A Cat with a Message- Interpretations?

[LilyHu]

I dreamed that two friends (M and S) and I were hanging out. We were at what felt like M's house but it was not a house I am familiar with in waking life. There was nothing unusual that I can remember about hanging out at the house. I do remember kind of coming and going to other places but it seemed like those travels were dream space within the dream. At one point there was a cat that came to the house. Shortly after that, we decided to go for a walk in a cemetery at night. Once there, I only remember M walking a little ahead of me and I am not sure where S was. There were many cats in the cemetery, mostly orange cats, and one of the cats ran toward me really fast after I walked only a few paces into the cemetery. It leaped forward like it was going to attack me while saying, " I know what you are." Then I woke up. I did not feel afraid at any point in the dream. I felt curious and spiritual wanting to explore the cemetery. However, I did note the numerous cats around us as odd. I felt that I wanted to understand the cats and their presence. All of the cats were orange but patterns and shades varied. The cat did not follow through with attack but everything stopped with the cat midleap and I looked to see M walking ahead but turning back to see me. I am a woman and the 2 friends are women, both about 6 years younger than me. I have known S for about 3 years and I have known M for about 1 year through my friendship with S. M and S have been best friends since childhood that reconnected the same time I was introduced to M by S. We enjoy hanging out and spiritual practices are one of our common hobbies so the dream of walking through a cemetery is similar to something we would do in waking life. I have recently been exploring spiritual animal connections. M and S are also interested in animal connections but we have not yet gotten together to share and explore. I do own 2 cats, neither are orange. I have had numerous pet cats over the years, none that were orange. It is even kind of a joke we have that we have owned cats of all sorts except an orange one. M does not own a cat but S does have 1 cat, not orange. I hope have included enough information but feel free to ask questions that can help. I am genuinely interested in the insight offered on this forum and greatly appreciate it!

[adrez]

I'm no expert, but i'll see if i can help you. THE ORANGE CAT It may be simple, maybe it means that, simply, you like orange cats. According to experts, cats mean sexuality, speacially about women. It also may mean good luck I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE I sincerly have no idea, but guessing, if it was unpleasant it might mean that you were unconfortable at bed or you have fears.

[LilyHu]

Thank you for replying. I have actually gone back into the dream to look for elements that I may have missed and learned more behind what I should be interpreting from it. Simply put, I feel the dream was an alert to circumstances I would not be aware of had I not looked into the dream and that I am in a time where it is important for me to be on guard. The orange cat was significant in elements of my waking life that I don't think another person would have been able to interpret without explanation. The message it spoke is something I am only partially understanding at the moment but I don't feel the need to further explore this experience on my own in order to gain understanding. As I see it, this needs to be laid to rest as further exploration on my part will only be inviting the intrusion into my spiritual life. I am still open to interpretations from others as you have been the only reply but my intention in this is to better protect myself and family. Thank you again for your reply!

[Lang]

Sorry, I didn't get to you earlier. Very busy. I have had similar dreams like this. First of all the people or animals in your dream are apart of your subconscious, ultimately, you. You did say that you were learning about cats, right? For me, what I'm working on or doing during the day, would find it's way to my subconscious. It could be just as simple as that. Never underestimate the power of your subconscious. Your mind can do some funky things in your dreams. If you are like me, the more I think about something like this the more likely I'll dream it. So, I would take into account what you did before you went to bed. Have you ever kept a dream journal? This may help with figuring out what is going on for your subconscious is the only one to tell you what is going on. The Message from the cat, you are the only one that would know what it means. It's personal. If you ever have a dream like this again, you can always try to ask your dream characters what they mean? Perhaps, in your past, you had to deal with someone or something and need your attention now. Either way, take whatever you learn from your past and apply it here. In the days before science and technology, and burglar alarms brought a degree of security and certainty, our ancestors had to rely on more natural methods. In the medieval centuries, right up to the early part of the 20th century making their homes safe for their families meant not just keeping robbers and murderers out but also the powers of witches and other supernatural forces. This was done by drawing protective symbols on rafters, beams and window sills or even placing objects within the walls of their home, particularly shoes or animals. When working with old buildings, it is not uncommon to come across a mummified cat or a child’s shoes in the walls, over door lintels, under roof rafters, between the chimney stack and the wall and under the floorboards. These were the lengths people went to influence the intangible; warding off evil spirits, witches’ curses, and disease, or more positively, encouraging fertility. Just to be clear that this site doesn't have any credentials or licenses in the psychological, spiritual or medical fields, as far as I know. You know the best person that can interpret and fix your dreams is Yourself. With that said, we can help as much as we can but, we can't work miracles. We can only suggest things to you and give you our opinions but, it is your dream and not ours. Everyone's dreams are unique. Use your intuition, instincts, and common sense. We can help guide you but, we can't make them go away or in your case, we don't have a cheat sheet, easily by snapping our fingers. We don't have that power. I hope this helps a little? ~Lang

[LilyHu]

Thanks for replying. I am a very studious person with backgrounds in multiple disciplines including psychology and religion where I have learned so much that helps with things of this sort. I try my best to practically balance my knowledge and spirituality in way that is beneficial to myself and others. It helps having a forum, such as this one, where I can get the perspectives of others on matters that are a little too close for my own interpretation. While I have many dreams of all sorts, this is not a first time occurrence for me when it comes to dreams that are meant to be further explored in some way. I simply like to recieve input from others, as well. I recognize that this is quite personal for me but I really do appreciate the outside perspectives in replies to this inquiry.

