It’s Samhain, and that means it’s the best time for running
around in whatever crazy garb or costumery your heart (or twisted sense of
humor) desires! Most of us as little
kids dressed up as things like vampires, werewolves, ghosts—and maybe even
Halloween witches with green skin and pointy black hats. And a lot of us still dress up for the fun of
it, whether we stick with the classics or go off in philosophical, political or
other creative directions. And the best
thing is, if you happen to be running around in costume getting from point A to
point B at any point in October, nobody cares—at worst you’ll get “Cool
costume!”
This, of
course, makes the Samhain season a great time for magic involving personality
aspecting. This is the process by which
we brings parts of ourselves other than our egos to the front of our
consciousness and live as them for a time in order to understand ourselves
better. As a culture, we are conditioned
to primarily identify with our egos, even to the exclusion of other aspects of
ourselves. However, for every thing that
is defined as “I am”, there are a dozen that fall under the category of “I am
not”—or so we assume. We’re so
conditioned to pigeonhole ourselves that people often take an astrological
chart to be holy writ and will even alter their behavior just to try and fit a
certain stereotype. Those who don’t have
their full charts done but who know their Sun signs may attach that label to
themselves like glue, or claim that they can only work within the element that
their Sun sign falls under. In effect,
they define who they are by others’ standards to the point that they often
ignore any traits that don’t match that specific stereotype.
Yet the
truth of the matter is that while we may have dominant personality traits and
behavior patterns that we habitually exhibit, we as human beings are capable of
expressing and embracing the entirety of the human psyche. We only fool ourselves into thinking that we
have to be the same all the time, and other people help support this by being
surprised (and saying so!) if we happen to do anything “uncharacteristic”.
I’ve
mentioned the traditional Western astrological model of personality charting
above. However, the methods of breaking
down the human psyche for easier digestion are myriad. Every pantheon of deities, every group of
spirits, models such as the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, animal totems, Goetic
demons—all of these sets of entities and/or symbols represents the human psyche
as well as having an existence of their own.
Our microcosm neatly matches up with portions of the macrocosm, and we
can use one to influence the other. This
is why when we allow the energies of our astrological signs, or our totem
animals, or our patron deities, to influence us, more often than not the
aspects of our psyche that correspond with those come to the fore. It’s also why we often get along with certain
types of entity better than others, because the “translate” into our
self-understanding better; for instance, I have a very easy time working with
totems, but not so easy with the Goetia.
There is a
definite advantage to being able to access more than just your ego,
however. For one thing, being able to
break out of the ego-tunnel-vision is essential to altered states of
consciousness which are crucial to successful magic, including, but not limited
to, invocation and spirit-journeying.
However, on a more practical level it is important to “Know thyself”—and
not just the ego.
For
example, we all have bad habits and things we’d like to change about
ourselves. Sometimes, though, we’re
conditioned to just accept them as they are and go through life not really
liking ourselves (often because liking the self is supposedly “vain” or
“selfish”). Yet a healthy self-image is
important to overall well-being. If you
don’t like yourself, you aren’t going to feel as satisfied as somebody who is
quite happy with who s/he is, or at least where
s/he’s going. And while helping others is a noble pursuit, if
you’re not in good condition yourself you won’t be as much good to others.
Because of
the cultural conditioning that we just accept bad parts of ourselves and not
complain, we often tie these negative traits into our ego-identifications—we
say “Well, it’s just a part of who I am”.
And in this way we continue to make excuses for these things, even as we
know deep down inside we don’t need to carry them around with us any more.
Personality
aspecting allows us to step out of our egos for a while and allow a new pattern
of behavior and personality to take over, teaching us new patterns and laying
down new circuitry. We are largely
creatures of habit; we very commonly re-act instead of act on something. Think about what creates the word
re-act: re, which means to do something
again, and act, to do. So re-act means
to do something again that you’ve done in the past—just because you’ve been
conditioned to do so in that particular type of situation! Think about it for a moment. “I just re-acted” has a much deeper meaning
now, doesn’t it?
Taking on a
different aspect allows you to shake yourself out of your ego-based complacency
for long enough to start paying more attention to your usual re-actions. Because you are using a different set of
values, behaviors and judgments, you’re able to see the world differently and
thereby access new possibilities that your ego may not have been aware of. We do, after all, get used to seeing things a
certain way after years of conditioning.
So how do
you access different aspects? The first
thing to do is to figure out which model you want to use. I personally am fond of totem animals; I have
a different animal associated with each aspect of mine. However, you may also use an astrological
system, the personalities of the Major Arcana of the Tarot, the Tree of Life,
or whatever suits your fancy. Depending
on what my goal is, I may also combine the totems with a psychological
paradigm, such as the Eight-circuit model of Timothy Leary, usually filtered
through Robert Anton Wilson’s Prometheus
Rising.
