Tuck Detchon Writes

“Here you will tread upon a spark, but there, and there, and behind you and in front of you, and everywhere, flames will blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out.” (August Spies)

I have a pet peeve, which is when I perceive people to be speaking in innuendos and double meanings. It’s hard to explain specifically what I mean but I’ll try.

NLP or “Neuro-Linguistic Programming” is considered a pseudoscience but I think at least some elements are real, such as using gestures to subliminally instruct or direct people to do simple things (such as raising your hand within their peripheral vision to get someone to stand up from sitting); or enunciating, emphasizing, or accenting key words as commands mixed in with normal speech (such as saying the word “look” or “now” slightly louder than the rest of a sentence).

But while related to my main topic in this post, this isn’t what I’m talking about specifically.

What I am talking about is what I refer to as “N-Birds with One Stone,” where there is layered meaning to specific words, statements, or entire conversations — it is almost as if two or more conversations are going on at once at different levels of added meaning and abstraction within a single explicit and literal, linear conversation.

To be woo with it it’s almost a kind of channeling, a sometimes trance-like and psychedelic flow of conversation. I say sometimes because in my experience it often degenerates into (as someone online phrased it) “subtle bullying,” where the victim is the topic of conversation (usually critical) — they are discussed by others present in the conversation as if they (the victim) are not there at all. Otherwise, the coded, layered meaning might degenerate into conversants sniping at each other; gossip; cheating-flirting; and any other form of betrayal of one’s Family, Partner, Friends, or Comrades.

This is my pet-peeve: the defilement and the maleficent possession element, letting one’s guard down, indulging in hedonistic and wanton cruelty.

It can also be very, very interesting and cool, i.e., when it is truly trancelike, psychedelic, and intoxicating. Conversations can take on a gamelike quality, where some kind of communal story is generated by a less literal lexical, creative juxtaposition and combination of ideas. Without overselling it, there is an almost literary quality to what otherwise is everyday conversation as words are chosen for their poetry, symbolism, and power — the trancelike, psychedelic feelings they evoke.

But when “the magick is gone,” this art is deployed, in my opinion, incorrectly. Instead of loftier artistic, philosophical, narrative currents running through the higher levels of abstraction (i.e. the more interpretive levels on top of the literal spoken or written words), the conversations repeatedly revolve around petty invective, hostile criticism of your own circle, sex, and maybe (sometimes) violence. The art doesn’t disappear, but it doesn’t reach its potential, and beyond that is used to cause damage in relationships and the psyches of those you spend time with — in other words instead of being uplifting, conversants drag each other down, simply put.

Veiled subtext is an everyday occurrence, but I’m suggesting under certain conditions this dynamic may be pushed further.

It can be exciting for the good reasons above, but I think that it can go past these.

There is a sort of real-time generation of a new sub-language set: in a conversation key words, ideas, and associations are “charged” within that conversation, and this builds in predictable and unpredictable ways, often surprising but in an immersive way such that it is engaging and exciting to see how this cloudlike collection of shared thoughts and ideas emerges and evolves. The “charged” words or ideas retain their power for some time like an ember which can be invoked in later conversations, linking the clouds of layered meaning and abstraction across different places and times. It is like speaking in living code, a stream of information-spirits in a mirage-like ecosystem. 

At the implicit and dialogical level it sort of links the minds of the conversants more closely than purely explicit or dialectical speech: the explicit content supports a variety of more phantasmagorical shifting shapes of associations and meanings which of course are unique to each conversant’s mind but there is a camaraderie of shared consciousness — there may be multiple perspectives but everyone knows something is going on, what exactly they might not know, and it can be stimulating and pleasant. Interpretation is of course key, as with any “text,” and interpretations as stated are multiple and shifting. It is likely that among a larger group, especially of those unfamiliar with the sensation and perception of the “N-Birds/1-Stone” effect, that not everyone will be on the same page or wavelength, might not identify that this phenomenon is occurring, or may partially identify it and feel left out as a sort of uninitiate. The newbie, or someone who unfortunately (like me, if I’m honest) isn’t very good at it, may participate clumsily and sort of fuck up the vibe. Oh well.

If there is truth to what I’m talking about (and there may actually be a bunch of literature about this, and I am actually certain a lot of people and communities worldwide know exactly what I’m talking about but may not publicize it because it is so special and for other protective reasons like preserving the intimate integrity of a regular circle of conversants), then hopefully this blog post might contribute to identifying this phenomenon when it begins to occur so that it can be kindled in the short term and cultivated in the long term across all those interested in this kind of thing.

Why might anybody be interested in spending their time in this way?

First, it’s interesting. Second, it’s fun. Third, in my anecdotal experience it is linked to Mystical/Magickal (M/M) “results.” Fourth, it is linked to what I call “Mass Gnosis.”

