the very very basics of daemons

[kirjavaa]

As you probally all figured, im the shiney n00b, hello to all...I discovered this forum after following a link from your sister forum if you will, on Livejournal.

So anyway...I'm a bit muddled when it comes to spirituality, and my beliefs have run pretty much through everything a young person ends up experimenting with at one time or another...Raised Roman Catholic, I dabbled a bit in Buddhism, called myself a Wiccan for a while, beleived in Otherkin (well...I knew about Otherkin for a relativley short period of time, while my beleif in it extended to my childhood before I even had the vocabulary to express what it was I thought I beleived) and now just kind of flounder in a mixed up muddle of beleifs as to what I think belongs to this concrete world and what spiritual aspects I actually think exist.

The idea of people having daemons isn't unfamilar to me...I've been reading HDM ever since the first book came out, so that would make it about 8-9 years that I've known about these sort of things...I remember always wishing that I could see other people's daemons, or my own, but never actually beleiving that they were real...It was always a kind of wishful thinking for me.

In any case...There have been times, when I think what I may have experienced is the presence of my daemon. It will only be when I'm alone, outdoors, walking about, feeling content and independant, enjoying a beautiful day with no one to tell me where to go, no one to direct me as to what I need to do...Times like this I get the sensation of the presence of a bobcat , prowling alongside me, taking in the beautiful outdoors and enjoying it even more then I am. It's fleeting, but unmistakable. But I don't know if it's just me enjoying myself, or me sensing some other part of myself with me.

How do you know? How have others in this forum discovered how to interact with their daemons? How do you know it's not just your own imagination answering yourself because you want it to be a daemon answering you? How do you speak with them, learn their names, see them, touch them? And how do you know it's real?

This is all written with all due respect; I'm not trying to tell you that what you see isn't happening. I'm just trying to get answers so I can understand it and mabye experience it for myself.

[ice]

First of all, welcome to the forum. I'm Ice, and fuzzy here's called Lassut. If you haven't already, say hi in the General Chat forum.

..........................~=WELCOME=~.............................

To answer all of your questions, visit daemons.envy.nu, which I believe is currently down.

Otherwise, just start a conversation with your dæmon, and go from there. Clear your mind, and talk.

[cock of teh walk]

Good question.
Im interested in daemons for aesthetic reasons. Im not interested in spiritual depth of character, or personal growth, in that area. So me and my daemon don't have strong communication, there isn't alot of verbal interaction. I want to know what he looks like because it says things about me, and I want to discover those things. Mostly, it is myself answering. I learned his name by naming him. I see him by closing my eyes at the right times. Its about knowing yourself and accurate guessing.
You can never touch him. I think of it like people here , in this world , have been sortof internally reversed seperated . Instead of being cut away from your daemon, your put together, you on the outside, him on the inside. Like you opened your mouth up absurdly wide and shoved your daemon down your throat. and he landed somewhere around under your stomach.
As for this concept being real - What is real?
Thats my personal take on your questions. Probably it doesnt even answer them.

[kirjavaa]

To Ice, thanks for the welcome and pointing out where I should have gone first ;D

To RabbitBoy...it's not answers I'm looking for, because I know in spiritual matters there are no real answers...What I am looking for is insight, and that's what you helped me with by sharing you point of view...So in a way, by not answering, you helped ;D

It most definitley helped me understand what it means to have any kind of relationship with a daemon...I am curious about what you mean by interest for aesthetic reasons, as opposed to growth or development...

[cock of teh walk]

oh, well your welcome then .
Ill take '...' as a question, I mean ,I only realized this awhile ago, but all I care about with daemons if my daemon, and what form hes taking . Basically, what he looks like. And thats it really. We don't have conversations really. Hes more like a boy version of me. Maybe you get it now? yes?

[kirjavaa]

That's what I thought you meant but I didn't want to assume in case I had misunderstood

So basically you've looked deeper into learning about daemons because you like having that other version of you and seeing the different shapes he can take...It's interesting.

I was young enough to have a still shifting daemon when I first read about them in HDM, but I wrote it off as being wishful thinking on my part...It makes me kind of sad now, because I missed out on the part of my life where I could have percieved the different shapes he might have taken.

[Tyrannus et Callida]

I interact with my dæmon in a strange, trance-like state. I can't control when this state occurs; it just happens.

