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Amplification: Personal and Collective Associations.

 

In Jungs method of dream interpretation called amplification, first subjective amplification is done by seeing what each dream motif means personally, ‘Then collective meaning is obtained through objective amplification; i.e., the dream elements are enriched with the universal, symbolic material of fairy tales, myths, etc., which illuminate the universal aspect…’[1]

Eril Shalit and Nancy Swift Furlotti write of amplification,

‘As the term implies, we attempt to enlarge the dream image by amplifying it – relating it to its roots in the objective psyche and its appearance in culture, history, mythology, and religion. The psyche speaks in images; thus, in order to gain from its wisdom, we need to understand the language of images, to be aware of their depth and meaning, and to study them in their personal and collective contexts.’[2]

Most creative people have a good understanding of images and symbols. Understanding personal associations relating to each dream motif is relatively simple. I either write down my personal associations as a list or I draw or write the symbol in the middle of a piece of paper and write or draw the associations around it. The last method lets me see visually if I have strayed too far away from the actual symbol. In contrast to free association, ‘With all their rich variety, these images and analogies will be reasonably close to the dream content that is to be interpreted, whereas there is no way of controlling free association and preventing it straying too far from the dream content.’[3] Jolande Jacobi points out that in the amplification process, ‘… analogies are not selected on the basis of temporal coincidence or any scientific, historical criterion, but because their nucleus of meaning is identical with, or similar to, the dream content under investigation.’[4]

Finding cultural associations takes more time, unless you have an encyclopaedic knowledge of symbols. At least these days we have the internet, so it is relatively easy to find symbolic associations. The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism is one resource on the internet but it costs $100 a year for membership. It is a written and pictorial archive of symbolic images from all over the world and from different historical time periods. I do not have membership so I cannot give my opinion.

They have also produced several books including The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images.

The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism | ARAS

All this is making me think that having a conversation with my dream self, although eccentric, is far simpler and less time consuming.


[1] Jolande Jacobi, The Psychology of C.G. Jung (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973), 89.

[2] Eril Shalit and Nancy Swift Furlotti, “The Amplified World of Dreams,” in Eril Shalit and Nancy Swift Furlotti, The Dream and Its Amplification: The Fisher king Review Volume 2, (Skiatook: Fisher King Press, 2013), 1-2.

[3] Jolande Jacobi, The Psychology of C.G. Jung (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973), 85.

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