Pop Culture + Magick = You Tell Me!

[Elfwyn]

I just posted this on our other site but thought you might enjoy this here as well.

This is an odd subject and I figure if anyone in the occult community might have a grasp on it, it might be you guys. The idea of blending archetypes from popular culture with magickal practices, is not a new one. For instance, I have seen books like Taylor Elwood's Pop Culture Magick. Also, I have read extensively, the accounts of experiments that range from invocation of Tyler Durden (Fight Club) to the evocation of various Slayers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or even learning rotes from various anime series.

This falls directly in the category of Chaos Magickal Theory and Practice. The idea of paradigm shifting is an intrinsic portion of CMT and allows for such Works to be carried out. Basically, the idea is that characters from film, books etc. are well pumped up thoughtforms and suitable for use in many magickal works.

What do you think?

I have a little story to tell about one such experiment of mine. I began doing this a few years ago and this method aided in me to no end and still does:

Recently, I passed some important exams with a little help from Sailor Mercury (I grew up on Sailor Moon. WHAT?!?). I evoked her with the idea of gaining a little analytical support and some much needed memorization skills. It worked. The evocation was very informal and involved little more than listening to songs from the soundtracks (on a loop) and various calls to Ami Mizune (the character's mundane persona). It helps that I own a few related clothing items, a poster or three and dolls/plushies, other toys... Yes, I'm a total geek! The computer screen was my 'Mirror of Art' for this.

Throughout the time we spent together, she was extremely sweet and helpful. She told me that making a "Transformation Pen" would help in Invocation; not only of her but of the other Senshi (Sailor Scouts for those not in the know) as well. Depending on the level of need, I can now use the pen to 'become', with little more than a visualization (transformation scenes from the show) and a recital of an activation phrase EG. "Mercury Power---Make-Up!". I have since made pens for the other Senshi and have other physical links to all of them. Totally not necessary, I know but really nice in a way.

Now to the practical bit:

For memory aid, I constantly referred to a visualization of Ami's laptop computer (Which I've found allows for communication and further blending of multiple Senshi powers). As I came to a tough spot during my testing, I would see the computer and type in a search. The answer would appear on the screen in the format that I'd originally seen or heard it. It's a great devise and I'm wondering if I can develop a photographic memory from this. It's close now but the 'onscreen image' looks, well, onscreen. This includes actual action sequences. It looks kind of like running a MPEG.

So, there's one experiment of many. With results.

Have you adopted any ideas or methods from an anime series or maybe even a Harry Potter book (I have)? Have you done magicks like this in any way? Ever thought about it?

Share the wealth! Tell us what you got. Come on. I showed you mine now you show me yours... That doesn't sound right, huh?

[S33k3R]

At the risk of being putting on my Captain Obvious outfit...
pop Culture + Magic = KHAOS MAGIC

[Elfwyn]

Gee and I thought there was so much more (and less) to Khaos Magic. Anyway, this subject is basically geared toward CMT in it's more original context but feel free to expound on it all for us.

Say, have YOU carried out an Evocation/invocation of character from an anime, book, videogame or film? What happened?

[S33k3R]

Well I suppose that contemporary pop culture provides a fertile playing field of symbolism with which to construct paradigms, archetypes and so on. As a for instance...I came across a thread on a different forum in which one dude substituted the 4 guardian angels in his LBRP with the 4 Ninja Turtles.

I do something similar and it works just fine, but I don't use the Turtles...rather I envision 4 elemental dragons as the Guardians of the watchtower. These have sort of strengthened beyond their original intention and I can call any one down as needed.

They're not quite servitors, as they serve no purpose except to symbolize the elements....but I may refine them further.

I know dragons are ancient creatures, but the way I envision them is quite manga inspired.

[Elfwyn]

That's exactly the sort of thing I was talking about!

S33k3R, I suspect we've visited some of the same forums. The Mutant Ninja Turtle LBRP is one of the stranger ideas that I've run across but if it resonates with the practitioner, then it's all that's required.

Karen, What an unusual thing! The spontaneous creation of a servitor from a drawing is just neat. I wonder, how much of yourself did you put into that drawing? Seriously, there was no intent behind that drawing? Once you discovered it, how did you go about programming it to it's function?

I once read about someone who Evoked certain porn stars, with the intent of building confidence and animal magnetism. According to that person, their success with the opposite sex was astounding. Personally, I'd never admit to that sort of thing (Even if I had an interest. Which I don't) but it goes to show that there are no limits except our own. "Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours."

Visualizations of "flash stepping" from Bleach, has helped me become a little quicker at making it from place to place. No. Not as in the super speeds involved in the Manga but I do believe that I'm accessing abilities well hidden. The same goes for jutsu from Naruto. Not physical manifestations, mind you but the effects on more subtle realms are just about palpable. See where I'm going with this?

Ever try a cantrip from D&D? I got the idea from a friend of mine who introduced me to the game a couple years ago. Surprising results.

