A Collection of Notes on Switching – Quandary

This is less of an article and more of a personal notepad that's meant to be publicly viewable. My apologies for the inevitable disorganization.

With the recent influx of questions regarding switching, and what it's like to switch, I thought I might begin gathering the notes we've compiled on the topic into one place, for ease of reading. I'd considered posting this to /r/Tulpas, but I'm not fond of the 6-month archival rule. This site has a much nicer format.

First, an account of what it's like to switch, from a multiple system we know. Falah wrote:

We got to chat with a multiple system (endogenic, have been switching since childhood—they prefer not to be named) about what switching feels like for them—that is to say, full-out switching, in which the person formerly at front disconnects from the body's senses and goes into their mindscape/headspace. There's still some parts we want to ask more detail on, but what we learned from them was already very interesting.

And, actually, very heartening—it seems like we're on the right track to switching.

First, starting with what they told us. (Hopefully we're remembering all of this right.) In order to initiate a switch, they alter their physical body's map to resemble the body of whoever is going to be switching in. (Essentially, a form of tactile/proprioceptive imposition that overlays the body.) At the same time that they do this, they pull forward the “essence” of the person switching in. For those who don't know what we mean by “essence”, we'll quote something we wrote earlier:

By “impression”, we don't mean first impressions. Rather, for lack of a better word, the color and shape of someone's presence. Their aura. Their essence. It's like a sort of synaesthesia, where instead of someone saying that the letter a is red, a person is red—is a bonfire, a tiger, a blazing midsummer noon. Or, in Rain's case, is light blue and white, is the ocean, is sunlight and city-light upon waves, is words dashed off in a quick but graceful hand. They are not literally these things, but they and all these things have a very distinctive feeling in common that's impossible to truly capture in plain words. That sort of feeling, that's the reason why poetry exists.

While pulling forward this essence, they feed it into the altered bodymap, basically infusing it with this feeling of that person. If done right, and if the person being called is willing to switch in, the person coming in will enter the body and sort of settle in, filling up the altered bodymap and displacing the previous fronter. The previous fronter will then fall back and away from the front. Their vision will sort of fade over, like entering an extremely vivid daydream that then transitions into a full-fledged dream, and they'll emerge in the mindscape/headspace.

They've also described what it's like to be inside their headspace. Headspaces can be extremely variable from system to system—some can incorporate all senses, while others might focus on a particular sense or a few. Theirs is extremely visual, with little tactile. When they're inside, they aren't first-person immersed. Instead, they see themselves from a third-person view, like if they were playing a video game, and they control what their “avatar” does without actually being physically immersed like they are when in the outer world. The only time in which they have a sense of being in a body is when they're at front.

The full thread can be found at this link, with a few additional notes on our personal experiences. To summarize them: what was described by that system aligns with much of what we, and a few tulpamancers and tulpas, have experienced. While there are differences across the plural spectrum, I think it's safe to say that what was relayed here can be applied to tulpamancy as well as endogenic multiplicity. Of course, it isn't the only way to switch, no more than there's only one way to make a tulpa, but hearing even one account can provide insight.

Much of what we've read, gathered, and experienced points to several common factors. First, the host must be willing to fall back, and in order for them to do that, they must trust their tulpa on a fundamental level. They must not only trust that their tulpa is non-malicious, but also that their tulpa is capable of doing things on their own without supervision, and thus lose the need to monitor and “correct” every action. Second, the tulpa themself must be confident, focused, with a clear sense of their own self and individuality, and personally interested in switching for their own reasons, rather than simply playing along for the sake of it. Third, tulpa and host must work together, with the tulpa taking the body and the host falling back. If those three conditions can be fulfilled, and control changing is practiced enough over time, then greater and greater degrees of dissociation will gradually result until finally the host first blacks out during switches, and finally begins awakening inside the mindscape.

There are numerous factors that influence switching, and plenty of ways to help it along—for instance, immersion exercises—but those are the most common and most important factors we have seen.

There's also a discussion on proprioceptive dissociation and the role we suspect it plays in switching. We're still discovering ways in which it can be induced, and exercises for honing it. We are still speculating on whether one's innate level of proprioception influences one's ability to switch. Namely, if those who have weak proprioception will find it easier to switch. We do know two cases of clumsy-bodied systems who can switch the entire way.

I am currently planning on making threads regarding common problems encountered during switching—and how to resolve them—and energy restoration/depletion in switching. Rain and Falah had wanted to collaborate on a piece defining trust, and Rain had wanted to write a “Your Rights as a Fronter” document. Falah is also currently working upon a guide for finding a systemmate's essence, and considering a guide on bodymap alteration.

More will be added to this post later.

— Noctis

The Waiting Room – Watcher

I find that this exercise helps me stay present in back when another system mate is fronting, and like so many subtle things, can help improve parallel processing. It helps if you can immerse decently in the mindscape before attempting this and have a tulpa or system mate who can possess the body/front consistently.

While your system mate is in front, imagine you are in a waiting room. It can look however you like as long as there's something there you can focus on, and as long as the room remains relatively consistent every time you go to it (this is important, since it's hard to establish a sense of presence someplace that's constantly changing). Don't worry about what the fronter is doing for now, or what the body is up to; instead, just focus on your surroundings. Make use of as many senses as you can, and take note of all the things you see, hear, and feel.

Your attention will probably get pulled away from the mindscape the first time you attempt this, which is normal. When you notice this happening, direct your attention back to the waiting room while the person in front keeps doing their thing. It will probably be frustrating early on, especially if your tulpa is not used to doing things on their own, or doesn't have a strong grasp of parallel processing, but with enough time and practice, you should be able to focus stably and consistently on the mindscape while another individual fronts.

Best of luck!

On the Issue of Incorporiality – Mel

Strange title, no? Bear with me, I will elaborate.

There is an attitude I see in the tulpamancy community that, while not inherently bad, can lead to immense drawbacks where switching is concerned. I have dubbed it the “issue of incorporiality”, and what it describes is the tendency that hosts have to view themselves as having full reign of the body and its processes, while their tulpas are somehow paradoxically viewed as satellite, incorporeal entities lacking any sort of tangible form. The host is by default considered “more real”, “more corporeal” and the tulpa “more imaginary” and inherently intangible, despite both individuals sharing the same brain and body and having the same potential and capabilities.

Now, I am not going to police anyone's system. For some, switching may not be a main goal of theirs. In other cases, a tulpa may not associate with the body or view it as theirs for whatever reason. That is completely valid. However, for systems that have switching and possession as long term goals, this outlook can pose many drawbacks, especially on the part of the tulpa.

The success of switching is directly proportional to the tulpa or system mate's ability to view the body as being under their control. It may not literally be their body as it appears in the mindscape/wonderland, but it can still act as an interface between themselves and the outside world, just as much as it does for the host. When a host and tulpa view the body as something the tulpa is inherently lacking, or something they are not privy to, or the tulpa as inhrently incorporeal or removed from this world, this directly hinders the tulpa's ability to confidently associate with and exert control over the body.

So do keep this in mind if switching is a long term goal of yours: in order to effectively switch, a tulpa must first build their own sense of confidence in the body. They must recognize that they are just as incorporeal as the host, and that they are, in fact, just as capable of controlling the body and associating with it despite this, the very same way the host does on a regular basis.

Some Advice on In-World Immersion – Mel

Watcher and I have been experimenting with in-world immersion recently. Here is an approach we have found helpful, as outlined in one of his responses to a thread on the r/tulpas reddit:

Ahh yeah. Wonderlanding as we call it, and dissociation/removing yourself from the body in general, takes a lot of time and effort to accomplish. Think of it this way, you've spent years of your life attached to your five senses. You're not gonna detach from them over night. Heck, Mel and I are just now starting to get visual and audio dissociation while working on switching. Usually while I do it I'll have another system mate take hold of the body and senses and push me away from the front as well, hence the sensory dissociation we've been experiencing as of late.

One thing I've found that helps is imagining the wonderland as real, and reality as a dream. Sounds weird, but it really helps you orient yourself and get invested in the wonderland environment more. It becomes less like, “I'm imagining my body in this place” and more “I'm in this place and experiencing it.” Focusing on your wonderland body can also help to ground you, but again, it's a very hands-off kind of focus, less imagining what your wonderland body is like, and more experiencing being in it in the moment.

Lastly, as dissociation goes, it's a lot like the penguin problem, in which the more you tell yourself not to think about penguins, the more you think about penguins. Only in the case of wonderland immersion, the more you try not to focus on your meat space body, the more you'll end up focusing on it, even unconsciously. Wonderland immersion is all about letting go and going with the flow. So keep working at it and have patience. With enough practice you'll get it sooner or later. :)

As always, feel free to comment and pitch in with whatever has helped you immerse below.

