Shape Shifting

Shape Shifting

The query on shape-shifting was originally discussed by Choronzon and myself, and by a couple of Z(Cluster)ites. All relevant comments are included, in some cases edited so they look better. Yeah, yeah, we're vain fuckers, we know...
Further notes have since been, and will continue to be, added.

Question:
I am interested to know of any shapechanging ritual that would be able to change physically a persons body, not just a glamour spell.

This is a fairly common question, which is rarely answered to anyone's satisfaction. You didn't state to what degree you wished to change shape, and indeed whether you desire to change your own shape, or that of another. We are dealing with this from the perspective of changing the shape of yourself.

Contents:
A) Drastic Shape Change
  • Metaprograming When In Hypnotic Trance
  • Atavisms and Metamorphotic Rituals
  • Devolution Exercises
    B) Subtle Shape Changing
  • Changes Due To Posession
  • Changes By Force of Will and Ritual Practice
  • Other
    C) Molecular Manipulation By Magick
    D) Additional Information
  • A Rite To Increase Penis Size
  • An Anecdotal Report of an Unusual Occurence of Shape-Shifting

    • A) Drastic Shape Change
    Hekate, notes by Chronzon
    Here we are dealing with radically changing the body to an animal state. For some reason there seems to be a lot more research knocking about on this subject than on most other forms of shape-shifting.

    Change to an animal state is, in my opinion, largely a matter of metaprograming, which can potentially be done while in a hypnotic trance; by regular and successful use of animal atavisms and rituals (such as those decribed by Anton LaVey in his essay on lycanthropic metamorphosis), and by devolution exercises. It can also be achieved by mollecular restructuring by magick, which is a theory of Choronzon's which appears later.

    I shall go through these one by one, in varying degrees of detail. In all cases, it is largely a matter of the mind affecting the body, at least in terms of physical changes. The results may eventually be drastic enough to affect hormonal balances, for example, causing abnormal hair growth.

    Metaprograming When In Hypnotic Trance
    The human mind is very close to the animal mind. In this case, it would be preferable to have a hypnotist sympathetic to your aims controlling your trance. She or he would put the subject into a hypnotic state, and attempt to access the animal subconcious by these means. Now, I have little experience with hypnosis, but such a state should be possible to attain. Of course you'll have to find a skilled and trustworthy hypnotist, and there are certain risks of mental illness associated with such things. This would probably have to be done regularly over a period of time.

    Arawyn conThanatos writes:
    Reprogramming while in trance would also work without a hypnotist. Just speak the commands on tape or on PC (PC would be better that way you can easily set it to loop, tape would have some disturbing breaks when it comes to switching sides). Start the tape or wav file and get into trance. It might actually be good to have spoken it in rythmic tones, so you could get into a seething trance by moving to the text or singing. This done on a regular basis could also bring the desired changes.

    Atavisms and Metamorphotic Rituals
    In these exercises, you will take on the aspect of the creature you wish to become while entering into a trance state of sorts. Psychoactive substances, in particular psychadelics, may be of use here in attaining the state. These activities will gradually become more successful, and as your mind learns more tricks of metamorphosis can have extreme results. An essay on this may be found in 'The Devil's Notebook' by Anton Szandor LaVey published by Feral House.

    Devolution Exercises
    Again, designed to access the animal mind, this is a more formal psychological method. I first ran across it in an issue of 'OMNI' in the early '90s.
    Basically, over a period of time, you 'devolve' yourself to the animal you wish to 'become'. Stage by stage, day by day, you do this. For example, an early stage of this could consist of eating a steak raw on the floor with only your hands and teeth.
    You just adopt more of the mannerisms of the animal you wish to 'become' over the period of time. You will find that the way you think will become more and more animalistic as your actions become so. It is probably best to avoid other people as much as possible while you do this.

    That covers some possibilities for drastic shapechanging. Later in this section of the mail you will find a theory by Choronzon relating to several aspects of shapechanging, which will refer to this.

    Arawyn conThanatos (p_pichler@mail.styria.co.at) comments on this:
    For the rite to change into something physically I'd suggest to get some god or other that is associated with the animal and also study that thing closely. A good imagination would also be necessary. The god can then be invoced and asked to help in the transformation.
    I would say that making minor adjustments to your current looks are way easier than a complete transformation. Especially if you aren't too familiar with what you want to become - might be terminal ;)
    The easier option would be if you frequently travel astrally. There it is really easy to change to another form. There it would only take some visualisation.


