Authentication
Aug. 15th, 2013 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelinflight posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
plural_magicHello~! <waves> I've wanted to contribute something for a little while, but I guess I haven't had very much on hand to talk about. We thought of one the other day, though, so I'll give it a try.
First, a short introduction: I go by Dove (the one FuzzyJayling referred to earlier), and also Annie. I try not to put too fine a point on what I am precisely, because I think it invites stagnation (and argumentation). And more to the point, I'm still trying to understand that, myself. :) But the archetype of relevance for me is an angel, or perhaps a "celestial" is more apropos. A helper to the divine. As many humans stretch for the divine, I am, a little ironically, stretching for humanity. ^^ I wish to understand and experience. Perhaps one time or another, I'll be born here, too. But that's neither here nor there.
You know, I'm going to call her Fuzzy. :D
We have a long history by way of a number of rituals, journeys, and dreams. She first met me in a dream, and then later, during a journey, we actually spoke consciously for the first time. I think that she saw me as another part of herself, perhaps a past life, or a personal guide, or even her guardian angel. I can't say that any of that is wrong, really. I just don't know.
This goes back a little bit to what she wrote earlier, about Credulity, as well as (depending on your beliefs and experiences) a general sense that the thing you're talking to may not be the thing you think you're talking to. You want to know that you're receiving true advice/conversation, and not the fears of your subconscious, or (if you believe in them) something malicious trying to fool you. This is doubly important when you start to talk about letting them borrow you and influence your magic in this world. So we've developed some authentication systems, so to speak.
An interesting thing happened on a journey once. One of the other-folk from before was called The Mayor. She was the leader of a small town that's now lost to us. But she commanded a presence. On this journey, she ordered us to speak our names. We both did, and they were "true names" in the old sense. Fuzzy was unknowingly borrowing Sparrow's body in-journey, in one of those "wibbly wobbly" type of things, so the name that was spoken was actually Sparrow's. We learned Fuzzy's names later.
I'll refer to something called shadows or echos below, which are sort of like subconscious fragments of the journeyer, which some might call a shadow self. (I'm not too clear on the terminology, so my apologies if I get it wrong.) Nothing particularly harmful, but it can be distracting either way, and when they're participating in a ritual out here, it can put in the wrong kind of energy.
Anyway, a curious thing was discovered. A shadow or echo of a person from the other-place, who might stand in and fool the journeyer, seems to be unable to speak that person's true name. Sometimes not even their nickname. So this is typically the rock standard we fall back to if we need one. It's quick, easy, and almost never fails. (In fact, the times that it has "failed", it's seemed more like different versions of us, perhaps our own echos perceived by others.) But it does require knowing their name, a good reason to get to know everyone you work with.
A second way is that, that other-place being steeped in feeling and metaphor (like a dream), each person you meet has a certain feel. It really isn't one of the normal five senses, so it's hard to be metaphorical about it. But you can imagine a texture of something you touch, or a smell, or a taste of some food. You know if it's even a little bit off.
This may not be true for everyone, but we've found that, in the most extreme cases, if one of us is a little bit "off", we can't successfully borrow. It's like a failsafe mechanism. A true echo or shadow can't even get close. So this is comforting to all of us: there's little chance of a mistake. (I am not personally convinced that malicious things that could borrow in this way are out there, but I won't say it isn't so, or I may receive a visit from Murphy. ^^;)
What do you do if you run into a situation where you're talking with or perceiving an echo? There are two separate scenarios, really. The first is when the person you want to reach is there, but... for lack of a better analogy, it's like your glasses are smudged. In this case, you can often sort of reach through the echo, looking for that perfect person-sense, and pull them through the echo. (This is a recent development for us.) The second is when there is only the echo; you might call this wishful thinking: you think you've found the person, but you're seeing a bit of your own subconscious or shadow self. There's little to be done there but to move on and look for the person elsewhere.
In the worst case, it is disappointing, but you may simply have to give up and try again later. This can sometimes happen if you're very distracted, very tired, or otherwise frazzled. Your mind is an instrument that is used to reach that other-place, and if it's not working well, neither will your visit. And sometimes it just seems to happen by some as yet unknown condition.
I guess I ended up writing from more of the out-here perspective after all. ^^; I'm not as good of a writer as Fuzzy (a little verbose and unorganised), but I hope that was helpful!
