The Blood Wisdom

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

 

A queen hanging from an apple tree on a plain of ice.

 

An apple tree upon a plain of ice,

Stands out against the sky. There hangs a queen,

Unclothed, but armed, among the leaves. Unseen,

 

The wheels of heaven turn. I feel their weight,

And in the cold I cannot catch my breath.

She grins at me. “It smells of sweat and death.

 

Blood wisdom’s always like that. If you took

A cup of it you’d see it’s dark as wine

And never sweet, but oh so strong. You’d find

 

Yourself upon an apple tree…” She laughs

And thunder rolls as if a mighty door

Had turned upon its hinge. “We’ve met before,”

 

That’s all that I can say. She starts to keen,

A supersonic whine, as sharp and clear

As broken church bells. “Come and find me here.”

 

This is the blood wisdom, and it smells of sweat and death.

 

– from the Book of Onei, Part III: The Powers of Onei

 

Image by Giovanni Segantini

The Host

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

 

The dreadful, eerie dead. Those who would not or could not walk down into the Valley of Shadow.

 

Dead children gather at the quarters

And just stare at my house in silence,

As if the violence of their passing

Had wiped out all speech. Each of them has

Already attained the alien

Soulless quality of the angry dead.

I jump out of my bed and drive them

Off of my lawn. But there is no peace.

I didn’t release them from what they

Suffered, and so they cannot move on.

In the quiet hours before dawn

The dead gather again with mindless

Grins. Vampire spirits, sharply-dressed,

Their eyes express a strange weightlessness.

But the pearl of alchemy is in

My hands. And though they perceive my plans,

They don’t attempt to run. I transform

The dead dreams, and all the dead are gone.

 

– from the Book of Onei, Part III: The Powers of Onei

 

Image by Franz Stuck

The Death Barker

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

A faceless guide who leads the dead into the Valley of Shadow. He doesn’t speak, but only gestures grandly like a carnival barker for you to step down into the darkness. Nothing about him suggests that you should trust him.

 

No fear-

the slopes of death lead down

to utter darkness, and the clown

is faceless like the grave.

No fear-

the fear is everywhere

it’s in the rocks, it’s in the air.

He only grins and waves.

No fear-

the dead all weep and moan.

All love is lost, all life, all home.

The valley is so grim.

No fear-

and yet they’re all afraid.

They cannot die, and so, dismayed

they wander on the rim.

 

– from the Book of Onei, Part III: The Powers of Onei

 

Image by Henry Fuseli

Boneyard Goddess

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

Burn a black candle and visualize the long-haired goddess of the graveyard, she who crouches on a tomb with her face in shadow. Recite this charm to dream of the dead.

 

Goddess of the boneyard, hear me

Through these ghosts that hover near me.

Clear the way through clay and water,

Death’s companion, wisdom’s daughter,

Clear the way that I may travel

Through this sand and rock and gravel,

Through this soil as black as midnight

To the place that knows no sunlight,

Only starshine always gleaming,

To the dead where they lie dreaming,

Bound by death’s white silken tether.

They and I have work together.

 

Thou and I have work together!

 

– from the Book of Onei, Part III: The Powers of Onei

 

Image by Carlos Schwabe