Well, if you believe that dæmons are real, then they are real. It's just like religeon. You don't question religeon because it's a belief. Belief makes something real to the believer. The stronger the belief, the more real they get, until you can actually feel their touch. I can feel Syriel's touch, because I believe I can feel it.

Believe what you wish, but that's how I know my dæmon is real.

[rave & phair]

A few people here who discovered their dæmons after they settled went through a short phase of manic changing--as if to make up for lost time. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it's an interesting phenomenon.

[cock of teh walk]

Yes, but theres a certain sense of satisfaction and security that comes with knowing who you are . ( which you get when your daemon settles, I assume )

By the way, who is kitten? From your signature.

[kirjavaa]

TyrannisUmbra said:

Well, if you believe that dæmons are real, then they are real. It's just like religeon. You don't question religeon because it's a belief. Belief makes something real to the believer. The stronger the belief, the more real they get, until you can actually feel their touch. I can feel Syriel's touch, because I believe I can feel it.

Believe what you wish, but that's how I know my dæmon is real.

I'm glad that it works that way for you, and I'm glad that you can have these experiences with your daemon, especially since it seems to mean that you can have far more intimate momments with your daemon...But unfortunatley for me spirituality and beleifs are much more complicated.

To me, you can't beleive in something if you've never doubted it or questioned it, because if you just follow it blindly then you can't understand what it is that you're beleiving. And some religions, and some spiritual beliefs, perhaps like daemons, require that you just beleive and not ask, not doubt, not question. Mabye it means that I might never have experiences with my daemon the way you do with yours...it's just the way my mind works when it comes to my spirituality.

I have a feeling that daemons might be real, but I want to know for sure in my own heart that it is...that this feeling I sometimes get is not just a figment of my imagination. Readig other people's experiences pushes me more into the beleiving side then into the not, but it is definitley something I'm going to have to take time thinking and talking about.

[wolfbane]

Your questions (and your signature) are very, very interesting. I went through a phase like that which we refer to as the 'doubting phase' when you begin questioning whether your daemon is real or just a figment of your imagination to help you feel comforted. Take Ice's advice, its the best I can offer for now and when you talk to your daemon you'll see that its not just your imagination

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this is zoe but i'm up lorien's house!!!!

[kirjavaa]

RabbitBoy said:

Yes, but theres a certain sense of satisfaction and security that comes with knowing who you are . ( which you get when your daemon settles, I assume )

By the way, who is kitten? From your signature.

I know what you (and Pullman, who said the same, or nearly so) mean by the satisfaction...I've always been partial to the feline persuasion, and the fact that this daemon takes the form of a bobcat doens't surprise me.

Kitten, I'm afraid to say, is just another one of my nicknames gained from friends in life and on the web, and the quote cited is something that I've written as far as what the basic mechanisms in my mind are as far as beleifs go...I wish I could give you the name and title of a book and character it came from, but sadly this time it's not the case

[cock of teh walk]

I only ask because i liked and agreed with all of it accept the last line. I think faith is for people who dont want to know the truth. But thats my opinon.

[kirjavaa]

wolfbane said:

Your questions (and your signature) are very, very interesting. I went through a phase like that which we refer to as the 'doubting phase' when you begin questioning whether your daemon is real or just a figment of your imagination to help you feel comforted. Take Ice's advice, its the best I can offer for now and when you talk to your daemon you'll see that its not just your imagination

Thank you kindly for the advice...I'm actually making plans to paint, and then meditate on it tonight [painting, because it helps me zone out and become compleltey focused on one thing, allowing me to contemplate spiritual matters with a much cleaner, clearer mindset...and the reason for meditating, I'm sure, is obvious ]

Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to talk with him, and tell you kind people all about it

[Annie]

Hello! I'm Hannah, and my daemon is Rhokath. Or Rho for short.

Since daemons cannot be proven or disproven, it's up to you whether you believe or not. I know that my daemon is real. I have several experiences to back that up. Those experiences might not seem like much to you in the way of proving his existance, but it's enought for me. Of course, I don't need those experiences to prove it, but it does help when trying to make a point. I know that he is real. It's not something you can explain. You just know. Like when someone is giving you directions in a place you've never been before, and they describe something and say 'you'll know when you see it' and it's true. You'll believe when you encounter your daemon. Truely encounter him. It's easy enough to disregard it after imagining a conversation, but when you have a real one, you'll know. You'll know that you aren't just imagining it.

Like I said, it's hard to describe...I did my best.