#occultism — Public Fediverse posts

@cloudskater wrote:

Some instances are run by bad people. Hell, a few projects like Lemmy and Matrix are DEVELOPED by assholes, but the FLOSS and federated nature of these platforms allows us to bypass/fork them and create healthy spaces outside their reach.

Nope, that is actually what is killing the fediverse. I just explained here:

The issue is the divergence in semantic interpretation that emerges at the interpretation layer. ActivityPub standardizes message delivery and defines common activity types. However, it leaves extension semantics and application-layer policy decisions to individual implementations. Servers may introduce custom JSON-LD namespaces and enforce local behaviors, such as reply restrictions, while remaining protocol-compliant. But, the noise created by divergences are problematic, because it creates unexpected, unintended, and unpredictable behavior.

Divergence appears when implementations rely on non-normative metadata and assume reciprocal handling to preserve a consistent user experience. Behavioral alignment then varies. Syntactic exchange succeeds, but behavioral consistency is not guaranteed. Though instances continue to federate at the transport level, policy semantics and processing logic differ across deployments. Those differences produce inconsistent experiences and results between implementations.

That leads to fragmentation, specifically semantic or behavioral fragmentation and an inconsistent user experiences. ActivityPub ensures syntactic interoperability, but semantic interoperability (everyone interprets and enforces rules the same way) varies. This creates a system that is federated at the transport level yet fragmented in behavior and expectations across implementations. It is funny how the thing that the fediverse touted has made the entire thing very brittle. ActivityPub technically federates correctly, but semantically falls apart once servers start adding their own behavioral rules.

https://neon-blue-demon-wyrm.x10.network/archives/16932

FYI, I’m not doing culture wars or political debates. I’m just saying this idea of “forking away” from them is literally breaking the fediverse’s distributed network and creating all kinds of issues with semantic interoperability. Yes, federation is still happening at the delivery level, but the semantic issues are out of fucking control. You are a federation by the very sheer skin of your teeth.

The reason why developers are leaving the fediverse is because you folks don’t take criticism. You respond to criticism with — I’m being so serious right now — political manifestos and harassing developers. ActivityPub developers and authors oversold you folks on the capabilities of ActivityStreams. They flat-out lied to y’all.

↬bark.lgbt/@cloudskater/116080965694723006

ActivityPub Server’s Custom Reply‑Control Extensions Undermine Federation

It seems like Activitbypub developers are extending ActivityPub with optional metadata to fix a lot of its issues, but that is still problematic. Trying to add moderation tools and user control to threads seems to be the ongoing battle. I am fascinated by dumpster fires, so I’ve started looking at the ActivityPub protocol in detail. I tend to become fascinated with things that are going down in flames.

As a brief recap of the problem:

So, one of the very popular features on Bluesky—also popular on Twitter—is the ability to select who can reply to a post. A major issue in the Fediverse is the inability to decide who can reply, and once you block someone, their harassing reply is still there. I honestly thought it was simply a case of them choosing not to add or address it for cultural reasons. What is clear from that thread is that they were always aware that the ActivityPub protocol and most Fediverse implementations don’t provide a universal way to control reply visibility or enforce blocks across instances.

An ActivityPub server that has reply control is GoToSocial. ActivityPub, as defined by the W3C specification, standardizes how servers federate activities. It defines actors, inboxes, outboxes, and activity types (Create, Follow, Like, Announce, etc.) expressed using ActivityStreams 2.0. It also specifies delivery mechanics (including how a Create activity reaches another server’s inbox) and how collections behave.

The specification does not include interaction policy semantics such as “only followers may reply” or “replies require manual approval.” There is no field in the normative vocabulary requiring conforming servers to enforce reply permissions. That category of rule is outside the protocol’s defined contract.

GoToSocial implements reply controls through what it calls interaction policies. These appear as additional properties on ActivityStreams objects using a custom JSON-LD namespace controlled by the GoToSocial project.

JSON-LD permits additional namespaced terms. This means the document remains structurally valid ActivityStreams and federates normally. The meaning of those custom fields, however, comes from GoToSocial’s own documentation and implementation. Other servers can ignore them without violating ActivityPub because they are not part of the interoperable core vocabulary.

Enforcement occurs locally. When a remote server sends a reply—a Create activity whose object references another via inReplyTo—ActivityPub governs delivery, not acceptance criteria. Whether the receiving server checks a reply policy, rejects the activity, queues it, or displays it is determined in the server’s inbox-processing code. The decision to accept, display, or require approval happens after successful protocol-level delivery. This behavior belongs to the application layer.

These are server-side features layered on top of ActivityPub’s transport and data model that are not actually part of ActivityPub. The protocol ensures standardized delivery of activities; however, the server implementation defines additional constraints and user-facing behavior. Two GoToSocial instances may both recognize and act on the same extension fields. However, a different implementation, such as Mastodon, has no obligation under the specification to interpret or enforce GoToSocial’s interactionPolicy properties. These fields function as extension metadata rather than protocol requirements.

The semantics of GoToSocial are not part of the specification’s defined vocabulary and processing rules for ActivityPub. They no longer operate purely at the protocol layer; it has become an application-layer contract implemented by specific servers.

