Can we not see how a whole nation is reviving an archaic symbol, yes even archaic religious forms, and how this mass emotion is influencing and revolutionizing the life of the individual in a catastrophic manner?   

~ C. G. Jung, The Concept of the Collective Unconscious

Often dreams were the earliest signs,  - the first small compromise, the first minor sin of omission marking the beginning of a gradual process by which man’s will was to become weakened  to the point of total atrophy.

~ Charlotte Beradt The Third Reich of Dreams

In January 2017 Martha Crawford began gathering, organizing, archiving, and contemplating – our dreams of Trump and the rising threat of autocracy – in order to see what themes emerge in the collective psyche.

What guidance did our dreams have offer?

How did the individual and collective unconscious respond to the strain of this moment in history?

Let’s listen:

• He was walking north up Fifth Avenue with a sub-machine gun, shooting everyone. Rocking a Davy Crockett fur hat…

• I’ve had several Trump dreams that range from punching him in the face to getting sexually accosted.

• I also had a dream about Hillary the night of the election. I was holding her on my knees & hugging her while crying. I don’t know if that was the result of my surgery meds

• After the debate where he creeped up on Hillary, I dreamed he was trying to find me to do me harm.

• My friend, who is a very logical thinker and not dramatic (who also doesn’t often share his emotions/fears), told me he woke up in the middle of the night to thunder, but his first, very real thought was, “Trump did it. We are at war.” Life in America, 2017.

• Dreamed I was watching my buddy Keanu Reeves fronting a band in a small venue, when Donald and Melania arrived, and had shitty seats. He seemed kind of sad, and I felt almost guilty for not liking him. Donald kept dropping my name – which I hadn’t told him- both to impress Keanu and to let me know I was being surveilled. I didn’t care and decided that I would not be controlled by that.

If you wish to read more about these dreams, Martha has shared her notes

You can follow along at the Bluesky dream collection account @45dreams.bsky.social