I would like to share some experiences I have had while using machines to augment my magical practices in case anyone might find it interesting or may perhaps have some advice or criticism on the topic.
I have been practising magick for about two years now. I was into it in my late teens and early twenties, but went the way of atheism until around my fortieth birthday when I had an epiphany that put me back on a magickal path. I then discovered Chaos Magick and realised that this was the way that best suited my personality. When I decided to start practising magick I decided on the aesthetic of "technomage" because it sounded fun and suited my computer nerd ways. I didn't see a lot of stuff about such a path so I figured it would be fun to make make it up as I went.
I decided that wherever possible I would incorporate technology into my practice unless it seemed to impede progress or wasn't practical. For example I still use a candle oil burner as using an electric one isn't as elegant and doesn't add anything.
I have a small ritual area less than three square meters and a altar area. My altar area has two laptops, one additional monitor, two tablets, a musical sequencer (tenori-on), a LED light that can produce any colour an oil burner and a dream machine. I have a mind machine that connects into my tablet which I will talk about in a moment. My sword is an old homemade ruler passed down from my grandfather and yes my wand is a laser pointer.
I use the screens to display sigils and pictures that are pertinent to my ritual or meditation. I use one tablet for displaying tarot cards and personal sigils for meditation and I use my main tablet to display the sigil or whatever I am actively working on at the time.
The tenori-on is a strange little musical instrument which is basically a stand alone sequencer with a bunch of samples on board. It is fun to make music with but in a ritual context I use it mainly as a drum machine.
The dream machine, if you dont already know, is basically a rotating cylinder around a light bulb that produces a strobe effect. It is designed to be viewed with the eyes closed but I put a lower power bulb in mine so i just run it constantly when I am in my ritual space.
A mind machine is a set of glasses which have bright LED's which sit right in front of your eyes and produce a strobe effect that is controlled by software. Also designed to be viewed with the eyes closed.
My theory going into this was that much of magical practise is facilitated or dependant upon trance states or altered states of consciousness. I have had a lot of insightful experiences in my life while in states of altered consciousness induced with hallucinogenics and hypnotic drugs but I dont think such things are practical for day to day use.
Research and experience has shown me that bright strobing lights of specific frequencies and loud percussive beats of the same frequencies are very effective at producing trance states, it is why drums are used in shamanic practices. As far as I can tell however binaural beats do not have as much of a pronounced effect as simple drumming, but some people swear by them.
Your brain synchronises with the beats and the strobes so its possible to choose more or less the exact frequency that will dominate your brain for the work at hand.
My dream machine is set permanently at about 7Hz which is the low end of alpha state or beginning of theta state. This is a state that is characterised by deep relaxation like before sleep.
An example of a general ritual I would do in this setting would be as follows.
I would have everything turned on and running.
My drum machine is doing a loop that sounds like a typical shamanic beat of about 210bpm or 4Hz.
The dream machine is running. At 7Hz I cant set it at 4Hz and the drum machine at 7Hz is too fast to be relaxing.
I have my personal sigil which I use for my centring meditation displayed on the tablet.
My laptop screens are displaying the deities I work with or relevant sigils.
The oil burner is lit.
I then meditate for twenty minutes using my usual mantra just to focus my mind. My eyes focused on the dream machine.
Then I meditate on my personal sigil using its associated mantra to centre my self and to bring myself into a magical mindset. For around ten minutes.
I then perform my banishing ritual, one I designed myself based of common examples.
At this point I would be in a focused magical mindset and would be in a state of mind to create a sigil or to create some other magical art such as a talisman or servitor base or do divination. The dream machine and drum machine stay on throughout this.
If I was then launching a sigil or doing any kind of invocation or anything that required a full trance state I would put on my mind machine, and my headphones and turn the drums up loud.
I have been experimenting with different frequencies in this regard. I have found that if I am wanting to do a sustained trance such as doing some kind of communication or seeking visions then a frequency of 7Hz is good. I can get comfortable and sustain a trance at that frequency for a while along with four fold breathing to help focus to stop me getting too tired.
If I am charging a sigil or talisman however and want to induce a state of gnosis, I use a frequency of 4Hz. This is a deep theta trance state and its difficult to get to the sweet spot and not just fall asleep, so breath meditation is essential here. This frequency takes you to what I think of as a threshold state between conscious and unconscious. Inhibitory gnosis. When I am at the desired state I pull the glasses to the end of my nose so they are still shining up into my eyes, then I stare at the sigil on my tablet with a fixed stare at the centre of the sigil until I cant keep my eyes open, then when I close them and bring the glasses back up, the sigil afterimage is glowing brightly in my field of view with my eyes closed. I retain the threshold state as long as possible until the afterimage has faded. During this it is easy to keep a state of no mind as my mind is on the edge between sleeping and waking. I think of myself as an empty doorway through which the sigil and its intent are allowed to enter, as the emptiness between things.
I do a banishing then close up my temple and then go to bed, in this state I am not really capable to do anything, which my wife finds quite hilarious.
I have heard of other people using technology in different ways in regard to magick such as with VR and divination and sigil creation. I cant afford VR, and i prefer to do my sigils freehand on a tablet as I like the art of it. I am making an android app for myself as a kind of digital tarot but I am using Tommie Kelly's forty servants deck rather than tarot. I got a raspberry Pi which I was going to make into a table top using an old monitor to display a pentacle but i have another non magick project for that instead.
I do also work with other mediums such as with clay, threads, paint and plastic. I find magick=art and I dont limit myself to things of a high tech nature.
Thanks for reading and I would love to hear your questions, comments, advice.
