 classic, Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill.
Due to Jeremy’s lifelong interest in dreams and dream education, his family has asked that any gifts in his name be directed to IASD. Thus we have created a
Memorial Fund in his honor. We hope you will contribute to the
Jeremy Taylor Memorial Dream Education Fund, which will provide partial conference scholarships and educational opportunities for students and those with limited incomes.
Jeremy will be sorely missed by all who knew him. Thank you for your love and concern.
Sincerely,
The IASD Executive Committee
Laurel Clark, Board Chair
Sherry Puricelli, President
Clare Johnson, Vice-President
Anna-Karin Bjorklund, Secretary
Robert Waggoner, Treasurer
Rev Jeremy Taylor, Lifetime Achievement Award 2012
Jeremy’s last message, sent to his friend Jo Johnson after Kathryn’s death (permission received to share)
Very Dear Jo,
Thank you… I am working on a general announcement which I will send out to every one soon – maybe even later tonight… but your sympathy & condolence touch me so much, right in this moment, that I don’t feel good about withholding the latest news from you, “until it’s sufficiently polished…”.
Some time in the early morning this morning, (New Year’s Day), Kath’s psyche & life-energy departed from the ruined temple of her poor, tortured body, and she released her last breath… She died quietly, perhaps between 3:00 and 4:00 AM… I was lying next to her in a reclining chair, holding her right hand,… Clearly, I fell asleep and missed the moment consciously…
I knew the departure was coming; I prayed for it’s coming – but I had not fully anticipated how hard it would be for me to lose my greatest heart-friend. I have been through difficult periods of grief and mourning, but, up ‘til now, I have always had wise, gentle, brilliant, loving Kathy to share those moments with – I always had Kath to talk with and share my feelings, and in this heart-crushing moment of sorrow, she is not here to talk and reflect with… I am also immensely relieved that she is beyond the physical pain that made the last years of her life such an ordeal – an ordeal, which, in the very midst of my sorrow, disappointment, and loneliness, I am so happy has come to an end…
You are, of course, free to pass this news along to anyone who cares to hear it…
Thank you fore being such a good friend, after all these years…
Many Blessings,
& Much Love,
As Always,
Jeremy
A Dream from Board Member Walter Berry before Jeremy’s Death
Jeremy Taylor and Walter Berry
I use my phone to record my dreams and I just noticed I had recorded a dream on Dec 31st at 5:38 AM, the day before Kathy’s and 3 days before his. (In waking life I was not aware at all of the trauma going on)
I am standing on a mountain road somewhere in Northern California. Jeremy Taylor is there, and he is waiting for someone to show up. It is bright, almost too bright out, I have to squint to see things. He is smiling and has a set of brown prayer beads in his left hand which he is spinning. Oddly, when he jostles them, spinning them like you do with prayer beads, the sound is metallic, like a metal banded watch.
Jeremy is a grief counsellor, it turns out, and his job is to console and deal with people when they show up here on this mountain dirt road.
A man shows up in an old brown El Camino, one of those car/trucks that every pool guy used to own.
He is a tall, dark haired guy in his 40s and it turns out be has just lost his wife. He is racked wit h grief, and Jeremy grabs him by the shoulders and talks softly to him as he weeps and weeps and shudders. The guy turns away from Jeremy and let’s out an ungodly scream as he pounds and pounds the roof of the El Camino.
The sound reverberates in this deserted place and is so loud the nearby birds shriek in response and take flight. I look up and the sky is filled, totally filled with blackbirds and a series of hawks.
2017 Keynote Announcement Recording
If you attended the conference and paid ahead of time as part of your conference tuition, you will be sent an enrollment key to access the recordings. If not, you can still purchase the recordings for $30 here through our Paypal processing system. Simply click on the 2017 Conference Recordings link, and you will be transferred to Paypal for payment. Thereafter, you will be able to access the recordings whenever you return to this site.
To share a memory of Jeremy or leave a message, visit the IASD Facebook page You must first apply to become a member of the group before posting. Thank you.
Winter 2017 DreamTime Magazine Article
Amazing Dreamers, by Clare Johnson.
*Corrected version now available. So sorry, the previous version had the incorrect final page. Here’s the article in its entirety.
Click here for downloadable .pdf of the article.
Jeremy’s Comic that appeared in the IASD book: Dreams that Change our Lives