Instructor: Rainsong
Date: November 11, 2017 (Saturday)
Rainsong
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
ceahhettan
Hullo.
Rainsong
Welcome to another psionics seminar here at the social club. The usual disclaimers apply: We’ll be discussing real-world psionics. If you’re looking for a role-playing game, you might want to try a different channel.
Rainsong
Our topic for the evening is “Cantrips,”in the context of psionics.
silton2
here for it
Rainsong
Most of what we’ll be discussing also applies to other forms of energy work and assorted forms of magic. If your practice is in one of the more-or-less traditional forms of magic, rather than in psionics, you may find that your tradition frowns on this topic.
Rainsong
Why?
Aureum Animus
:thinking:
Rainsong
Well… To answer that, let’s take a look at what a cantrip is.
Rainsong
In common usage, our good friends at Merriam-Webster define a cantrip as “a witch’s trick, spell” in Scottish usage, and as “hocus-pocus” in British usage.
Rainsong
The current entry at Wikipedia defines a cantrip as “a word of Scots origin to mean a magical spell of any kind, or one which reads the same forwards and backwards. It can also be a witch’s trick, or a sham. It is possibly derived from the Gaelic canntaireachd, a piper’s mnemonic chant.”
Rainsong
In our odd little subculture, the word tends to be used in a more specific manner than the dictionary definition, however.
Rainsong
Whether by influence of role-playing games such as Dungeons&Dragons and Pathfinder, or perhaps the influence of one or more of the traditional magic groups, it tends to refer specifically to a shorthand way of effecting a psionic application or of casting a spell.
Rainsong
This is in contrast to effecting any type of magical or quasi-magical result at all, which is the implication of the dictionary usage.
Rainsong
And it is this “short-hand” part is what offends some of our magic-using colleagues. Not all of them, by any means. This is only a problem if you happen to be part of one of the groups that dislikes any hint of taking a short-cut.
Rainsong
Still, it’s often useful to be aware of the methods used by other people, so even if you wouldn’t think of using what we’ll be discussing, please feel free to stick around.
Rainsong
Are there any questions or comments before we continue?
ceahhettan
None here yet.
Rainsong
Now that we’ve established our Friendly Definition, why would anyone want a short-hand version of a psionic activity?
Rainsong
Efficiency, mostly.
Rainsong
Sometimes, you want to, for example, put up a Shield suddenly, and you need it fast and under circumstances that aren’t entirely conducive to concentration.
Rainsong
If you’ve set up a cantrip for a Shield suitable for the occasion, you can call that Shield into being with just a gesture or a word or whatever-trigger-you’ve-anchored-it-to instead of going through all the procedures on the spot.
Rainsong
You’re able to do this because you’ve done all the procedures in advance, in preparation, and just had it sitting around waiting to be triggered.
Rainsong
(I’ll explain what “anchoring” means, and how to set up a cantrip, in a moment.)
Rainsong
Cantrips are especially handy for folks who are either very susceptible to common input problems (I’m looking at you, fellow empaths and telepaths…), and for folks who are sufficiently skilled to make a particular skill work, but who still need a lot of time and concentration to get all the bits together for it.
Rainsong
Whether the “particular skill” is producing a red psi-cube for games of Shapes and Colours, or assembling touch-activated animated gargoyles for the house-Shields at Hallowe’en, casting a force-bubble around your car while crashing on an icy road in a sudden storm, or putting a healing modality such as Quantum Touch into use, the same basic principles apply.
Rainsong
So, yea, “mostly” for efficiency.
Rainsong
Cantrips are also good for shiggles, showing off, and generally being silly. If you’ve ever wanted to look like a movie-wizard when you do your stuff, this is how to do it.
Rainsong
Questions? Commentary?
Aureum Animus
Can you cantrip a cantrip?
ceahhettan
Cantrip inception?
Rainsong
Probably.
Rainsong
That’ll be more clear when we get to the how to
Wayfarer
You can cantrip a collection of cantrips for certain.
Wayfarer
But that’s for the how to.
ceahhettan
So yeah. It’s not that you snap your fingers and there’s a shield where there never was before, it’s that you spent time and effort erecting a shield and associating it with snapping your fingers in a specific motion until the former is a almost instinctual response to doing the latter. Because it doesn’t always have to be prepared and sitting there, as much?
