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Welcome to the DreamStar Institute Activity Center. Here you can take✨Courses in the FiveStar Method, earn ✨Certification as a DreamStar Dreamwork Practitioner, and participate in our new DSI✨ Community (under development).

Dr. Sparrow's Welcome video

Kim Phetteplace, Principal Trainer's Welcome Video

While the FiveStar Method is easy to learn, it represents a distinctive approach, and provides a non-invasive method that can be used by professionals and lay dream workers, alike.  Dr. Sparrow has recently published chapters on the FiveStar Method (FSM) in  Dream Understanding Biology, Psychology, and Culture, and Working with Dreams and PTSD Nightmares. Copies of those chapters, as well as dozens of other journal articles and essays can be found on the main DreamStar Institute site. 

Dreamwork Course Offerings 

If the following is confusing, please don't hesitate to contact us for a videoconferenced meeting to discuss your interests in DreamStar courses. We can meet via Zoom at a mutually convenient time.

  • Mastering the FiveStar Method (Now hosted on Voomly.com) --A  course focused on learning the FiveStar Method for professionals and lay dreamworkers. 
  • Certification Course (Cost: $199)--A mentored course consisting of 7 modules of self-paced online study. (See list of modules in course description below.) Each module has its own certificate of completion. A trainer will provide feedback for your responses to the interactive questions posted on the Course module forums. DreamStar logo

  • Mentored Practicum (Cost: $299)--(Prerequisite: Certification Course). During the practicum, you will schedule at least three Zoom videoconferenced sessions with Dr. Sparrow, submit samples of actual dream work that he will  review with you during your video sessions sessions, and participate in personal dream work as a way to develop a hands-on competency with this methodology. The practicum will involve written and verbal feedback. Cost: $299. 

Upon completion of the Certification Course and Mentored Practicum, you will receive a certificate confirming your DreamStar Certification.

Enrollment Procedures

  • You need to have an account here before you can enroll in a course. Click on Login and you will be asked if you already have an account. If not, you will be prompted to open a new free account.
  • Fill out the account information, and then click on Submit.
  • An email will be sent to you to verify your account.
  • Next, you can return here, and click on course's link below.
  • You will then have the option to pay through PayPal to be enrolled in the course of your choice.

If you have any questions in the mean time, please email us at gscotspar@gmail.com

Available courses

DreamStar Certification Course

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Please note that the DreamStar Certification Course does not represent a review of various historic theories and methods. It focuses on the origins and development of co-creative dream theory and dreamwork from the standpoint of Dr. Sparrow's own experience as a lucid dream researcher, psychotherapist, and clinical dream worker. The course assumes that you already have a general knowledge of psychological theory and traditional dreamwork methods. If you do not, then this course is probably too narrowly focused, and not for you.

Also, new materials have been added and module quizzes have been revised. If you are currently enrolled, but have not been active lately, please contact us for directions about how to proceed. We are committed to assisting you in finishing the course.

DreamStar Certification Course...leading to certification as a DreamStar Certified Dreamwork Practitioner

A self-paced course consisting of 7 modules, and 28 contact hours. Cost: $199, which includes feedback from a trainer for all required Online Forum postings. The seven modules are as follows:

MODULE 1: Lucid Dreaming as a Foundation for a New Approach to Dream Analysis (4 contact hours)
MODULE 2: Understanding Dreams as an Interactive Process (4 contact hours)
MODULE 3: An Introduction to the FiveStar Method (4 contact hours)
MODULE 4: Working Ethically and Non-Invasively with Dream Imagery (4 contact hours)
MODULE 5: An In-Depth Exploration of the FiveStar Method (4 contact hours)
MODULE 6: Methods for Enhancing Awareness and Constructive Engagement in Dreams (4 contact hours)
MODULE 7: Fostering Spiritual Communion and Deep Healing in Dreams (4 contact hours)

Total: 28 contact hours

At the completion of the Certification Course, you must  sign up for the Mentored Practicum if you wish to pursue DreamStar Certification.  Upon successful completion of the Certification Course and Mentored Practicum, as long as the completion criteria have been satisfied, you will receive a certificate confirming your DreamStar Certification. 

