#techno magic

[panthera-dei]

Technomancy 101

Hi, friends! I'm back with another witchy FAQ from the past couple weeks. This time from the world of tech magic!

Here are some quick TL;DR technomancy tips for those who may not want to read the long FAQs post beneath the cut:

1. Chest spells (like a jar spell but with a chest filled with in game items that match the intent)

2. Poppet spells using the game characters by giving them items or altering their names/appearances

3. Similar to a chest spell but not necessarily magic per se - using chests or sheds with in-game items as altars and/or offerings

4. Build a shrine / altar / temple with offerings, or leave an item such as a torch in the game world as an offering

5. Burn/bury/destroy ingredients to activate a spell with the desired effect

6. Write an affirmation or a spell on a sign or other in-game item and destroy it to activate as a sigil

7. Build a golem or animal pen or something as a servitor for protection

8. Use some form of sympathetic magic connecting in-game items to IRL items

9. Light sticks, flashlights, plastic lightsabers, and toy sonic screwdrivers make *awesome* wands, especially if they light up and make noise.

10. The possibilities are limited to your imagination!!

(I am choosing Wittgenstein from The Brave Little Toaster movies as my mascot for tech magic, simply because I like him and because I can. Image credit - Fandom Wiki.)

What is technomancy?: Technomancy, techno magic, and tech magic are all terms for a form of magic that utilizes common modern technology, such as smartphones and video games. Technically, “technomancy” could refer specifically to divination with technology; however, in my experience, the term usually has a broader meaning in common usage. I personally tend to use these terms interchangeably, with perhaps a slight preference for technomancy, since I learned that name first.

What are some forms of technomancy?: Common forms of technomancy include digital sigils, emoji spells, shufflemancy, video game spells, and video game altars.

How do I create a digital sigil?: The ways are about as unlimited as creating a physical sigil on paper. You can use a drawing app on a smartphone or tablet, find a digital sigil generator online, use a photo editor on a picture, or even add a string of charged letters to an email signature (just make sure they blend in!).

OK, and what's the deal with emoji spells?: Yes, this is an actual thing (though not a thing that I'm particularly experienced with). They're pretty straightforward. They can be done like a sigil - string emojis together and charge them. Or like an actual spell - put them together and send to cast, or like to charge and send/reblog to cast.

What kind of games can you use for technomancy?: Any of them. Minecraft is a very popular one. So is Stardew Valley. Skyrim and other RPGs are other common choices. As with other forms of magic, the only real limit is your imagination.

What kind of spells can you cast in a game?:

Chest spells - like digital jar spells - are very common.

Poppet spells are another common choice. In games that allow you to create a character, or in games where you can give items to an NPC, you can turn the character into a poppet of someone and give them an item to cast the spell. For example, if I wanted emotional strength, I could create a Skyrim character as a poppet for myself, and have the character drink a strength potion to cast a spell of strength for myself in the real world.

Burying or burning items in games like Minecraft can be done to cast spells that are similar to physical spells that require burning a paper, bay leaf, or other ingredient.

Enchanting! Use the enchanting function in a video game like Skyrim or Minecraft to enchant a physical object. For example, you might choose to connect a physical scarf to a shield in Skyrim, and when you enchant the in-game shield with a damage resistance effect, voila! You now have a fancy enchanted scarf to protect yourself from spiritual attacks.

Customize your avatar to your advantage! In games such as Sky: Children Of The Light, where you can accessorize your character, you can equip different items to cast a different spell on yourself. For example, you might use the Saluting Captain's staff as a cosmetic to cast a spell of protection on yourself, or you could use a particular cape as a spiritual veil.

For deity work & spirit work, consider creating a space in your game (e.g. a chest, shed, home, biome, character, etc.) dedicated to the entities you work with. For example, temples and altars in Minecraft are common. Devotional sheds and chests are popular in Stardew Valley. I’ve named some appropriate Pokemon after an entity or dedicated the critter to them. You can even place a torch or candle in the game world as an offering.

There are lots more out there, too! This list is a starting point, not a limitation. Use your imagination and swap ideas with others, too!

How exactly does all of this work?? How is it possible?!: OK, so the principle behind tech magic is that you're harnessing the energy of multiple sources.