Rainsong
Exactly
ceahhettan
You can get a cantrip to the point where it just compresses the process, as well.
ceahhettan
(Super useful for a “make the world quiet” shield.)
Rainsong
Certainly
Rainsong
The nutshell version setting up a cantrip is to establish an “anchor.”
Rainsong
We’re using the word “anchor” in the sense used by practitioners of hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming (“NLP”)…
Rainsong
… not the economic sense, and not the base sense of the noun as “a weighted object used for mooring a ship.”
Rainsong
In his article Anchoring (http://www.nlpu.com/Articles/artic28.htm), Robert Dilts says, “In NLP, ‘anchoring’ refers to the process of associating an internal response with some external or internal trigger so that the response may be quickly, and sometimes covertly, reaccessed. Anchoring is a process that on the surface is similar to the ‘conditioning’ technique used by Pavlov to create a link between the hearing of a bell and salivation in dogs.”
Rainsong
I’m not coming up with a better explanation, so I’m just quoting him directly.
Rainsong
For more NLP Anchoring stuff, check out these articles:
Or just run an Internet search on “anchoring NLP”…
ceahhettan
So the whole do it enough times repetition met you that I’ve always used basically is that. Neat-o.
Rainsong
😀
Rainsong
So, anyway, let’s get to the meat of the matter.
Rainsong
How to set up a cantrip 😀
Rainsong
Like so many other psionic activities, the first thing to do is to decide what you want to accomplish.
Rainsong
(This stage is overlooked far too often.)
Rainsong
By way of example, let’s pretend that we want to set up a cantrip for the force-bubble for emergency use that I mentioned in passing a moment ago.
Rainsong
It’s complicated enough to be useful, but isn’t an ideal beginning example, because size and location of the ward’s boundaries need to be decided when the cantrip is triggered later.
Rainsong
Don’t worry. We’ll also look at simpler examples.
Rainsong
What would you need in the programming for an emergency force-bubble?
ceahhettan
One of the characters on the new x-men universe show makes basically force bubbles. Alas that ours aren’t usually that effective.
Rainsong
Go ahead and list ’em. (I’ve got a list prepared for comparison… mostly to demonstrate that “while your car is crashing on the freeway” is not the time to figure this out.)
Aureum Animus
Bubble shape, outward direction for inflicted force, magnitude
silton2
Enough energy?
silton2
Repel programming?
ceahhettan
Density of some sort.
Rainsong
Anyone else have anything to add?
Rainsong
There’s the actual PK part: pushing outward against whatever it touches, of course. And Strength, durability, some “give” (flexibility in the shell, to take more of a potential impact -think ballistic gelatine, rather than acrylic or tempered glass), thickness, hollowness… Sure, you can make a solid force-bubble, if you want, but those are better used for hitting things with, rather than as defensive devices. You’ll also need to consider variable size and variable location.
Rainsong
What else? How long will it be set up to last? How will you dismantle it? How will it ‘dismantle’? Break into pieces? Disintegrate into pixels? How will it assemble? Ribbons, viscous bubble, pixels coming together? Will you bother to protect against hacking by other people? Should it deflect incoming objects, or trap them in its shell?
Rainsong
What about shape, colour, and other physical descriptors? If you use visualization to guide your construct-making, what kind of picture will you use? If you program your constructs in FORTRAN, maybe start writing the code for it.
Rainsong
Should it hide you, or just keep stuff out? Should it muffle noise (physical, psionic, or both)?
Rainsong
You can see why this can be complicated to make on the spot.
Rainsong
Now, one more thing to decide: Choose a gesture, word, phrase, or combination thereof that you’ll use to trigger the formation of the force-bubble in the future.
Rainsong
Once you’ve got all that sorted, construct a force-bubble. Make it as strong as you can manage.
Deo
That’s a lot of varialbles to keep track of, but I assume that’s part of the point. The more you personalize it the more of your will is woven into the can’t rip which makes it more powerful.
Rainsong
nods And also, some workings are complicated, and a nuisance to do from scratch when they are needed.
Rainsong
I used a force-bubble on my car, years ago, when I crashed in a snow storm, having hit a patch of “black ice” at the top of a hill.
ceahhettan
Huh. This actually makes me realise I don’t… exactly use visualization anymore. I just kind of do.
