Return

Well, that was an interesting 19 days! I had some health issues which I've been working on - had to go on a restrictive diet that knocked me out flat for a while. I needed this month to focus on my health and it's been an amazing experience, but I'm ready to get back to 2BiaT. My next post will be next Monday - I'm looking forward to finishing the series on personality that I had to interrupt for my little experiment.

See you soon!

Hiatus

I've been struggling with health issues for decades and it's finally gotten bad enough that I must do something about it. Enter the GAPS diet; super restrictive (literally, nothing but bone broth, meat, and well cooked veggies for the first stage), and long lasting. It will probably take a minimum of a year to get my innards back in shape. Even though I knew I had to do this I put it off and put it off for years because it's soooo depressing (although now that I'm on it and my taste buds have changed I find I'm actually quite enjoying my food!)

One of the downsides is the sheer amount of time required to prepare my food... and also the lack of energy since I started a little over a week ago. So I'm going to take a little break. I really don't want to - I have a whole series of posts on the four functions and concepts related to them. I was hoping to just power through and get them out but that's hard when you don't have any energy.

Hopefully it will only for a few weeks but it may last longer. In the meantime, I hope your life is awesome! See you on the other side.

Glossary: Extroversion

A personality type characterized by a focus on the external world; they gain energy by being with people but lose it when they’re alone. They're outwardly directed - that is, observable to others - and broad in scope. The libido of extroverted people generally flows outwards to the outer world. This often results in a person who is talkative, outgoing, assertive, and social. They're energetic people who generally take the lead in social situations. They're outwardly directed, characterized by a concentration of interest on objects as opposed to their reaction to the object, and are strongly influenced by external reality. (Also referred to as “extraversion.”)

Extraversion is characterized by interest in the external object, responsiveness, and a ready acceptance of external happenings, a desire to influence and be influenced by events, a need to join in and get “with it,” the capacity to endure bustle and noise of every kind, and actually find them enjoyable, constant attention to the surrounding world, the cultivation of friends and acquaintances, none too carefully selected, and finally by the great importance attached to the figure one cuts.

“Psychological Typology,” CW 6, par. 972.

The extravert’s philosophy of life and his ethics are as a rule of a highly collective nature with a strong streak of altruism, and his conscience is in large measure dependent on public opinion.

“Psychological Typology,” CW 6, par. 972.

He has no secrets he has not long since shared with others. Should something unmentionable nevertheless befall him, he prefers to forget it. Anything that might tarnish the parade of optimism and positivism is avoided. Whatever he thinks, intends, and does is displayed with conviction and warmth.

“Psychological Typology,” par. 973.

He lives in and through others; all self-communings give him the creeps. Dangers lurk there which are better drowned out by noise. If he should ever have a “complex,” he finds refuge in the social whirl and allows himself to be assured several times a day that everything is in order.

“Psychological Typology,” par. 974.

Adjustment is not adaptation; adaptation… requires observance of laws more universal than the immediate conditions of time and place. The very adjustment of the normal extraverted type is his limitation. He owes his normality… to his ability to fit into existing conditions with comparative ease. His requirements are limited to the objectively possible, for instance to the career that holds out good prospects at this particular moment; he does what is needed of him, or what is expected of him, and refrains from all innovations that are not entirely self-evident or that in any way exceed the expectations of those around him

“General Description of the Types,” CW 6, par. 564.

The extravert’s tendency to sacrifice inner reality to outer circumstances is not a problem as long as the extraversion is not too extreme. But to the extent that it becomes necessary to compensate the inclination to one-sidedness, there will arise a markedly self-centered tendency in the unconscious. All those needs or desires that are stifled or repressed by the conscious attitude come in the back door, in the form of infantile thoughts and emotions that center on oneself.

Sharp, "Jung Lexicon"

This is the extravert’s danger: He gets sucked into objects and completely loses himself in them. The resultant functional disorders, nervous or physical, have a compensatory value, as they force him into an involuntary self-restraint. Should the symptoms be functional, their peculiar character may express his psychological situation in symbolic form; for instance, a singer whose fame has risen to dangerous heights that tempt him to expend too much energy suddenly finds he cannot sing high notes… Or a man of modest beginnings who rapidly reaches a social position of great influence with wide prospects is suddenly afflicted with all the symptoms of mountain sickness.

