Vibin

i think we're hiding the emotionally devastating core of the walrus vs fairy debate under jokes.

It is the middle of a Sunday afternoon. You have nothing on, and aren't expecting visitors, deliveries or post.

Unexpectedly, there is a knock at the door.

Daemonism, when broken down to the bare minimum, is a mental and imaginative exercise. It's not meant to push yourself into anything potentially unhealthy. You are not forcing hallucinations and there shouldn't be any dissociation of identity or losing control of yourself.

Let's Start With Projection

Projection is applying mental images overlaid on your surroundings. It is using your imagination and relying on your ability to visualize outward what is being produced by your mind's eye. With practice, you can make your projections quite vivid, and after a while you may not even register that you are still seeing right through them. The apple exercise is a good example. Lets say you picture an apple on a plate in front of you, but the apple is fleeting and inconsistent. Its shape, colors, and size flickers rapidly or fizzles out entirely. You *know* it's not there. There's little presence or weight to it. If this was glass, it would be described as crystal clear. But, with practice, it becomes more consistent. You can now see one shade of red and the size remains the same. Perhaps you have even added details like a shadow. Now, if this was to be compared to glass it would be glass with a light tint added. You can still see right through it, but you also know something is there. You don't have to be a daemian to be able to project. Concept designers, artists, architects, althetes... projection is a type of visualization. It's a creative tool. It's not a hallucination, nor is it intended to be one.

Extreme vividness can be from hyperphantasia, but if you worry projecting may trigger or influence hallucinations then you are welcome to avoid it! Projection is fun, but not a requirement, and you should do what is most comfortable, healthy, and safest for you. Daemians who experience projection as hallucinations already have a history of them from what I have seen within the community.

Fronting and Dissociation

These are experiences usually seen within DID and other plural spaces. Daemonism doesn't focus on switching with your daemon, and you likely won't find resources specifically about it. Of course, you can switch who's in front, and some plural daemians may have advice for how to accomplish that, but again, that's not the point or focus of daemonism at large. They are usually hands off within our lives. We are the ones in the driver's seat while they are the backseat drivers giving us direction. They aren't expected to take the wheel from us. There isn't anything wrong with wanting to or being able to switch with your daemon, just to be clear. I'm only pointing out that getting daemons to front is not a priority like it is in other plural spaces. This is another reason daemonism is very easy to get into and something I consider much safer and easier to manage for the average Joe.

Dissociation isn't something that is associated with the daemon experience either. Dissociation *can* occur, but there are likely other reasons you would be experiencing these things and not just because you have a daemon. Dissociation from ADHD, stress, illness, or DID are just a few examples. Switching with your daemon could just be masking, or perhaps your mind is already comfortable sliding your daemon into front because you have DID. Again, if you are worried having a daemon could trigger dissociation or a loss of control then please do what is in the best interest for you. You know your health and history best. But, there a *many* daemians who are systems and quite happy and comfortable having daemons. Daemons have even been known to help with dissociation and sense of identity!

Talking to Yourself

Is 100% a normal, human experience. There's been a surge of exploration in self-talk and how it affects us, and talking to yourself in 2nd person even has proven benefits. You also don't *have* to talk out loud to your daemon; you can keep it all internal. Just know that splitting your own mental monologue into a dialogue isn't unhealthy and it's something many of you already do even without a daemon.

TLDR

You do only what you are comfortable with here. If something sounds risky, then don't do it. Daemonism is meant to be a healthy and fun activity.

You want to form find but not separate your daemon from yourself? Awesome.

You want to only talk to your daemon and avoid projection? Neato.

You want to project but not talk to your daemon? Perfect.

You want to learn how to switch with your daemon? We ain't really the community for that but you are free to if you are comfortable!

You do what's best for you. It's meant to fill whatever you need. Healthy mindset, growth, or just straight-up something fun to do.

Can I also hammer home your point that, on the off chance it goes badly - you can stop projecting/ speaking to your daemon and you are absolutely 100% still a daemian and can stay in the community (should you wish to).

A daemon can definitely help combat negative self-talk that a lot of people have. My neg self talk was stronger and more separate than most due to a natural tendency to dissociate. This dissociation made it super easy to construct a daemon with fauxtonomy, and even start battling against the negative parts.

Unfortunately I got very ill (triggered 24/7 for months) and the negative self talk started coming out of my daemon's mouth, which is Not Good (it was also louder and realer too, honestly the whole episode bordered on psychosis, exactly what naysayers worry about). But! When I had the wherewithal I decided to stop projecting him to prevent that element from happening again. It took a month or so for the habit to fade but it did.