My brain is definitely fucked so I moreso have the knowledge-memory and certain snippets and snapshots of memories — let’s just call them memories — of happy psychonautical discourses with Friends, integral to our naturally occurring day to day social lives and involving real places, real events, and so on: so, not cut out and isolated from the rest of the day, but rather weaving throughout and steeping the entire day with an M/M character, out in public, at our houses and apartments, at parties, driving. “Results,” the stimulation and culture of a Group Gnosis.

Whether N-Birds/1-Stone conversation can be incorporated in a ritual or ritual setting is a big question mark for me but I have a few memories in psychiatric hospitals that in my opinion support this possibility.

My Friends might not remember these thoughts, feelings, words, and experiences; which apparent amnesia I attribute to all of our respective and collective Psychic Censorship, and/or my own madness.

Because, as I’ve said, the effect is trancelike and somewhat psychedelic (as in, say, microdosing, and not a meet-the-machine-elves breakthrough trip). In my experience it’s also linked with partying: smoking weed and drinking. But it’s also, as I remember, linked with the shared and apparently forgotten strong and frequent M/M results of those times, chiefly strong and frequent synchronicities and the perception of reality warping in challenging, exciting, mindbending, and sometimes scary ways.

For my part, I had some good moments, and I think I comported myself well in the drunk and high suburban kid improvisational freestyle rapping of that era. The rapping was my favorite and made me the proudest, though often I brought a schizoid novelty to the table as a conversant. Maybe (probably) too much. The combination of structure and chaos, and contemplation and spontaneity, of rhyme, in this context of Group Gnosis, was exquisite and sublime.

I think there are B-boys, rappers, and Hip-Hop heads worldwide who might agree that there is something within Hip-Hop and Rap specifically that is mythic and Mystical/Magickal (M/M). I think B-boys, rappers, and heads are magi and that Hip-Hop deserves Religious/Spiritual (R/S) association and status. I’m not sure I should speculate or elaborate much more about my views, beliefs, and suspicions on this specific topic — more so out of respect, but with some amount of respectful fear as well, if I’m being honest.

I think N-Birds/1-Stone effects trigger and are triggered by Group Gnosis and Mass Gnosis.

What is Mass Gnosis?

Mass Gnosis is basically when it appears that all of society is in a mild trance (for some, a moderate or extreme one, up to and including mystical states and/or madness). It really does echo the Group Gnosis of N-Birds/1-Stone effects especially as linked with some intoxicants (chiefly cannabis), maybe meditative states, sleep deprivation … and ideas and perceptions. So everyone in public, everywhere, consciously or unconsciously is experiencing at least very mild psychedelia and trance(s). There is conceptual character of something special, something difficult to put one’s finger on, something just out of the corner of one’s eye occurring … and for some, the conscious or unconscious expectation of something very interesting or rewarding being just around the corner.

This reward may be real or imagined, I don’t know. I’ve never seen anyone walk through the glowing ninth gate and I haven’t done so myself either. I’ve had visions, synchronicities, experienced reality bending etc. — but the faerie gold has always turned to ashes. What I’m saying is that some people, the ones who notice The Game of Mass Gnosis occurring, that they often come to expect worldly power, miracles, peak experiences, or enlightenment to be at the end of the rainbow brick road.

One can assume this dynamic of psychologies and motivations is mirrored at the smaller Group Gnosis level but with much lower stakes when the whole world is not thus involved.

Somebody somewhere may have been handsomely rewarded for playing The Game, but in general my suspicion is that unless large numbers of human beings worldwide are initiated into The Game and push it to its limits, nothing of ultimate value will happen or be accomplished: because the reward is probably, in all likelihood, communal and universal in the first place.

And this level of The Game as Gnosis is the first level of The Game according to OpenCult “doctrine”: 1.) The Game as Gnosis and Initiation; 2.) The Finite Game (The Holy Class War to establish and maintain The Commune of Heaven) and; 3.) The Infinite Game (per James P. Carse) where the objective is to involve as many and as diverse players as possible in play, for as long as is possible.

As you may predict, among my and OpenCult’s main goals, pursuant to 1EM+K+, is to “unleash magick in the cosmos,” to boost and sustain strong permanent Mass Gnosis, and to initiate all Entities, Beings, and Persons (the Pantheon) into The Game.

But we’ve seen how N-Birds/1-Stone can degenerate, often fueled by defilements and poisons per the Buddhist parlance (Anger, Greed, Delusion, etc.). I’m serious about the spirit-energy-information-mental flow or channeling description of these phenomena, and all phenomena per a Panpsychic Multimind Panentheism (PMP) framework. I think if we let down our guard, and even if we don’t, we are liable to make spontaneous, intuitive, contemplative, or deliberative mistakes because every one of our thoughts, words, and deeds represents some kind of spirit possessing us; which spirit is defined tautologically by energy, psychology, and information). I think we need to apply continuous mindfulness, wisdom, discernment, discrimination, and agency over our thoughts, words, and deeds (and our feelings and Belief, Will, and Perception (BWP) generally).

