Instructor: Rainsong
Date: September 28, 2019 (Saturday)
Seminar: Topic: Constructs, common issues for beginners — Saturday, 28 September, 2019 at 6:30pm/1830hr New York Time — text format in the PSC #lecture room (Discord) — Instructor: Rainsong — Search LECTURE95
TehOldeSourcerer: Hi
Rainsong: Hi
TehOldeSourcerer: Haven’t had time to see a lecture in a while
Rainsong: Do you have a particular psionics-related topic you’d like to see covered?
TehOldeSourcerer: Thinking on that. Nothing much has been on my mind other than construct creation and meditation. Construct creation has been on my mind more as I try to navigate the confusion about thoughtforms, servitors and tulpas.
TehOldeSourcerer: Been attempting to come up with a way to explain these to others in a way that covers what one should avoid doing as a beginner, pitfalls you can find in your creation of these all these mental creations, etc.
Rainsong: Alright… Constructs it is.
Rainsong: As mentioned in the main chatroom, I won’t be discussing tulpas, because I don’t know enough about them to comment intelligently, so I have almost no chance at all of cutting through all the rubbish that’s grown up about them in recent times.
Rainsong: Thoughtforms and constructs are overlapping concepts, essentially the same things, with some traditions making small distinctions in usage.
Rainsong: Not touching that one, either, because in this part of the ‘psionics world’, typically the two terms are interchangeable
Rainsong: Most of the problems beginners have with constructs is that they attempt to do things too complicated and too complex for their level of skill…
Rainsong: …and usually too complex for their intended purpose, which can result in anything from mere inefficiency to (hilariously) backfiring
Rainsong: Or, even more frequently, simply failing to produce anything more than a transient blob of stuff
Rainsong: For example, on of the first constructs a beginner tends to be taught – around the same time as or just after the ubiquitous psiball – is a Shield
Rainsong: Mirrors, marshmallows, stone towers, and such. Nice, simple, functional defences
TehOldeSourcerer: One of my first attempts at making a construct was making something that looked like a star wars Walker, put a bunch of instructions on it and it didn’t do anything as instructions contradicted
TehOldeSourcerer: After that I went onto simpler things
Chirotractor: flowcharts are your friends
Rainsong: This is true.
Rainsong: When first learning Shielding, a surprisingly large number of noobs try to combine several kinds of Shield into one layer.
TehOldeSourcerer: I used to spend a fair amount of time on Reddit looking for posts that refer to constructs like we are referring to them on here. Never really found much, a lot of it was saddled with mysticism and philisophy to the point it became confusing
TehOldeSourcerer: My first few Shields were basic bubbled or just flat planes
TehOldeSourcerer: The bubbles worked very well back when I would have parasites try and attach themselves to me
Chirotractor: best practice is learning how to secrete acid through your skin
Kal El: I have some experience with shielding but as I am new here, I would venture to say that I might be talking about a different kind of shielding.
Rainsong: Such caution in new communities is wise, Kal El. In this context “Shielding” refers to psionic and psychic defences, usually but not always in the form of some kind of construct
TehOldeSourcerer: One thing I have noticed with some beginners I have talked to in regards to construct making is expecting that things like complex symbols and/or structures are required. That has led to some making hyper elaborate constructs that were basically paper-thin
Rainsong: “Paper-thin” is better than most beginners’ attempts when they try hyper-complex things.
TehOldeSourcerer: Aye that’s true
Rainsong: The symbol thing is something I mostly see from people coming from a background in ceremonial magic and its offshoots
TehOldeSourcerer: True. Most of the people I have seen online for example that were focused on the idea of using symbols were from the R/Occult discord Server and subreddig
Rainsong: A stone tower shield, for instance, uses a basic structure: stones or bricks. Many people can manage a stone or brick shape.
Rainsong: While psionics can arguably considered a flavour of magic, it is not occult. Anyone with an internet connection or access to the major bookstores can learn about it pretty easily. Actually turning the book knowledge into results? That takes work… but it still isn’t hidden
Kal El: If I may, what exactly is this community prepared to shield their thoughts from?
Chirotractor: I mean you can do that with pretty much any occult thing at this point
TehOldeSourcerer: One method I used a lot in the past when I was just starting out and shared with some beginner friends was creating a stone wall construct to guard against things like psychic attacks, negative emotional energy, etc.
Rainsong: Kal El: Most common use is to keep other people’s thoughts and emotions out, and to politely keep from broadcasting everything one is thinking at the same time. It’s more of a health-and-comfort thing than a privacy issue
Rainsong: Chiro: Yep… so, not much is still occult, yea?
Rainsong: Shielding in other forms is also used for various games: concealing your location in games of paintball, for example, or directing attention away from parts of the chessboard. I hasten to add that this ought only be done when it is openly part of the ‘house rules’…. when doing such things without the other players’ consent, it’s cheating
TehOldeSourcerer: Internet also makes it hard to keep information hidden. In the past a lot of information on magick practices would be full of philosophy and jargon that people can get access to in a clear way that cuts through a lot of the jargon
Rainsong: And for some of us, shielding is required to avoid having all our electronics fail to work or outright explode
Chirotractor: there’s no rule that says a dog can’t play basketball
TehOldeSourcerer: Aye tech can malfunction if it’s around a lot of energy
Rainsong: Kal El: Does that answer your question adequately?
TehOldeSourcerer: Is there anything you’d say one should avoid doing when it comes to makinh constructs and thoughtforms, regardless of skill level?
Rainsong: I’d advise against making them self-replicating, and against generalised AI
Rainsong: If you’re wondering about the first one, the old tale of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” bears some review
Rainsong: As for the second, programming gets corrupted over time
Rainsong: At best, it’s eventually going to fail … possibly spectacularly so
Rainsong: At worst, you have an insane sentient being on your hands
TehOldeSourcerer: Usually when I make them they have a very specific task to perform, and then it is dissipated. Those are like a robot with a very simple program to do one thing
Rainsong: “Go to this location, record this data, return and upload that data’… something along those lines?
Rainsong: “Follow this signature through the internet, bop this person upside the head, and ground to earth”
Kal El: Like I said, I’m new here. So I do have questions about your expertise, Rainsong. And I mean this in the nicest way possible: How do you know all this.
Rainsong: Nothing wrong with asking such things.
TehOldeSourcerer: Aye, or “convert this energy to thus type of energy, standby for absorbing, dissipate”
Rainsong: The short, easy answer is a combination of study and practice going back several decades, and with access to lots of documentation and some very skillful instructors
Chirotractor: she’s a wizard yo
Chirotractor: “It’s magic; I ain’t gotta explain shit.”
TehOldeSourcerer: In my case it started with various supernatural experiences, some of them with what I could describe as ghosts, that got me searching for information and started me down a rabbit hole that eventually led me to see the supernatural as a natural part of the world.
TehOldeSourcerer: This is more like a science than a mystical philosophy to me
Rainsong: I don’t get into the philosophy of it much, beyond: if you wouldn’t do something with other means, you probably oughtn’t do it with psionics either
Rainsong: Any further questions or comments?
TehOldeSourcerer: Do you have any stories of thoughtforms going wrong that you think are worth sharing?
Rainsong: Re thoughtforms, Teh, I don’t think it would be appropriate to spin those stories without the relevant people being here to defend themselves
TehOldeSourcerer: Ah np
Rainsong: Thanks for participating 🙂