Servitor Swarm Synergy

This article originally appeared in Konton Magazine, Vernal Equinox 2006, issue 3.1.

Of late I have been studying the phenomenon of distributed processing of function over networks, and the emergence of a superorganism which can result from the collective efforts of numerous components which are themselves quite simplistic.  In biological systems, such as ant colonies, a hive mind emerges which coordinates the efforts of all its parts in a non-hierarchical yet efficient way.  It is this effect which has inspired engineers to create swarming machines.

I began to contemplate whether or not a similar effect would occur if an interconnected swarm of servitors were created which were not individually invested with a great deal of intent, and were collectively charged with a broad statement of purpose

The result was that I decided to create a cluster of 12 identical servitors, which I refer to as nodes, each charged with the task of gathering information that would be of interest or benefit to me, and funneling such information back to me by any convenient or available communication channel.

Collectively, the construct is designated as “Nexus 0xC”, roughly meaning “the connected 12.”  I chose Hexadecimal, or base 16 to represent the numeric portion of the name in order to avoid the commonality of the everyday decimal numbering system.  The individual component servitors are identically created from the same visualized seed which divides instantaneously into 12 equal parts.  Upon the creation of the 12, each is intended to be self-aware, but is not yet connected to the others. 

The symbol of the ultimate manifestation of Nexus 0xC is a dodecagon with an empty circle at each vertex.  Each vertex is connected to every other in order to symbolize the network which exists between these servitors.  In the center of the network is another empty circle which represents me.  Twelve identical tokens were also created to represent the nodes of the nexus, and to be the foci for the individual servitors.  By design, these tokens are indistinguishable from one another, to emphasize the uniformity of the members of the swarm.

These tokens were deployed in various locations around the city to symbolize the wide scope of this information gathering system.  As this was done, the servitors were visualized to emerge from the tokens as coherent, invisible wave forms, and to begin gathering information.  This was to be stored until all nodes had been distributed and connected.

The physical components of this operation are accompanied by a corresponding set of visualized counterparts.  The virtual seed form of the cluster was visualized as liquid silver-white light coalescing from the void, accumulating into a mirrored, mercury-like sphere.  Just as a larger glob of mercury accumulates smaller amounts into itself, increasing the volume of the sphere, the seed was allowed to develop in imaginal space.  As each of the node servitors was released from its token, a portion of this energy was visualized to detach and emerge as the wave form of the servitor.

After the final token was distributed, the act of connecting them into the nexus was performed.  The original dodecagon symbol was used as the focus for this operation.  While focusing on the symbol, a state of excitatory gnosis was entered via a combination of sensory overload, mind-altering substances, and orgasm.  At the moment immediately prior to white-out, I visualized a projection as emerging from the symbol as silver-white light, and spreading out to connect the individual nodes.  At this moment, all of the nodes became joined through the myriad pathways into Nexus 0xC.

When I meditate and focus my thought on the Nexus symbol, I visualize myself as being within the center hub of the network.  If the swarm of node servitors has any information to relay to me, they can then do so through the pathways.  I have only recently completed this operation, so I cannot yet report any demonstrable results.

The possibility of a hyper-implementation of this network has also occurred to me, either as a group working, or in further iterations on my own.  Additional clusters could be created, and then linked to the original in order to attain an even wider sensory array.

Vargr

February 16, 2006

Magical Mechanics: Spooky Action at a Distance

As I have been going through some materials preparing for an expanded and revised edition of Quantum Sorcery, I found this, which was intended to be my talk for the International Left Hand Path Consortium 2016 in Atlanta Ga. Unfortunately due to a catastrophic injury, I was unable to attend. Here is the text of the talk:


Magical Mechanics: Spooky Action at a Distance

This presentation examines the relationship and parallels between the magical principles of Similarity and Contagion, and the scientific principles of Entanglement and Entrainment within a non-theistic system of sorcery. Methods of categorizing and overcoming barriers to achieving a mind state conducive to magical practice will also be discussed.

Magic is the name most commonly applied to the faculty of causing change in the phenomenal world via the exertion of will. The vast majority of ostensibly rational people in the western world hold that magic isn’t real. Some of us refute their assertion, and believe that magic is real, that it works, and that we can do it. We disagree on the mechanism, origin, and nature of this phenomenon, but on some level, we believe in it.

