Thank you for this! I bond quickly with cats. Not until I read this entry this morning did I realize I am very much like a cat: playful, observant, and preferring one-on-one relationships; if I don't get the attention I need I often forget about people or move on. My parents have often referred to me as a cat whisperer.
I've also tended to take in strays since undergrad, participating in a trap-a-return program. A year ago, I took in a stray that kept showing up around my house. This year, there has been another in the area that I see roaming the neighborhood, and I weep every time I see it.
Funny how that is, right? The animals who capture a part of our soul's image (a familiar, spirit animal, etc) often mimic certain qualities and attributes in oneself. I am often referred to as very dog-like by those who know me, with a puppy's enthusiasm and clumsiness to boot haha :D
Fostering and working with strays is really meaningful (we fostered dogs and worked with rescues through out my youth). It can be really heart wrenching at times, but it is such a great service to offer to these animals in need. I hope that cat in your neighborhood is doing alright!
Dogs acting as bridges to the psychoid level of the psyche is such an interesting concept. The amount of research showing a positive correlation in social/emotional development in children raised with dogs in the household further lends evidence to a shift in the psyche that can’t be measured by current understanding. Anecdotally, I’ve had a dog by my side since birth with the exception of 6 unbelievably difficult months in childhood, and 3 months in adulthood. My dog has always been my tether and my last dog that passed I consider my soul dog for the amount of healing and awakening he saw me through.
Receptivity to knowledge is something I’ve grappled with more as of late as I’ve been revisiting my past and discovered more instances than not. Being raised in a Christian faith I was always told the lord was working through me, and treated as if this observation on my part was shameful and selfish. Now I see this as one of the many ways the patriarchy and colonialism operates, shaming those that have this sight because it is unknown and uncomfortable. While this receptivity isn’t specific to any race, gender, or creed it is something I see spoken about much more within feminine circles.
Curious to read more on that research. Does it touch on any other typical household pets, like the cat?
I'm sorry to hear how your connection to that knowledge was shamed. It is so widely misunderstood. Especially in modern western culture where we have lost much of the link to our mystical and folk practices. Even the Christian faith was rooted in mysticism, revelation, miracle, etc. We've become so literal minded that we dismiss these ideas, or worse, find them so threatening and attempt to suppress them at all costs. I whole-heartedly believe that re-connecting to this mysterious, spiritual part of ourselves is key for the health and wholeness of all people.
The two most recent studies that have come out (Wenden 2020 and Duenãs 2021) are specific to dogs. This area piqued my interest back in 2010 when I was at university and a neighboring lab was exploring this topic, specific to dogs and young children. I have seen some research over the years include all pets.
Love love love this! I share this lifelong inexplicably profound connection with canines and I was literally breathless as I read that story about Baci. The theme of dogs as familiars was also a special gift of synchronicity for me today (so big thanks for that) though it’s too long to get into here. Just wanted to say thank you and send love.
My uncle had a similar experience when my brother was a kid. He decided to ride his bike down to Publix to get a free cookie and my mom was freaking out and called the police, but they never contacted my uncle. He just got up suddenly and felt like he should go out. He ended up finding my brother riding his bike down the same road he went down.
I have had many weird intuitive experiences too. My INTP brother had a bad feeling before my other brother (INTJ) narrowly avoided being killed by a stray tire on the interstate. He was having a panic attack before it happened and he told me how much he was worried about him.
Regarding animals- I'm not sure if birds are just attracted to my vehicle because of the shininess, but this has been the 3rd time a hawk flew right in front of my vehicle. It happened twice on the same 30 minute drive with me and my INFJ cousin. The 3rd time just happened the other day when I was alone.
I watched some weird bird tornado right outside my apartment in Missouri a while back. Apparently it's called a murmuration and they were Starlings. They also flew in front of my vehicle in the same exact spot twice on different days. It weirded me out. Birds just keep flying in front of my vehicle. It's like I'm in the twilight zone. The only logical conclusion I can come up with is that they like the wax on my CRV?
Oh and my INTP brother said he kept having lizards crawl on him a couple of years ago. They love him for some reason. He took a picture of one when he crawled on his pants. Little buddy was just chilling there.
