#daemointus

[alethiosr]

I won’t lie, I really hate how soulbonding got absorbed into plurality. I am not plural for having a bond to someone outside of this world, just like I am not plural for knowing my daemon. It’s an incredibly profound experience that I feel people water down and don’t give the respect it deserves.

As I rebuild my connection with my soulbond Jonah, I feel more and more alienated from other soulbonders. It’s so bizarre to have this deep meaning relationship while others (not all) collect connections of their favorite characters like trophies.

I’m probably just overdramatic or interacting with the wrong side of things, but this has been bothering me for a while anyways.

[thepullmeticfellowship]

Are you interested in learning? Have you read His Dark Materials and seen it as more than a children's book? Do you feel like the messages within it speak to you on a deeper level? Then you may be perfect within the Fellowship of Pullmetic Faith and Restoration of Truth.

We're looking for people who have a drive to discover and preserve the truth of this world and many others. If you feel that this is you, we'd be happy to have you.

We are open and inclusive to all, even if you are considered "weird" or "strange". We within the fellowship value uniqueness. Whether it is your identity, your beliefs, a trait you have, or anything else; we have no judgement and welcome you. (People who display bigotry or partake in behavior that is harmful are an exception.)

[alethiosr]

I don’t consider my daemon or soulbond thoughtforms, but I think this might be fun regardless.

Reblog this post if you love asks about your thoughtforms (or if any of your thoughtforms are happy to answer asks directly)! This includes soulbonds, daemons, tulpas, willomates, etc.

[alethiosr]

Sometimes I’d really like to speak more with daemians, but with my own beliefs it’s definitely hard to. I don’t like being the only person I know who’s aware of their daemon. I feel incredibly out of place. But at the same time daemonisn isn’t the same and isn’t something I can relate to. There’s some daemians who believe in something closer to Pullman’s works, but they’re few and far between.

Fallon will never be inside of my head, she’ll never front and take control of my body, she’ll never change forms anymore, she’s been with me from birth, she’s the only daemon I’ll ever have, and I could go on forever. We simply aren’t the same as most people who say they have daemons.

Absolutely no hate whatsoever towards daemians and daemonism as a whole. It would just be nice not feeling like an outsider even among people who should be just like me.

[alethiosr]

Daemointus: Grades of Daemon Separation

Here's the graph I intended to post yesterday. It got delayed due to some things I had to do. This is basically identical to a post I made months ago, just in a graph form. Like the post I made, I'm fine with people using this system when referring to the books themselves as well as in their own practice.

[alethiosr]

Daemointus: Daemon-Human Subtle Structure

Decided that I should share this diagram I made a few days ago. I was debating if this should be public information but I think it makes more sense for it to be public. There's a lot of questions and unknowns surrounding daemons, but I'll likely have to wait until Philip Pullman publishes the third Book of Dust book before diving deeper. I've been very busy, but I plan on doing a reread of the books soon and making notes as I go since it's been a while since I've read them.

I have another completed diagram, which I'll probably post later today or tomorrow.

[alethiosr]

Daemointus vs Daemonism

Thought I'd make this post to explain the differences between my own system and the idea of Daemonism. The mechanics won't be explained much here and will be dedicated to a different post or an official document. This is also not meant to put down Daemonism in any way, and you’re free to practice whatever you wish. I have my own feelings towards Daemonism, but they are irrelevant.

The term Daemointus comes from the word daemon and the Latin word for "inside", which is intus. It is meant to further illustrate that in the system of Daemointus, daemons are a natural part of who you are. Unlike Daemonism, there's no creating them and they've existed as long as the rest of your spirit has. You are forever linked and destroying the link between you and your daemon has profound consequences.

One significant difference between Daemointus and Daemonism is that Daemointus uses a stricter spiritual/occult model, while Daemonism tends to use a very loose mental/psychological model. Instead of the idea that everyone has the capacity for having a daemon, in Daemointus your daemon already exists and every single person has one and only one. Meanwhile, in Daemonism you can have multiple daemons and their development isn't linear with your life. A daemon within the system of Daemonism can either never settle in a form, have a select few forms, or be formless until a form is "discovered" by the daemian. This directly conflicts with Daemointus, where your daemon settles regardless of if you know them or not. An adult who's unaware of their daemon will only discover theirs in their settled form. It is important to note though that that doesn't mean you automatically know what your daemon's form is, just that it is unchanging. Many daemians view their daemons as psychological constructs nearly identical to other psychological thoughtforms, while in Daemointus daemons are not constructs to be made but are always present.