First, the device itself (and if you're using something like a Switch, the cartridge or other physical media). Each of these items has its own materials - electricity, glass and metal, etc. And each of those materials has a magical property that you can use... Glass and metal come from the Earth and have their own correspondences, while electricity is pure energy in itself.

Second, you have the energy of symbolism, or as I like to think of it with a butchered sociology term, symbolic interactionism - i.e., the idea that we create our own reality (or our *perception* of reality) via symbols. In other words, the power of correspondences! A candle is still a candle whether it's physical or digital. Lapis lazuli has the same qualities in this world that it does in a pixelated version. And so forth. So when you use the correspondences in digital spell work, provided that you raise the energy, it can and does have real world consequences. Similar to doing magic in the astral as opposed to the physical world... you are making a conscious decision to connect a digital item to an effect either in the astral and/or physical worlds.

Finally, you're also harnessing the power of belief and the energy of attention, which is where the chaos magic concepts start to come in. The digital worlds are real because you believe they are and you pour parts of your energy and personality into them - and so do *millions* of other people, in many cases. All of that energy is sort of like a reservoir in these games and it's just waiting to be harvested for spell work!

So… This is another subset of chaos magic, then.: Pretty much, yes. I haven't seen it categorized as anything else yet, except for in those cases where technomancy is given its own category.

And what did you mean by “energy of symbolism” again?: Correspondences. Both traditional ones and your own. For example, obsidian corresponds with protection IRL. So if you were making a chest spell in Minecraft for protection, you'd want to consider adding an obsidian block to your spell. Some of this is also stuff that you can brainstorm on your own and explore! Like for example, in the Elder Scrolls series, there are several plants and items that don't exist IRL, such as the corkbulb root - but in the game, that item can be used to make a potion of healing, so for me, it has a healing correspondence. Also, if the game you’re playing has spells already, you can consider how to adapt those spells to affect the real world in a logical, realistic way! Many pop culture magicians have done a great job of turning Pokemon moves into real spells, for example. So feel free to play around (pun intended) and see what works best for you!

How come you only mentioned shufflemancy once in this whole entire post??: That, my friend, needs to be a post for a later date. I assure you, I absolutely can (and probably already have, and probably eventually will) write an entire post about shufflemancy.

How come your formatting is crap?: Because I wrote all of this on a smartphone and pieced it into a post with the mobile app. Bear with me. XD

Where do I learn more and fact check you, smarty-pants?: Tumblr. The answer is usually Tumblr for this kind of thing. Or sometimes Discord. Like pop culture magic, techno magic is simply very new. Some tags to search include tech magic, techno magic, technomancy, video game magic, etc.

[windvexer]

what spells would you recommend for trying to grow a discord server?

Feed the server and make it fat and happy. It will begin to expand on its own, like an eldritch monster unfurling its tentacles.

To feed a Discord server so it grows fat and happy and expands like an eldritch monster:

I have for you two methods. The first is feeding an effigy, and the second is direct energy work.

Create an effigy of your Discord server, and feed it physical offerings:

Create an effigy. Here are some ideas.

a dollie or a poppet, your idealization of what creature the server might look like if it were a guy, marked with the server ID as a taglock

a sachet or container filled with server taglocks (name, ID, date of birth, printed "About Server" content, etc)

a sigil based on the name and purpose of the server

Create and awaken the effigy in your usual manner. Then, keep it in a nice location and often feed it physical offerings. This may include food, beverages, luxury gifts like liquor and tobacco, candles, and incense.

Feed it as often as you like, even daily. When you feed it, make it clear that it should be going out to find new members and bring them in. Encourage it to soothe potential members so they are willing to go through any membership validation processes, and any other instructions you think are helpful.

Directly energize the server:

In a trance state, seek out the energetic core of the discord server and directly feed it energy. This is not the same thing as energizing the physical device which you are using to view the server.

Try using an energy working technique similar to "grounding roots," except instead of growing roots into the earth, you are growing tendrils into the internet.

It can help to focus on an admin-only sigil channel (described below), and you can also energetically feed an effigy (described above).

A candle spell may work well for a temporary boost to membership.

A candle spell to get people to join your Discord server:

Energize a candle of any color. Here are ideas of energies to capitalize on:

Mercurial, mercury

Drawing in, creating

Visualizations of members joining

Air

On or around the candle holder, in whatever fire-safe manner you prefer, encircle the candle in honey or sugar (to sweeten; make pleasant), and include allspice berries or ground allspice (chatter, movement, exchange).

