"A woman named Legba, a witch, enjoys cybersex and morphing because "they can be intensely magical. It's a very, very easy way of shapechanging." Legba likens this to the traditional shamans, who she says are "between genders, or doubly gendered." Moreover, "morphing and net.sex can have an intensity and unsettling effect on the psyche, one that enables the ecstaic state from which pagan magic is done."
This was from a much larger article on technoshamanism. I parced out this part because shapechanging has been a concept that I've explored a lot on this blog and it's one of the more interesting aspects to me of shamanic magic. This aspect of it, is of course tied into cyberculture, and is one of the ways in which the internet and magic have crossroaded concepts. The notion that you could be someone who you were not, whether that was a change in name, a change in location, gender, or history has been around ever since people started communicating on the internet. It's a pretty fascinating thing that one of our first instincts when presented with a new reality to paint on is to change ourselves.
But I think the magical power of this phenomena is something that a lot of people let go by the wayside. The internet offers up a very easy way to wear another skin and dance around for a bit in it. And in so doing feel that kind of identity displacement that makes for very effective shamanic practice.
And then if one can then bring that identity they have crafted on the net back into reality, they'll have taught themselves a very valuable magical skill.
You may think this doesn't have any real world practicality, but it does. Particularly in the transgender community, which because of the internet, is allowed to start transitioning on the internet before any transition happens offline. This is most interesting because it is becoming pretty common for transgender net users to craft a very thorough projection of their female or male or androgynous self into the net. and then over time their real lives begin to flicker and change in congruence with that online projection. To me this is one of the greatest proofs of the validity of technoshamanism. Of course the next step is to do that sort of reflection much more quickly, and craft several different shapes to morph through.
1 comment:
First of all, i'd like to congratulate you on this blog. Even though i've only been reading it for a few weeks, the kind of subjects you approach and the way you do it are both very very interesting.
Praises aside, i agree with your view on technoshamanism. From a slightly different perspective, this kind of magickal work also shows a great deal of healing potential. I believe that, in some cases of depression, there are many technoshamanic techniques that provide a kind of training ground for those that aren't adapted to society, and that grief over it (I'm thinking, specifically, in Second Life). Like you said, one can indeed try to shape oneself and bring it back to the offline world. Even though it's not as easy as it seems, it may feel like a kind of "social training".
So, all in all, (sorry for the long comment), i think that internet represents not only an extended reality of sorts, but also provides adicional ways for Man to deal with himself.
Post a Comment