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Author Topic: Demon cat!  (Read 10332 times)

Midlander

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Demon cat!
« on: April 01, 2011, 09:45:07 PM »
 :o :o well, having worked on what was 'moving' and why I had lost balance and was 'in the wrong elevator a bit(from last set of dreams), I promptly had a dream about a black 'demon' cat! It looked like an anamatronic cat and was determined to wreak havoc. It planted some devices that had explosives attached to them but I used magical powers to disarm them, leaving it confused as to why they hadn't exploded. My magical energy zapped the cat across the street and left it stunned. As I left, it came to and looked at me and called my name but I left.

 :o :o :o
The inner battle seems to have moved to a whole different level then! Perhaps the cat is the Jungian 'deep psychological secret but I have discovered 'magical' powers to defeat it..... ???

Tony Crisp

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2011, 04:39:31 PM »
I am not sure you have defeated it.

I believed the unexploded devices are traumas you have not yet let yourself experience. And traumas are not awful to meet. What is awful is all the defenses we put around them. They are usually a great relief to 'explode' and feel free of.

To quote: A woman in her 50s told me that she had been troubled since childhood by a recurring nightmare. She would be walking down a street she’d known as a child, and pass some railings. There was nothing obviously awful in the dream, yet she always woke up crying and fearful. When she was in her early 40s she told her sister about the dream. Her sister said that when the dreamer was about three they’d both been attacked by a group of boys while near those railings. To stop them, the sister had said not to hurt them because their mother was dead. At this the boys had left them alone, but the dreamer had been badly shocked.

The nightmare stopped as soon as she learnt about the childhood incident from her sister. This suggests that her troublesome dreams were an attempt to make her aware of a part of her past that held unconscious pain or fear. As soon as her conscious mind knew the full facts, the nightmares were redundant. The nightmare was an attempt to integrate what she unconsciously sensed, but may never have defined or put into words. This description applies in general to all of our dreams. They are a link between our deep unconscious biological functions, our memories and intentions, and our conscious everyday social selves. In particular, nightmares are, as in the example, attempts to bring to consciousness powerfully felt events which led us to reactions which might have been relevant at the time, but negatively influence our present life, and need re-assessment. An event may have led us not to trust people for instance, or as with the woman, have powerful anxiety in connection with external objects – such as the railings. When understood, a nightmare brings the strength of the emotions and the original cause to our attention, so we can understand the connections and perhaps change our reactions.

Tony


Midlander

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2011, 06:12:21 PM »
Thanks Tony - I'm not convinced there are any more long ago awful  trauma secrets left uncovered. My childhood was pretty awful on all sorts of levels and I have had to do a lot of work on establishing stuff back in the past and working out which buttons are being pushed in order to switch them off. If there is more, I don't have anyone left who can enlighten me, so the work can only be mine.

Interestingly enough, it didn't feel like a nightmare - I wasn't frightened at all during the dream. Perhaps it's residual? From stuff I already know about but which I haven't entirely exorcised? A la Alan Bennett? (Life is like a tin of sardines, just when you think you've cleaned it out there's always a bit in the corner).

There is something much more recent that I am aware has got hooked in, however. two or three years ago, I was seriously harrassed by a stranger and this led to work being done on my home to make it secure. Today, I had some routine work being done in the house and it registered that whenever I have workmen in the house, I find myself talking about those events and I feel vulnerable again..........maybe it could be this, which in turn switched on old feelings. That old chestnut of the default wiring............

Tony Crisp

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2011, 11:11:27 AM »
Midlander - This is obviously only my opinion, but I do not believe that traumas can be switch of, only buried. So trying to put them in the past doesn't seem productive.

There is the old truth that what we sow we reap. And I do not see that as a threat, because all the things from my past I have 'reaped' have given me a wonderful harvest of strength and insight. And meeting them wasn't difficult. The difficulty seems to me to be living with only part of ones life energy, lost through keeping it all down.

However, I do see that many people choose not to dig up the past treasures.

Tony

Midlander

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2011, 11:02:47 PM »
When I talk about putting things in the past, Tony, I don't mean burying them. I mean that I recognise when current experiences trigger learnt behaviour that is no longer needed or appropriate in my life. 

I have, indeed, reaped many benefits and strengths from going through past traumas and reaching their ends - not just alone but through years of psychodynamic psychotherapy.  However, I do wonder whether we ever truly leave major trauma behind - especially if it happened when we were small. That old chestnut that I've heard some people saying about imprinting and when we come under extreme pressure, reverting to learnt protection mechanisms.

Over the last weeks, the dream returned in two further formats with common facets - I'm pretty sure that what it's telling me is that I am dealing with an 'explosive situation' very competently. However dealing with it may no longer be necessary;I could leave it behind or finish it for good. The last dream involved me being locked into a room but realising that I could actually get out. Perhaps, it's too easy to believe that past experience will repeat itself and that we are trapped when we aren't really...........after all, staying the same feels easier than changing...

"We would rather be ruined than changed; we would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die." W H Auden

Tony Crisp

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2011, 09:46:54 AM »
Midlander – I admire you for coming back at me with your words.

I still feel that magical powers are a way of avoiding the real issues. I know I am an obstinate old Taurean, but even so the images speak to me. And I have found that having dealt with a trauma – or whatever it is – there are so many aspects to  it that need attention; after all, we never stop growing. I remember myself saying, “I am not even going to look at that again – I dealt with that years ago.” But I did and eventually I grew beyond it.

And I accept your explanation about things dealt with – a lot of which are habits that have to be retrained. But I am sure you would get very positive dreams as the way was cleared.

And these exchanges are really good.

Thanks.

Midlander

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2011, 05:02:59 PM »
Yes, Tony - and also, there is the sense of labyrinth - where advancing sometimes appears to be retracing steps or even going backwards. For some reason, something has triggered me retracing steps these last few weeks. Before this, I was moving rapidly forward and as you say my dreams were powerfully positive and enlightening......and then back again to re-learning lessons of freedom and interaction with others. It can't be a coincidence that there is a growing opening for major change in my life at this time!

Whether it be magical powers or dodging explosives or opening locked doors.......this is reverting to a level of control and protection that even so, is far further on the road to self empowerment than being a powerless victim. So when I go 'backwards' a little, it is only a little.

Change is enlivening and exciting and also a little scary.........hence backwards steps - yet I know the way out and I know I want the way out.

Tony Crisp

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2011, 10:51:10 AM »
So I am eagerly watching you get through.

Tony

Midlander

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Re: Demon cat!
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2011, 05:09:13 PM »
 Thanks Tony!