Themes
Dreams of people & kin — recorded across centuries
47 recorded dreams about people & kin from diaries, poems, scripture, psychology and literature, each with its source.
- The feathered man who opened my heart Zhou court, China · legendary (Western Zhou)
- My sister came through the keyhole Ithaca (setting) · c. 8th century BCE
- A friend at the bedside, like a breath of wind Scheria (setting) · c. 8th century BCE
- The illness became two little boys Jin (Shanxi), China · 581 BCE
- Thou art but a dead man Gerar, Canaan · undated narrative
- My sheaf stood upright Canaan · undated narrative
- A tall man spoke to him in riddles Athens, Greece · 514 BCE
- A spirit passed before my face Land of Uz · undated narrative
- I gave birth to a lion Athens, Greece · c. 495 BCE
- 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)
- 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)
- 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
- Where she was, there was I also Thagaste, North Africa · c. 373
- My late husband came back to mend the house Pengcheng (Xuzhou), China · 5th century
- Two boys said: move your bed Jiankang (Nanjing), China · c. 480 (Southern Qi)
- Two ghosts plotting to enter my father Taiyuan, China · Tang (undated)
- She came to say a final goodbye Mizhou (Zhucheng), China · c. 710
- The general’s buried sword Shouchun, Anhui, China · Tang (undated)
- I dreamed of you three times last night Jiangzhou (Jiujiang), China · c. 815
- I dream only of strangers, not of you Tongzhou (Dazhou), China · c. 815
- I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony Alexandria (setting) · c. 1607 (play)
- A friend returned from the dead France · 17th century
- My mother lacked a pair of gloves London, England · 29 June 1667
- Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream! Oxford, England · 1865 (novel)
- Back in the little town of his birth Russia · 1866 (novel)
- I woke up — but woke up in the dream Russia · 1877 (novel)
- Why is the babe weeping? Russia · 1880 (novel)
- Angina, angina! England · late 19th century
- Irma’s injection Bellevue, near Vienna · 23–24 July 1895
- Last night I dreamt we were at Simony Hut Aussee, Austria · summer 1896
- Riding with Achilles Vienna, Austria · c. 1900
- Where she last saw him Vienna, Austria · c. 1900
- Father, don’t you see that I am burning? Central Europe · before 1900
- A postcard written partly in Latin England · before 1911
- An orchestra of birdsong 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
- A mother praying for a father who never returns Tokyo, Japan · 1908
- A fire in a hotel in a strange city Zurich, Switzerland · c. 1913
How traditions have read this kind of dream
Psychological
Family members, friends and strangers populate most dreams. Freud read many such dreams as wishes in disguise; contemporary researchers emphasise continuity with waking relationships and concerns.
Mythological
Dreams in epic and scripture are often addressed to someone — a wife waiting for a husband, a son receiving a vision for his family — and are told aloud to be understood.
Chinese traditions
Confucius lamented that he no longer dreamed of the Duke of Zhou; in Chinese letters, dreaming of someone is a measure of how much they are on one’s mind.
These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.