A Dream Incubation Experience

Dearest Dreamers:

Last week, I outlined the steps for incubating a dream to answer a question.  This week, I’m proud to share a dream incubation experience discussed with me (with the permission of) Janell Moon.

Janell is a graduate of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and is a San Francisco Bay Area counselor and hypnotherapist in private practice, as well as an instructor at the College of Marin Community College.  She is an award-winning author of 4 books of spiritual nonfiction and 6 volumes of poetry.  She is Poet Laureate of Emeryville, California.

She writes:

Dear SMYD,

Years ago when I was first publishing as an adult and was divorcing, I didn't want to use my married name that started with “Szyd,” as it was too difficult, and not my own ethnicity.  I didn't want to return to my maiden name, “Pfau,” my dad's name.

It was the year before women had the right to go back to their maiden name automatically at the time of divorce, if they wanted.  But in California, usage of a name without intent to defraud is a legitimate way to have your name changed in time.  So I decided to dream a name and begin using it! 

I began suggesting to myself every night at my own twilight/falling-to-sleep time that I would dream a new name for myself.

In several nights, I dreamt of my Aunt Nell whom I had visited once a year, as a growing child, and had admired for being a solid of-the-earth type that she was: plain, hardworking, and good to me in a matter-of-fact way.  I realized my first name of Jan could incorporate my aunt’s name, and be changed to “Janell” pretty easily.  (I spelled it with only one “n” so my Aunt Nell and I could be closer.)

Not too long after (I was in no hurry), I dreamt of the lovely frost and snow of my childhood Ohio.  I loved waking in the morning to the white covering of the world.  I thought “Janell Frost” would be a good new name:  It had the three syllables I had wanted, better than the less interesting (I thought) two syllables of my maiden name, Jan Pfau.

I thought of how I loved frost.  I remembered how I wrote with my fingers on the window and liked the filigree look of the frost crystals.  But still, I wasn't sure.  In a couple of days, I realized Frost was a cold name and I was a warm, affectionate person.  I realized I could choose anything, i.e., I could have the moon!  And so I chose “Moon.”  Janell Moon.  It became my writing name and name of usage thirty years ago.

Signed,

Janell Moon, Poet Laureate of Emeryville, CA

Dear Janell,

Thanks so much for sharing your dream incubation experience!  Your dreams certainly gave you some practical guidance for addressing your question of changing your name.  Readers of Send Me Your Dreams can be encouraged to try the incubation process, asking their dreams for assistance with their own concerns.

Sweet Dreams!

SMYD

sendmeyourdreams@mail.com