Hieromachina Components
Each Component of the machine has its own symbol, elemental correspondence, submachine, and paired component of the opposite energy type. All associations on this page are my own personal associations, some broad and some very specific. A few of them will probably be further developed over time. The Ground components in particular are named after orthocosm machine parts. (For more information on the Elements and Qualities, see Associations)
1 - Ignition / Aries
Ground Attributes
- Luminous | Will
Function
Impulse, initiation, spark.
The start of many things. Often explosive creativity, sudden bursts of inspiration, epiphanies. Taking control of a situation. The beginning of a story, or of a mix, or other creations. Blank canvases, empty pages, whitespace.
Raw energy, passion, keeping track of ideas. The energy gained from the beginning of a project or something new—or in declaring something finished.
Source Attributes
- Cardinal | Fire
Function
The initial moment of posting something new and anticipating feedback. Sharing creations outwardly, with others.
Interaction with other's worlds, creations, stories. Shared experiences.
2 - Gearbox
Ground Attributes
- Laminar | Body
Function
Physical maintenance of body. Appearance (and gender presentation), health and fitness, diet. Meds and hormones. Posture and proprioception (immediate). Experiments with blindfolds.
Daily habits such as showering, brushing teeth, etc. Bad habits like picking of fingernails or nervous movement patterns—and diversion of such, via dynamo (fiddle toy). Kinkplay and masturbation in the utilitarian sense.
Remaining aware enough of bodily needs and discomforts to make sure needs are met.
Source Attributes
- Fixed | Earth
Function
The initial moment of posting something new and anticipating feedback. Sharing creations outwardly, with others.
Interaction with other's worlds, creations, stories. Shared experiences.
3 - Collimator / Gemini
Ground Attributes
- Liminal | Mind
Function
Seeking self-knowledge, diving into dreams and subconscious realms ('Hornspace'). Transcendental meditation techniques, methods designed for exploration.
Dreams, drugs, musical journeys (though music is also often Liminal Water as well).
Work on the Machine itself, mainly in creation and manipulation of the symbols involved. Linework in Illustrator, sketching out symbol ideas, final designs. Connecting lines and concepts, circles and thoughts. Heavy conceptual work or processing of thoughts. Using symbols to push towards manifestation.
Source Attributes
- Mutable | Air
Function
Participating in larger metaphysical contexts, talking about other's woo. Sharing knowledge and information about the Machine.
Learning about others' systems, and learning how to work with those. Compatibilities of systems, crosslinking aspects of them. Rituals with others.
Knowledge of 'Deities' imparted from them, through ritual means in connection with other nodes like Liminal Earth.
Input of cosmic-level information from external sources. Reading occult books, filtering and understanding the information.
4 - Impeller / Cancer
Ground Attributes
- Luminous | Emotion
Function
Beginnings and endings of emotion – the raw sudden swelling of feelings, and the cooling off over time.
Biochemical triggers in the skull that affect mood, unexpected anger or anxiety or sadness. Turbulent and unpredictable.
Dealing with such. Emotional catharsis, calming (anti-anxiety) meditation. Manipulation of mood using music, whether for a purge/reset or mood boosting.
Relationships of characters, in personal stories.
Discovery of new music, and the processing on an emotional level of good songs (i.e. crying my face off, extending 'wings', etc)
Source Attributes
- Cardinal | Water
Function
Initial sparks of relationships and friendships (or endings).
Control of emotional factors around other people. Letting guard down when I can, being vulnerable about my emotional state. Working out deeply-ingrained emotional triggers through therapy.
Coping with sudden changes from external sources to my emotional state. Attempts to limit the effect, push energy towards more productive areas.
Outward expressions of deeper connection between music and emotions: Djing, putting music on in a room to set a mood, etc.
5 - Transformer / Leo
Ground Attributes
- Laminar | Will
Function
Balancing and maintaining raw energy levels. Pushing the flow around if necessary. Knowing the state of subnodes, and of the rest of the Machine. The inner strength to keep going.
The middle of stories, or the middle of mixes. The writing process itself, after concepts and sparks of ideas. Jumping back into a project after its initial rush of conception (needs lots of work).
Regularity and good-practice habits regarding the Machine as a whole. Consistency and constancy, reliability.
Source Attributes
- Fixed | Fire
Function
Work-persona, interaction with various people on a social and professional level, including strangers.
Dealing with external forces like bills, rent, taxes—the actual getting down to work. Buying new (physical) things.
Social planning and dynamics, logistics, community planning—especially of reoccurring events.
6 - Exchanger / Virgo
Ground Attributes
- Liminal | Earth
Function
Accessing the imaginative and inspirational through the body. Rituals in the physical that push energy into other nodes.
Ecstatic dance (private), bodily forms of meditation such as Tai Chi, astrojax practice, 'conducting' along with music. Long meandering walking meditation, occupying the physical in order to focus on the mental and spiritual.
Solo kink play, especially the darker experiments like the shower ritual—the shamanistic aspects of 'going there' first. Blindfolded explorations of self in the shower, focus on sensations.
Source Attributes
- Mutable | Earth
Function
More external manifestations of imagination and wonder via the body. Dancing for others (performance). Some forms of physical intimacy (such as musical energy work while stoned).
