Images · People & kin

Dreams about a stranger: Jung, traditions and semiotics

This is not a dream dictionary. Each perspective below names where it comes from; traditions are shown side by side, not merged into one meaning.

Also covers: Crowd, Faces

Start with yourself

Did the stranger remind you of anyone, even slightly? What did they want from you?

Jung · Shadow, anima and animus

Jung read unknown figures as possible parts of the dreamer: a same-sex stranger may carry the shadow; an other-sex figure what he called the anima or animus. These are offered as lenses, not labels — and his gender framing reflects his time.

If this stranger were a side of you that you rarely show, what side would it be?

C. G. Jung, “Aion, ch. 2–3”, Collected Works 9ii

Traditions, side by side

Semiotics: how an image comes to mean

Following C. S. Peirce, an image can work as a sign in three ways:

• Icon — by resemblance
  Does the a stranger look like one you have actually seen? Could it simply be a copy of a memory?
• Index — by connection
  Could the a stranger point to an actual cause — a bodily sensation, a sound in the room, something that happened that day?
• Symbol — by convention
  Does the a stranger mean what it means by convention — an idiom, a saying, a family phrase? Would it still mean that in another language or culture?

C. S. Peirce, Collected Papers 2.247–249 (icon, index, symbol)
C. G. Jung, Psychological Types (1921), “Definitions: Symbol” — a sign stands for something known, a symbol for something not yet fully known
Ellis (1911), ch. II, on verbal links between dream images

Exploration notes, not a diagnosis, a prediction, or evidence of real events.