Let’s use the AT Protocol as an example. Bluesky’s direct messages (DMs) are not currently part of the AT Protocol (ATProto). The AT Protocol has nothing that specifies anything for DMs, so DMs are not part of the AT Protocol. The AT Protocol was designed to handle public social interactions, but it does not define private or encrypted messaging. Bluesky implemented DMs at the application level, outside of the core protocol. DMs are centralized and stored on Bluesky’s servers. What is happening with servers like GoToSocial is sort of like that. The difference is that the AT Protocol was designed for different app views; ActivityPub was not.

The issue is the divergence in semantic interpretation that emerges at the interpretation layer. ActivityPub standardizes message delivery and defines common activity types. However, it leaves extension semantics and application-layer policy decisions to individual implementations. Servers may introduce custom JSON-LD namespaces and enforce local behaviors, such as reply restrictions, while remaining protocol-compliant. But, the noise created by divergences are problematic, because it creates unexpected, unintended, and unpredictable behavior.

Divergence appears when implementations rely on non-normative metadata and assume reciprocal handling to preserve a consistent user experience. Behavioral alignment then varies. Syntactic exchange succeeds, but behavioral consistency is not guaranteed. Though instances continue to federate at the transport level, policy semantics and processing logic differ across deployments. Those differences produce inconsistent experiences and results between implementations.

That leads to fragmentation, specifically semantic or behavioral fragmentation and an inconsistent user experiences. ActivityPub ensures syntactic interoperability, but semantic interoperability (everyone interprets and enforces rules the same way) varies. This creates a system that is federated at the transport level yet fragmented in behavior and expectations across implementations. It is funny how the thing that the fediverse touted has made the entire thing very brittle. ActivityPub technically federates correctly, but semantically falls apart once servers start adding their own behavioral rules.

I'm liking my feed so far but ngl I need more occult/esoteric/witchy accounts to follow. Feel free to give me @ suggestions in the replies or boost if you post stuff like that!

#occult #occultism #occultist #esoteric #esotericsm #witch #witchcraft #witchy #magic #magick #druid #druids #spells #mystic #mysticism #astrology #astrologycommunity #tarot #TarotCards #TarotReading #oracle #oraclecards #medium #mediumship #spirit #spirituality #spiritual #spirits #spiritualgrowth #spiritualawakening #occulture #modernwitch

I think of psychic and magical energy as a gas due to its intangible and diffuse nature. Just as a gas can fill a space and spread out evenly, psychic energy can permeate and interact with the environment similarly, so linking psychic energy to how a scent diffuses through a room is useful. So, one way that I permeate a space with magical energy is through enchanted candles that I make.

The problem with burning the candles is, well, they burn. They get used over time. Considering it takes a lot of effort to enchant my magic candles, it gets annoying. Well, my husband surprised me yesterday with a candle warmer! I don’t post my magic gear on the Internet, so this is just a picture with a regular, mundane scented candle.

Since I don’t have to actually burn the candles, my magic candles last a lot longer. When I do quick and dirty magic on the go, I use breathing techniques to pull the energy into me, transmute it, and breathe it out. I call it a dragon’s fire breath technique. Using candles is a more latent version of that.

When I think of the phase state of psychic and magical energy, I liken it to a liquid or a gas. Some people refer to it as astral energy. I prefer not to use the term ‘astral’ when describing the phenomenological, noetic realm of subjective experiences, as it carries celestial connotations. ‘Astral’ connotes cosmic things, such as what is in space. I would use the word ‘astral’ if I were referring to the noetic space of outer space, particularly around the physical bodies of planets.

When I am referring to psychic energy, I am normally referring to the field, ambiance, and psychic atmosphere here on Earth where many of the structures emerge from human consciousness and intelligence. For example, I live in Atlanta near an important genius loci and nexus, so the psychic energy that flows around here is as natural as the skylines, concrete, and streets of Atlanta. Instead of being like the celestial light from the sun, it is more like the light from satellites and buildings. Genius loci are not technically natural. They emerge as a consequence of human architecture. For example, a green space in a city isn’t natural; however, it exerts an influence on people and makes them feel more relaxed.

Energy is not a thing; it is an abstraction. It is something we derive from reference frames and relationships and is not necessarily something that we observe. The energy in something is stored as potential by a field, i.e., a structured set of relationships and correlations within that structured set. A structured set is a collection of categories, variables, or dimensions where there are binary operators between those categories, dimensions, or sets. Energy is a scalar that describes the ability to produce a change or for a system to take action, and the potential energy of a system is held within the relationships defined by operators that connect the objects or entities. A simple way to think of energy is that it is a description of the behavior of something or how something causes something to behave. In certain esoteric contexts, energy and spirit can be interchanged, albeit I make a particular distinction later on in this post. So, in that sense, the spirit of the place, i.e., the genius loci, is how people interact with the space and how the space affects people such that their behavior is changed. So, the spirit of the place is manifest through how people interact with that space. The connotation is not originally naturalistic; instead, it is a reference to how temples and gothic architecture affect people. Gothic architecture was designed to evoke notions of the sublime, for example. The spirit of the place is manifest in how you feel when you walk into the cathedral.

