Oneirognosis, The Art of Dreaming

By Antarctica ArtsJune 19, 2019

After decades of studying and working with my dreams, I decided to write a book about the Art of Dreaming. But it’s actually a little more complicated than that. I had also been working for years on a large and complex story about a utopian colony in Antarctica that used dreams as part of their society from 1865 to 1899. In the story of Nadiria, the Lost Colony of Antarctica, there was a Dream Prophetess named Constance Brundt, who used dreamwork to guide the fate of the colony, and sections of this book were written in her voice. There was also a dream researcher in Paris in the 1920’s, named Madame De La Rue, who studied the writings of Constance Brundt, and the majority of the book was written in her voice as well. So, in actuality, Oneirognosis is the first book in a forthcoming series of books from Nadiria, the Lost Colony of Antarctica.

*The Dream Tree,* one of 27 illustrations in the book.

So while this book is part of a larger fictional universe, it is still a solid book about dreaming. I did many years of dreamwork, both on my own and with dream groups who met every week to discuss and work on our dreams. So, the book is filled with a lot of real dream lore and techniques for improving your dream life. It is very poetic and lyrical, however, and I discuss the origins of dreams, and where they come from. Any discussion of the actual nature of dreams must deal with some philosophical and spiritual topics, and that is what I do in my book. It is not about memorizing dream symbols and interpreting dreams. I believe that dreams are experiences and cannot be interpreted in any normal way. They are explorations of our souls, where we come into contact with hidden aspects of ourselves, and we must learn how to communicate with them and open a dialog with our subconscious minds. Not your usual dream book!

The word Oneirognosis means “Dream knowledge”, from the Greek oneiros (dream) and gnosis (knowledge). It is pronounced O-ny-ro-NO-sis. I really had fun designing this book – and it was very expensive to print, hardbound on specially-ordered paper! But it is a real gem. It is rather small, but very dense. It is a book you will want to read several times to really unpack all the concepts and ideas stuffed inside.

The quotes in this font are from Constance Brundt of Nadiria.

Oneirognosis is actually my most popular book. It has sold the most copies, plus it is being used in a prison program where incarcerated young people learn to use their dreams to remember, learn, and heal their past, and improve their psychological state, gaining more inner peace. I am so happy that people are finding the book useful and helpful, because for me, gaining inner peace is one of the most important things we can achieve.

Sample pages from the hardbound edition.

After a few years, I realized that I should publish a paperback edition of Oneirognosis, so that more people could enjoy it. And yes – an ebook edition is coming out this year! The paperback required that I redesign the book to fit into a vertical format. I preferred the square shape of the hardbound edition, but all paperbacks are vertical, it seems, so I adjusted the layout to fit the standard format.