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Beebe Dream Archetype

amazingdatagirl

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Jungian psychoanalyst, John Beebe, describes a dream in which his Si anima is personified as a Chinese laundress. This mental imagery helped Beebe (ENTP) realize that he was neglecting his sensing function. In the first dream, the Chinese laundress is sad because her husband does not care for her (the "husband" is a metaphor for Beebe). As Beebe makes a conscious effort to encourage personal growth in the Si inferior, the woman in the dream becomes happier and more fulfilled.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Have you ever dreamed of someone or something (an animal perhaps) that represents one of your cognitive functions?
 

Eric B

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His teaching on that helped me out as well. I could get the sense of what an Si anima was like, which verified I was not Ne dominant. I also realized that my attraction to Si dom's was from the anima being shaped by a boy's mother, and not necessarily the function in my case. The hook for him with the laundress was that whole "neat and orderly" thing, but that leaves me cold.

I've thought about my dreams, but they all seem to be just benign rehashes of past places. The anima is something I have fantasized about instead, so that's probably why that part of the unconscious isn't forced to come up through dreams. Just a nice, sweet, affectionate caring feminine partner. (Close to what I actually got!). I can tell it must be the anima, because I even fantasized about her when I was a kid. Not as a girlfriend, but as a sister! This wasn't erotic, of course, but it still was a sort of "other half" that would sort of complement my developing masculinity.

This was probably originally inspired on some dreams back then, of some female or another that I had met, that would convey some sort of feelings. this must have been the time when the anima projection began transferring from Mother to other females (which is the normal progress). So it's just as Jungians teach; the opposite gender takes on this mystical sense.

So it would be symmetrical. My father had my mother, and I would have this nice sister. (Should have known from that that I was a Ti dom!) I used to like to think my first cousin filled in for that role when she was around, but she was an aggressive ENTJ, and quite literally, an "opposing personality" at times! I imagined the sister as the total opposite. I did get a play girlfriend with a nice feminine voice and "girly" personality, but I was still thinking of sisters as a boy's "other half" (and she had a brother), and I myself soon got a brother instead of a sister (11 years behind me!) Then the cousin moved onto the block, but the brother broke up that symmetry anyway.
In college, putting together all the qualities of the girls I liked the most, it pretty much happened to come out as the same person as before, but now as the ideal girlfriend or wife. (I wasn't even thinking about the earlier fantasy then, and didn't realize it until very recently!)

As for the other archetypes, I've been trying to think whether they ever come up. Hard to identify them clearly, since this is the unconscious, after all.
 

Sunny Ghost

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I think so. I'm not familiar with Beebe, but I've read a decent amount on dream analysis and archetypes by Carl Jung.

I had a dream in which I believe I met my animus. It's funny in that he did represent a counter or opposite personality type to myself. Very ENTx-ish.

In my dream, I felt younger than I was and I recall feeling insecure in my dream. Once I came across this man (who appeared to be a professor of sorts and incredibly handsome), we just sort of made brief contact... but it appeared meaningful. We just sort of looked at each other and smiled. I left him feeling happy and confident. In fact, I began to skip away.

EDIT:
But, I suppose what you're referring to is more of an activation of Te. I'll need to think on this a minute.
 

Eric B

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The archetype is primarily the personal figure, not a function. The archetype will have some sort of association with the function, or as I have heard put; the feelings (of the archetypal images) will reach you by way of the associated function.
So if the person you dreamed of was ENTJ, that would fit the theory. In the Type Logic relationship system, that is your "Animus" type, even!
 

sculpting

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Very often in my dreams I am a man. It isnt sexual or erotic. It just is. I will be doing things in the dream and then it occurs to me, oh, I appear to be male, how odd. oh well, and then I keep dreaming. I also recall being very young and thinking I had long red straight hair with big green eyes when ever I imagined myself doing something-thus was totally taken aback at about age six to realize that image was not and would never be me...perhaps these are my anima and animus, I dunno.

Water is the predominant thing i dream of for many years. As of late I note this doesnt happen nearly as often, but for the longest time I would dream about water everywhere, dark and deep around me. Sometimes I would pull drowning people out and give them cpr. I have saved hundreds of dream people's lifes through dream cpr over the years :) An intj friend told me that this is a sign of me not wanting to Fi connect to any particular individual but wanting Fi connections to humanity as a whole, but I dunno...

