Draft:Daemonism

Dæmonism is the practice of creating mental constructs that have a symbolic animal form. Dæmons are patterned after the entities of the same name in the novel series His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, in which every human has a dæmon - a person's soul in animal form that shapeshifts until it 'settles' into a single form. In a similar way, in this world, a daemon is considered the personification of some part of the dæmian's subconscious. Practitioners are called Dæmians or occasionally Dæmonists, and the mental construct is called a dæmon. The word and all related ones may be written with 'ae' or 'æ'.

The practise of daemonism has two major components: projecting and conversing with the daemon as a companion, and finding its most representative form through a number of elaborate personality typing systems.

Projection & communication

Communicating with and visualizing one's daemon is one of the core practises of daemonism, albeit not universal or essential. Developing the skills to see and hear one's daemon typically requires some practise, and many people describe their interactions as feeling forced initially. A person may find interacting with their daemon more difficult if they are tired, stressed or distracted. Daemians with aphantasia may find this also impedes their abilities.

Projection

Visualizing one's daemon is referred to as projecting, and often the goal is to superimpose them on the environment as vividly as possible. Daemians typically percieve their projected daemons as being transparent and ghostly, and may only see them as solid with extreme practise and effort.

The form that a daemon takes when projected is usually the daemian or daemon's choice. It is frequently that of a real, extant animal. Unlike in His Dark Materials, a settled daemon is not prevented from shapeshifting, and it is possible for them to take human and even inanimate or abstract forms. As not all daemians derive their ideas about daemonism from His Dark Materials, some daemons may never project as an animal - though daemonism blogger walkingontheweirdside observes that this is exceedingly rare.

Communication

Daemons are often said to be the other half of their daemians' mental dialogue, and are valued for their support, friendship, guidance, and ability to provide a second perspective on their daemian's life. They vary in their degree of autonomy; some are simply a mental 'puppet' for self-talk, while some are fully discrete beings.

Another frequent sentiment is that a person's daemon has been with them their whole life; it is simply a matter of separating them out. To that end, daemians are encouraged to listen for gut feelings, conflicting emotions, and voices of reason, and begin attributing that to their daemon. The Daemon Page's FAQ advises that projecting can also make communication easier.

Form finding

Form finding is the process of determining which animal a dæmon will take the shape of to best represent its dæmian. It can be said to be a kind of personality typing system, akin to the MBTI or Enneagram, albiet much more complex and specific. It is considered one of the core practises of daemonism, and some people are exclusively interested in this part. Usually, the aim is to find one animal species which describes the daemian completely. As there are multiple form finding systems, a person can have a single true form in each.

Community members have written interpretations of numerous species under both major systems as a reference for people in the form-finding process. It is also a common practise to write an in-depth description of oneself in order for people to suggest fitting forms. Typically, these will be broad suggestions, and a person is expected to do their own research to come to their final conclusion.

For forms which are found rather than deliberately chosen, there are two primary methods:

Analytic forms

Analytic forms are derived from animals' real behaviours being analogized to personality traits. For example, in this system, an animal which is nocturnal as a way to avoid predators could represent someone who prefers to avoid attention. As these analyses are based in factual observation, mythical and extinct animals are not considered "viable" analytic forms.

A comprehensive analytic interpretation of a form is called an analysis, and a brief interpretation is called a vibe. A person's self-description for the purposes of analytic suggestions is called a reverse analysis.

Pullman forms

Pullman forms are based on the cultural ideas and symbolism around animals in relation to the daemian's hobbies, skills, goals and values. For example, in this system, an owl daemon could represent someone who values knowledge and wisdom. This follows more closely to how daemons' forms are determined in Pullman's work. Mythical and extinct animals are more likely to be "viable" under this system.

A comprehensive Pullman interpretation of a form is called a portrait, and a brief interpretation is called a sketch. A person's self-description for the purposes of Pullman suggestions is called a self-portrait.^{[Citation needed]}

Other forms

• Projected form - Can be anything; it is whatever the dæmon is right now.
• Personal form - A form which has personal significance to the daemian.
• Comfort form - A form taken for the comfort of the dæmian.
• Aspirational form - A form which describes the type of person the daemian would like to become.

Settling

Settling is when the personality becomes less subject to fluctuation, usually at the onset of adulthood at the earliest or later. In the novel the practice is taken from, it refers to when a daemon takes on its permanent symbolic animal form around the cusp of puberty. Not everyone settles, and a previously settled person may become unsettled again in the future.

However, many in the community use settling to mean finding a specific form or handful of forms that the dæmon stays as.

Both the validity and definition of settledom is hotly contested in the community and the general attitude towards it has changed over time.

Community

• Being interested in the His Dark Materials series and participating in fannish activities surrounding it.
• Celebrating their CIEday, or coming into existence day.
• Celebrating their SFday, or settled-form day.

find something about daemians referring to themselves as '[name] of [daemon's name]'?

Relationship to the plural community

While daemonism could be considered a kind of created plurality in under the definition of such, not all dæmians consider themselves plural for their practice.

As daemons can range in levels of autonomy and separate identity, some daemons may qualify as a headmate and some may not. Different daemians may also experience the same phenomena, but may consider themselves in very different places on the multiplicity scale- including as being singlet for additionally varied reasons. (locate nnp threads that talk about this to cite)

some daemons may front

Relationship to tulpamancy

Tulpamancy and daemonism have a notable amount in common in terms of the methods used to induce the same experiences. They both encourage the practitioner to consider themselves as already experiencing the phenomena and to practice routinely to train the brain to exhibit plural experiences reliably. In addition, using a 'base' for their personality is the generally recommended method- be it your 'gut thoughts' and a name for daemonism, or a series of deliberately chosen traits for tulpamancy. In particular, the use of the practitioner's personal 'gut thoughts' is similar to the deliberate 'splitting' method that some tulpamancers use. (locate splitting tulpa guide to cite)

Forcing is also used by both communities to help work though rough patches in autonomous action and activity.

Relationship to other alterhuman communities

Dæmians generally hold that everyone has a daemon, they just have to learn to listen to it and talk back.

Many daemonists do not consider themselves alterhuman for being daemonists because its an integral part of the lore that daemonism is an integral human experience (locate nnp threads or tumblr posts about some people saying this?) (1)

others do (1, 2, x)

for some people it's not inherently but it intersects (1)

discussion about how daemon forms relate to kintypes/theriotypes (1, 2, the othehearted coining thread had some talk on this, i think vyt has also talked about it somewhere?)

created otherhearted term in their community (link to otherhearted page)

History

Antecedents

should probably explain historical precedents here, the concepts that inspired pullman such as the greek agathodaimon, esp as those more spirital conceptions become relevant to people in the community again later

okibi and some others touched a lot on these concepts at the begining, believing pullman to have merely crystalized some more of the truth of the matter

Community members have cited Socrates and his daimonon; and Jung and his anima as examples of historical people having daemian-like experiences. Some have also interpreted daemonism into Edgar Allan Poe's pome Ulalume, wherein he talks a walk with his personified soul, whom he calls Psyche.

1995-2002 Pre- Community History

1995-2000 the books for his dark materials came out, the founder Okibi discovered the series and it inspired her to create an imaginary friend which became her daemon Rannock.

in 2002 the founder of the daemon page created the first website as she figured others may have daemons

2002- ??? early community history

building of the community as it was

modern era age of tumblr

plural community absorbing everything else, daemonism getting more mixed with it daemon timeline goes here, reference timeline

not sure when this all happened, but strict ideas about settling, the role of mental illness in personality, and daemons being nothing more than 'glorified imaginary friends' lifted over time. also, when were pullman forms introduced?