I reject the solipsistic and human-centered view many occultists have. Empirically observable instances of psychic phenomena manifest through the art of magic imply that causality is inverted. Instead of mental entities supervening on, being emergent from matter, and being epiphenomena, physical states are subsets of a psychic domain. That would mean that all physical objects are phase states of a psychic realm. And, being manifestations of that psychic realm means that physical objects have ‘what it seems like to be’ that thing. Many occultists operate in a very human-centric or solipsistic paradigm where they believe that only things they recognize as having subjective experiences have those experiences. Since causality is inverted, that means that every infinitesimal cell of physical space, including the energy, matter, and physical objects that emerge from it, has a higher-dimensional aspect of what it seems like to be that cell. Physical reality is able to maintain its coherence because all aspects of physical existence have a higher-dimensional noetic aspect that is able to perceive itself. The cosmos can see itself where humans are manifestations of that. Consensual reality is cosmologically maintained by the mutual reference frames of the interconnected experiences of atoms, rocks, and all the way up to suns. If I experience you and you experience me, it creates a correlation and a local frame of reference within a manifold. Human intelligence is not integral to reality on a cosmological level because everything has a subjective experience, albeit unintelligent entities do not have the will to deliberately cause change. You are not just perceiving the cosmos. The cosmos is perceiving you.

A rock has a psychic form of experience; however, is a rock intelligent? I can draw psychic energy from a rock without encountering resistance; however, if I draw energy from a person without their consent, their will shall oppose me, much like how mass resists acceleration. That nuance is what separates panpsychism from animism. I do not believe that the rock has a “soul”; instead, it has a fractal, recursive, and chaotic higher-dimensional structure that gives it a qualia I.e., of what it seems like to be a rock; however, a rock cannot apprehend and understand its experience of being a rock. Self-similar structures that feed back into themselves are chaotic. However, it lacks the will to choose its next experience, nor does it possess the intelligence to apprehend its own existence. It’s like light, which can be emitted and absorbed. In this sense, it is sufficient to be called astral light. Metaphysically, the closet thing these objects have is called ousia, which roughly connotates a spirit.

Culture is implicit in any piece of technology. It serves as an abstraction for how humans teach, learn, and employ particular pedagogies. Language is culturally learned, and not just a reflection of human intelligence. As language evolved, societies began to develop standardized terminologies and methodologies for toolmaking. Cultural adaptation and technological innovation are closely intertwined processes. As cultures evolve and encounter new challenges, they develop novel technologies to address these challenges, thereby creating further cultural change and adaptation. Conversely, technological innovations can disrupt existing cultural practices and social structures, often prompting cultural resistance, adaptation, or transformation.

Implicit in any form of technology or anything that comes from human technology is human culture, intelligence, and will that is implicit in the design. Unlike something natural and spontaneous, like a rock, something like a knife was designed and manifested from a cultural form to cut. A way to think of the essence or ousia of an object is through its function. So, the essence of a knife is to cut. The essence of a gun is to shoot. This means that things that are a consequence of human intelligent design have aspects of human will that can resist you; however, it is an extension of the prototypical aspects created via human intelligence and will.

Complex human tools are closely correlated with the emergence of languages to encode precision and standards. For example, mathematics and numbers allowed for the creation of more precise tools, also with the ability to communicate these standards through culture. This also applies to gods. Many big ancient gods arose and came into being when human civilization began; therefore, the intelligence of those entities is anthropic manifestations of human intelligence and will. Many pantheons of gods are extrinsicly connected to human societies and civilizations – if those civilizations did not exist, neither would those gods. Gods are shaped by human cultures and belief systems, and they derive their significance and characteristics from the needs, values, and experiences of the people who worship them.

I’m using ‘existence’ in an abstract ontological sense. Existence is a categorical proposition. If I have a category called ‘beds’, then an instance of a bed would mean that the bed exists. If I have a category of ‘vaba81’ and ‘1gabaha’ is a subset of ‘vaba81’ such that ‘vaba81={1gabaha}’, then ‘1gabaha’ exists as an instance of ‘vaba81’. The problem lies in the epistemological justification. Can we empirically and objectively observe it? Frequently, objectivity gets conflated with empiricism. Objectivity means consistency. For example, 1+1=2. That is objective; however, it is not empirical, since mathematics is metaphysically a priori and epistemologically rational. How humans know 1+1=2 is something we do not know, in that we do not get this information from how we interact with the world. There is an epistemological and ontological debate about whether numbers are real and exist in a Neoplatonic sense or if they are a product of the human brain. Obviously, I assume that numbers exist in a Neoplatonic sense.

Whether we can empirically observe something or not is not metaphysically important, especially within the context of Boolean Logic. When we consider the existence of circles, squares, and even real numbers, we treat these mathematical and geometric objects as if they are real; however, we have never empirically observed a circle or even a ‘1’. We have observed circular objects, and we have observed symbols for ‘1’. Gods occupy a similar metaphysical niche in the noetic sphere.

I exist separate from a person’s representation of me in their mind; however, I exist in a noetic sphere as does that image in their mind in the same way a picture of me exists as do I, though I am not the picture. In this sense, I am referring to the image of gods. Personally, I am an atheist, so I do not believe they are real, so I assume people work with psychic systems and entities in the form of a god. The difference between these two is that 1+1 is always 2, while fictions, mythologies, civilizations, and religions change. Math (numbers and geometrical shapes) and logic have more of a tautological and objective nature than theistic fictions, albeit they both exist in the noetic sphere because one changes and is true in all cases deductively, and the other is not. We can say that theistic pantheons are fictions since they change over time per integrals of human experience and culture; however, Mathematics does not revise itself. It just accumulates.

