VIDEO
AUDIO
Intruder dreams stage a boundary crisis: something arrives without the ego’s consent, and the dreamer wakes in the grip of fear, shame, or outrage.
Join Jungian analysts Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, and Lisa Marchiano as we analyze a selection of vivid listener-submitted dreams about intruders.
We begin with the word itself, “intrusion,” asking how a visitor can feel deeply unwelcome, but at the same time carry something with the potential to protect, repair or even save us.
We cover:
- How the mind negotiates trauma, dissociated affects, and developmental change.
- How meaning changes depending on whether we read the intruder as a threat vs as a messenger.
- How intruder dreams can point to weak boundaries, often disguised in waking life as “being nice” or “keeping the peace,”
- Intruder dreams as communications of unexpressed anger.
- Detailed guidance on working with your own intruder dream
The listener dreams we discuss feature a camel that shatters windows and becomes a man when welcomed; an animus-like husband as mediator between ego and unconscious; blank eyes and the golem as images of unfinished consciousness; and the “friendly threat” of unexpected roommates with bolognese. Read them in full below.
HERE ARE THE DREAMS WE ANALYZE:
1. A Dromedary and My Husband
The car that my husband and I own had broken down. The tow truck was a dromedary camel, which took the car on its back. In the morning, I looked out the window and saw that the dromedary was still sitting there on the corner of our street with the car on its back. I pointed this out to my husband. The dromedary saw us and came to check on us.
Our apartment seemed like a more upscale version of the one we own in real life. It had two large sliding windows spanning the entire length of the apartment, lots of plants, and minimalist furnishings (I didn’t see any books or travel souvenirs; everything was quite stark). We had wooden floors and white sofas.
Suddenly, the dromedary started stamping on the window with its hind legs, like a madman, with an incredible force. It clearly had the intention to break it. I was scared—perhaps partly because of the animal’s immense anger—but also because of the potential shards of glass that would fly around if he managed to break the window. I hid behind the couch. Eventually, he managed to kick a whole crack in the window (from the top left corner to the bottom right).
My husband stayed calm and was already looking online to see if we were insured for such damage, which turned out to be the case, but it’s still a hassle dealing with paperwork and repairing the window.
Then the animal started again—now against the other window—and then my husband had it. He slid the window open, and the dromedary calmed down. It seemed like my husband was talking to him, like he’d invited him in. The moment the animal stepped into the house he transformed from a dromedary to a man in his early thirties with brown, slightly wavy hair, wearing a black suit. I was scared of him at first. My husband walked him through our living room.
Finally, when I saw he didn’t do any harm, I took him by his arm and pulled him toward the cracked window. I moved the plant that was in front of it so he could see it clearly and said to him, “You should see what you’ve done here! Do you see these circular cracks in the glass?! It’s all cracked, all broken, right? That’s not good, you can’t do that again! No more stomping!”
The way I said it was as if I was still convinced I was talking to an animal, or like a mother reprimanding him—the naughty boy. Then he wanted to dance with me, but I thought that wasn’t possible since I’m married and it would be awkward, even disrespectful towards my husband. But it was my husband who said, “Oh, yeah, just go ahead, he won’t do any harm.” I waltzed with him briefly. The man seemed satisfied and walked back to the window.
Just before he left I noticed that the T-shirt he was wearing under his blazer was too short, as if he’d grown out of it, leaving his stomach partially exposed. He didn’t have a big belly; he was more of a normal to slim figure, and he had belly hair. So it showed he was all grown up. He seemed happy to have been allowed in, and then he simply left. He didn’t speak during that whole time.
