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plural_magicMy second topic that came out of reading Dove's post is in regards to what I've been calling "borrowing". This bears some resemblance (or is perhaps the same) as other concepts like "horsing", "riding", and "fronting". As a more mainstream example, I would also consider (just my opinion) the Abraham-Hicks pair to be practising borrowing and plural magic.
Outside the art, so to speak, this is actually a good example of something that cuts across many different scenarios and beliefs (shamanism, "speaking on tongues", channelling deities, plural/multiple groups, and so forth), and earns you a badge anywhere from "spiritual leader" to "put this one on stuffazine, stat", depending on culture, understanding, and so on. Inside the art, this is a subject that ranges from really mundane to really controversial, depending on your spiritual bent, your personal psyche, etc. But it's fundamental to us (and IMO, the topic), so I'm going to cover it.
Standard disclaimers apply: YMMV, caveat emptor, take responsibility, not my fault, etc... :)
There are many different possible "configurations", but for the sake of introducing the topic at large (to an inexperienced audience), I'm going to stick with a basic idea, with some interspersed "fairness notes" to explain alternate views.
Much of the time, there's a person who considers themselves as living and existing in this world, who has a body here, perhaps a job, who eats and sleeps, and so on. For the sake of brevity, I'll call this person the primary (fairness note: not everyone has a "primary", but again, for the sake of brevity). The primary visits this other-place that I discussed yesterday, meets with guides and familiar spirits and so on, who I've been calling other-folk. (Or maybe Dove introduced that term... anyway. :)
(Fairness note: Sometimes it doesn't involve going to an other-place; the situation is really quite variable. I'm just speaking from experience -- some time I'll probably also write on the topic of other-place-less groups.)
Over time, they may build a very strong bond, friendship, trust, love... however you want to think of it... with one or more other-folk. This is not just "oh yeah, he's my mate"; think more like looking into the face of your guardian angel and Knowing. This is someone you can trust.
(Fairness note: Some people have what I would consider a slightly unhealthy relationship with their Other, particularly some well-known deities, and who would "horse" them anyway. But personally I would not do, nor recommend such a thing. Do as you will.)
When you get to this point with someone, they are probably already interacting with this world in limited ways through you. Perhaps you relay their advice to people, or at least write it down for yourself. Maybe you've written about them online, and they've even suggested a few words themselves. Then you find it easier one day to write their words in first person, because it's really weird to have this conversation:
O: I think X and such awesome thing.
P: That's great, I'll pass that along.
*P types* "O thinks X and such awesome thing. O says this, O says that."
*P ponders the weirdness of not quoting*
*P retypes* "O said, 'I think X and such awesome thing. This. That.'"
This is especially true when O comes closer to this world rather than P going deeper. And it gets more awkward when you're writing comments to someone else's post. "O wanted me to say X in response."
To cut to the chase here, the gears turn, and it's common to go through these phases:
1. P going in, having conversations, coming back and writing about them.
2. O coming closer to here, having conversations, and P writes about them.
3. P writes words for O in first person.
4. P makes an account for O because it's less confusing and all around tidier to write O's first person words that way.
5. Borrowing happens.
I say "accounts" and "writing comments" and such, but it's true in person too, when you're working with groups.
In some ways it really is more of an expression of laziness than anything. :D You can see why, given the above. But if you really respect this Other, then it's also true that you'd rather give them the chance to write their own words, in a true first person way, without your own notions getting in the way. And thus borrowing.
To boil it down to basics, borrowing is about moving aside and letting an Other step in and interact with this world directly. It varies a great deal per person as to how the details work out (energy feelings, amnesia, psychic changes, even subtle physical changes in some cases -- yes, really, cross my heart under an MRI machine :). While they are borrowing, they are effectively living in this world using your body. If you do this enough, you come to think of it as a shared space.
For us, it's very gentle and cooperative. There are three of us, as I mentioned, and we all have an eye toward everyone's health and happiness. More than one can be close to this world at once, like a sort of multitasking. Typically all memories are shared at all times (though the memories occasionally hide behind that "oh hey, I had a dream about that" sort of fog). If someone wants to come participate, we try to make time for that. And yeah, back to the main topic of the group, sometimes more than one of us will hang out near the surface here and participate in rituals and magic.
Some might think this is an unnatural, frightening, invasive, and possibly very dangerous sort of way to be; in general, even outside of "borrowing", that it'd be terrible never to be alone, that you'd have no privacy... I would say to them that you will know if you should or should not do it. You will know deep in your bones. Sometimes the situation will push you that way anyway. (Lessons from the Powers, the hard way. :) If you shouldn't, then don't. That's totally fine!
For us, it is a very comforting and normal thing. It's good to know that there's always a place to go relax (other-space), that there are always people you can talk with if something is wrong, and honestly, to know that you don't have to do everything alone. Like if you feel creepy energy here, someone else can give you another opinion (from a different level of reality, even). If you participate regularly in rituals, someone else can take one; or if you have that kind of relationship with your Others, they can help you with things here! Dove is curious about the human experience, and she once even asked to experience a cavity being filled. O.o (I know, right?) And for a while, last year and early this year, I lost all access to my other-space, to my other-folk, all of it... I felt kind of lost and brittle, and finding it all again was immensely comforting.