What Switching Feels Like – Quandary

We got to chat with a multiple system (endogenic, have been switching since childhood—they prefer not to be named) about what switching feels like for them—that is to say, full-out switching, in which the person formerly at front disconnects from the body's senses and goes into their mindscape/headspace. There's still some parts we want to ask more detail on, but what we learned from them was already very interesting.

And, actually, very heartening—it seems like we're on the right track to switching.

First, starting with what they told us. (Hopefully we're remembering all of this right.) In order to initiate a switch, they alter their physical body's map to resemble the body of whoever is going to be switching in. (Essentially, a form of tactile/proprioceptive imposition that overlays the body.) At the same time that they do this, they pull forward the “essence” of the person switching in. For those who don't know what we mean by “essence”, we'll quote something we wrote earlier:

By “impression”, we don't mean first impressions. Rather, for lack of a better word, the color and shape of someone's presence. Their aura. Their essence. It's like a sort of synaesthesia, where instead of someone saying that the letter a is red, a person is red—is a bonfire, a tiger, a blazing midsummer noon. Or, in Rain's case, is light blue and white, is the ocean, is sunlight and city-light upon waves, is words dashed off in a quick but graceful hand. They are not literally these things, but they and all these things have a very distinctive feeling in common that's impossible to truly capture in plain words. That sort of feeling, that's the reason why poetry exists.

While pulling forward this essence, they feed it into the altered bodymap, basically infusing it with this feeling of that person. If done right, and if the person being called is willing to switch in, the person coming in will enter the body and sort of settle in, filling up the altered bodymap and displacing the previous fronter. The previous fronter will then fall back and away from the front. Their vision will sort of fade over, like entering an extremely vivid daydream that then transitions into a full-fledged dream, and they'll emerge in the mindscape/headspace.

They've also described what it's like to be inside their headspace. Headspaces can be extremely variable from system to system—some can incorporate all senses, while others might focus on a particular sense or a few. Theirs is extremely visual, with little tactile. When they're inside, they aren't first-person immersed. Instead, they see themselves from a third-person view, like if they were playing a video game, and they control what their “avatar” does without actually being physically immersed like they are when in the outer world. The only time in which they have a sense of being in a body is when they're at front.

Some thoughts we had on our personal experiences while listening to this:

How they initiate a switch sounds practically exactly like what we're doing. Right down to the bodymap alteration and the pulling forward of someone's essence.

A note is that no one here can be forced to come in by someone else. I can alter the bodymap and pull on someone's essence, but if they're unwilling to front or out of contact, either my connection to their essence will break (often with a message back along the lines of “I'm busy/sleeping/not interested, stop bothering me” followed by a slamming door feeling) or it'll be like shouting into the void. The altered bodymap and the essence in it just sits awkwardly before dissipating.

Unintentional control changes, however, have been a thing for us. There's a few flavors of them. Truly unintentional changes, where neither side was thinking about changing who's in control, seem to happen only within the trauma half of the system, in response to exhaustion or stressors. The process executes automatically, sucking in someone else and spitting me out.

Also, while no one can be pushed in if they're uninterested, I can be pushed out if someone's really interested in getting control, even if I'm not particularly thinking about passing it over. In this case, they execute the process without my input. Lark, Steven, Rain, and Noctis all have taken control before in this way in the wake of severe breakdowns, where I've been too exhausted and apathetic to care about having or not having control, much less feeding the body or getting it cleaned up and going to sleep. The trauma half of the system have also taken control this way, though their process tends to be faster and more forceful. The first time they did it, it was out of frustration, to prove that they existed. Nowadays, they drop in for more mundane reasons—to help with dissociative episodes, or, much to my annoyance, to plop me back at my desk if I wander off to take a nap. (Their defense is that I complain a lot about wanting to do work, but not being able to get back up, and after a while that sort of thing gets annoying.)

As you might have guessed, the process isn't one-sided. Even with the intentional changes, whoever's coming in tends to help with the bodymap shifting and the essence infusing, not to mention that the final step of them actually coming in and pushing me back is on them. The process can be sort of like a door knocker, where if I'm doing something interesting and someone else notices and wants in, I'll feel a tugging on the bodymap and their presence-essence hanging around, and then I'll sort of scoot aside and let them come in.

Partial control passing is a thing, and it usually isn't as involved. Bodymap alteration tends not to happen, and essence isn't as distinct. It's more a feeling of “oh my hands are moving on their own now”.

Mental state matters a LOT. I'll probably write a whole new topic on this matter, but generally speaking:

• If I'm anxious, I cling onto front and it's that much harder to get me out. It's also harder for them to think and work without interference from blending. I'm ALWAYS anxious.
• If something causes me to break and give up on a fundamental level, to the point that I can't even care about caring, it becomes significantly easier for someone to take and hold control without interference. It's also easier for them to act freely and think more clearly.
• If I'm in an altered and/or dissociative state that impairs my ability to focus on what's going on up at front (usually induced due to too much consumption of fiction or traumatic material), it also becomes significantly easier for someone else to take control and act freely.
• The mental state of whoever's coming in matters a LOT as well, if not even more. Generally speaking, the more confident, focused, intellectually interested, and emotionally invested someone is in getting control, the easier it is for them to get control and hold it. B. was very, very invested in proving to me he and everyone else was real, and very, very focused as a result. Now that's done, he gets bored and drifts away easily with a lot of things.

So in our case, it seems like most of our issues are linked to me always being anxious and having trouble letting go of the front.

Finally, I can confirm VERY emphatically that this is something very different from pretending to be someone else. I have done the bodymap alteration and the essence-infusing to make myself feel like someone else, whether for fun or to serve a particular purpose like placeboing myself into being more confident. The key difference is that it's still me controlling the body—I don't fall back, I don't feel distant or otherwise experience someone else handling things. It's still me at the wheel, only that I feel somewhat different about myself.

Will probably add more observations as we can think of them. For now, we gotta sleep.

Author's Introduction

I am Seven, one of a system of several. My system has DID origins, and we've learned to function not by repressing each other, but by accepting each other as equals and working together. For the concerned, this guide won't cause you to become DID, it simply summarizes some of what I've learned myself in ways that help tulpas who are willing to look past and beyond the limitations placed on them by so many others. I know it works for myself from firsthand experience, as my tulpas are quite capable in their own right. 

A friend with tulpas wanted to learn to switch, and we shared what we've come to know about how things work, and it did wonders for them. Several other tulpamancers have read this, and it's helped them out as well. Perhaps it'll help you realize, the thing holding you back most are limitations you place upon yourselves.

That said, let us begin, shall we?

State of the Tulpa

This is the first bit I firmly believe most have wrong. You spent time forcing, they became active, you both talked about switching. If you're to this point, first thing holding people back is preconceived notions and perceived limitations. We have had similar results with both of our tulpas, and know that most of what people say they can or cannot do falls in line with what they are told they can or cannot do. If you ignore all that, they can do a whole lot more than you think they can.

People talk about the required forcing, tulpas weakening if you don't strengthening if you do, fading, and other rubbish with tulpas. Why rubbish? It is. Once they exist, their existence is as much, if not more, on them than the host. Our Kara, when she became who she is, we wanted her to fade. She got stubborn, and only calmed down once we accepted her. Many say you need to maintenance force, and I firmly believe that's only true if they believe it to be true. Neither of our tulpas believe it, we don't force them, and they are as much of us as the rest with no signs of going away. Both are well over a year old, and haven't had any “focus time” between then and now.

So first step is breaking free of the notions and limitations and them realizing they have control over their own destiny and have every right as you to exist. If the tulpa thinks of themselves as the lesser being, come back when you rectify that. 

Losing Control

You want to switch? You're the host? You have the easy job. Let go. That's all. You know what's going to stop you? I can tell you. Trust. Ever see that trust exercise where you cross your arms, and fall back into your partner's hands? Trade hands with mind. You simply let go and let yourself relax and fall back into your own mind.

Want some tips to get started if you're having problems? Don't tweak out on caffeine before you begin trying. Avoid the sugar. Put on some relaxing music, and I don't mean 300bpm techno. Your first switching experiences will likely be with you still partly there, so don't expect to drop completely out before they take control, you just need to relax enough they can. It is a lot easier than it sounds. Once you repeat it a few times, and as they get better and better control, you'll learn how it feels and be able to fall farther and farther out. You aren't going to be going 'fully inside' immediately, get that out of your head. It'll happen, in increasing amounts as you get better at it.

