Golems, Tulpas, and Egregores, Oh My! (Thought Form types)

 

“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.”

Iris Murdoch

Thought forms are an interesting concept and manifestation. Some are living representations of ideas or beings, and others tease our subconscious into creating our own reality. Some of these representations are made in the form of a humanoid and function as their own being, and others are simply thoughts themselves.

This is a brief overview of a few different types of thought forms.

1. Golem. Golems are thought forms that are brought to life and usually are programmed with only one command. These beings are very useful until their programming is completed. A golem, may become destructive after it finishes its purpose. Usually, you give a golem a name, and say the name backwards to undo it, or traditionally by removing a letter that equals to a word of uncreation. They are also usually tied to a clay vessel. Some people believe that if you break the vessel, you will “kill” or free the golem.
2. Servitor. These types of thought forms are created with sigils, and are either fed directly on the sigil or housed in a box or tiny home. These beings, unlike golems, can be programmed for more than one task, and sometimes can even gain their own sentience. They still do not have free will, even as a sentient being. Like a small child, they have the ability to become destructive if they have no boundaries. You can destroy them by burning the sigil and burying the ashes, breaking the vessel (if you used other material than paper), or burying the sigil after covering it in black wax with binding sigils.
3. Tulpas. This is a thought form originally described in Buddhist doctrine. It is a being created from the power of your own mind. In Buddhism, it wasn’t just about the creation, but also was used as a a type of spiritual body for astral travel. Some people even use them as a companion. Many people believe that tulpas have a more material form, like ‘real’ beings. These beings can gain their own sentience and essentially become it’s own soul and being. They are independent of the creator, but are connected and share experiences with the creator. They still serve its creator in this state, though a few stories say that they can become their own independent entity. It is good to remember that any time we share a direct bond with any entity, even a thought form, anything traumatic it experiences – even death – can be directed to the person whom it is attached.
4. Egregores. These are actually quite similar to tulpas. The difference is this is made by a group of people and is program for various tasks. These thought forms are meant to be a way to influence people and events, versus actually changing events itself. This takes a group to maintain. Some egregores, while they may develop a type of sentience close to artificial intelligence, are still controlled by the original group of people that created it. Egregores can be created both consciously and subconsciously. For example, when people begin to believe in a folk legend, an egregore may develop. This is because people are feeding their energy and beliefs into a single idea.
5. Poppets. These are also known as sympathy puppets. These are usually a representation of an actual person. These can be used for curses or healing, including on yourself. Poppets are usually filled with a personal belonging of the person that they are using the doll on. Some people even place a picture of the target on the face to direct the spells. When you want to get rid of the poppet, you can take the essence out of it, pick it apart, then burn it. If you are planning to curse the target, you may leave it as is and put it in a box and/or bury it.
6. Actual Thoughts. These are the most common of thought forms. Your thoughts shape your world, and errant thoughts can also effect others. You may notice you can influence people with ‘negative’ thoughts and ‘good’ thoughts. An errant thought is when you think something, but don’t direct the intention and it goes where it may. Some of these thoughts will sit in one place, and will effect how the location feels. Usually these are described as negative or positive energy – which are caused by thoughts and actions of those that have been there previously. These are relatively easy to banish. There are times when an exorcism versus a banishing is needed. I find that the former seems to be needed more commonly when you live in an apartment complex or with lots of people. The energy will stay, because it is still being perpetuated by other residents. It should be noted that most thoughts do not carry enough energy to perpetuate their existence and quickly dissipate.
7. Unconscious Thought Forms. Unconscious thought forms are inanimate objects and ideas that are given power through belief. These are also frequently called correspondences when using them in rituals. These can be sigils of ideas, candle colors, incense correlations to beings or ideas, symbols, etc. These have gained power because people believed that these objects and ideas represented a certain idea. An example is the idea that frankincense is connected to angels because it is mentioned as one the gifts Jesus receives in the New Testament. Another example is that certain sounds correlate with the chakras, or mantras that can manifest a single idea.
8. Meme Thought Forms. These are ideas that people latch on to, then give them power through belief. The main requirement is that these are ideas that spread like wildfire and influence a large group of people. This could be any idea or concept, true or not, such as believing the Earth is flat. It also happens when meshing various ideas, such as mixing pantheons together or assigning other gods from different pantheons to your own beliefs. As long as others pick up on it and carry the idea, like a virus, then it would be considered a ‘meme’.
9. Created Gods, Demons, Angels, and entities. Creation of deities and entities is nothing new. It has been going on since man conceived that there were beings that controlled the weather and hunt. ALL known Gods are a thought form; a facade. There are real beings behind the gods, but the idea of that particular god is a thought that correlates to the time, place, and ideals of the people worshiping it. The same with Goetic demons. Some of these thought forms do have actual entities possess them, like a costume. I always describe these types of thought forms like Batman; Bruce Wayne is Batman, but Batman is not Bruce Wayne.

