Snake Ate My Cat

I had a very vivid dream and want any interpretations that I could get. I have a cat. She is a small black and white cat. Emotionally, she's like my little girl. In the dream, there was a cobra, I think two. One of them ate her whole. I don't think it bit her because of how the rest of the dream went. I grabbed the cobra and pushed my cat back out of its mouth. Panicked I grabbed my cat and raced to the vet. It was the vet I normally go to, not just any vet. My aunt, who is also vet, as well as a few other members of my family were following me in a car to the vet. For whatever reason, I just couldn't figure out how to get there. I ended up driving through a mall, not being able to figure out which exit would take me to the main road. In the end, I remember just being frustrated at myself more than worried about the cat. I want to say I woke up thinking my cat was ok, just a little roughed up.

Although in order to provide a more accurate interpretation it would usually be best to have some additional general background information about you (and a description of events just before this frightening dream), a few ideas can be tried out to see if they might fit your personal situation in some way.

Just to mention to start off that there are generally no rigidly fixed interpretations for a given image in a dream (unlike the overall impression given by most “dream dictionaries” for example), and it’s always best to have the spontaneous memories, thoughts and feelings of the dreamer as related to each image and event in a dream.

That way, a better analysis is more likely, but having said that, there are some general symbolic motifs that appear in dreams which can serve as a basic starting point for discovering its meaning.

Also, it’s important to say that the language of dreams is one based on analogies and metaphors which can often be very complex and therefore can be hard to understand, especially if the interpreter doesn’t know anything about the dreamer.

In addition, dreams are the broad equivalent to those processes which keep our physical bodies in an equilibrium.

For example, as you know, automatic adjustments are continually made to keep a person’s temperature, blood sugar level, water content etc. etc. at appropriate levels.

In an equivalent way, dreams try to maintain an overall psychological balance which will allow for the gradual all-round self-development of the dreamer.

Also, looking at the stories, myths and art etc. about a given image as created by people over thousands of years can often be very helpful in providing useful parallels which can clarify its meaning in a modern dream.

In your dream, the shocking image appears of a cobra swallowing your beloved cat.

It can take a while to get used to how dreams express their meaning. For example, in the dream, your cat is being used to symbolize something else and is not your real cat per se.

The analogy appears to be that it’s as if your “little girl” is in danger.

In the dreams of a woman, her “little girl” often symbolizes the core essence of her personality and its overall potentials.

Probably even harder to understand is that cats, especially in the dreams of a woman, can themselves symbolize this important center of herself.

As mentioned, looking at what others have believed about cats over the centuries can also help to understand their image in a modern dream.

For example, the ancient Egyptians treated cats with veneration, and they were linked to various goddesses (that is, to inborn “feminine” energies). So this basic attitude toward cats often appears especially in the dreams of modern women but also in those of men.

(You might like analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen’s book “Goddesses in Everywoman” to find out which feminine psychological energies are most naturally part of your own personality.)

Cats are also strongly linked to the moon which often symbolizes the core, intuitive, feminine part of a woman and therefore the place of her true nature and vocation.

It’s possible that the cat also symbolizes overall the more feminine traits related to allure, enchantment and the ability to beguile through visual contact.

Additionally, many cats often get what they want with a certain ruthlessness and relentless determination.

A Japanese story from the 1600’s, “The Swordsman and the Cat”, also illustrates the central role of the cat in a person’s psychology:

In the story, a group of cats returns from a busy day of rat-catching and later respectfully ask the Great Cat if she will divulge her secrets to them for their benefit to which she replies:

“Teaching is not difficult, listening is not difficult either, but what is truly difficult is to become conscious of what you have in yourself and be able to use it as your own”.

Your dream has also specifically chosen the image of a cobra to use as an analogy. It too has many ancient beliefs and ideas associated with it.

For instance, in Egyptian mythology it’s connected with the idea of both annihilation and rebirth.

Psychologically, this points to the crucial need to often let go of old habits and beliefs etc. in order to be “reborn” by exploring parts of ourselves that, as an example, had to be left behind for whatever reason, e.g. various talents or areas of human nature about which we feel uncomfortable.

Regarding snakes in general, the famous psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote the following:
“So whenever life means business, when things are getting serious, you are likely to find a saurian on the way. Or when vital contents are to appear from the unconscious, vital thoughts or impulses, you will dream of such animals”.

Dr. Jung was referring at the time of writing to images such as snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, and crocodiles.

Since dream images work by analogy, it’s no accident that the long sinewy shape of a snake is just like the human brain stem and spinal cord which in turn is where our deepest and most instinctive automatic responses come from as opposed to the other more “human” parts of the brain.

Also, the psyche can be a source of ongoing renewal and change (e.g. like a snake was believed to be “reborn” when it shed its skin and had a new one) or it can be a destroyer (e.g. like the snake in your dream could potentially have killed your beloved cat).

In general, it’s as if our deepest instincts as symbolized by the cobra don’t like to be ignored or disparaged in any way, and they can gradually get “angrier” if we ignore something we’re doing that is in some way hurting them even though we’re unaware that we’re doing this.

Again, while it might be hard to understand, it’s possible that the “cobra within” is somehow angry that you maybe aren’t fulfilling enough the innate instinct to always be growing and changing in order to fulfill your general potentials.

So the idea would be that the dream could be a serious warning to explore what you have to do in order to encourage your overall self-development.

