The Cat & The Snake

DREAM that I was looking at a cat that seemed to be in the final throes of death. Its legs were stiff and stuck straight out, and the right hind leg was missing the foot. It was a soft smoky grey. Its eyes were big and open, with rusty colour irises instead of the usual yellow. There was a slight but persistent tremour in its whole body. I wondered if it could still be saved until I saw the snake beside it, alive and well. Both were looking at me.

DREAMWORK:

Another dream of dead/dying cat… with part/s missing or hurt… element/hint of blood, although I seldom dream of snakes. The cat is the shadow side of my animal nature, so then what is the snake? It is the deeper and darker shadow, the parts of my nature that I reject and repress into unawareness, while the cat is the lighter shadow stuff I have at least acknowledged and accepted. Both are things I haven’t dealt with.

It came to me just this moment, that the cat is the freedom I’ve denied myself, as compromise for something else. That’s why the cat was either dying or living (barely) a severely restricted existence in the dream. Cat wants to be provided for and taken care of, but in our world that comes with a price, and she is forced into domesticity to 'prostitute' herself for food, shelter, and affection. Her natural instinct to roam and hunt and play and mate freely – to be her true animal self – is compromised to a greater or lesser degree. And I am that cat who is selling out, compromising her true Self, denying herself full creative expression, because I want a soft, cushy life. This I have known for some time now.

I remember suddenly that supposedly Eve was bitten on the heel by the snake, and in the dream it appeared that the cat was quite possibly dying or at least suffering the effects of snakebite. The snake and its venom embody all worldly knowledge as well as perennial wisdom, so Woman is born with this powerful and terrible gift, imparted by the original snakebite. This great power can be used for great good or great evil, depending on how it’s harnessed and directed, but if it is suppressed, it will turn on the woman whose container it is and become (her)self-destructive. This is the proverbial wrath that ultimately erupts when the feminine – the force of Creativity – is scorned, or denied expression. This is the next stage of consequence after killing the cat, if I continue to deny my true Self – I, my inherent nature, will turn on myself, again, as I had done in my youth.

As this is still largely in my shadow, I do not have clarity on how I am denying my true Self, or what to do about it. All I can say for what is in my heart is, I want to go on a long retreat (although I don’t know how long) where I am free from the concerns of survival, where I can focus solely on opening myself to divine will and my life’s purpose, to become the best vessel I can be for that work to come through.