Destiny Dreams: Path to Transformation

Notes from a Lecture and Workshop given to the Jung Society of Washington D.C. 

© By Steven Herrmann, MFT, Jungian Analyst

What are destiny dreams? How can we learn from them inside or outside Jungian analysis? Can destiny dreams lead us on a path to Transformation? By Transformation, I mean transformation in a neo-Jungian sense, that is, Transformation with a capital T. I believe Self-realization of the destiny principle is at work in the Relative and Absolute dimensions of your being/Being simultaneously and that it is possible to unite these two aspects of your personality in an integral way that is trans-dual. I will make these postulates practical and clear for you by providing some concise definitions and synonyms of for the word destiny first.

4 Definitions for the Word Destiny:

1) Destiny refers to a predetermined, preestablished, premeditated course of events in your lives, that is, a series of events that, despite all outer misfortunes or mishaps, can nevertheless lead you to good fortune, or what the ancient Chinese philosophers of the I Ching, and the Amherst poet, Emily Dickinson, called “superiority to fate,” where your very being can become a “fortune superior to time” and whereby, through your own efforts and work, you can become a blessing to others. In the I Ching this is referred to as Supreme Good Fortune. 

2) Destiny can lead you to fortuitus outcomes by faithfully following the path of your predestined vocation, a calling that aims towards a final destination, a terminus, which is inevitable in the natural course of your life: the aim or goal of your complete individuation, Incarnation of Selfhood, or Wholeness. 

3) Destiny is a guiding principle that is felt to be irrepresentable, irresistible, and irrevocable. Your destiny cannot be changed because it is superior to all external blows of fate. 

4) Destiny signifies a future path, way, or purpose, such as in the statement: “She believed, during her first year at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) that her destiny was to become a creative writing teacher and a poet.” This was the basic idea of a female student I had the honor to work with at UCSC in 1981. Why did she believe this? Because she had a series of destiny dreams that confirmed her vocation at the relatively young age of 21. Who confirmed it for her? The Self did. Who was the young woman? A person who was in a class that I co-taught with the Catholic and Jungian poet-shaman, William Everson, formerly Brother Antoninus of the Dominican Order. How did she know it was her destiny to become a writing teacher and a California poet? Because of the main hypothesis Bill Everson postulated in his course “Birth of a Poet,” and for which I had the honor to have served as his teaching assistant in the Literature Department at UCSC for five quarters. The basic idea in our research together was that vocational dreams contain the secret mystery of your calling in life. (I presented this woman’s destiny dream in part 2 of my lecture. I won't re-produce it here). 

14 Synonyms for the word Destiny are as follows:

1) Fate, which implies inevitably.

2) Fortune, destiny shaped by chance, good luck, purpose, or portion. 

3) Kismet, a Turkish/Arabic-derived word meaning “what is allotted.” 

4) Providence, destiny guided by a divine or benevolent intelligence in the Cosmos, psyche, or Nature. In philosophy and religion, destiny is referred to as an over-arching pattern of the will/Will, necessity, or a divine plan. Herman Melville wrote beautifully in Moby-Dick: “And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the divine programme of Providence that was drawn up long ago.” 

5) Karma, a fate or destiny shaped by past actions and moral causality. 

6) Lot, one’s portion in life; a term that has Biblical resonances. 

7) Doom, meaning “what is decreed” from a power greater than your own ego, a word with darker connotations. For instance, in a poem written in 1883, Emily Dickinson wrote that her head was “scalped” by “Doom’s Electric Moccasin” (J 1593/F 1618), the divine “Bolt” she said that she would not exchange “For all the rest of Life―.” 

8) Calling, your destiny as a vocation with a soul-direction. For instance, Walt Whitman spoke of the inevitability of religious democracy arising from the American Soul, a destiny that celebrates “One common indivisible destiny for All” (LG, 348), one individual at a time. 

9) Mandate, destiny framed as a charge or commission from God, parents, or the ancestors. 

10) Telos, an inherent end or purpose towards which your life-purpose moves across time. 

11) Determinism, your destiny as it is governed by causal necessity. 

12) Thread, a word which evokes the three Fates of world mythology, spinning, measuring, and cutting your threads of life. 

13) Appointed hour of your destiny, a time of destiny, or a moment of culmination in your individuation, such as during the birth of your child, whether real or imaginal. 

14) Script, destiny as a prewritten narrative, play, or autobiographical novel.

Now, if you consider the generally recognized similarity of life and dreams, and that each of us is the hidden playwright or architect of his or her own dreams, then you may come to see in time that destiny influences you from a region far beyond the horizons of your individual perceiving empirical consciousness…. 

A destiny dream is your own personal and transpersonal dream of Wholeness. Everyone dreams only what is appropriate to his or her own guidance from the Self, and yet all dreams of destiny are interwoven so artfully and skillfully into the fabric of your lives that in the end, what you have left on the earth when you die is your marks of singularity…

To anyone in the helping professions, whether you are a religious or spiritual counselor, a professional coach, psychotherapist, psychiatric nurse, psychiatrist, a patient in analytic treatment, or an analyst, I say: Pay careful attention to your vocational dreams! They will keep you in touch with the source of your highest motivations... 

