PRELUDE: YOU ARE THE OPERATING SYSTEM: OS-LEVEL SPIRIT SYSTEMS
Alright, I’ve finally refined this to the point I think it warrants a sort of “how-to” article. I’ve always wanted to begin making content like this to help with what I consider the “degentrification of magick,” but I wanted to get to where I had the confidence and results to properly explain. This is different from other “spirit creation” guides you may encounter: this is specifically built around my own system framework—the “OS [Operating System]-Level Spirit System.” I call my particular empirical example of it the DDS or “DESPALMS DAEMON SYSTEM.” I will teach you how to create purpose-built “spirits” following that framework. How does such a spirit system differ from existing dogmatic systems? We need to cement that before we continue. Let's explore, as this is the key to understanding and hopefully harnessing my method as opposed to following an existing published process or framework.
The most obvious comparison is to a servitor--the creation is similar, but servitors are designed to be temporary and can become unstable or even dangerous if neglected or given too much leeway. My system spirits are systemic constructs--they are not separate entities, but segmented subroutines running in a conscious, consciousness-based operating system of my energy system and mental/magickal abilities. Their training and autonomy (to the extent they have it) is a matter of training and reprogramming my subconscious computation in a way that distinct segments, represented as these entities, can be created, called upon, and utilized to harness latent consciousness-based mind/reality manipulation otherwise inaccessible at a conscious level. To the extent they may develop a personality, they are subsets of me, reflections of myself--essentially a form of psychological shadow work applied for psychic outcomes. Like a program on a computer, they cannot function independently from the compute or storage layers--if somebody were to exactly copy an existing spirit of mine, it would not be the same entity for them or impact the spirit as it exists on my system. Spirits cannot be turned against me, as they are an extension of my own control.
There's no danger of parasitism or conscious drift like with a servitor--each operates strictly based on their purpose and programming on my own consciousness layers and in harmony with their respective chakra (where applicable, they are also assigned an etherifuel--a physical location they inhabit in my astral body for easy visualization/psychotangible feedback). Their permanency means they can exist in full form ready to be "run" again without constant energy provision to prevent destruction (again, unlike a traditional servitor). In addition, this permanency affords them an ever-evolving functional nature: as time goes on, the visualization of each grows easier. Their summoning is simplified. They begin to operate in the background as requested with more and more success, and only become more and more capable of fulfilling their functions.
The other obvious comparison would be to a tulpa--but tulpa are much different, though the creation process harbors some similarities. A tulpa is a simulated independent being with the goal of simulating truly free agency and autonomous companionship. They're coexistant in a similar way, but are still treated as separate entities with the goal being to externalize them as much as possible (and with some tulpa going on to exist separately from the creator and even harm or possess them). My spirits are capable of basic conversational feedback, but bound directly to my consciousness, "ego" and aura. There's no battle for autonomy, as their coexistence depends on my subconscious and conscious functioning in harmony and their will and "personality" are an extension of my own. They are self-written code running on an internal operating system as opposed to an attempt to create a homunculus-like being. They can be controlled and debugged as needed, risk-free.
The final clear parallel is to existing grimoire-and-sigil based systems, such as Enochian magick. While I do keep an ongoing grimoire containing details, names, and sigils of my spirits, it is based in subconscious/cybernetic theory instead of being bound to religious dogma/belief. There is no separate language needed to communicate with my spirits, because they are a part of me. There is no need for complex ritual temples and summoning tables, because they are always just on the cusp of my consciousness to be called forth as needed. There's no need for symbolic obfuscation of practices or beings--it's all very literal and "WYSIWIG." Most crucially, there's no danger involved with the entities--no need for binding, for careful negotiation, for contracts or the navigation of complex webs of alliances and pacts made with other magicians. In my system, I am the temple, the Key of Solomon, and the demons. The main similarity is in the use of sigils and names to identify/summon the "demons" in question--like with my system, I rather controversially believe that the entities presented in the Keys are not merely represented by their sigils, but rather that their "form" to the extent they have one IS the sigil--but that is neither here nor there for this entry.