These experiences are more common than we think, although so mysterious and strange to contemplate. It can be hard to trust when that feeling comes over you, and in the case of your uncle, it's so lucky that he did!
Do you feel you have a connection to birds outside of these experiences? Perhaps dreaming about them, or a natural affinity towards birds of different kinds? I also like to consider the possible symbolic significance of these animals with experiences like these.
I grew up with parrots. I also hand fed my brother's cockatiel as a baby. He loves me and always try to sing to me whenever I visit. I don't think I've ever had a deep bond with them though. I do remember trying to rescue a baby bird when I was about 5 years old, I put him in my backpack, and I don't know what happened to him after that.
I grew up around many animals because my uncle had a pet store and my dad loves animals. He brought home a baby raccoon he found one day and I named him Gilbert (from Anne of Green Gables) but he returned him to the wild. I was really disappointed. I love trash pandas.
I think I actually identify more with deer because they are herbivores and because I identify as a victim of my fathers like the deer he kills. I'm a little dramatic. 😅
I found this painting of a deer with a flower crown when I moved into my apartment in Missouri. I ended up moving back to Florida and I saw a dead deer on the interstate at the beginning of the trip. It felt a little ominous, like a sign from God/'the universe' that I was regressing and going back to being a victim. I promised myself that I would never go back to live with my family again.
I can't remember the exact number but I passed by like half a dozen of them on my way home. My INFJ cousin also loves deer and wants a pet deer. I like them because I identify with them though.
I have 4 everyday interactions with dogs & it came to my awareness as I was navigating your precious offering .
1. Every morning I grab my coffee and journal so first encounter is with a beagle accompanied by a couple they own a store in town called “ athlos “
2. Then during coffee and dream journal I interact with Hera a stray that sleeps at the coffee house and afraid as the thunders , she gets in the coffee house and people treat her very warm and gently
3. Then i meet a newborn puppie with a woman carry it in her back , the woman plays at the local football team named : Asteras
And last but not least Luna a brownish houndog which I meet day , noon & night at my transitions !
So much wealth arrived precisely on time as always .
Yet still cats are very very close to my heart and soul 🪲🤍
What a wonderful way to spend your day, surrounded by all these different dogs.
There is a coffee shop near my house and each day, owners bring all sorts of dogs. They are playful, bark at times because they miss their owner, want pets from strangers. They make the area feel much more alive.
Cats of course wander the areas as well. I haven't felt very bonded to cats, but at times, I meet them and find I really love the energy they have. They prowl the streets with confidence, independence, leisure. Rub against a human's leg but then run off.
Thank you for sharing as well. You prompted me to reflect on these simple yet very special moments of my day. And glad to inspire a desire to be creative and draw. I hope that is fruitful!
A retriever and a beagle How lovely, and Trapper is a great name. Your post as come at a synchronous moment, weirdly enough, as I’m just writing a chapter of a book that includes Jung’s writing about synchronicity and have been having trouble getting my head around his use of ‘psychoid’. I’d consulted Sharp and Samuels for their dictionary definitions but not come across the Marion Woodman book (now ordered). So thank you for that heads up. Very timely 😊 I think I had an Artemis dream recently. I am outside a caravan where there is a gate and a fence that boundaries a square bit of grass with a tree, but behind that it is a wilder vista and a female neighbour leads alpacas in a line down through the fields. Then, in my gated square of land comes a dog, followed by several others, who seem potentially fierce and I get the impression the dogs belong to the woman with the alpacas. Still wondering what this means. However, thinking about synchronicities, I don’t think it was a coincidence that I dreamt of entering a forested landscape where a lioness, smooth and sleek appeared to my left. I was a bit worried she would eat me, but we ran together through the forest and I came out of it without harm. I was days away from meeting a Jungian therapist for the first time who I now think of as the lioness. Many thanks for your thought provoking blog. I like the images you choose to go with it.
It is a very difficult concept to fully grasp. I have found Murray Stein's work (in both lecture and books) useful in elucidating some of Jung's most tricky theories. I also want to share these 2 quotes from von Franz, they are from Psyche & Matter, perhaps you'll find them useful?
“The third element in the makeup of the psyche is what Jung called the psychoid system. By this he meant that which in the psyche is completely unknown or, we might also say, unconscious material that never comes in contact with the threshold of consciousness, the really absolutely unconscious, that which is by its nature unknown. But Jung uses the expression in a specific sense. In his view, the psychoid system is the part of the psychic realm where the psychic element appears to mix with inorganic matter.”
