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Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Hello,

In the past month I have had these 2 dreams who seem to be relaying a similar message. Can you kindly help me decipher what that might be? Many thanks.

First dream: I am with my younger brother in what seemed to be my house. I look through the window and it is ice cold outside, the entire town was covered in ice. I do not like it, it scares me. I tell myself that I am in a dream and I calm down. I see my cat, princess, frozen too. She is pregnant and can’t give birth; her body is frozen. I pick her up and tell my brother to bring a basin filled with warm water. We try to put her in water to ease her birth.

Second dream:I am by the sea, close to my house. The waves wash out a giant seal, she is very pregnant. I see her give birth to three baby seals, two really small ones and a giant baby, three times the size of the other two. I am worried the seals may die in dry lad and call a friend to help me carry them back into the ocean.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 30 USA

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

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Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Zaire,
The house would be you. In both dreams there is someone helping you. One is a young masculine male {younger brother} which may symbolize your own developing masculine aspects {animus}. And it could at the same time be saying something about your younger brother whose support you rely on in the real world.

The frozen outside may be directed at your ego self, 'frozen' emotional attitudes. The cat may represent your feminine identity which desires to give birth to a new phase, identity, direction in life. Water is often symbolic of the unconscious. Unconsciously yo are dealing with these 'frozen' attitudes/aspects but have yet to consciously recognize and/or engage in bringing about the needed changes/recognition of the emotional forces.

The second dream begins with unconscious contents {sea}. The washing up of a giant seal may represent unconscious contents ready/needing to be brought to consciousness. Again there is something new in the process of being 'born' {pregnant}. This would represent something about yourself. It could even be what is pregnant, something that is developing within you, is ready for birthing.

We may need to go back to the 'frozen' aspects in the first to understand what that may be. It is something that affects your entire being {entire town}. The 'princess' within you may be a key, the cat representing something delicate. It is not obvious for me to see but you may recognize a connection in your waking life. Look to recent experiences prior to the dream may have stimulated a recognition of unconscious events.

There is that possibility it may be pointing to childhood experiences. Your brother could fit there, shared experiences. if you have clues to what the dream may be addressing please share those and perhaps we will be better able to 'decipher; the dream message. When we are confronted with personal experiences we get into areas for which only the dreamer has a recognition of since it is personal and not addressed in understanding terms within the dream.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 59 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

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Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Interesting. I had a moment to consider this it may be addressing my sexuality. I enjoy expressing myself sexually, but I've had to adjust my ways in my current 5 year relationship, I don't connect great with my partner in this area. I've actually been considering the future of my relationship based on this misalignment. I wonder if my dreams are addressing this deep seated desire? If so, which way are they pointing?

Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Hi Zaire,

Cats have to do with sensuality (they are deeply sensual creatures) and feminine expression...sensuality has to do with sexuality...creativity, relational expression...that which stimulates/feeds our passions. Seal, for me, has to do with soul and soulful callings/expression, moving with feminine rhythms in the waters of life.

Here is a little story that I love, which may speak to you: Sealskin Soulskin
http://www.geocities.com/kwrenb/sealskin2.html

And here is a page that speaks of seal as totem:
http://www.sayahda.com/cyc4.html

The dream certainly may be addressing your need for more creative sexual expression/intimacy, but I don't think the dream is depicting which way your current relationship is heading, that's up to you. The dream is showing what is in your inner world. You make the choice, according to your inner voice, part of which, I feel, we see and hear in our dreams.

Is a part of your life bleak and cold (like the town covered in ice) due the lack of more creative sexual expression in your relationship?

A richer (more expressive/more intimate) sexual relational life is often part of the source that fuels a richer expression in many other areas of life. Is there a part of you that is birthing (burgeoning from the inside) on ice and dry land? And if so, do you need to get to the (warm) waters where you may allow your creative expresssion to flow?

Kristi

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 43, Kansas

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

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Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Zaire,
What I would like to be understood is the reason for the inclusion of your brother in the first dream. Is there something the two of you share, a close relationship, similar interests, personality traits? Dreams deal with the issues at hand, in your case the relationship, or lack of, with your current partner. But they also address the deeper causations, the reason for your actions in adulthood {and possible sexual expectations} which most often have their beginnings from experiencies in early childhood. That would explain the connection, shared aspects, perhaps in early childhood? These are the deeper aspects I look for within dreams.

Note: I have recently begun to look deeper with dreams for personality traits of the dreamer being exposed in dreams, as well as causation possibilities. I believe that is where Jung would direct us to look, the two possibilities he proposed as a function within all dreams.

