Author

Subject: Nine Lives?

Angela

16:29 04/01/2000 

A mostly white cat with black spots hung by its two front paws to a street lamp at night. It was swinging, elongated and clearly afraid.

Clinging to its back paws, which were hanging down, was another cat (the opposite of the first in colouring). It was holding the top cat's paws in its mouth, also afraid and trying not to fall.

The bottom cat did drop, but was close enough to the ground to scamper off safely. The top cat swung longer, but then it fell. It landed on its back and smacked its head on the sidewalk. I am unsure of whether or not it was alive.

Dream edited for easier reading - JT, 2005

Read the original thread or Jane Teresa's view.

Janelle

18:18 04/01/2000 

hi angela,

dreams are so subjective that i'm compelled to ask you what cats mean to you? I love my two cats and therefore they provoke much emotion in me. I also admire their style! That's me, what about you? The two cats - their positions, opposing colours, relationship etc immediately reminded me of yin and yang (the white with the black dot, the black with the white dot...) - the shadow and the light, two parts making a whole, balance, one side being out of sync or balance with the other, one being more dominant than the other, both hanging perilously, one relying on the other more etc etc - all immediate images. Hanging from a streetlamp? Trying to reach the light? Seeking illumination? Trying to "see" in the dark?

My thoughts are of you being out of balance and trying to find your way. Of old ways, thoughts, habits, beliefs being challenged and not knowing what's what anymore. Of your mind dominating your feelings or vice versa. Feeling out of balance but struggling to find some relief from what your going through. But then it all collapses. Maybe you've been through some real soul searching and it has all built up to a point where you've just let go. So its come crashing down, some has survived, some has been pretty damaged. Have you had some personal transformation of late? Kept some of the old but lost alot of old ways too? Has alot of what you've formally believed in changed? The "top" cat which originally looked the safest (to me anyway!) came out the worst. Have your dominant patterns, your strongest ways come crashing down? Do you feel a sense of relief here? Do you care whether the top cat is alive and that the lower one survived? What are your feelings (not thoughts) about what happened here?

See how you go!

regards,

Janelle (:

Jane Anderson

20:40 04/01/2000 

Just had to add in here, Janelle, that my immediate reaction as I read Angela's dream was also that the cats were like the Yin-Yang symbol! So, there you go Angela!

Jane Anderson

Angela

03:26 05/01/2000 

Hi Janelle and Jane.

Thanks for the many thoughts Janelle and the re-iteration Jane. As soon as I read the first reference to Yin-Yang I had an 'aha!'. It did not, however, go any further than that...

Hmmm...How do I feel about cats? As a little girl I loved the idea of them. I found a stray that I, so originally, named Ginger. But Mom would not let it in the house. I had to sit in the garage with it. After a month of this, it ran away and never came back (it was pregnant). It was then that I became a bit nervous of cats. All my friends had cats and when I'd stay over I'd be awake all night worried that they'd pounce on me. They usually came straight for me, sensing my fear.

Then I came to hate them. (Well, I announced I did anyway.) My roomates in University got two cats for the house without asking me, so I had to be really nasty (hissing at them, etc.) so they'd keep them away from me. Not, of course, wanting to admit the real reason -- my fear. I was always on edge in that house, never relaxed. My relationship with the male roomate tensed and broke immediately after an incident of me pushing the 'black' cat on the floor (it had its nose in my dinner!). ...Ah? The black cat falls from its mouth grip?

So there is the idea of love, loss, fear and hate intermingled, and male and female most likely.

Did I care whether the mostly white cat lived or died? There were two distinct moments when I know that I actually was the white cat: when the black one was hanging on; and when it fell. I became an onlooker while it was laying unconsious.

Unconsious? What about 'the' unconsious being the desired result? Ah, this is getting very confusing.

Something else struck me -- I remember driving in my car when the moon was at its brightest a couple weeks ago. One of the passengers made a comment that he couldn't tell the moon from the street lamps. And I now also remember a dream I had of that Uncle I mentioned on the synch. forum: he was digging a 'pit' in my parent's backyard. Incidentally, I had that dream maybe 10 years ago.

I just finished reading a wild book (after the cat dream) where the moon was pulled from the sky and hidden in a pit full of human bones.

I think I'm lost again. I can't believe I don't know this, but which is the female and which is the male part of the Yin-Yang symbol?

Eeeegads! Angela

Jane Anderson

09:15 05/01/2000 

Angela,

For a description of the Yin-Yang symbol which should help you, look up Chapter 14, ("Mirror, Mirror, Who Am I?") in my book "The Shape of Things to Come". As you are a member, you will be able to check this by going over into the members area to read the book in the library.

Stay with it - you'll get it - you're very close!