Enchant and seal the candle in your preferred method.

The candle flame may provide a helpful omen.

Before modern architecture where frames supported a building, buildings used to rest on the weight of their walls. This necessitated hugely fortified walls to support the structure.

Likewise, a server that grows too rapidly may not have the necessary framework available to support it, and collapse under its own weight.

Be preemptive and build large walls around your server, to provide necessary support while inner frameworks are developed and expanded.

To work a protection on a server, a blog, or any online space:

Prepare a jar spell using:

an opaque black stone (obsidian, jet, and tourmaline work well for you rock collectors; also, river rocks and landscaping rocks painted black; lava rocks, or found stones very dark in color), [an impregnable wall]

a tangle of knotted thread (any color), [to 'trip up' unwanted things]

an iron nail [a knight with sword and shield standing guard]

To this, add two things:

a paper with the server ID number (or, URL of the web group)

a sigil for the purpose of protection

Enchant the jar in your usual manner. Then:

in an admin-only hidden channel of the server, include a photograph of the spell jar and upload a photograph of the sigil for the purpose of protection.

This entire operation is elevated if the ward is tied to a ruleset members must agree to on joining.

[a-not-so-beginner-witch]

gamer witch tip of the day?

hey figured i'd share this

you something that made me fell cozy in a worship the gods kinda way?

Assassin's Creed

Hear me out:

The later games on the franchise were Ancient greek, Egypt during Cleopatra's reign and England tenth century aka Viking invasion.

These later games had heavy reference to the gods, but most importantly: they had the temple recontructions of them

So in the egyptian one (Assassin's creed: Origins) we have the Temple of Karnak, Luxor, Thebes, Abu Simbel, Alexandria and a whole lot of other temples and tombs that have been recreated with some artistic liberties of course. (And with DLC curse of the pharaos you can get a glimpse of the Other World of some Pharaos its really neat)

In the greek one (Assassin's creed: Odyssey) you have an INSANE big map on greeces continental part like athenes, sparta with big temples like Pathernon and Delphos, and lots of islands such as Mykonos, lesbos, andros etc

These two games especifically have a tour mode where you can go everywhere and climb everywhere without guards or enemies. I dont think that the Viking one has such mode, so be careful while exploring.

The viking era one will be more focused on the seasonal festivals that happen in camp, and the mystical/astral travels to the other realms, Jotunnheim, Asgard etc. while also giving an idea of the culture back then and seeing whats left of the roman empire.

I'm not someone who is really into technomagic but seeing these places "alive" even if it's in a game, brings this fondness, yearning, and connection that i didn't know before.

So if you have the money to spend, id say to give it a look (btw ubisoft has a subscription that may be cheaper than buying a whole game that you might not really want to play)

[bewitchingblogger]

The Blogger Witch Tools of the Craft

Everyone knows the traditional tools of the Craft, but a little known fact is that there is a whole range of different ways to see these tools. In this post, I am going to list the traditional tools and then describe my personal thoughts on how a witchy blogger might modify them. I am also going to do individual posts on each of the tools listed here for a more in depth look at how they can be used.

List of Witchcraft Tools:

- Altar: For a witchy blogger, this could be the device you work on or the blog itself.

- Athame: Consider using your copy and paste of links to your blog to spread awareness. This directs energy towards your blog and can also be used direct other elements in a blogomantic ritual towards a greater purpose. (Yes I’m reaching since I don’t use an athame in any regard).

- Book of Spells: Every witch has some way of recording spells and rituals. For a witchy blogger, this could be a separate and private blog for your eyes alone.

- Candles: Images of candles are pretty simple, but the animated ones can also be used. Alternatively, if you want to create a writer’s ambiance, using LED candles like tea lights are a great idea.

- Cauldron: Audio, images and video are the water and flavor of the internet in my opinion. Mixing these into collages or even just creating and sharing playlists on your blog would count as using a cauldron.

- Crystals: Images of crystals can be put into a post on a blog and create a form of crystal grid.

- Divination Tools: ok here is where it gets fun. I have personally used a poetry community here on Tumblr to perform a version of bibliomancy and poetic prophecy. That being said, there are other ways to do it. Let’s say you find a tarot reader’s blog that you like and they do a daily pull. Instead of reading what they write for what it means, apply what it means to you as a form of blog post and meditation.