[Lang]

Hope this helps. Sorry this if a little of topic but, it may help. Okay, I was just checking. The question, have you recently started in something new? Like a new job or hobby? Is there something in your life that may be making you fearful in your waking life? Caption Marvel? Question: Do you have any experience with Paranormal stuff? Perhaps, you could very well be talking to someone who is trying to communicate to you through the cats.

[PrisonPlanet]

I think the orange cat(s) could represent curiosity. Or curiosity towards unexplained phenomena. If that's what your implying by 'spiritual practices' (perhaps paranormal related topics?) 'I know what you are' could represent fear of the unknown. If you were originally focused on the cat it could have just triggered a new dream narrative (as we supposedly have around 6 dreams per night..I believe they sometimes intertwine trail off each other). Also I've always been curious how external forces (things background noises/temperature/scents/feelings) could effect our dreams. Do the your cats sleep on the bed? (mine does and tries to wake me up in morning) maybe the cats were jumping around or rubbing against you while dreaming. Anyway just a suggestion..good luck.

[scadsticker]

Symbolic of rebirth and resurrection, per their nine lives. Listen to the body language of a cat and you will easily interpret the message

[Athanor]

Although usually it would be best to have additional general background information about you as well as recent events just before the dream in order to provide an accurate interpretation, it’s safe to say that the presence of animals in dreams is usually connected to the relationship which the dreamer has with his or her instinctive side. This consists of earthy natural reactions, gut feelings, drives, intuitions and even fierce angry responses at times which can be necessary to protect oneself from harm. In addition, a cat can represent the basic essence of a person. This might sound unusual, but for example, the ancient Egyptians treated cats with veneration, and they were linked to various goddesses (that is, to inborn “feminine” energies. This idea is discussed in the book by Jungian analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen Goddesses in Every Woman). So this basic attitude toward cats often appears especially in the dreams of modern women but also in those of men as symbolizing aspects of the anima (the “inner woman” in Jungian terms). Cats are also strongly linked to the moon which often symbolizes the core, intuitive, so-called “feminine” part of a person. Additionally, many cats often get what they want with a certain ruthlessness and relentless determination. The cemetery might suggest that certain aspects of yourself could tend to be “buried” and unable to round out your overall personality. The presence of many cats in the dream could be linked to the symbol of “multiplicity” in dreams which can indicate too great a distance from its opposite, namely, from “unity” or a feeling of a true “wholeness of the personality”, in this case possibly because a certain view of instinctual life tends to be excluded it too much from conscious awareness. To explain further, if one of the cats was going to attack you, that usually would indicate that your instinctive side is “angry” with you for some reason. It’s especially important to “listen” to a talking animal in dreams. Unfortunately, if the reason for the “anger” in your situation is not uncovered, unpleasant physical and/or psychological symptoms could potentially appear over time as related to your own specific physical and psychological vulnerabilities (This is often symbolized in dreams by being bitten by an animal). The possibilities are endless but common ones include boredom, digestive upsets, vague pains and headaches etc. In a worst case scenario where the underlying problem is not unearthed but instead becomes worse, more serious symptoms could develop such as high blood pressure or depression and so on. Your two lifetime friends in the dream could possibly symbolize very old habits and ways of looking at things as possibly influenced by your overall upbringing. For example, your interest in the spiritual as perhaps initiated in childhood may need a balancing out by a more direct involvement with your earthy instinctive side overall. This might have been the reason why there recently appeared an apparently spontaneous need to explore “spiritual animal connections”. But deeply looking into the reality of such a connection might indeed feel like an intrusion into your usual spiritual life. Just to close, 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”. 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.

[MatthewHoward]

Hi LilyHu, I am looking over this dream and pondering it. It's certainly an interesting dream. I just wanted to ask what made you look into spiritual animal connections in the first place? It may help with an interpretation. Did you read about it in a book, hear about it from someone, or just stumble across it?

[MatthewHoward]

I think this dream is speaking about your recent interest in spiritual animal connections. I think it is saying that it doesn’t fit with the spiritual path you are on, and the attack of the cat and represents a moment when you will be convinced of this. It just seems that way to me as all throughout the dream the cats are out of place or you are wondering why they are there?