Bow

[AngelAriel]

Hiyas!
So, like...I made a bow !(as in bow and arrow, not a bow tie or a hair wrap...though I could try making a pretty sigil with a hair bow...hmmmmmm)
....
And added a sigil to it to make it a banishing bow!

So...I've been thinking of a name, and I'm thinking "Thunder Bow" because I view thunder and lightning to be A. Shocking and B. Refreshing. I kind of had Doumeki in mind when I made it.
However...I don't know how I would fit this into a ritual...or if I should have a ritual at all when using it. Any suggestions?

[Azkhet]

For some reason I keep imagining Link zapping the shit out of bats in a dungeon somewhere. I propose that.

Amusingly, a bow and arrow are part of the set of ritual tools in the cult of Tubal-Cain.

[AngelAriel]

I've never heard of it.

Do you like video games? I've noticed on the site you make a lot of link references. Link and whatever game he plays in is cool and all....but I much rather prefer final fantasy. Preferably VIII.

Nah, the bow and arrow are used in shinto religions as an exorcising tool...I discovered this morning. That is why so many anime characters use a bow to get rid of evil, supposedly.

[Azkhet]

I have been on a Link/Zelda kick recently because I just finished watching The Legend of Neil again. I do not enjoy anime, so the art style/storyline of the FF series to me just isn't engaging.

My baseline magical paradigm assumes that magic functions by means of programming the mind as an interface for reality. I don't mean that in some bizarre wannabe techno-sounding New Age retard babble. I believe my brain is literally a computer that can be programmed - not hardware, but wetware. If I write good code and run it through the compiler of my subconscious, the new program will hopefully do something. The first sigils I used to make when I was 14 were written in C++ in the high school computer lab. :-) I believe that different systems of magic are like different software suites that run on top of my wetware, provided my wetware has the correct upgrades and drivers installed and peripherals available - in other words, that I've done the prerequisite psychic calisthenics and I have the ritual tools necessary. This is the type of thinking that also makes me give instructions for servitors written as wiring diagrams, lol.

I did not know that about Shinto.

[AngelAriel]

That is very interesting. I knew that you were sending "vibes" of being some sort of mathematician. I totally understand and agree with how you view magick. Personally, I'm kind of new, so I don't really know. I more so view it, at the moment, as fundamentally being a language in which everyone knows, or has to know, intuitively. It's a similar reason for how airports have switch to using imagery to communicate ideas rather than just spelling it out. Ironically, I guess, probably reasonably so given all the chaos material I have read thus far, I view magick to be like language and culture. I'm not a linguist per se, but I work with words, writing and communication (in addition to visual communication with art) quite frequently. I do love math, but I have often found myself in a conundrum where I want everything to be mathmatically and rationally sound, and It kind of makes me look away from the creative aspect of things. For example, with the bow, that, in my opinion, was an example in which I made something somewhat creative, but I didn't, and kind of don't, have a "mathematical" use for...I feel like I am constantly on the edge of left and right brain. It's useful, but It's frustrating as hell. I wish there were a third part where I could function...well...functionally, lol. [crazy]

I more so like the story line and concepts behind FFVII....even though it's an outdated, and sometimes pixilated, hot mess.

[Azkhet]

I initially double majored in math and comp sci. Then the .com crash happened and I decided I liked eating more than I liked intellectual stimulation, and I went to nursing school instead.

If you're interested in how words structure thinking (and thus our realities) you seriously need to look at Magic, Power, Language, Symbol by Dunn. He takes a linguist-magician's view of how language affects thinking, explains exactly how barbarous tongues work (including a technical explanation of the power of glossolalia) and a TON of other stuff. I know your reading list is out of control at this point, but you seriously have to tack this book on if that's how you view the world. Have you read the appendix in the back of 1984 (have you read 1984?)

[Asurendra]

Do you feel that the Thunder is your 'dominant' Element? Perhaps you should try and incorporate what is your 'strongest power' into the weapon. What is his or her personality like? Also, if you don't already take archery classes. By working with it in the physical world you improve your skill on the astral. I train in Suio-Ryu which is based mainly on the katana and wakazashi since these are my main weapons.
The name of my sword is Raion-no-Raito; 'Light on the Thunder Cloud.'