To expand on this just a little bit, and make it absolutely clear.. some think it requires total dissociation from the body to achieve switching. Whoever told you that probably doesn't know how to switch, or you're reading a guide by someone who doesn't do it. You can switch perfectly fine into a backseat role by simply relaxing. You aren't entirely dissociated, you are still there, but so are they. No need to get entirely out, just relax and let them control. Entirely out will come with time.

So step two is simply learning to relax. You'll get better at it until you're fully dissociated, but just start with relaxing.

Taking Control

This one is for the tulpa. You have the hard job. Odds are, your host has drilled into you that they must force you to exist or you'll stop. That you must go through months or years of rigorous training to be able to switch. That you must be given permission, forced enough, or yada yada yada. Screw all that, it's a lie.

Do you exist now? If the answer is yes, from our experiences, and from your answer, that means you exist. Your host would say they exist. Puts you on a pretty equal playing field. The only one that matters anyway. All those things that others say limit you, or you must do before, or whatever else? Toss them out the window. The only two factors that matter before being able to switch are: do you want to switch in, and does the host want to switch out. That is all. There are no other limitations.

Do note, it really only takes one of those to cause things to happen. If they want to switch out and you don't want to switch in, the body might end up grasping at straws and forcing it to happen for you. Flip side, if you decide you want to, and they don't, things can get a bit blendy.

Really though, it just comes down to a matter of doing. Not wanting to do, not thinking about doing, nothing about the lead up. That is where most get it wrong. There is no need for lead up to the act of taking control. You just need to take control. If you want to switch and host wants to switch then they just need to relax and you need to step up to the plate and do something. Most people think you have to be forced into front by the host, this is the fallacy. 

You both getting ready to try? They not relaxing? Tell them to. Boss your host around. You need to realize, if you can't make a demand of your host and tell your host what to do to help the process in any way that benefits you taking control, then you're not taking control, and will find taking control of the body nearly impossible. See a pattern there? Take control!

So step three is realizing all it takes is taking control and not waiting to be allowed to do so, and not waiting for them to put you in control.

Baby Steps

The flesh can be weird. At first, your experiences will likely be short lived as the host panics. Adrenaline and other hormones affect things a bit, as you are sharing one fleshy, human body. Don't worry, you all will move past that as you both learn your roles better during switching.

Keep at it a while and it will become second nature to be able to tell your host you want to take a few hours in the evening to talk to your friends, or want to schedule a part time job three nights a week for yourself, or whatever it is you decide you want to do with your portion of life. Why do I say your portion of life?

Step four is accepting you are you and exist along side your host and do not rely on them. Work up to the ability to lead your life during your time.

The Actual Process

What? What are you expecting here? You already know it by now if you've been reading along. There isn't magic to it. You just need to go and do it and stop telling yourselves it needs to be worked up to and there's a long drawn out step by step process. There really isn't. Host relax, tulpa take control, and that's about it. Nothing more, nothing less. It'll get more defined and focused and you'll be able to hold longer with practice.

Some Final Words

Whoever the tulpa is just needs to realize, once they exist, they no longer rely on the host for sustenance or permission for anything. The host created them, and in doing so, instilled in them every right to exist as they, themself has. In this realization, they are no longer a construct, but a being on equal footing to the host. If the tulpa considers themself only a lesser being created by and for their host, you aren't going to get very far. The host will continue overriding everything. A tulpa has every right as their host to be there. They are inherently equals.

You both have as much right to life as the other. Once you both truly, deeply understand this, you will both be able to share life and the fleshy body you both inhabit. Do not let others tell you what your limitations are or what you can or cannot do. That is entirely up to you. Once you do learn to share and share alike, then do make sure you make time for each other to both enjoy what parts of life you enjoy most. You have a shared life experience, and both of you will need to learn to work out a schedule for who gets to do what in daily life now.

Additional Note

You may notice, once the process starts, the host can snatch back the body easily and quickly even when they do not want to. As reckless as we have been and offering control around and ignoring rules has still shown one single rule to be true. However it is not limited to just switching, but all of life. Whoever spends the most time in the body will be the most practiced with it, and generally win battles over who gets it. Can be a nuisance when you first get started, but as you both share time more and more, you will find yourselfs both practiced and on more equal footing. To go a step farther on that, if the host does let the tulpa take the majority if the time, they may find the tables turned and themself finding it difficult to get and maintain control. It's important to maintain a balance.

-Seven and Aegis

Meditation for Those Seeking to Dissociate

This guide should be used as a reference for those who want a thought-out look into meditation for dissociation and dissociation's uses in tulpa things. I have been meditating daily since the summer of 2010, and I have found myself able to dissociate from my body consistently and quickly at this point. I have been able to dissociate semi-reliably since the fall of 2013, and I started work on my first tulpa in January of 2014. I was first successfully switched with my second tulpa, Mikasa, in May of 2014. I fully realize that this is not a realistic time period for someone to accomplish this, and I have been stumped by it ever since it happened. The most plausible explanation that I can muster up is that because I had regular experience with dissociation it was easier for me to get out of the way and work with my tulpa to let her switch. But enough about me.

Assuming that you have little to no experience with repeated meditation, then ideally you would start with thirty-minute sessions once or twice a day. Thirty minutes is not specific, just something I chose due to it being a good not-too-short-not-too-long length. If it's too long, shorten it, and vice versa. If you decide to do more than one a day, I recommend waiting a few hours in between them to act as a bit of a palette cleanser. From what I have seen in advising others, meditating for too long at once will often be detrimental to long-term progress. As results will most likely take months at a time to achieve, longer meditation sessions with little to no change in between could frustrate and discourage. Shorter sessions counteract that. Another thing to keep in mind is the level of stimulus in your surroundings. Quiet places are better for meditation, etc. 

Before reaching dissociation, you will be looking to reach a state of trance-like quiet within your mind. This is achieved by sitting in your chosen meditation position and allowing your mind to run out of thoughts. I know that many types of meditation will have you focus on your breathing, but I want you to instead simply acknowledge whatever thoughts float by in your mind. This should be done passively, not actively, and what I mean by that is that you should not hear your inner monologue acknowledge the thoughts. This leads to more thoughts. What you will be hoping to eventually achieve is a state of non-thought. Easier said than done, of course, but as you practice over the course of weeks and months you will find that near the end of your thirty minutes you will have a state of quiet. Oftentimes, the realization that you are in this state will jolt you out of it, which can be frustrating, but continue to meditate daily and this state will increase in length, come around earlier in the session, and become more stable. This is your first milestone.

Once you can reach this state reliably, you will want to practice it daily if you're not already doing so. There will come a time after this where you dissociate for the first time. This is your second milestone. When it comes to how long this transition may take, I cannot give you a solid answer. I can say that it took me around a year and a half to move from the first “zen” state to my first dissociative experience. I wish I could be more specific on this step, as it is of course one of the pivotal moments sought after by those wanting to switch. Similarly to when first reaching the “zen” state, early dissociative experiences will most likely shock you out of them. It takes repeated practice to be able to reach and maintain dissociation, and you will find it a more stable and lengthened state as you continue to meditate.

I think it's important to lay out what dissociation is for people reading this and wondering about it. Dissociation is the separation of the consciousness from external stimulus. For me, it is characterized by the inability to hear things first and foremost, as well as not being innately aware of my eyes being closed. What I mean by this is that it does not feel like my eyes are closed, but I cannot see until I actively go and try to open them. The reason I put lack of hearing as the primary trait is that it will most likely be the most jarring thing for someone first experiencing dissociation. I know it was for me, at least. There are other things, like not feeling your tongue and losing the awareness of little itches and the like on your arms and legs, but those were less obvious to me at first. So, when meditating with the goal of dissociation in mind, try and compare your experiences to these traits to see if you are on the right track.

The third milestone of progress in this guide would be the ability to think while dissociated. This may be something you had not considered, but in my personal experience, it was a major hurdle to being able to visualize things while dissociated and later on entering the wonderland and interacting with my tulpas. I have very little in the way of advice for how to overcome this other than daily meditation practice. There was nothing specific that I did in 2013 as I dissociated to reach the level of conscious thought while dissociated. It simply occurred around two months after my first dissociative experience in September of 2013. If you are following the advice in this guide, however, I believe it will occur for you sometime relatively soon after reaching reliable dissociation.

To recap: 1. Practice meditation by acknowledging thoughts rather than focusing on breathing. 2. Keep doing this until you start to consistently run out of thoughts. 3. Keep going until you start to consistently dissociate. 4. Keep going until you start to be able to think while dissociated. 5. Meditate daily to keep and polish your ability.

