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Toon wards and avatars?

XXII:X:II = XXX

14:29 / 23.10.02

Since I was about 8 I've always considered the figure of Voltron as my personal guardian, the defender of my own universe. The Blazing Sword is some sliver of the self that is so pure that it can, without fail, dispatch any threats. It is for this reason that whenever I've tried my hand at magick that I've envisioned Voltron as my ward, ready to slice the shit out of anything that would attempt to fuck with me in that exposed state. Voltron is rife with religious iconography, from the cross on his chest to the Herculean lion headdress to the pentagram on his belt to the aspect of the horned god from paganism to the Hindu face of Krishna to the wings and sword of God from an Enochian archangel.

Now, however, as I've been developing the Vladimir J. Baptiste, Jr. fictionsuit, I got a message the other evening as I was laying in bed falling asleep: Baptiste is NOT a new expression of myself. In fact, it is the "porting," to borrow a computer term, of an earlier idealized self that has been with me since I was at least 2. In its original (and still existent) form, this personality was totemized by a small Snoopy doll I received on my 2nd birthday, which I have always referred to as "Junior." Snoopy is an expression of the lighter aspect of Loki and Coyote and Mercury, the trickster god who takes on many an alternate identity, all of which are completely real to him despite the mundane trying to make itself known to him. In fact, Snoopy, of all the Peanuts characters, is the most fully realized individual, and has the fewest hangups, lives an unassuming life of opulence (remember the Van Goghs hanging over the billiard tables in the den of his doghouse?) and is anything but that role that he would seem to have been handed by life.

And so, it became obvious to me that rather than any archetype of a jetset playboy or swinging bachelor or international man of mystery, I have for about a year been slowly attempting to change myself into Snoopy. If you needed any further proof, the all-white wardrobe when I am Baptiste, topped by the silver aviator goggles, should probably shore-up that argument.

So... am I the only one who's come to terms with the fact that I'm trying to change myself into a cartoon character as the aspect of a godform, or has anyone else experienced this also?

XXII:X:II = XXX

13:43 / 24.10.02

Oh, FINE, so I'm the only one who's using a cartoon beagle as a godform. And I suppose you're all channelling Burroughs or Alice B. Toklas. Feh.

14:49 / 24.10.02

LMAO, this is too funny.

*Ahem*

Of course, it has some validity as far as chaos magickal acts go.

I ask you though, Vlad, where does Woodstock fit into all this?

16:21 / 24.10.02

Its not what I do, but I think it is perfectly valid and I may use the idea at some point. Voltron especially. Actually, I rather did lift his sword for my own uses already. One of my last ditch instinctive defenses is to banish by cutting whatever it is in half with a blazing sword, which I'm sure is highly influenced by Voltron, who still resonates as a powerful figure for me today.

As another amusing observation, anyone notice what rune is on the hood of the Mach 5? Ehwaz - the horse

Actually, I do know someone who works with Superman as a godform. He is, after all, the perfection of morality and unstoppable power. He always beats the baddy, and always does the "right thing", even if it is likely to get him kiled. WWSMD?

XXII:X:II = XXX

03:39 / 25.10.02

MT: where does Woodstock fit into all this?

Dude, "Woodstock"? I mean, just think for one second about the name! Very possibly the very embodiment of what the 60's meant to people.

01:53 / 26.10.02

Actually, I've been doing this (without thinking of it as magick) since I was 14 with the DC characters The Flash, and then finally, Impulse. I found myself needing to be a lot more impulsive or, basically, missing out on a lot of stuff. So slowly I've gotten quite a few of the character's qualities (both good and bad): Impulsiveness, Enthusiasm, Innocence, but also Impatients.

Ten years later (I'm now 24), I've found that I've out grown this persona and am now developing another one. I need a good fiction character to invoke!

The Tower Always Falls

14:04 / 26.10.02

"Of course, why not?" is my short answer.

