Flesh Off the Bone: Dream Descent through Past Life Traumas
Marc Bregman and Christa Lancaster
ISBN 978-0982999592

Review by Annie Perkins

The latest release from North of Eden Press, Flesh Off the Bone: Dream Descent through Past Life Trauma, chronicles the intensely intimate and moving story of Archetypal Dreamwork founders Marc Bregman and Christa Lancaster as they follow their dreams into the caverns of hidden trauma experienced in their past lives to rediscover a spiritual life and a deep and abiding love they had once shared.

While Bregman and Lancaster’s new book is rich with insight about dreams, archetypal mythology, working with trauma and the rise of the sacred feminine, Flesh Off the Bone is primarily a love story — told with grace and humor — that invites the reader into not only the passion and excitement but also the excruciating vulnerability of this couple’s coming together.

Having worked closely as colleagues for over twenty years, Bregman and Lancaster shared a deep friendship and an unshakable commitment to bringing Archetypal Dreamwork into the world. After failed marriages for each of them, they suddenly found themselves dreaming of a more intimate relationship together. What they could not have imagined was the intensity with which their past lives would rise to meet them in their dreams as they surrendered to the passionate feelings they had for each other.

Their dreams clearly led them back to the 1200s and a lifetime in Southern France where they lived together as spouses and teachers but ultimately were killed for their Gnostic faith. This path required them to face into the terror and trauma of their persecution lifetimes ago, as well as open themselves wholly to the incredible love and support of the divine world which has safely held their souls for hundreds of years. After lifetimes apart, they reclaimed not only their souls, but their life together, united in love and a deep commitment to bring God’s work, as they once lived it, back to the world. Flesh Off the Bone is truly a book for everyone — a compelling and intensely intimate portrayal of one couple’s commitment to creating an authentic relationship as well as the story of answering the call when the soul beckons. In reading this book and taking this fascinating journey, I was reminded of the quote by Robert Frost: “the only way round is through.” Bregman and Lancaster show us that although the way back to the soul can be arduous, there is nothing to do but dive in. In The Red Book, Carl Jung writes “The knowledge of the heart is in no book and is not to be found in the mouth of any teacher, but grows out of you like the green seed from the dark earth.”  Like Jung, Bregman and Lancaster believe that “dreams are the guiding words of the soul” and so they simply followed them home. Their extraordinary descent speaks to that desire in each of us to reacquaint ourselves with the land of our hearts. Since their own transformative journeys, Bregman and Lancaster have been helping others recognize and work with regressive dreams — going beyond the realm of psychological healing and into the descent of the soul where the human spirit can be made whole again. “The healing work of the dream is nothing short of the complete resolution and reclamation of the soul’s capacity to evolve,” they write.

This important book opens new territory in the fields of both psychological and spiritual healing, territory open to all who have the courage to take the journey offered by their dreams.

Tags: dreams, shared dreaming