Rainsong
The tow-truck had to pull the car out of the side of a hill, where it was hidden to the front of the door.
ceahhettan
Also I wonder if one could make a force windshield and keep snow or rain off, at least briefly.
Rainsong
The tow-truck guy said he’d never seen anyone walk away from that kind of crash before.
Rainsong
I was able to drive the car home… not so much as a broken headlight
Wayfarer
I have made probability fields that keep snow and rain off, not really a force windshield but similar effect, @ceahhettan.
ceahhettan
nod. mostly that I’m finding snow on windshields very obnoxious the more that I experience it.
Rainsong
When the force bubble is constructed, … Feel around it, and ensure it’s exactly how you’d want future force-bubbles to be. Fix any weak spots. Check to be sure you’ve made the bottom and the back as strong as the top and the front.
Rainsong
Froody?
Rainsong
Alright, now with your attention still on the force-bubble you’ve created, make the gesture you’ve chosen and focus on whatever words are involved if any.
Rainsong
Keep those in mind while affirming to your own mind that you’ve created this force-bubble to anchor it to the gesture/words/whatever so that you will call forth a similar bubble in future by making that gesture/saying those words and thinking about or picturing the size and location of the new bubble.
Rainsong
For example, the gist of such an affirmation would be something like, “Whenever I wiggle my eyebrows, from this point in time forward, I shall thereby call forth a force-bubble like this one wherever I visualize it at that time.”
Rainsong
(You can see how a gesture might be easier than words, here…. But some folks like words.)
Rainsong
Anyway, focus on that for a few minutes, as confidently as you can.
Rainsong
Then collapse the bubble, have a snack, and do something else for a while.
Rainsong
Test it out later in the day, or the next day, by (in this example) wiggling your eyebrows and imagining the bubble around (for example) your journal.
Rainsong
You might need to repeat the process a few times to get it to stick. Because, like most things, setting cantrips takes practice.
Rainsong
Once you have it working, practice calling forth bubbles by using the anchor-trigger thing in question.
Rainsong
Note: It might also be smart to make a note of your cantrips. It’s surprisingly easy to forget which ones you’ve set up with what anchors.
Rainsong
And yes, you might have noticed that it’s actually necessary to be able to do whatever psionic application it is “long form” before making a cantrip of it.
Rainsong
In some cases, you’ll want to re-set it later, once you’re better at the long form, too, because there is a tendency for a cantrip to remain at whatever skill level you set it at originally.
Rainsong
That last part doesn’t hold true for everyone – but just in case it holds for you, keep it in mind.
Rainsong
Questions? Commentary? Before we look at a simpler example?
Rainsong
I’ll take that as a “no”
ShadowRain
None here
Rainsong
An obvious use for cantrips for simple things would be paintball and similar games.
Rainsong
Set up cantrips for “water-bomb psiballs” in order to call them into being quickly and easily, in the “heat of (fake) battle.”
Rainsong
So, what we’re looking at here is a relatively simple throwable psiball that produces an illusion of a water splash on impact with someone else’s Shields, and which disintegrates on that impact.
Rainsong
Easy, right?
Rainsong
Now for a gesture to use as the anchor.
Rainsong
How about tapping your left thumb and forefinger/index-finger together?
Rainsong
Alright, we’re good to go.
Rainsong
So, here again, make a nice psiball like that.
Rainsong
And once you’ve got your water-bomb psiball, start tapping your left thumb and fore-finger together.
Rainsong
Hold the water-bomb for a few minutes while concentrating on your intention to anchor the making of this kind of psiball to tapping your left thumb and forefinger, such that every time you tap that thumb and forefinger in future, doing so calls up another water-bomb.
Rainsong
When you’ve focused on that enough, go ahead and chuck the water-bomb against the wall or something. Done.
Rainsong
Test it out later. Re-set as needed. Practice periodically, and add it to your list of cantrips for future reference.
Rainsong
Questions? Commentary?
silton2
None here
Rainsong
Something else that cantrips are good for is short-cutting “getting into trance states” – Especially the ones that normally take half an hour or more of induction and deepening and steadying to do.
Rainsong
They can also be used to evoke emotions, change one emotion to another, and so on. Apparently, that’s a lot of what the NLP people use anchoring for.