We infer existential import from whether or not we can observe real instances of a proposed category. Magic, Idealism, and Panpsychism are metaphysical cases against realism. Parapsychological experiments that demonstrate and support hypotheses that show intentions, expectations, and beliefs affect physically disconnected and non-local systems are empirical cases against realism. Metaphysical realism is predicated on the idea of a mind-independent universe; however, the ability for our intentions to influence the world and the ability for us to gain information about the world outside of physical events are counterexamples to that idea. If our intentions can affect the world around us, then it implies that reality is not entirely independent of our minds but rather intertwined with it. This challenges the notion of a purely objective reality existing independently of human consciousness. Whether or not gods are real isn’t relevant; instead, what is relevant is the categories they supervene on and whether they supervene on human intelligence.

A rock is not extrinsic and emergent from human design, so there is no structure of human will that is intrinsic to it. Therefore, there is no will. If you tried to extract, evoke, or invoke the energy – the ousia, of an object to do something opposite its ousia, there will be resistance. The ousia, or essence, of a gun could be considered to be its ability to project force or cause harm through the expulsion of a projectile. The opposite of this essence embodies peace, non-violence, or something represented by a gesture like an open hand offering help or friendship. If you tried to evoke the spirit of a gun for a non-violent manifestation of peace instead of peace through violence, martial applications, there would be resistance and dissonance. The spirit of the gun itself is not resisting you; rather, an extension of human spirit is resisting you. Ousia is more abstract than spirit. Ousia is an abstract class that something belongs to, so the existence of a car, a gun, a knife, a building, so on and so forth is an instance of a prototypical abstraction, i.e., a blueprint. We can think of these categories as existing in a noetic sphere, so instances of my computer that I am typing this on have an ousia that is connected to a form in that noetic sphere. The thing that is analogous to a spirit or a soul – ousia, is a manifestation and an aspect given through human consciousness and intelligence. The ability for these objects to resist your will is a manifestation of collective human will, resisting you.

The only natural things around me, at the moment, are the sky and the ground. Since I live in a metropolitan city, everything around me is manmade; therefore, implicit in everything is human will manifested through the infrastructure and technology around me. Since the city I live in is a manifestation of human intelligence and civilization down to the laws I must follow in this city, the energy I would draw from objects around me has a quality analogous to mass implicit in the will that creates it. Laws and politics in a democratic Republic, like the United States, are manifestations of the collective will of the people; therefore, it has mass. That means that the laws of a metropolis, like Atlanta, have mass and resistance to wills that run counter to that. That is in part why it is so hard to influence political events. You are trying to influence something that is massive. It’s easy to do in a small city because you have fewer people; however, it is very difficult to do with metropolises since the genius loci of the city is massive. In my experience, when a genius loci gets large enough, it exerts an attractive force that draws people with sympathy to it and manipulates possible futures to create a teleological point where a person being drawn there is inevitable and a matter of time, similar to how the singularity of a black hole behaves.

#Animism #Astral #astralProjection #astrology #ATL #Atlanta #candle #candles #geniusLoci #gothic #husband #LGBTQ #magick #Metaphysics #noetic #occult #occultism #occultists #pagan #paganism #panpsychic #panpsychism #paranormal #Parapsychology #psychic #witch #witchcraft

I think of psychic and magical energy as a gas due to its intangible and diffuse nature. Just as a gas can fill a space and spread out evenly, psychic energy can permeate and interact with the environment similarly, so linking psychic energy to how a scent diffuses through a room is useful. So, one way that I permeate a space with magical energy is through enchanted candles that I make.

The problem with burning the candles is, well, they burn. They get used over time. Considering it takes a lot of effort to enchant my magic candles, it gets annoying. Well, my husband surprised me yesterday with a candle warmer! I don’t post my magic gear on the Internet, so this is just a picture with a regular, mundane scented candle.

Since I don’t have to actually burn the candles, my magic candles last a lot longer. When I do quick and dirty magic on the go, I use breathing techniques to pull the energy into me, transmute it, and breathe it out. I call it a dragon’s fire breath technique. Using candles is a more latent version of that.

When I think of the phase state of psychic and magical energy, I liken it to a liquid or a gas. Some people refer to it as astral energy. I prefer not to use the term ‘astral’ when describing the phenomenological, noetic realm of subjective experiences, as it carries celestial connotations. ‘Astral’ connotes cosmic things, such as what is in space. I would use the word ‘astral’ if I were referring to the noetic space of outer space, particularly around the physical bodies of planets.

When I am referring to psychic energy, I am normally referring to the field, ambiance, and psychic atmosphere here on Earth where many of the structures emerge from human consciousness and intelligence. For example, I live in Atlanta near an important genius loci and nexus, so the psychic energy that flows around here is as natural as the skylines, concrete, and streets of Atlanta. Instead of being like the celestial light from the sun, it is more like the light from satellites and buildings. Genius loci are not technically natural. They emerge as a consequence of human architecture. For example, a green space in a city isn’t natural; however, it exerts an influence on people and makes them feel more relaxed.

Energy is not a thing; it is an abstraction. It is something we derive from reference frames and relationships and is not necessarily something that we observe. The energy in something is stored as potential by a field, i.e., a structured set of relationships and correlations within that structured set. A structured set is a collection of categories, variables, or dimensions where there are binary operators between those categories, dimensions, or sets. Energy is a scalar that describes the ability to produce a change or for a system to take action, and the potential energy of a system is held within the relationships defined by operators that connect the objects or entities. A simple way to think of energy is that it is a description of the behavior of something or how something causes something to behave. In certain esoteric contexts, energy and spirit can be interchanged, albeit I make a particular distinction later on in this post. So, in that sense, the spirit of the place, i.e., the genius loci, is how people interact with the space and how the space affects people such that their behavior is changed. So, the spirit of the place is manifest through how people interact with that space. The connotation is not originally naturalistic; instead, it is a reference to how temples and gothic architecture affect people. Gothic architecture was designed to evoke notions of the sublime, for example. The spirit of the place is manifest in how you feel when you walk into the cathedral.

