The Invasion of the Cows and Dogs!

[Kiki]

For years now, cows or dogs seem to appear in my dreams! They always seem to be after me and no-one else! I probably dream about the cows the most. In my dreams I feel such fear! And then relief when Ive managed to make it to safety; into another room or behind a door or something. The cows are sometimes deformed aswell, and sometimes they dont really look like cows but in my dream Im clear that thats what they are. Last night I dreamt that my dad took me to a slaughter house to get our meat for christmas. It was a large metal barn, with live cattle and other random animals of which Im unsure of what they were. It was nasty, some gruesomely had limbs etc already removed. I just remember feeling so scared knowing that I couldnt run otherwise they would chase me. My dad was fine with the animals and was tellin me not to be so stupid. It seemed to last forever, and then it was a feeling of such relief when I made it out. Until I was told a cow had escaped, and the feelin started all over again but this time in the streets by myself and one crazed runaway cow with sharp teeth! Also, though not in this particular dream, sometimes I have a small child which I have to protect, Its not my child, I dont always know whose it is, but it has been my little brother or a friends baby in the past. Its a similar story with the dogs, except, they generally do look how regular dogs look in real life, and I have been afraid of dogs since I was a young child so it doesnt surprise me that I would fear them in my dreams also.

[Burned up]

I can feel the fear as I read your post. I think I recognise it from my own dreams. Cows and dogs will have a special meaning for you and I'm not surprised you are afraid both in dreams and IRL. However the fear may be displaced. It may be someting else you're afraid of that's harder to come to terms with so you project it onto these animals instead.

[ZNOFZ]

Do you have smaller older, or younger siblings? Sometimes animals can be family members. The other question I have is whether or not your father would take you somewhere you don't want to go? It seems like he took you to the place that you fear the most in your dream world.

[Kiki]

Im the second oldest of four. I have an older sister and two younger brothers, and its the youngest of my brothers which I have protected in my dream before. Although in my dream he was a lot younger than he actually is now; he was only a toddler in my dream but in real life he is now 15. I have a happy family with parents still together. I think our upbringing has been just right; not too sheltered or left to do as we please. I spose my dad was seen as the stricter of my parents, but never over the top with it. In general hes an all round kind guy. I dont know why he would take me somewhere I fear so much, Im not sure whether it would be malice or just fatherly talk when he was saying 'Dont be silly', I dont know if he really realised in my dream how the animals behaved towards me, because he was unphased by it like it was any normal carefree trip. But thinkin about what you said, there was a walk we used to go on when we were younger and I hated it because of one of the lanes it used to take us down, I'd call it 'dead rabbit lane', because it was quite a common place to be struck with myxomatosis.

[Athanor]

An additional approach to your dream would be to get the feel of analogies which dreams often use as a “language” to express themselves symbolically. In general, a cow often has the connotation of just “being” as opposed to always “doing”. For example, they aren’t very active and may be very slow in ultimately digesting their food by chewing their cud etc., but the food is digested extremely thoroughly and this helps make them healthy etc. Also, they may look slow and passive in some ways, but they have a strength and a feeling of continuity about them, a sense that they will always be there providing milk and other necessities of life. A cow therefore would tend to symbolize a deep instinctive part of yourself, one perhaps reaching down to the nurturing-mother principle. However, without knowing much about your personality type overall, it’s hard to say why the cows make you afraid, why they are in such bad shape etc., and why one of them even has sharp teeth and chases you. For example, if a person was someone who was always compulsively on the go and “doing” as opposed to allowing a certain instinctive peace to occasionally be allowed in, the cows would be shown as “butchered” and maltreated because they would tend to symbolize a certain feminine principle of rest and “letting it be” that was being ignored too much by the dreamer. On the other hand, if the person was overly passive and inactive in pursuing their individual goals, then the dream would be trying to discredit this attitude by showing the cows as being in bad shape or hostile. It’s possible that because at your general age you are about to strike out into the broader world more fully, the dreams might be urging you to remember that you have to develop at root your true self no matter what this involves. This often means leaving behind old cherished attitudes or at least modifying them. This idea would include how your dad is made to look less than ideal in the recent dream, even stirring up a memory about how his “leading you down the garden path” could cause illness. Of course it’s important to emphasize that the dream isn’t saying your outer dad is “no good” but only that metaphorically, there may be the need to make yourself less unconsciously reliant on his qualities and protection in order to gradually make his qualities your own in a genuine conscious way as you move through life, therefore ensuring a true independence overall in marriage and life activities in general. The image of your brother as a toddler would tend to symbolize the goal of developing over time an independent, so-called “masculine” ability to assess the opinions/beliefs of society at large as well as your more local environment to see if they truly match your own nature. This would be done through such things as clear focused attention and thought, assertive self expression etc. Dogs often represent healthy instinctive reactions and the honest expression of emotions. Something perhaps makes you afraid to express your true feelings in order not to upset a harmonious atmosphere for example, so the dream uses the analogy of your fear of outer dogs to help picture for you how you might be reacting to certain emotions within yourself. However without knowing much about you, this look at your dreams might not be too accurate in general, but if you mull over the ideas and the dreams stopped repeating the basic theme of being afraid of the cows and dogs, then this would usually mean you were on the right track to understanding their message. I hope that will be the case and you’ll be able to stop having these upsetting dreams.

