What does the Bible teach us about how to understand our own dreams? In this Christmas Eve edition of the Dream Journal, we speak with Carol Oschman about her book, Biblical Dream Study. The Bible mentions dreams 134 times, yet the dreams of modern-life parishioners are rarely mentioned from the pulpit. Carol Oschmann shares with us practical advice about understanding our own dreams derived from looking at the way that the Biblical figures interpreted theirs. She shares many Bible dream stories including Jacob, Solomon and of course, Joseph and his famous interpretation of the dream of the seven fat cows being eaten up by the seven lean cows.
For example, Carol suggests that we, like Jacob, turn and face the beings that are chasing us in our own dreams, either in the dream itself or in waking life imagination. She also defines what she calls “Golden Sword” dreams akin to Judas’ dream of being given a sword to defeat his enemies. These are dreams in which we are given tools to accomplish our goals. She gives examples of how she and others have been helped by ideas presented in dreams. We finish by touching on how dreams help with the grief of bereavement and Carol shares her own journey of recently losing her husband.
BIO: Carol began her journey with dreams due to a spiritual awakening in 1985. She’s traveled and spoken across the country and in England, taught dream interpretation in a prison for three years, led several dream groups. The spiritual experience was so exciting, that’s all she wanted to talk about. Unfortunately the pastor in her Methodist church didn’t agree and asked her not to come back. This book “Biblical Dream Study” in a way is her answer to those Christians who don’t believe that God speaks to us in dreams. (Note that the correct way to pronounce Carol’s last name is “Osh-man”.)
You can find our guest at CarolOschmann.com
Intro music is Water over Stones and outro music is Everything both by Mood Science. Today’s ambient music is created by Rick Kleffel. The audio can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick Kleffel for also engineering the show, to Tony Russomano for answering the phones and to Ewa Malady for audio editing.
Show aired on December 24, 2022.
The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM, streaming live at KSQD.org 10-11am Saturday mornings Pacific time. Catch it live and call in with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or at onair@ksqd.org.
If you want to contact Katherine Bell with feedback, suggestions for future shows or to inquire about exploring your own dreams with her, contact katherine@ksqd.org, or find out more about her at ExperientialDreamwork.com.
Available on all major podcast platforms. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal.
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I just listened to half of this episode today. I am also a Christian who pays attention to my dreams and I agree that many Christians and many churches don’t take dreams as seriously as they should – not even mentioning dreams when it would be relevant. I’m not a Christian dream expert at all (only started paying attention 8 years ago), but I don’t thinks Carol is aware of what is happening in some Christian circles regarding dreams. She makes it sound like churches don’t care at all. There are actually many types of Christian churches in which dreams are often mentioned publicly (many of them Pentecostal and Pentecostal-ish). Catholics often find meaning in their dreams too. Many evangelicals would also be open to the idea that dreams can be meaningful.
I’m none of those – I’m from the reformed tradition which includes Lutherans, Presbyterians and various Dutch denominations. All of those tend to be overly intellectual, so sometimes things like dreams are hard to accept simply because they’re mystical. But there’s nothing we believe that actually means dreams can’t be meaningful or from God.
I just want you to know that Carol can’t speak for all of us. She isn’t aware of what’s going on in the Christian world since she hasn’t been attending church for 40 years, right?