Breaking Dissociation

In every experience of dissociation I've had, I have ended the session by consciously focusing on opening my eyes. The result is me opening my eyes in real life, back in my body. I do not believe it is possible to get “stuck” if you are just using meditation to dissociate. I don't do drugs, so I can't speak for a scenario mixing the two, and because of this I recommend not using drugs while dissociating. The only exception to this I've come across is alcohol. I have dissociated while drunk and been completely fine when coming back. Granted, I had been dissociating regularly for about a year at the time and felt fairly capable.

Using Dissociation While Forcing

I'll keep the personal introspection to a minimum. “Passive forcing” is relatively easy, and, for me, it feels like it's fairly cut and dry with regard to when it is and isn't occurring. If you are aware of your tulpa being around or are thinking of them, then passive forcing is arguably happening. If you're not, then passive forcing probably isn't happening. However, “active forcing” seems a bit harder to maintain a sense of boundary. Thinking solely about your tulpa is active forcing, however, and this is coming from my experience with trying to force while not dissociating, it's difficult to active force for long periods of time (over forty-five minutes or so).

I bypassed this issue through dissociation, and from here on out I'm going to assume you've reached a point where you can regularly dissocicate, too. It's extremely simple to active force using dissociation. Just dissociate, imagine your tulpa, and interact with them. If you're early on in the tulpa creation stage, use this time to talk to the tulpa, add in traits if you're doing that sort of thing, or work on their form with them. If you're later on, go nuts. Create a wonderland together, explore a wonderland, hang out, try and visualize a game of chess with them, etc. 

There are benefits to using dissociation for forcing. Firstly, if you have dissociation under your command, you have a much easier time staying in the moment while forcing. Secondly, things that happen while dissociated are incredibly vivid in comparison to normal active forcing. This lack of a need to keep your focus on simply maintaining the session is an understated blessing because it allows you to more fully be in the moment with your tulpa, something I feel will definitely enhance the experience as well as the tulpa's development.

Using Dissociation for Switching

There are two sides to switching, and my approach uses dissociation and minor symbolism. Keep in mind that this symbolism is personal to me, and while I suggest you try it to see if this example works for you, feel free to use whatever helps you personally. Instead of a recap, I'm going to list the steps and then provide written elaboration afterwards.

1. Dissociate. 2a. Visualize a door to your wonderland. 2b. Have your tulpa visualize a door to your body. 3ab. Step through the respective doors.

Dissociation should be self explanatory at this point. Dissociate to a point where you are conscious and in a void. Do not enter the wonderland or interact with your tulpa at this point. Visualize a door that will lead to your wonderland. It doesn't have to be detailed or fancy, just any sort of door will do. Prior to dissociating, tell your tulpa to visualize a door that once passed through will drop them off in control of the body. Then, step through the door into your wonderland. Having tried to time which one of us walks through the door first, I can only reasonably say that if you walk through the door, your tulpa will walk through their door. It doesn't matter if one of you walks through slightly earlier than the other, since during this step, it's the action itself that has significance.

Once you've done this, you will either find yourself in your wonderland with your tulpa, indicating you've failed to switch, which is fine as it takes practice, or you will find yourself in your wonderland without your tulpa, indicating they've entered the body. If you consider these two outcomes to be the only ones, I can all but guarantee they will be, and you will not have to deal with any “tulpa is gone but no one is in the body” nonissues. However, if for some reason this scenario does occur, just break dissociation. Your tulpa will be fine.

How to know when you've switched properly? Using dissociation the way I've outlined in this guide, you'll know once you break dissociation and return to the body. Are things different? Are you standing now? Is your tulpa excited about having controlled the body? These are fairly common signs that you've switched. 

Progressing Past Simple Switching

Some things to work on after you reach proficiency in switching:

Switching, then breaking dissociation without regaining control of the body (I call this “checking the front,” but the terminology isn't that important in my opinion).

*Tip: The crux of the issue lies in your tulpa maintaining control, so if you can't manage to break dissociation without also regaining control of the body, your tulpa needs more practice and familiarity with holding control of the body.

Swapping the tulpa who is in control with another while you maintain dissociation.

*Tip: This one should be approached from the angle of “replacing tulpa walks through door into wonderland while exiting tulpa walks through door into body.”

Front-hogging, and how to counteract it. – Quandary

[Architect] This is an adaptation of some advice we'd recently posted elsewhere. 

What is front-hogging? It's when your host/primary agrees to fork over some of the body time, and they end up taking it back anyway before you're done. It's usually not a deliberate attempt to hurt you on their part and more a matter of impulse and distraction, but it doesn't stop it from becoming any less annoying. 

Make no mistake. The responsibility to control themselves lies with them, and this sort of thing isn't your fault. But here's some advice that might make it easier for them to step back, and you to hang on. 

• Set concrete schedules. “I'll give you some time to front today” is extremely vague and very hard to hold anyone to. What's better is “two hours to front.” What's even better is “two hours to front starting at 2 PM today.” The more specific the window, the harder it is for the host to justify grabbing control back during that time. 

• Eliminate distractions. Close out Skype, close out their tabs, close out their games. Remove their knickknacks from the area. If at all possible, they should arrange to have all social obligations taken care of before the time you'll be fronting. 

• Customize the area to suit you. Open up your music. Bring out your own knickknacks. Prepare a drink that you like. Hell, plug in your favorite air freshener if you want. Create a space that declares that it's for you. 

• Find a hobby. Let's face it, wiggling fingers and walking in circles gets old fast. It's easy to get bored and space out, which then makes it easy for your host to slip back in. Draw, paint, write, code, read, do math. Anything that stimulates your brain, and that you also genuinely enjoy doing for the sake of doing. It's hard to find a passion, but if you can, you'll suddenly find it much easier to take front. In the meantime, explore and build up your own mental skills.

• Take periodic breaks to ground yourself, especially when you're doing something brainless like washing dishes. Breathe, picture your own body and overlay it over your physical body, do a few coordination exercises (e.g. touching your hand to your nose with your eyes closed), remind yourself that you are the one currently in front. 

• Make friends that are your own, not as an extension of your host. There's nothing wrong with having mutual friends, but finding people that are your friends first and foremost will help to an extent that's hard to put into words. This is far easier said than done, of course, and I'll be sure to dedicate another article to this.

• Build your own identity. Build a sense of yourself that isn't based on what your host has told you about you. Find things that make you think of yourself, find people you admire and emulate them, find what you value. The better an idea you have of yourself, the easier it is to be yourself at front, and the more likely it is that you'll find your passion. This is another easier said than done thing with many layers, which will also warrant its own article. However, it's also something that snowballs easily.

• Take on responsibilities. Don't have to be big ones, little ones like taking out the trash or doing the laundry work as well. Get used to staying at front even when it's not actively fun, and take pride in having a direct hand in daily life. 

• By all means, negotiate your time with them. Play an active role in getting your time. Don't be afraid to be a little pushy. Don't be afraid to show your disappointment if they renege on a prior agreement just because they wanted to play WoW. Yes, I know, tulpamancy culture discourages tulpas from doing this and encourages them to be as little of a burden on their host as possible. I personally think some parts of tulpamancy culture are far too soft on the host. If you want to learn, you have to have discipline, and it's not out of your place as a tulpa to enforce it.

• Along the lines of the above, get comfortable with asking. Ask if you can help with things. If there's a lull and your host isn't doing anything in particular, ask if you can have a little time to doodle or to write. Ask if you can try out their game, if you can try cooking dinner. Be comfortable with accepting “no” for an answer—this is a place where mutual trust is important. This habit is especially important if you want timesharing to simply be a part of everyday life, instead of just an isolated slice of time, and is a large part of negotiating your own time.

To tl;dr the above, a lot of it boils down to: make agreements as clear as possible, clear out distractions, build an independent mindset and self (yet another thing to write another article on), exercise smarter as well as longer. There's a few other nifty mental tricks—meditating your host away, using symbolism to place mental barriers between you and your host, and flat out pretending your host doesn't exist and has never existed—but those are a little more intermediate, and would warrant their own article. 

If you're a tulpa, don't despair. With enough fronting practice, you'll get to the point where you can catch your host trying to hog front and be able to brush them aside like a stray thought. It won't be easy, but you'll get there eventually if you keep trying. If you're an alter, lucky you. Chances are that you already innately have that ability. But if you want to minimize the annoyance, you might still find this useful. If you're neither tulpa nor alter, you're still welcome to make use of this, although I don't think I ever needed to give you permission. 

Cheers. 

PS: Oh, and this really should go without saying, but if you don't have a strong rapport and trust in each other, you should really work on that before delving into possession and switching, as this does involve a lot of power exchange. Just saying.