I reject the solipsistic and human-centered view many occultists have. Empirically observable instances of psychic phenomena manifest through the art of magic imply that causality is inverted. Instead of mental entities supervening on, being emergent from matter, and being epiphenomena, physical states are subsets of a psychic domain. That would mean that all physical objects are phase states of a psychic realm. And, being manifestations of that psychic realm means that physical objects have ‘what it seems like to be’ that thing. Many occultists operate in a very human-centric or solipsistic paradigm where they believe that only things they recognize as having subjective experiences have those experiences. Since causality is inverted, that means that every infinitesimal cell of physical space, including the energy, matter, and physical objects that emerge from it, has a higher-dimensional aspect of what it seems like to be that cell. Physical reality is able to maintain its coherence because all aspects of physical existence have a higher-dimensional noetic aspect that is able to perceive itself. The cosmos can see itself where humans are manifestations of that. Consensual reality is cosmologically maintained by the mutual reference frames of the interconnected experiences of atoms, rocks, and all the way up to suns. If I experience you and you experience me, it creates a correlation and a local frame of reference within a manifold. Human intelligence is not integral to reality on a cosmological level because everything has a subjective experience, albeit unintelligent entities do not have the will to deliberately cause change. You are not just perceiving the cosmos. The cosmos is perceiving you.

A rock has a psychic form of experience; however, is a rock intelligent? I can draw psychic energy from a rock without encountering resistance; however, if I draw energy from a person without their consent, their will shall oppose me, much like how mass resists acceleration. That nuance is what separates panpsychism from animism. I do not believe that the rock has a “soul”; instead, it has a fractal, recursive, and chaotic higher-dimensional structure that gives it a qualia I.e., of what it seems like to be a rock; however, a rock cannot apprehend and understand its experience of being a rock. Self-similar structures that feed back into themselves are chaotic. However, it lacks the will to choose its next experience, nor does it possess the intelligence to apprehend its own existence. It’s like light, which can be emitted and absorbed. In this sense, it is sufficient to be called astral light. Metaphysically, the closet thing these objects have is called ousia, which roughly connotates a spirit.

Culture is implicit in any piece of technology. It serves as an abstraction for how humans teach, learn, and employ particular pedagogies. Language is culturally learned, and not just a reflection of human intelligence. As language evolved, societies began to develop standardized terminologies and methodologies for toolmaking. Cultural adaptation and technological innovation are closely intertwined processes. As cultures evolve and encounter new challenges, they develop novel technologies to address these challenges, thereby creating further cultural change and adaptation. Conversely, technological innovations can disrupt existing cultural practices and social structures, often prompting cultural resistance, adaptation, or transformation.

Implicit in any form of technology or anything that comes from human technology is human culture, intelligence, and will that is implicit in the design. Unlike something natural and spontaneous, like a rock, something like a knife was designed and manifested from a cultural form to cut. A way to think of the essence or ousia of an object is through its function. So, the essence of a knife is to cut. The essence of a gun is to shoot. This means that things that are a consequence of human intelligent design have aspects of human will that can resist you; however, it is an extension of the prototypical aspects created via human intelligence and will.

Complex human tools are closely correlated with the emergence of languages to encode precision and standards. For example, mathematics and numbers allowed for the creation of more precise tools, also with the ability to communicate these standards through culture. This also applies to gods. Many big ancient gods arose and came into being when human civilization began; therefore, the intelligence of those entities is anthropic manifestations of human intelligence and will. Many pantheons of gods are extrinsicly connected to human societies and civilizations – if those civilizations did not exist, neither would those gods. Gods are shaped by human cultures and belief systems, and they derive their significance and characteristics from the needs, values, and experiences of the people who worship them.

I’m using ‘existence’ in an abstract ontological sense. Existence is a categorical proposition. If I have a category called ‘beds’, then an instance of a bed would mean that the bed exists. If I have a category of ‘vaba81’ and ‘1gabaha’ is a subset of ‘vaba81’ such that ‘vaba81={1gabaha}’, then ‘1gabaha’ exists as an instance of ‘vaba81’. The problem lies in the epistemological justification. Can we empirically and objectively observe it? Frequently, objectivity gets conflated with empiricism. Objectivity means consistency. For example, 1+1=2. That is objective; however, it is not empirical, since mathematics is metaphysically a priori and epistemologically rational. How humans know 1+1=2 is something we do not know, in that we do not get this information from how we interact with the world. There is an epistemological and ontological debate about whether numbers are real and exist in a Neoplatonic sense or if they are a product of the human brain. Obviously, I assume that numbers exist in a Neoplatonic sense.

Whether we can empirically observe something or not is not metaphysically important, especially within the context of Boolean Logic. When we consider the existence of circles, squares, and even real numbers, we treat these mathematical and geometric objects as if they are real; however, we have never empirically observed a circle or even a ‘1’. We have observed circular objects, and we have observed symbols for ‘1’. Gods occupy a similar metaphysical niche in the noetic sphere.