“General Description of the Types,”  par. 565.

The more complete the conscious attitude of extraversion is, the more infantile and archaic the unconscious attitude will be. The egoism which characterizes the extravert’s unconscious attitude goes far beyond mere childish selfishness; it verges on the ruthless and brutal.

“General Description of the Types,”  par. 572.

Glossary: Introversion

A personality type that’s characterized by a focus on the internal world; introverts tend to gain energy by being alone but lose it when they’re in social settings. Introversion is characterized by an inward direction - it tends to be concealed from others - and a narrow focus; they're generally more interested in depth than breadth. The libido of introverts flows inwards. This often results in a person who is quiet, thoughtful, perceptive, and selective about those they let into their lives. Introverts tend to need less stimulation than extroverts, as well as being generally more self-aware and instropective than extroverts. They are inwardly directed, concentrate their energy on intra-psychic processes, and are oriented to an inner evaluation of experience.

In a large gathering he feels lonely and lost. The more crowded it is, the greater becomes his resistance. He is not in the least “with it” and has no love of enthusiastic get-togethers. He is not a good mixer. What he does, he does in his own way, barricading himself against influences from outside… Under normal conditions he is pessimistic and worried, because the world and human beings are not in the least good but crush him… His own world is a safe harbour, a carefully tended and walled-in garden, closed to the public and hidden from prying eyes. His own company is the best.

- “Psychological Typology,” pars. 976f.

Everyone whose attitude is introverted thinks, feels, and acts in a way that clearly demonstrates that the subject is the prime motivating factor and that the object is of secondary importance.

- “Definitions,” CW 6,769

Always he has to prove that everything he does rests on his own decisions and convictions, and never because he is influenced by anyone, or desires to please or conciliate some person or opinion.

- “Psychological Types,” CW 6, par. 893.

The introverted attitude tends to devalue things and other persons, to deny their importance. Hence, by way of compensation, extreme introversion leads to an unconscious reinforcement of the object’s influence. This makes itself felt as a tie, with concomitant emotional reactions, to outer circumstances or another person.

- Sharp, "Jung Lexicon"

The individual’s freedom of mind is fettered by the ignominy of his financial dependence, his freedom of action trembles in the face of public opinion, his moral superiority collapses in a morass of inferior relationships, and his desire to dominate ends in a pitiful craving to be loved. It is now the unconscious that takes care of the relation to the object, and it does so in a way that is calculated to bring the illusion of power and the fantasy of superiority to utter ruin.

--------------------

These efforts are constantly being frustrated by the overwhelming impressions received from the object. It continually imposes itself on him against his will, it arouses in him the most disagreeable and intractable affects and persecutes him at every step. A tremendous inner struggle is needed all the time in order to “keep going.” The typical form his neurosis takes is psychasthenia, a malady characterized on the one hand by extreme sensitivity and on the other by great proneness to exhaustion and chronic fatigue.

- “General Description of the Types,” par. 626.

The child wants his own way, and under no circumstances will he submit to an alien rule he cannot understand. When he asks questions, it is not from curiosity or a desire to create a sensation, but because he wants names, meanings, explanations to give him subjective protection against the object.

- “Psychological Types,” par. 897.

[I]ntroverts are simply more conservative than not, preferring the familiar surroundings of home and intimate times with a few close friends; they husband their energy and would rather stay put than go from place to place. Their best work is done on their own resources, on their own initiative and in their own way.

- Sharp, "Jung Lexicon"

His retreat into himself is not a final renunciation of the world, but a search for quietude, where alone it is possible for him to make his contribution to the life of the community.

- “Psychological Typology,” ibid., par. 979.

Glossary: Attitude

“Attitude” in Jungian psychology refers to one’s orientation to the world, both external and internal. It deals with libido, or energy; how it’s gained and how it’s spent. Most people are familiar with the two attitudes, introversion and extroversion (or extraversion). An introvert is basically oriented to the inner world and focuses on subjective experience. They gain energy being alone, and lose it when with others. The extrovert is the opposite; they’re oriented to the external, objective world and lose energy while alone but gain it when interacting with others.