2. The Woman With Blank Eyes
It’s night-time and I am tidying and packing items up in my grandparents’ house, a 1920s craftsman, with wide open, curtainless windows all around the perimeter of the house and a large porch in the front. I am with an employee I just hired a couple weeks ago, who is very sweet and about 8 years younger than I am and whom I am mentoring. The porch light comes on suddenly and I tell my employee to lock the door because I sense that something wants to get in. Instead, she opens it, and outside, a young woman with long dark hair and blank white eyes (no pupils or irises) is trying to stumble her way in. Her movements are slow and her shoulders are hunched. She doesn’t speak. It seems like she’s half-alive, as if whoever created her didn’t finish the project, and forgot to give her eyes or a soul. She doesn’t seem dangerous and appears rather pitiful: weak, confused, and lost, yet I am terrified of her – I scream, push her out, and slam the door shut. I wake up in a sweat.
3. An Intruder With Bolognese
I’ve had two very similar dreams recently, within a short timeframe. The first is that I’m living in a flat (it feels like university accomodation – quite small and dark) and one I day arrive home to realise that the letting agency has hired out one of the rooms without me knowing. The new ‘tenant’ has let himself in, written a note on the fridge to introduce himself, and started to fill the fridge with his food – which was boxes and boxes of bolognese! I’m very upset.
The second dream is that I arrive home, this time to a house (bright and spacious, with white walls) and with friends. I go to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and realise there is a woman there of a similar age. I couldn’t figure out whether she lived there or not – I didn’t know who she was or why she was there.
4. An Aggressive Neighbor
I enter my boyfriend’s house with my little sister and my little brother after grocery shopping. As they walk in behind me, the neighbor tries to force his way in. We stop him by leaning against the door and closing it. He is a tall, strong and beautiful Latino man with a very aggressive energy. At first I don’t understand what is going on. My brother tells me that he wants our Coca Cola Zero. As the man gesticulates and vociferates behind the door, I refuse to give in, and I put the bottles away in the fridge. This enrages him even more and he manages to force his way inside. The apartment is new and very clean and white inside and at that point I remember seeing this neighbour the first time my boyfriend showed me his new place, and thinking at the time that he would be a problem.
He aggressively moves towards me, at once menacing and a little flirty. I defend myself orally, at first trying to make a little light of him, but he is unhinged and not very responsive. I tell my siblings (who are scared and stay on the couch) that he is on drugs, and suggest to the man he should go home, do some more coke lines and leave us alone. I also threaten to call the police. When this doesn’t work I then take on as angry and authoritative a voice as I can, and do a countdown of 15, after which he must be gone. Somehow this works, as he is on the other side of the door, but then he breaks the glass pane and tries to come in again. In desperation I cast my eyes about and met the gaze of the other neighbor, a young woman, who can look into the apartment through her own door. She wordlessly seems to ask if I need help and I nod vehemently. Together, using all our weight, we manage to force him outside. I am worried about how long this solution can last and aware that police in this country are slow and unhelpful.
5. Stranger in the Bedroom
I woke up in my bed to see a stranger, a man, holding a glass of water for me, and approaching to put it on my bedside table. I wanted to scream but no sound came out. I woke up my husband, who looked baffled, and totally unaware of the presence of the intruder in our house. I tried to speak to him, but again, no sound came out. I got up from the bed and went to the door to find it unlocked. There was a key left in the lock, but it was neither mine nor my husband’s. I assumed it was the intruder’s; the keychain was red and yellow and had the icon of a fire-fighter on it. I tried to use it to lock the door but it wouldn’t turn, I took it out and used my key and it worked, and I was relieved. It crossed my mind to check if my laptop had been stolen, and I glanced to the left and saw that my entire desk had disappeared from the living room and the TV unit was put in its place. I realized we’d been robbed. I screamed at the top of my lungs (in real life too), and that’s when I woke up.
Resources Mentioned in the Episode
- Milarepa and the Demons – learn more here
- Fairy tale: The Elves and the Shoemaker
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) – learn more here.
- The Golem – learn more here
- Dreams: A Portal to the Source by Edward C Whitmont and Sylvia Brinton Perera
- Projection and re-collection in Jungian psychology: Reflections of the soul, by Marie Louise Von Franz.
- Shadow and evil in fairy tales, by Marie Louise Von Franz.