- Wand: Your keyboard, your mouse and your hands are what help direct the magic, so in essence they are your wand.

I know I didn’t go into each traditional tool that has ever been. I only went into ones that I personally have either used or have considered using. I’ll likely expand this in a later post, but for now, this is it. Tell me what you think.

[aesethewitch]

Poll for folks to who do and/or request shufflemancy readings, since I'm doing a Shufflemancy Theory Test and I'm curious. No option for "I don't do shufflemancy/see results" because I don't want to skew the poll too far!! Please don't click "other" if you don't do/haven't done shufflemancy! (Folks who request shufflemancy readings but don't do readings themselves are 100% encouraged to answer!)

Reblogs appreciated for reach, even if you don't do shufflemancy yourself!

[red-thread-and-constellations]

My favorite devotional song as of late...

[lightbulbsubliminals]

Guyssssss.

[norsecraft]

I’ve used this idea to create a digital altar to Odin in my main survival world! I’ve been playing on this world for years, so I’ve amassed enough resources and wealth to do it all in survival, which felt nice, to know I’ve dedicated some time to making this.

I chose a lone snowy peak just east of my spawn base for my building site. There was a cooler looking mountain range closer but it didn’t have much room for a structure of any size.

I use the Minecraft Norse Mythology texture pack, which added some nice textural elements like knotwork and runes to the blocks. I was also able to use a Futhark Unicode keyboard to make a nice dedicatory sign (and yes, my primary weapon of choice is a maxxed-out trident I’ve named “Gungnir”).

I chose materials and colors that I felt had a connection to Odin, or that would convey a sense of respect (for their rarity/value)—so things like warm wood tones, chiseled quartz, gold & lapis blocks, and stained glass windows. The central piece is a statue of Odin himself, with his two ravens (the texture pack recolors one of the parrot varieties into a raven). Blue candles and potted flowers, bookshelves and lecterns, and blue raven banners finish off the space.

Minecraft + Magic

I’ve been playing a lot of Minecraft recently and it’s really got me thinking on/about it being used as a sort of like an altar/e-shrine that one could use if they were still a hidden witch or even a beginner witch. When playing I know that most players enjoy building a home so I figured why not build a home with rooms of worship inside it? Each room would then be dedicated to a god/dess and then i would go out into the world looking for the devotional items or things that would symbolize that god/dess.  Inside the game there are many potential representations Torches - Candles Lava - Fire Element Rivers/Lakes/Waterfalls/Oceans - Water Element Dirt - Earth Element Feathers - Wind Element YOU CAN MAKE AN ENCHANTING TABLE WITH A FLOATING SPELL BOOK. YOU CAN BREW POTIONS TOO!

There’s so much potential for Magical workings in this game. Seriously guys go check it out or try it for yourselves~

I’ll try to take pictures of my house to show you what i mean, hopefully it’ll work… Anyways talk to me about it! What are your thoughts?

[fivemetersofawesome]

Once again I’ve done work for voices for the blade. This year’s prompter was @spookycherrycake!

I had a huge blast drawing this one lol, magical girls are my thing so I jumped at the prompt. Hope you enjoy! As for other works for this year, they can all be found here.

[panthera-dei]

OK, folks, I did a thing: I created a pop culture witchcraft community here on the Tumblr!

Do I know what I'm doing? Absolutely not! But do I know a little about magic? Yes, I do! So if hanging out with some like-minded magically-inclined folks strikes your fancy, feel free to reach out for an invite!

And here is Ye Olde Official Tagline for the community so far:

A community for folks who are interested in pop culture magic, chaos magic, technomancy, and other "modern" forms of witchcraft & paganism. EVERYONE is welcome!

[wikinley]

Does a USB drive get heavier as you store more files on it?

Nope. Paradoxically (and theoretically), the more you save on a flash drive, the lighter it gets.

USB drives use Flash memory, which means the the ones and zeros of the data are stored on transistors.

When you save data, a binary zero is set by charging the float gate of the transistor, and a binary one is set by removing the charge.

To charge it, we add electrons, and the mass of each electron is 0.00000000000000000000000000091 grams.