These are some of the basic and most common thought forms. Knowing what they are, and their abilities can be advantageous when doing ritual or spellwork. Though some of the thought forms are non-sentient and do not have the ability to think for itself, ethics should be considered when creating a being of any sentient level. I was taught ethics regarding golems by the high priest in the first temple I joined. It was a decision we had to make ourself. It is a big decision, and required we also had the capability to take care of one. Consider carefully when creating thought forms.

Lastly, remember you are the creator and destroyer of these beings, and as such you are a god. By treating them as you wish to be treated is a great way to understand leadership and how souls operate.

-Arachnia Stoneskull

Art Credit: “Schizophrenia” by Erik Baumann

Intention is Not Everything; Manifestation Gone Awry

 

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

-Old Proverb

Modern magic and religious practitioners have taken on a new attitude and view regarding moralism; that is to say what is moral and right. In order to be more inclusive, they propound falsities that everyone is equal in skill, everyone is ‘right’, everyone has the ability to create world wide change, and everyone has wisdom residing in them. These are widely distributed ideas that have harmed and undermined the work of true adepts. The truth is not everyone has the same skills, opinion is not fact, most people lead insignificant lives on a world-wide scale, and there are some people that don’t contain an ounce of common sense in them. This leads to one of the most destructive thoughts in magic – “Intention is everything”.

I’ve practiced awhile, and take note of how my curses and blessings effect others. I have also discussed this subject with several professional and knowledgeable practitioners. The conclusion is this – intention does not effect the result or consequence of your magic. Sometimes our best intentions have caused ourselves, or others, great harm.

Intentions are toted as the great panacea of avoiding ‘bad karma’ or ‘black magic’, even if the magic itself is actually creating opportunity to harm another, or control their Will. A lot of people practicing ‘white magic’ will hold the same rituals as those practicing ‘black magic’, only changing the name of the deity and some of the wording. Changing a deity’s name, or the intention of something already possessed of an egregorian power, doesn’t change what you’re doing or trying to accomplish. If you do a love spell to bind a specific person to you, despite changing the name Lilith to Aphrodite, and calling on Light versus Darkness – you are still influencing another’s will, which is still considered ‘black magic’. Your intention does not change that.

Intention can also be seen as a ‘wish’. It is a wish about a specific and successful outcome. This is a great start to inspire and organize a ritual. However, it is only a wish and not the reality of what may happen.

It should also be noted that your actions are your own; and if you cause harm, you are the perpetrator and at fault despite your original intent.

Intention versus Consequence

Inspiration and ideas are everywhere we look. One of the greatest things about the human mind is that it has the ability to make connections and create new ideas. This is a great gift. Most humans have the ability of imagination and invention, which plays a large part in successful rituals.

Intention is how you view or imagine an idea to be based on your personal experiences and worldview. It is the Will being formed versus the Will in action. It is the idea forming and preparing to come into existence. It is a wish; a desire; a passion. It is our imagination coming out to play. It is a beginning.