[Kiki]

Wow thats some depth! I would say I have very passive tendences, and possibly quite introvert. I can annoy myself by being too proud to ask for help, and I hate the idea of people knowing Im not happy, so I just wont say anything and believe I can sort it myself. I can see these things within my character but its not so easy to change, I can be really stubborn. In this me and my dad are quite alike. I have had down periods when I havnt been completely happy with the way things are going but I just mulled on through anyway, my first term of uni was one of these times. I can have a tendency to just go with the flow, but then also when I want something Im really determined. I see myself in the future with a family of my own in a good job and comfortable living, nothing o.t.t., but I do find it harder to see the transition from now to then. Although I dont tend to express my own emotions much, Ive found Ive become an agony aunt to a fair few of my mates, and can hear myself saying things to them which I should probably be taking on myself! lol I do have good points too im not all gloom honest! This is just what I think in my own mind. I probably need to be less analytical of myself. But I would like to think I know who I am, and just hope this isnt being self obsessed! Possibly this is whats coming through in my dreams?

[Athanor]

Hi again Kiki, Well, from what you’ve said it does seem that perhaps you are a little separated sometimes from who you really are and you don’t tend to want to express the feelings that arise from this situation too much. It may be that you do indeed have a preference toward a more introverted view on how to approach things overall. This may tend to often clash with the predominant approach of Western society which is frequently too extroverted in general. To get some ideas about whether you actually tend to orientate yourself via a more introverted mode, you might like the book “The Introvert Advantage” by Marti Olsen Laney Psy.D., or “Personality Types” by Daryl Sharp. Also, many women find analyst Marion Woodman’s approach very helpful in dealing with balancing one’s own deepest wishes with those of the society around them. Books by these authors can be found on a site like amazon for example, and interviews etc. with Marion Woodman can be found at www.mwoodman.org And if you like the idea of possibly learning more about how to look at dreams in a reliable way, analyst Robert Johnson’s book “Inner Work” would provide you with a good start. So don’t give up, it just can be hard at first during an important time of transition like you’re in right now to find a way that fits your personality best.

[ZNOFZ]

I am writing this one a whim. I apologize for not keeping up with this thread; however, a strange notion just came to mind. I don't claim any truth to this idea nor have I even taken the appropriate time to reread the conversations and think it out. The association that I make with cows, not necessarily the connection you make, is that the cow is an extremely passive animal, in fact so passive it spends all its days simply grazing while at the whim of almost any outside force. You yourself claim that you are passive, I would say I have very passive tendences, and possibly quite introvert. Could it be that you are projecting your own passivity onto the cow, that what you see in the cow is what you see in yourself, and that it is this introverted nature that on some level you fear? It isnt necessarily that this is a bad quality, since like Athanor said, the predominant approach of Western society which is frequently too extroverted in general. The dog can also be seen as lazy and passive, IE the lazy dog on the porch. I would really like to know what you think about this. Hope this helped.

[Kiki]

Thanks Athanor, your suggestions sound good and worth following up. ZNOFZ- I would say thats right, that my introverted nature does bother me, and Im fully aware of the way I am so it does tend to be on my mind that Im not as out there as others. One of my best friends who is almost like a sister to me cos we'v grown up together (and I would prob say an older sister, even though we'r the same age), is one of the most out going person in my friendship group, everyone seems to know her, shes not shy at all by anything, and with it shes kind and totally friendly, so it can feel like a bit of a contrast sometimes. But saying that I would never want that to change. Because we're different and not too alike, its made a strong friendship that just works.