Edith Södergran, in her set of seven poems called “Fantastique,”, uniquely describes her fantasy of being a sister of her friend, the author Hagar Olsson. I introduce here the concept “sister fantasy”, based on my experiences with women in psychoanalysis. The focus of my paper is on this unexplored area: the various meanings of a sister fantasy, for the poet and for women in general. A sister fantasy may be created in a transitional state serving as a bridge to separateness, and as a fetish to deny separateness and the feeling of insufficiency and unlovability. A sister fantasy may also aid the move towards the love of a man and solidify a fragile feminine identity. In the close friendships of girls and women, the sister fantasy is present in a sublimated form, mutually complementing and reinforcing the value of femininity and invigorating the feeling of lovability.

Key words: sister fantasy - transitional space - fetish - primal scene