Stoke the Forge, Tend the Vinehey, if anybody knows anything about thoughtforms/animal familiar spirits and can provide me w/resources, I'm lookin'
currently (reluctantly) looking into chaos magic's servitors for approaches; the most basic theoretical aspects of chaos magic underlie a lot of my magical work, but I can't stand the way chaos magicians write or the built-in dogma endemic to chaos magicians, who on the theoretical level should be allergic to dogma
chaos magic has (mostly) disappointed me again, except that- yeah, probably a good idea to focus on what it is I want this wasp familiar spirit to Do.
I'm gonna base the appearance of this spirit on the European paper wasp, an introduced species whose range covers both of the places I've lived in my life. consequently, it's a wasp I'm familiar with, and one I could productively take with me when I move continents (as I currently plan to do, because I don't want to stay a settler-colonialist longterm).
in terms of functionality of this familiar spirit- I kinda want the wasp to be flexible, which is to say, to have some basic, generally-applicable functions that I could apply in any given ritual or working.
but it could also have some specific/stereotyped functions, with less to do with its role as 'my familiar spirit' and more to do with the symbolism and ideas tied up with 'wasp'.
one obvious function is offense- wasps sting and are aggressive. defense is also a reasonable direction to take that- a wasp familiar could 'build a nest' which acts both as protection and as a site for clustering and defense.
I think I'll make my familiar a unique queen,...
... as, for the most part, I don't want to spread a spirit that functions like this outside of my control.
But the queen *could* produce non-reproductive workers to guard nests, wherever I site them. I'd designate, for a given nest, its defense behaviors and the conditions under which they activate.
so, if there's someone I want others to realize is unsafe, I could mark them with a nest that 'buzzes' and 'darts' (alarms others, causes them to avoid), and if I particularly disliked that person I could designate them as an enemy to attack and a source of energy/nest-building material.
on the other hand, I could place a nest on sbdy I like to protect them...
such that the nest becomes aggressive exactly when someone threatens the beneficiary (intimidates the threat into leaving) and stings punitively if the threat persists in harming the beneficiary. likewise, I could put a similar 'only activate on threat' nest on, e.g., the threshold of a home.
'buzzing' nests could be placed in spaces I know are physically unsafe, or as a hex to dissuade others from e.g. patronizing an unsavory establishment.
so, for that reason, the queen who is my primary familiar spirit needs to be able to produce subordinates (but with much more restricted powers). given the nests will be geographically separate, she needs some way...
to populate all those nests across great distances.
An appealing (to me) metaphor for that kind of thing is- well, don't paper wasp nests kind of look mazelike? IRL the cells terminate and larvae grow in them, but they LOOK like tunnels. And the thing about a maze (especially a magic maze) is that it is difficult to ascertain its dimensions and location in space- a maze is a good space in which to violate locality.
So she would have a central nest, attached either to me (mmm...) or herself (better!), possibly itself in a kind of pocket dimension. That central nest would provide corridors by which she could keep a nest populated. That, in turn, makes nests>
a good option to function as points for scrying or messaging.
anyway.
probably worth asking: what does stinging do? Obviously it's an offensive hex; I can't decide if I should leave it as vague as that, and 'aim' the sting if I want to do something specific, or if I should make some stereotyped 'stings' that are more specific. the 'aim' aspect could be metaphysical- luck, money, love...
nest building/paper creation could be used to build magical structures of various kinds. paper wasps rasp wood and plant fibers to produce their nests; my queen (and her subordinates) could sustain their energy from plant life.
Other things to do with a wasp:
1. Wasp social behavior is mediated by smell/chemoreception; the paper wasp uses hydrocarbon chains to recognize individual and nest identity and articulate dominance hierarchies. a wasp familiar could very well be an instrument for intuition: I send the wasp over to 'sniff out' somebody.
2. People are afraid of wasps. I sorta already developed this idea in the nest/automaton subordinates concept, but my queen could frighten/intimidate others; I could use her in that way as a focus for my personal presence.
3. Wasps are pollinators! I can use her to encourage fruitful collaboration, the forging of new connections between ppl.
1. Wasp social behavior is mediated by smell/chemoreception; the paper wasp uses hydrocarbon chains to recognize individual and nest identity and articulate dominance hierarchies. a wasp familiar could very well be an instrument for intuition: I send the wasp over to 'sniff out' somebody.
2. People are afraid of wasps. I sorta already developed this idea in the nest/automaton subordinates concept, but my queen could frighten/intimidate others; I could use her in that way as a focus for my personal presence.
