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The author, who was born in Finland, lived in Israel, and works with gemstones, has used her mystical experience to formulate this guidebook that focuses on the power of dreams. In the first section of the book she recounts her own significant dreams and those of others to whom she has given advice. She asserts that dreams, when properly interpreted, can make our waking life easier, as in the case of a woman who had a craving for a certain unobtainable food while pregnant; in a dream, she had all of the food she wanted and ate her fill, and upon waking, her obsessive craving had disappeared. The second part of the book is a lengthy alphabetized list of dream symbols and their application to life situations: under "D," "Disguise—are you hiding something in your waking life?"; under "M," "Magnolia is symbolic of beauty and elegance."
Though the author's use of the English language occasionally wavers, the information presented in this brief guide is nonetheless charming and thought provoking, obviously the work of long hours of contemplation. Some of Hawi's theories about dreaming run counter to conventional ideas. She asserts that nightmares are not, as Freud stated, merely unfulfilled desires, but can actually be warning us of a "chaos situation" requiring professional help.
Anyone who wants to keep a dream journal to connect with their inner life would enjoy reading this book and sharing it with like-minded friends. The alphabetical list is a useful reference point for personal dream study. Dreams Key to Our Soul offers not only the author's journey of discovery, but also the journey of the soul that is always happening for all of us.