I see The Boy and the Beast, an anime by Mamoru Hosoda. In an animal town in the spirit world, Kumatetsu the bear raises human boy Kyuta. The diversity of species hides a gender monotony: all the speaking roles are guys doin' guy stuff. I think the story'd be stronger if Kyuta dated local animals as he grows up, so he can be torn between realms by romance as well as filial loyalty; instead, the first girl he really talks to is Kaede in the human realm.

Still, it builds from a simple comic foster-dad flick riffing on Toshiro Mifune's schtick--a tsundere, crusty but kind inside--to something more; I didn't foresee that surreal ending.

Though I can't say I like that tired fantasy mantra "only humans have darkness within"--it's just the flip side of human supremacism. Speaking as a nonhuman--an autistic outside your tribe, yet able to speak your language--I have to say humans are no better OR worse than other species. Y'all just have better tools for destruction--like fire, currently devastating my home state. Again.

THAT NIGHT

My mom lives in a weird palace with coffered ceilings. And every ceiling nook is jammed full of books! I don't see how they stick to their shelving up there.

They just oppress me. Enough books down here on the floor for me to read forever. They look (far as I can tell from ten feet below) dull too. Reference books.

That'd make a strange blues song. "Waaaitin' fo' th' refff boooks t' faaawll..."

I'm hunting for a throne room where I'll meet my fiancée's dad for the first time. Everyone urged me to prepare elaborately before going in. But I decide not to; he'll want to see the real me, not some prepared formal mask. After all, that's who his daughter'll have to live with!

But I find two elaborate thronerooms. They seem identical. Step into the first. Almost empty. Not just of people--furniture too.

Almost. Anchored in the middle of the floor, whipping around like a sea-pen on a reef, is a flexible staff 2 meters long--a good seven feet. Seems random, but it whips fast enough to blur--and crack like gunfire. Go too close and it'll hit me blindly.

I skirt the 4-meter dangerdome to the far door, and peer in the NEXT room. It's quite empty. No father-in-law to be. Have to backtrack to the room with the weird whip.

Is he invisible and flailing that whip? Or... is that HIM? All he is? Blind flailing? Either way, not encouraging. Is this what I'm marrying into?

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• House full of books: our house? Thousands! Or the library scene in The Boy and the Beast where he meets human girl Kaede?
• Big house, living whip: A pun maybe? The majority party's #2 figure in the House of Representatives is called the Whip. But I don't even know who it currently is!
• Dad-figure, blind whipping: in The Boy and the Beast, Kumatetsu the bear can't explain how he fights, only teach by example, whipping his staff around. Kyuta his foster son flails around trying to get it...
• ACTION: Looks like I have a problem with how to learn. Like Kumatetsu or Kyuta, I'm just flailin'. And it gets in the way of love, or at least commitment.

LATER

As I start painting this dream, I mention it to my sister Althea. She says "Sounds like The Little Mermaid--the Disney version at least. The Sea-Witch turned Ariel's dad the King into a rooted thing like a sea-pen or hydra!" I'd forgotten that. If my father-in-law's a giant sea-pen, that makes me that bland land prince (Eric?) in love with Ariel the mermaid, just like Kaede from the human world likes Kyuta of the magical world. It's just Little Mermaid with genders flipped (and less songs, and more testosterone.)

I was warned to be at my best. But what to do when the Sea-Daddy, the archetype ruling the unconscious realm, whether you draw him as Triton or a martial arts bear, is not at HIS best? Blindly flailing around?

2021

In the World Dream Bank, I've shown my style of dreamwork by doing, not theorizing. But that means I've favored dreams I could interpret. Here, though, is a vivid dream raising questions I still can't answer. All I can say is, it happens. Sometimes years pass, other dreams address the issue in different metaphors, and suddenly you get it--and change. Jung emphasized this long-view dreamwork. I feel archetypes can be overused--simple and literal are better approaches at first--but some dreams really are Jungian--numinous, powerful, but enigmatic. Patience! Look for other dreams with similar patterns or moods.

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