Breast Cancer Dreams Research Project
By Larry Burk
Can dreams warn us about important health concerns? Two of my close friends, who had no symptoms, experienced very vivid dreams about breast cancer that prompted them to get breast imaging studies leading to diagnosis. Never having heard of this phenomenon before, and being a radiologist, I started on a quest of study that led me to Virginia Beach, Va., in June 2013, where I presented on the topic at the International Society for the Study of Dreams annual conference. It happened to be co-sponsored by the A.R.E., which was a timely synchronicity as I discovered my friend Jerry Lazarus (Venture Inward’s dream columnist) had quoted an Edgar Cayce reading in his Dreams book stating that “any condition ever becoming reality is first dreamed.” (136-7)
Warning Dream Messages from Deceased Relatives
A third friend of mine was not so fortunate, as her dream of breast cancer was dismissed by her doctor, and she was diagnosed with Stage 3 disease a year later. Concerned that the significance of these remarkable stories could be overlooked, I was fortunate to discover Wanda Burch’s She Who Dreams. She wrote about a dream warning from her deceased father that led her to seek medical advice and another dream that localized the tumor for her surgeon to biopsy when he could not find it on physical examination or on radiological studies. Wanda also found another nine women in a breast cancer support group who had very similar dream warning experiences involving deceased relatives as messengers.
Online Breast Cancer Dreams Questionnaire
When I gave my presentation in Virginia Beach, the founders of Dreams Cloud, a social networking website devoted entirely to dreams, were in the audience and generously offered to assist me with a formal research project. After we got research approval through the Rhine Research Center, we decided to launch it during October for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Women with proven breast cancer who have had warning dreams can participate by signing an online consent form, filling out a 19-item questionnaire limited only to dream information, and posting narrative descriptions of their breast cancer dreams on the social networking site using a pseudonym to maintain confidentiality.
Dreams Cloud Research Study Launch Page
This launch page can be found at www.dreamscloud.com/en/breast_cancer_dreams_study
and the dream stories at
www.letmagichappen.com/newsletter/issue/october_2013.
Please spread the word, especially to breast cancer support groups around the country. The study will help inform healthcare professionals in the future about the most important aspects of warning dreams, so they know what to pay attention to when taking care of your loved ones. To quote Edgar Cayce again: “And too oft, ye disregard them; or too seldom do ye pay attention to them! They are parts of thy experience. How oft have ye visioned in symbol or in dream those very things that happened to thee later.” (1537-1)
Larry Burk, MD, CEHP, is a Certified Energy Health Practitioner and president of Healing Imager, Inc., in Durham, N.C., specializing in teleradiology, EFT, hypnosis, and dreamwork. Dr. Burk went to medical school and did his radiology residency at the University of Pittsburgh. He lived in Norfolk, Va., from 1991-1993 and was on the staff at Virginia Beach General Hospital. Dr. Burk is a long time member of the A.R.E. and has attended many conferences at A.R.E.’s headquarters in Virginia Beach. He was former associate professor of radiology and director of integrative medicine education at Duke University Medical Center and board president of the Rhine Research Center from 2007-2008. Dr. Burk is the author of the book, Let Magic Happen: Adventures in Healing with a Holistic Radiologist, and is a blogger for the Huffington Post. His scientific articles, newspaper columns, newsletters, and video blogs are posted at www.letmagichappen.com.
