Decoding dreams and nightmares through Midjourney

Kirsten Swensen
4 min readSep 20, 2023

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A close representation of my visualised dream and nightmare (made in Midjourney) — I was exploring this desolate planet and dimension in my dream and was ready for scotty to beam me out of there!

Dreams have long been a source of fascination and mystery for humans. They offer a unique window into our subconscious minds, often revealing thoughts, emotions, and experiences that remain hidden during our waking hours. Throughout history, people have attempted to document and interpret their dreams, believing that doing so can provide valuable insights into their inner psyche. The process of recording and analyzing dreams has evolved significantly with the advent of technology. Especially now with the rise of artificial intelligence. Let’s explore how technology has made it easier than ever to journal dreams in a visual manner and how it can aid in understanding the complex relationship between our dream psyche and subconsciousness.

The fascination with visualizing dreams and nightmares is deeply rooted in the human psyche. Throughout history, dreams have been seen as mysterious and often prophetic glimpses into the inner workings of the mind. Ancient civilizations believed that dreams were messages from the gods, while Freudian psychoanalysis suggested that dreams were the “royal road to the unconscious.” In both cases, the idea was that understanding dreams could provide insight into our deepest desires, fears, and unresolved conflicts. In the past people recorded their dreams by keeping journals or in written form. These methods often fall short in capturing the vivid imagery, emotions, and sensory experiences that are visible in dreams. This limitation hindered our ability to fully comprehend the symbolism and meaning hidden within our dreams and often people forget the details or their dream entirely.

Midjourney is an AI-powered platform that allows us to our words if they are descriptive enough. It leverages advanced image generation algorithms to create stunning visual representations. With this tool it is much more easy and interesting for us to describe our dreams. Midjourney can help with translating these descriptions and prompts into immersive visual realities and can potentially bridge the gap between the dream world and the waking world, enabling us to see our dreams come to life and see if it matches our imagination or even strengthens it.

The ease of use and accessibility of Midjourney can have a profound change on the way people journal their dreams. No longer constrained by the limitations of written or spoken language, individuals can now provide detailed descriptions of their dream experiences, including colors, shapes, settings, and emotions. This allows us to revisit and explore our dreams in a way that was previously unimaginable.

To understand the significance of visualizing dreams with Midjourney, it is essential to explore the relationship between our dream psyche and our subconscious mind. Dreams are not random; they are a reflection of our inner thoughts, feelings, and memories. Our subconscious mind, the reservoir of these hidden elements, communicates with our conscious mind through the medium of dreams. Dreams often contain symbols, metaphors, and narratives that provide clues about our emotional state, unresolved conflicts, and unfulfilled desires.

“By visualizing dreams with the help of AI, we gain access to a rich tapestry of images and experiences that can be analyzed to uncover patterns and themes. This process allows us to delve deeper into the recesses of our subconscious mind and gain a better understanding of ourselves.”

Artificial intelligence plays an important role in the visualisation and interpretation of dreams. However, AI algorithms are trained on vast datasets of known descriptions and visual elements and are based on what we know are correct presentations of that symbol. However there can be many different interpretations and meaning around the same symbols as many different cultures exist and therefore it is always still up to the dreamer to decode the true meaning and see what resonates and accurately craft compelling representations of the dream content. Additionally, AI can identify recurring themes and symbols across multiple dreams, providing valuable insights into the dreamer’s inner world. AI can assist in the analysis of dream data by identifying patterns and correlations that may not be immediately apparent to the human eye. It can help uncover the emotional significance of certain dream elements and highlight recurring motifs, potentially revealing hidden psychological patterns and conflicts.

The fascination of visualizing dreams and nightmares with Midjourney lies in its ability to bridge the gap between the conscious and subconscious mind. This new way of visualisation allows us to capture the rich visual experiences of our dreams and provides us with a powerful platform for exploring the depths of our subconsciousness. It can potentially improve lucid dreaming as we train ourselves to remember by immediate visualization.

Although its still relatively difficult to exactly visualise a full dream, it can provide is with an image that is based on a memory of the dream, or we can describe the symbol in the dream we know and describe the emotion we felt with this. By leveraging AI technology, we can gain a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between our dream psyche and our inner world. As technology continues to advance, the exploration of dreams through AI promises to unlock new insights into the human mind and offer a more profound connection to our inner selves.

Have you already started visualising your dreams? Happy dreaming!

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Kirsten Swensen

Senior Product Designer & Creative Technologist passionate about design, stories, meditation, philosophy, artificial intelligence and consciousness.