I dreamed I was giving a tour of a house to the group of us sleeping in the loft for Oneironauticum, except it wasn’t actually those people. The house was architecturally interesting, with a glass enclosure in the front overlooking the oceanand a big pool in the back. The owner’s daughter was interested in our group and joined us in the tour. This worried me, since several people in the group were naked.

I got into bed just past midnight and snuggled in to the opening bars of Somnium. Before long, I drifted into a deep hypnagogic state. In his 1987 book Hypnagogia, psychologist Andreas Mavromatis defines four hypnagogic states: first vague patterns, shape and light (for me often like pointillism), then floaty imagery, sound (maybe voices), perhaps the sensation of movement (that feeling of falling or involuntary jerking), then what he calls...

In attendance at the July 12 Oneironauticum were dreamers Erik Davis, Vibrata Chromodoris, David Shamanik, lissa ivy tiegel, Dean Mermell, Lesley Freeman, Christine Benvenuto, Matthew Wiegland, Leia, Tristan Naramore, and yours truly, Jennifer Dumpert. Before going to sleep, we talked about topics relating to dreams, as we usually do. We discussed current research that attempts to explain why humans dream. Current theories include the idea that...

For the July Oneironauticum, we’ll explore an auditory experience designed to promote vivid dreams. Over the course of the night, those of us gathered in the same space will sleep to a recording of Robert Rich’s seven hour composition Somnium, a psychoactive soundscape arranged to match up with the phases of sleep. Rich scored this music to increase the intensity and recall of dreams, in part by keeping dreamers closer to the border to...

For the June Oneironauticum at the Ojai Foundation, I downed my bitter brew of Calea Zacatechichi and then followed moonlit paths through the grounds to our spacious yurt, spectacularly perched on the edge of the Eastern lip of the valley. Erik and I alternated between a sensual sexy vibe and giggling like children, particularly once we’d hunted down a persistent rustling that turned out to be a very cute mouse who barely deigned to scurry...