"Steal This Book of Shadows" - Spellcasting #20

"Steal This Book of Shadows" ver 2.0
(What's Really Happening in the Mind of a Wizard)
An Occult Tutorial
by Azzerac
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Page 53
Spellcasting #20
Law #7

(Brought To You By,...)

Personification:

We have ways of defining things as "Animate" & "Inanimate". Of the Animate Variety, we tend to have qualifiers, as well: Animal, Bug, Vermin, Human, etc,... Even "Human" breaks down several different ways. The key aspect to this, is that we Relate to those things we qualify as human, in a more profound way, with subtleties that go beyond how we address the inanimate objects.

Part of how spellcasters communicate with their surroundings, objectives, processes, etc,... is by putting a personality on them. Giving a concept or subject a face is a more easy & intimate way of relating. It doesn't have to be very detailed. It isn't a caricature, or stereotype. To be honest, the face we put on it is ourselves.

As with the Synesthesia exercises, these personifications are an intuitive way of reflecting how we already see these aspects of the world: This stone, that storm, the idea of Money, the emptiness of loneliness,... Our minds already have ways we relate to things, but actively putting a 'face' on things gets us closer to a connection with it. Achieving a connection is part & parcel of spell work: No Connection means No Manipulation. You can't address an issue that you can't relate to.

Personification helps us 'Relate'.

Personification & ESP:

When we tap in to our temporal lobes, we are accessing areas of our minds through relatively unexplored terrain. When most information (Smell, withstanding) travels to or from the brain, it passes through the hypothalamus 'switchboard', and along familiar routes, through a series of cues & controls that we take for granted. We process things in a very 'safe' way.

When we try the same through our temporal lobes, the data doesn't come or go the same way. The 'software' cues & triggers we've grown to depend upon are no longer in the right place to process this data. Depending on how entrenched we are in our dependence on these cues & triggers, it can limit our ability to process them. Without a way to relating to the information, one's ability to access this input/output is curtailed to dreams, flashes, sudden bursts (or Outbursts) of insight/telepathy/Psycho-kinesis, or worse. Personifying concepts aids in this process.

Personification & Spellcasting:

When attempting to utilize many of the Symbols & Objects & Triggers of spellcasting, simple-personification is a given.

When carving Runes (Symbols), every Rune means something. It encapsulates a concept, a goal, or a desired end. When working with Runes, one needs to be able to relate to these concepts at a glace of the glyph. Each of these concepts is a personality, as a 'personality' created the 'concepts'.

When you pick up that Wand or Athame (Don't ask me, "How do pronounce Athame?", because there as many answers as there are letters in that word!), you better know what it symbolizes You better Know-Intimately, and be able to relate-to-personally, the object as a participant, or it is of no use. You made it, it contains the associated elemental energies that you put there, and the personality you imbued upon it. It is treated like an Elemental Container: The presence of that object IS the participation of that element. You should have an assigned role for the object within the ceremony/spell before bringing it in.

Whether you want to or not, that deep, steady drum-beat will soon mean "The Heartbeat of The Mother" (how ever you perceive that), as it triggers memories of your time in the womb. An incense will address your palette, and the individual 'notes' of the aroma combine into the electro-chemical associations that become an olfactory "Language". Like the musky pheromones of a familiar lover, these scents will have a personality akin to the topics they embody.

In the simplest forms of casting, consciously or unconsciously, these elements combine into what are called "a Thought-Form".

Personification & Thought-forms:

It is arguably the hardest-fought battle of Research Occultists: "Are All Spells Simply Thought-Form Creation"? Are we simply producing an extension of our own souls, giving it shape & purpose, and sending it on it's way, to the task? (Let's drop-back-five, a sec...)

A Thought-Form is an embodiment of the concept of the spell. One exudes emotion during spellcasting, imagination gives it personality & shape & purpose, and sends it out to complete the task. This is what most 'text-book spells' are about. You go out, grab a book from a retail outlet, 'do the dance', and the effects from the first caster are reproduced through the re-enactment.

One Sec....
(The Author just saw Laurie Cabot for the first time, and needs to "Walk It Off")

Okay: I'm back...

Where were we?

AH!
So: You cast a spell from an off-the-shelf, Mc Magic book, and it spits out a thought-form. This is a Vapor, as listed under the Astral Bestiary, in earlier entries. Nearly mindless (I repeat NEARLY), it is the personification of your idea of the Totality of the spell process; beginning, duration, and end. The clearer you envision it, the closer to that timetable & event-list it becomes. Also, the more 'cogent' it becomes. It has been given limited autonomy within it's purpose.

There are OTHER Thought-Forms, as well....

Topah (Have we covered this?)

At the risk of redundancy, a Topah is a Hindu Technique for generation a sort of spirit 'familiar'. It's an intermediary on the Astral Plane. It is created there, so it has "Home Court Advantage". These, I'm sure you can imagine, are very useful, but only to the experienced practitioner. If made carelessly, they can run-amok, creating no end of havoc in your life. If given total autonomy, they tend to degenerate. As they lack any sort of guidance, development, or accountability, they grow to be the worst of what YOU would be, given free reign, at birth. They can get mean. REALLY Mean!

When I was a wee lad, a friend of my mother (Who shall be known simply as "Vera"), had made one with a Friar Tuck appearance. According to them, it was made to be helpful. The problem is, it had no pre-determined life-span. It would constantly persist, finding it's own way, teaching it's self, and learning what it could get away with. After a fashion, it became too powerful for it's creator to control or put down.

It's best to steer clear of this kind of working until you're more familiar with the topic.

One kind of Topah that IS acceptable is Elementals...

Personification & Elemental Works:

When we "create" (This topic is still in argument, as well) elementals, we are simply adding them to the historical Akashic Resonance that is the foundation for their personalities. They are the embodiment of the concepts they pertain to. You can call them Elementals, Archangels, or even Deities, but they have a purpose, a set of powers, and even an agenda. They know what they are about, and you should too. Cunningham's "Earth Magic" is a good place to start researching this topic.

The elemental is the personification of...Earth=Money, Water=Emotion, Air=Knowledge/Authority, Fire=Power/Passion (Lust). These are extremely simplified definitions, and you should study & meditate on how the personalities manifest to you. It's about having a Relationship With The Personification.

That's what empowers this law, and how it empowers you!

Speaking of "Empowering Powers",...

Personification & Deity:

It is argued by many that Gods are nothing but this very form of personification. Calling a storm by name is an easier way of connecting with it than hiding in the nearest cave until it passes. We name it "Thor", and suddenly it becomes approachable, entreat-able, and capable of response. It can be called by Name & Appearance, when one has need of it. It can be appeased through the proper rituals, as pertains to your relationship to it.

"Topah-fication", through repeated practices, would go a long way to explain the phenomenon. Anthropomorphic Personification is the term most often used. The Topah Effect, combined with Thought-form Accretion, could explain how one day's "Story" becomes the next day's "Merciless Fist of God"!

It is not an element of this text to judge this perspective, as many would argue that these entities are, in fact, the Cause, and not a result of this process of magic. Who am I to refute? As we delve into the next pair of topics, concerning our perceptions of Time, Cause & Effect, and More, the argument becomes even more convoluted. This "Convolution" can actually be a helpful tool in further mental processes, further down the line. (The law of Paradoxes, for one!)