This was my year of the Black Jaguar. It came to me in a shamanic journey I did earlier this year when its fearsome image flashed very strongly in my mind. I felt scared. After that, it has come several times in my dreams.
When symbols like this come up, I try to feel into them. I know there is no one meaning that I can pin them down to (it’s easy to misinterpret), so it’s not about fixing on one meaning.
I do look up the various archetypal meanings and see whether the glove fits, whether there is an internal a-ha.
One of my favorites for exploring animal images is Dawn Brunke’s The Animal Wisdom Tarot. It’s a playful, yet evocative and deep take on traditional tarot (I don’t think tarot is “predictive” or tells the future. I think of pictures as a way to connect with my intuitive mind. )
In The Animal Wisdom Tarot, Dawn says that the Jaguar’s message is about trusting our power, feeling the flow and emanating our true self. It’s about using our intuition & burning away fear & judgment so we can confidently share our truth.
Another deck which I consulted recently (after another Jaguar dream) is Jamie Sams & David Carson’s Medicine Cards. They talk about how the Jaguar is about Integrity. “Jaguar medicine teaches you that personal integrity allows for mistakes, embraces forgiveness, and humbly makes self-directed corrections, allowing a rebalancing of spirit to triumph once again.“
And on the website Wild Gratitude, Archetypal Consultant Stacey Couch talks about how the Jaguar is a creature of the dark and “is adept at navigating the unconscious, hidden parts of ourselves” and also the dark, unfamiliar parts of the world, the void.
“The black panther spirit animal lends us the courage to venture into the unknown alone.“
So, as you can see, different people have different interpretations and often a stream of meanings branches off from an inner core. For me, Pause, Venturing into the Unknown Alone, and Going into my Shadow are all things that have come up this year.
The image of the Jaguar has been a potent symbol. I have drawn strength from its solitary figure. I have marked out more boundaries. It’s okay to go-it-alone sometimes. It’s okay for people not to understand you.
There is something deep and wild that roams the surface of my psyche, and touching it gives me an infusion of energy.
It’s not me, but it is connected to me.
If you have wild animals showing up in your dreams, it might be helpful to think of them as both instincts and greater energies that are moving through you. And to think of ALL your associations with them — good and bad.
The only real answer for whether something is true for you is your own inner a-ha, your own resonance to the meaning.
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