The shop assistant who had moved

England · before 1911

I dreamed that I entered a shop belonging to a certain firm, and saw there an employé who, in real life, to my knowledge, had previously left another shop belonging to the same firm

Original text — The World of Dreams, Havelock Ellis

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source: The World of Dreams — Havelock Ellis, 1911. The World of Dreams
Rights: Public domain (US)
Record type: Research case
Place: England · British
Date: before 1911
Uncertainty: Moderate — Reported in Havelock Ellis’s study of dreams.
Imagery: City · A stranger · House
Feelings: Calm

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Houses, corridors and endless stairs are frequent dream settings. Some writers read buildings as figures for the self; others note simply that dreams rebuild the spaces we move through every day.

cf. Stevenson, A Chapter on Dreams (1888)

Mythological

Labyrinths, towers and underground cities appear in myths from Crete to Babel — built places where people lose their way, reach too high, or find hidden kingdoms.

Greek myth; Genesis 11

Chinese traditions

Tang tales like “The Governor of Nanke” place a whole kingdom of palaces inside a dream, only to reveal it as an ants’ nest — a lasting image for the brevity of worldly glory.

Li Gongzuo, c. 802

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images

Angina, angina! England · late 19th century
The skull that spoke in a dream On the road to Chu, China · c. 3rd century BCE
The third day hence to fertile Phthia Athens, Greece · 399 BCE
A man clothed with rags Bedford, England · written c. 1676, pub. 1678
Irma’s injection Bellevue, near Vienna · 23–24 July 1895
My sister came through the keyhole Ithaca (setting) · c. 8th century BCE