THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406170098
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: Medium
Van de Castle views himself a little differently - as a mythic tribal storyteller.
{REST} Now the storyteller has completed a comprehensive book on dreams that his peers are comparing to works by Freud.
Van de Castle's ``Our Dreaming Mind'' was published this month by Ballantine Books. The book is a popular approach by an internationally known dream researcher. He looks at the history of dreams and at modern dream theories. He examines lab research and the effects of gender, society, stress and aging on dream content. He offers clues to the meaning behind dream imagery.
The book was handed out to media representatives during a recent screening of ``The Power of Dreams,'' airing this week on The Discovery Channel. (See main story.) Van de Castle was a consultant for the television series, along with Henry Reed, a Virginia Beach psychologist and dream researcher.
``Our Dreaming Mind'' was the first book sold by Sandra Martin, executive producer of the television series and a former Virginia Beach resident. (Martin co-sold it in 1988 with another literary agent.)
In the afterword, Van de Castle reveals where three decades of dream study have brought him.
``I feel a strong bonding with the mythical figure of Netsua,'' Van de Castle writes.
You've never read about Netsua, because Van de Castle devised him during a workshop. Van de Castle envisioned Netsua - a sort of alter ego for the professor - interacting in a tribal setting:
``I know as he circled among the members of his tribe around the campfire,'' wrote Van de Castle, ``he would tell them about dreams their ancestors had recounted, remind them of dreams that had led to different ways of doing things for the tribe, and repeat what he had heard from the elders of the various clans about their views on dreams.''
Netsua told his people everything he knew of dreams, a knowledge gleaned from many sources.
That's what Van de Castle aims to do, too.
The scholar shares the storyteller's hope that ``his people would come to appreciate more deeply, and use more frequently, the gift of `clear-seeing at night.' ''
``Our Dreaming Mind'' is Van de Castle's first major effort to sharpen the night vision of the general populace. His previous writings have mostly been geared to the scientific community and contain data regarding REM sleep - the rapid-eye-movement phase, during which people dream - and other phenomena.
While there's plenty of scientific data in ``Our Dreaming Mind,'' the book offers much more.
``This book unifies the field of dream studies like no other has done before,'' writes Robert Bosnak, a Boston-based Jungian therapist who organizes international dream conferences.
``The range of its scope is dazzling. Not since `The Interpretation of Dreams' (1900) by Sigmund Freud has a book been published that should be read by everyone who wishes to research the dreaming soul.''
Van de Castle, 66, retired from U.Va. last year, but remains professor emeritus in the department of psychiatric medicine. He has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He worked on his first dream project in 1963 with Calvin Hall, then the world's leading dream researcher, Van de Castle writes. In 1966, he and Hall wrote ``The Content Analysis of Dreams,'' a classic in the field.
On the pop culture side, he's appeared on Phil Donahue's and David Letterman's TV shows.
Recently, he's been setting up a dream consultation business via mail. Send him a note, and he'll mail you a personality form; mail back the completed form along with two detailed dreams. For $40, you'll get a half-hour cassette tape with Van de Castle's commentary on your dreams.
He's still involved in research. Lately, he is soliciting two kinds of dreams, including dreams by folks over age 50. ``The population is graying so rapidly, and there hasn't been much done'' on older dreamers.
He also wants examples of spiritual dreams, especially ones that include angels or angelic presences. Mail your detailed dreams (or dream consultation query) to P.O. Box 3048, University Station, Charlottesville, Va. 22903. by CNB