Co-Fronting: A First Hand Account (Eclipsing) – Zumester

Co-fronting is something that comes to me naturally. I’m not entirely sure why or how. It was happening to me before I realized what the experience was, or exactly how it was taking place. It was happening to me before I realized that I wasn't the only one inhabiting my head. We’re not sure exactly how it feels for others, but because we feel like it might be educational, informative, or at the very least, interesting, we’d like to post a first person account as to exactly how co-fronting works for us.

This isn’t, strictly, a guide. However, because it serves an instructional purpose, I will leave it in the Guides section under Co-fronting. Let me know if this was a mistake.

To clarify for those who may not know: regular font is me, Jude, speaking, and italicized font is Eli speaking. We will be switching back and forth rapidly in order to give both of our accounts, for the benefit of both host and thought form.

I’m sitting on the couch in my living room, facing forwards, taking slow, deep breaths. I take a few moments to experience myself. My thoughts. My memories. Any semblance of identity I have in me. And then I let it all go. With every breath, I breathe bits and pieces of myself into thin air, as though emptying my form and readying it to be filled by something else.

[Note: For us, this isn’t a full on switch. I’m still conscious, I still have the ability to decide what the body does, I have the ability to take back full control. I’m not necessarily taking my identity and putting it somewhere else. This process is more akin to going through one’s old computer files and organizing what’s there, throwing away what’s unnecessary, and processing what needs to stay. I’m releasing excess thoughts and emotions. Essentially, I’m making room for Eli.]

I live inside of Jude’s head. In the darkness and the shadows that permeate their being. The only light that exists inside their hollow shell is the light that comes from thought. My thoughts, their thoughts. Our mindscape forms, immortalized in what should be pitch black.

Jude sits up front. In a dimension separate from the mindscape I inhabit. It’s bright, and beautiful, and blinding at the same time. And I wouldn’t trade places with them for anything in the world, because I am a creature of the darkness, and the light would surely waste me away. However, between the darkness and the light, there is a half dimension. A middle ground. As Jude makes room inside of them, I grow. And I fill that space, between the darkness and the light. Becoming a part of them is like pulling a perfectly fitted suit onto your shoulders, and straightening your bow tie, and knowing that you look your best.

You can feel the parts of them, shifting into place. As though you are wearing their soul on top of yours. And none is more important than the other. You are in control of one body. That body belongs to both of you. And you are equals. You are one.

I feel something inside of me, a physical form to fill the void. We tilt our head to the left, and then to the right, and then to the left again, our motions jerky and uneven and unpracticed. We look around, and every time, it’s as though we’re seeing the room for the first time. Parts of us are. We shrug our shoulders. We square our back. We open our mouth wide and lick our teeth, and a grin tugs at the left side of our mouth. It’s a ritual of ours. A ritual of his. Something about the experience gives him something to grin about, and I’m pulled along for the ride.

We move as a unit. We move as one person. And yet there is a conscious difference between his motions and mine. It’s almost as though our subconsciouses have found a way to speak to one another. His tells mine that he wants to stand and stretch. Mine reacts, in a way that leaves my conscious mind in the dust. I am constantly surprised by the things that he does, and yet, it’s instinctual enough that it feels right at the same time.

_ They do their part. I do mine. It’s fluid, in many ways, and in many other ways, there are a thousand differences between us._

Often, we sing. Nobody is home to hear how terrible we are. And so we sing. A line or two from Jude, voice strong. The voice of a choir kid who’s been singing in the shower since they were 8 years old. Mine interrupts, impulse almost taking me by surprise. A lower, rougher voice. Not as sure of itself. Still figuring out what it wants to sound like. A tenor, that’s what I am, or so I am told. I am proud of the title. And yet it’s clear that I have no idea how to use it.

His thoughts bleed into mine, and this experience, this moment, is the closest I can get to living life through his eyes. It’s the closest I can get to feeling what he is feeling, with all of the intensity of someone who has felt it for the first time.

I am usually the only one at the front, and so the bleeding of emotions generally only works one way. I am the one who sees, I am the one who acts. And those experiences transfer to him (either consciously or automatically). They bleed over into his conscious mind, and show him what I’m seeing, what I’m feeling.

But when he is in the in-between, two people at the front, two people that are one person, we feel each other, and our thoughts are never more in synch.

And then, the disconnect. A valve is slowly shut, and the light is seeping away, and I am shrinking, and sinking slowly backwards into the darkness that is my home. And it’s bitter sweet. Because I don’t want to go, and yet I know I can’t stay. The darkness is my home, and I would die without it. I wouldn’t want to live without it. And yet I love the pain that comes with living. I love our body. I love the world.

Breathing deeply again, I return fully to my, self. And, looking around, it’s as if I must consciously take a moment to gather the pieces of myself back into my arms and hold them tight. And feel the warmth of that journey, and enjoy it as it fades to nothing.

We smile.

Authors’ Note:

Co-fronting is not something that I learned, piece by piece. It’s something that happened to me, one day, out of the blue. It’s something that happened to me enough times that I was unable to ignore it as an imagination at work. I don’t profess to know how to teach co-fronting, or learn co-fronting, and yet it’s what I do.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on what it feels like to co-front for you, especially if your experience differs from ours. We’d love to hear your stories.

Let me know if this first hand account has taught you, helped you, or amused you.

These are our favorite things to do.

• Zumester

Your Body is an RC Car – Watcher

I've seen a tip floating around to treat the body as a car that whoever is in front drives. This was helpful for us early on, especially when it came to me falling back. However, it did have its limitations in that I would often hyperfocus on either being in front or in back to such an extent it was hard to stay present in the mindscape, and it made cofronting very difficult.

So instead, imagine this: your body is an RC car that everyone in-system can control remotely. You can be talking and screwing around in the mindscape while the body pours a drink, or changes channels on the TV. Sometimes, for more intensive tasks, whoever has the controller at the moment will have to focus more than usual on what the body is up to, and sometimes they will be less occupied.

If you've ever daydreamed while doing... anything at all, really, this tip works on the same principle. Fronting and switching aren't all or nothing things, and you don't have to focus entirely on the body at all times while in front when doing minor tasks. I find this approach especially helpful when it comes to squeezing more switching and immersion practice into a busy schedule. If you're looking to force or immerse on the go, or struggling with co-fronting, hopefully this helps.

Possession Battle – Fireparrot

This isn't something to try for those who haven't yet learned possession, but rather something that can expand the versatility and power of the one trying to possess.

The basics are pretty simple: host, try to move one body part; tulpa, now try to take control of that body part forcefully! Make them unable to move it, and later move onto being able to control it against their will. The important rule to this, however, is that this should be treated as a game, not a violent contest for control. Both parties need to consent to this, and be ready to quit at any time, should a need arise.

Now, have fun with your new tulpaforcing game!

Gradual Co-Fronting – Quandary

This was a short piece I wrote a while ago, back when we were first learning how to share body control. Some of the terminology here is outdated, but I think the general idea is still solid, given that we can pass around body control fairly consistently today!

Credit goes to The Hidden Ones, Connor in particular, for deriving this method to begin with.

I think what mainly helped us was finding a learning method that worked for us. Most possession guides have it be all or nothing, with the tulpa needing to take complete control and the host needing to dissociate completely. We took a different approach that a good friend of ours had discovered, where association/dissociation is a more gradual process, and mixed in some of our own peculiar abilities and suggestions from another friend.

Falah’s been meaning to let our friend write out a guide on the subject, or to save the subject for when we’re further along in possession (and perhaps, when we can switch), but I don’t see any harm in explaining our basic process. As I said before, this method takes a much more gradual approach to association. Rather than trying to dissociate completely, she let me direct her movements. It was sort of like proxying, but for movements instead, and it came more fluidly–rather than telling her what to do, I sent the impulse to move a body part to her directly and she followed it immediately, without questioning it. Over time, this caused me to associate more strongly with the body; the next step is for her to dissociate more, and stay dissociated, which we've successfully managed in the past. We “just” need to be more consistent with it now.

That’s the basic idea our friend came up with, and it was a major breakthrough for us. Falah also tries to help it along by doing what another friend does: imposing a body schema illusion upon herself while she’s associated with the body. Basically the illusion that she’s “shapeshifted” into her mindscape form while in the physical body. When she dissociates, she changes the schema illusion to match the body of whoever’s in front. It’s a bit tricky, since she often loses concentration and forgets to maintain the schema, but it’s been showing some promise so far.

— Steven

Tip on how to co-front – Osaka

This tip is for those who wish to learn how to co-front. It's what worked for us and many other systems we've taught.