Rainsong
Choose the signal-trigger-anchor thing, and get yourself into whatever trance state you want to attach a cantrip anchor to, or evoke (or fake) whatever emotion you feel like attaching a cantrip anchor to.
silton2
Can a cantrip be set for projection?
Rainsong
Focus on your intention to drop into that trance or transition to that emotion whenever you make that signal in the future. Come back to your “normal” state, and test the trigger.
Rainsong
Silton2: yes
Deo
All of this is quite interesting, thank you for the lecture.
Turbo
So, a question – relating to using a cantrip to set a mood, or a trance like state
Rainsong
Deo: Thanks. 😀
Turbo
How does one undo that. I still can’t listen to couple of songs without feeling the effects set in.
Forest_Horns
Rainsong when you have a few minutes could you send a force bubble over here?… I’m curious if they are similar/how they differ from what I use for pool
Deo
Welcome. It’s quite different from how I do things but I see the similarities. It may be useful in teaching people <3 Are these lectures saved BTW?
Simica
@Turbo that could also be the creators of the songs imprinting into the music
Turbo
Nah, I trained myself to trance over Sting’s “Desert Rose”
ShadowRain
Deo: they’ll be going up on the website when I sit down and do it, lol
Simica
Ahh
Turbo
But now I can’t shake it
Red
right on, turbo
Turbo
So I avoid that song
Rainsong
Turbo: I’d suggest actually reversing it. Set a cantrip for a different mood, or to fade such a mood. And then trigger it while listening to the song in question. Repeat as needed
Deo
Turbo if that dosent work drop me a line, I’ll see if I can untangle you.
Rainsong
Or to come out of trance/ wake up/different trance type
Wayfarer
lmao at Desert Rose as a trance trigger
Wayfarer
Whose idea was that?
Turbo
It wasn’t mine but another certain mutual aquaintence
Simica
Not me!
Wayfarer
The one I’m thinking of?
Turbo
Aliens? Yes
Wayfarer
lmao
Turbo
(Carry on :))
Rainsong
Forest-Horns: Sure. And it probably is. These are great for pool table pranks.
Forest_Horns
Some thing of a game I’ve spread across the mages I met is “as long as it stops when the game is done/isn’t damaging it’s legal”… it’s been hella fun
Forest_Horns
And also thanks 🙂
Rainsong
😀
Rainsong
Sooo, You may be noticing a pattern here:
Rainsong
Choose the objective, choose the signal, make the signal while at the objective, concentrate on connecting the two for future use, return to “normal condition”, and test.
Rainsong
For some kinds of trance states, it is much, much easier to have someone else both induce the trance and connect it to an anchor (or to record a self-hypnotic script to the same end) than to focus on practically anything while in that trance.
Rainsong
(In fact, this approach can be used for almost any kind of cantrip.)
Rainsong
You might deduce from this that yes, you can also set up a cantrip for someone else’s use. They still need to already be able to do whatever-it-is long-form already, though.
Rainsong
Or, you have to be able to transfer that skill directly to them. Some telepaths can do that, but beware of “compatibility issues” in the mental files. Sometimes borrowed files are like trying to run a Windows application on an iOS…
Rainsong
Thus endeth tonight’s prepared lesson. Any further questions? Commentary?
Aureum Animus
@Turbo amaranth would know about such manual deprogramming
Turbo
When you say They still need to already be able to do whatever-it-is long-form already, though. – Does that mean Expert kamehameha maker can’t make a cantrip for granny to use when she waggles her eyebrows?
Rainsong
Unless Expert Kamahameha Maker can imprint the skill, as well as set the cantrip, that’s correct.
ceahhettan
Alright I’m back.
Aureum Animus
Lesson on skill imprinting when?
ceahhettan
Had a bit of work come up.
Rainsong
Welcome back, Ceah
Deo
What is a Kamehameha Maker?
Rainsong
Would a class in imprinting be of interest?
Aureum Animus
Kamehameha is dragon ball z laser blast
Aureum Animus
Ye rain
Deo
Oh.
Rainsong
(Also the name of one of the – or possibly the – last king/s of Hawaii)
Deo
I see.
ceahhettan
Rainsong: Yes. Maybe next week as a follow up to this class?
