Get used to rotating roles within your group. In other words, give everyone the chance to play (1) dreamer (the one who will tell the story); (2) guide (the one who will lead the process of exploring the dream and helping the dreamer to move towards and action plan to honor the dream and embody its energy and guidance) and (3) family support and timekeeper (the one who will bear witness, offer some personal associations, and make sure that the sharing doesn’t spill over an agreed time limit, so energy isn’t dissipated).

Then practice two techniques for engaging more deeply with the dreams and bringing energy and insight from the dream world into the group. The first is dream reentry, which is again explained in my books mentioned above. Dream reentry means using a remembered dream as the portal for a wide-awake lucid dream. When practiced with a group, the dreamer invites the others to become trackers who with journey into her space – typically with the aid of shamanic drumming – to share an adventure in shamanic lucid dreaming in the multiverse, to provide backup in challenging situations, and to bring back information and impressions.

The second technique for honoring dreams within the group is dream theater, the pinnacle of improv, often wildly entertaining and energizing. Briefly, whoever is playing guide will help the dreamer to cast every member of the group to portray a character or element from the dream and then to choreograph the production. During the performance, the dreamer is free to add new acts to the dream play, which can facilitate healing and resolution. At the end of the show, the dreamer interviews the players, who will share what they can, speaking from their roles in the play.

When your group has mastered these core techniques of Active Dreaming, you are ready to agree to a regular schedule for meetings. Once a month may be often enough. To make your gatherings super-fun and friendly, you may want to organize them as “Dinner & Dreams”. In the first hour of the gathering, you’ll practice Lightning Dreamwork and get everyone accustomed to playing multiple roles: to finding their voice and telling their stories, and to playing dream guide, timekeeper and family friend.

You could then break for dinner. By the end of dinner, you’ll have decided whose dream is calling most urgently for further exploration or embodiment. Then, in the final hour of the gathering, you’ll orchestrate a group journey into a chosen dream and/or dream theater, using one of the dreams shared earlier as your script. Of course, you can skip the dinner part if you have limited time. 

You don’t have a drummer to power and focus the group adventures in shamanic lucid dreaming? No worries. I have recorded my own shamanic drumming CD for dream travelers. It’s titled Wings for the Journey, and is available from Psyche Productions.