Key to "Cat Got Your Tongue"

(p. 43-44)

In Jungian psychology, the cat is representative of the feminine principle know as the anima, or your true inner self (as opposed to the social role you play). The description you selected as applying best to cats reveals the nature of your own true self, in its positive and negative aspects.

1. Basking in the sun.
In describing the catlike activity, rather than the cat itself, you show a sensitivity toward the natural actions of things within their environments. This makes you an accepting and easily acceptable person, capable of getting along well with everyone you meet. On the positive side, this means that people perceive you as comfortable in almost any situation. But that same uncanny sense of comfort can also make you appear a little superficial or unconcerned with others.

2. Mysterious and inscrutable.
You instinctively choose to describe the cat in terms of its personality, almost as if it were human. And the attributes of the cat's character that drew you attention are precisely the ones you share with it. Your true inner self is a kaleidoscope, changing and renewing itself constantly. This makes predicting your behavior an endlessly intriguing challenge to the people who love you, but it can also make you seem like more trouble than you're worth to those without the time or inclination to ponder riddles and enigmas.

3. Pleasantly soft to the touch.
To you, the cat presents itself as a physical object, defined specifically in terms of how it affects you. You see the world as something created to stimulate and serve you. This tendency may manifest itself as an aura of calm self-assurance or simply as excessive self-involvement. But it's likely that until you perceive that it has some direct effect on your life, this insight will be of no interest to you either way.

4. A companionless creature.
You define the cat in social terms, showing the emphasis you place on the role of the individual within (or apart from) the group. And your choice of "companionless" to describe the cat's condition is more than a little tinges with feeling, a sense of loneliness that the animal itself does not necessarily share. You are most deeply attuned to the emotional and social realms, making you appear caring, warm, and genuinely concerned about others. But it can also make you seem somewhat overly sensitive and melodramatic when you give full expression to your feelings.

As always, I'm more interesting in interpreting my own amended answer than I am in the actual key. So if I am the cat, I am constantly seeking affection and attention from the aloof and those, who for their own reasons, are most inclined not to involve themselves with me. Is this true? Hmmm. I like the part where I think I'm easily understood and rather straightforward. I always feel that the only thing mysterious about cats is that people believe they are mysterious. They may look aloof and inscrutable but I believe they are mostly concerned with dinner and a nap and everything else is wild conjecture on the part of the observer.