Dream with black panther & lobster

Hello!

I am not really familiar with dream interpretation or animals in dreams, beyond the theory that anything in a dream is only personally symbolic. However, I had a dream a few nights ago featuring animals I never think about in waking life - and don't know all that much about - and it seemed significant somehow. (Or at least it intrigues me.)

If anyone here has more experience or knowledge with dreams what would you make a blank panther who kept... shapeshifting, for lack of a better word, into a (same-sized) lobster and back again?

I've been looking around google and I looked in a book on amazon.com that someone mentioned in another thread here. Unfortunately, the internet in general seems to run the gamut on the subject of dream panthers (from negative to very, very positive) and the book really just set me off on a tangent about whether it's a cougar or a jaguar. (I think it must be a jaguar from my perusal of Wikipedia, though I hardly know what difference it makes.)

The mentions of dream lobsters are uniformly favorable but sort of simplistic.

Of course, my instinct is to go with the most positive interpretations possible. lol I'd just like some 'more-educated' input if anyone has any to offer. Thank you!

Also, quick question about totems, for those who believe in them: are they not animals that you like or feel drawn to in waking life or are they simply any animal that appears significantly in a dream?

I believe totems choose you. I have read that you only have one, and it picks you. This is not what I believe, I believe that sprit speaks to you through the most effective means, and understanding animal wisdom helps us to commune with spirit. Humans have come to understand from animals things they would not have otherwise understood. If you look around long enough you will find biblical quotes that ask you to look to the animals for just this type of information and understanding.
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So I dont think we are seperate from the Animals, and I believe they present themselves to help us along the way and teach us what we need to know at that time, so they can and do change.
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"when animals appear in a dream they represent aspects of the personality which can not be properly understood except on an instinctive level."
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You have to decide on what the animals mean to you.

Thank you.

I've seen a bit about panthers having to do with intuition and also any sea-dwelling creatures meaning the same thing. That makes a kind of sense to me. I feel like there may be more to it though.

They don't really mean anything to me at all in waking life, which is why I'm open to other people's input. Both definitely are among my least-thought-about-animals-ever. lol

Hi Melliflous,

A good site for totem animal meanings.

http://www.sayahda.com/cycle.htm

We can have many power animals during the course of our lives........they appear when we have need of the energies they represent.

Black Panther is a very strong and powerful ally.

Can you tell us in what context these creatures apeared in your dream, if you have dreamed about them before and other things such as what time of day was it in your dream, where were you? How did you feel when you woke up etc?

mooncat2 said:

Hi Melliflous,

A good site for totem animal meanings.

http://www.sayahda.com/cycle.htm

We can have many power animals during the course of our lives........they appear when we have need of the energies they represent.

Black Panther is a very strong and powerful ally.

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Thank you very much for that link! Interesting how both listings mention shapeshifting and that's exactly what they were doing in the dream. lol Awesome. Several phrases jumped out at me. I want to read them both again and ponder some more though. Thanks again!

Milfoil said:

Can you tell us in what context these creatures apeared in your dream, if you have dreamed about them before and other things such as what time of day was it in your dream, where were you? How did you feel when you woke up etc?

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Yes. Thanks for asking.

I've never dreamed about either before (that I can remember).

I was in some sort of common area of an apartment building in which I lived (in the dream). There were people sort of a ways across the room that I was talking to... at least one... can't remember exactly. There was a window - and it was daylight - and I looked over at it, then away. I looked back at it and there was a black panther, looking straight into my eyes (and it had these gorgeous, light blue or grey eyes), paused while climbing in the window. I could see its whiskers moving slightly and everything. It was just stunning to look at, so beautiful.

Then it turned into a lobster (also black and huge for a lobster because it was the same size as the panther). It was sort of vertical at first, and it's claws and antennae were moving slightly, like the whiskers had been. Then it started (or continued) slowly climbing in the window. Then it turned back into the panther. I think it shifted back and forth, panther to lobster, at least once more as it climbed in.

