I am writing to invite you to participate in an exciting project involving dreams in this time of worldwide pandemic.

I am collecting dreams by email from people-any one may participate. I will offer the dreamer a short written discussion of some of the elements of the dream. Of course, it is the dreamer who has the ultimate authority over the dream’s meaning. With mutual input, however, we can arrive at a general idea of the dream.

The dream itself will be counted in my database, to be analyzed and used in grouped statistics. Confidentiality is guaranteed; no names will be used, and individual dreams will not be presented except in the barest-bones sort of way to illustrate themes. There is no money offered for participation.

A word about myself: I have analyzed dreams and taught dream theory for over 30 years, and have conducted other dream studies in the past. About 20 years ago, I solicited dreams from my then-new Website and analyzed them, for free, using a similar methodology. It was useful and fun and I worked with about 500 dreams submitted by strangers over the period of a few years. As no one has ever conducted a study of dreams during a pandemic, this time offers a wonderful opportunity.

For the project, I will do a content analysis of the dreams I have gathered. In a content analysis, various elements are explicated and counted, including symbols, contexts, themes, and so on. This pandemic is evoking extremely deep and unconscious structures and terrors, as well as surprising coping mechanisms. People are accessing deep issues of trauma, fear and danger, dimensions of basic trust, attachment, narcissistic wellbeing, belonging, safety, loss of agency, to name a few. While there is no way to determine any baseline in this study, dreamers can be asked if the dream is usual or unusual for them. For example, in the samples I have begun to collect, there are many dreams that pertain to World War II, something that virtually all the dreamers report as being unusual for them.

Also emerging are more stunning dream symbolism and themes: brave rescues, extraordinarily mature responses to stress, a burgeoning appreciation of the “simple’,” unusual gifts being offered, such as a shining star on a platter. People are talking about change, evolution, a movement toward the simple, the sacred. It is possible that our dreams are reflecting, in addition to stressors, the movement toward change we have long hoped to witness in ourselves and in our world.

I have analyzed dreams and taught dream theory for over 30 years, and have conducted other dream studies in the past. About 20 years ago, I solicited dreams from my then-new Website and analyzed them, for free, using a similar methodology. It was useful and fun and I worked with about 500 dreams submitted by strangers over the period of a few years. As no one has ever conducted a study of dreams during a pandemic, this time offers a wonderful opportunity.

I want to note that this study will not be valid or reliable from a psychometric point of view. Actually, It is almost impossible to conduct a controlled study of dreams. This will, however, offer dreamers and people interested in dreams an opportunity to participate and read about the deep content that is being toggled by the current life situations as they impact individual consciousness.

You can submit dreams to me in writing at simko@mac.com. My final report will appear here on this site.

I hope that you will contact me, and I thank you for interest.