The Dream Journal Imagination, Dreamwork, and the Sacred Encounter with Rodger Kamenetz
What is sacredness and how can I find more of it in my life? Rodger Kamenetz teaches us a spiritual practice that leads us toward a deeper experience of life. His latest book is Seeing into the Life of Things: Imagination and the Sacred Encounter.
Short clip of the convo available here: https://youtu.be/rM8OGWNenhg
Rodger starts by talking about what’s changed for him since releasing his pivotal book in 2007, The History of Last Night’s Dream. He talks about dream images in the context of images in memory and perception and about the power of images to bring feeling, whether those images are from waking life, from memory, or from dreams. We also talk about biophilia, the power of radical amazement, and finding meaning in waking life moments.
You can find a description of his blessing practice for free at howimagesheal.com
After the break we take a call from Kat from Delaware who asks about how to work with more difficult images which brings up a discussion about feeling vs reacting. Max in the studio asks how this practice is applied to waking life experiences. And finally the caller Donna, from Cleveland OH asks about anxiety and Rodger replies that terror is the perfect cure for anxiety.
Rodger ends by telling us about his workshop series that begins January 14. Details and register here:
BIO: Rodger Kamenetz founded Natural Dreamwork, an international group of twenty dreamwork practitioners. His sixteen books of poetry and prose include The History of Last Night’s Dream featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Soul Series and The Jew in the Lotus, an international bestseller. His new book is Seeing into the Life of Things: Imagination and the Sacred Encounter.
This show, episode number 343, was recorded during a live broadcast on December 27, 2025 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz.
Previous Dream Journal convo with Rodger Kamenetz:
Bring Your Dreams to Life with Rodger Kamenetz
Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Erik Nelson for answering the phones.
SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at katherine@ksqd.org. Follow on FB, IG, LI, & YT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com.
The Dream Journal aims to: Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams. Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships. Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites.
A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means.