A more thought out one is that there isn't much difference to me between your traditional "gods" and cartoons anyway. I have a sneaking suspicion that most myths we know of today WERE cartoons, or the oral equivalent of cheap entertainment anyway. I regularly wonder what would happen if we transported a Navajo from four hundred years ago or so to modern day. After the ensuing madnness and culture shock, assuming he or she is coherent enough to speak they'd probably say "Why the hell are there so many books and scholars on Coyote? Don't you know those stories are for kids?!?"

I wonder if four hundred years from now archeologists will dig up Hollywood and hold up "Dumb and Dumnber" as one of the greatest trickster myths of our culture. They'd analyze how Jim Carey was the taboo breaker and glibly pointed out our faults and foibles as a culture. They'd illustrate how many people gained great wisdom from these stories- such as his famous "The Grinch" and it's commentary on societal castes and fashion. And then Citzen Kane gets shoved aside as a footnote for real hardcore new agey college kids and geeky professors into Ancient Euro-American culture to discover.

Hell, I bet Grandfather Coyote would get Snoopy wasted on Jack Daniels and they'd go beat the hell out of some Quakers if they could.

19:31 / 26.10.02

I'm using a variety of anime, comic and cartoon characters in a tarot deck I'm making for myself, stealing images from here there and everywhere. I don't know that I consider any of them a personal avatar or god, but they're definitely iconic and archetypical.

00:14 / 27.10.02

isn't there an old thread somewhere of someone claiming to have used the marvel comics character moon knight to get laid?

02:17 / 27.10.02

I might have said this too many times around here, but I have used the X Men archetypes/thoughtforms in chaos magick invocation, and they have worked relatively fine. Some of them are hard to bargain with, some others have very obscure motivations.

Nietzsch E. Coyote

06:05 / 27.10.02

I have been in dialogue with Batman for years. He shows up in various dreams and workings whether I want him to or not. What I find most interesting is that he changes form. One dream he will be comic Batman, the next movie Batman and sometimes campy 70s TV Batman. No Robin though.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

06:05 / 27.10.02

I have always thought that any sort of Godhead evocation can be anything that means something specific to you. Grant Morrison used John Lennon, and in the past I have used fictional characters...some of which were comic book characters.

To varying degrees of success.

Batman has been an avatar of Justice, Superman of Hope, Spider-Man of triumph over doubt, The Thing of stregth, and the like.

It's all in what works for you.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

08:25 / 27.10.02

Hmm. This is interesting to me because I'm planning a working with Getafix the Druid soon (y'know, the guy from the Asterix stories). I want him to cook me up some of that magic potion.

13:09 / 27.10.02

isn't there an old thread somewhere of someone claiming to have used the marvel comics character moon knight to get laid?

There sure is.

SEX SPELL for you, from me

XXII:X:II = XXX

13:47 / 28.10.02

Hell, I bet Grandfather Coyote would get Snoopy wasted on Jack Daniels and they'd go beat the hell out of some Quakers if they could.

This image pleases me more than you can imagine.

On a personal note, and having to do with the figure of Coyote, and perhaps my recontextualization of such, I was dismayed to learn from my father on Saturday that a professor emeritus at my alma mater died over the summer. His name was Jack Hartman, a psych professor, but had been dubbed "Coyote" by an African student, and wrote for my short-lived zine Tomorrow's Toilet Paper Today under that name, as well as posted "anonymous" flyers around campus signed with a paw print. He was often to be found around campus with a fishing cap and a pipe clenched in his teeth, and always had a story to tell. I'd long planned to immortalize him in a comic series based on my college experience; now I have even more reason to.

Shortly after learning this, I found a copy of the Chip Kidd "Peanuts" book at the Strand for $23 and promptly snatched it up. I think someone is trying to tell me something.

05:23 / 01.06.03

Hn. Me, I'm a bit of a otaku choate, though I am working on building my own archetypes. I've got a lot of ideas, but have yet to build up the skills to use them. For example, I got into servitor creation because I wanted to see if I could make a Stand.