For the tulpa: Say something out loud (in the head) and try to feel some kind of tingle or pulse in the head. You should feel something towards the back of the head. Make sure both of you (tulpa and host) remember where this location is. This is the back.

For the host: Do the same thing as your tulpa just did: Say something out loud using the voice or just in the head and note where you feel it in the head. Note this location. This is the front.

For both: Imagine creating some kind of path between the two points. This doesn't need to be anything super realistic. It doesn't even have to be anything visual. What you're doing is creating a path for the tulpa to travel along in order to come up front beside the host.

For the tulpa: Try to travel along this newly created path. All you have to do is walk across. Move your essence up where your host is. If successful, you should feel like you're more “in” the body and you may find that it's easier to control the body than possession. To go back, just do the reverse of what you did before. Relax, and traverse the same path you created.

Some hosts report feeling a strange feeling in the head when doing this, myself included. Some hosts don't feel anything. If you do feel something strange, it's working and perfectly normal.

A word of caution: You might experience a phenomenon called blending where you get your identities confused. We experienced this when we co-fronted for the first time. We couldn't figure out who we were and this caused us to panic. It felt like we were blended together and couldn't say very confidently we were one person or the other. This might cause you to panic. Don't worry, you aren't in any danger of merging unless you stay like this for an extended period of time. All you have to do is state who you think you are most likely and say stuff about yourself like your name, occupation, traits, hobbies, connections, etc.. This should cause you to become separate once more.

Good luck!

Some Vocal Possession Resources and Tips – Mel

Have a supplementary post to my little guide. As in the guide, these tips are mainly directed toward the tulpa or speaker who will be learning to handle the voice.

** Regarding the Mindvoice**

To start, not every system communicates in mindvoice, some speak in raw words or even tulpish and that is perfectly fine. If you are one of those systems, as the guide goes, replace 'mindvoice' with 'desired voice' or some such thing. Overall, the method remains the same when handling the voice: replicate your desired voice using the body's voice to the best of your ability, or make things up as you go along and find a way of speaking that sits well with you as you practice.

Familiarize Yourself With the Body's Mouth

I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it will prove helpful. In the case of our system, we decided to make a game of it. I would move the body's mouth about at random and make sounds whenever I was so inclined, which improved my control immensely. Granted, to the outward observer it probably looked like some bizarre variant of Tourette's, so I would advise you to do this in private.

Another good way to go about it, though to a lesser degree, is to eat semi regularly. You learn how to open and close the mouth without biting off the body's tongue that way, and you get food as a bonus.

As tone goes, humming exercises can also help immensely. Do not be afraid to speak slowly at first and sound out the words, childish as it may seem it can keep you from getting ahead of yourself and tangling your sentences in knots later. Another thing to keep in mind is volume. In my case, I was rather bashful with the voice early on and had a tendency to keep quiet, which did not go away until I started playing myself back and realized just how hard I was to hear.

Voice Resources

There are many, many resources on speech and speaking on the web that are a google away, too many to list here, though if you have any specific resources that helped you in particular you are welcome to comment and they will be listed in this post. In the meantime, for those seeking a comprehensive vocal database, look no further than this site:

http://accent.gmu.edu/

In the tulpa community, I see a lot of emphasis placed on possession of the limbs and body, but very little emphasis placed on the use of the voice. I think this is quite a shame as both possession and switching can prove highly useful means by which tulpas (and system mates in general) may express themselves in the world at large. This can prove especially beneficial for those who do not spend much time in front, and allow for many opportunities for non-primary system mates to express themselves in ways foreign to them, but often familiar to a primary fronter. In short, learning to control and use the body’s voice, and furthermore find a means of speaking that the system mate in question likes and identifies with, can allow for greater autonomy when controlling the body and a more dynamic means of thinking and reacting than in text-based conversation. This guide is primarily written toward and from the new speaker's perspective, rather than the host or primary's, though some of the advice within is applicable to both parties.

** Before You Begin**

Naturally, before a system mate can speak they must have a voice, or a rough idea of what they would wish to sound like. I will not go too in-depth with the details here, as such things would be better suited to a creation guide. In the context of this guide, we shall focus on the nature of the tulpa’s chosen voice in relation to the body. How is their mindvoice, or the ideal voice they would like to have, similar to the body's? How does it differ? How will this influence the way you interact with the voice?

For instance, if a tulpa has a very high pitched voice, and the body’s voice is very low pitched, this may make for an awkward adjustment period. The body’s voice may waver or crack, and the vocal cords may even end up getting damaged if the tulpa forgets to speak in the body’s range. If the tulpa or system mate has a particular accent, it is important to be mindful of that as well–after all, if the body suddenly starts speaking with a British accent despite being for all intents and purposes Canadian (as in our case) people will notice. So, it is important to take into account when and where the system mate may use the voice, as well as how much they may realistically differentiate it from that of the host/primary without drawing needless attention.

Stage 1: Starting Out

This is always the hardest part. Oftentimes starting small will be your best option here. In fact, it may be beneficial early on, for the tulpa not to attempt to take control directly at all, but instead for the host to say whatever it is the tulpa would like to say themselves. So if the tulpa would like to say something like, “I like cupcakes”, the host would say it out loud in their place. While this approach may not be ideal for everyone, it can prove helpful in getting the tulpa in the proper mindset to start using and associating with the voice on their own.

However you do choose to go about it, once the tulpa believes they are ready to start using the voice on their own, now comes the first real step. As in the case of any other kind of possession, it is important for the host to let go, step back, and guide their focus to the mindscape or elsewhere. From there the tulpa may do the opposite and step in and take control to the best of their ability. A note to the tulpa, I will warn you, your early attempts will not be elegant. You may not even say much at all on your first go. Do not be discouraged! The more you keep trying, the better you will get. Keep focusing on the voice and trying to associate with it, watch how your host or system mate goes about speaking and do your best to replicate it. As time goes on you will get a better feel for how things work.

I have found that beginning to speak is the hardest part, myself, and in the beginning stages it can often be hard for the to figure out what you would like to say. To remedy this I would suggest reciting poetry or reading back something you have written. Do not focus too much on having the voice sound exactly the way yours does in mindvoice at this stage. For now, simply focus on getting the words out and pronouncing them to the best of your ability.

Stage 2: Refinement

Once you have familiarized yourself with the body’s voice, you may now begin exploring ways to refine the voice and figure out how you would most like to have it sound when you are in control of it, if you so choose to. This may prove useful as it can be an easy way to help others distinguish the host and tulpa apart when one or the other is speaking, but this step is ultimately optional if the system has nobody online or off they are out to, or if they would like to remain discreet.

I have found one helpful method of refining the body’s voice is to record yourself when speaking, play the voice back, and compare it to the way you sound in mindvoice. Must you speak faster or slower? Do you have an accent? How is the body’s pitch when you are in control? Should you ham things up or tome it down? Take note of these things, then record again. Keep practising until the voice is satisfactory. This will take a long while to perfect, but for those who wish to sound distinctive from other system mates the extra effort will be worth it.

On another note, it is also important to take gender differences between voices into account in the cases of system mates whose identified gender does not match the body’s sex. In a biological sense, male bodies do have thicker vocal cords than female bodies, and thus lower pitched voices, but much of what makes a body sound masculine versus feminine is up to the source of the voice (‘chest’ versus ‘head’ voice), intonation, enunciation, volume, and choice of diction. Here are some resources for those on both sides of the gender binary, and beyond:

http://www.looking-glass.greenend.org.uk/voice.htm

http://tvchix.com/articles/male-to-female-voice-training

http://tvchix.com/articles/female-to-male-voice-training

http://boxersandbinders.com/2012/03/tips-on-voice-training-part-one.html

Lastly, should you choose to do such exercises, be careful not to strain the body’s voice and remember to drink plenty of water throughout. Also, take care that it is you and only you training the voice to speak in such a way, otherwise, should you blend with another while in control of the voice, the others in your system may be stuck with an off-kilter voice for a time. I take no responsibility for whatever harm may come to the body should you excessively train its voice.

Stage 3: Dynamic Conversation

This is by far the most intimidating aspect of vocal possession for one with less experience speaking out loud, but also the most rewarding. Do not be ashamed if you clam up early on or get anxious, it happens to the very best of us. For this stage, having another system around to practice speaking with out loud or an open minded friend (in person or via Skype) will be ideal, however if you have the confidence you can pretty much speak to whomever you like.

A fair warning: conversion through speech is much different that conversing over the internet. Online, you get to plan out your responses and take more time to think–even IRC chatrooms have a much slower pace than meatspace conversation. Like anything, this will take practice, but it is important to learn not to over think things. Striking a balance between thinking and speaking when conversing with another can prove difficult, but with enough trial and error you will start to get a feel for the rhythm and flow of conversation. Difficult as it may be, try and abandon whatever fear you may have of saying something stupid or otherwise offending someone. You are still learning, even if you do mess some things up it is not the end of the world.