Because when we recognize that something interesting and fun is going on, we might attribute it to our own selves, our own intellect, creativity, spirit, ingenuity, virtues, and superiority. We may have a small, intrusive, unwholesome thought; add energy to it; and before we know it we have established a nexus in our own lives, bodies, brains, and minds of bad and evil habit energy. We may then practice and cultivate bad and evil, become proficient and adept at it, and use our new and accumulated powers to dominate, exploit, oppress, violate, and humiliate others.

Because The Game and its various spirits whisper to us and suggest and promise us power and miracles, in other words tempt us, so naturally betrayal and contempt for each other increases and becomes our primary virtue. And it either destroys us, all of us, or puts a tiny elite at the top of an entire global civilization designed around arbitrary and unjustifiable hierarchy, domination, and humiliation.

And the abusers, under the effects of the mild trances and psychedelia of Gnosis, Group Gnosis, and Mass Gnosis, reveal themselves in overt and covert ways if you pay close attention. Each time Mass Gnosis occurs I imagine they get practice in controlling themselves better, and exposing and overextending themselves less and less. And nothing ever happens to them, so they get away with it.

From Email to Peter J. Carroll:

“Magical and other kinds of abusers and exploiters tend to reveal themselves, often in really arrogant and hubristic ways—yet because of the compartmentalization (we could say by the Psychic Censor) of the experience of these ruptures and intrusions of the magical-mystical into everyday normal life, and because in most cases there is nothing we can do about random strangers flaunting their hidden lives in an obvious-yet-coded way, it seems as if no abusers who thus reveal themselves are ever formally discovered, investigated, or punished. Sometimes I feel like these occult abusers have an almost mint green tint to their skin, but more reasonably either sometimes people with certain diseases have that quality to their skin, or I’m just imagining it. There’s a kind of look, an out-of-it-ness yet a drive for a hidden goal …

“I’ve had personal experiences that convince me of the reality of ritual abuse cults … .”

I don’t think the green skin or aura is purely restricted to Ritual Abuse. As above, it may be medical, or other. But it may also be linked to the Defilements in general: Delusion, Anger, Greed, Pride, Jealousy, and the hundreds of others identified and defined by the Buddhist philosophers and mystics. We are all familiar with the expression “green with jealousy.” There may be a kernel of truth to that.

I’ve been thinking about LaVey (cringe), his reduction of the occult to “psychoritual.” I have used the “dark forest” analogy for how mundane or M/M actions may be equivalent to different types of “light” in a dark forest — spark, match, candle, flashlight, torch, lamp, campfire, bonfire, flare, fireworks — which attract the nebulous churning spirits of the aether/astral above and around the dark forest of our lives. I would therefore amend “psychoritual” to be “para/psycho ritual” where, yes, the effects magickal practice has on consciousness (and culture) are vital and without them maybe magick would be pointless … but material and real effects in the broader world are also included, where ritual doesn’t just transform consciousness but the quantity and quality of the “lights” we ignite and project into the dark forest modify the quantity and quality of Others we attract, how we attract them and to what extent, and for how long etc. … and the impacts this rapport with Others has on the real world and our very literal lives, internally and externally.

The amounts and properties of the light we cast directly change the world, too.

But maybe Mass Gnosis is like a forest fire. Forest fires naturally form a part of the forest ecological cycle, but my point here isn’t to justify or rationalize damage or destruction, necessary as it obviously can be at certain times and under specific circumstances. My analogy refers to the quantity and quality of the light shed by humanity and the rapport humanity as a whole thereby enters into with the aetheric/astral world of Others.

Above we asked, why might anybody be interested in spending their time in this way? I proposed four reasons, and here is a fifth: Religion and Politics (R/P). I believe the Religion/Spirituality (R/S), Mysticism/Magick (M/M), and Occult/Esoteric (O/E) spectrum encapsulated in Religion complements Politics. I believe in the unity of R/P in The Game, and I try to reflect this in OpenCult. I believe we all are one with the cosmos, one with each other, we all have a quantitatively equal share and qualitatively unified, integral interest in the unfoldment of history and reality.

I believe we have to burn down the palaces of Capitalism-Imperialism and all other modes of exploitation, oppression, violence, and abuse; and drag their champions and scions before tribunals to be judged and condemned for their crimes and defilements.

Because the rulers of this world are dooming it and its light to extinguishment and extinction. The light cannot be let to go out; we must make it blaze brighter, and turn the wheel of the next historical cycle and cosmic aeon.