I’ve come to think of it as having different kinds of energy sources: introverts are like wells; water slowly fills them up when they’re able to be alone, but when they’re with others, they’re constantly giving away bucketfuls of their inner water until they need to go back to their inner well and let it fill up again. Libido for extroverts, on the other hand, is more like electricity; like generators, they get more and more “electricity” by sparking off others, but lose energy, slowly winding down, when alone.

Attitude is one of the three axes (as in plural for axis, not the thing you chop wood with) that make up Jung's typology of personality. The other two are the rational (thinking/feeling) and irrational (sensation/intuition) functions. One's location on these three axes determines one's "type".

[Introversion] is normally characterized by a hesitant, reflective, retiring nature that keeps itself to itself, shrinks from objects, is always slightly on the defensive and prefers to hide behind mistrustful scrutiny. [Extroversion] is normally characterized by an outgoing, candid, and accommodating nature that adapts easily to a given situation, quickly forms attachments, and, setting aside any possible misgivings, will often venture forth with careless confidence into unknown situations. In the first case obviously the subject, and in the second the object, is all-important.

-“The Problem of the Attitude-Type,” CW 7, par. 62

Introverted attitude: characterized by an inward flowing of personal energy - a withdrawal concentrating on subjective factors. The introvert is usually ...

     a. happy alone with a rich imagination, and

     b. prefers reflection to activity.

     c. Weakness of the introverted attitude includes ...

          (1) a lack confidence in relation to people and things and

          (2) a tendency to be unsociable, shy, and hesitant.

Extroverted attitude: a standpoint characterized by an outward flowing of personal energy (libido) - an interest in events, in people and things, a relationship with them, and a dependence on them. The extrovert is usually ...

     a. motivated by outside factors and greatly influenced by the environment,

     b. sociable and confident in unfamiliar surroundings, less cautious, less fearful, and

     c. likes organizations, parties, and tends to be optimistic and enthusiastic.

     d. Weaknesses of the extroverted attitude include:

          (1) a dependence on making a good impression,

          (2) easily making and breaking relationships,

          (3) regarding reflection as being morbid and avoiding being alone,

          (4) lacking self-criticism, and

          (5) accepting the morals and conventions of the day - conventional.

Problems between introverts and extroverts

     Each type misjudges the other; they tend to notice the negative aspects of the other.

     a. The introvert is seen as egotistical, dull, and self-centered; the extrovert is seen as superficial and insincere.

     b. Our Western attitude is extroverted; value is put on being outgoing which we consider being well adjusted. The East is seen as inscrutable.

     c. Jung says that there is a marked tendency for either type to marry its opposite (each secretly hopes that the other will take care of the side of the life each lacks).

          (1) All goes well as long as both persons adapt themselves to the needs of life.

          (2) But each person speaks a different language - there is a lack of real understanding and a lack of full companionship.

- “Jung's Psychological Types” (philosophy.lander.edu)

People who prefer extraversion draw energy from action: they tend to act, then reflect, then act further. If they are inactive, their motivation tends to decline. To rebuild their energy, extraverts need breaks from time spent in reflection. Conversely, those who prefer introversion expend energy through action: they prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again. To rebuild their energy, introverts need quiet time alone, away from activity.

An extravert's flow is directed outward toward people and objects, an introvert's is directed inward toward concepts and ideas. Contrasting characteristics between extraverts and introverts include the following:

Extraverts are action-oriented, while introverts are thought-oriented.

Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence.

Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more substantial interaction.

Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone.

- Personality type (Wikipedia)

Glossary: Typology

The classification of personality based on the variation of traits among individuals; attitudes and behavior patterns are categorized in an attempt to explain differences between people. We enjoy typologies because want to understand ourselves and others, and a good type theory increases our understanding. This is doubtless why there are so many quizzes that tell you what Harry Potter character you are or what have you.

Typologies have been around for as long as humans have wondered about why we do the things we do. One example is Hippocrates' notion of the four humors, which dominated Western medicine from the time of the Greeks up until fairly recently. A model that's currently popular in academia is known as “the big 5” and consists of the following traits, which are believed to be the five basic dimensions of personality: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Other popular typology systems include the Enneagram, Ayurvedic humors, and the widely known concepts of Type A (stressed out, heart attack prone) and Type B (laid back) personalities.