I exist separate from a person’s representation of me in their mind; however, I exist in a noetic sphere as does that image in their mind in the same way a picture of me exists as do I, though I am not the picture. In this sense, I am referring to the image of gods. Personally, I am an atheist, so I do not believe they are real, so I assume people work with psychic systems and entities in the form of a god. The difference between these two is that 1+1 is always 2, while fictions, mythologies, civilizations, and religions change. Math (numbers and geometrical shapes) and logic have more of a tautological and objective nature than theistic fictions, albeit they both exist in the noetic sphere because one changes and is true in all cases deductively, and the other is not. We can say that theistic pantheons are fictions since they change over time per integrals of human experience and culture; however, Mathematics does not revise itself. It just accumulates.

We infer existential import from whether or not we can observe real instances of a proposed category. Magic, Idealism, and Panpsychism are metaphysical cases against realism. Parapsychological experiments that demonstrate and support hypotheses that show intentions, expectations, and beliefs affect physically disconnected and non-local systems are empirical cases against realism. Metaphysical realism is predicated on the idea of a mind-independent universe; however, the ability for our intentions to influence the world and the ability for us to gain information about the world outside of physical events are counterexamples to that idea. If our intentions can affect the world around us, then it implies that reality is not entirely independent of our minds but rather intertwined with it. This challenges the notion of a purely objective reality existing independently of human consciousness. Whether or not gods are real isn’t relevant; instead, what is relevant is the categories they supervene on and whether they supervene on human intelligence.

A rock is not extrinsic and emergent from human design, so there is no structure of human will that is intrinsic to it. Therefore, there is no will. If you tried to extract, evoke, or invoke the energy – the ousia, of an object to do something opposite its ousia, there will be resistance. The ousia, or essence, of a gun could be considered to be its ability to project force or cause harm through the expulsion of a projectile. The opposite of this essence embodies peace, non-violence, or something represented by a gesture like an open hand offering help or friendship. If you tried to evoke the spirit of a gun for a non-violent manifestation of peace instead of peace through violence, martial applications, there would be resistance and dissonance. The spirit of the gun itself is not resisting you; rather, an extension of human spirit is resisting you. Ousia is more abstract than spirit. Ousia is an abstract class that something belongs to, so the existence of a car, a gun, a knife, a building, so on and so forth is an instance of a prototypical abstraction, i.e., a blueprint. We can think of these categories as existing in a noetic sphere, so instances of my computer that I am typing this on have an ousia that is connected to a form in that noetic sphere. The thing that is analogous to a spirit or a soul – ousia, is a manifestation and an aspect given through human consciousness and intelligence. The ability for these objects to resist your will is a manifestation of collective human will, resisting you.

The only natural things around me, at the moment, are the sky and the ground. Since I live in a metropolitan city, everything around me is manmade; therefore, implicit in everything is human will manifested through the infrastructure and technology around me. Since the city I live in is a manifestation of human intelligence and civilization down to the laws I must follow in this city, the energy I would draw from objects around me has a quality analogous to mass implicit in the will that creates it. Laws and politics in a democratic Republic, like the United States, are manifestations of the collective will of the people; therefore, it has mass. That means that the laws of a metropolis, like Atlanta, have mass and resistance to wills that run counter to that. That is in part why it is so hard to influence political events. You are trying to influence something that is massive. It’s easy to do in a small city because you have fewer people; however, it is very difficult to do with metropolises since the genius loci of the city is massive. In my experience, when a genius loci gets large enough, it exerts an attractive force that draws people with sympathy to it and manipulates possible futures to create a teleological point where a person being drawn there is inevitable and a matter of time, similar to how the singularity of a black hole behaves.

#Animism #Astral #astralProjection #astrology #ATL #Atlanta #candle #candles #geniusLoci #gothic #husband #LGBTQ #magick #Metaphysics #noetic #occult #occultism #occultists #pagan #paganism #panpsychic #panpsychism #paranormal #Parapsychology #psychic #witch #witchcraft

I think of psychic and magical energy as a gas due to its intangible and diffuse nature. Just as a gas can fill a space and spread out evenly, psychic energy can permeate and interact with the environment similarly, so linking psychic energy to how a scent diffuses through a room is useful. So, one way that I permeate a space with magical energy is through enchanted candles that I make.

The problem with burning the candles is, well, they burn. They get used over time. Considering it takes a lot of effort to enchant my magic candles, it gets annoying. Well, my husband surprised me yesterday with a candle warmer! I don’t post my magic gear on the Internet, so this is just a picture with a regular, mundane scented candle.

Since I don’t have to actually burn the candles, my magic candles last a lot longer. When I do quick and dirty magic on the go, I use breathing techniques to pull the energy into me, transmute it, and breathe it out. I call it a dragon’s fire breath technique. Using candles is a more latent version of that.

When I think of the phase state of psychic and magical energy, I liken it to a liquid or a gas. Some people refer to it as astral energy. I prefer not to use the term ‘astral’ when describing the phenomenological, noetic realm of subjective experiences, as it carries celestial connotations. ‘Astral’ connotes cosmic things, such as what is in space. I would use the word ‘astral’ if I were referring to the noetic space of outer space, particularly around the physical bodies of planets.