STEP ONE: PURPOSE
The first step in spirit creation is to figure out what the need for the spirit is. This part is almost like the theoretical creation of the servitor--you must have a specific purpose in mind. The spirit can be for almost any intended purpose, but you should have an actual recurring need for it, as the best way to develop powerful spirits is to create permanent ones. As an example, I'll briefly go over several of my own spirits and their intended purpose(s)--this is just the ones focused on SMS/dreamwalking. This article originally had all of them listed, but it was already a bit lengthy and probably better suited to its own section, so the full grimoire is now hosted on a separate page (though I do encourage you to check it out before making your own).
2. SUNCOAST: SUNCOAST enables SMS in trance-state, for meditation or for dreaming, via the ASTRALNET protocol. Essentially it functions to broadcast an operator name, sigil, and frequency universally through the astral plane for SMS purposes and to open "ports" for SMS. Like all spirits in my system, it can be combined with others to form specific architectures--for instance, routing all astral traffic through PILLARPAL as a firewall first, having AOL scan and categorize/name any incoming entities, etc.
3. PILLARPAL: PILLARPAL is a defensive spirit, automating the creation of a magickal "firewall" against malicious intentions/entities and later developing a deflective/reflective magick protocol for added defense (zero magnification--only returning whatever is given). They're essential to safe and secure travel and operation within the astral plane and SMS, or can be deployed to protect against magickal warfare in the physical plane.
5. MEGCADE: MEGCADE serves as a charging/energy distribution engine. Draining energy from artifacts? Collecting and distributing environmental energy through passive draining? MEGCADE has me covered. They're also used to activate all chakras in anticipation for rituals or to "overclock" other spirits as needed in response to other events.
6. DIVECRE: DIVECRE records dream and/or SMS experiences for future retrieval while waking/out of gnosis, respectively. We're talking down to the level that I can recall specific prices to the cent of objects for sale in a dream mall, the exact colors and patterns of outfits, where exactly somebody has what color of piercing, etcetera--even days to weeks later. It can also be instructed to filter its recording and/or recall to focus on physical detail, dialogue, aura, emotional resonance, etc. Invoking it before a dreaming session or gnostic dive aids in the recall process as well.
7. EXTREVEC: EXTREVEC is a spirit-in-training for facilitating dreamwalking and SMS connections instead of just accepting them. It's used for attempted spawning into others' dreams, filtering potential candidates whose energy is welcoming/compatible, etc. Its sigil can be drawn in a lucid dream and/or SMS and opened into a physical portal--interestingly, with no input from me on it, the portals it creates are white instead of black (contrasting with those of, say, Aurelia). So far I've only managed to use these portals to quickly end a lucid dreaming session and return to a waking state with full/heightened memory through DIVECRE, but I'm early in the process of experimentation with it.
8. LUCIDOS: LUCIDOS is a dream-exclusive spirit that sends distortions/hints to trigger a lucid dream experience and then helps maintain dream/narrative coherence to allow for further exploration and attempted transformation of the dream plane into an SMS. It's also used to "Lucid Break" and access physical summoning of other spirits (for instance, EXTREVEC to attempt dreamwalking) and use of aura abilities/magick within a mental plane (for protection, testing, or prototyping) while aware of the dream state (and, by extension, by choosing not to "Lucid Break" one can continue the experience as normal without disruption or risk of waking).
See how while these integrate with each other well, there is no overlap in intended purpose? Each has its own specific place in my framework, and act as semi-autonomous astral/mental sub-processes. The biggest advantage of this compared to other techniques or rituals is the ability to easily call upon one or more for any given use case, like a method or function in a programming language. No need for a complex ceremonial ritual or a gnostic trance to accomplish a magickal task--the spirits can simply be invoked and trusted that they will fulfill their function to the best of their training/programming. They grow and improve with continuous usage and interaction.