Where other personality typologies are based on temperament or physiology, Jung's is based on the movement of energy (libido). Jungian personality typology consists of the two attitudes (introversion and extroversion) and four psychological functions (thinking, feeling, intuition, and sensation). There's also a typology based on Greek mythology that was developed by Jungian psychologist Jean Shinoda Bolen, but I'm not going to go into that in this post. Check out my previous blog for more information on that particular typology.

First and foremost, it is a critical tool for the research worker, who needs definite points of view and guidelines if he is to reduce the chaotic profusion of individual experiences to any kind of order... Secondly, a typology is a great help in understanding the wide variations that occur among individuals, and it also furnishes a clue to the fundamental differences in the psychological theories now current. Last but not least, it is an essential means for determining the “personal equation” of the practising psychologist, who, armed with an exact knowledge of his differentiated and inferior functions, can avoid many serious blunders in dealing with his patients.

- “Psychological Typology,” par. 986

The whole psychology of an individual even in its most fundamental features is oriented in accordance with his habitual attitude... [which is] a resultant of all the factors that exert a decisive influence on the psyche, such as innate disposition, environmental influences, experience of life, insights and convictions gained through differentiation, collective views, etc... At bottom, attitude is an individual phenomenon that eludes scientific investigation. In actual experience, however, certain typical attitudes can be distinguished ... When a function habitually predominates, a typical attitude is produced... There is thus a typical thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuitive attitude.

- “Definitions,” pars. 690f


Links:
“Personality Psychology” (Wikipedia)
"Personality Development Tools: The Car Model," Antonia Dodge (Personality Hacker)
"When You ALMOST Know Your Personality (AKA 'Between Two Types')," Antonia Dodge (Personality Hacker)


See also:
Primary function
Auxiliary function
Tertiary function
Inferior function
Introversion
Extroversion
Sensation
Intuition
Thinking
Feeling
Rational functions
Irrational functions
The 16 “Types” (MBTI)
Integrating the Four Functions

Article: "A Psychic Profile on President Donald J. Trump"

Just posting something that got my attention - I've been thinking a lot about the concentrated need for bringing balance to our culture. We've gone so far to the extreme of practicality, so far from our spiritual roots. The need is urgent for all of us to, as much as possible, get our spiritual act together.

We are in a quickened ascension process right now, which, in plain terms means we’re having to deal with a whole bunch of garbage at once, emotionally, sociologically, spiritually, and psychologically. Standard western society has taught us to compartmentalize every aspect of ourselves and our lives. Yet we are now face-to-face with the reality that mind, body, and spirit are indivisible.

Why must this lesson be driven so intensely? Because nature wastes nothing and prepares for everything, and the climate will be experiencing further changes coming up quickly where everyone’s" participation is mandatory for survival.
It is in our best interest as a species to give away the idea of one ideology, one savior, one President, fixing everything. Together we are the body of positive change, the collective mind of evolution. There is no us-vs-them.
We ARE them.

View the larger whole of President Trump for who and what he is. And view yourself for who and what you are. We are all part of the solution to avarice and world destruction.

Thanks to lessons President Trump is bringing us, publicly submitting himself for perhaps the greatest example of spiritual, emotional and social disconnection we’ve seen in decades — we grow faster, in observance. There is great gratitude to be had for his service in this regard.

Be okay to learn, and don’t always take the lessons personally that are intended for the world. That gets rough. Invoke the Law of Love — lead your own life with grace, respect, and of course, love, the greatest element on the spiritual periodic table.

All of that, met with a little good ol’ fashioned elbow grease, integrity, humility and hard work —

— and the rest falls into place, healing the world.

Because nothing is wasted.

- Danielle Egnew, "Insider Look: A Psychic Profile on President Donald J. Trump"

False promise of a Golden Age

… I put it to the enlightened rationalist: has his rational reduction led to the beneficial control of matter and spirit? He will point proudly to the advances in physics and medicine, to the freeing of the mind from medieval stupidity and – as a well-meaning Christian – to our deliverance from the fear of demons. But we continue to ask: what have all our other cultural achievements led to? The fearful answer is there before our eyes: man has been delivered from no fear, a hideous nightmare lies upon the world. So far reason has failed lamentably, and the very thing that everybody wanted to avoid rolls on in ghastly progression. Man has achieved a wealth of useful gadgets, but, to offset that, he has torn open the abyss, and what will become of him now – where can he make a halt? After the last World War we hoped for reason: we go on hoping. But already we are fascinated by the possibilities of atomic fission and promise ourselves a Golden Age – the surest guarantee that the abomination of desolation will grow to limitless dimensions. And who or what it that causes all this? It is none other than that harmless (!), ingenious, inventive, and sweetly reasonable human spirit who unfortunately is abysmally unconscious of the demonism that still clings to him. Worse, this spirit does everything to avoid looking himself in the face, and we all help him like mad. Only, heaven preserve us from psychology - that depravity might lead to self-knowledge! Rather let us have wars, for which somebody else is always to blame, nobody seeing that all the world is driven to do just what all the world flees from in terror.

