Solf J Kimblee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
explosivecombat) wrote2017-10-08 01:53 pm
explosivecombat) wrote2017-10-08 01:53 pm
NOTES - SAYAKA
I understand that it makes me something of a poor teacher to just throw notes at you and be done with it, but it's as I've told you before – I don't particularly have the temperament for it. That said, I imagine that having some sort of reference would be preferable to listening to me dictate everything and writing it down, anyway; this way you can just read over it as you see fit, and if something happens to be useful you can bear it in mind and come back to it later. This whole thing is meant as a starting point, besides; just something to give you ideas if you need any, and to help you begin to understand the basic process behind things.
The circle itself is the most important part of the array; it contains the energy you're going to be manipulating, and as such it must be perfect or you're going to have a rather bad situation on your hands rather quickly. It's something you'll want to do twice, an outer layer and one just inside it to serve as a bracing mechanism to ensure that your transmutation remains where you would like it to be contained. It should be drawn either on or around the materials you want to transmute.
There are a few basic alchemical symbols that I think will help you as you're just starting out – since you've already deduced the nature of how the energy will be conducted without my assistance, I've no doubt that you'll be able to sort out placement and the like. Obviously the center is where you're directing everything, either inward or outward, and the way your lines within the circle are drawn will dictate how it all converges back in on itself. More complicated designs do not necessarily grant you more power – for example, hexagrams are some of the most powerful signs we have despite being incredibly simple, because they allow you to incorporate all four elements of power at once – though if you like complicated things, that's likewise acceptable. I've seen both used to great effect; what matters is what you want to do, in the end.
Fire, air, earth and water, respectively. What they mean to you, individually, will ultimately affect what you're going to accomplish with them, but the basic alchemical meanings are as follows:
FIRE – primarily used for fusion or melting, though can also be considered cleansing/purification
AIR – infusing a substance with another, think of it as breathing life into something
EARTH – can be used for transmuting stone, metal and base minerals into one another, also for "grounding" your transmutation in a very literal sense
WATER – for the transmutation of things that involve any fluids of some sort, also a different form of cleansing/purification
This one is something that I recall but have never personally used, so take my words with a grain of salt – it's one of the crucible symbols for creation, and from what I remember it's best used for creating things out of raw materials rather than manipulating something that already exists. Again, though, it's something that will take on personal meaning for you as well, so it may be useful to you anyway.
This is the one that I believe you'll find most relevant; it's known as terra, I'm fairly sure, and it's the crucible symbol used for life manipulation, particularly as regards soils and fertility of natural life. Again, it isn't anything that I've ever used, so I can't give you much more than that, but I imagine it's an acceptable starting point in terms of comprehension.
These are things that can be placed within the boundaries of the circle itself; explaining the exact science behind why they work will take all day, but if that ends up interesting you I suppose that I can write it all down for you at a later date, as I don't particularly mind. What you need to know for the time being, however, just for the sake of playing around, is that the one on the left is generally used for transmutation of multiple materials, while the one on the right is for manipulating things to an extremely precise degree.
I suppose the simplest way for me to explain how the symbols work with one another is to briefly explain my own; I'm not concerned about you utilizing it, both because I don't think you would like the effect, and because on my actual arrays I've done several other things to the circle, outside of the basic design I've provided here – things that are understood by no one but me, and I'd quite prefer to keep it that way.
The design on the left is a combination of water and gold, something that I can use on its own to purify and encourage creation; the design to the right is a combination of fire and silver, which is primarily aimed towards destruction to encourage transformation (along the lines of razing a forest for new undergrowth to come forth, I suppose). I keep one of these arrays on my right hand, and the other on my left, and when they're brought together they form the design in the center, which is one of those hexagrams I mentioned earlier – which, again, is using all four elements at once – along with a gold/silver overlay, which creates a physical imbalance in anything that I touch once my arrays have been completed. The imbalance manifests as energy, which can then be conducted along any surface I choose to ultimately culminate in an explosion or detonation. (I can also create this imbalance in open air, but it's a far weaker and less precise reaction and I don't particularly like doing it unless I have to.)
Obviously, this won't be a concern until we've left this place, but it's something to think about anyway – that being the fact that how to activate an array is a matter that really can't be explained well or succinctly. It's something that will just feel right when you do it; it takes a fair amount of focus and practice to be able to access it at will, but it will become entirely natural with time and something that you don't actively have to think about to do.
There's a definite path to follow, though, in achieving that reaction in the first place; it's something that eventually becomes as natural as finding your way home again – a bit difficult at times, but something that feels comfortable and relieving when you manage it – but until you learn exactly where you're going, it's going to take some time to work out how you're going to get there. One of the things that many of us are taught in order to find such a path within ourselves is to spend time on focusing and understanding the concept of "one is all, and all is one" – it's a tenet that's incredibly personal for all of us, and while I can tell you what it means for me, it ultimately doesn't matter. What matters is what you decide to make of it, and once you've made that decision, that's going to be what assists you in finding your path and activating your alchemy.