    B) Subtle Shape Changing
    Hekate, notes by Choronzon This covers such things as changing your eye colour, hair colour, skin tone, and so on. This has been an amazingly common request especially since a film called 'The Craft' came out (we've not actually seen it, but it's supposed to have things along these lines as part of its content).

    Anyway, this sort of thing could be done several ways, again most of which would require either a fluke or a lot of effort. The possible methods we can think of off-hand include: change of features while being ridden (or, more crudely, possessed) by an entity; change by force of will & ritual practice; other, and change by molecular manipulation (see below).

    Changes Due To Posession
    This is more a reported side-effect than a useful magickal practice. The nature of people's eyes have been known to change upon thier invocation of an entity - for example, invoking Hekate has been known to result in the medium's eyes becoming green.
    What you regard to be the reason for these phenomena really depends upon your view on the existance of such entities.
    Arawyn's opinion on this goes thus:
    Then of course as you stated is the possibility to ask the help of the gods. This would naturally only work if you are in that paradigm. But that should not prove a problem for [chaotes].
    What I thought of was to evoke the god, either in a rite or on the astral plane and ask for its help to change the features of your body either to change it permanently to be more handsome whatever, or to help in aquireing another shape altogether.
    Fenris would do nicely for becoming a wolf for example. Aphrodite for getting more beautiful etc.
    Invoking in itself I wouldn't really know about. You might get attributes you don't really care about. So to play on the safe side, I'd opt of evokation.
    Personally, I still favour invokation - each to hir own.

    Changes By Force of Will and Ritual Practice
    This one really is a matter of patience and practice. You design and regularly use a ritual to change a certain aspect of your appearence, either permanently or temporarily. When and if you suceed at this, you can gradually strip down the ritual, which may well eventually result in your having a power word which will trigger a change, or be able to do it by will alone.

    Other
    Hekate, notes by Chronzon & Arawyn
    i)Spontaneous, apparently magick-related, change in physical appearence. An example of this that happened to me is, when I did my first sex working with a future magickal partner, his eyes changed from golden-brown to green, matching mine (this has been verified by medical records, and a number of independant witnesses).

    ii)Hair dye, make up, and colour contact lenses. Well, it requires less effort, anyway...

    iii)Shape changing on the astral plane, as harped on about by Arawyn. This is, in fact, the most commonly occurring form of shape-shifting, although it generally results in no real change on a physical level. It can still potentially affect the shape-shifter if done regularly and conciously, an is a technique that can be incorporated into geneal astral plane workings and practice.


    C) Molecular Manipulation By Magick
    Choronzon, notes and selfless typing by Hekate
    This works on the principle the reality is subjective, and that everything is made up of collections of exceptionally tiny molecules.
    This is basically not what your senses will probably tell you. Your instincts and perceptions tell you that everything is one solid thing, existing just as we percieve it. Theoretically, if you have enough belief in the fact of everything being on a mollecular level, and subjective at that, you should be able to walk through walls, change your appearence and form, and all the fun Dungeons and Dragons stuff.
    Of course, this is just a theory. And if it was put into practice, you may well not be able to hold a form at all without will. And to work on it you'd probably need a good knowledge of physics, biology, and associated chemistries.

    On this subject, Arawyn conThanatos (p_pichler@mail.styria.co.at), notes:
    That part is very interesting and I've been doing some sort of minor research on that when I was not busy cursing for a change.
    For that stuff I my choice would be to adapt a similar believe in magick and the universe system as Raymond E. Feist described it from his books "Prince of the Blood" onward to the Serpent War quartett. Basically he's adapted quite a lot of views from chaos magick there. Mixed with some modern physics.
    Anyway, in chaos approach it's basically that everything is made from the same stuff (chaos, whatever, slightly ordered). With enough will power I figured too, that it would be possible to change the appearance not only with an illusion but also really (more or less that is).
    The problem herewith is that as you said, you'd need to believe in that real hard. Not too mention quite a lot of willpower. But for the die hards I'd suggest to create the form you want via visualisation and will your body to take it (of course with the above believe system).