- Jung, Four Archetypes, p. 154

Symbolism: Coffee

"Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper

Image from Wikipedia


Final re-post from Queen of the Night:

Coffee symbolism

I keep dreaming about drinking coffee. Coffee is a major liquid for me – I don’t drink alcohol generally; besides water, coffee is it. And I looooooove the stuff! Too much‼ Although I’ve had to switch to decaf due to sleep disturbances I could still drink (the decaffeinated version) all day long. I have to force myself to drink something else. Coffee isn’t just a drink for me though. In the way alcohol is for many people, coffee is definitely a “mana” drink for me. It’s a drink that I can get a little obsessed about. And not just me! There are actually coffee tastings, similar to wine tastings (they call it “cupping”). I can see why. It’s definitely not just a drink.

First I want to look at meanings from around the web. Probably the most obvious meaning coffee has is of energy: it's what people turn to when they’re tired and sluggish. It also often indicates that change (and therefore the hard work to effect it) is needed. Or it could also suggest the need to be more aware of things that are going on around you.

Coffee is all about get-up and go. It is a liquid that is designed to give you pep. Therefore if you have a dream where you are drinking a lot of coffee then it means that you need to continue being peppy and being a little more energetic with your life. Have a bit more energy and admit that you just need to go out and have a little bit more fun as well. Energy is always equal to fun and you will not regret going out more.

This is probably what this kind of dream is supposed to be about. It is a warning that you need to be more alert and pay more attention to your surroundings. This could mean you need to be more alert in a literal sense, where your brain is trying to tell you to stop wearing it out by staying up so late and waking up so early. Or it could also be a message that there are tons of things happening all around you that you are missing out on just because you’re slogging through life instead of going through all of the necessary motions that you should have in order to keep awake, alert, and abreast of current events.

http://www.gotohoroscope.com/txt/dream-dictionary-coffee.html

Coffee is also associated with comradeship and companionship: It’s common to drink coffee when spending casual time with others. In that way it’s similar to the family-gathering quality of meals, but coffee is less family oriented and more about friends. People talk over coffee; for good or ill, whether they’re discussing deeply intellectual topics or gossiping about their neighbors.

As suggested above, coffee is often a signifier of taste or class: do you take it black, or as a “coffee drink” (the wine spritzer of coffee); is Starbucks coffee “too strong” for you; do you even drink it at all? The most “refined”, of course, is black, unsweetened coffee. And the most hardcore is espresso!

Finally, there are traditional dream interpretations drawn from Arabic, European, and Indian cultures. The meanings are so varied that it’s hard to draw any general associations but there seems to be a thread of friendship and/or domesticity or problems with same. Perhaps this is because of domestic nature of preparing coffee, and it’s tendency to be consumed among friends (with a lot of talk accompanying it.)

My own thoughts about coffee are really different, at least as they apply to me personally. When I was first thinking about coffee and what it meant in my most recent dream I kept thinking about two things: 1) it’s dual nature (bitter/sweet), which is like salt and 2) its similarity to wine. Salt has a dual nature of bitterness vs. wisdom.

What turns the ashes of failure into the crown of victory is indicated by the fact that ash is alchemically equivalent to salt… Basically salt symbolizes Eros and appears in one of two aspects, either as bitterness or as wisdom. Jung writes: “Tears, sorrow, and disappointment are bitter, but wisdom is the comforter in all psychic suffering. Indeed, bitterness and wisdom form a pair of alternatives: where there is bitterness wisdom is lacking, and where wisdom is there can be no bitterness.” …

(Edward F. Edinger, Anatomy of the Psyche)

Coffee is similar; with coffee, the dual nature is bitterness vs. sweet. Coffee is either drunk with a lot of cream and sugar or it’s black and bitter. The thing is, it’s the bitterness of the coffee that makes it so delicious when you add fat and sugar (it’s the same reason why chocolate is so addictive – add a bit of bitter to fat and sugar and the brain goes nuts.)