Dancing with others, shared experiences of concerts or DJ events. Talking about and sharing inner experiences from the same.
Kink scenes with others, especially ones that veer into psychological buttons (as opposed to largely just pushing pure kink buttons). Experiments with degradation, isolation/abandonment, embarrassment.
7 - Resonator / Libra
Ground Attributes
- Luminous | Mind
Function
Writing, journaling, jotting notes and sketches down.
Brainstorming, capturing the ideas when they come. The spark of ideas at the start of a project. Seeds of ideas.
Training new skills or trying out new things. The push towards change rather than stagnancy.
Source Attributes
- Cardinal | Air
Function
Research into new topics of knowledge. Taking classes for new skills or learning.
Reading books (both fiction and non-fiction) in order to be inspired. Immersion in paracosms and participation in syncosms. Assisting in other's brainstorming and worldbuilding. Fiction of all kinds.
8 - Turbine / Scorpio
Ground Attributes
- Laminar | Emotion
Function
Daily emotional health, regulation and altering. Frustrations and pleasures. Being able to read one's current emotional state and respond to it. Emotional shielding, guarding against trying to pick up other people's emotions around me.
Taking the churn of anxiety and making it productive.
Dealing with sudden emotional triggers from past imprints of events. Regulation of the prediction model: the assumption that events in the future will happen just like events in the past.
Source Attributes
- Fixed | Water
Function
Empathy with others (but not without shielding first). Learning to help others' with their emotional state. Looking out for their emotional well-being.
Interactions with others, relationships, love in the emotional aspect.
Coping and interacting with external emotional events in other ways besides shielding (or full emotional shutdown).
9 - Coil / Sagittarius
Ground Attributes
- Liminal | Will
Function
Personal connection to magic, to the metacosm internally. Defining of self as liminal, being in between, bridging binaries.
Acts of personal expression (such as the Hieromachina) from magic and metacosmic realms. Intensely personal symbolism, taking dreams and making them real. Diving into dreams intentionally, engaging imagination and attempting to get something back from it.
The root drive towards expressions of art.
Source Attributes
- Mutable | Fire
Function
Confidence and ability to navigate while in altered states. Managing other's trips as well (tripsitting).
Sharing in other's deep-set worlds and systems. Sharing things with others in order to inspire – being a muse.
Active sharing of wonder, things I find wondrous (social media, etc). Trying to connect others into the greater metacosm.
10 - Driveshaft / Capricorn
Ground Attributes
- Luminous | Body
Function
Hedonism, sex. Kink for its own sake. Personal explorations of kinkspace involved in the body. Pure pleasure and indulgence (massages, spa visits, good food).
Creative and alternate expressions of movement and look (dressing up differently, more radical gender expressions, costuming). Trying out different postures for different characters.
Source Attributes
- Cardinal | Earth
Function
Shared sensual experiences, sex with others. Engaging in someone else's pleasure, whether or not I get any myself. Switching, both dom and sub dynamics with other people.
Any kind of kinkplay with other people involved. Attempting to get better at interacting with other people's needs in kink space, rather than just my own. Performing or serving solely for another person's pleasure or benefit (massages, sex toy, general snuggling).
11 - Lens / Aquarius
Ground Attributes
- Laminar | Mind
Function
Organizing and maintaining information, notes on things. Keeping track of personal thoughts (journaling or the black notebook). Daily meditation habits and centering. Keeping the mind flexible through challenges, puzzles, games.
Maintenance of technology and software, finding and using knowledge to fix tech when it's broken. Looking into new software, integrating new technology or programs into regular use. Knowing how to use tools effectively over long-term use.
Managing habits around personal intake of information, regulating degree of consumption. (Often needs boost from Laminar Water, since incoming information often causes emotional undercurrents.) Regulation of attention, and various augmentations of attentiveness (caffeine, sativa, etc). Focus.
Source Attributes
- Fixed | Air
Function
Communication of information between multiple parties. Organization and coordination of larger social events, the actual logistics of such.
Sharing of information and experience (teaching, if need be). Interacting with other people's knowledge-sets (asking for help or advice, listening to talk about interests).
12 - Reservoir / Pisces
Ground Attributes
- Liminal | Water
Function
Deep-rooted emotions, motivations, self-generated beliefs. The Core (from which 'Core Music' is from). Matters of the heart – the feelings behind what drives one. Dreamspace emotions, the deep sense of wonder and wistful desire around certain concepts. Managing the relationship of myself to myself (or selves).
Emotional reserves—should not be drawn from often, but as regular circulation of energy (Laminar Water) drops out, this can be drawn from. Usually very destabilizing. Also magical reserves, in some sense.
Taking deep emotional triggers from music (diving), and turning those into mixes (or DJ'ing).
Source Attributes
- Mutable | Water
Function
Interacting with other people's deeply-held belief systems and emotions. Sharing and encouraging other's creations.
Emotional support for others—their deep-core beliefs, dreams, etc. 'Spiritual' connections.
Communal sharing of media—connection to realms of ideas—especially music in this case.
Greatest connection to Wonder, through emotional apprehension of things from outside, things felt through stories told. Part of wonder is often that aching feeling of wanting to know or be in the situation presented, and this is a strong emotion that comes from the core. The kinds of things that make you want to laugh or cry or shout. Or in other words: things that refill the emotional reserves.
