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My name is Romolo. I am pleased and blessed to have discovered this magnificent online space. Some words about “myself”, and I will start with an unusual detail: I suffer from aphantasia, the impossibility to conjure mental images in the mind. Aphantasia is largely unknown and to my knowledge unstudied in occultism. Lack of a third eye has guided me over the past few years towards a very earthy druidic practice based on smells, movement, touch and sounds. I don’t do spellcasting and my rituals are devoid of will, desire or intent. Instead they form a living grimoire of experiences that allows me to better understand my past and future and the infinite puzzle boxes of the soul.
Welcome to the forum. Aphantasia is hard for me to imagine. If someone said "The Starship Enterprise" to me, I immediately get a mental picture, sometimes in motion yet lacking anything like the clarity of reality, in my mind's eye of the USS Enterprise (original series) in orbit around a planet with some old theme music in for good measure. Nevertheless, smell, touch, sounds, even taste, are all equally valid kinds of perception compared to vision. If I recall correctly, I think it was one of Frater U:.D:.'s books of magical initiation which put emphasis on developing astral senses other than vision.
My wife has aphantasia as well, and it took me a long time to understand how she could have dreams and memories but not have a mental image form when prodded with a description. We've determined that this function of visualization is why she hates reading while I thrive on it. And excellent point regarding the other senses - the strength of the ability to perceive smells, sounds, etc. in the imagination varies from person to person, and it is well worth developing the weaker skills if pursuing goals using astral methods. In fact, I read a similar suggestion just a few hours ago in a collection of chaoist articles.
@Romolo, if your rituals are devoid of will, desire, or intent, what do you do? Just go through the physical motions and words without putting anything else into it behind the scenes?
There are two obvious causes. One is loss of etheric substance from the brain - usually by giving it to an authority figure such as a father or teacher. The substance is easy to reclaim in all the cases I have observed - the substance sits on the outside of the lightbody of the new owner, completely useless
The other obvious cause is an entity attached to the brain controlling brain-thoughts. Such entities often can be removed - if the victim human stops inviting their presence
A less obvious cause is damage/contamination of the brain. Substances such as lead, aluminum and graphene may make the brain unsuitable for interfacing with higher beings/realities
Hello @Romolo and welcome.
I've actually seen an increase in use of the term aphantasia and (I don't want to play down your words or emotions but) I wonder if for a lot of people the idea of visualisation is being built up with way too much expectation.
As @KjEno186 said:
It certainly takes practice to develop visualization skills. The relevant subplane material must be gathered and then turned into sense organs.
Sometimes entities will donate suitable subplane materials to assist their working communications with the relevant human.
The other common assistance is to temporarily join light-bodies. This can happen with entities but also in group meditation if there is someone in the group who has a well-developed light-body
@Romolo, if your rituals are devoid of will, desire, or intent, what do you do? Just go through the physical motions and words without putting anything else into it behind the scenes?
I adapted Dion Fortunes qabalistic technique to start from Kether downwards, which means I try to catch the moment when something is revealed from the Great Unmanifest. A few weeks ago this happened in the form of a bow-shaped branch that fell from a tree. Before doubt or interpretation could arise, I proceeded by picking up the bow, kneeling down and shooting four invisible arrows, one in each cardinal direction. I guess Spare would say this was my subconscious will acting, but in Chaos Magick the Will has to be forgotten first. It is only after the ritual has happened, that its power unfolds.
A less obvious cause is damage/contamination of the brain. Substances such as lead, aluminum and graphene may make the brain unsuitable for interfacing with higher beings/realities
I am born with one damaged eye. My right eye cannot turn right. I once met a teacher in Rome who called this “the eye of Isis”, but have never found any reference to that. I generally believe that when the mage succeeds in mapping the limitations of their body, this is a great upgrade for any practice.
Thanks for the replies everyone! Looking forward to know you all better through your words.
I've actually seen an increase in use of the term aphantasia and (I don't want to play down your words or emotions but) I wonder if for a lot of people the idea of visualisation is being built up with way too much expectation
I also thought this, at first, and I do think there is a continuum. I would not put myself at the extreme end of non-visualizing, because I do dream, and experience glimpses of faces, dogs, places just before falling asleep when I’m very tired. They flicker in and out for less than a second. I would not call myself an aphant if I just had the slightest one of those mental images during the day. Instead it really feels as if “the screen of the monitor is switched off”: data is being processed and I can feel this (memories, metaphors, visions), but nothing appears visually.
There is a difference between brain-thoughts and mind-thoughts. As we come out of the body at sleep the limitations of the brain are no longer constraining thought processes. In that transition state I often see people very clearly - much more clearly than visualizing while awake
Very interesting. I read that the insigne was placed between the eyes. It feels like a catalyst to instill “fear” in the Third Eye of the opponents, or, alternatively, a shield of one’s own Third Eye, so that no horrors can enter the own head.
I will experiment with this insigne in my rituals. Maybe by creating the insigne in reverse, I can obtain the reverse and stimulate mental imagery.
for me its a sign someone knows the road just by being. as you said shooting arrows in the sky is normal. here is an almost forbidden and therefore shadow song. its new its catchy, well you know, when were blind we go different:
My name is Romolo. I am pleased and blessed to have discovered this magnificent online space. Some words about “myself”, and I will start with an unusual detail: I suffer from aphantasia, the impossibility to conjure mental images in the mind. Aphantasia is largely unknown and to my knowledge unstudied in occultism. Lack of a third eye has guided me over the past few years towards a very earthy druidic practice based on smells, movement, touch and sounds. I don’t do spellcasting and my rituals are devoid of will, desire or intent. Instead they form a living grimoire of experiences that allows me to better understand my past and future and the infinite puzzle boxes of the soul.
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! Looking forward to read your comments and posts, and pluck some apples from the branches that you expect the least.