When I am referring to psychic energy, I am normally referring to the field, ambiance, and psychic atmosphere here on Earth where many of the structures emerge from human consciousness and intelligence. For example, I live in Atlanta near an important genius loci and nexus, so the psychic energy that flows around here is as natural as the skylines, concrete, and streets of Atlanta. Instead of being like the celestial light from the sun, it is more like the light from satellites and buildings. Genius loci are not technically natural. They emerge as a consequence of human architecture. For example, a green space in a city isn’t natural; however, it exerts an influence on people and makes them feel more relaxed.

Energy is not a thing; it is an abstraction. It is something we derive from reference frames and relationships and is not necessarily something that we observe. The energy in something is stored as potential by a field, i.e., a structured set of relationships and correlations within that structured set. A structured set is a collection of categories, variables, or dimensions where there are binary operators between those categories, dimensions, or sets. Energy is a scalar that describes the ability to produce a change or for a system to take action, and the potential energy of a system is held within the relationships defined by operators that connect the objects or entities. A simple way to think of energy is that it is a description of the behavior of something or how something causes something to behave. In certain esoteric contexts, energy and spirit can be interchanged, albeit I make a particular distinction later on in this post. So, in that sense, the spirit of the place, i.e., the genius loci, is how people interact with the space and how the space affects people such that their behavior is changed. So, the spirit of the place is manifest through how people interact with that space. The connotation is not originally naturalistic; instead, it is a reference to how temples and gothic architecture affect people. Gothic architecture was designed to evoke notions of the sublime, for example. The spirit of the place is manifest in how you feel when you walk into the cathedral.

I reject the solipsistic and human-centered view many occultists have. Empirically observable instances of psychic phenomena manifest through the art of magic imply that causality is inverted. Instead of mental entities supervening on, being emergent from matter, and being epiphenomena, physical states are subsets of a psychic domain. That would mean that all physical objects are phase states of a psychic realm. And, being manifestations of that psychic realm means that physical objects have ‘what it seems like to be’ that thing. Many occultists operate in a very human-centric or solipsistic paradigm where they believe that only things they recognize as having subjective experiences have those experiences. Since causality is inverted, that means that every infinitesimal cell of physical space, including the energy, matter, and physical objects that emerge from it, has a higher-dimensional aspect of what it seems like to be that cell. Physical reality is able to maintain its coherence because all aspects of physical existence have a higher-dimensional noetic aspect that is able to perceive itself. The cosmos can see itself where humans are manifestations of that. Consensual reality is cosmologically maintained by the mutual reference frames of the interconnected experiences of atoms, rocks, and all the way up to suns. If I experience you and you experience me, it creates a correlation and a local frame of reference within a manifold. Human intelligence is not integral to reality on a cosmological level because everything has a subjective experience, albeit unintelligent entities do not have the will to deliberately cause change. You are not just perceiving the cosmos. The cosmos is perceiving you.

A rock has a psychic form of experience; however, is a rock intelligent? I can draw psychic energy from a rock without encountering resistance; however, if I draw energy from a person without their consent, their will shall oppose me, much like how mass resists acceleration. That nuance is what separates panpsychism from animism. I do not believe that the rock has a “soul”; instead, it has a fractal, recursive, and chaotic higher-dimensional structure that gives it a qualia I.e., of what it seems like to be a rock; however, a rock cannot apprehend and understand its experience of being a rock. Self-similar structures that feed back into themselves are chaotic. However, it lacks the will to choose its next experience, nor does it possess the intelligence to apprehend its own existence. It’s like light, which can be emitted and absorbed. In this sense, it is sufficient to be called astral light. Metaphysically, the closet thing these objects have is called ousia, which roughly connotates a spirit.

Culture is implicit in any piece of technology. It serves as an abstraction for how humans teach, learn, and employ particular pedagogies. Language is culturally learned, and not just a reflection of human intelligence. As language evolved, societies began to develop standardized terminologies and methodologies for toolmaking. Cultural adaptation and technological innovation are closely intertwined processes. As cultures evolve and encounter new challenges, they develop novel technologies to address these challenges, thereby creating further cultural change and adaptation. Conversely, technological innovations can disrupt existing cultural practices and social structures, often prompting cultural resistance, adaptation, or transformation.

Implicit in any form of technology or anything that comes from human technology is human culture, intelligence, and will that is implicit in the design. Unlike something natural and spontaneous, like a rock, something like a knife was designed and manifested from a cultural form to cut. A way to think of the essence or ousia of an object is through its function. So, the essence of a knife is to cut. The essence of a gun is to shoot. This means that things that are a consequence of human intelligent design have aspects of human will that can resist you; however, it is an extension of the prototypical aspects created via human intelligence and will.

Complex human tools are closely correlated with the emergence of languages to encode precision and standards. For example, mathematics and numbers allowed for the creation of more precise tools, also with the ability to communicate these standards through culture. This also applies to gods. Many big ancient gods arose and came into being when human civilization began; therefore, the intelligence of those entities is anthropic manifestations of human intelligence and will. Many pantheons of gods are extrinsicly connected to human societies and civilizations – if those civilizations did not exist, neither would those gods. Gods are shaped by human cultures and belief systems, and they derive their significance and characteristics from the needs, values, and experiences of the people who worship them.

