Pictorial World

Visual arts, music, poetry and other forms of art.
Angolmois

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Angolmois »

Kavi wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:47 pmI listened today evangelical Christians years and years old sermon about demonic influence of tattoos and their function as a gate for evil and I thought immediately about this thread for some reason. Demonization of tattoos is not right but I started to think if the preacher was in some sense correct of it's connection to astral, which would be the same reason why I don't like "poem/text tattoos" as a good idea. It's difficult topic to discuss especially because I don't have one.
Tattoos are certainly some powerful magic which is why I have never gotten any, since I couldn't be sure if I'd regret the choice; that and monetary issues. CoS claimed some years ago that the tattoo trend was started by them in the 70's and it was a deliberate magical action.
User avatar
Polyhymnia
Posts: 518
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:20 pm

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Polyhymnia »

Recently I've been studying Sak Yant in an attempt to connect deeper to my Thai roots. I believe they've been around for a couple thousand years. They are placed on the recipient by a monk or an ajarn (essentially a former monk who is a Sak Yant master) and the tattoos are intended as an act of ritual magic, acting as a talisman to bring the person receiving it blessings for whatever it is they've chosen. I had considered maybe getting one on my next trip to visit family, but my mother has asked me to wait until she's dead because she can't stand the thought of me placing "something so evil" on my body.
Now I might just not do it because Angelina Jolie has influenced a whole generation of "woke folk" to get them, but certainly not because I feel they're evil. Your comments do make me pause to think, however, on how careful I must be if I do go forward with it. Some of my tattoos already serve magical purposes, but the act of receiving them wasn't an act of ritual in itself, whereas a yantric tattoo would be. I think there would have to be a very specific connection with the ajarn or monk giving the tattoo.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
Kavi
Posts: 473
Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 4:52 pm

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Kavi »

Polyhymnia wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:35 pm Recently I've been studying Sak Yant in an attempt to connect deeper to my Thai roots. I believe they've been around for a couple thousand years. They are placed on the recipient by a monk or an ajarn (essentially a former monk who is a Sak Yant master) and the tattoos are intended as an act of ritual magic, acting as a talisman to bring the person receiving it blessings for whatever it is they've chosen. I had considered maybe getting one on my next trip to visit family, but my mother has asked me to wait until she's dead because she can't stand the thought of me placing "something so evil" on my body.
Now I might just not do it because Angelina Jolie has influenced a whole generation of "woke folk" to get them, but certainly not because I feel they're evil. Your comments do make me pause to think, however, on how careful I must be if I do go forward with it. Some of my tattoos already serve magical purposes, but the act of receiving them wasn't an act of ritual in itself, whereas a yantric tattoo would be. I think there would have to be a very specific connection with the ajarn or monk giving the tattoo.
I think one might go from ditch to a gutter here. What I like to think about is stopping to compare oneself with others and what is more important is finding the important meaning. But I understand this annoying social phenomena.

The idea of initiation or rite is quite beautiful too I think and sometimes people take tattoo after hard time or event they have survived over.
In same way connecting to Thai roots by taking tattoo, to me seems like very beautiful idea and I think it's not uncommon to take tattoo, feel stronger connection or even learn the language while living in other culture.
User avatar
Polyhymnia
Posts: 518
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:20 pm

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Polyhymnia »

You are right, of course, and I am definitely being a big baby about it :lol:

I'm hoping my adventures in academia lead me back to Thailand once this plague business is manageable. I have buddhist family there who I'm hoping will take me to the temples for a more intimate experience than my first experience, which was very much that of a tourist. It's been over two decades since my last trip, so I think it's time to go home.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
User avatar
Nefastos
Posts: 3029
Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 10:05 am
Location: Helsinki

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Nefastos »

Kavi wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:47 pmOnce I came with the thought that each social media platform corresponds with some cardinal sin. Albeit their is more to Instagram but one I thought was envy.

This is a wonderful idea! Are we perchance talking in the sphere of Pride here in the forum, then, looking down on the other forms of discussion??
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
User avatar
Nahumatarah
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:08 pm
Location: Pohjola

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Nahumatarah »

As I mentioned earlier in introductions, I'm dyslexic, and for someone like me I think there are possibilities yet to be discovered in condensed pictorial communication. Even though I struggle with reading, my interests seem to revolve around things that require a lot of it. I practice reading and writing daily to improve as much as possible. I'm not a severe case, though. I learned to read early but still performed badly in school. Right now when I'm writing this I utilize a software to help formulate my sentences and fix my grammar. I also use speech to text converting software to produce text for later editing. Writing this way is still pretty tasking, and time consuming, but I take that as a practice towards improvement as well.