[Elfwyn]

You bring up an interesting point. Kind of the point, in reverse but very much a part of the whole. Let's see if I can make myself articulate here (Tough proposition).

I'll use a very different example. Some years ago, certain magi got together and discussed an odd concept of sigil magick. The original question was something to the effect of (paraphrased, of course) "If one were to expose the masses to a given sigil, even as background (such as graffiti), would their collective unconscious energies aid in powering it up?" It seems the answer was yes. Their experiment is very well known and has grown into something vastly different from that original conversation. Some small discussion of that is given in a different thread here (which I intend on adding to soon).

You've found an awesome source of energy for your servitors: The collective imagination of all who view them in their more or less tangible form. Good show!

What I'm going on about in this thread, is the same but on the opposite end of the spectrum. Fact is, by the time it's pop culture, millions of people have fed into the paradigm, if only in the most tenuous of ways. Thus, when we make use of such, we are tapping into the collective force of literally millions of minds. Good stuff!

Some have theorized and my experiences have backed it up (at least for myself), that within the Dreaming World, there are pocket worlds of each thing ever imagined and shared. There really is an Oz, a Narnia, Middle Earth, a Hogwart's etc. Millions of people have visited them in their imaginations or given them power just in the reading of such.

This isn't a new concept at all but I still think it's magick on the edge. I intend to leap headlong over that edge and see what new vistas present themselves.

My next experiment: To create an Astral version of Elric's sword Stormbringer. I'm just looking for the right physical representation, of course.

[VIRAL]

Yeah, I put some villains from sailor moon in a magic book I am writing. I like Metaria.

[Gazeeboh]

Gald you are having fun with this.

Yes it works. Everything works here unless you don't want it to.

After a while though, you realize that all these figures you are playing around with are just repeating patterns in human thought (thereby the universe). Riddick, Mars, Aries, Conan, Rambo, all the same guy just different masks, some might appeal more to you than others.

Try invoking Helium, Argon, Lead, Zinc, Iron, Witch, Purple, Electricity, Gravity, etc.

[usurparian]

After a while though, you realize that all these figures you are playing around with are just repeating patterns in human thought (thereby the universe).

I was gonna say something along those lines.

Most modern art exploits pre-existing archetypes/mythologies.

Sailor Moon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles definitely do.

Nothing bad about it. In fact, using the patterns taught by Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell in public art almost guarantees material success, if not a cult following to some degree.

[Gazeeboh]

"Oh golly, the implications of this are just astounding."

I find it boring really. We can't move beyond our human thoughts, nothing will be new to us. You make up a god, good, guess what, it's already been done either directly or in some fashion.

You want to invoke the ninja turtles instead of the four archangels? Fine. Same thing, different mask. All you are shifting is the aesthetics, not the core meanings. You can't change those, you can't get over your humanity.

No matter which way you turn, you are still traversing human nature, human mentality, human spirituality. Even in it's extremes it's still human. The universe therefore is nothing more than the human understanding of it.

I read one time that Mount Olympus is a metaphor for our brain.

[Balam_del_Monte]

but if you read carefully, he makes a great point.

[Nightgaunt]

You want to invoke the ninja turtles instead of the four archangels? Fine. Same thing, different mask. All you are shifting is the aesthetics, not the core meanings. You can't change those, you can't get over your humanity.


+1 However, aesthetics are important and what may seem like mere window dressing can often serve to subtly alter the nature of what you're doing. A quick example: I use the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram 99% of the time, but there are those workings that just scream for the Lesser Elvis Banishing Ritual of the Sequined Pentagram.

[Gazeeboh]

No doubt Nightgaunt, you are 100% correct. I didn't mean to lessen the importance of "fresh coat of paint" methods. This can boost the operation at hand and yield greater results. No point in doing things if they aren't sexy.

[Nightgaunt]

No point in doing things if they aren't sexy.

Goddamn, you are an eloquent mother fucker.

[Plarkenstorf]

Holy carp, the placebo effect works in metareality.

[Lawliet]

The universe is about recycling. What is has been and will be again. Then when you get into the multiverse well probability kicks you in the butt and you realize that whatever concept you can think of the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of it having already been thought of by someone or something else first.

As above, so below; yeah?

We can philosophize all day, but inevitably it leads to a certain amount of nihilism and depression. I agree that in the full scope of things, we are absolutely and completely insignificant. Of course. But what fun is that?

I don't invoke cultural icons because I think it will help me discover the secrets of the universe... I do it because it's a hell of a lot more interesting than television. We may be worth nothing, but if we're going to survive and have fun doing it, we'd do damn well to forget the fact. Or there's always enlightenment.

It's like Gazeeboh said... No point in doing things if they aren't sexy.

That being said, I'm sort of a sucker for pop culture figures.

I've had quite some success with invoking The Supervillain (one of MF Doom's many alter egos). I tried invoking L from Death Note without any remarkable results. I might try again at some point when I'm more competent.

Instead of the Four Archangels in my LBRP, I use Gravity, Electromagnetic Force, the Strong Attraction, and the Weak Attraction.