In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung writes about a time in his life where he had many extraordinary dreams and visions. Jung had countless dreams throughout his life—some of which he discusses in detail in his memoir—but from about 1913 to 1917 his exposure to unconscious information was ramped up.
During that period he had accurate visions and dreams about the world war. He encountered various archetypes and, believe it or not, he even received guidance from a non-physical spiritual guide, called Philemon. I found this fascinating. How many scientifically-minded thinkers of Jung’s calibre will admit to seeing visions and spirit guides? I would venture a guess and say, not many.
I call this period of excessive access to unconscious information, a Moon Phase. In the Tarot, The Moon card is associated with the subconscious and dreams. Those things that are unknown to us. So, a Moon Phase is simply a period where we suddenly become aware of information beyond the veil of our physical reality. Even Jung described this experience like a “voyage to the moon” at one point.
A Moon Phase Is A Difficult Period
A Moon Phase is an extraordinarily difficult thing to go through. I liken it to something like a psychedelic experience. I’ve never done psychedelics. I consider my nervous system too sensitive for an assault such as an ayahuasca trip, but I do believe there are some parallels between the two. Both experiences allows one to become aware of an unseen reality. The difference is that a psychedelic experience might last for a day or two, while a Moon Phase can last weeks to months. Jung’s lasted years. To me, that seems unfathomable.
For Jung this period was tumultuous. He was showered with excessive and unwanted rushes of psychic information. His dreams and visions were vivid, violent and terrifying. Some of it spoke of global catastrophes. He experienced intense and turbulent emotions. He was often confused and deeply uncertain about what was happening to him.
Despite his fear and uncertainty, Jung went deep into the visions and dreams that he saw during this period. He wrote down what he could remember. He tried to understand what it all meant. He painted and drew some of what he saw. Some of it is documented in The Red Book. The entire period was so destabilising that he wondered if he would weather the storm.
It is obvious from reading Memories, Dreams, Reflections that this Moon Phase was profoundly destabilising. But if I’d read that account before I’d experienced my own Moon Phase, I would have found it unrelateable.
My Own Experience
My Moon Phase wasn’t nearly as terrifying and extensive as Jung’s. But Jung was after all one of the great minds of the unconscious, so we can expect that he would have a more comprehensive experience. But reading his memoir gave me some insight into this strange experience.
My Moon Phase lasted only a month or two. And (sadly) I did not speak to Philemon. But still, it was difficult. Most of my dreams were nightmarish warning dreams. I would often wake up in cold sweats. I did not know how to deal with this at all. I was fearful that some of these warning dreams would come to pass. It’s one thing to dream of your own issues—quite another to dream of a family member’s health, or global calamities. I’d worked with my dreams before then, but I’d never experienced such an intense amount of destabilising dreams, and well, yes, even visions and voices.
I also felt ungrounded during this time. Not just unfocused, but rather like I was floating away. On most days, even a run could not help. I became obsessive about certain things, and I worried constantly. I had to bring an enormous amount of mindfulness to certain thought-patterns. It’s possible that all of these worries were thoughts that had been repressed for years. But to confront it all in one go is terribly unsettling.
How To Navigate A Moon Phase
Two things helped me to get through this period. The first: As counter-intuitive as this might seem, it is important to take focus away from the unconscious material and put effort into daily well-being. Sleeping well. Eating well. Staying away from any and all dubious substances. That last part is arguably the most important. No alcohol, or nicotine, or even the occasional pain pill. It goes without saying that anything more potent than that is also out. Some light physical exercise will help. The second thing that helped me to regain balance was to consistently identify fear-based thought-patterns.
During my moon phase, I fell into extremely obsessive behaviour that I can only refer to as OCD. Behavioural psychology helped me break this disruptive pattern. The term OCD is often used inaccurately in conversation, but it describes something very specific. It describes a worrying-checking behaviour. The only way to actually break the cycle of worrying-checking is to not check. The idea is to bring awareness to the underlying fear that is driving the checking while simultaneously foregoing the actual checking. Reading up on (and applying) behavioural psychology was extremely effective with this.
In Jung’s Moon Phase, Philemon helped him to realise that he was not the initiator of his thoughts. Instead, Jung was encouraged to think of himself as the awareness behind the thoughts. This might not make much sense to a non-meditator, but there is some difference between being completely identified with a thought as opposed to viewing it from a sense of detached observation. Being identified with thought (especially fear-based thoughts) can initiate a state of extreme contraction and charge. A state of detached awareness has more flow and ease.
So, mindfulness and stillness can have great value during a Moon Phase.
Understanding The Vision Is Secondary To Emotional Stability, Physical Purity And Mental Clarity
Understanding the visions is secondary to emotional stability, physical purity and mental clarity. This is because it is easy to misinterpret the visions if we are not 1) sober-minded, 2) physically free from addictions, and 3) free from self-defeating emotions such as fear.
Sometimes people will confess to me that they want a drastic shift in their life. They think that such a shift is only possible through a substance like ayahuasca. But I have a different view: gentle and gradual integration is better. Progress is made in the daily things that we do. Progress is made in presence. Not big visions. Visions can be guiding lights. A vision is a roadmap. It’s important. But it means nothing if we cannot get the tiny steps right first.
If you’re going through a Moon Phase, pay attention to your health. Also, bring awareness to your thoughts and emotions. Try this before you try to understand the visions, dreams and voices. Visions and dreams have tremendous value—but only if we can get the basics right. The foundational things are the daily things: being present, cultivating emotional awareness, and building beneficial habits. Certain practices like spiritual reading and journalling might also fall into this category. Grand insights only matter if we can build on a stable foundation.
Related Post: Dreams and Synchronicity | Lessons from Jung