2/23 – A answers some questions

I find this extremely interesting. In a lot of ways it seems to fit in with what we think we know about the Creators. Also, a clever strategy for TPTB.

Fascinating answers, and good questions from those who asked them!

The whole sigil magic thing totally flies with me. I mean my job basically consists of putting that same imagery out there over and over and over until people go “Hey, maybe we should go watch that movie I’ve been seeing all over!”

Repeated imagery ABSOLUTELY holds power.

I’m having trouble parsing out what I (maybe erroneously) am seeing as something of a self-contradiction on A’s part here. Namely, the sigil thing. I’m no semiotician but it seems like there are two ideas at play simultaneously here:

1. The idea that the sigils do have an objective meaning to them, and an objective connection with something conspiratorial or preternatural or whatever. (“bring power to their current sigil…At the core, sigil magick refer’s [sic] to occult signs representing spirits a magician may summon. It has changed over time. I am sure many here know and understand that sigils now are used as a method of making affirmations come true.. Most sigils are charged with the will of its creator.”)

and 2. The idea that the sigils are only empowered by the personalized, subjective meaning that you give them. (“a line drawing/a nonsense picture/an hourglass?/because of what that image means to you/how it makes you feel/YOU are bringing power to the image”)

My issue is how to reconcile these two ideas. On the one hand, A seems to be telling us that “The Experiences” were more or less co-opted by a larger force, and presumably their pre-existing sigil of summoning was pitched as one of the aforementioned .5% shifts (the equivalent of network executive note-giving in @bruinbown’s awesome metaphor he mentioned in Slack) in order to sneakily get the sigil back into the public consciousness.

That all seems to track for me, but then A takes this turn for the sentimental with talk of how the symbols are inherently meaningless except for the power imbued in them by the participants. As @coryphella began to touch on in the Slack, if this is a sigil of summoning that has some sort of pre-existing meaning, and it can affect something in physical reality that is not necessarily directly connected to the intentions of the people “empowering” it by thinking about it, then the symbol does, in fact, have an objective meaning, doesn’t it?

Certainly there’s a semiotic school of thought that says symbols do not have any inherent meaning, but are only given meaning by human observation and assignment of belief. Personally speaking, I think that’s probably true. In general with linguistics, might makes right. If enough people decide “text” is a verb meaning “to send a text message”, it becomes legitimized over time. My problem is, that’s not what A is really describing. If one of the participants got a sigil tattoo because to them it meant “family” and another got it because to them it meant “awesome theater experience” and then a third got it because they have a hobby of getting a yearly tattoo dedicated to the thing they spent the most time doing that year, and then ALL of those tattoos work together with the collective energy to affect a totally unrelated purpose of summoning an Old God, then…in effect, the subjective meaning we imbue in the symbols really has no significance whatsoever, does it?

I do think it was a nice sentiment on A’s part. I’m just having trouble reconciling the contradiction.

EDIT: @kevin you beat me to it you son of a bitch

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Max Z.

The new “A” is pretty incredible. He/she is forthcoming, observant, and really eager to help us…

And that’s what worries me.

An anonymous “Deep Throat” mystery person – who Morgan has NEVER met – comes out of the woodwork, proclaims allegiance to BOS and is all too eager to feed us information. This just seems too good to be true.

“I will not spin out snappy phrases or try to answer in some non answers to send you on a wild goose chase or theorizing…”

But that’s exactly what “A” did. If you notice, they didn’t answer any specific questions and instead, dropped a whole lot of other info on us. Super descriptive but also mysterious enough to have us all theorizing once they left.

That info is very much appreciated, but something feels off about all this. It was the same modus operandi, only dressed up. Like when the NRA spokesperson told the Florida town hall “I hear you and I want what you want” and then threw out a lot of slightly related discussion points to appease the masses (which didn’t really work). It’s the same dance you see a politician do when asked simple but challenging questions.

We know the OSDM is biding its time and will most likely regroup and strike back from the shadows. They’re gonna strike at Morgan and the BOS hard and war is going to erupt. It seems to me like the best way to get back would be to send a wolf in sheep’s clothing… Someone who will tell us what we want to hear… Gain Morgan’s trust… and as soon as our guards are down…. WHAM!

Of course, this could all just be paranoia. But the spidey senses are tingling.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Andrew Kasch.

I have too many thoughts to effectively describe them at this moment. Other than to say it is astonishing how little I believe in coincidences today.