I don't see anything obvious within the dreams that point to sexuality. But it could involve the emotions associated with the unsatisfactory relationship with your mate. If his love making leaves you 'cold', that could explain the 'frozen' cat {feminine} and the overall self covered in ice {the town representing your entire self}. The desire for a more satisfactory partner could be the 'new' thing being considered {ending relationship and starting anew}.
We know you are consciously dealing with this issue thus unconsciously the emotionally aspects having to do with the possible transition {We try to put her in water to ease her birth} are reflected in your dreams. Conscious thought was first unconscious so anything conscious is born from the unconscious.

Kristi provides good evidence of the seal as a symbol of giving birth. And the seal as an intuitive aspect could fit {as Kristi points out, "A richer, more expressive/more intimate, sexual relational life"}. So yes, there could be that connection, although your dream doesn't use language found in many straightforward sexual dreams. Looking it as a straightforward emotional conflict may best connect the dots, the emotional conflict having to do with the sexual relationship {and 'giving' birth to a desired new, more 'expressive', and intimate sexual relationship}.
Have you had other dreams during this time span that did have sexual imagery or representations? If you possess a strong and sensual sex drive there would most likely be an expectation of sexual dreams {but not a 100% possibility-in dream interpretation we never say never}. As I understand it, this has been an emotional conflict that you are having to deal with. Whatever your life is about is what your dreams will reflect.
Minus the ego as the controlling agent.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 59 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

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Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Hi Zaire and Jerry,

Thanks for keeping me straight, Jerry. I knew the presence of "brother" held a critical key to understanding the dream, but did not know how to address it.

Zaire, did you have a feeling reference as to your and your brother's age in the dream? And do you have a feeling inclination as to what role he is playing in the dream? What purpose he is serving? ... Why are "you and brother" (together) looking out over a frozen land? Was any of your younger life together somehow like this?

Kristi

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 43, Kansas

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

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Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Dear Jerry and Kristi,
Thank you for the wonderful insight, some incredible themes explored here.

Sharing a bit more info regarding my younger brother, I am six years older than him. When he was born my mother worked a lot and I was trained to take care of him since he was a baby, changed him, fed him, I was very protective of him. Now that we are adults we have grown apart, mainly due to life choices, mine are too liberal for his liking. There is a sense of coldness there.

I am intrigued with Jerry's interpretation of the cat and frozen sensuality. I actually do feel that to an extend and there is a divide within me because I have a beautiful relationship otherwise. However I do not feel complete sexually with my partner, our energies draw from different sources and clash at times. I even feel a sense of guilt to consider leaving my partner because this aspect of our connection does not complement my desires. I am split here and afraid to make a mistake that I would regret.

Krisit I loved the Sealskin/Soulskin story. I actually feel like that with all men, a part of me demands total freedom. That is my energy to search the depths of my ocean.

Thank you
Zaire

Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Hi Zaire,

I am glad that you liked the Sealskin Soulskin story.

I just thought I'd ask another question or two that may help to identify the emotional conlict that is being addressed.

Your relationship with your brother makes him a sort of mold of the way you view men in life, being brother was (at least one of) your earliest experiences with the masculine in life. This is true for all women. Our brothers and fathers become a big part of our inner image of men. And this inner image is the one that we project onto other men in life. The converse is true for men, they project mother and sister onto the women in their life.

What about your relationship with your brother makes you frozen toward men (your current significant other)? And, if you were to unfreeze this issue (in which brother is key to understanding), would you be able to thaw and give birth to the sexual exchange you desire to have with your current partner?

The dream does not point to your mate being frozen, but to some part of you. Cat is a feminine aspect.

I don't know what it looked liked in your life, all of what it entailed, how much you were required to do through the years, how much of your time it took, etc., but children, ideally, are supposed to play, enjoy freedom, innocence, delight in discovery of life, spontaneity, etc. Training a six year old to assume motherly duties really is a lot to ask a child...

Might you harbor a resentment for having had to raise your brother as a child? And are you projecting this onto your current mate, when it really does not belong with him. Can you not unfreeze and allow your energies to flow, perhaps because, subconsciously, you are seeing brother in him?

Althernatively (perhaps it is not resentment), being that you have been with your current mate for five years, I assume you have grown rather close, like family (like a "brother") and you may be projecting the need to protect brother onto him, by demonstrating appropriate, motherly behavior when in bed - and maybe out of bed, too. Are you allowing yourself to be you, true to you, or are you still playing mom with your mate?

It may be a combination of both.