My reading fluency and comprehension fluctuates depending upon subject matter. When it comes to reading fiction I've missed out on it almost entirely, which leaves me feeling very uncultured all too often. I have read embarrassingly little fiction, since it's so tasking to me. I do like short stories and poems. Longer works of fiction would take me considerably too long to go through. When it comes to forums like these it's a bit easier, since the topics belong to my special interests and there's no rush so I can read the posts several times over and take my time answering.

To help digest what I'm reading, I utilize many types of visual aids. I copy short excerpts from texts, and couple them with representations such as glyphs, graphs, photos or whatever. These visual representations become sort of pictorial "keys" or sigils imprinted in my mind. If I need to remember something I start by thinking about these representations. As the image appears in my mind it's associations follow. Austin Osman Spare and people who later adapted some of his ideas have formulated many similar techniques and formulas for the purpose of imprinting magical sigils to the subconscious. I find these techniques of "sigilization" to be very effective, although I use them differently. So basically I turn your favorite grimoires into scrapbooks. They are indeed nothing like the original, and probably useless to anyone but me though.

Sounds and sensations also translate to images in my head almost without influence. I heavily associate certain sounds with certain colors, gradients, patterns and movement. I don't think it's synesthesia but those descriptions sound close. I can't completely turn it off, but it's not uncomfortable either. I love sound collages composed of field recordings, natural ambience and heavily manipulated samples. Dissonance and noise when applied musically are very visual and ethereal to me.

Summa summarum, my world is very pictorial and I would probably struggle in a more text based society. Smartphones and related portable tech were game changing for me. They allowed me to really start catching up on reading due to being able to adjust the experience (certain fonts are easier on me, et cetera), and also made writing so much easier thanks to predictive typing, and other aids I mentioned above whilst not being tied on up personal computer, which I don't enjoy using that much now that it has become almost obsolete to me.
"The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire."

- Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī
User avatar
Benemal
Posts: 562
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:24 pm
Location: South-Fin

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Benemal »

Nahumatarah wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:07 pm When it comes to forums like these it's a bit easier, since the topics belong to my special interests and there's no rush so I can read the posts several times over and take my time answering.
Reverse for me. I can't read through topics and take adequate time answering, because it's so taxing, being on a forum. I can read a 900 page book in three days, but reading two pages online hurts. This hypersensitivity recently became worse and just writing this now, is a deliberate effort, to advance working out this problem.

That sensory data confusion sounds all very familiar. Especially as a kid, it was intense. For example, I saw mathematics as colors and shapes, and always got it all correct, A+. Some form of synesthesia, I guess. I suspect I know the reason for it, but for now I'll leave that out of public discussion.

I'm very visual, but I consume words a lot. When reading a book, about anything, I see it all, so it's not really letters, that's why I'm not good at writing. I can write a bit, because I've read so many books. If I read about a city 2500 years ago, I see it, and can construct a detailed 3d model, where events take place. That's a very psychedelic experience of time-space dissociation. In dreams, it's sometimes so powerful, that the "real world" feels like a black and white photo, of a farmer with a donkey, in Poland 1920.
User avatar
Nahumatarah
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:08 pm
Location: Pohjola

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Nahumatarah »

When it comes to most things pertaining to this sensory data confusion like I said there's rarely any discomfort involved. I don't know if it's because I'm adjusted to it or something else but I can enjoy it most of the time. When I was younger I did a lot of experimenting with it. These days I just let it happen and try not to influence it.