At this stage, it’s only a warning because, while the cobra swallows your cat, you’re able you save her.

On the other hand, in the end, you’re not able to get her to the vet in order to make sure she’s alright.

Psychologically, this means that there could be various annoying obstacles to moving forward with your own unique and individual self-development.

For instance, the fact that you can’t figure out how to get to your usual vet, end up kind of driving around “trapped” in a mall, and that members of your family who were following in a car disappear all point apparently to the idea that a strong dependence on old ways to “orientate” yourself could really tend to get in the way of “getting out of” what the dream thinks of as being a too “collective” and “materialistic” attitude (i.e. as symbolized by the mall).

In addition, you end up feeling frustrated with yourself more than being worried about the cat, maybe suggesting that you’ll have to overcome some self-doubts and self-critical judgments etc. in order to move ahead more effectively.

Another danger might appear in the thought that you had upon waking, namely, that your cat was OK and just a little roughed up.

For example, this could possibly show an unconscious preference to just stick with the status quo as it is because things are going OK in general. But the “cobra” could return again later, perhaps biting you instead.

Any such “bite” and the “venom” involved could unfortunately take the form of unpleasant physical or psychological symptoms, so it seems to be best if you could persevere in finding out how to make your potentials more real and fulfilled in the outside world.

Anyway as mentioned, without knowing anything much about you, this way of looking at your dream might not fit your personal circumstances very well, but I hope that these ideas can be helpful in some way.

Please make any comments or ask any questions about this interpretation that you’d like to.

Ok, a little about me. I'm a 34 year old male. I have a job, but am desperately searching for a new one. To no avail so far. I actually have two cats. male and female. They both are my "kids", but the female one is much smaller than the male and I treat her more delicately than my male cat. I was, up until today, also very stressed about my car. It was in the shop and they kept finding more and more wrong with it. I believe I developed stress hives from this (not 100%, but I've never had hives up until this week). I just got the car back, so that stress is now over. Relationship wise, I've been seeing this amazing woman for about a year now and it's going amazing. Much better than my last one, which ended very messily and emotionally.
Thank you for the above interpenetration, it's insightful as is.

Hi again,

From what you’ve written, I think that maybe only some tweaking of the overall interpretation is needed.

For example, it’s possible that the current search for a new job has highlighted in some way the need for you to find one that’s at least reasonably fulfilling in a genuine way.

Of course, this can be very hard to do in the current state of most economies, but the cobra’s “warning attack” might possibly be advising you to take your time as much as possible, and especially to find a job that generally fits your genuine personality type.

If you can’t manage this, then some kind of appropriate and enjoyable activity outside work could fit the bill very well.

For instance, for me, the way you described things in your dream and in your follow-up reply seem to show that values, emotions and the personal side of things are the most important part of your innate personality.

But being desperate to leave your current job could potentially lead you understandably to jump into another workplace that might not be really suitable deep down in its ability to allow you an outlet for this very important side of yourself.

It’s a stressful time for you (but at least your car is fixed) and I don’t want to inadvertently add more unnecessary stressors right now, but I feel I should mention that your age might play a part in the upsetting nature of the dream.

That’s because, while we still think of ourselves as being young around age 35 and beyond, from the point of view of dreams, we’ve reached the general half way point of life.

So dreams touching on this fact tend to appear periodically in mid-life to remind us that certain important aspects of our personality tend to remain unexplored and undeveloped enough.

The sobering idea is that, if we don’t gradually try to fit them in, time could run out before we have a chance to round out our potential personalities.

As mentioned before, if we don’t try reasonably well to do this, then a deep part of our instinctive side tends to “attack” us, the result ranging from a vague feeling of malaise to possibly more serious problems over time.

So basically, it looks like the dream is advising you to keep the “real you” in mind as you search for a job and continue in your current relationship.

If you’re interested in getting an idea about your actual personality type and how this affects your everyday life, a short but very useful and clear introduction to these ideas as developed by Carl Jung can be found in “Personality Types” by analyst Daryl Sharp. It’s available on such sites as Amazon etc.

However, you can actually download it free from the publisher’s website which is innercitybooks.net

If you go to the site, just click “e-books” on the left side of the home page, then scroll down on the e-book page to the bottom where there are a few free books including “Personality Types”. You can then download and save it in PDF format.

Later on when things settle down a little, you might like to read a few books by James Hollis who has written extensively on how to make the best of the second half of life.

And instead of “Goddesses in Everywoman”, you might like Jean Shinoda-Bolen’s “Gods in Everyman: Archetypes That Shape Men's Lives” in order to add to an understanding of your own personal inner self and what motivates you in various ways. It’s always best to be as conscious as possible of what’s going on inside us.

In any case, I hope that these additional ideas can be helpful in some way, and please don’t hesitate to ask any other questions you may have.

I think the dream is talking about a weaker, more vulnerable and emotional part of yourself that has been consumed by something happening to you. Im wondering why you said cobra specifically rather than just snake - what do you associate with a cobra? This will give a clue as to what event or situation it's referring to. You have managed to get yourself out of the situation but it seems there is still some healing to be done. The fact that your aunt is a vet means that someone who might be able to help with this has your back, so does your family, but they are letting you go at your own pace. You are trying to get back on track but you need some little help with that. The dream's message is to just ask for help and that ultimately you will be alright, just a bit roughed up thats all.