Sometimes though I would be beside a great body of water and just dive in and submerge myself into the depths. I would swim away from the shore, as there was something threatening back on the beach, and I would choose to die by swimming out and merging with the dark featureless water rather than give in to the dark force upon the shore. Sometimes once in the water I realized i could breath the water or I would see fantastic really weird monsters in the water.

i can also control the water and make it go around me when it is threatening. Te control features largely in all of my dreams-the ability to control and convert threatening things to nonthreatening, water, tornados, and fire being ones that are most common, as i had tramatic experiences with each. I also contingency plan endlessly in my dreams. *shrugs*
 

Rail Tracer

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I don't think I have really met my anima yet. It is either that, or I have completely forgot my dreams where my anima did come in.

I am reading that the shadow is a prelude to the anima/animus. I think I may have met my shadow in a nightmare of mine a few years back. He was almost completely cloaked (except for his face and hands.)

Strange thing was that I was trying to run to safety to a familiar place (that I don't want to say... gets a bit personal) from my shadow. The dream turned from morning to night as he appeared. With no way to escape, and a shadow that was getting ready to stab me (with a dagger,) I turned around and roared at him.

I'm not sure, it sounded like I had a power struggle with my shadow. And when I think power struggle and aggresion, it sounds very Te? :thinking:

And now that I think about it, me roaring at my shadow felt like I was telling it I (probably my ego) intended to win - I could have a long conversation about my shadow. All in all, the nightmare is a learning experience... since there is relatively few dreams and nightmares that have had that profound experience on me.
 

Sunny Ghost

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from what i have read on anima and animus, it should be of opposite gender to ourselves, and also that the experience of meeting the anima or animus, should be pleasant and profound.

although it's been a while since i've read about dream analysis and things of that nature. i could be wrong.
 

Rail Tracer

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Yeah, I was confusing myself.

Animus/Anima would be the 4th function, when he/she appears in a dream, it is usually the opposite gender of the person doing the dreaming.

The shadow/demon, on the other hand, would be the 8th function(or combination of the lower 4 functions.) He/she would generally appear as the same gender as the person. However, the shadow/demon often appears in nightmares(not always.) The shadow is the side the ego suppresses. And to be whole, the shadow needs to at least be noticed. Often times, what we hate about other people would often elude to the shadow. We begin meeting our animus/anima once we come in terms with our shadow.

In beebe's terms, in the order that we usually meet them
1: Persona
2: Ego
3: Shadow
4: Anima/Animus

and a multitude of other archetypes in between.
 

Sunny Ghost

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i love dream analysis and mbti... where are you getting this info from? :D

so what's the shadow to ISFP? the anima/animus to ISFP is ENTP, correct? or am i wrong?
 

Thalassa

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It's ENTJ.

Like ISTJ is the animus to ENFP. I don't know why, they're so fucking heinously boring. I feel really weighted down by them. I'm almost hostile toward them once I get to know them - not in an overt way, just in a "leave me the hell alone" sort of way.

I swear I'm perfectly pleasant in person. I cook for people. They think I'm so nice. But I think these thoughts in my head. I occasionally voice them, but only if necessary.
 

Rail Tracer

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)
http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/archetypes.htm
http://www.erictb.info/archetypes.html <----- This site makes me think of Eric B, might want to see if it really is his.


The anima or "soul" is shadowed by a "demon" which receives its stimulation from the opposite orientation of the inferior. (This is basically a "negative anima", and it appears a "double negative" principle leads to it being the same gender as the person). Since that was already the most suppressed area, then its shadow manifests in a particularly destructive fashion. It can also become an "angel" or "transformer" in bad situations.

From what I am reading, if I am ISFP, my inferior would be Te. The opposite orientation would be Ti. This demon/shadow would appear to have a Ti orientation to his dealing with me.
 
T

ThatGirl

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I am really thinking hard about this, and while I have revisited very profound places and structures, I have never met anyone profoundly in a dream that I hadn't known irl. I am incredibly sensitive about people represented in my dreams. At times, I have even had dreams where rl people were there and while everyone else could see them, they were completely invisible to me.

The most profound dream I had about something not irl and alive was watching a fight in a dungeon between a beast and a dragon. Was really weird.

Maybe I should eat more chocolate before bed. Spice things up a bit.
 

amazingdatagirl

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I think that I saw my shadow/demon once. Typically my dreams are pretty boring. This dream started out with me walking through a park on a beautiful spring day. I could see colors (don't usually dream in color). As I bent down to pick a flower, someone stepped close to me and a shadow fell over the ground.

When I looked up, I saw Death - a tall, thin, Grim Reaperish version in a black hooded cloak. My first impulse was pity - he seemed crippled and weak. His face was ill-defined but it had a child-like quality. Then I realized "OMG, I am looking at Death!" and I woke up.
 
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