Belief is a loaded word in Chaos Magic. We use it as a tool, but try not to collapse into it. We believe that we make our own reality, and that belief is the kernel upon which magical practice is built. If you don’t believe that magic works, then it never will for you, plain and simple.

I practice sorcery. Down and dirty. Simple. Sometimes with tools and rituals, sometimes with sigils and servitors, sometimes with nothing but a picture in my head of how the world needs to be, my very magical wand, and my lovely assistant. I don’t call spirits, I don’t trouble whatever gods or entities might be out there in the ether for their assistance, other than the ones that I have myself created. I assert that Magical acts are transactions between me and the universe. So since we’ve established that I’m enough of an egotistical bastard to think that I can alter the world with a thought, let's look at how I think I do it.

Fundamentally, everything that IS, is energy. Some of it has slowed down enough to become solid matter, some of it in phases and forms that we are still just discovering. Further, as Hermes Trismegistus observed in his Divine Pymander (pim-Ander), everything that exists is in motion. It is my position that magic originates when the mind of a magician interfaces with the fabric of the universe at the most fundamental level of existence. The perturbations caused by this influence then cascade upward from the subatomic level as movements of matter and energy, into the mesoscale world of human activity, and bring about the circumstances that I dictate. The process is analogous to tossing a pebble into a stream. The ripples are subsumed by the current, but they in turn affect the flow in a measurable way.

How does one make ripples in reality?

Similarity and Contagion = Entanglement
Transmission of Will = Entrainment

The fundamental principles of sorcery are analogous to fundamental principles of energy and quantum behavior. Many of the seminal minds in Chaos Magic have reflected on this. Peter Carroll, Stephen Mace, and Dave Lee are just a few of the pioneers of this school of thought.

Entanglement

The principle of similarity is that of modeling. The representation of a thing is connected to that thing. This is the principle of the macrocosm and the microcosm. This is best exemplified in the words of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus:

What is above is like what is below. What is below is like what is above.

This is the magic of poppets and cave paintings, fertility rites and visualization.

When a pair or a group of particles interact in such a way that that their quantum state can only be described as an aggregate sum, this is known as Entanglement. Einstein referred to this concept as “Spooky action at a distance.” The implication that information could violate relativity by travelling faster than the speed of light didn’t sit well with him. But where he saw a flawed theory, his student David Bohm saw the implication that reality had a hidden structure. Bohm called this The Implicate Order. In this framework, time and space are interpreted as crude surface phenomena that are artifacts of a deeper universal order.

A magician can take advantage of this point of view. In this theoretical sub-microscopic realm, where the true underlying principles are beyond any physical perception, the magical link between simulacra and reality occurs. Since this work takes place at an imperceptible level of existence, manipulation of symbols arises as the only valid mechanism of describing the system. Fortunately. we live in a world rich with symbols, ready to be subverted for nefarious purposes. Besides the more traditional magical and alchemical examples, I also use icons and formulae from mathematics, meteorology, circuit diagrams, and even road signs. Semiotic appropriation is your friend.

Contagion
For magical purposes, if you have a piece of something, you have influence over that thing. In this case, the link between fragment and whole is innate. Through this link, the whole can be made to react in kind to actions worked on the fragment. Again, the system of two entities constitute a single system, and is analogous to an entangled system.

Once the magical link is established, a mechanism must be used to change the state of the system to that which is desired.

Entrainment

Entrainment is the state that occurs when two oscillating systems enter into a relationship by which their frequencies synchronize with one another. When one of these systems compels the other to fall into phase with itself, this is known as forced entrainment. In the normal state of things, we as residents of physical reality fall into a state of entrainment with the world around us in which we are subsumed, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Within our own locality, if we can generate enough intensity, we can cause reverse this order. We can cause the reality around us to fall into the patterns that we dictate.

When in a state of entrainment, information is transferred between the participating systems. There are only two possible states. If you’re not transmitting then you are receiving and thus allowing the universe to have its way with you.

In order to bring reality around to your way of thinking, you must first set your mind with clarity of purpose.