In Inuyasha Kikiyo-dono and Kagome use a bow. I hope you intend to be more like them than the Quincy (Bleach). If you're going down that path then I'll have to list you as a 'foe.'

http://www.zenko.org/bows.htm

Math is of the Devil.

[AngelAriel]

I initially double majored in math and comp sci. Then the .com crash happened and I decided I liked eating more than I liked intellectual stimulation, and I went to nursing school instead.

If you're interested in how words structure thinking (and thus our realities) you seriously need to look at Magic, Power, Language, Symbol by Dunn. He takes a linguist-magician's view of how language affects thinking, explains exactly how barbarous tongues work (including a technical explanation of the power of glossolalia) and a TON of other stuff. I know your reading list is out of control at this point, but you seriously have to tack this book on if that's how you view the world. Have you read the appendix in the back of 1984 (have you read 1984?)

That most definitely sounds like a cool book! I can clear a book in about three days, but I would much rather actually find a hard copy to read as a book rather than on the computer...It's probably healthier too.
I have never read 1984, lol....Some of the items on my reading list will have to wait until I am actively working again so I can purchase it...legitimately.

Do you feel that the Thunder is your 'dominant' Element? Perhaps you should try and incorporate what is your 'strongest power' into the weapon. What is his or her personality like? Also, if you don't already take archery classes. By working with it in the physical world you improve your skill on the astral. I train in Suio-Ryu which is based mainly on the katana and wakazashi since these are my main weapons.
The name of my sword is Raion-no-Raito; 'Light on the Thunder Cloud.'

In Inuyasha Kikiyo-dono and Kagome use a bow. I hope you intend to be more like them than the Quincy (Bleach). If you're going down that path then I'll have to list you as a 'foe.'

http://www.zenko.org/bows.htm

Math is of the Devil.

I personally like a little bit of everything, but I don't know exactly what I am. I like thunderstorms because they're scary and fun, but I also like big ass bonfires to roast marshmallows over, and seascapes, and the wind during a cool spring day (as in, weather in March). If you are talking about astrological elements, my sun is in Pisces (Water) in the Scorpio decanate, my moon is in the third decanate of sagittarius (fire), and my ascendant is Aquarius (Air)...but from what I understand...and I could be wrong, a lot of people don't really subscribe to astrology...

I am more so shooting (No pun intended) for Shizuka Doumeki and/or his grandfather from XXX Holic.

[Azkhet]

That most definitely sounds like a cool book! I can clear a book in about three days, but I would much rather actually find a hard copy to read as a book rather than on the computer...It's probably healthier too.
I have never read 1984, lol....Some of the items on my reading list will have to wait until I am actively working again so I can purchase it...legitimately.

The reason I ask about 1984 is because a major plot device in the book is the destruction of language. Take all the different ways you can say "good": good, great, awesome, best, fine, etc. Why have all these words with their useless shades of meaning when you really just need a set of superlatives like good, plusgood, and doubleplusgood? Eradicate all the extra words from the language, and you control how people think. There's an extensive appendix in the back that talks about the structure of Newspeak and why Orwell set it up in the way that he did, which sounds right up your alley. It also talks about concepts like doublethink, which is to believe two completely contradictory things at the same time. Another book you might look into is Ayn Rand's Anthem; it has to do with a society where they eliminated the word "I."

[AngelAriel]

I'll add the book and the newspeak book to the list. I actually read anthem back in highschool.

[Asurendra]

What are your plans for your bow?

[AngelAriel]

What are your plans for your bow?

It was made and sigiled to be a banishing tool as well as a way to release stress when I was angry. I imagined putting a picture of the home i'm living in, and putting it in the center of a bull's eye, and shooting the target as a way get rid of negative energies in the house. I have also tried using it in part of the banishing/cleaning ritual the awesome Azkhet had recommended in another thread.

Sooooo...that was the intention. I may need to make anotherone...or maybe make some better arrows because it's not shooting in a "dart like" fashion as I would prefer. There's not enough power behind it.

In mental world. however. I imagine arrows of lightning when cleaning my room. I'm not sure if this would work, but I have been sleeping pretty soundly as of late...but it could just all be in my head instead of being because of the bow....or it could be both the bow and the ritual.