Dreams & the Subconscious

Lesson 1: The Structure of the Subconscious Mind - Overview

Components of the Psyche -- Animus and Anima et al.

Anima or Animus: Some Jungians call the Anima or the Animus the soul of the dreamer. (Others see the soul as the same sex as the dreamer; some see the soul always as feminine in men and in women; and some warn against defining the soul too rigidly.) The anima or the animus is the part of us that is of the opposite sex of our physical selves. Within every man is a feminine counterpart, the anima, and within every woman is a male counterpart, the animus.

The anima or animus is often seen as the arbiter between the conscious and unconscious selves. So the action in dreams of figures that are opposite in gender to our physical selves is very important and needs special attention. In truth, having a conscious relationship to this inner soul figure is an important step to psychic wholeness. When Jean Houston asked Mother Teresa how she could deal so tenderly day after day with the suffering and squalor that surrounded her as she worked with the poor and sick in Calcutta, she remarked, “I am in love and I see the face of my Beloved in everyone I meet.”

So one face of the anima or animus is the Beloved, the mate of your soul. If we don’t work with our inner Beloved in dreams and in fantasy, all too often we project that face onto a living human from whom we demand god- or goddess-like qualities. Robert Johnson warns us in his books “He”, “She”, and “We” that we can run roughshod over some very decent people in demanding that they meet our needs in ways that only the inner Beloved can.

Mother or Father: When our parents appear in dreams, the dream will usually have less to do with the actual human parents than it has to do with our beliefs about them. If a usually loving mother appears as a devouring monster in a dream, you may need to look at some belief you carry about yourself which is shown in the context of the dream to see in what ways you are devouring yourself with criticism and rejection. Of course, if you are having an experience with your mother, the dream may be referring to that. However, when you dream, for example, about your personal father, on some level the dream is also referring to the archetypal father/the inner father complex, and eventually the Father God.

Animals: Animals often represent our instinctual nature. Is the animal sick or well? Is it loving or antagonistic to you? The dream will tell you what your relationship is to the deepest instinctual parts of yourself. To understand the meaning of an animal in a dream, sometimes it is helpful to pretend to be the animal and observe the feelings that rise. By playing the role of the animal, you can sense what is happening with your instinctual energies.

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