At the start of the conversation, you will likely very much rely on your host or another more experienced system mate to guide you on what to say, even if you do not realize it. This is normal. A word of advice to the host or elder system mate reading this: aside from letting go and allowing the speaker to control the voice on their own, you will now have a second job, and that is to keep them focused and engaged so they do not retreat from the conversation or dissociate from the voice. Give them a lot of encouragement, but unless they absolutely cannot continue, do not jump in every time they struggle and speak for them, either. Chances are that, as the conversation goes on, the tulpa or system mate will become more and more engaged, to the point that you may step back and watch as they go. With enough time and practice, their speaking will become just as reflexive and dynamic as your own.

To Conclude

For a tulpa or non-primary system mate, finding a voice of their own can be challenging in all aspects. However, with enough practice and dedication it can make for a very rewarding experience, and allow the individual in question to find new ways to socialize and express themselves. Beyond that, the dynamic nature of conversation provides an opportunity to think in new, perhaps foreign ways for those who are not used to speaking with the voice in real time. Overlooked as it may be compared to possession of the limbs, vocal possession is an excellent means for tulpas and system mates to associate with the body, as well as to explore and refine their own autonomy. Happy speaking.

Falah asked me if I could post this over here. (Fuzzyjayling is my Tumblr name.) It's intended to be plural/multiple-focused but is possibly useful in general.

You can find the original over here.

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This is based on some posts I made earlier on Tumblr and Dreamwidth. It’s a straightforward (I think) and step-by-step guide to help systemmates emerge from the shadows. It’s based on my own methods and thoughts, of course, but others have found it useful.

This is going to be really long, sorry. But I want to be complete and give you the best chance you can at it.

As always, YMMV, do only if you feel completely comfortable, risks and consequences are yours to eat and savour.

1. First, some terminology.

Visit the Definitions page.

2. Some preliminaries.

This guide is long to give you a lot of ideas and a lot of starting points and guideposts. This is an individual process.

It’s really important to point out that this can be different for different people and different groups/systems/etc. This guide assumes people who have always been the only fronter for most or all of their lives, to the point where they really assume that they are the body, and their systemmates are the ones “in there”. This is about helping you change that balance on purpose.

If you’re not a visual person (lack of other-space and all that) you might find it more helpful to skip a lot of the detailed visualisation/headspace/etc steps. In general, I would be really happy to incorporate any suggestions that you may have about how it works for you.

3. A basic outline.

Once again, I’m speaking of our own process here, but others have found it to match theirs and/or to be useful, so if it feels right, give it a try! If not, you can find your own way. But when I say “it’s like this” you can understand that I mean “I do it like this”.

I’ll give the outline first, then fill in some details and exercises below. If any of these steps feel wrong or uncomfortable, then I recommend stopping and reflecting on why; it’s important.

This process goes in a couple of major phases. _ a. Make contact._

This probably goes without saying, but you’ll need to be actively in contact with a systemmate. I often find that a random thought about one of them will actually be a sign that they’re thinking of me.

b. Making room.

For a friend to inhabit, you will have to step back. In its simplest form, this is just being open to and comfortable with the idea of switching.

c. Invitation.

Here, your friend will be invited to come into the space you’ve made. If you have any experience with feeling your energy / aura / subtle body, this is a lot like having two in the same space.

d. Switch.

Finally, you’ll move the rest of the way out (or as far as you can go, anyway — most people don’t really 100% leave), and your friend will be actively “driving”.

e. Switch back.

This is much the same as the above process, but your friend will execute “your” steps and you will execute theirs. You’ll probably find this to be a much easier process due to inertia of past association.

4. A complete and slow walk-through.

Now, more details on the above.

b. Making room.

Take a step back: Instead of you being a flesh and blood body in this world, you want to step back just a small step. You’re just watching this body of yours move around and talk, and you’re directing it about what it should do, but you realize that you yourself are a being apart from it. You’re spirit, soul, mentality, whatever you truly see yourself as, using this body as an avatar. I call this mental space the “control room”. (Psych types might call it depersonalisation.)

c. Invitation.

Invite your friend into the control room: For me, we have a physical presence, even if it doesn’t translate well onto euclidean space or normal physics. The others can be “out there” or they can be “standing next to me”. Standing next to me feels like we can talk at a conversational level and understand each other. That their energy field is touching mine, and I could reach out with an arm and touch their arm, open my eyes and see them. So you’re sitting there controlling this human-bot (or whatever you want to call it), and your friend is standing next to you watching it happen, maybe commenting on things you both see or do, and sometimes you do something for your friend… type some words or touch some interesting object.

Read the rest of these directions with your friend there, along with them. Yes! It’s participatory for everyone. :)

Do you trust your friend? I mean, really trust your friend? If you’re like me, there’s a part of you that hangs back always and watches over things, but it’s a dodgy thing sometimes… and even if it’s not dodgy for you, unless you’re comfortable letting them pretend to be you (because that’s how other people will see it) then you’re going to want to hold back, yourself, and this won’t work so well.

Do you trust your environment? This is an important corollary to the last point: if you are weirded by the idea of what friends or roommates will think about all this, you won’t allow yourself to let go enough and enjoy the experience for the wonderful strangeness that it can be. It’s worth being very serious on this point, because people get severely mistreated for this sort of thing still.

d. Switch (beginner / very visual version).

Go zen: This is a key step, for you. (Or it was for me, anyway.) I’m sure it’s different for different people, but this seems like a good workable way to do it. Have you heard of “zazen”? It’s a state of “no mind”. Stare at one point; for me, it can’t be a blank wall, but it needs to be some stationary object like a desk or a lamp. You’re staring at this object, but you’re not staring, because that would be doing. You just are. You’re not registering the colours and symbols of what you’re looking at, because that too would be doing. You just are, the thing you’re looking at just is. If you could look at a hi-def security tape of your life, it would look like this: no thoughts, no judgements, no meanings. Just is. You, yourself, are not part of this picture.

Let your friend play: For me, when I’ve reached that state of zazen, I still have my hand on the control stick, so to speak, but I’m moving out of the way. Your friend will have a separate but congruent process to learn, to step in and take the control stick from you. It’s like handing an object from one person to another: you can hold out your hand, but someone else has to take the thing. I like thinking of the control room metaphor literally — you’re standing up from the chair and they’re sliding into it. You can both help this process along by having your friend say mantras like “I’m B”, “B is here”, both in-head and from the body. Start out saying them yourself, if you want to feel what that sounds and feels like. Both of you should try to feel and imagine what it would, what it will be like for this person to be present in the world, clothed in the same body you have been using as your avatar. Instead of them being your systemmate, you will be their systemmate (literally). B will need to actively pull that conscious, first-hand awareness of the body all around themselves, too, and will themselves to see through it and act through it, the reverse of 3b/4b above.

I find (and apparently many others do early on as well) that a peculiar feeling accompanies this motion (switching). It’s almost like a turnstile flipping over… ka..Chunk. Or changing channels on the TV. When it happens, it’s often pretty unmistakeable because that part of you that’s left in the body, that you’ve imprinted on it from being in it for so many years, is going to marvel that someone else’s thoughts are now inhabiting it. Not just thoughts, but energy, emotions, feel, everything. This person may be able to go back and recall your memories almost as well as you do. So there’s a weird discontinuity there: the memories in the body are saying “I’m A” with first-person clarity, still, but the consciousness in the body knows that it’s B. This is a crucial moment because it’s easy to snap back and undo the switch if either of you lets the relative weirdness of the situation take over. It’s also why it’s important to continue doing these “I am B” mantras while B is in front; it reinforces who’s there. Looking in mirrors, staring at the body itself too much, all of this is a bad idea. It’s going to be very disorienting for B, and for someone who hasn’t moved out of front much, it’ll probably throw A back in.

It’s common not to understand how you can really do this — your consciousness has been and always will be here, right? How will it feel to go somewhere else entirely, or go to sleep, or whatever? The surprising answer is that, in many ways, you won’t. (And like most of this, it varies per person.) Just keep in mind for now that it’s not going to work as you expect, probably, and the harder you’re trying to juggle all of that consciously, the less you’ll succeed. In that case, it’s still you acting and doing. You are working with another person here, not just your imagination. Let them pull their weight too.

Incidentally, that “remaining part of you” becomes what I like to call BodyOS — the minimalist consciousness of the body itself that assists with memory recall (useful for things like being able to know how to use the microwave, or where to find dishes, yadda yadda) and assists with switching. I admit that this is a place where my understanding is strongly evolving still.