I’ll add more when I can qualitatively speak.

The thing I took most from this is the idea, of fact I suppose, that there is a power that Controls even the Creators, and that for all intents and purposes, they’re still in charge. As if they’ve left the office with the lights still on, but vacation will be over eventually. I find myself oddly thrilled.

Morgan always says “stay frosty.” It’s a better time then ever to heed that advice.

So if sigils and symbols and logos have a power, is there a power from tarnishing said symbol? Say, by turning it into an ejaculating penis?

Asking for a friend.

But yes, I think those with “Experiences Ink” may be in for a surprise down the road if this imagery does indeed hold a sort of power more than just sentimental reasons.

All of this after the mysterious Julie showed up and abruptly disappeared. Then Morgan tells us to please drop it, it’s unrelated, without uttering those three magical letters that would actually get us to drop it… O… O… G.

I think we may be getting a bit in the weeds worrying about a specific symbol. “A” stated that there have been many so good it has used in the past. The specific sigil or logo means less than what it represents. (Think a product being rebranded)

@bruinbown – I’m not sure. I feel like we’ve heard this before. That’s the thing about this experience being a year old now. Things that happened months ago get kind of lost.

Talking to @maxzumstein and @erisbonn I gave what I’m sure is a terrible, garbled summary of Snow Crash which does a great job, I think, of explaining this. It’s been 12 years since I read it though. But, regardless of what evolution the Tower of Babel caused to language over time, how it changed meanings of symbols, it didn’t remove the core power of the ancient Sumerian that was able to infect people when exposed in the right circumstances (please forgive me for fucking this up).

The Tower of Babel is us ascribing whatever meaning we want to these things. But whoever is in charge here – you can tell this from those notes – they are relying on us being too stupid and naive to really understand what’s going on and how powerful this magic is. We flat out don’t understand what we are playing with. You can tattoo your butt off with the symbol and say that it means awesome theatre experience, but you still stamped your ass with Cthulu’s phone number.

So essentially, Howard Schultz has retired from Starbucks and left a barista in charge of the company — one who doesn’t know the difference between espresso and a bacon/chedder/gouda breakfast sandwich.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/09/25/the-one-thing-that-will-destroy-your-brand/#6e34b70e9058

Jesus, this is all crazy today. Couple things stand out to me, is the usage of IT. Capitalized both letters. Didn’t we see this last year regarding Noah’s messages? Him responding “You think IT can replace me?” or something. At the time we thought maybe it was like a robot or AI or whatever actually replacing him. That IT was the thing that actually fills in for him. What if IT is the same IT referenced here. It’s not the thing that replaces him, but the organization that replaces him?

Also regarding @lilmsfancpants’s story. I find the wording very interesting. “…that has been fully uncovered. Even by her.” Meaning there’s parts of her story she hasn’t uncovered herself. Potential memory issues preventing her from remembering key points? Like when she tells us what happened that’s literally all she can tell us.

I appreciated A’s responses but, as is always the case, every answer brings up five more questions. Why aren’t we hearing this from Morgan, instead of some anonymous acolyte (A-nonymous A-colyte)? Why all the secrecy about what he’s really fighting? Why does he now seem to be playing into the Order’s agenda with his videos and his propaganda and his advertising? And why is he now mimicking the OSDM’s organizational structure? It’s starting to look a little Animal Farm-y to me, to be honest.

It also puts us in a rather awkward position, if this is all true. Because it seems to me that the best way to combat the Order is simply to walk away, to not play into their games. Everything we do, including the BOS, is just feeding them. We are what give them power. Of course, if everyone quit and Lust ceased to exist, they would just move on to something else. And this is assuming that we even want to combat it. I believe A is telling the truth as far as they know or perceive it, but even A admits that they know very little, so I’m not sure how much I trust their judgment or viewpoint.

I’m prepared to believe that almost everything from the past two years has been fiction, with just little nuggets of truth here and there. I’m now more committed than ever to truth. To illumination. I don’t believe the BOS can or will provide this, given the fact that even the BOS members that Morgan trusts most are kept in the dark. Whether it’s because of distrust or because he’s trying to protect them, it doesn’t matter, he’s useless to me either way. I need to find my own path to illumination, for now.

I agree that truth, that illumination, is the vital path, at least for me. I also agree that Morgan’s motives may be entirely what he claims them to be–but the outcome remains one where he’s still hiding things, even from allies. Even if that’s NECESSARY from his point of view (and it may well be), that’s not sufficient for me.