“It is just at this point that Jung’s investigations in the realm of the objective psyche come to meet the physicists—in that marginal realm of the psychoid archetype, where activated or excited archetypes simultaneously manifest themselves in inner and outer reality, either in direct identity or in a symbolic identity of meaning. Time then appears no longer as an empty frame of reference, in which events take place, but as a qualitatively characterized stream of events.”
----
These dreams are beautiful! So rich with symbolism that I'm sure has caught your attention as well (the temenos-like squared land, contrasted with a wild area and a shepherdess or guardian-like figure, etc). These seem ripe for working with in analysis. Or, if you'd like some archetypal perspectives and musings from me, you can submit it to the Artemisian dream form :)
Thank you. I am badly hampered by poor scientific knowledge so had to look up inorganic matter. It would have made more sense to me if she had said it is where pysche mixes with organic matter. I could then see psychoid as some kind of psychopomp-like bridging thing. I'll check out Stein's book. Thanks for comment on dream - it hadn't occurred to me that I was in a temenos. I wanted to be off with the alpacas!
It's a curious wording, the inorganic matter. I think, in part, it is being used because she explores the relationship to psyche and archetypal structures in phenomena like numbers as well. Numbers are not organic matter, and yet, as von Franz says, “In the psychic sphere, an acausal orderedness can be found in the properties of the natural integers.”
I don't think the earlier comment excludes organic matter. But maybe, whatever is past the psychoid level that is true unconsciousness, there also lies matter which has yet to become "organic". At least, that's how I'm grappling with understanding the statement.
Thank you for this! I bond quickly with cats. Not until I read this entry this morning did I realize I am very much like a cat: playful, observant, and preferring one-on-one relationships; if I don't get the attention I need I often forget about people or move on. My parents have often referred to me as a cat whisperer.
I've also tended to take in strays since undergrad, participating in a trap-a-return program. A year ago, I took in a stray that kept showing up around my house. This year, there has been another in the area that I see roaming the neighborhood, and I weep every time I see it.
Funny how that is, right? The animals who capture a part of our soul's image (a familiar, spirit animal, etc) often mimic certain qualities and attributes in oneself. I am often referred to as very dog-like by those who know me, with a puppy's enthusiasm and clumsiness to boot haha :D
Fostering and working with strays is really meaningful (we fostered dogs and worked with rescues through out my youth). It can be really heart wrenching at times, but it is such a great service to offer to these animals in need. I hope that cat in your neighborhood is doing alright!
Dogs acting as bridges to the psychoid level of the psyche is such an interesting concept. The amount of research showing a positive correlation in social/emotional development in children raised with dogs in the household further lends evidence to a shift in the psyche that can’t be measured by current understanding. Anecdotally, I’ve had a dog by my side since birth with the exception of 6 unbelievably difficult months in childhood, and 3 months in adulthood. My dog has always been my tether and my last dog that passed I consider my soul dog for the amount of healing and awakening he saw me through.
Receptivity to knowledge is something I’ve grappled with more as of late as I’ve been revisiting my past and discovered more instances than not. Being raised in a Christian faith I was always told the lord was working through me, and treated as if this observation on my part was shameful and selfish. Now I see this as one of the many ways the patriarchy and colonialism operates, shaming those that have this sight because it is unknown and uncomfortable. While this receptivity isn’t specific to any race, gender, or creed it is something I see spoken about much more within feminine circles.
Thank you for a thought provoking article!
Curious to read more on that research. Does it touch on any other typical household pets, like the cat?
I'm sorry to hear how your connection to that knowledge was shamed. It is so widely misunderstood. Especially in modern western culture where we have lost much of the link to our mystical and folk practices. Even the Christian faith was rooted in mysticism, revelation, miracle, etc. We've become so literal minded that we dismiss these ideas, or worse, find them so threatening and attempt to suppress them at all costs. I whole-heartedly believe that re-connecting to this mysterious, spiritual part of ourselves is key for the health and wholeness of all people.