Intention, however, is not as powerful as when these ideas and creations are implemented and put into action. We can intend to do anything all we want, but it is inert without action. This holds true in magic, too. This is why curses and blessings don’t always work – they are a ‘wish’ that loses inertia.

Intention is also colored and biased. We think of what we desire, and even if we contemplate it for awhile, we are asserting our own Will and current beliefs in our ritual and magic. For instance, if you view everything as Dark, you may think your intention to harm others is only successful if the person suffers. Say you decide that you want to curse someone to lose their job and monetary savings. It happens and you are satisfied at first. Then you noticed it did more good than harm – the person gets a better job, learns a new skill, gets their act together, or even thrives off the chaos and becomes a successful business owner or lecturer. The results may have nothing do with your expectations or intention.

Another example is the spell where some witches tried to bind President Trump. The current United States President is a volatile and aggressive speaker, and his actions offend many people. The intention of the spell was good – to prevent him from saying and doing harmful things to the citizens of the U.S. However, their intention has actually facilitated harm. Through use of incorrect correspondences, not reprogramming the egregore already set in place through cultural values and magic in the color orange, and improper naming, they didn’t bind his body and spirit from doing harm. Rather they bound his ability to be creative, have proper communication, practice good leadership skills, joy, and warmth (compassion). They activated the egregore already attached to the color orange, and bound him through the current programming of that egregore. This is because the actual spell does not contain a way to properly bind intention to candle, despite the color. Because of this, their spells have caused more harm than good. In fact, it may have been better to bestow, rather than bind, these values through the color orange (which they chose for his ‘skin’ color versus actual color correspondence). That way he would perhaps have exhibited, rather than suppressed, those qualities. As you can see, intention had nothing to do with the actual outcome of the spell – and the consequence was actually the opposite intended.

This also goes along with the best of intentions, not just harming and binding. I have seen healers accidentally curse people. I have seen people encourage others to proceed with the false vision of ‘Light’ as protection that led to complete destruction of several people that believe them. I have seen people have good intentions in preaching their religion, or even praying for people, that have caused curse-like effects.

These are just a few examples of intention going awry.

A New Approach

Armed with this knowledge and reading the experiences of others, this may lead to a bit of conundrum. How do you set your intention and focus your Will to create a successful ritual with the intended outcome?

I propose that instead of having ‘intention’, which is colored by bias and emotion, to actually decide what you wish to accomplish without an emotional attachment. Next, you will create and release the energy by strictly programming in parameters of the spell. Then accept the consequences of the results – for better or worse. Being a true adept isn’t strictly about success – it is about learning from your failures and building a better system. This includes taking responsibility for your own actions, and not displacing blame on ‘intention’ or ‘doing the right thing’. These are perceptions and only have value in the human world, not Universe Law.

Going by the adage, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” is a good guideline. It’s not karma, it’s not the Rule of Three, it’s not Fate – it is just consequence, which can be unpredictable and highly volatile. This doesn’t mean that the consequence you receive will always be malevolent or beneficial based on your motives, just that all actions have results. The Universe will eventually right itself, whether through creation or destruction. You can see this when an abundance of ‘good’ actions can lead to great ‘evil’. We see this even now in our world, because instead of trying to find balance and compromise, people choose sides based on emotion and opinion. This has led to a halt in progress in our world. These ‘good’ intentions caused harm by creating a vast dichotomy between opposing views of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ based on self-righteousness.

Knowing the truth about intention, opinion, and worldview gives the practitioner tools to opens up to more possibilities. It can help one to evaluate their self and find underlying meaning to their current actions. This also allows more freedom, as you realize there is no color or moral meaning attached to energy and magic. You’ll be able to operate based on your goals versus decisions made from guilt and shame. Your limitations will only be those you put on yourself.

Stay informed, and Hail Self!

-Arachnia Stoneskull

Photo Credit: “A Burning Heart” Artist Unknown