I have written previously on my lack of experience with anything ‘beyond’ natural. The story given to us by @a practically screams, (for me), the idea of old gods and magics and seeing something beyond the tangible. Indeed, even the fact that @a pointed us once again to the Lia’s experience at the MSE is practically a demand to pay attention to THAT part of what has happened as being the only part that’s ‘real’–and yet it’s the most unbelievable part of the entire narrative for me.

I have made my choice for now. I will be walking (carefully, with my eyes as open as I can make them) whatever path takes me as close to understanding what the hell is happening as possible. If that means siding with the OSDM, so be it. If it means joining whomever is really behind the scenarios we’re seeing, so be it. I recognize the ideal goal of the BOS, but I simply cannot at this time share it. The real illumination, the true gnosis that I seek, requires me to be willing to enter the shrine of the OSDM/Whomever willingly.

It may turn out to be nothing more than another con. I reiterate that people always forget that pulling back the curtain only shows you a foolish, somewhat sad snake oil salesman trying to impress you with theatrics. That potential is here.

The potential that this is nothing more than technical wizardry is also there–@a made a comment today that seems aimed in THAT possibility, too. I understand that I may simply find myself seeing an illusion and failing to spot the sleight of hand.

But that journey, no matter how far I succeed or fail, is one that reaches out to me. Resisting it feels, simply, wrong.

I applaud those who feel strongly they must resist. I hope that Morgan and the BOS do turn out to be working in your best interests when all is said and done–truly, I do not wish you to be caught by another trap.

But I cannot be one of you. I seek the answers. I -want- to see what is beyond the temple doors. Maybe it’s golden tablets. Maybe there’s nothing. But I need to take that step.

Rumors, and falsehoods are easy to start.

This quote, considering who has been handed the reins, does not merely drip with irony.

It’s a goddamned shitstorm.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Lawrence Meyers.

a read someones account on your forums.
A story about Apples and Pears.
A lie to 9. A truth to 1. 9 will always outweigh the 1.
They have sent you on numerous dead ends.

I found this to be the most interesting part of yesterday’s session with A.

We’ve been doing this for a year now. We have forgotten so many things that happened in that time and when you read the chapter summaries and timelines that we’ve created in the new users sections here it’s obvious.

My read on this was that for every nine lies we’ve been given, every nine dead ends we’ve followed (or are still following), there has been one truth, one path that actually points to what’s going on. My guess is that the broad strokes, the things that have pulled so many of us in – BOS, OSDM, the puzzles, maybe even the demon snake baby – those are the lies, the distractions. The truths might be the things we’re not talking about, or the things that we are dissuaded from talking about.

@lilmsfancpants has been set up in a couple of different ways to be discredited, the big one being the incident at the MSE, which obviously holds more importance than we know. The other event of hers that we’ve discussed and some don’t fully believe is the park incident with Noah. I’ve heard people argue that it would be too difficult to pull off (it wouldn’t be, though I wouldn’t be likely to do it with all the insurance and legal crap in place) or that if they were to pull it off they would want to ensure there would be an audience (they’ve engaged an audience for far less). But what if the point was to NOT have an audience so that we would doubt her? So that we would look at the events with the bigger audience and say, obviously THOSE were the truths?

Some have suggested that the occult research was busy work or a distraction, but what if MOST of everything has been a distraction, including the BOS, System 5, etc.? When this all began we were flooded with a bunch of random, bizarre images, facebook profiles, Clint and Darren doubles, Darren randomly in Mississippi, scientific papers showing up, warnings in photo metadata, anonymous random phone calls. Then, suddenly, the System became organized and we forgot all of that and a coherent story emerged. Something darker is going on here and we’re being distracted by the shiny things. If we stop looking where they tell us to look we might find the truth, but as long as they’re directing our attention at the obvious things (war! OSDM! BOS!) we won’t see what’s going on right in front of us.

YES @coryphella. What was the note included in the BOS video the other day? “let them believe in the fiction. As long as they are distracted, they won’t see what is transpiring right front of them.”

Maybe we take everything with a grain of salt. What’s beneath it all?

Maybe we take everything with a grain of salt. What’s beneath it all?

I have kept that particular note in my head since we saw it. I am maintaining as open a mind as I can about everything. It is my expectation that ‘illumination’ in whatever form it takes will give me more to consider–but not to consider blindly.

So I agree wholeheartedly, @wanda102