Deo
Also I have another question, is there a difference between Energy and PK, if so, what is it?
Rainsong
DragonBAllZ references are generally tongue-in-cheek or outright sarcastic in this community, Deo. Don’t worry about it. 😉
Deo
Okay x3
ceahhettan
It seems like the reasonable path to follow from this.
Rainsong
PK – psychokinesis – is the actual act of moving or affecting physical substances or objects. “Energy” would be the oomph used to accomplish it.
Deo
Ahhh. I see. Thank you
Rainsong
You’re welcome. 😀
Rainsong
Gotta love those easy questions.
Deo
What I do tends to be… Manipulating the light and the threads that make things up, atleast that’s how I visualize it.
Deo
As if the universe is a giant tapestry and it can be woven. Altered.
ceahhettan
has a slightly different perception of things, but yeah. that seems like another way of seeing energy stuff as far as I can tell.
Deo
nods I get really Good results, which is why a lot of this is new to me. Self taught and I’ve never tried anything more… Structured. Going by nerd terms I lean closer to a Sorcerer than a Wizard.
ceahhettan
That’s fine. Most of us have been self taught on things to some extent or another, along the way. It’s just a matter of learning where your terms can mesh with the common community terminology. I would wager that most of when we say energy you could substitute light threads and have it work out for you.
Deo
You’re most likely not wrong smiles
Rainsong
The reason I very deliberately set out “Friendly Definitions” (a term I borrowed from a Statistics and Probability textbook) is precisely that there is a broad range of non-standardized terms in the energy-working/magic-user/sorcerer/psionicist/and-so-on community. Online and offline both.
Wayfarer
Everyone just use my terms tia~~
ceahhettan
For instance while I have a pretty good grasp of the tapestry of the universe and being, especially since much of my magical side of stuff involves actually spinning and weaving, I’d hardly usually call it light.
ceahhettan
But, I also spent way too long playing world of darkness.
Forest_Horns
Having a text book of definitions is useful… spent close to four hours catching up with a cerimonalist friend and most of that was clarification xD
Deo
I think as a practiconer becomes more confident they start to cultivate their own unique brand of magic. The standardized terms tend to work best for folks finding their feet but they should be encouraged to experiment and explore.
TehOldeSourcerer
Hi
Deo
Hello
Rainsong
Hi, Teh
Red
thank you for your lecture, rainsong :thumbsup:
Rainsong
Thank you for participating
TehOldeSourcerer
Sorry I missed it, had to go buy food among other things
Rainsong
Buying food is good.
Deo
It’s still there for more and you’ll be here for others~
Rainsong
Whole lecture is in text, so it remains for your reading pleasure.
Deo
I may be interested in hosting a lecture at some point about totems or another subject if possible. If be willing to go over the outline of it with someone when I’m at a computer and can type it up.
Rainsong
We can arrange a discussion of such plans at some point, sure.
Deo
Thank you
ceahhettan
There, finally got my keyboard out, I had forgotten how much better that is.
ceahhettan
Thanks for the lecture tonight, @Rainsong.
Rainsong
😀
Deo
<3 yeah, thanks again
Rainsong
😀
Rainsong
With any luck, something there might be useful to someone
ceahhettan
It was certainly interesting. I hadn’t actually paid much thought to the whole nlp anchoring concepts before, but shall be doing some more Reading later.
Forest_Horns
It was a nice review of another method for sure… thanks
Rainsong
I’m glad it was of interest
Rainsong
Comparative methodologies can be interesting, even if you never plan to use the other approaches, yea?
ceahhettan
Yeah. and I mean, it’s similar enough to stuff I’d stumbled onto on my own, anyway.
Rainsong
nods
Forest_Horns
Mhm… I tend to use the anchoring method you taught to night to “bridge” things together when playing with ritual
Rainsong
Oh, interesting.
Forest_Horns
Yea it’s not often it gets demanded that I do that specially not any more but when it does cutting hours of “space preparation” is always nice
Rainsong
I’d imagine so
Dr. Strange Stuff
Great lecture Rainsong, thank you so much for it. I learned a lot and I intend of practicing some cantrips very soon.
Dr. Strange Stuff
I would be very interested in a lecture on Imprinting, and also the opposite of what that is, (Not sure of the name/ wording of it).