The other thing coffee reminds me of is wine: Like I said, as with wine coffee is a “mana” drink. It’s basically a liquid drug. Wine, which is associated with Dionysus, is an agent of solutio; it erases boundaries and brings everything together in a blur of ecstacy (or, pushed further, into madness.) Coffee is like an anti-Dionysian liquid; it’s strongly associated with work and getting things done. But it’s a mind altering liquid just the same. Where wine is an agent of solutio, coffee is an agent of exhilaration and the motivation to go after your desires.

Coffee is also black. It’s a black liquid, a kind of bitter nigredo. It’s black and bitter, but it’s the bitterness of the coffee that adds flavor to life. Without the bitterness, the sweet is just overwhelming… or worse, just bland and tasteless. It’s the bitterness of the chocolate that makes it so delicious, that and the sweetness and the richness. The inability to appreciate what is bitter in our lives is a sign of childishness; to love the bitter for itself shows a maturity of taste and a sophistication in the art of living. It’s the cold night that makes the warm light so pleasurable… but the night itself has its own winter-like beauty, if you’re artistically and emotionally sensitive enough, and mature enough.

I think this idea is what all these coffee dreams may have been leading to.


(Image from Art Institute Chicago)

Symbolism: Cat

"Playing Cats" Takahashi Shotei

(Image from Etsy store ArtPink)

Re-post number 6 from Queen of the Night:

Cat symbolism

As with owls, cats are often associated with the night – both animals hunt at night, both are characterized by their ability to see well when we ourselves can’t. And since the unconscious is like the unknown night, how you feel about the unconscious will generally be reflected in how you feel about animals of the night, whether you hate and fear them or find them fascinating and helpful.

In keeping with their connection with the unknown and unseen, one idea that often crops up with cat’s is invisibility:

Albertus Magnus, the teacher of Saint Thomas Aquinas, insisted that a man could become invisible by wearing on his thumb the ear of a black cat, boiled in the milk of a black cow. Apparently the recipe was never tested; or if it was, the negative results were ignored."

The Arabs assigned very peculiar properties to such a stone [tiger’s eye]. They believed it could make its wearer invisible in battle. They also believed it could prevent an adulterous wife from conceiving children by her lover, provided her husband made her drink milk in which the stone had been dipped, before he went away on a journey. Perhaps the stone, perceived as an eye, was thought to affect various phenomena of vision and watching.”

http://www.wisdomportal.com/Cats/CatSymbolism.html

All of this is pretty obvious I think and not super interesting, the whole black cat thing and everything. The first interesting thing I found about cats was Marie Louise von Franz's description of the cat and how it often symbolizes a kind of independent femininity:

“The cat in our country stems originally from Egypt, where it was once a divine animal. There, they had a cat goddess who was the goddess of music, sexuality, pleasure in life, and life-embracing feminine fertility. The cat, in contrast to the dog, has never sold its soul to man. It has a kind of egocentric reserve. The cat says, ‘You may stroke me and you may serve me,’ but it never becomes your slave. And if you annoy it, it just walks out on you. In women's dreams, therefore, the cat often is an image of something feminine, independent and sure of itself, just what modern women so often lack. That's why the cat goddess come up in women's dreams as a positive model of feminine behavior. It is not brutal; it does not display any masculine features. It is feminine and, at the same time, very firm, very identical with itself. The cat is not very amiable, but very true to itself.

(von Franz, Marie Louise, The Way of the Dream)

Cats are usually thought of as female... which makes it a bit weird for me because most of my cats have been boys. People are always asking me how “she” is doing, even though I've told them repeatedly that “she” is a he. There's just something about cats that people intuitively feel is feminine, and, this is just based on a very small sample but my impression is that people who don’t like cats often generally don’t like “girly” things either. Cats are Aphrodite-like animals; sensual, associated with pleasure, fertility and drinking (not just Bast but Sekhmet, Bast’s blood-thirsty sun-lion twin, was only appeased by alcohol mixed with blood). Bast’s temple in Egypt was described as small but beautiful, surrounded by water on three sides (very Aphrodite).

