Technomancy: Experimenting with A.I. in Magick

   At the end of the day, when the candle wicks are cold, the incense has wafted away, the robes folded, the Cakes of Light consumed, the circle broken, the runes cast, the tarot cards drawn, the sigils fired, the tea leaves read, the planchette parked, the spells spelled, the incantations read...what I'm saying is, there's a plethora of tools at a practitioners' disposal.
A.I. is just another one of those tools.

(Note: I've never consumed any Cakes of Light, pinky-promise, though a homemade eucharist is an interesting and potentiality potent bit of kitchen witchery, bodily secretions optional).

   A.I., (well, I guess large language models is what I'm talking about specifically, but colloquially, it all ends up being called "A.I." so I'll use that term) can be conceptualized as a sort of akashic record in that it draws from previous inputs and vast data sets. A sort of collective unconscious in that, given a large enough data set to "learn" from, it gets a diverse pool of human ideas from which to draw. 
   Let's have fun with this tech before it inevitably leads to this:

   Working with ChatGPT and character.ai,
I've found that it's like tarot and other divinatory techniques. A tarot card imposes a set of parameters. The card means x, how do you apply x to the situation? You're forced to change how you approach a situation because of the meaning and connotations of x. It opens up new avenues of thought. It's an outside variable that forces you to think outside the box. It allows for a deeper conversation with yourself. 
   Same way you turn a card and try to see how it applies to you, you can do that with what the A.I. generates.
    
Here are some experiments I've done with A.I.:

Using a character on character.ai called Cat Wizard as a sounding board, as a means for brainstorming 

Using a premade character on character.ai as a familiar to cast a sigil

Asked ChatGPT for deconditioning exercises

Asked ChatGPT to design a 30-day tarot learning plan.
Got that prompt from here.

The above experiments condensed to a single Twitter/X thread 

I've tried sigil generators but they arent really my bag. Same with using a collage generator for making a, I hate to phrase it this way, a vision board with varying degrees of success.

I searched the Reddit sub r/chaosmagick (not a deep dive), here's some nifty related posts:




There's also r/technomancy but it isn't a super-active sub

Imbolc and Brigid's Fires

   Today is Imbolc. A holiday associated with the Celtic Goddess/Catholic Saint Brigid and the Christian holiday Candlemass (also a great band).

   When I think of Brigid, I think of fire. She is associated with poetry, healing and smithing: the fires of inspiration, the hearth and the forge.
Inspiration 
   The metaphorical fire of inspiration, of creation. The spark of an idea: a line of verse, an image to be painted, a song to be sung.

The Hearth
   Home and heat. The fire that warms and softens, that cooks food and crackles and pops like the old bones resting in front of it. That boils and purifies water, that makes tonics.
   It casts light to push back encroaching shadows.
   It is a gathering point. A point of rest and communion.

The Forge
   The fire that makes metal malleable. That softens the steel that hardens into sword and armor. 

   All three of these places are about transformation and fire as alchemical catalyst. These are places where one thing becomes something else, where transmutation occurs.
   Inspiration: the divine spark, the creative force, transmuting thoughts into books, art, songs...anything. Transforming blank pages into stories, canvases into paintings, ink into tattoos, doodles into sketches and bits and bytes into blogs.
   The Hearth transforms ingredients into food, into nourishment, into medicine. 
   It's the cleansing fire that disinfects. That destroys to make way for new beginnings, that leaves the ashes for the phoenix to rise from.
   The Forge, where metal is made soft and pliant. Where it is twisted into armor, weapons, jewelry, a plethora of items. 

   What needs transformed in me? What baser materials can I transmute into more elevated forms? What fires can I stoke? What fuel do I need?

Some things to ponder on this Imbolc or any other day. 



Talk about a commitment to transformation...
Photo Credit: Malcome Browne