OVERVIEW INTERPRETATION
Hi Linda,
The first thing that struck me when I read your dream was “Don’t let the cat out the bag!” Even though you had this dream the night after your cat ran out, there is a link here between chatting and letting the cat out of the bag (saying something you didn’t mean to say, letting a secret out).
In your first dream you are teaching the art of chat. At the end of the dream you concluded that the chat program was no good. No good for what, I wonder. No good for keeping secrets? No good for valuable and worthwhile communication?
Always look for pairs of opposites in dreams. In your first dream the man watched and listened “without saying a word”. He was the opposite to chat. He was silent, no chat.
Now there’s a dream pun! Do you speak French, Linda? The French word for cat is le chat. The man in your dream was silent: no chat, no cat. Well, weird though it sounds, word association is a feature of dream language.
Your pair of opposites, chat and silent, define an issue: how much to say and how much not to say, suggesting your dream is about effective communication. In waking life you may tend towards one of these, in fear of the other.
In the second dream the man stood in your backyard. Isn’t there a cliché about not crapping in your own backyard? Hey, that’s what cats avoid doing too! Has someone (could it have been you) been chatting about other people (gossip) while keeping squeaky clean about their own backyard?
The backyard is very close to home, a private place compared to the front garden. What should you be keeping in your own backyard, or what do you try hard to keep in your own backyard?
I feel this dream is about the need to find balance in your communication style, neither chatting (gossiping) about others while ignoring your own faults, nor keeping silent for fear of disclosing anything about yourself.
The man stood on your right each time. He most likely represents your outer world, your Yang. (The right side in dreams is often your outer world, the left being your inner. This is because the nerves from the left brain link to the right side of the body and vice versa.) The tendency to keep silent and to be guarded about letting the cat out of the bag comes from your relationship with the outer world. Do you tend to hold back at work, but be loose-tongued outside of work? In the second dream the cat did get out after hours, when it was dark!
The man is in his thirties. If you are older than thirty, what happened around communication issues when you were in your thirties?
That cat-chat thing is quite prominent, Linda. At the start of your dream you are sitting on the sofa with your laptop, just as you probably sit on the sofa with the cat on your lap. What an opposite picture to letting the cat out – keeping it close to you, on your lap.
I’ve suggested a dialogue dream alchemy practice so you can gain further insight on this.
DREAM ALCHEMY PRACTICE
Dialogue:
Your dialogue is between the laptop and the cat. Start with the laptop saying, “This is my lap, why don’t you run away and get lost, cat?” and see what the cat automatically answers. Keep it going for 20 minutes.
How to do this:
Give yourself no longer than 20 minutes. When you do this exercise do NOT think! Don’t plan ahead. Just let whatever happens happen. Let the two entities speak to each other on paper using whatever words come up. It’s a bit like writing a film script or play – but without the brain being involved.
How does this work?
By not thinking, by keeping the words flowing, you are letting your right brain and unconscious mind do most of the work. They created the original dream so they know what these symbols mean for you. They will reveal. You will be surprised.
More details on Dialogue as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy”, by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 321-4 and 333.
Jane Teresa Anderson
You can consult with Jane Teresa or her Dream Team and receive your interpretation by email within five working days.
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