Dreams Of Formula One Legend Ayrton Senna And Princess Diana Included In New Autobiographic Book
What do science fiction, dreams, Jungian psychology, philosophy, mysticism and dreams all have in common?
Between 1994-96 depth psychotherapist Maureen B. Roberts experienced a series of extraordinarily impactful dreams, which feature in her new book StarDreaming: Letters From a Mystic to a Science Fiction Author. The first dream involved legendary Formula One World Champion, Ayrton Senna.
Roberts briefly met him at the 1993 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, when she lived close to the Adelaide circuit and arrived there very early one morning with a friend hired to work at the venue. Ayrton, on a break at the McLaren garage, kindly signed a commandeered photo for Roberts, after which she headed off to submit her revised PhD thesis.
Less than six months later, she had a devastatingly powerful dream in which she was present in Ayrton’s racing car when he fatally crashed at the San Marino Grand Prix. And through a strange synchronicity, on that day her PhD thesis was passed by both examiners.
Fast forward three years and Ayrton ‘turned up’ on the astral plane as her spirit guide, which he still is to this day. ‘He has always sounded pretty much as he did in life,’ says Roberts, ‘including his calm voice and the endearing way he quietly laughed.’ Pretty bizarre stuff by most standards, but all in day’s life for mystical therapist and two time university literary Prize winner Dr Roberts.
When Princess Diana died, in a shamanic dream Roberts helped her come to terms with the shock and disorientation of being dead, through cleansing, healing and dressing rituals, and lengthy talks that took place in a kind of ancient Greek temple and garden. In her final dream of Diana, Roberts taught her to walk on water across a tranquil lake.
But the bulk of StarDreaming consists of letters Roberts wrote to Award-winning science fiction author, Damien Broderick, with whom she shared a two year relationship from 1994-96. She rediscovered the letters while dumping old computer files and was immediately intrigued and captivated, given that she’d forgotten most of their content.
In July 1994 Roberts dreamed their entire relationship - including how it was doomed to end - several months before it began. Such was the unsettling boat she landed in after she’d referenced Broderick’s work in a paper presented at a Melbourne University science fiction conference, unaware that he was sitting in the front row.
Following her talk, Roberts chatted briefly with Broderick after he approached her. That night she was stunned by a long, vivid and intensely impactful dream in which the two of them seemed to be represented by twin stars rapidly orbiting a common centre overhead, hence the title of her book.
Widely regarded as Australia’s ‘dean of science fiction’, Broderick had at the time amassed an impressive body of work that included his cyberpunk novel The Judas Mandala, which coined the term ‘virtual reality’ in 1982. His award-winning The Dreaming Dragons featured in David Pringle's Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels [1949-84] and was chosen as the year's best by Kingsley Amis.
Roberts’ powerful dream foreshadowed not only their relationship, but also their sometimes playful, at other times emotionally volatile exchange of letters that reflected how their predestined connection became challenging, enlightening, yet eventually conflicted.
Award-winning author, editor and critic Dr Terry Dowling sums up StarDreaming as ‘an intriguing glimpse into a fully engaged, creative mind - candid, intimate, effortlessly wise and easily persuasive, all this with sparks rising up . . .’
Roberts brought her understanding and experience of Jungian psychiatry, literature and mysticism to her letters to Broderick. They amount to a colourful banquet of personal anecdotes, scholarly and science fiction oriented discussions, psychospiritual reflections, witty banter, scientific philosophy, and personal friction. In the end, their nevertheless mostly affectionate relationship ended as the dream foretold it would—with Broderick unable to handle the emotional tension and eventually removing himself from it.
StarDreaming is by no means light reading. It will likely find its audience among imaginative, intelligent, deeply reflective lovers and students of science fiction, Jungian psychology, relationship dynamics, philosophy (as the ‘love of wisdom’), and transformative spiritual experiences.
In 1994 Roberts was also busy editing the first draft of her epic science fantasy myth, An Era in Anddemar, which she discusses several times in StarDreaming. Broderick believed in the novel’s vision and made overtures to HarperCollins on her behalf. Fast-forward 32 years and remarkably, both StarDreaming and An Era in Anddemar have been published within a few months of each other.
Further insight into the two books, as well as extracts from and blog posts about them, can be found on Maureen B. Roberts’ author website.
[EIN Presswire, October 2026]