Kassandra,
Forgive me for not getting to your dream yesterday as promised. Obligations of the 'social' kind required my attention.

Looking at the dream a second time I don't see an application where the animus would play a important role. Perhaps a 'benign' secondary role fulfilling Jung's assertion all dreams have at least two applications. Because it is your bf and not an unidentifiable male my sense is he/bf is representing himself in the primary role in the dream. The focus is on the relationship, on your emotions having to do with the relationship { your dreams are about your emotions and your bf would be in relationship to that}.

Your age does enter into the equation. At 29 you are still in that stage of life where you are 'constructing' your life and not 're-constructing' as happens in later stages of life. In this stage current waking experiences tend to be more prominent focus of dreams and close personal relationships would tend to be 'them-self' and not an animus representation {the animus representation not a primary focus of the dream}. So at best your bf as an animus figure would fit a minor application to the dream's intent. As to what that would be I would give this brief summary:

Your bf would represent your masculine qualities in need of fulfilling an important role in your life {ordered the most expensive fish for me and I was very content}. You need/expect this aspect to fill this needed role but there is a lack of real structure in your life for this {bf feeding you the fish only to realize that it was full of bones which made it hard to swallow}. In times of real need there is a lack of masculine identity.

This animus application would point to unmet masculine qualities, probably having to do with early life experiences/influences. It could be your father was not available or unable to fill this important structuring. It could also point to expectations of males in later life, pushing to choose men based on unconscious stimuli. This could or could not be a positive aspect depending on your overall personality.

As for the 'intuitive' aspects of the dream. Dreams are a form of intuitive thought, providing unconscious insights to the waking life that may not be realized by the conscious mind. The second dream where you saw your bf with an evil twin {which as an animus aspect would be a negative, or injecting a negative response in situations where you need such masculine qualities} would be an 'intuitive' insight of what was to be realized later on {funnily enough it was the first time I thought of splitting up}. The dream may have been reflecting conscious intuitive senses and the dream, as a mechanism as a healing tool, was trying to help sort out the emotional conflicts. He/bf was 'cooking' up situations that would later on present actual experiences that would lead to a breakup. As an animus aspect this is, or has been done to your own masculine qualities, doing to yourself as your bf is also doing to you. It can be hard to point to exact applications of the animus and being so was one reason I did not bring it up in my original interpretation. Plus, as an animus application, it being a less important aspect of the dream.

Or is it? Looking back at your relationship with your father may provide clues to just how important this seemingly secondary role of the animus is. If it has become a negative then it may be more important than we may think. But if it gets you to look at men in an objective light it may have turned into a positive. You may have 'intuitively' realized your bf had this 'dark side', a positive result of early life experiences dealing with other men who possessed the same or similar qualities. This application of course is dependent on the father/daughter relationship.

Something to think about. Dreams do tend to point to the deeper issues as well as the current waking life emotional conflicts. Getting to the deeper aspects often requires a deeper examination of the psyche, and the dream. This where Freud's couch would be of good use. Not only to sleep on and dream but also as a tool for such an examination.

Strange. Having said the above about Freud's couch makes me think of unconscious applications to the couch as a tool for dreams as much as analyzing the dreamer. I wonder if Freud ever thought of such applications?

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 61 Murfreesboro, Tn

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Thank you Jerry, the relationship between my father an my tendency to subconsciously choose similarly unsuitable partners was spot on...
I will think about all your comments very carefully, thank you very much for your help.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 29 U.K.

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