The most important thing though was all my daemian friends were supportive of the decision, and were still my community. No one even thought that I wasn't "a real daemian" and I should leave, or acted like I was a bad person for 'killing' him. Therefore there was no social pressure to expose myself to further potential harm and I could just be unseperated, and look more into form finding and help others. In fact it's only in the very early days (like... 2006 I think???) that a member unseperating caused drama and the community worked through it.

There's also not a hierarchy of projection skills. Like ngl I know some people get a buzz out of being the "speshulest" person in the room to the point they're chatting bollocks, those people are everywhere, but the community as a whole doesn't give a rats' arse how good you can dissociate to achieve fauxtonomy if at all.

My trauma memories are wrong. And that's okay.

Daemons are the internal personified version of the second half of someone’s mental dialogue or subconscious. They tend to fill in the role that is needed most. 

The mind is really powerful and a daemon is a powerful tool if cultivated. There is admittedly not much that I know of for reference from a purely psychological viewpoint. There are health benefits, growth benefits, and companion benefits.

Daemons tend to be dormant until needed or the time is right to cultivate. They are very similar to daemon software if thinking of the brain as a machine strikes your fancy.

They can analyze things from an opposite perspective or release frustrations to the world without any risk. That analysis or release will show you how you really feel rather than what you think you should be feeling. They are a way to get in contact with your subconscious and desires.

How about self-help and positive affirmations? Daemons used as a therapy technique is very common. If you read any self-help book you will start to see how easily the inner workings of a daemon match or work flawlessly with suggestions and techniques given. Your subconscious seems to have already been equipped and these people are telling you what you already know.

Then there are those who switch out with their daemons. Parroting or actually swapping between them and their daemon. Becoming your daemon is quite freeing for both parties involved. It helps get frustrations out or powers you through difficult situations or personal hesitations.

There are a few similar concepts, like the self-schema, that radiate daemon energy. But I’m afraid I don’t have those sources built up enough yet to share.

--- What are daemons?

“Trapped”

Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg

@/lilboyblueish on Instagram

Poem by Keaton St. James (@boykeats)

I/Me/Myself - Will Wood

We Both Laughed In Pleasure by Lou Sullivan

cis people asking cis questions by Silas Denver Melvin (@sweatermuppet)

ID 2: two panels of art on a white background. The first panel shows a simple blue figure inside of a larger pink figure. The blue figure's limbs are extended to the bounds of the pink figure. The panel is captioned "I don't relate to the 'trapped in the wrong body' narrative..."

The second panel shows the same two figures, in the same configuration, but both are at rest. Arrows are drawn between the figures, with pink ones radiating towards the blue figure and blue ones radiating out from the blue figure but not passing through the pink. The panel is captioned "I feel trapped in your perception of me..."

ID 3: you were thirteen the first time you dreamed / about discarding your bones in the river. / your mother spat out, no one loves you / when you're like this. by 'like this' she meant / 'dressed in a boys' shirt,' she meant 'confident / in yourself,' she meant 'unspeakably ugly.' / but you heard 'like this' and you thought 'alive.'

ID 4: For some reason I find myself lost in what you think of me / And too confused to choose who I should be.

ID 5: Told him I don't feel like "a man trapped in a woman's body." & he laughed & said nobody does, that's just a catchy phrase coined by the medical profession & that being a transsexual does not dictate anything other than your feelings about yourself, and I have a perfect right to be a gay man if that's what I want.

ID 6: is your body normal as i want it to be? can you define normal? do you mind my asking? can i ask some more?

The Master, meanwhile, is fluent in the languages yes; they’re human languages it’s not like they’re complicated; but hasn’t bothered to ‘go native’ and perfect their pronunciation because it’s such a waste of time to lower themself to that drivel when they can use their superior Time Lord technology to translate for them and make them sound however they need

Which means that The Master has a ridiculously thick High Gallifreyan accent

And since we always describe High Gallifreyan as being song-like…

-TARDIS breaks down and translation circuit is no longer functional-

Master: -speaks in high gallifreyan to the doctor-

Doctor: no, come on, we can’t do this all by ourselves, you have to include the others in the conversation as well

Master: -starts scribbling out their words on a piece of paper-

Doctor: no, we don’t have time for that! we need to figure out what we’re going to do now and don’t have time for you to sit there writing everything down; come on, i know you speak english, just say what you need to say

Master: >:(

Doctor: come on :)

Master: …