Another key difference is that Daemonism is often included in plurality and daemons are usually inside your mind like a headmate/alter, while in Daemointus your daemon never has any control over your body and isn’t a part of your mind. Your daemon is typically united with yourself, and as they separate from you they appear outside your body. Daemons who are separated to the same degree of those from Lyra's World have strong and sustainable subtle bodies and only lack a physical body, which is impossible for them to gain. At that level, reintegration is most likely impossible and likely has adverse effects if attempted. Daemointus cannot be compared with plurality and daemons are not the same as thoughtforms, tulpas, servitors, or any other artificially created entity within or without ones mind.

I am still working heavily on the concept of Daemointus, which is made harder by myself being the only practitioner. I hope if anyone sees this they find it to be interesting at the very least. I have more projects in the works, including some diagrams and graphs. I'm unsure whether to post them individually or in a document/larger post, but I'll figure it out. As always, input is always appreciated. I tried to represent Daemonism as accurately as possible, but there's many people with different views, ideas, and personal experiences. One person's experiences can be totally different than another's, and that's perfectly okay.

[alethiosr]

I wish we lived in a world in which daemons were automatically corporeal. It’s weird to me that most people don’t already know that part of themselves. To me not knowing about your daemon is like not knowing you have a left arm. Some people may be missing their left arm but if you have it you should be aware it exists, right?

Sometimes I wish I lived in a world like Lyra’s or some of the other worlds that are very similar instead of one where many people see daemons as just another fantasy trope.

[alethiosr]

Sometimes I wonder about the implications of the “great taboo” of touching another’s daemon. Is it something learned? A cultural norm that people enforce themselves? Or is it something primal and innate that everyone feels? Is it normal for people who are very close to touch each others daemons, or is that still forbidden?

I’ve touched another person’s daemon, my soulbond’s. Though not with my physical body the subtle matter flowing through us did touch. It was a beautiful yet shocking thing. It felt like the epitome of trust. It felt like holding the most fragile and delicate yet beautiful thing in my hands. Is this how it’d feel for people in a world where their daemons are nearly physical?

I’ve written maybe five different posts regarding this, but I can never properly put it into words. It’s something so incredibly deep and personal and beyond words.

[alethiosr]

A New Approach to Daemons

I've been interested in the concept of daemons since I first read His Dark Materials as a kid. I honestly don't remember when I first read it, just that daemons were the only thing I remembered about the series years later. I discovered daemonism once and was very drawn to it but the more I looked into it the more I knew it wasn't for me. Yet at the time I had this image of a large, spotted grey feline stuck in my head for a long while afterwards. I didn't know what it was, which looking back is surprising considering how much I loved nature and still do now, but I knew it was important. Years later I started researching the Canadian Lynx and thought I must be a therian, but that didn't stick. That experience still gave me a lot of respect for therians and other alterhumans however, so I don't regret it. Earlier this year I was reintroduced to His Dark Materials after my mythology class decided to watch the HBO show after finishing assignments and I decided to get the books and reread them after so many years. Daemons once again jumped out at me and I started digging into the concept and trying to analyze it. I also started going back to learning about magick, but this time through a more traditional occult lens and eventually realized I did in fact have a daemon and how daemons likely work in our world according to traditional occult philosophy.

We all have daemons within ourselves, but usually they are fully united with us and go unnoticed. Through work, I believe you can gently separate yourself from your daemon until they present similarly to the daemons in His Dark Materials, though with the limitations of this worlds laws. At this time I have a deep awareness of my daemon, Fallon, but we're not separate enough for a communication or projection. I have some ideas regarding the exact mechanics of daemons, but any methods beyond my current step I'm not so sure of. If anyone does have any ideas, I'd love to hear them, but as this is my first post I'm doubtful I'll get any reach.

[alethiosr]

I wasn’t exactly hoping for anything special for Christmas but my parents keep asking if I want anything so I might ask for something that’ll remind me of Fallon. Maybe a piece of jewelry or a figurine of a lynx. There’s one of a lynx and a bird(I think a pheasant) which caught my eye since my soulbond’s daemon is a hawk. Not exactly the same but comforting all the same.

[alethiosr]

ah, it's not letting me ask as my side blog, but this is Asphodel-Flowers.

so the start of my work in this life with my fylgja or fetch or daemon or whatever, was finding/ buying the pendant that is her anchor.

my birthday was coming up and I was depresso, with an abusive ex, in the middle of writing the Labyrinth fanfic I never finished lol

so I was at work and scrolling through Amazon looking for something for myself and I was trying to look at owl pendants because Labyrinth

and ravens kept showing up. especially ones with runes or like a Norse aesthetic.

note: I had not yet converted to paganism lol

I got this strong draw to the one I have now but kept getting this feeling I Needed A Raven Pendant, and not two ravens, just the one.

a friend was like, if you have the feeling there's probably a reason.

and as I was researching what ravens meant - I knew, but wanted to see what other cultures had to say because I'm curious that way.

