Recovering Memories
Aug. 28th, 2013 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nierika posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
plural_magicHello! *waves* I'm that elusive Sparrow person, and I also go by Allie. A quick introduction, though I don't like to belabour the point: We think of me as something like fae, or that is a good metaphor, anyhow. I like to spend my time out in nature for the most part, but I also have an interest (along with my people) in studying the world, cultures, languages, and so forth. You might call us archivists. We like a good party, too -- fresh food, a bonfire, dancing, chanting, poetry...
I met Fuzzy by way of a sort of merged journeying. What finally brought her understanding that I was separate is actually the exact topic that I have to talk about today: recovering memories. She was visiting my people, and "she" suddenly started talking about things that she didn't know or understand.
It's an interesting thing. As Fuzzy mentioned in here, that other-space is a little dreamlike, from this side. (I find it to be less so from that side, but that memory itself is drawn using this method!) Trying to remember what happened there recently is a little like drawing out dream memories, while trying to remember long term memories and lore is more like trying to remember childhood memories. I suppose that the latter has some similarity to recovering past-life memories.
There are really three basic ways that we do this.
The first is for shorter term memories. For example, I'm here in this world, typing this to you now. But if I cast my mind back a little while, I wasn't here. I was somewhere else. I have a vague feeling of a place, a time, a thing I might've been doing. I have an image suggestive of sitting under a tree. As I pull that image to me, mentally, I start to recall other details. It was an open area among rolling hills. As I begin to think about that and try to remember what seems familiar about it to me, I also recall a sense of place and direction. There is an area that we often meet and hang out, so to speak, and it's north of there, slightly past some mountains. In this particular case, I was just out exploring, and I'd taken a rest.
The second way is to pass the memories over directly. When I am not here (in front) someone else is, typically Fuzzy. I can tell her what I'm up to, or she can ask me. The information is then moved directly from there to here, much like reading it in a book. From these memories, I can tell you that what's happened there is that part of our other-space was lost. New space was found, but part of the lost other-space mapped to the home of my people, and the primary place I liked to wander. So to put it mildly, it's been a big bummer for me. I've been searching for a new congruence so that I can be with them again. Thus my exploring.
The third way is as a long term recollection. Sometimes you'll have a memory from long ago triggered by a current sensation: a sound, a scent, a sight. It's almost like a sense of deja vu. Sometimes we can remember things in this way directly. Other times, they're drawn out almost instinctively in-journey. For example, Fuzzy discovered my history and my name in this way when, during our merged journeying, "she" just started speaking about them in ways she wouldn't have known. It works that way for me, too. Sometimes I feel as though I have amnesia, and I'll just remember something and know that it's a true memory, something rising up from the depths of a lake. Teasing its meaning and a fuller, conscious version of it is much like "type 1" above.
Hopefully that was interesting and/or useful. :] If you have further questions or comments, feel free to post them! Or send me a Dreamwidth message if you like.
(Definitions)
I met Fuzzy by way of a sort of merged journeying. What finally brought her understanding that I was separate is actually the exact topic that I have to talk about today: recovering memories. She was visiting my people, and "she" suddenly started talking about things that she didn't know or understand.
It's an interesting thing. As Fuzzy mentioned in here, that other-space is a little dreamlike, from this side. (I find it to be less so from that side, but that memory itself is drawn using this method!) Trying to remember what happened there recently is a little like drawing out dream memories, while trying to remember long term memories and lore is more like trying to remember childhood memories. I suppose that the latter has some similarity to recovering past-life memories.
There are really three basic ways that we do this.
The first is for shorter term memories. For example, I'm here in this world, typing this to you now. But if I cast my mind back a little while, I wasn't here. I was somewhere else. I have a vague feeling of a place, a time, a thing I might've been doing. I have an image suggestive of sitting under a tree. As I pull that image to me, mentally, I start to recall other details. It was an open area among rolling hills. As I begin to think about that and try to remember what seems familiar about it to me, I also recall a sense of place and direction. There is an area that we often meet and hang out, so to speak, and it's north of there, slightly past some mountains. In this particular case, I was just out exploring, and I'd taken a rest.
The second way is to pass the memories over directly. When I am not here (in front) someone else is, typically Fuzzy. I can tell her what I'm up to, or she can ask me. The information is then moved directly from there to here, much like reading it in a book. From these memories, I can tell you that what's happened there is that part of our other-space was lost. New space was found, but part of the lost other-space mapped to the home of my people, and the primary place I liked to wander. So to put it mildly, it's been a big bummer for me. I've been searching for a new congruence so that I can be with them again. Thus my exploring.
The third way is as a long term recollection. Sometimes you'll have a memory from long ago triggered by a current sensation: a sound, a scent, a sight. It's almost like a sense of deja vu. Sometimes we can remember things in this way directly. Other times, they're drawn out almost instinctively in-journey. For example, Fuzzy discovered my history and my name in this way when, during our merged journeying, "she" just started speaking about them in ways she wouldn't have known. It works that way for me, too. Sometimes I feel as though I have amnesia, and I'll just remember something and know that it's a true memory, something rising up from the depths of a lake. Teasing its meaning and a fuller, conscious version of it is much like "type 1" above.
Hopefully that was interesting and/or useful. :] If you have further questions or comments, feel free to post them! Or send me a Dreamwidth message if you like.
(Definitions)