The scientific study of destiny dreams is one of the most fascinating subjects in the field of analytical psychology today. They are rarely analyzed in any systematic way, yet, in my view, they provide a rich source of empirical information about the nature of the human psyche and its spiritual aims... 

Destiny dreams need to be reflected upon and listened to, for they are the voice of Nature speaking to you in symbolic ways. They are the voice of your Body Self, your biological instincts, the spirit in matter. When you awaken the Self, you give voice to the destiny of the Supreme within you… 

It is my belief that destiny dreams need to be carefully studied from an analytic standpoint to show you why they are so important in the overall outworking of your lives. They may instruct you, for instance, on ways you can take creative action in the world right Now, to be of lasting benefit to future generations in an increasingly complex global society...

OK, with these ideas in mind, close your eyes, or keep them slightly open, focusing on your breath, at your own pace. Feeling yourself sinking into your body notice if there are any sensations, feelings, images, or thoughts that are present there. If you find yourself wandering just bring yourself gently back to the present. As I speak to you, allow yourself to engage with the words in your psyche, its rhythms, energies and notice what arises inside of you... 

How do my words and images I use make you feel? What words, sensations, images arise in you? What is your experience now? Allow yourself to engage in an inner dialogue, or in a way you can relate to something transcendent, whatever you experience there. Stay with this experience now. Then, when you are ready, pick up your pen, or begin writing or typing into your computer, or just reflect silently, whatever words want to flow through you...

Here are some further suggestions on journaling I will leave you with: Begin your daily practice of writing down some lines, whatever comes to your minds. Write freely. Enter the streams of consciousness in the moment...  Stay there for a time. Go on a vision quest into symbolic reality. Find out what your soul has to say. Listen. Follow Her lead. Go into the land that is uncreated. Be there in peace... 

Sink down into the earth and soil beneath your feet. Take off your shoes, if you like; stand barefoot as you once did as a child... Allow yourself to write or speak with the whole rhythms of your body. Stay focused in your vocal center. Allow your imagination to become equal with your speech. Let your words become equal to your visions...

If you stop to listen, you’ll hear the poem of your body speaking, chanting earth-words, which are sacred, transformational, utterly real. Write frequently in your Journals and go out alone, or with a friend, on walking meditations. Feel your interconnectedness with your dream animals and take instructions from them. Learn to find answers to your questions by speaking with your inner wise-man, wise-woman, or spirit animals... Follow your Self-path.

Meditation on Destiny: A Poem                                                                   2/18/2026

The only thing that really matters today is that we follow our destiny.

This is what Carl Gustav Jung taught in 1909 until his death in 1961:

Fulfill your life’s destinies, betimmungen in German, two of them,

One to the Self, the other to Society.

In the Ground of your soul, you have a destiny to society, to culture, to 

       the collectivity,

And a destiny to the Self that needs you to live out your callings to vocation.

It has been my vocation to teach this simple truth ever since I first stepped foot 

       in Bill Everson’s course 

“Birth of a Poet” at UC Santa Cruz in 1980, where I served as his TA.

The destiny of our world is in evolution towards Spiritual Democracy.

There is no denying this. 

It is indisputable.

I believe in this with all of my heart and all of my mind.

We, the people, with no distinction in geography, gender, sexual orientation, 

       color, class, or creed, need to get the message out that we are all

One family, one human race, one globe.

We are one human species in the Ground of our being, 

We are one planet, one unique Destiny.

Our ultimate destination is to Love.

We only need to listen to the sounds of our hearts.

The dream of your destiny is your Holy Grail, the most precious jewel of 

       your  identity, 

The sacred chalice, the hidden treasure of your innermost Selfhood.

It is within you.

It is the goal of all your longings, all desires, all passions 

On your quest for the 

Goal to your spiritual Transformation.

There is a destiny you are called to perform on earth,

A calling from infancy and early childhood, a vocation to live by, 

Whether in music, 

Science, mathematics, or depth-psychology. 

Destiny dreams should be at the center of Jungian analysis.

Our whole life revolves around our dreams as the planets around the sun, 

Or like protons and neutrons spinning around the nucleus of an atom. 

Find the nuclear source of your vocation and the paradox of your destiny is solved.

I have faith,

I have tremendous hope in the future of world democracy. 

Our planet is ailing with the plagues of too much civilization and its wastes, 

       in our seas, rivers, and air. 

The Destiny of our species needs us to fulfill our callings before it is too late.

It is all about the Destiny of our world now.

We must become environmentalists, 

Stewards of the land, planters of trees, protectors of our Mother Earth,

Gardeners of God’s Creation, guardians of our Planet, protectors of all precious species.