3. Wasps are pollinators! I can use her to encourage fruitful collaboration, the forging of new connections between ppl.
I'm not married to the chaos magic paradigm here, but I do kind of like the idea of deliberately building a servitor by composition/expansion of sigils...
and I think I'd document how I put those sigils together/what my thought process was. I like the idea of having a kind of 'program' or 'operating instruction' for my familiar spirit- allowing her agency, but also allowing us to modify her functionality as needed in a way that feels semi-rigorous.
might also be worth 'mapping' the nest-network- even if not on a world map or anything like that, some description of what each nest does and where it is, and connecting those nests to her central hub.
familiar spirits were traditionally offered things like blood and milk, so her creation/updates could be 'sealed with blood', maybe blood, milk, and honey?
and a non-material familiar is often associated with a specific fetish (magical sense), so making one of those- something in the shape of a wasp that I can have around- is a good idea.
I want to draw the European paper wasp from lots of angles, so I can have a really good idea what they look like for visualization purposes- that could also inform my sigil design.
For names for the spirit- I'm considering something that involves the word 'foundress,' for a gyne-wasp who founds nests, but I also want to make a papermaking pun. In particular, I really like the word 'deckled,' referring to the natural/irregular edge of a sheet of handmade paper- so not cut or torn. I don't know how to combine those things, though! 'Deckledress'?
The Doctor@SheofVineandForge Energy works just fine. Reiki is helpful. You might also want to investigate Thee Sigil ov Three Likwids.
@drwho blood's more fun
@SheofVineandForge Blood is usually one of the three liquids, yes.
@SheofVineandForge I think you might be taking this a little too literally. You don't need to plan servitors out this finely. Concentrate on goals, not on mechanisms. Else, the latter becomes the former's purpose and you won't get a whole lot out of them.
@drwho Elaborating the metaphorical, imagistic, or symbolistic content of what I do is central to my work in a way it might not be to your approach; being specific about this kind of thing helps my imagination work. 🤷 the 'servitor' concept is one means of many to me. I'm really more interested in approximating the 'familiar spirit' concept you see in historical records around witchcraft.
@SheofVineandForge That's fair - then go with it. Do what works best for you.
@SheofVineandForge As for familiar spririts.. I've had success using shamanic techniques to awaken things, not so much conjuring familiars. It took a long time and a lot of work, but it's been a stable relationship for over twenty years now.
@SheofVineandForge I give mine inductive clamps to suck power out of wiring.
@SheofVineandForge I wouldn't worry too much about them getting out of control. It's hard enough to get servitors smart enough to take basic orders.
Make sure that you put specific constraints onto them, not as controls but just so they can function decently. Servitors are nowhere near as willful as spirits you might conjure from another domain or tradition.
@SheofVineandForge When you make it, squish it against your left hemisphere to imprint cognitive ability onto it, then turn it right-side-out. I find that makes them more amenable to following orders.
@SheofVineandForge I'm quite familiar with servitors. Do you have any specific questions?
@drwho yes and no- I'm broadly interested in hearing about your and other people's methodologies in making them. so, like, the 'specific' questions would be broad questions like "what is your subjective experience of creating a servitor?"
"what mental actions do you take to make one?"
"what physical/external work or objects do you use in your process, if at all?"
"what are your recommendations about pitfalls or useful hints?"
etc.. I'm trying to get a place to start from.
"what mental actions do you take to make one?"
"what physical/external work or objects do you use in your process, if at all?"
"what are your recommendations about pitfalls or useful hints?"
etc.. I'm trying to get a place to start from.
@SheofVineandForge Subjective experience: If I have a specific task, a specific need, and a specific outcome, and I build a servitor around those things, I find them very helpful. Trying to make general purpose servitors has never worked for me.
@drwho ahh, gotcha. yeah that is... not really what I want to do. I looked into servitors because there's not a whole lot of traditions that get into the creation of a metaphysical entity- I'm not, first and foremost, seeing the output of this process as a tool with a particular function. I am looking to make something that feels alive, and whose images/symbols/metaphors tie into my other magical interests.
@SheofVineandForge Read up on shamanic allies, then. I think you'll find something you can use or adapt in that tradition.
@SheofVineandForge I build or draw a physical focus for them that reflects the task. If I want something to happen, I make a statement of that something into a set of sigils that become the servitor's skeleton. Sometimes I use isometric exhaustion to charge them up. Sometimes I use ecstatic dance to charge them up.
When formatting them, I take a negative image of my left hemisphere, turn it right-side-out, and mold that around the skeleton. The servitor needs to be smart enough to operate.
@SheofVineandForge Building the sigils as skeletons. Charging them up somehow. Occasionally Reiki attuning them so they're able to regenerate if something happens (and they have a power source). A lot of it is focused mental sculpting, triggered through general muscle rictus. The physical foci are put away someplace safe until what I need is done.
@SheofVineandForge Custom-make servitors for your tasks. If you want watchers, make watchers. If you want warriors, make warriors. If you want barriers, make barriers. If you want spies, make spies. Don't try to make them do too much or they'll come apart. Don't specify them enough and they come apart. Try to do it casually and they'll never kick over - go big or go home. Tell them what you expect and what you'll give them. Play straight with them.