Examples of Validation Processes

Validation Example: College Professor

In an academic setting, a college professor in psychology serves as the Validator for a cohort of students who have agreed to participate in the Dream Ocean Project as part of their coursework. The process is designed to be both rigorous enough to maintain integrity and informal enough to encourage open participation.

At the outset, the professor oversees the completion of each student’s demographic materials. This step ensures that all required fields are filled out accurately and establishes a baseline of credibility. At this stage, the professor is aware of the student’s real identity. Once demographic verification is complete, however, the student creates an Avatar and customizes their personal Dream Grimoire. From this point forward, the professor interacts only with anonymized dream entries, never tying individual dreams back to the student’s real-world identity.

The professor maintains regular contact with students through both group discussions and one-on-one meetings. The subject of dreams is addressed openly in these sessions, fostering a climate of curiosity and seriousness. In this environment, the professor is able to make a general but reasonable judgment about the authenticity of participation: Are the students engaged? Are they producing dreams in a manner consistent with genuine reflection?

Dream validation in this context does not require intrusive or forensic analysis. For example, the professor might notice if a student attempted to upload twenty dreams within three days—an anomaly that could raise questions about authenticity. Otherwise, the professor is not tasked with deep scrutiny of content or symbolic meaning. Instead, their role is to vouch for their students, verifying the aspects within their control (demographics, steady participation, general honesty) and trusting the students’ good faith as contributors.

This balance of trust and verification ensures that the validation process is both academically credible and humanly respectful. It recognizes that the ultimate goal is not to police the inner lives of students, but to establish a dependable framework where authentic dreams can flow into the Ocean with integrity.

Validation Example: Jungian Therapy School

In a Jungian therapy institute or training school, validation flows naturally from the existing structure of therapeutic education. Students of depth psychology are already committed to the study of dreams as central to their training, and they typically keep detailed dream journals as part of their practice. Within the Dream Ocean framework, these students become Dreamers, while their supervising analysts or instructors act as Validators.

The process begins with the therapist-educator confirming the demographic information and ensuring that each student properly establishes their Avatar and Dream Grimoire. As with the university setting, the supervisor initially sees real identities only long enough to verify the demographic submission. After that point, dream entries appear under Avatars, preserving anonymity.

Dreams are then submitted in the course of ongoing supervision and seminar work. The supervising analyst is in regular dialogue with students about their dream material and can form a holistic sense of whether the entries represent authentic engagement. Because Jungian training emphasizes honesty, reflection, and continuity in dream practice, the validation process is essentially an extension of what already occurs in the curriculum.

Validators in this context are not analyzing or interpreting the dreams for the Dream Ocean. Instead, they are attesting to the integrity of the submission process: that dreams were genuinely recorded by the Dreamer, submitted consistently, and reflect the Dreamer’s own work. As with professors in an academic course, Jungian educators are not expected to apply excessive scrutiny or suspicion, but to balance trust with professional oversight.

This model ensures that contributions from Jungian therapy schools enter the Dream Ocean with a high level of credibility. The relationship between student and supervisor already rests on mutual commitment to depth work, making validation both natural and minimally disruptive.

Validation Example: Village Elder

In traditional societies where dreams are deeply entwined with healing, guidance, and communal life, the role of Validator may be fulfilled by a respected elder. This could be a healer, priest, shaman, or community leader for whom dream-sharing is already a natural and trusted practice. In such contexts, validation does not emerge from academic procedures but from the continuity of cultural authority and trust within the community.

The process begins with the elder guiding participants into the Dream Ocean framework. The elder may help community members complete their demographic materials, ensuring accuracy before Avatars and personal Grimoires are created. Once demographics are confirmed, all dreams are uploaded under Avatars to preserve anonymity within the Ocean, though the elder may still recognize which members are participating.

Dreams are often shared in communal or ritual settings—around the hearth, in ceremonies, or within healing gatherings. The elder listens, as is customary, not only for symbolic richness but for sincerity and authenticity. Validation here does not require technical scrutiny; it rests on the elder’s trusted role in affirming whether the dream has been truthfully told and faithfully recorded.

While the elder’s interpretations are not part of the formal validation process, Dreamers may choose to preserve them within their own personal Grimoire. In the Dreamer’s personal entry section, alongside the dream record, a Dreamer can include the elder’s words, teachings, or interpretations as part of their reflective journey. This keeps the formal validation process free from interpretation, while still honoring the cultural dimension in which dream and meaning are inseparable.

Furthermore, it will not be required that an Elder validate every dream of the people they are working with, only that they validate the authenticity of the dreamer. The Elder, like the college professor, is really simply vouching for the dreamer’s integrity.

This model ensures that the Dream Ocean embraces contributions beyond academic settings, maintaining integrity while honoring traditions where dream-sharing has always been central to individual and communal well-being.