This means that an empty USB drive (which mostly holds zeros) weighs more than a full USB drive (which has ones and zeros). Add data, reduce the weight.

[squidflavoredsoup]

my ver startrix

+ techno troll dj pon3 AND my little brozone

[teamiris]

I'm still having troubles at understanding what my type is

[aesethewitch]

Shufflemancy Testing: 50 Song Playlist Summary

Shufflemancy theory testing is underway. I did a lot of thinking on how I wanted to do this, and it came down to the information I was trying to glean in the end.

My Method

My primary concerns with shufflemancy (and, indeed, other forms of divination using digital tools) are: 1) The interference of algorithms in the shuffle process; and 2) The lack of variety and length in a given playlist.

To address both concerns at once, I came up with the idea of creating several playlists of increasing length. Each playlist contains all songs from the one preceding it, plus an entirely new selection of songs sourced from my many, many playlists and from others' massive playlists at random. They are 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1,000 songs, respectively.

I'm skipping the same number of songs each day (hitting play in the list to start it in Spotify, then skipping 3 songs) while asking the same question at the same time ("What should I expect today?")

Ideally, I would do this every day. But... well, ADHD strikes, and I missed a couple days. Even so, I decided at the start to dedicate a full week to the process, and so I've stuck to seven days to test each playlist.

It's worth noting that I have little to no shufflemancy experience prior to this. I'm aware that my lack of skill and expertise may affect the quality of my divinations with this, so I plan on returning to the 50 and 100 song playlists after the 1,000 song playlist just to be certain my skill level isn't playing into the output.

Once I've completed the circuit and have a baseline using these criteria, it's time to... do it all again, kinda. But with a change! I eventually want to answer the following questions:

Are songs more accurate first thing when I start my day, or are they better done the night before?

Does the number of songs make a significant difference? Does seven skips yield a better or worse result than three? What about five, or ten?

Is a longer-winded dissection of the song's themes, background, and artist more or less accurate than a basic impression? Or, on the other hand, does a bare bones, keyword-based description work best?

Does the information I'm taking down matter? Are the tempo, tone, and length relevant somehow? Or does the title, lyrics that "pop out" at me, and overall themes of the song do the job?

To answer these questions, I'll choose whichever playlist ends up being the most accurate and make individual variations to be tested over a seven-day period.

As I've mentioned before, I'm using Spotify for this test. But once I feel I've done all I can there... I'm swapping platforms. That's right, I'm not just testing shufflemancy itself, I'm testing to see which platform is really best for it!

This whole process is going to take a long while. I plan on updating with full details for Ko-Fi supporters fairly regularly, with a breakdown of songs I shuffled to and my notes during and the day after. Folks on Tumblr will see a basic list of songs and ratings for how accurate it was to the day in question.

With all that said, I've done seven full days with the 50 song playlist. How did it go, you ask?

50 Song Playlist Breakdown

Day One

Question: What should I expect today? Shuffles: 3 Times Song: "What It Takes" Artist: Aerosmith Rating: 3/10

Day Two

Question: What should I expect today? Shuffles: 3 Times Song: "I'm So Tired" Artist: Fugazi Rating: 1/10

Day Three

Question: What should I expect today? Shuffles: 3 Times Song: "Professional Griefers" Artist: deadmau5, Gerard Way Rating: 3/10

Day Four

Question: What should I expect today? Shuffles: 3 Times Song: "I Wanna Be Your Man" Artist: Willy Moon Rating: 6/10

Day Five

Question: What should I expect today? Shuffles: 3 Times Song: "Megalovania" Artist: Toby Fox Rating: (a generous) 5/10

Day Six

Question: What should I expect today? Shuffles: 3 Times Song: "Halloweenie IV: Innards" Artist: Ashnikko Rating: 7/10

Day Seven

Question: What should I expect today? Shuffles: 3 Times Song: "Fancy" Artist: Iggy Azalea Rating: 0/10

Average Rating: 3.7/10

To see a full breakdown of each day, including lyrics that stood out, my immediate takeaways, and post-reading dissections, visit my Ko-Fi page! The full article is exclusive for supporters -- as little as $1 gets you access to my full backlog.

[wyauwu]

me seeing people lament about how kirby doesn't meet an incarnation of void to make friends with, and how it's a missed opportunity. bro.

[duckwithadream]

MLP x DSMP designs