Structured to work as an initiation, this book mimics the mystery schools of Greco-Roman antiquity whose rituals reenacted the lives of such gods as Osiris, Dionysus, and Demeter.
For dream mysteries, Mnemosynem is invoked in this book by Sarah Janes. The Greek goddess of memory and eloquence and mother of the Muses, Mnemosynem was worshipped by followers of Asclepius, god of medicine, in sleep temples where they sought to heal maladies through dreaming. The goddess helped worshippers remember the visions they had during their dreams.
“Such ancient wisdom invites us to learn more about our own memory and consciousness, by studying and remembering ourselves in dreams,” Janes explains.
Janes connects the invocation of the Greek goddess of memory to the idea of lucid dreaming, in which people realize they are dreaming while in the dream state. As you perfect your life in the dream world, it carries over to your waking life, she suggests.
Armed with an extensive bibliography of research into the history of dreaming and dream interpretation, Janes’ book offers an authoritative history of how dreaming has been used in sacred contexts from ancient Mesopotamia, Greeks and Egyptians to the present day.