Next, take
some time to explore the archetypal traits associated with the various members
of the system—the animals, cards, gods, or what have you. You may find that more than one of these is
familiar to you on some level, which isn’t surprising. After all, as I said we possess the capacity
to be the entire human psyche (though not necessarily all at once!).
Now’s where
the fun part begins. Pick one aspect
that seems like it would be appropriate for issues you’re currently going
through, or one that resembles some traits you’d like to make more dominant in
your life—for instance, if you’re shy, call upon that which is bold and brash
and loud. You might even try picking out
the complete opposite of your ego. Make
sure you warn your friends and family who are open to your magical practice
about this experiment, of course, so that you don’t completely startle them
once you start behaving “unusually”.
Next, go
out and get or make a costume appropriate to that aspect. It can be something literal, such as a lion
for a Leo or a Lion totem, or it may be more abstract, such as Superman for a
powerful heroic mythological figure such as Heracles/Hercules. You can even mess around with more generic
costumes in creative ways—a naughty French Maid costume for a lust goddess with
a playful side, like Aphrodite. And,
because this is Samhain and nobody really cares, don’t be afraid if the costume
that seems most appropriate doesn’t match your usual sex and gender
identity.
I’ve known closeted
transgendered people who only went out dressed as the sex they actually
identified with at Samhain because they could explain it away as “just a
costume” if anyone gave them trouble or if they ran into someone they weren’t
out to. Samhain is the best time to
openly explore the parts of you that you never show to anyone else under normal
circumstances.
When you
get the costume, try putting it on a few times before you work any magic, just
to get a feel for it and how it fits you.
If you need to make adjustments to the physical garment, do so—you don’t
want tight shoes or too-baggy pants distracting you. In addition, the costume may be very
different from what you usually wear, even if it’s just random stuff from the
thrift store that another person might wear on an everyday basis. One thing my husband, Taylor, taught me is
that clothing doesn’t just make an impression on others—it makes an impression
on the person wearing it.
And it’s up
to you in this magical rite to take advantage of that impression. Again, one of the crucial factors is that you
are shaken out of your usual headspace, and wearing the costume helps to do
that. It causes you to take a look at
yourself more deeply, when normally you probably take who “you” are for
granted. You can see this in more subtle
ways when you wear your usual clothing for different purposes. The clothing you wear for lounging around the
house probably isn’t going to be the same as the clothing you wear to a job
interview. When you put on each separate
outfit, it triggers a different mode of thinking and acting—and
identifying.
Aspecting
is just a more dramatic version of that.
Instead of replacing a few traits, but remaining primarily within your
ego, you’re uprooting your ego temporarily and replacing it with another aspect
of yourself. Keep that in mind—this is
not a separate personality or an outer entity you’re invoking. This is a part of you and has always been a part
of you; you’re just not used to working within that particular headspace. This means that when you aspect you are still responsible for yourself. You can’t use it as an excuse to do something
harmful or that breaks the law or so forth.
You are simply looking at the world from a different view; you are still
there, just not that which you call the ego.
If you can’t retain enough common sense to not be destructive then you
probably shouldn’t be doing this kind of work.
Once you’re
familiar with the costume, it’s time to bring out the aspect of yourself that
you associate with it. This can be as
simple as donning the costume with intent, or pulling out all the stops with a
major ritual to call upon the exterior being that corresponds to that internal
part of yourself. The important thing is
that you invoke that aspect of yourself as thoroughly as possible.
Now you get
to head out and play! Go to a party, or
walk down a busy street where other people are about in costumes. If your costume can be considered street
clothing by someone else, try walking around in a mall or grocery store. Observe how you act both to other people and
your environment. How does it differ
from the way you would normally act (or re-act)?
You may
want to do this a number of times so that you have more observations to work
with. You’ll find that the more you
bring this aspect out, the stronger its traits become. Make sure, though, that at the end of the
evening you allow your ego to come back into play, especially when you first
get started with this type of experimentation.
And once you’ve become comfortable with a particular aspect, you’ll find
that whenever you need to act like it instead of your ego, all you have to do
is think about the times you went trick-or-treating as that aspect and you’ll
be able to access it with ease.
You don’t have
to limit this to just the Samhain season; any time you’re comfortable going out
in unusual (for you, anyway) clothing is a good time for aspecting. Just stick to regular street clothing for
each aspect. On the other hand, this
makes for a good yearly ritual—just pick a different aspect each year. You can even do as Taylor Ellwood mentioned
in http://www.twpt.com/samellwood.htm
and make it into a yearly dedication of sorts.
We’ve long
known that the joys of play and imagination are useful for magic. This year, though, make your costume a little
more meaningful, and get to know yourself a little better.