So yeah... If you're asking "HOW?" then I'll be covering that in another entry soon. :)
(Definitions)
Outside the art, so to speak, this is actually a good example of something that cuts across many different scenarios and beliefs (shamanism, "speaking on tongues", channelling deities, plural/multiple groups, and so forth), and earns you a badge anywhere from "spiritual leader" to "put this one on stuffazine, stat", depending on culture, understanding, and so on. Inside the art, this is a subject that ranges from really mundane to really controversial, depending on your spiritual bent, your personal psyche, etc. But it's fundamental to us (and IMO, the topic), so I'm going to cover it.
Standard disclaimers apply: YMMV, caveat emptor, take responsibility, not my fault, etc... :)
There are many different possible "configurations", but for the sake of introducing the topic at large (to an inexperienced audience), I'm going to stick with a basic idea, with some interspersed "fairness notes" to explain alternate views.
Much of the time, there's a person who considers themselves as living and existing in this world, who has a body here, perhaps a job, who eats and sleeps, and so on. For the sake of brevity, I'll call this person the primary (fairness note: not everyone has a "primary", but again, for the sake of brevity). The primary visits this other-place that I discussed yesterday, meets with guides and familiar spirits and so on, who I've been calling other-folk. (Or maybe Dove introduced that term... anyway. :)
(Fairness note: Sometimes it doesn't involve going to an other-place; the situation is really quite variable. I'm just speaking from experience -- some time I'll probably also write on the topic of other-place-less groups.)
Over time, they may build a very strong bond, friendship, trust, love... however you want to think of it... with one or more other-folk. This is not just "oh yeah, he's my mate"; think more like looking into the face of your guardian angel and Knowing. This is someone you can trust.
(Fairness note: Some people have what I would consider a slightly unhealthy relationship with their Other, particularly some well-known deities, and who would "horse" them anyway. But personally I would not do, nor recommend such a thing. Do as you will.)
When you get to this point with someone, they are probably already interacting with this world in limited ways through you. Perhaps you relay their advice to people, or at least write it down for yourself. Maybe you've written about them online, and they've even suggested a few words themselves. Then you find it easier one day to write their words in first person, because it's really weird to have this conversation:
O: I think X and such awesome thing.
P: That's great, I'll pass that along.
*P types* "O thinks X and such awesome thing. O says this, O says that."
*P ponders the weirdness of not quoting*
*P retypes* "O said, 'I think X and such awesome thing. This. That.'"
This is especially true when O comes closer to this world rather than P going deeper. And it gets more awkward when you're writing comments to someone else's post. "O wanted me to say X in response."
To cut to the chase here, the gears turn, and it's common to go through these phases:
1. P going in, having conversations, coming back and writing about them.
2. O coming closer to here, having conversations, and P writes about them.
3. P writes words for O in first person.
4. P makes an account for O because it's less confusing and all around tidier to write O's first person words that way.
5. Borrowing happens.
I say "accounts" and "writing comments" and such, but it's true in person too, when you're working with groups.
In some ways it really is more of an expression of laziness than anything. :D You can see why, given the above. But if you really respect this Other, then it's also true that you'd rather give them the chance to write their own words, in a true first person way, without your own notions getting in the way. And thus borrowing.
To boil it down to basics, borrowing is about moving aside and letting an Other step in and interact with this world directly. It varies a great deal per person as to how the details work out (energy feelings, amnesia, psychic changes, even subtle physical changes in some cases -- yes, really, cross my heart under an MRI machine :). While they are borrowing, they are effectively living in this world using your body. If you do this enough, you come to think of it as a shared space.
For us, it's very gentle and cooperative. There are three of us, as I mentioned, and we all have an eye toward everyone's health and happiness. More than one can be close to this world at once, like a sort of multitasking. Typically all memories are shared at all times (though the memories occasionally hide behind that "oh hey, I had a dream about that" sort of fog). If someone wants to come participate, we try to make time for that. And yeah, back to the main topic of the group, sometimes more than one of us will hang out near the surface here and participate in rituals and magic.
Some might think this is an unnatural, frightening, invasive, and possibly very dangerous sort of way to be; in general, even outside of "borrowing", that it'd be terrible never to be alone, that you'd have no privacy... I would say to them that you will know if you should or should not do it. You will know deep in your bones. Sometimes the situation will push you that way anyway. (Lessons from the Powers, the hard way. :) If you shouldn't, then don't. That's totally fine!
For us, it is a very comforting and normal thing. It's good to know that there's always a place to go relax (other-space), that there are always people you can talk with if something is wrong, and honestly, to know that you don't have to do everything alone. Like if you feel creepy energy here, someone else can give you another opinion (from a different level of reality, even). If you participate regularly in rituals, someone else can take one; or if you have that kind of relationship with your Others, they can help you with things here! Dove is curious about the human experience, and she once even asked to experience a cavity being filled. O.o (I know, right?) And for a while, last year and early this year, I lost all access to my other-space, to my other-folk, all of it... I felt kind of lost and brittle, and finding it all again was immensely comforting.
So yeah... If you're asking "HOW?" then I'll be covering that in another entry soon. :)
(Definitions)