I got slapped with a vision. I wasn't on anything. I don't think I was even taking meds yet. I was just sitting in a desk at work. I don't have hallucinations.

the vision was this like... I was being led out of a forest by a raven. It was dark but not like nighttime, just like the canopy of trees overhead blocking out the sky. and there were lots of branches and roots and bushes with spikes, etc making it difficult to navigate. but the raven showed me where to go that was the easiest to get out, and I got to a clearing and the raven flew up towards the sun, and it was over.

so I got the pendant. I later found out the vision came from Odin. Thor said something along the lines of, "humans don't give themselves visions, silly."

my abusive ex was also my mentor when I was a probationer for the A:.A:.

I didn't remember seeing the back of the pendant when I was buying it and I didn't recognize the symbol on it, nor the runes. I hadn't learned the runes at that time, and didn't realize it was just all of them in order.

so I asked him, and he didn't know but said to put it in salt for three days to cleanse it. he'd held it to look at it when I showed him and Did. Not. Like. It. he said he felt it crawl up his arm trying to change him.

my friend panicked and said I shouldn't listen to the ex, that she'd had people ruin her tools that way. and then she backtracked and said she didn't mean to tell me what to do, just that salt would completely make it energetically null - which I knew.

I hid the pendant so he wouldn't know, even though he wasn't watching me that closely. but I was paranoid so to make sure I didn't leave it somewhere he could touch it or find it, I wore it for three to five days, hidden. I held it when I slept, didn't let anyone else see or touch it. I wore it openly after it had been like I don't remember, like four or five days.

I felt the bird that sings to me in my shower after that. Not every time, but if I sort of "look" for her, she's there. Not a hallucination, but a sort of feeling, like when I sense any other entity.

That November, when I needed money, I got a grant from school in the middle of the semester for exactly what I needed for the rent. There were several other times around that time that I got money when I needed it, but that's the one I remember clearly because there wasn't much other explanation for it. I knew it was my Raven.

and Idk, I don't "send" her on tasks. Sometimes money just shows up. Sometimes other people have had her visit them, or have seen her. Sometimes without me telling them about her.

My gf has DID and one of the alters - we'll call him N - I didn't know until later, my Raven had come to N asking for help, and he gave her extra energy. and a friend commented - independently, before I told her about what N had done - that my Raven seemed to be... flying faster or had more wings or something.

When my ex psychically attacked me, or did what felt like a storm of energy, my Raven didn't protect me, she came running from wherever she was and hid, deep down. In the aftermath, when I was in the shower, door locked, I reached for her. and she was still there and while but shaken? like if I could see her physically, feathers ruffled and maybe some missing/ falling out. Stressed and like she'd been through a bad storm or too much wind and gotten hurt but nothing broken or too damaged that a good night's sleep wouldn't heal. and she was fine after that.

so idk, I knew she leaves and comes back. I instinctively know she's vulnerable when she's away and I feel naked without my pendant. at first, I took it off to shower and sleep, but since around when the ex was throwing a fit at me trying to leave, and since I've left, everything has been chaotic for the past year or two, so I leave it on even to sleep and shower now. I'm in a very safe place living with my mom so sometimes the pendant comes off in the shower now, but it hangs in the shower with me.

I don't remember if it was before or after the ex left, but it was while I was in the same apartment we'd shared, something did try to grab my pendant while I was in the shower. N can astral project/ travel though and would follow me in the shower around that time because he's very protective and did not trust the ex. Come to think of it, I think it was while the ex was still there now. Anyways, N smacked whatever it was that tried to grab my pendant, and scared it off. But it's something that made me paranoid about taking it off or otherwise not having it within reach.

She hasn't done as much running off and getting things for me lately, it seems. Or perhaps she has, and I've not noticed it the same way because there's a lot stacked against me financially right now. But I know my Raven is still there, because if I look for or reach for her, I can feel her.

I kiss the pendant often, and I realized later that kisses are a way I charge a few things. I made a construct/ thought form/ servitor of a guard dog by painting a statue of a dog. and I would kiss and pet it like I would a regular dog. I do sometimes kiss my fingers and rest them on the statues or representations of my gods, or kiss the statues directly.

In the case of my Raven, I instinctively know she's a part of me/ connected to me. That vision was about guidance, not protection. So I'm not sure if the kisses are feeding or offering or just regular ol' affection.