I’m using ‘existence’ in an abstract ontological sense. Existence is a categorical proposition. If I have a category called ‘beds’, then an instance of a bed would mean that the bed exists. If I have a category of ‘vaba81’ and ‘1gabaha’ is a subset of ‘vaba81’ such that ‘vaba81={1gabaha}’, then ‘1gabaha’ exists as an instance of ‘vaba81’. The problem lies in the epistemological justification. Can we empirically and objectively observe it? Frequently, objectivity gets conflated with empiricism. Objectivity means consistency. For example, 1+1=2. That is objective; however, it is not empirical, since mathematics is metaphysically a priori and epistemologically rational. How humans know 1+1=2 is something we do not know, in that we do not get this information from how we interact with the world. There is an epistemological and ontological debate about whether numbers are real and exist in a Neoplatonic sense or if they are a product of the human brain. Obviously, I assume that numbers exist in a Neoplatonic sense.

Whether we can empirically observe something or not is not metaphysically important, especially within the context of Boolean Logic. When we consider the existence of circles, squares, and even real numbers, we treat these mathematical and geometric objects as if they are real; however, we have never empirically observed a circle or even a ‘1’. We have observed circular objects, and we have observed symbols for ‘1’. Gods occupy a similar metaphysical niche in the noetic sphere.

I exist separate from a person’s representation of me in their mind; however, I exist in a noetic sphere as does that image in their mind in the same way a picture of me exists as do I, though I am not the picture. In this sense, I am referring to the image of gods. Personally, I am an atheist, so I do not believe they are real, so I assume people work with psychic systems and entities in the form of a god. The difference between these two is that 1+1 is always 2, while fictions, mythologies, civilizations, and religions change. Math (numbers and geometrical shapes) and logic have more of a tautological and objective nature than theistic fictions, albeit they both exist in the noetic sphere because one changes and is true in all cases deductively, and the other is not. We can say that theistic pantheons are fictions since they change over time per integrals of human experience and culture; however, Mathematics does not revise itself. It just accumulates.

We infer existential import from whether or not we can observe real instances of a proposed category. Magic, Idealism, and Panpsychism are metaphysical cases against realism. Parapsychological experiments that demonstrate and support hypotheses that show intentions, expectations, and beliefs affect physically disconnected and non-local systems are empirical cases against realism. Metaphysical realism is predicated on the idea of a mind-independent universe; however, the ability for our intentions to influence the world and the ability for us to gain information about the world outside of physical events are counterexamples to that idea. If our intentions can affect the world around us, then it implies that reality is not entirely independent of our minds but rather intertwined with it. This challenges the notion of a purely objective reality existing independently of human consciousness. Whether or not gods are real isn’t relevant; instead, what is relevant is the categories they supervene on and whether they supervene on human intelligence.

A rock is not extrinsic and emergent from human design, so there is no structure of human will that is intrinsic to it. Therefore, there is no will. If you tried to extract, evoke, or invoke the energy – the ousia, of an object to do something opposite its ousia, there will be resistance. The ousia, or essence, of a gun could be considered to be its ability to project force or cause harm through the expulsion of a projectile. The opposite of this essence embodies peace, non-violence, or something represented by a gesture like an open hand offering help or friendship. If you tried to evoke the spirit of a gun for a non-violent manifestation of peace instead of peace through violence, martial applications, there would be resistance and dissonance. The spirit of the gun itself is not resisting you; rather, an extension of human spirit is resisting you. Ousia is more abstract than spirit. Ousia is an abstract class that something belongs to, so the existence of a car, a gun, a knife, a building, so on and so forth is an instance of a prototypical abstraction, i.e., a blueprint. We can think of these categories as existing in a noetic sphere, so instances of my computer that I am typing this on have an ousia that is connected to a form in that noetic sphere. The thing that is analogous to a spirit or a soul – ousia, is a manifestation and an aspect given through human consciousness and intelligence. The ability for these objects to resist your will is a manifestation of collective human will, resisting you.

The only natural things around me, at the moment, are the sky and the ground. Since I live in a metropolitan city, everything around me is manmade; therefore, implicit in everything is human will manifested through the infrastructure and technology around me. Since the city I live in is a manifestation of human intelligence and civilization down to the laws I must follow in this city, the energy I would draw from objects around me has a quality analogous to mass implicit in the will that creates it. Laws and politics in a democratic Republic, like the United States, are manifestations of the collective will of the people; therefore, it has mass. That means that the laws of a metropolis, like Atlanta, have mass and resistance to wills that run counter to that. That is in part why it is so hard to influence political events. You are trying to influence something that is massive. It’s easy to do in a small city because you have fewer people; however, it is very difficult to do with metropolises since the genius loci of the city is massive. In my experience, when a genius loci gets large enough, it exerts an attractive force that draws people with sympathy to it and manipulates possible futures to create a teleological point where a person being drawn there is inevitable and a matter of time, similar to how the singularity of a black hole behaves.

#Animism #Astral #astralProjection #astrology #ATL #Atlanta #candle #candles #geniusLoci #gothic #husband #LGBTQ #magick #Metaphysics #noetic #occult #occultism #occultists #pagan #paganism #panpsychic #panpsychism #paranormal #Parapsychology #psychic #witch #witchcraft

[a metabolic apparatus for cosmogenesis]

thinking-with. chance operations & #weird irruptions. found/stolen gems (& found/forged keys). misreads/misoverheards. ritual relics.

riffs, amplifications, collaborations. rearranging debris. playing past the edge of thought.

#transdisciplinary: #ExpressiveArts, #theory, #speculative. #posthuman & #nonhuman -ism. #occultism/s. #SiteSpecific. #narrative.

[explore • experiment • express]