(Also, note that the first initials of the 8 spirits from the full grimoire form an anagram for DESPALMS--hence the title)
This is also the stage where you’ll want to cement any intended system guardrails. For instance, I don’t want any of my magick to run the risk of harming anyone or anything—so there’s an overriding “do no harm” command in everything I program. This is even true in the case of reflection: PILLARPAL’s deflection/mirror function, for instance, doesn’t take on the typical “what you give comes back threefold” retaliation. Any magick aimed at me or my spirits/system is simply reflected/deflected exactly as it was sent: whether positive or negative. If somebody gets burned, they’re burning themselves, and no more. Even if you’re not quite this benevolent, it's still a good idea to implement some sort of exceptions so you don’t hurt yourself or anyone you don’t mean to (for instance, casting a chaos web to find a groundhog and you do—by getting hit by a car and knocked into a ditch next to a curious one).
For our example, let’s say you want to make a spirit to help you locate objects with a powerful spiritual charge (“artifacts” in CYBEROCCULT terminology) during your antiquing journeys. And your guardrail in this case, just for this example, is to make sure it’s not an object that houses any sort of malicious spirit.
Finally, with your purpose in mind, you may optionally also decide to connect it to a specific chakra(s) and/or etherifuel, though this can also be done at any time in the future as a program command. For instance, in the case of our example spirit, it's primarily an energy seeking spirit, so the third eye chakra may make the most sense and jumpstart its ability to perform its function. An etherifuel is the position in the body it resides as part of your overlapping etheric double: for instance, PILLARPAL's etherifuel is my right hand palm so I can easily channel energy to and from it with my existing aura practices, feel any attacks on it via pain in my right hand, clench my fist to activate the firewall as a "shortcut" for that function, and so on. Again, you can expound upon this later if you wish: you just have enough done now that you may figure this out as early as this point in the process, if you so desire.
STEP TWO: NAME YOUR SPIRIT
Still with me? Great. Step two is naming your spirit (mine are usually acronym based somehow--like AOL standing for Artificial Occult Lifeform). This is mostly important for being able to remember the spirit's name easily and recall which is which and what its defined purpose is. There's no rules beyond that--it can be ominous or silly, as mine seem to alternate between. This step is easy and brief. You've decided for this example scenario that its name will be HAUNTO P. BUEFORD, because of course it will—don’t ask me, you’re the one who came up with it in this scenario! See? Wow. You're done! Go you.
STEP THREE: THE SIGIL/VISUALIZATION
The next step is to create the sigil. For spirits following my system, the sigil IS the form the spirit takes: full visualization (ie overlaying reality view in gnosis) will literally be a form of that sigil existing in an animated projected form. Don't get mired in the dogma of the term, here--your sigil doesn't have to follow any given rules, nor does it have to be totally unique to anything you've ever seen geometrically. The spirit exists only as a part of you and operating in your own system--it does not have to be a unique universal identifier like an online game's username or like an externally summonable/existing entity. The important thing is for you to be able to easily remember it, trace it in your mindspace repeatedly, and visualize it as needed. It can be anything from a circle with a dot in the middle to an insane tangled web of circuitry, if you so desire and can keep up with that! I tend towards simple and distinct geometry that can be easily be called up as needed. Here are the sigils/visual forms of AOL and SUNCOAST (the rest, again, can be viewed on my grimoire page:
The goal (well, the first goal) is to be able to close your eyes and "trace" the sigil with your consciousness acting as a cursor. If you, like me, suffer from VSS (visual snow syndrome), this process may be simplified a bit and even capable with eyes open--it becomes a matter of solidifying the image out of the chaos and the "static," subtly manipulating it to form the linework of your spirit's sigil. This should be something you can at least somewhat reliably repeat to at least a modicum of precision and clarity. For HAUNTO, you decided on something like this:
It may take time and practice, and it may not always be doable (I'm not sure what all triggers the variations, but sometimes my VSS backs off enough that it takes almost the edge of a gnostic trance to re-engage it), but I promise both that it is possible and that anyone is capable of doing so. You should envision the name and purpose of your spirit during this process, as well--though this "envisioning" is more of a psycho-audible "thought" than it is a visualization. Eventually you will be able to just picture it in your head without the direct projection you can actually "see" to do most tasks with them, but it's important to go all the way with this during creation and the early training phases.
