Electric Dreams
.


Dreams and Princess Diana: 

A Special Section


 
Richard Wilkerson


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Wilkerson, Richard Catlett (1997 September). Dreams and Princess Diana: A Special Section. Electric Dreams 4(9). Retrieved July 26, 2000 from Electric Dreams on the World Wide Web: http://www.deramgate.com/electric-dreams




The tragic death of Princess Diana set into motion an international swirl of public and private concern, mass media events, talks, conversations, personal reflections and yes, dreams. Those who follow their dreams parallel the processes the general public follow. We struggle with both private and public suffering. Institutions and public processes are brought into question, and our connection with our personal beliefs, images and values emerge. We sort through which of our feelings are mediated by public media events, and which are private concerns for who Diana was to us. Where is she the real person, where the Princess, and where is she a symbol for our own inner life?

I was discussing this event with the dream content analysis researcher, William Domhoff. We were talking about how world events are not usually part of our dream life. Work, for example, is rarely dreamt about. Bill said that his colleague , the famous dream researcher Calvin Hall was teaching a class and collecting dreams in the 1940's. After the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan, he noted that not one of his students had dreams about this event. "Given that we dream so rarely about world events," said Domhoff, "underscores just how deeply Diana was a part of our *personal* concerns." In terms of her fairy tale like rise to nobility, yet her continual struggle with ‘common' problems of bulimia, sexuality and other needs, she publicly acted out our fantasies and struggles.

On the other hand, Diana also held & symbolized the larger than personal, the values we aspire to be like. This not only included her being selected and noticed by the prince, but also in her heroic efforts to help others less fortunate. The fact that her death evoked such a large international response, became itself an larger-than-life event and has caused the re-examination of many social practices, including the monarchy, the media, and our own roles in her accident. When Mother Teresa then died as well, the two events were often read together, as if a general assumption of great women was taking place.

In the Dream Section of Electric Dreams 4-9 you will be able to see a sample of these dreams and their special and unique ways of coping with these events.

An now, what do we make of all this, what changes in our behavior and potentials are now available? In our articles section we deepen the imagery of this event and offer a few perspectives by which to help investigate our own dreams and feeling of September, 1997, a month when the whole world cried.

index

Gackenbach, Jayne (1997 September). Princess Diana's Death as a Ripple in the Collective Field of Consciousness: Personal Ruminations in the Context of My Work With the Cree. Electric Dreams 4(9). Retrieved July 26, 2000 from Electric Dreams on the World Wide Web: http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams  


Marks, Tracy (1997 September). Diana, the Living Myth: Diana/Artemis in Greek and Roman Mythology. Electric Dreams 4(9). Retrieved July 26, 2000 from Electric Dreams on the World Wide Web: http://www.deramgate.com/electric-dreams  

Magallón, Linda Lane (1997 September). Hooray! It's the End of an Age. Electric Dreams 4(9). Retrieved July 26, 2000 from Electric Dreams on the World Wide Web: http://www.deramgate.com/electric-dreams

Roberts, Maureen (1997 September). Dreams, Death and Diana: Lessons in Personal and Collective Healing. Electric Dreams 4(9). Retrieved July 26, 2000 from Electric Dreams on the World Wide Web: http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams  

Also, please see the Diana Dreams for September 1997 Electric Dreams :

http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-backissues/