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,...
The Doctor@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.