(Definitions)
First, a short introduction: I go by Dove (the one FuzzyJayling referred to earlier), and also Annie. I try not to put too fine a point on what I am precisely, because I think it invites stagnation (and argumentation). And more to the point, I'm still trying to understand that, myself. :) But the archetype of relevance for me is an angel, or perhaps a "celestial" is more apropos. A helper to the divine. As many humans stretch for the divine, I am, a little ironically, stretching for humanity. ^^ I wish to understand and experience. Perhaps one time or another, I'll be born here, too. But that's neither here nor there.
You know, I'm going to call her Fuzzy. :D
We have a long history by way of a number of rituals, journeys, and dreams. She first met me in a dream, and then later, during a journey, we actually spoke consciously for the first time. I think that she saw me as another part of herself, perhaps a past life, or a personal guide, or even her guardian angel. I can't say that any of that is wrong, really. I just don't know.
This goes back a little bit to what she wrote earlier, about Credulity, as well as (depending on your beliefs and experiences) a general sense that the thing you're talking to may not be the thing you think you're talking to. You want to know that you're receiving true advice/conversation, and not the fears of your subconscious, or (if you believe in them) something malicious trying to fool you. This is doubly important when you start to talk about letting them borrow you and influence your magic in this world. So we've developed some authentication systems, so to speak.
An interesting thing happened on a journey once. One of the other-folk from before was called The Mayor. She was the leader of a small town that's now lost to us. But she commanded a presence. On this journey, she ordered us to speak our names. We both did, and they were "true names" in the old sense. Fuzzy was unknowingly borrowing Sparrow's body in-journey, in one of those "wibbly wobbly" type of things, so the name that was spoken was actually Sparrow's. We learned Fuzzy's names later.
I'll refer to something called shadows or echos below, which are sort of like subconscious fragments of the journeyer, which some might call a shadow self. (I'm not too clear on the terminology, so my apologies if I get it wrong.) Nothing particularly harmful, but it can be distracting either way, and when they're participating in a ritual out here, it can put in the wrong kind of energy.
Anyway, a curious thing was discovered. A shadow or echo of a person from the other-place, who might stand in and fool the journeyer, seems to be unable to speak that person's true name. Sometimes not even their nickname. So this is typically the rock standard we fall back to if we need one. It's quick, easy, and almost never fails. (In fact, the times that it has "failed", it's seemed more like different versions of us, perhaps our own echos perceived by others.) But it does require knowing their name, a good reason to get to know everyone you work with.
A second way is that, that other-place being steeped in feeling and metaphor (like a dream), each person you meet has a certain feel. It really isn't one of the normal five senses, so it's hard to be metaphorical about it. But you can imagine a texture of something you touch, or a smell, or a taste of some food. You know if it's even a little bit off.
This may not be true for everyone, but we've found that, in the most extreme cases, if one of us is a little bit "off", we can't successfully borrow. It's like a failsafe mechanism. A true echo or shadow can't even get close. So this is comforting to all of us: there's little chance of a mistake. (I am not personally convinced that malicious things that could borrow in this way are out there, but I won't say it isn't so, or I may receive a visit from Murphy. ^^;)
What do you do if you run into a situation where you're talking with or perceiving an echo? There are two separate scenarios, really. The first is when the person you want to reach is there, but... for lack of a better analogy, it's like your glasses are smudged. In this case, you can often sort of reach through the echo, looking for that perfect person-sense, and pull them through the echo. (This is a recent development for us.) The second is when there is only the echo; you might call this wishful thinking: you think you've found the person, but you're seeing a bit of your own subconscious or shadow self. There's little to be done there but to move on and look for the person elsewhere.
In the worst case, it is disappointing, but you may simply have to give up and try again later. This can sometimes happen if you're very distracted, very tired, or otherwise frazzled. Your mind is an instrument that is used to reach that other-place, and if it's not working well, neither will your visit. And sometimes it just seems to happen by some as yet unknown condition.
I guess I ended up writing from more of the out-here perspective after all. ^^; I'm not as good of a writer as Fuzzy (a little verbose and unorganised), but I hope that was helpful!
(Definitions)
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Date: 2013-08-17 05:47 am (UTC)