September 1, 2023
These last weeks, my dreams have been visited by a multitude of perfumes. It’s as if a door has opened in my brain, releasing sensations that had been locked away and invisible colors that I didn’t know were sleeping inside me. More and more I am able to remember both smells and images, as if my mind was learning to articulate these two dimensions within the dream state.
The other night I was transported to a dark, ancient forest, where giant sequoias brushed the sky and the air was filled with their wild aroma. This woody vibration gradually transformed, and before I even realized that incense had taken over, the forest had given way to a majestic cathedral. Arches and stone columns had replaced the trees, and the sacred smoke rising from the censers clouded the heavily perfumed atmosphere. I woke up moved by the memory of a distant trip to Seville where all the churches let out this austere scent of burnt resin.
I can’t wait to discover what new olfactory adventures await me in the nights to come!
September 6, 2023
Every night now, my dreams are a kaleidoscope of scents. Yesterday, while I was falling asleep, the fresh and invigorating smell of the rain appeared. Yet I was standing in an unknown crowded indoor space. To the people who were trying to engage me, I answered tirelessly: “Can’t you smell the rain?” and all went away without answering. I knew they thought me strange, disturbed perhaps.
The pervading smell of the rain had captured my attention so much that I didn’t notice the gaping hole in the middle of the great hall I was standing in. A train station perhaps… I stumbled and my fall into the abyss woke me with a start, my heart pounding. It was still dark outside and I ended up going back to sleep.
The shapes of the dream that followed were more blurred, more disturbing. A scent of smoke, lingering and overwhelming, gripped my throat, and with it a sense of despair. This feeling stayed with me for a few minutes when I woke up in the morning, to the point that I checked that I hadn’t left anything to burn on the stove…
September 7, 2023
Last night, as I fell asleep, I expected to be enveloped by the fragrances that now regularly weave the fabric of my dreams. I dreamt of the day that had just passed, one of those dreams so realistic you could mistake it for real life. No scent, however, wafted through the air. I wandered through my day as if in a mute landscape, desperately trying to perceive the slightest trace of an odor, the faintest remnant of a perfume. My own house in the dream seemed foreign, hostile.
As the day passed, as I met familiar people, as I performed daily tasks, I felt a deep sense of helplessness growing, as if an essential part of my inner world had been taken from me. When I woke up, this feeling of loss overwhelmed me, to the point that it took me several minutes to realize that my throat was sore and my nose was stuffy. It was the first cold of autumn.
