Animals and Animal Dreams

On the basis of a lifelong relationship with cats, dogs and horses, Regina Abt – a graduate of the Zurich C.G. Jung Institute in 1985 who worked for many years with Dr. M.-L. von Franz – has the ability to understand the dream motifs of cat, dog and horse in their unique and life-guiding ways. The personal and archetypal dimension of the psyche is nourished by this book. Animals in dreams tell us something about our own inner instinctual nature from which civilized man has increasingly distanced himself. They provide indications as to how we can once again show due respect for this instinctual life energy with its hidden knowledge, and they also show us where we underestimate and violate them. “Separation from his instinctual nature inevitably plunges civilized man into the conflict between conscious and unconscious spirit and nature, knowledge and faith, a split that becomes pathological the moment his consciousness is no longer able to neglect or suppress his instinctual side.” (C.G. Jung). In this book we look at animal dreams as a symbolic expression of the instinctual, i.e. unconscious psychic functioning of man, which is crucial for the well-being of both the individual and the society.