    I agree with Wulf about that tiny stuff that builds us and everything else (picked the word stuff because I grew fond of it after reading those Serpent War books). I would say that additionaly to that belief, and this is rather common these days, since it is tought in school by now, you have to be really good at visualisation and concentration.
    As I said before, I would suggest that the mage starts with visualising the shape s/he wants to take with great detail (ie EVERYTHING). Small errors could be lethal, for example if you forget to add lungs or a heart, it could be terminal. Then visualise your body next to it as well in great detail. Then start slowly changing yourself to that of the shape. David Eddings descripes such a working in good detail in the first Malloreon book. There the mage changed shape into a falcon. By the same way you can alter your features permanently if you want or if you prefer some sort of disguise only for a short time.
    As above imagine yourself as you are and then start visualising the changes you want (haircolour, eyes, facial features etc). By the same technique you could also fortify your senses, like sight or hearing. Theoretically speaking this would be the easiest option, ie least time consuming in terms of rituals etc.


    D) Additional Information
    Various Sources

    A Rite To Increase Penis Size
    Author's Name Withheld At His Request
    I'd suggest evoking Priapos or Pan for this rite. Priapos is quite obvious since he has the desired attribute. Pan is a god of lust among other things and should be capable too. If necessary, evoke both. Use them to empower a servitor.
    This approach here is to take an existing size and appearance and to copy it to the caster. So a link to the one who has the desired size would be necessary. If you wish you can communicate with the gods by any means you want (pendulum etc).

    You need:

    The code of the servitor could run along the line of:
    To change my penis in size and appearance so that it equals the one of X
    (X being the name of the guy with the nice size)

    Also sigilise your name and that of the individual you are copying. Place them from left to right: Guy with the right size, Servitor, yourself. Above and below draw the sigla of the gods.
    Place the red candles and the statues of the gods somewhere on the altar.

    The Rite:
    1) Statement of Intent
    2) Consecration of working area
    3) Gods evokation (address the statues and call the gods into them)

    Priapos:
    Holy Priapos,
    God of Fertility and of Nature
    Son of Dionysos and Aphrodite
    I evoke thee, I call thee forth
    Help me in this Working

    Pan:
    Holy Pan,
    God of Lust
    Wild God of the hills and forests
    Inspirer of Terror and Joy, Maker of Music
    I evoke thee, I call thee forth
    Help me in this Working

    4) Asking for the gods help:
    Oh Great Gods Priapos and Pan, I ask you to lend me your power in this working to change the size and appearance of my penis. This will be done by the creation of a servitor. I ask you to help to empower it.

    5) Servitor creation as usual. Program the servitor with the Statement of Intent. Then draw the power down from the gods and transfer it into the servitor. Add yours to it.

    Thy task is to change the size and the appearance of my Penis so that it looks exactly the same as the one of X.
    Great Gods Priapos and Pan, I ask ye now to charge energy into so that he can manifest my Will.

    6) Set the servitor free to do your will

    7) Thank the gods. An offering of semen might be nice.

    This rite is, as far as I know, untested. Please report any results (or lack therof) to us at Lilith.Kaos@btinternet.com

    An Anecdotal Report of an Unusual Occurence of Shape-Shifting
    My friend tells me that suddenly, without thinking about it, he mentally takes on the physical characterics of a person that he knows. He doesn`t like this and as a cosequence the experience is imbued with fear which makes it a lot more real to him and charges it.
    I`ve mistaken him for other people that have been sitting in the same room before. Even his voice seems to change.
    Other friends have also noticed this curiosity. These are some of the remarks made:
    "Huh? I thought you were Dillan for a second"; "Jeez you sounded just like so and so", etc.
    The overall effect on other people is a slight contageous fear and confusion in visual perception.
    He tells me that it all started with an obsession for someone that went out of proportion during an acid trip when he imagined himself to be that person.
    He doesn`t like this very much as he has to spend a lot of time concentrating on his own features.
    Anyway , it`s nothing too serious and I think time away from people might solve the problem.
    All comments, suggestions, poor humour and theories should be sent to Lilith.Kaos@btinternet.com.
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