Array activation is a wonderful process, by the way. For me, personally, it always leaves me feeling very connected with my own soul's presence in my body; I feel very aware of it when I work, it's something that I can feel particularly through my chest and spinal cord, and mentally speaking it leaves me feeling very elevated, for lack of a better word. Not euphoric, per se, just very connected to everything in a way that I usually am not. Hopefully it will feel that way to you, as well.
I believe that's enough for now – at least for the sake of giving you something to think about.
The circle itself is the most important part of the array; it contains the energy you're going to be manipulating, and as such it must be perfect or you're going to have a rather bad situation on your hands rather quickly. It's something you'll want to do twice, an outer layer and one just inside it to serve as a bracing mechanism to ensure that your transmutation remains where you would like it to be contained. It should be drawn either on or around the materials you want to transmute.
There are a few basic alchemical symbols that I think will help you as you're just starting out – since you've already deduced the nature of how the energy will be conducted without my assistance, I've no doubt that you'll be able to sort out placement and the like. Obviously the center is where you're directing everything, either inward or outward, and the way your lines within the circle are drawn will dictate how it all converges back in on itself. More complicated designs do not necessarily grant you more power – for example, hexagrams are some of the most powerful signs we have despite being incredibly simple, because they allow you to incorporate all four elements of power at once – though if you like complicated things, that's likewise acceptable. I've seen both used to great effect; what matters is what you want to do, in the end.
Fire, air, earth and water, respectively. What they mean to you, individually, will ultimately affect what you're going to accomplish with them, but the basic alchemical meanings are as follows:
FIRE – primarily used for fusion or melting, though can also be considered cleansing/purification
AIR – infusing a substance with another, think of it as breathing life into something
EARTH – can be used for transmuting stone, metal and base minerals into one another, also for "grounding" your transmutation in a very literal sense
WATER – for the transmutation of things that involve any fluids of some sort, also a different form of cleansing/purification
This one is something that I recall but have never personally used, so take my words with a grain of salt – it's one of the crucible symbols for creation, and from what I remember it's best used for creating things out of raw materials rather than manipulating something that already exists. Again, though, it's something that will take on personal meaning for you as well, so it may be useful to you anyway.
This is the one that I believe you'll find most relevant; it's known as terra, I'm fairly sure, and it's the crucible symbol used for life manipulation, particularly as regards soils and fertility of natural life. Again, it isn't anything that I've ever used, so I can't give you much more than that, but I imagine it's an acceptable starting point in terms of comprehension.
These are things that can be placed within the boundaries of the circle itself; explaining the exact science behind why they work will take all day, but if that ends up interesting you I suppose that I can write it all down for you at a later date, as I don't particularly mind. What you need to know for the time being, however, just for the sake of playing around, is that the one on the left is generally used for transmutation of multiple materials, while the one on the right is for manipulating things to an extremely precise degree.
I suppose the simplest way for me to explain how the symbols work with one another is to briefly explain my own; I'm not concerned about you utilizing it, both because I don't think you would like the effect, and because on my actual arrays I've done several other things to the circle, outside of the basic design I've provided here – things that are understood by no one but me, and I'd quite prefer to keep it that way.
The design on the left is a combination of water and gold, something that I can use on its own to purify and encourage creation; the design to the right is a combination of fire and silver, which is primarily aimed towards destruction to encourage transformation (along the lines of razing a forest for new undergrowth to come forth, I suppose). I keep one of these arrays on my right hand, and the other on my left, and when they're brought together they form the design in the center, which is one of those hexagrams I mentioned earlier – which, again, is using all four elements at once – along with a gold/silver overlay, which creates a physical imbalance in anything that I touch once my arrays have been completed. The imbalance manifests as energy, which can then be conducted along any surface I choose to ultimately culminate in an explosion or detonation. (I can also create this imbalance in open air, but it's a far weaker and less precise reaction and I don't particularly like doing it unless I have to.)
Obviously, this won't be a concern until we've left this place, but it's something to think about anyway – that being the fact that how to activate an array is a matter that really can't be explained well or succinctly. It's something that will just feel right when you do it; it takes a fair amount of focus and practice to be able to access it at will, but it will become entirely natural with time and something that you don't actively have to think about to do.
There's a definite path to follow, though, in achieving that reaction in the first place; it's something that eventually becomes as natural as finding your way home again – a bit difficult at times, but something that feels comfortable and relieving when you manage it – but until you learn exactly where you're going, it's going to take some time to work out how you're going to get there. One of the things that many of us are taught in order to find such a path within ourselves is to spend time on focusing and understanding the concept of "one is all, and all is one" – it's a tenet that's incredibly personal for all of us, and while I can tell you what it means for me, it ultimately doesn't matter. What matters is what you decide to make of it, and once you've made that decision, that's going to be what assists you in finding your path and activating your alchemy.
Array activation is a wonderful process, by the way. For me, personally, it always leaves me feeling very connected with my own soul's presence in my body; I feel very aware of it when I work, it's something that I can feel particularly through my chest and spinal cord, and mentally speaking it leaves me feeling very elevated, for lack of a better word. Not euphoric, per se, just very connected to everything in a way that I usually am not. Hopefully it will feel that way to you, as well.
I believe that's enough for now – at least for the sake of giving you something to think about.