Tuning the Magical Mind

An essential part of doing magic is achieving a mind state in which we are convinced that our workings can have an actual effect. To reach this state, there are several possible impediments that must be overcome. These impediments can be loosely grouped into those that are external to the self and those that are internal.

French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin coined the idea of the noosphere as the collective sphere of human thought that surrounds us. I refer to the collective constant press of mundane thought and mental noise in the noosphere as The Static. It is the antithesis of the state of gnosis, as the magical mind state is often referred to. The Static is the sum of randomly received signals of all varieties. It is mental white noise that constantly bombards us. There are various ways to suppress it, from meditation, to evocation and banishing, to entheogens.

On the other end of the spectrum of impediments are the internal ones, which are often more daunting. The best known instance of this type is what is often referred to as the Psychic Censor. It is that part of our subconscious mind which performs the essential function of keeping us operating within consensus reality rather than frollicing with the machine elves or following the magic mirror to a nearby star system. Unfortunately it also has the effect of nullifying magical operations by shutting them down via uncertainty and doubt like a disapproving parental figure:

“Magic isn’t real, you must be crazy! Do the neighbors know you think like that? Stop it.”

The Censor must also be subverted for magic to be successful. Ironically, many of the same methods can be used to counteract The Static and the Censor. Inhibitory or excitatory states can work equally well. Ultimately, how this is done is irrelevant, as long as it is done. Calm your mind or blow it. Either way, banish The Static, and shatter the barriers that stand between you and seeing your will manifest. This is the first and most essential act of magic.

Lastly, magic works with probabilities and possibilities. The difference between improbable and impossible is vast. Know the difference. Anticipate the possible outcomes, and give reality a nudge toward the one most favorable to you.

You are of the universe, but it is also of you.

Thanks for your time.

You should read Heavy Metal's Mag!c Primer

I just finished reading ‘Beyond the Word and the Fool: Heavy Metal’s Mag!c Primer’ by Grant Morrison in issue 286 of Heavy Metal magazine.  I enjoyed the read, and I think that once again, Morrison has provided a good foundation and launching point for people interested in practicing pragmatic sorcery.  Many years ago, I read his ‘Pop Magic’, and I have recommended it to others as a good resource.  I know that Morrison has been a polarizing figure in the magical community, but I find his point of view to be closely aligned with my own:  There are no rules, so do what works.  There are no gods, so use whichever archetypes appeal to you, or even better, create them as or if you need them.  Magic is the name for for interfacing with the Universe, by which ever model you choose to employ, in order to manifest the results that you Will to be.

TLDR: I suggest that you buy issue 286 of Heavy Metal, turn to page 65, ingest content. 

Appearance announcement!

I am pleased to announce that I will be presenting and signing books at the 2018 International Left Hand Path Consortium. This event will take place the weekend of July 13th, 2018 in St. Louis, MO, USA. I will post more details when I have them.

A new project is imminent

I have just this evening agreed to co-author a book with my favorite compatriot in crimes against nature.  Nothing more to say about it as of yet.  Let us see where this goes.

Quantum Sorcery Origin Story

I spent nearly two decades practicing magic in systems that rely on the actions of external entities to achieve results. Eventually I grew dissatisfied with the quality of results compared to the amount of materiel and ritual investment that were required. So I turned to Sorcery. I decided that I no longer needed or desired a middleman between me and the greater Universe.
Relying on one's own magical potential requires a different approach to doing magic than those systems that leverage more potent entities. The amount of gross potential magical capability that a single human being can muster is fairly minuscule. There is no Force Majeure in this arena. Therefore, a sorcerer must develop highly efficient methods of applying minimal force to achieve maximal results.
This is why my system advocates the concept of focusing intent on the smallest conceivable physical level of existence. Influence is used where it can cause a cascading effect of increasing scale until the desired results manifest at the perceivable world.

Book repair resource

I have a copy of A.O Spare's Book of Pleasure, one of the hardbound numbered ones from 1975. I bought it a number of years ago on eBay. The book is in good condition, but the dust jacket has some tears in it. I found archival repair tape at http://www.vintagepaper.co.uk/. This site has all kinds of bookbinding and repair materials and tools. I just wanted to give them a blatant plug here.