Another god associated with cats and alcohol is Dionysus, the god of drink, who’s usually portrayed wearing a leopard skin. The Dionysus man is sensual and fascinating, like a leopard, and also as dangerous emotionally. Cats have that Dionysus quality of sensuality but without the danger. Maybe that’s what people who hate cats really hate; the desire for sensual pleasure which refuses to be controlled. That independence and refusal to be controlled is an integral part of the cat:

This calm, cool exterior bleeds over into the Tarot to convey a sleek mood of secretiveness and obscurity. The cat is an ultimate authority of its own inner realms. It needs no permission to behave in one way or another - therefore the cat must be given full reign to rule as it sees fit.

http://www.tarotteachings.com/cat-symbolism-in-tarot.html

It makes sense that under Christianity cats would fall out of favor; cats are sensual animals, animals of Aphrodite (pleasure) and Dionysus (ecstasy). Body-negating and full of hatred for earthly pleasures, such a religion would hate animals that symbolized pleasure. (“Christian: Satan; darkness; lust; laziness.”) (http://www.wisdomportal.com/Cats/CatSymbolism.html)

All these ideas of connection between human and animal were more or less diabolized under the Christian system, which regarded animals as soulless or demonic, or at the very least devoid of any feelings that needed consideration. Men, jealous of women's propensity to make pets of animals and treat them with love, soon found ways to condemn women for sensual, affectionate relationships with their dogs or cats. A woman seen fondling or talking to her pet fell under suspicion of witchcraft. Even a woman who spoke to any animal, as one might say "Hello there" to a squirrel or a bird, could be considered a witch. During the centuries of persecution, women were often burned for keeping cats, or nurturing lambs, or talking to frogs, or raising colts, or even for having mice in the house or toads in the garden.

What really surprised me about the cat symbolism in my own dreams is my sudden realization that, for me, they’re one half of a split animus complex. This may be why they’re always male in my dreams (I’m sure the fact that my cats are all boys has something to do with it… or it may be that my cats are always boys because of my complex??) I read the following recently and a bolt of realization hit me:

The animus in the dreams of a woman in psychotherapy often displays an even sharper split, appearing again as two quite different ego-projected complexes. One is the dominating, judgmental, condemning side, personified as a patriarchal father, dictator, judge or menacing animals such as a tiger or bear. These animus personifications seem to attack the woman dreamer, corresponding to involuntary thoughts that may attack her in waking life, saying, "What good are you? What could you accomplish? All you do is worthless."

In the same woman, a complementing ego-projected complex may be weak, helpless, or impotent. He may be an oversensitive artist; a deformed, crippled, or crazy boy; a distant, indifferent, or frigid man unable to love; or a weak, helpless animal.”

(Donald F. Sander & John Beebe, Psychopathology and Analysis, from Murray Stein’s Jungian Analysis, p. 312)

This is true, for me at least. In all of my dreams, whenever cats have appeared, they’re always in danger. I always have to protect them and keep them out of danger. Or if it’s not a cats it’s another weak, helpless animal. I always thought these weak animals were my inner little girl but it may be that they’re really images of the weak, helpless half of a split animus. I do know that at least part of my animus is cruel, domineering and, at least until recently, degrading. Are these cats and other helpless animals the other half of my animus? It seems so to me, right now at least.

One final facet of the cat that I’d like to explore, one which is particularly appropriate in light of the way cats are in my own unconscious: the role they play as protectors. Cats, at least in Egypt, are actually seen as protectors of the Pharaoh. Cats kill not only grain eating vermin but also snakes and scorpions. In Egyptian mythology cats were protectors of the Pharaoh; the cat goddess Bast fought Apep, the snake god of evil, and killed him: “[I]n other myths, it was the cat goddess Bastet, daughter of Ra, who slew Apep in her cat form one night, hunting him down with her all seeing eye” (and here again is the association with vision and night-sight.)

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apep)

Cats are, in an obvious way, associated with sensuality and pleasure, independence and the night. But they’re also warm-blooded protectors against that which is poisonous, or that which would devour the nourishment the unconscious depends on for life. Perhaps the independence and joy in earthly pleasures is one way of protecting ourselves from these things in our lives.

Posts:

The Cat: Redeeming the feminine

Cat hate = misogyny?