The two most recent studies that have come out (Wenden 2020 and Duenãs 2021) are specific to dogs. This area piqued my interest back in 2010 when I was at university and a neighboring lab was exploring this topic, specific to dogs and young children. I have seen some research over the years include all pets.
Fantastic, thank you for sharing!
Love love love this! I share this lifelong inexplicably profound connection with canines and I was literally breathless as I read that story about Baci. The theme of dogs as familiars was also a special gift of synchronicity for me today (so big thanks for that) though it’s too long to get into here. Just wanted to say thank you and send love.
Thank you for sharing. I'm glad the piece arrived at a special time for you. It looks like that may be a pup in your profile photo?
Yes, that’s my younger dog. He’s 4 (though he’s definitely pup energy) 😄
Aww, some have that forever pup energy. He looks very sweet.
My uncle had a similar experience when my brother was a kid. He decided to ride his bike down to Publix to get a free cookie and my mom was freaking out and called the police, but they never contacted my uncle. He just got up suddenly and felt like he should go out. He ended up finding my brother riding his bike down the same road he went down.
I have had many weird intuitive experiences too. My INTP brother had a bad feeling before my other brother (INTJ) narrowly avoided being killed by a stray tire on the interstate. He was having a panic attack before it happened and he told me how much he was worried about him.
Regarding animals- I'm not sure if birds are just attracted to my vehicle because of the shininess, but this has been the 3rd time a hawk flew right in front of my vehicle. It happened twice on the same 30 minute drive with me and my INFJ cousin. The 3rd time just happened the other day when I was alone.
I watched some weird bird tornado right outside my apartment in Missouri a while back. Apparently it's called a murmuration and they were Starlings. They also flew in front of my vehicle in the same exact spot twice on different days. It weirded me out. Birds just keep flying in front of my vehicle. It's like I'm in the twilight zone. The only logical conclusion I can come up with is that they like the wax on my CRV?
Oh and my INTP brother said he kept having lizards crawl on him a couple of years ago. They love him for some reason. He took a picture of one when he crawled on his pants. Little buddy was just chilling there.
And when I say "in front of my vehicle", I mean it. I narrowly avoided hitting them each time, that's how close they were.
These experiences are more common than we think, although so mysterious and strange to contemplate. It can be hard to trust when that feeling comes over you, and in the case of your uncle, it's so lucky that he did!
Do you feel you have a connection to birds outside of these experiences? Perhaps dreaming about them, or a natural affinity towards birds of different kinds? I also like to consider the possible symbolic significance of these animals with experiences like these.
I grew up with parrots. I also hand fed my brother's cockatiel as a baby. He loves me and always try to sing to me whenever I visit. I don't think I've ever had a deep bond with them though. I do remember trying to rescue a baby bird when I was about 5 years old, I put him in my backpack, and I don't know what happened to him after that.
I grew up around many animals because my uncle had a pet store and my dad loves animals. He brought home a baby raccoon he found one day and I named him Gilbert (from Anne of Green Gables) but he returned him to the wild. I was really disappointed. I love trash pandas.
I think I actually identify more with deer because they are herbivores and because I identify as a victim of my fathers like the deer he kills. I'm a little dramatic. 😅
I found this painting of a deer with a flower crown when I moved into my apartment in Missouri. I ended up moving back to Florida and I saw a dead deer on the interstate at the beginning of the trip. It felt a little ominous, like a sign from God/'the universe' that I was regressing and going back to being a victim. I promised myself that I would never go back to live with my family again.
I can't remember the exact number but I passed by like half a dozen of them on my way home. My INFJ cousin also loves deer and wants a pet deer. I like them because I identify with them though.
I have 4 everyday interactions with dogs & it came to my awareness as I was navigating your precious offering .
1. Every morning I grab my coffee and journal so first encounter is with a beagle accompanied by a couple they own a store in town called “ athlos “
2. Then during coffee and dream journal I interact with Hera a stray that sleeps at the coffee house and afraid as the thunders , she gets in the coffee house and people treat her very warm and gently
3. Then i meet a newborn puppie with a woman carry it in her back , the woman plays at the local football team named : Asteras
And last but not least Luna a brownish houndog which I meet day , noon & night at my transitions !
So much wealth arrived precisely on time as always .
Yet still cats are very very close to my heart and soul 🪲🤍
What a wonderful way to spend your day, surrounded by all these different dogs.