Recorded dreams with a stranger

• The feathered man who opened my heart Zhou court, China · legendary (Western Zhou)
• Ask what I shall give thee Gibeon · undated narrative
• My sister came through the keyhole Ithaca (setting) · c. 8th century BCE
• A lying dream in the likeness of Nestor Troy (setting) · c. 8th century BCE
• The god stood by the weeping priest Memphis, Egypt · c. 701 BCE (as told)
• Cut the priests of Egypt asunder Egypt · c. 700 BCE (as told)
• A ladder set up on the earth Bethel, Canaan · undated (text c. 6th c. BCE)
• Thou art but a dead man Gerar, Canaan · undated narrative
• My sheaf stood upright Canaan · undated narrative
• A young man with wings over Asia and Europe Land of the Massagetae (Central Asia) · 530 BCE (as told)
• His head touched the heaven Egypt · 522 BCE (as told)
• A tall man spoke to him in riddles Athens, Greece · 514 BCE
• Asleep among the grapes Eleusis, Attica · c. 510 BCE
• A rope of women’s hair Erythrae, Ionia · archaic period (as told)
• A spirit passed before my face Land of Uz · undated narrative
• I no longer dream of the Duke of Zhou State of Lu, China · c. 5th century BCE
• Two women yoked to my son’s chariot Susa (setting) · 472 BCE (play)
• The dark woman who led the sleepers away Kurukshetra (setting) · c. 4th c. BCE–4th c. CE (epic)
• The third day hence to fertile Phthia Athens, Greece · 399 BCE
• Embracing her crowned son Elis, Greece · c. 4th c. BCE
• Two Alexanders in battle, crowned with corn Cappadocia, Anatolia · 321 BCE
• The skull that spoke in a dream On the road to Chu, China · c. 3rd century BCE
• Setna’s night with Tabubua Memphis, Egypt · Ptolemaic period (story)
• A goddess put lightning in my hand Near Rome, Italy · 88 BCE
• The boy in Jupiter’s bosom Rome, Italy · c. 69 BCE
• Fortune waiting weary at the door Rome, Italy · c. 15 BCE
• Fear not to take unto thee Mary Nazareth, Galilee · c. 1st century (narrative)
• Arise, and flee into Egypt Bethlehem → Egypt · c. 1st century (narrative)
• I have suffered many things this day in a dream Jerusalem · c. 30 (narrative)
• The ocean spoke to him Rome, Italy · c. 37–41 CE
• Come over into Macedonia, and help us Troas, Asia Minor · c. 49 (narrative)
• Serapis sent the blind man to the emperor Alexandria, Egypt · 69–70 CE
• A knife opened his heart, and he could learn Eastern Han China · c. 150 (as told)
• Isis rose out of the sea Cenchreae, near Corinth · c. 170 CE (novel)
• Osiris came in his own essence Rome, Italy · c. 170 CE (novel)
• A shirt washed clean by fire Wu, China · 3rd century (Wu)
• Heaven lent us a stranger’s fortune China · undated (Jin collection)
• A stranger asked to swap heads Langya, China · 4th century (Jin)
• Ten men in black begging for their lives Jinyang, China · 4th century (Jin)
• A thorn in her eye Chenliu (Kaifeng), China · 4th century
• Four people in black asked to live Runan, China · 4th century (Jin)
• Where she was, there was I also Thagaste, North Africa · c. 373
• Move me to high, dry ground Dantu (Zhenjiang), China · late 4th century
• My late husband came back to mend the house Pengcheng (Xuzhou), China · 5th century
• The sun fell into the water Feicheng, Shandong, China · c. 500 (Northern Wei)
• A melon in winter, still in his hand Northern Wei China · c. 500 (Northern Wei)
• The five-coloured brush taken back Southern China · c. 500 (Liang)
• My heart’s spirit resigned Ye (Handan), China · c. 560 (Northern Qi)
• Two ghosts plotting to enter my father Taiyuan, China · Tang (undated)
• She came to say a final goodbye Mizhou (Zhucheng), China · c. 710
• Falling from the palace hall Chang’an, China · c. 750
• Carried up out of a well Chang’an, China · c. 750
• The millet was not yet cooked Handan, China (story setting) · c. 780
• A masked man asked for his bone back Huangkeng, China · c. 795
• The general’s buried sword Shouchun, Anhui, China · Tang (undated)
• I dream only of strangers, not of you Tongzhou (Dazhou), China · c. 815
• Riding the sky to the Southern Peak Yangzhou, China · c. 840
• Cherry stones beside the pillow Tang China · c. 850
• The shoe I lost in the dream Chang’an, China · c. 870
• Swallowing a burned book of Go Chang’an, China · c. 873
• Swallowing pearls in the stream Nankang, Jiangxi, China · c. 880
• The window with cypress and mallows Mount Tiantai, Zhejiang, China · c. 900
• The husband she met only in a dream Śoṇitapura (legend) · c. 1070 (compiled)
• Hari on Garuda warns of a trap Pāṭaliputra (Patna) · c. 1070 (compiled)
• A Vetāla threw him into the sea India (story setting) · c. 1070 (compiled)
• At West Lake, knowing it was a dream Huangzhou (Huanggang), China · c. 1080–1084
• What pain it was to drown London, England · c. 1593 (play)
• Bottom’s dream, which hath no bottom Athens (setting) · c. 1595 (play)
• Waking in the Peony Pavilion Nan’an, Jiangxi (setting) · 1598 (drama)
• A statue running with blood Rome (setting) · 1599 (play); set 44 BCE
• I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony Alexandria (setting) · c. 1607 (play)
• She dreamt of her uncle and foretold her death London, England · January 1664 (as told to Pepys)
• A man clothed with rags Bedford, England · written c. 1676, pub. 1678
• Into the Land of Illusion Beijing, China · c. 1760 (novel)
• Defeated in an argument by myself London, England · 18th century
• A warning of the war-party Dakota country · early 19th c. (told)
• The pale student of unhallowed arts Near Geneva, Switzerland · June 1816
• The sea paved with faces Grasmere, England · c. 1817–1819
• Step in my tracks, up through the clouds Shores of Lake Huron · traditional (recorded c. 1820s–1850s)
• A voice calling him grandchild Great Lakes region · traditional (recorded c. 1820s–1850s)
• An island that would come to us Great Lakes region · traditional (recorded c. 1820s–1850s)
• I will open your ears At sea (story) · traditional (recorded c. 1820s–1850s)
• The guillotine fell France · c. 1850
• All the ponies driven westward Dakota country · c. 1860s
• Who is dead in the White House? Washington, D.C., USA · early April 1865 (as reported)
• A plague of certainty Siberia, Russia · 1866 (novel)
• A living globe made of drops Russia · 1869 (novel)
• Stair after stair in endless series Edinburgh, Scotland · c. 1867–1871
• I woke up — but woke up in the dream Russia · 1877 (novel)
• Why is the babe weeping? Russia · 1880 (novel)
• Chased round the stove by the devil Mission school, Wabash, Indiana · c. 1884–87
• The scene at the window Bournemouth, England · 1885
• Angina, angina! England · late 19th century
• Irma’s injection Bellevue, near Vienna · 23–24 July 1895
• Rome half veiled in mist Vienna, Austria · c. 1897
• Where she last saw him Vienna, Austria · c. 1900
• A procession coming down the hill Yamato Province, Japan · 1904 (retold folk tale)
• The governor who spoke English Spain (dreamed) · before 1911
• The acrobat who never touched the floor England · before 1911
• The scene I had to write England · before 1911
• I had swallowed molten lead United States · before 1911
• The shop assistant who had moved England · before 1911
• A miracle drug called selvdrolla England · before 1911
• An orchestra of birdsong England · before 1911
• Glass after glass of champagne England · before 1911
• My dead brother with bleeding fingers England · before 1911
• The tenor climbing ladders to reach the high notes Germany · before 1911
• An opera I had never heard Baltimore, USA · before 1911
• A mouth full of broken glass England · before 1911
• Cut in two down the middle United States · before 1911
• Living pictures in magnesium light Germany · before 1911
• The white horse at dawn Tokyo, Japan · 1908
• Carving the guardian out of the wood Tokyo, Japan · 1908
• Six mirrors in the barber’s shop Tokyo, Japan · 1908
• Pigs on the edge of a cliff Tokyo, Japan · 1908
• Swimming out with the teacher to a wedding Switzerland · c. 1910
• A cannon before the Arch of Constantine Rome (dreamed) · before 1912
• A fire in a hotel in a strange city Zurich, Switzerland · c. 1913
• Charged one franc of interest Zurich, Switzerland · c. 1914
• A cedar chest of dream-stuff from her grandfather Washington, D.C. · c. 1910s