Minutes of the September Oneironauticum, by Jennifer
In attendance at the September 27 Oneironauticum were dreamers Erik Davis, lissa ivy tiegel, Dean Mermell, Lesley Freeman, Christine Benvenuto, Katherine Rochlin Fenster, Anna Rockwell, Juliana Snowfox, and yours truly, Jennifer Dumpert.
We began the evening by crafting dream pillows stuffed with herbs, flowers, and essential oils that promote dreaming. Each dreamer chose a combination that suited his or her own dream intention from among:
- Mugwort: Promotes lucid dreams, astral travel, visionary, psychedelic dreams. Contains thujone, the active ingredient in absinthe.
- Roman Chamomille: Calms dreams, reduces stress, aids sleep. Helpful for those who experience nightmares or restless sleep or who simply have problems sleeping.
- Lavender: Increases alpha waves, promotes tranquil, calm dreams. Relaxes the nervous system, reduces tension and irritability.
- Rose: Works as an antidepressant, promotes happy, pleasant dreams. Stimulating, uplifting, good as an antidote to sadness and fatigue.
Using the herb or flower subtly conveys these characteristics. The essential oils (we used the same four) are stronger.
Over brunch, we discussed our dreams. Many of us experienced very deep sleep marked by a large number of dreams. Several dreamers also encountered continuity from one dream to the next, either recurring themes or, in one case, a song that reappeared throughout the night. Dean dreamed of a blond woman, a remote dreamer attempting to encounter the rest of the Oneironauticum group. She seemed surprised to have achieved her goal. The previous evening, we had discussed the rarity of smells and tastes in dreams. Erik reported much more vivid dreams than usual, including one with a delicious taste.
We also discussed how, over the course of 2008, the Oneironauticum has changed the way we dream, and how we think about and understand dreaming. One aspect of our oneiric inquiry involves the nature of narrative. Creating a linear narrative is always, in waking life as well as in dreams, an act of editing that selects what gets included or not in the “story” and then takes impressions, perceptions, thoughts, actions, encounters, etc. and lines them up one after the other, even though in actuality these things often happen simultaneously and even chaotically. In our discussions, we have observed and sometimes deconstructed our dream narratives, coming to understand them more as holograms that become linear when we play them back in our memories or as stories for others. As we’ve discussed this over time, many of us have developed greater ability to perceive the sometimes disjointed, simultaneous, often chaotic form of the elements that together form the narrative of our dreams.