Is Love a Virus? What is the chirality of this conformation? Where does this labyrinth lead?
The Memetic Disease
The Memetic Disease is an ongoing project by Luxa Strata which seeks to unite elements of visual art and poetry with sigil magick and “mindfulness”. The sigil making technique was inspired by Austin Osman Spare's Alphabet of Desire and John Koenig's Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and was developed during the summer months of 2020. It was originally intended to be a.) an experiment in something “meme magick-adjacent”, b.) a way to use all the extra emotional energy I had as a result of stress and other factors- 2020 was, indeed, a tough year! c.) an act of ego-magick to confront some fears related to self-expression.
Watch the project unfold and evolve by following on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/the_memetic_disease/
Strong emotional responses are a part of the human experience. Instead of suppressing them (as we are often encouraged to do), why not allow one’s self to experience them, appreciate them for what we can learn from them and channel the energy of that emotion into a tool of personal empowerment? To a larger end, patterns of abuse, coercion, manipulation and other *** are somewhat well understood, at least in many cases, and appear to replicate memetically (which is akin to ‘genetically’ only instead of a gene, which is a unit of genetic information, a meme is a unit of conceptual or cultural information). Where we can identify these patterns, we can begin to dismantle them instead of spreading them.
This is probably not a very unique technique, I suspect others may have similar methods as those described below, but, I can say that this specific technique has been proven effective for me.
This is the protocol which was used to produce each sigil tile (which can be seen on Instagram):
1. When experiencing a strong emotional or physical sensation, note circumstances in your journal with date and time.
2. Allow the intense emotion or sensation to grow strong enough to achieve “excitatory” gnosis (there is some debate about this term, “an altered state of consciousness” is another way to describe this experience).
3. Produce sigil through automatic drawing (draw the “shape” of the feeling or experience without consciously thinking about it or attempting to “edit” it).
4. Produce language through automatic writing (as in the case of drawing, write the words that come to mind, even if they are ‘nonsense’. For the project’s IG account these were later edited for clarity).
5. Banish (laughter or preferred method).
6. Later, use the sigil as a gateway back into the emotional state (or simply use memory) and produce the colors and textures which correspond.
7. When calm, evaluate the three elements together (sigil, language, color/texture) along with the circumstances noted in your journal. Consider the construct (the feeling or experience) that is represented by the elements from a state of detachment and title the piece in such a way as to describe it from a growth mindset or frame it in a way that allows you to use it in a positive/productive manner. This may require meditating on the construct or giving it some time to become clear enough to parse out.
The sigils produced in this manner can be used in any way you see fit. I use them as shorthand in journaling like an AoD (Alphabet of Desire) to reference the construct they represent or in a number of other ways. I have been experimenting with writing the sigil on a hollowed out egg and visualizing channeling the emotional energy into it. I then break the egg to add energy while conducting other workings. I have also been playing with using the sigils for “breakfast magick” and various other experiments.
Please feel free to DM me on Instagram Luxa Strata (@the_memetic_disease) • Instagram photos and videos with questions!
I hope this technique will prove useful to you!
Much Love,
Luxa Strata
Notes:
I highly recommend the book The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk if you would like to learn more about how trauma affects the body and brain and how the concept of neuroplasticity shows that healing and recovery are possible for those who seek it.