Then the panther dropped the rest of the way down to the floor and was inside the room and just sort of slowly slinked around the perimeter of it along the wall, really gracefully, looking around. Very graceful and powerful.

In the dream, I was surprised to see it/them for a split second, then it was just, 'OK. Yeah, he's here now.' I wasn't scared of it.

I did feel... responsible for it though (I knew it was 'mine' or there 'with me') and kind of protective, but apprehensive about the situation. Like... it's one of those animals that scare people on sight, even when it's not going to hurt them, and they might falsely accuse it of doing something before it even does. Or they might do something stupid out of fear and provoke it somehow. I wasn't 100% sure how it would react if it suddenly became that sort of situation, but I felt like it was very well behaved around me normally. So I was watching it as it walked around.

It didn't actually interact with anyone else though. It didn't make any noise either. It just walked around the room, then across it. (There was a lot of furniture and stuff in the room for some reason that it had to pick its way through.) Nothing bad happened at all.

I can't remember now if anyone else in the dream even saw it, though I think I was talking about it... that it was there and we were going to leave now or something. Then someone offered me their old dog crate for it or a cage or something, that was in the middle of the room amidst all this other stuff.

The panther happened to be walking past it right then and kind of twitched its whiskers slightly and gave it this dismissive look and kept going, lol, all very quickly though. Very regal and dignified. I think I was thinking 'Uh, yeah. That's never going to walk into a cage or be contained by one if it did' and I didn't like the thought of it at all even if it was possible, and I was saying something like 'no, we're just going to go'... but it was still taking it's time slowly walking all around the room. So I was waiting and watching it.

Then I woke up.

The dream was a few nights ago now. They haven't shown up in any more dreams since then that I remember.

When I woke up I was shocked (because I rarely think about either of those animals and they were so realistic - which I've confirmed now thanks to pictures on the internet) and it was so vivid and it felt really significant.

First, I was wondering if this is what people mean by totem animal(s) appearing in dreams, but I'm not even sure if I believe in that and I don't know much about it... I thought you only get one animal and its supposed to be one you feel drawn to when you're awake.

So then I was thinking even if they're not totems, they were so clear and big in the dream and it was so vivid and realistic, the dream must mean something or be trying to tell me something, but I don't know why those specific animals. They don't have much meaning for me when I'm awake, or at least they didn't until this! lol

In fact, I read some stuff about the real animals the next day - not just as dream symbols - because I felt so ignorant about them. I was really impressed that the dream lobster was black not red, if you know what I mean. lol

So, I'll be interested to hear what you think about it or if anything seems significant to you.

Well, I suppose it truly matters only to myself, lol, however - in case anyone was following this thread - I've come to the conclusion that these dream animals are indeed totems or guides. (I'm looking forward to getting more confident about terminology. It's a new area for me.) Also, I've realized and accepted that the dream was psychic/prophetic. I'm rather pleased and excited on the whole.

I've been reading more about each animal online, and I'm sure I'll be reading and learning more on the subject of animal totems and dreams in the future. Looks like a journey into this spiritual area has begun for me already. I'm rather hoping to see them again in dreams one day.

Thanks again for the replies. Each of you helped in a different way.

Peace and blessings.

It certainly seems that way, so doing all you can to research these two animals will help you to get to know them and the special gifts they offer.

Good luck on your search.

Thank you, Milfoil.

What strikes me about the dream is that the Panther is beautiful, confident, capable of assessing the situation (walking around room) and not about to be caged (even you did not want to do that). It was not threatening but rather you felt comfortable with it.

The lobster represents the unknown. All lobsters are a very dark color until they are cooked and turn red ! But you know all that. It is alive and mysterious. It is probably representing that Spiritual part of your life that is within you and to be developed or unknown as yet. No matter how much you know and have learned there is always more.

The Panther was a representation of you ! The lobster is the mystery within you. We do change from moment to moment at well. We go from mundane things to spiritual things and back and forth frequently.