There is a coffee shop near my house and each day, owners bring all sorts of dogs. They are playful, bark at times because they miss their owner, want pets from strangers. They make the area feel much more alive.
Cats of course wander the areas as well. I haven't felt very bonded to cats, but at times, I meet them and find I really love the energy they have. They prowl the streets with confidence, independence, leisure. Rub against a human's leg but then run off.
Thank you , yes it’s very nurturing for my soul .
How lovely is your day as well? I could make images as I was reading your narration .
Cats are magical creatures I can’t describe their majestic loyalty when they know you are their human .
My cats always clearing the energy field & guard the surroundings .
Thank you for making me part of your everyday interaction .
I felt the need to draw this story of yours and it’s been quite long since my last drawing ✍️
Thank you for sharing as well. You prompted me to reflect on these simple yet very special moments of my day. And glad to inspire a desire to be creative and draw. I hope that is fruitful!
A retriever and a beagle How lovely, and Trapper is a great name. Your post as come at a synchronous moment, weirdly enough, as I’m just writing a chapter of a book that includes Jung’s writing about synchronicity and have been having trouble getting my head around his use of ‘psychoid’. I’d consulted Sharp and Samuels for their dictionary definitions but not come across the Marion Woodman book (now ordered). So thank you for that heads up. Very timely 😊 I think I had an Artemis dream recently. I am outside a caravan where there is a gate and a fence that boundaries a square bit of grass with a tree, but behind that it is a wilder vista and a female neighbour leads alpacas in a line down through the fields. Then, in my gated square of land comes a dog, followed by several others, who seem potentially fierce and I get the impression the dogs belong to the woman with the alpacas. Still wondering what this means. However, thinking about synchronicities, I don’t think it was a coincidence that I dreamt of entering a forested landscape where a lioness, smooth and sleek appeared to my left. I was a bit worried she would eat me, but we ran together through the forest and I came out of it without harm. I was days away from meeting a Jungian therapist for the first time who I now think of as the lioness. Many thanks for your thought provoking blog. I like the images you choose to go with it.
It is a very difficult concept to fully grasp. I have found Murray Stein's work (in both lecture and books) useful in elucidating some of Jung's most tricky theories. I also want to share these 2 quotes from von Franz, they are from Psyche & Matter, perhaps you'll find them useful?
“The third element in the makeup of the psyche is what Jung called the psychoid system. By this he meant that which in the psyche is completely unknown or, we might also say, unconscious material that never comes in contact with the threshold of consciousness, the really absolutely unconscious, that which is by its nature unknown. But Jung uses the expression in a specific sense. In his view, the psychoid system is the part of the psychic realm where the psychic element appears to mix with inorganic matter.”
“It is just at this point that Jung’s investigations in the realm of the objective psyche come to meet the physicists—in that marginal realm of the psychoid archetype, where activated or excited archetypes simultaneously manifest themselves in inner and outer reality, either in direct identity or in a symbolic identity of meaning. Time then appears no longer as an empty frame of reference, in which events take place, but as a qualitatively characterized stream of events.”
----
These dreams are beautiful! So rich with symbolism that I'm sure has caught your attention as well (the temenos-like squared land, contrasted with a wild area and a shepherdess or guardian-like figure, etc). These seem ripe for working with in analysis. Or, if you'd like some archetypal perspectives and musings from me, you can submit it to the Artemisian dream form :)
Thank you. I am badly hampered by poor scientific knowledge so had to look up inorganic matter. It would have made more sense to me if she had said it is where pysche mixes with organic matter. I could then see psychoid as some kind of psychopomp-like bridging thing. I'll check out Stein's book. Thanks for comment on dream - it hadn't occurred to me that I was in a temenos. I wanted to be off with the alpacas!
It's a curious wording, the inorganic matter. I think, in part, it is being used because she explores the relationship to psyche and archetypal structures in phenomena like numbers as well. Numbers are not organic matter, and yet, as von Franz says, “In the psychic sphere, an acausal orderedness can be found in the properties of the natural integers.”
I don't think the earlier comment excludes organic matter. But maybe, whatever is past the psychoid level that is true unconsciousness, there also lies matter which has yet to become "organic". At least, that's how I'm grappling with understanding the statement.