Might the lack of a more stimulating or exciting sexual exchange with your mate be due to a failure to connect both with him (as he is) and your own deepler self that wants to birth and go into those soulful waters of a deep and creative sexual expression?

What kind of relationships in your past have allowed you to explore sexuality more creatively? Are they the more risky ones, not close to home, not constant companion types (like brother was a constant in your young life)?

Kristi

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 43, Kansas

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

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Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Zaire,
Your response provides insights to why your brother was in the dream. Kristi gave a wonderful assessment of the possibilities. The 'frozen' relationship with your brother could indeed be a precursor to other aspects in your psyche. Your response to Kristi's questions may shed light and help resolve some of those issues.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 59 Murfreesboro, Tn

Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Hi Kristi,

I must say i could not sleep well last night :) after considering the questions posed. It is scary to think that childhood molding may affect ones encounters in life to such a degree.
I reflected on your questions and I took myself back to when my younger brother was born. Before my younger brother was born, my father used to tell me I was his favorite child. He would say this in front of my older brother, but we were kids and didn't understand how cruel that was. When the younger brother was born(the one in my dream),my parents spoiled him with all their attention and love. The reason for this was partly due to an accident where my little brother almost died at 2 years old. He fell from the balcony of second floor of our house. They were so afraid of loosing him and showered him with enormous love and attention. Now come to think of it, I remember feeling guilty as a child for this incident. My mother had told me to look after my brother while she takes a nap. I agree and close her bedroom door. I get distracted playing with my cousins outside and forget about my brother. He climbs the stairs to the second floor looking for mom, he tries to open the bedroom door(which I had closed so no one disturbs mom)and can't manage to. Instead he leans over the balcony and jumps. I remember seeing my mother crying and going crazy, my brother was unconscious for a good while. They rush him to the hospital. I felt guilty for this incident, had I not closed the bedroom door, my brother would have found mom and I would not see her upset like that. I never told my mother or the rest of my family that I closed the door. They kept asking who closed the door, if the door was open, my brother would have been fine. As such my guilt grew even more.

I have not thought about this instance in years. I am not sure how this connects to the puzzle of my current relationship. I was intrigued by your question if I am mothering my boyfriend instead of having a wholesome adult relationship. I am not sure, but something made me think. My partner is an entrepreneur, albeit not very successful yet, which means I am in charge of paying all the bills. I wonder if, as you say, I am mothering him. I have shared with him that this is no longer acceptable and he is making changes.

As far as sexual relations, indeed, the best sexual explorations I have had in the past have been with man I couldn't build a harmonious union with. We clashed in other aspects, but we deeply connected in sex. Now I deeply connect in other beauties of life, but not so much sexually.

Thank you so much for your time and energy in exploring this conflict with me.

Zaire

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 30 USA

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Re: Recurring dream of animals giving birth

Hi Zaire,

You're welcome.

Oh, let's not see it as or say it is scary, but perhaps enlightening to find that so much of who we are as adults (our personas) are significantly shaped by our childhood years. The young years are the "formative" years of our ego/mind, social skills, emotional body, etc., etc. Deep impressions are registered in the psyche during our young years and we go on unconsciously enacting those dramas...until we don't.

Yes, it is cruel to tell one child they are better (in whatever words are used) than another...whether that other one stands near or is out of sight/sound. Still, it would have an effect, on both. Most in the world do not parent consciously, for they themselves have not become "conscious" of the conditioning being experienced and effected upon one another...conditioning which is passed down from one generation to another...until it's not. And that "not" rests in our making conscious choices and efforts...and praying and meditating over life...as Jerry often reminds with the little symbols he uses in his signature...and, ofcourse, grace, which I do believe in.

I can imagine the feeling of guilt you felt for believing yourself responsible for your brother's near death and the fear of losing Mom's and Dad's love and approval if they knew you did not watch over him as charged to do. I can also understand the need to protect him that you grew to have, lest the same be risked again. It's pretty weighty stuff for a little girl.

It is good that you found pause for introspection on the mothering issue. It truly is part of the drama that continues to get played out in all women (and some men). Sounds like your own intuition is opening a door into further exploration.

Having forgotten the many hats we have worn through our years, we most think we are these singular personalities that we are aware of in our present...but a host of shades and colors of ourselves at all different ages truly does exist in every moment.

I think the risky (short lived) sexual encounters are generally based in the filling of/satisfying root needs. They become a cycle and a higher form of love (which is the potential of sexual energy and a masculine/feminine relationship) is not likely to grow there. True intimacy is needed for that.

Kristi

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 43, Kansas

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

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