Also, for context, I either was ulfhednar in a past life or inherited my Raven from one who was. I'm working on learning/ re-learning Seidr work, and have done some things like channeling, psychopomp type/ spirit work, talking to spirits, etc since childhood, though some of it was of course unintentional.

I was planning to write my own thoughts and comments here, but I’ve been struggling with severe exhaustion due to personal issues so that’ll have to wait. I find all this to be very interesting, whether your fylgja and my daemon are the same thing or not. I’ll definitely be looking more into the fylgja and similar ideas and cross referencing for my own work.

Also as a side note, I haven’t talked about it here but werewolf/shapeshifter magic has been an interest of mine for a while and it’s lovely to hear someone mention ulfhednar. I had zero knowledge of them before doing my research into shapeshifter magic, while berserkir are way more well known by most.

If anyone else has their own experiences to provide, I’d be happy to hear them. I’ll try to write something more in depth on my thoughts sometime in the next few days.

[alethiosr]

The Grades of Separation

The Grades of Separation is an idea I thought of a while ago and thought I might as well share. It is numbered from 0 to 4, with 0 being full unity between human and daemon and 4 being total separation. This concept was originally just for the development of my own daemon philosophy, daemointus, but I see no reason why it can't be used by fans of His Dark Materials or by daemians if one so chooses.

Grade 0: Complete or near-complete unity between human and daemon, characterized by a lack of knowledge or serious acknowledgment of one's daemon. Communication or projection incredibly unlikely. Most common grade in our world.

Grade 1: Slight separation between human and daemon, but little to no outer-body presentation. Characterized by an awareness of one's daemon and some level of autonomy, but one may not identify their daemon as such. If the daemon is properly identified, they may be given a name or their species identified if settled. Communication may be possible but unlikely.

Grade 2: Significant separation between human and daemon, but link still intact. Daemon is entirely outside of human's physical body with their own set of subtle bodies and is fully autonomous and sapient with their own personality, wants, and needs. Communication is almost guaranteed at this grade. Daemon may be observed by their human and those capable of seeing subtle substance. This is the most common grade seen in His Dark Materials.

Grade 3: Slightly greater separation between human and daemon than Grade 2 with link still intact but loosened significantly. Daemon can travel away from their human without causing harm or suffering, and is able to keep their subtle bodies sustained separately from their human. The witches from His Dark Materials, along with Lyra Silvertongue, Will Parry, Malcolm Polstead, and Anthony Hassall are all examples of this grade.

Grade 4: Total separation between human and daemon, usually resulting in death. This usually happens due to the practice of intercision, but brute force has also been referenced as causing this separation. Those who survive this separation usually suffer greatly as a result of such severe separation, though exactly why isn't clear. Both human and daemon seem to appear lifeless and apathetic, and in the Subtle Knife a big point is made about them being fearless and therefore making terrifying soldiers.

Grades 3 and 4 are noticeably close, with both being achieved through forceful separation in some way or another. The only noticeable difference as that all cases of Grade 3 separation is willful on at least one side, while there's no evidence of this for Grade 4 separation that doesn't involve intercision.

Advancement in grades isn't linear either. Will Parry, for example, jumped from Grade 0 to Grade 3 instantly. And most cases of Grade 4 do not go through Grade 3 first. Regression from Grade 1 to Grade 0 is probably also possible, though beyond that it's hard to imagine regression as being possible.

If there's anything I missed or could add to this idea please let me know, input is always grealy appreciated.

[alethiosr]

I think what I was missing with Daemointus is that in His Dark Materials, active searching for your daemon won’t make them appear for you. Just like with divination tools you need to be passive. I forget the exact quote used in the books but it explains it beautifully. Mary Malone saw her daemon by going into that same state, not by actively searching for him.

I had totally forgotten about this fact and due to that severely stunted my progress. It was yesterday that finally I could feel Fallon by me and hear the whispers of her thoughts. I had a bad fight with my family later that day and I could clearly picture Fallon with hair on end snarling furiously. It is nearly midnight and as I type this she is lying by my side in bed.

None of this I achieved by being active. I did no exercises, no ritual, no spell work, no action whatsoever. I simply held the idea in my mind and had full patience and no desperation. I’d guess we are between between grades 2 and 3 now. Grade 3 involves having a strong etheric body, so that’ll take much time and work to achieve. There’s also the potential risk due to condensed etheric matter often being visible to the average onlooker. That’s something I’ll have to experiment with and create solutions for considering we do not live in a world like Lyra’s.

This is the break I needed to get me back into the flow of working. I believe great things are soon to come.

[alethiosr]

[alethiosr]