I daydream a lot. I have been like this since forever. Imagination allows me to build entire cities and dimensions but I try to restrain that as well so as not to get too intoxicated on it. There has been no talk on my part about aspects as of yet, and I guess it's a bit early at this point but I feel the description of the Red calling me.
The Red Aspect wrote:The Red brother or sister finds their place in the threshold between the astral and physical worlds; observing both but never carelessly falling into either of them.
Funny enough, red is even probably my favorite color. It's very soothing. I love it to death especially when mixed with blue to achieve rose-magenta-purple. It's in most things I love like the fuchsia ("verenpisara") flowers.
Benemal wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 2:33 amhypersensitivity
Hypersensitivity sounds familiar. I often get sensory overload in crowded places with a lot of (uncomfortable) external stimuli. It causes me to zone out to the neutral. I have learned to adjust to it pretty well though since this is quite common for me. Symptoms in my case have also lessened with age. I have nervous system related photophobia (for those wondering it's not an actual phobia but the medical term for the experience of discomfort to the eyes due to light exposure, or by presence of actual physical sensitivity of the eyes.) Speaking of which, I have to say that this forum is absolutely great for my eyes due to black background and color scheme. Never change it please.

I use a lot of smart bulbs and controllable LEDs around my apartment that can be dimmed. The idea of such bright light sources may seem a bit counterproductive at first but it's all about experimentation: where you put them, shading, diffusing and color. I install them to places where they don't shine on me directly like under furniture, et cetera and rarely if ever use ceiling lights. Colors with long low temperature/wavelength such as reds seem to help coupled with other non-direct light sources.

Once again as a testament to my dual sided nature I used to go to underground techno parties when I was younger. My symptoms worsened there due to lots of high intensity flickering, flashing and strobing of lights so I started to wear sunglasses to those events. Drawback to this was that people then started assuming I must either be a gangster or an undercover cop so I started wearing big red heart shaped glasses instead of the regular old black ray bans to signal that I'm all about peace, love and cooperation.

Ceremonial magic to me is one way to help battle sensory overload and sloth. Even if it heightens my senses in sometimes uncomfortable ways it also works to counteract this. I adapt a lot of Star of Azazel formulas in the same way, for example Lesser Banishing Ritual of The Pentagram Works. No doubt i don't need to explain this to most people here but it's not about cruelly or violently exorcising spirits but a constant calibration and attunement of the instruments.

Circling back to the picturesque, I try to avoid TV & Films today. It's hard though since I love them but it's also one thing I seem to have a tendency to overdo. Very colorful surreal movies and shows are one of my greatest pleasures especially when shot to film. There is something about the grains and colors in the analog format that seems yet missing from the digital medium. Hipsterish I know but I'm being honest here.
Polyhymnia wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:35 pmSak Yant
I'm fascinated by Sak Yant. If anyone happens to know any good books on the subject, please let me know. I'm not planning on getting one though, just curious. I have some small tattoos done in ritual with just a bone needle, no machine, and ink mixed with various ingredients of magical potency in hidden areas of body to serve magical purposes. (Serious warning to readers: do not mix anything with your tattoo inks and or use DIY tattoo kits in case you are not 100% sure what you are doing. This can be potentially very dangerous to your health.)
"The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire."

- Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī
User avatar
Benemal
Posts: 562
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:24 pm
Location: South-Fin

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Benemal »

Nahumatarah wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 1:00 pm Very colorful surreal movies and shows are one of my greatest pleasures especially when shot to film. There is something about the grains and colors in the analog format that seems yet missing from the digital medium.
Modern films that look good mostly avoid digital porridge. Though rarely actually shot on film, talented filmmakers still want something physical there, to shoot, to light and to actors to interact with. Tomorrow I'll post about two films related to the Cult Of Cage, that I watched recently.
Nahumatarah wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 1:00 pm Imagination allows me to build entire cities and dimensions but I try to restrain that as well so as not to get too intoxicated on it.
I don't restrain it at all, flying as high, or low as I can. This relates to a "religious experience" that I still can't really understand, after over a decade. This again is challenging stuff that belongs in a philosophical topic. I mean challenging for me.
User avatar
Benemal
Posts: 562
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:24 pm
Location: South-Fin

Re: Pictorial World

Post by Benemal »

Benemal wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:11 pm I don't restrain it at all, flying as high, or low as I can.
That was a little misleadingly put. I meant that I'm not afraid. When I was seeing terrible things every night, I lost all fear, after a year, then it continued for two more. I've heard that's what war is like, feeling like you're dead already. I thought it would never end, then it did. Terrible things were replaced with indescribable visions and trips to living illustrations of other places. Many times I've hoped that it would just stop, but no. I have no choice but to take the ride over and over, and the fear was burned out a long time ago.
Locked