Reply #11: Have you ever studied Chinese Astrology? [View All]

Sounds odd to ask that in this context, I know. It is the RAT in your dream that makes me ask about it.

In the typical Western view, a rat is pretty much a reviled animal--dirty, carries disease, potentially vicious. In the common Eastern mindset, the rat is seen as good fortune and an ability to accumulate (and hold!) items of value.

I feel that most dreams are "keyed" to the mind of the person doing the dreaming, however not all are. There are some universal symbols hanging out there, (you can see examples in places like Tarot card art) and Jung did a lot of work with this stuff in his discussions of dreams and psychoanalysis.

You speak of the rat in your dream as a pet--yet you seem to have some very real reluctance about letting it loose in the house. Sounds like a fairly Western attitude about rats...

Now, if you examine that dream with an Eastern view, suddenly that rat running about could be symbolic of materialism. Suddenly all that rat poop in your dream could be seen as some of the negative impact of materialism/capitalism run amuck...

Kind of a different spin on it--eh?


Laura


You can learn a bit more about the rat in the Eastern astrology lore here:

http://chinese.astrology.com/rat.html



edited for a little clarity.