Cat, Owner Have Shared Qualities
Dear Nancy: I had this dream after a difficult weekend. My fiance and I have recently moved into our new home. Saturday a belligerent and unreasonable neighbor came banging on our door stating that we had cut her grass in the field. I spent the next two hours with her walking our property boundaries (we were cutting our own grass) trying to placate and appease her. It was a very difficult situation. - Mara I am in my bathroom and see my cat curled up under the water at the bottom of the toilet. I know that someone has urinated in the water. I’m upset and afraid he’s dead, but somehow I know he isn’t. I reach in to rescue him and pull him out. I use his front legs to pump the water out of him and give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. While I’m doing this I’m asking myself if I would do this if anyone besides my fiance or I had urinated in the toilet. I know I would do it no matter what because my cat is a part of my family and I will do whatever it takes to save him. He comes back to life.
Dear Mara: When we spoke on the phone, I asked you to tell me about your cat. You said, “I have several pets, but he’s the bad one. He’s willful, obstinate, destructive and also very loving and affectionate.” You also chuckled and said you yourself have those same qualities.
Animals in dreams sometimes represent our own natural instincts and you taking on the role of placater and peacemaker may have felt destructive to your own instinctual urge to fight when confronted with aggression. In other words, at some level you felt your natural instincts were going “down the toilet!”
After “drowning” your feelings of anger by being conciliatory, your psyche may have needed to bring your natural instincts back into balance. In essence, by reviving the drowning cat you are doing this.
I believe you used good judgment by remaining calm in a hostile situation, Mara. Because of this, you may find that your new neighbor is a good neighbor.
Tips for readers: Dream animals can represent people you know. There are times when others remind us of kittens, snakes, wolves, etc. Saving a wolf in a dream may be about saving the wild and natural part of the dreamer, but it also brings to mind the idea of the “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Are you befriending or taking care of someone who may eventually turn on you?
Always keep in mind that dreams can reflect our day-to-day lives as well as long-standing needs for inner growth and change. If you dream of injured or caged animals and you have recently viewed a television program on animal testing for medical research, you can assume your sleeping mind was mulling over that information. On the other hand, dreaming repetitively or with great emotional intensity of saving a life, whether human or animal, is sure to be important and profound in the pursuit of your own inner growth and healing.
By being open and honest with yourself, you can know the message of these dreams and make certain you are doing all you can to liberate, nurture and protect yourself and those you love.
This column is intended as entertainment. But psychologists who work with clients’ dreams say that dreams can hold a tremendous amount of significance; a particularly disturbing or repetitive dream may indicate the need to see a therapist.
, DataTimes MEMO: Nancy Huseby Bloom has studied dreams for 16 years. Dreams may be ent to her c/o The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615, or fax, (509) 459-5098. Please send a short summary of the circumstances in your life and include your name, address and phone number. Nancy conducts dream groups on a regular basis. For information, call 455-3450.