Jane Anderson

Angela

18:21 05/01/2000 

This one's got me all twisted up. I've read your chapter Jane. It made such wonderful sense on paper, but for some reason I can't apply it properly. I do see the extremes -- my 'love' and my 'hate' -- but I don't know what I'm to do with all the information, all the slight synchronicities, related dreams and childhood memories. I don't know where to start anymore.

I really appreciate your encouragement. Tonight though, I am overwhelmed and emotional and a shade depressed. I just don't seem to be getting it. So, I'm going to bed. I'll try again tomorrow. And if I'm really lucky, maybe another cat will visit me...

Angela.

Angela

17:43 06/01/2000 

Okay, no cats in the night. I am, however, feeling a little fresher of mind and spirit now.

I don't think my 'Yin-Yang' has ever been in balance. My unrealistic views (hanging above the ground) of the world and 'my' world have been led by man-made direction (street lamp) i.e. parental and instructor's views (Hey! Maybe that's why you, Jane, and my mentor were to be killed off in the 'Jane's Execution' dream...) and all the 'you shoulds' of my life, instead of being guided by my own spiritual and instinctive self. (Perhaps the natural light of the moon? And my cat's natural instinct?)

Let's say that my Yin has hung on with desperation to this very limited idea of en'light'enment. And that other extreme in me -- let's say my Yang -- is not in balance with the ideas the Yin is hanging on to. Neither seem really convinced actually. Those extreme feelings are weighted back towards the ground for both cats. This swinging thing is not getting either Yin or Yang anywhere.

Yang tries in vain to keep the Yin-Yang merely together, let alone in circumfluence. The weakest part of the Yang connects only with the extreme bit of the Yin and is unable to get a proper grip to hold the two together. And the poor Yin is trying to hang on with its weakest end to something of which it does not even feel strongly about. The weight alone of these beliefs will eventually make the Yin drop too from its original way of seeing things (you mentioned that Janelle).

It is a sad feeling for me to see the Yang run off without apparent care for the Yin. But maybe this is what must happen in order for the Yin to realize how ridiculous it is to hang on to this old life.

This also reminds me of conversation I have had, not long ago, where it was re-iterated that I am in need of the extremes. I seem to require them, drug-like, I suppose, to function creatively. I need to feel things wildly at whatever consequence they may have.

Although I have great respect for Eastern Religions -- to the point that I think I'd like to be Buddhist one day -- I am not, at this stage in my life, seeking the 'Middle Way'. I am happy that my extreme won out over the weak 'should'. Hopefully it will not kill its passion. But I have the power to make that cat alive. Right?

I haven't got the pit, the suffocation of that cat memory or my Uncle figured in the play here, but I realize now that maybe those memories and little synchs. were just emphasizing the importance of paying attention to the dream.

Thank you again Janelle for all your thoughts. Many things you said were absolutely right. And Jane thank you for gently nudging me through my frustration.

Dream on all...

Angela.

Libra Lynn

19:26 06/01/2000 

Hi Angela,

Long time, no see. :)

I had to jump in here about the yin yang cats. Loved the symbolism. Maybe, though, this isn't about you finding middle ground. Maybe it's about coming to accept yourself the way you are- extreme. The cats may be there to remind you of your true nature (bipolar- not as a diagnosis), as well as being symbols of suffocation (the sack you found- black + white =grey, the fear of cats suffocating you in the night). As in, you are suffocating your natural tendencies by reaching for some unobtainable standard of en"light"enment, instead of being grounded.

I also wondered if the black and white of the cats might symbolize your writing somehow. You have difficult memories- mostly bad ones, surrounding cats, that you are trying to overcome. Isn't this true of your writing as well? Difficult memories that make it hard to progress? Perhaps the "Black and White", is a pun for clarity, something you are trying to achieve but making it too complicated.

Maybe I'm babbling now. :) Lynn

Janelle

23:32 06/01/2000 

Hi Angela,

May I suggest that you tend to one dream at a time? Your clarity may becoming overwhelmed by trying to understand too much all at once. If you don't keep a dream journal, try it out. I forget crucial bits of my dreams when I fail to record them. Remember that dreams use images that provoke reactions for us. Your use of your Uncle in your dream was to provoke a feeling or understanding in you. You chose it, so what does it mean for you? What does your Uncle represent for you that another doesn't? Why was he chosen, what attributes do you associate with him? Along the lines of the streetlamp perhaps representing the moon for you. Illumination, shooting for a high target, reaching for the moon etc.

You are doing well!

Janelle

Angela

05:18 07/01/2000 

Aw, you guys are so sweet!