STEP FOUR: INVOCATION
So, you know what you need a spirit for. You know what it looks like. You can see it--literally. Awesome. Now comes the part where you begin to reprogram your consciousness and carve out that subconscious presence/subroutine.
If you’re going to infuse any level of ritual/ceremonial flair, this is where you’d want to do so. It won’t make a difference as far as “making the magick work” in the sense that one has to perfectly go through steps for summoning something from the Ars Goetia, but it may help you get in the right mindset. The important part, honestly, is to be in a state of calm focus and to have your third eye open. Whatever does or doesn’t help accomplish that goal may vary and is up to you. I’ve done this sitting at my desk by closing my eyes and breathing in a fully lit room, but if you feel better to be in the center of a magick circle with candles lit in a dark room playing slowed-and-reverbed Lady Gaga, go ham. Just know it’s not required.
You’ll want to have a basic idea of the invocation, though you don’t necessarily have to script it out. You can be as verbose with it as you’d like or as succinct, as long as you get in the necessary details: the spirit’s name, the role they’ll play in your system, any parameters, and any starting functions you want to train them on (you can expand these later).
Anyway, you’d get your third eye open, trace that sigil over and over in your mindspace until it’s such a strong visual you can see the lines like they’re burned in your retinas, and then while breathing deeply “into” it (this is mental, don’t overthink it—just a way to help direct intention), you could say:
“HAUNTO, this sigil is your form. I breathe the breath of life into you as part of my system, as a part of my operating system. I grant you the ability to seek out artifacts. You will guide me to them, passively seeking them out through my etheric faculties as I explore the waking day, and alert me when you find one, guiding me to it. You will avoid objects possessed by any sort of malicious entities.”
This is just an example, obviously. There’s nothing specifically “magick” about any one part of that or word or phrase, but it’s how you start programming the subroutine and training your conscious and unconscious mind to accept it. If you have a chakra(s) and/or etherifuel in mind, you can also include that here with a command like "You exist in the right arm of my etheric double and are connected to my third eye chakra, which will assist you in processing the information needed to perform your function." Or, you can add that at any point in the future: again, these are reusable and reprogrammible/evolving constructs on your "OS."
STEP FIVE: TRAINING
Now you’re on to training your spirit, and your mind—they’re the same thing, ultimately, so the process is singular. Optionally, you may start to envision a voice for your spirit and picture it “responding” to you—this is a good way to reinforce the desired function loops and outcomes. For instance, you can envision/trace the sigil and then command, in your mind:
“HAUNTO, seek this area for artifacts. Draw me towards them when found!”
And you can envision HAUNTO, in whatever sort of voice a spirit named HAUNTO would have, replying:
“UNDERSTOOD. I’LL BEGIN A SCAN.”
Then it’s a matter of allowing yourself to try to feel the response. You have to believe it’s going to work, or it won’t—since it’s entirely your mind that’s undertaking the functions to begin with. If you’re already able to somewhat do what the spirit does with other means—like use your aura to scan a small area—you can always sort of nudge it in the right direction by performing the function while training it and envisioning it doing the same.
This part is a bit like machine learning—you want to reward the algorithm for doing well. If you don’t have success, don’t be down on yourself, or on poor HAUNTO: just keep working at it. Each time you have a result—say, HAUNTO finds an object and says so, you feel a slight mental “tug” towards a section of the store and find an old hairpin that radiates energy—be sure to encourage it. “Awesome job, HAUNTO! Just like that.” Or something. You know HAUNTO better than I do at this point, you know what makes sense to say.
Repetition begets improvement. Progress may not be linear. Even the ability to see or feel HAUNTO may not be linear. But over time, you will start to have results—so tangible they will likely shock you. But they shouldn’t, because of course it worked! That’s literally what you trained it—trained YOUR subconscious/unconscious reality manipulation abilities in this simulated, consciousness projected existence—to do.
Good job, HAUNTO!
(There’s a lot more to say on this topic—lots of examples, and a lot to be said about making rituals involving multiple spirits to act as complex functions and designing/training them to work together. I’ll do a follow-up article at some point, I’m sure.)