Anyone use conlangs as a spiritual technology?

[mikastophiel]

Hello all!

So, for those not familiar, conlangs (constructed languages) are exactly what they sound like: languages that are deliberately made rather than arising from standard human language usage. Now, it may just be my own biases as someone whose formal academic training is in (computational) linguistics, but I've always found language as a particularly relevant facet of semiotics and, by extension, the esoteric/spiritual; our language function is so entrenched in our brains on a physiological level and by extension provides a lot of insights into how we humans organize and structure our experience of the world. Additionally, language and writing alike have been treated as mystical by various traditions, often with close ties to psychopomps (Thoth, Odin, and Hermes as obvious examples) and necromancy/katabasis/contact with the beyond/etc, or being seen as cosmically structural (in Abrahamic religions with Kabbalistic thought, the notion of the logos, God speaking the world into existence; see also the generative role of storytelling in Anishinaabe religion, etc).

All this being said, I've seen what I find to be a remarkably few attempts to deliberately engineer a sort of linguistic spiritual tool. I take this as separate from sacred or liturgical languages, as those are already spoken languages elevated to the status of magical rather than being intentionally designed as such. Off the top of my head, I've only really heard of Hildegard of Bingen’s Lingua Ignota, and perhaps the Damin language used by the Lardil and Yangkaal or the Enochian language of Dee & Kelly, and only the lattermost feels close to what I would expect from a "magic conlang." I imagine that the scarcity is due to the relative obscurity and youth of linguistics as a formal field of science, and the time-consuming process that actually is constructing a language, as well as the pre-existence of ceremonial/sacred/liturgical languages.

I've done some dabbling with smaller conlangs and personal ritual scripts and once attempted to make a sort of consolidated system for shamanic talismans, but I'm curious if and how anyone else has tried to implement or use conlanging as a part of their own spiritual praxis?

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

So I think logic-forward or atleast human will forward full on constructed languages are rather weak in occult contexts though ive seen a few people do this in the LHP when I used to be in those orders.

In letter magic/the science of letters which is a largely lost artform/unpopular occult practice there are tons of practical techniques for generating barbarous strings and magical words from pre-existing magical languages that render words with esoteric content but arent actually words in their respective languages. This is highly useful in occult practice and turns into mantra and magic word generation.

On top of this there is a practice or technique that is more receptive than actually constructed in conjuration where spirits will hand the magus letters, language, and words that over a long enough period of time result in a language that the spirits recognize. This is a common experience amongst regular/frequent conjuration when getting information from spirits. Its just that this type of conjuration doesnt get practiced too often as its incredibly time consuming and taxing on the conjurer and medium.

In my own personal practice ive received plenty of "spirit language" from a certain class of spirits but dont use it except in emergency conjuration. Alot of the vocalizations are nonsensical and hard to translate to an alphabet. I am heavily invested in letter and language magic though and spend a lot of time using occult generative techniques for spells using the Hebrew and arabic alphabets. There are astrological and mathematical techniques you can utilize to do this and its taken my practical magic to a really extreme level. My most recent experiment with this has lasted since April and my medium and I have been utilizing it for body modification with really crazy results.

 

[cosmicctraveller]

This is an intruguing idea since I've have two internet aquiaintences that have learned Taki Pona, a modern minimal constructed language. Maybe they're fluent enough to write in it by now, I'm not sure. It seemed to me initially like one of those internet rabbit holes that geeks and nerds tend to get lost in, like learning Elvish or learning Japanese because you're into Anime. But now I've heard for years how great Taki Pona really is and described in ways that initially surprised me. Things like inspiring clarity of thought and flexibility of choosing different way of looking at a given situation. To my ears it sounds like some sort of meditation practice. Your comment makes me think I should ask and investigate this a little more seriously. However I'm not sure what my friends would say about the comparison to Enochian.

 

[mikastophiel]

So I think logic-forward or atleast human will forward full on constructed languages are rather weak in occult contexts though ive seen a few people do this in the LHP when I used to be in those orders.

In letter magic/the science of letters which is a largely lost artform/unpopular occult practice there are tons of practical techniques for generating barbarous strings and magical words from pre-existing magical languages that render words with esoteric content but arent actually words in their respective languages. This is highly useful in occult practice and turns into mantra and magic word generation.

I'm familiar with gematria and 3ilm al-ḥuruf praxis, I find it quite handy. I'm just left feeling that there are additional depths to be explored beyond just the phonological/phonetic ~ orthographic layers; I know that each letter in Kabbalistic and ḥurufi thought also has its own symbolic elaborations to be had but, while reading about such hidden meanings is fascinating, it moreso adds an ideogrammatical angle rather than outright semantics and syntax, which are really the parts of language that imo are most rife with potential for esoteric experimentation (or, at the very least, are such new fields of study that they haven't yet been explored to the same magical depths as letters and phonetics).

On top of this there is a practice or technique that is more receptive than actually constructed in conjuration where spirits will hand the magus letters, language, and words that over a long enough period of time result in a language that the spirits recognize. This is a common experience amongst regular/frequent conjuration when getting information from spirits. Its just that this type of conjuration doesnt get practiced too often as its incredibly time consuming and taxing on the conjurer and medium.

In my own personal practice ive received plenty of "spirit language" from a certain class of spirits but dont use it except in emergency conjuration. Alot of the vocalizations are nonsensical and hard to translate to an alphabet. I am heavily invested in letter and language magic though and spend a lot of time using occult generative techniques for spells using the Hebrew and arabic alphabets. There are astrological and mathematical techniques you can utilize to do this and its taken my practical magic to a really extreme level. My most recent experiment with this has lasted since April and my medium and I have been utilizing it for body modification with really crazy results.

What texts or systems for letter magic are you primarily working from, if you don't mind my asking? I've spent a lot of time with the theoretical/exegetical sort of gematria but never could decide on a path for practical usage.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 4:55 PM

This is an intruguing idea since I've have two internet aquiaintences that have learned Taki Pona, a modern minimal constructed language. Maybe they're fluent enough to write in it by now, I'm not sure. It seemed to me initially like one of those internet rabbit holes that geeks and nerds tend to get lost in, like learning Elvish or learning Japanese because you're into Anime. But now I've heard for years how great Taki Pona really is and described in ways that initially surprised me. Things like inspiring clarity of thought and flexibility of choosing different way of looking at a given situation. To my ears it sounds like some sort of meditation practice. Your comment makes me think I should ask and investigate this a little more seriously. However I'm not sure what my friends would say about the comparison to Enochian.

I learned Toki Pona a while back, not for any esoteric purpose though. The comparison to a meditation practice is quite apt, the limited vocabulary kinda forces you to think of things in a very experiential and phenomenal rather than ontological way... perhaps I'll try exploring this further.