DreamStar Mentored Certification Practicum

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Mentored Practicum for Certification...a mentored practicum in co-creative dreamwork with Dr. Sparrow.

You should enroll in this course only after you have completed the  Certification Course. The practicum is required, in addition to the Certification Course, for DreamStar Certification.

The Mentored Practicum is designed to assure that you are capable of implementing the FiveStar Method into your dreamwork practice, whether you are a lay dreamworker or a professional therapist. 

The Practicum includes:

  • Three one-hour mentoring/feedback sessions with Dr. Sparrow.
  • Two video dreamwork samples that are at least 30 minutes in length, and a written self-analysis of each session. Dr. Sparrow will evaluate your video work samples with the rubric shown below.
  • We may also work with your dreams, and review your readiness to incorporate co-creative dream analysis into your practice context. 
  • Additional mentoring is available following the certification course practicum.
  • The practicum involves 9 contact hours.

  • Cost: $299

Advanced Psychotherapy Training Series: Informed Love as a Curative Factor

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This course in unrelated to the DreamStar dreamwork training process, but has been designed to assist helping professional therapists in the application of advanced methods.

This course is based on a paper that was was published in 2007, based on my work with religious experiences, and therapeutic or curative factors in counseling. The definitive version was published in Mental Health, Religion & Culture, December, 2007. doi:10.1080/13674670802040087 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13674670802040087).

Research concerning the curative factors in psychotherapy has thus far overlooked reports of religious experiences as a potential source of hypotheses. The author examines a variety of anecdotal encounters with personifications of higher power for the presence of therapeutic factors. He finds that the attitude expressed by the being, as perceived by the recipients, reflects unconditional positive regard (UCR) in the context of a thorough and intimate knowledge of the person. He thus hypothesizes that the curative factor operating in such experiences is ‘‘informed love’’, defined as the twofold experience of feeling completely loved and completely known. The author discusses the differences between informed love and UCR, and the implications of informed love in modern psychotherapy practice.

Cost $18 via Paypal

Advanced Psychotherapy Training Series: Progressive Triangulation in Psychotherapy and the Spiritual Journey

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This course in unrelated to the DreamStar dreamwork training process, but has been designed toassist helping professional therapists in the application of advanced methods.

This course is based on a paper that was was published in 2008 in Mental Health, Religion & Culture, distilling some of my work with dreams, religious experiences, and principles of systems theory. 

Relationship triangles are usually considered symptomatic of family dysfunction in systems-oriented therapy, but they may also serve a progressive, transitional role in relationships. The author examines the phenomenon and function of “progressive” triangles in East and West spiritual traditions, and suggests that triangles comprised of seeker, mediator, and higher power are common in both traditions, regardless of differing views of human nature. A progressive triangle in the therapeutic setting can be seen as a function of teleological transference, in which a seeker’s spiritual aspirations are projected onto a mediator, who provides support and direction for its further realization. The implications of progressive triangulation and teleological transference in contemporary practice are discussed.

Cost: $12 via Paypal

Advanced Psychotherapy Training Series: Balancing Transpersonal Perspectives in Counseling with Conventional Ethical Requirements

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This course in unrelated to the DreamStar dreamwork training process, but has been designed to assist helping professional therapists in the application of advanced methods.

This  course based on an invited presentation to the Journey to Wholeness Conference, Summit, North Carolina, October, 2008.

This course discusses the dilemma facing a therapist who embraces transpersonal theory, but who must practice within traditional boundaries and ethics. It makes a case for how the two cannot be separated, and can be integrated in responsible and ethical practice.

This course includes a lengthy slideshow with embedded narrative, two supportive papers, a quiz and exit survey. It is estimated to take three hours to complete.

Cost: $18 via Paypal