I can feel your angel wings fluttering around me, trying to rouse me from my 'white cat' sleep. I was going to let the dream go at that for now, even though I know there's more. I know it's loaded with layers considering all the exterior reference points I brought up myself. It just feels like so much work!! And that makes me just want to cry... Maybe I will, that's part of the process I find. But for now -- a little work... The 'black + white = grey' was one of the first things that came to my mind Lynn. I'm glad you pointed it out. I had diminished its importance with all the other talk. It also made me go back and check on that 'Three Cats' dream I had a month or so ago. Those cats were black, white and grey! The black one had orange flecks...oh...Ginger, my stray 'love' cat. Oh dear, I have one of those in 'men' as well...

Janelle, thanks again. Finally I took that 'one dream/memory at a time' advice when I was working on the yin-yang part. And now, it seems, all the rest can come back and make their points, while I have a more firm grip of my own understanding.

I do keep brutal track of my dreams -- for ten plus years now. I use a dictaphone so as not to miss a thing, then I record them later on paper. I agree, it's most important. Interesting too, that you used the words 'being overwhelmed'. I absolutely felt that a couple days ago, but that was also the theme of a close friend's email yesterday. Not to mention the sheer overwhelmedness of a millennium new year!

I've had a few thoughts come to mind regarding the moon and my Uncle:

Moon: I used to obsess about my mother coming to watch the 'cow jump over the moon' with me on 'The Friendly Giant' tv show as a child. I note that I had written, of the black cat running off, 'when the cat ran away with the spoon' (that was unconsious and before my edit -- why do we edit ourselves so?) I guess I didn't think it would make any sense to anyone else. And I suppose I was right. It didn't make sense to me either, until now.

Yes, Janelle, I think your 'shooting for the moon' is also bang-on. I talk of being 'over the moon' usually with regards to having a 'praising' email from my author mentor. I am, of course in the 'pit of despair' when it goes the other way ... AH, did you see that? 'PIT!' It just comes out all by itself...

Alright I'm back to it being about writing. I think you are right Lynn.

Uncle: Lynn, we have some connections here... these Uncles... This Uncle's name I never liked. And much later, I had a relationship with an emotionally abusive guy named the same. I wrote in my journal how I didn't like his name. Back to the Uncle, who was actually a rescuer, someone to be counted on in that instance. My first confirmed sleep-walking began the night this Uncle and his family stayed overnight at my parent's house (they stayed with us for two weeks). I awoke on the couch, having abandoned my bed in the night. My Uncle had apparently seen me walk there in my sleep. I guess he has come up for some reason I do not understand yet.

Alright. There. I am feeling like the conquering has begun. I am, indeed getting there. I feel it now. So, thank you all so very much. You can see how much help you've been.

Angela.

Angela

05:56 07/01/2000 

Woah. I just picked up that book I mentioned about the moon being hidden in the pit of bones. I was scouring the blurbs and acknowledgements for something, anything. The book is compared to the writing of my author mentor!!!! It was one of those books I bought on feeling. I was drawn to it, the title, the picture, its energy. And there it is! Okay, I'm super excited now. This means that it definitely points back to 'my' book. The coincedences I've had with that author are so incredible and they are all related to my novel.

Man, this is just like writing. I hate it. I hate it so much. I have to make myself do it. Yet, everytime I do, I get so much fulfillment and satisfaction. Always, in retrospect, I love it though.

As for this dream, I can't stop thinking about it, no, make that obsessing, until I get some peace. So, off to work on the novel, maybe that will offer it up.

Angela on the edge...

Angela

08:00 07/01/2000 

More, more, more... I told you I was obsessed.

Grey cats: the one suffocating was grey; the second cat in my University house was grey (it got run over).

I made a short video in my 2nd University year. Everything in the film was black and white, except that I used a shadow image of that grey cat swatting at itself, then I plopped it, right along with an orange (ginger?) into a pile of black and white stuff. A poem I had written called 'Virgin Butterfly', versed in the background to my terrible drum playing. It was artsy-fartsy and BAD!!

The nursery rhyme mention above is linking now to the concept of verse, which is how I communicate (mostly) with my mentor. In rhymes. So, back to the writing again...

You made an excellent point about the fear of suffocating Lynn. It's still simmering.

Oh, it's coming...

Angela.

Angela

04:49 09/01/2000 

Two more things...

The night of my last posting I received a phone message from that 'stray man'. He has not called since May!

And the second thing: As I was scouring my bookshelf for the next novel to delve into, I felt an urge towards one particular book. I settled for the read and opened the first page to discover that it was dedicated to someone with the same name as that Uncle!

Back to the books again!

Angela

2008-2010

Jane Teresa's View

Jane Teresa Anderson

Overview Interpretation & Dream Alchemy Practice suggestion

Jane Teresa's interpretation will be added during 2008-2010. This is one of 500 dreams she is interpreting for this Dream Index.

You can read the interpretations as Jane Teresa completes them by subscribing (free) to our RSS Feed.

Thank you for your patience during this major web development.

You can consult with Jane Teresa or her Dream Team and receive your interpretation by email within five working days.