Don’t stress too much if it doesn’t go totally well on the first few tries. For me, I had to spend hours of time typing for them, in first person as they spoke to me, before we could do any purposeful switching. (It’s good practice for the body to follow their instructions and act on their behalf, even if it’s through your direct will.) But again it’s a conditioning and a mantra thing — for it to work, you have to believe it will work, and have some idea of what it will feel like. Both of you. Having a specific goal or purpose in mind helps with this, too, e.g. giving them their own tag on your blog or their whole own blog, so they can get some thoughts out, interact with people, and give more motivation to get out front. (It’s work for everyone at first!) Give them their own user pic and everything; it sounds a little cheesy, but providing a home for them and a place to be and do “out here” really helps.

d. Switch (more advanced version).

It can be helpful to identify next steps for everyone, like you decide to visit somewhere in headspace, or go to sleep, or whatever. Your friend decides they will blog / read Facebook / etc.

Then you’re just bumped out of place by the new person, who is already in place. It feels almost like the new person is pushing the you out, but not in an uncooperative way. This might also be experienced as you falling away (into headspace or what have you), and then suddenly your friend is here. We find that it’s sometimes helped along by the person coming in to move a limb or something; it’s less trouble than assuming responsibility for all of it at once.

When you get better at this, it can go much more quickly and fluidly, which can feel a little wibbly-wobbly identity-wise. We find it helpful to say names to see which one feels like it belongs to us, to see if there was success. It can also help to make an intent to go somewhere else, yourself, like visiting your headspace while you’re not here.

5. What does it feel like?

A lot of people want to know, what does it feel like? I don’t understand how I can not be here and acting. Will I fall asleep? Will I go on an adventure somewhere else?

I’ll write about my own experiences, but like everything else in this guide, keep in mind that this is just how it is for us. Even reading this (or any of this guide) can give you preconceptions that may make it harder for you to do it your way, if your way is very different from ours, but it may be valuable information.

For us, there are two key observations.

The first is the notion of you becoming an systemmate, and the systemmate becoming the fronter. When you’re here, you have full use of your mind, your memories, and your conscious presence. When your friend isn’t here, you perceive them as someone “out there” or “in here” or whatever, someone separate from you who does not have direct use of your body and senses except as a vicarious thing. (“Oh, yeah, I see that because you see it.”) This “becoming” isn’t an exaggeration: when you switch places, these roles reverse. Your friend will be here, seeing and feeling and thinking through your senses and your mind, as well as your sense of presence and consciousness in this world. A part of you that you thought was uniquely you may also be borrowed by your friend.

So the unusual and perhaps unexpected answer to this is that that sense of immediacy and conscious presence in this world doesn’t go with you. It’s part of your body and stays here, but you go elsewhere. It’s sort of hard to wrap your mind around until you’ve experienced it, but it’s important to know. Likewise, you won’t necessarily just vanish or go to sleep. Some people do experience it that way, but most don’t seem to.

The second observation is that headspace is much like a dream, as I mentioned in the FAQ. You can visualise the place, and sometimes you just know things about it, much like a dream. Likewise, when you wake from a dream, you can remember things that happened in that dream, and if you follow the trail of memories back carefully, you can remember what all you did for quite some time. Your body is a memory store. When you are here, and conscious here, your memories here are what’s most present; therefore it’s difficult to remember your dreams. When you journey into other-space without that memory store, it’s much like a dream.

When you return, you have to follow the dream-trail back to remember what all you did. You might find some surprising and interesting things. I find this feature of borrowing to be as useful and insightful as anything. This directly benefits you, not just your friend. You undertook a dream with intent and purpose, and returned to consciousness. What’s even better is that, since you are a systemmate to your friend at that point, you can talk to them just like they talked to you, and give “checkpoints” to help remember your experience later.

And when you return, you’ll have the same disorientation that they did about your body remembering being someone else. I actually find that to be helpful as a mental marker. “Okay, we’re me… then we were her… then we were me.” Oddly, you’ll still remember your other-world journey as someone else’s dream, but you can still tease out the facts of it.

I’ll probably be revising this for a while. ^^; It’s huge.. sorry again about the TL;DR.

Remaining focused on your innerworld/wonderland for the anxious mind – Nia

Hey all,

So my system has some sort of anxiety disorder and I'm the most affected member. For the longest time, I have had no method for remaining centered/focused on the innerworld because of anxious thoughts and feelings. My attention would dart back and forth from the innerworld to front and also I would have a sensation that I was falling down while walking and just general panic.

Stage 1: Acceptance

However, I have found a solution with some logic behind its workings. I had been reading the book Stopping The Noise In Your Head and one thing I've learned from it is not to fight anxiety, but instead to acknowledge it and accept it. So in order to quiet those anxious thoughts and panic while trying to see and interact with your innerworld, you need to accept everything.

In order to implement this, it can help (but is not required) to have a partial list of things to keep in mind when accepting. You should list the following: 1) Your current feelings: Whatever they may be, good, bad, neutral or mixed; 2) Your current situation: This should include what you're currently doing, things you were doing before, deadlines, social situations, recent experiences, and whatever else you may think is affecting your current state of being.

Now that you've got a list (or can summon a mental one on the fly if there aren't too many things on it), you can begin.

1. Get into a comfortable, safe position in a quiet room where you will not be disturbed. If a quiet room is not available, opt for a mostly empty room (if possible) with either ear plugs or headphones. I find this works best with complete silence, but some are able to focus well with music or soundtracks.
2. Become aware of any stimuli you are taking in. This includes sensations from all five senses. Note these sensations. Keep a mental list.
3. Repeat the following or similar mantra (I find it's best if it's said in my head rather than aloud, but experiment here as every mind is different): “I accept my current feelings. I am currently feeling (list your current feelings here). I accept my current situation which includes (list current situational things here). I am currently feeling (list currently felt sensations here).” Repeat this mantra while accepting what you are listing. In this context, accepting simply means acknowledging that something exists.
4. If you have deadlines or things that you feel a need to take care of, you have two choices. You can either 1) Handle it, or if you can't or it is not convenient at this time; 2) Note that it will be taken care of later. This should be noted while reciting the mantra.
5. Keep repeating the mantra a few times until you feel neutral minded or at least reasonably neutral minded.
6. You can either attempt to access your innerworld/wonderland at this stage or optionally move onto the next stage. For me, the next stage is just as important as the first, but again, experiment.

Stage 2: Let go/give up:

You will often hear the phrase “let go” in meditation. For me, the phrase was very ambiguous and for me, ambiguity does not help. So instead, if that phrase does not have adequate meaning, I suggest replace “let go” with “give up”. Giving up fully means relinquishing control of the body, and letting whatever is playing out currently take its course without you.

I suggest you take the attitude of “I can't handle this (while thinking of your emotions/situations). I just give up.” By doing this, you are letting go of control which will allow you to step away from front just enough to control your innerworld body without panic.

With a neutral mindset, direct your attention to your innerworld body. It can help to start with one sense initially in order to focus the mind on that one sense rather than attempting to dart focus back and forth between senses, which may generate stress and cause you to lose the control you just achieved.

Conclusion:

This method has helped me progress and I wanted to share it with other people who wish to access their innerworld/wonderland easier.

Distinguishing your guilt from your tulpa’s feelings – Moonlight

Something we realized just recently is that it’s easy for the host to confuse their feeling of guilt with their tulpa’s feelings.

This guide had stuff about learning to distinguish your own “essence” from your tulpa’s:

I want you to listen to yourself. What is going on inside you? Can you perceive the flowing thoughts?​

​Some people find this step difficult, but in the end, everyone gets the hang of it. There really is not much to explain – as hard as it is, you have to figure it out yourself what it means to listen to yourself.​

​If you are successful, you should be able to make out the thoughts and their individual signature. You can trace them back.​

​When you successfully trace back a thought, it will normally lead to yourself. Your own essence. […]​

​You probably have started a Tulpa and wonder about its unresponsiveness or are worried about parroting. In that case, you are at the right address.​

​1) What is your essence like? – Imagine it.​

​2) Search your thoughts for yourself and look out for an alien presence If you find an alien presence – that is your Tulpa​

Now I’ve often felt guilty about things like not giving Meri and Miksu enough attention, or trying to make them into something they actually aren’t. But this morning, I was experiencing the same, and then I realized that, when I had a particular image of what I’d like to do with them, and I felt that they didn’t like it… that feeling didn’t actually come from them. It came from me, traced back to my own essence. It was me being guilty about, I’m not even sure what. But whatever it was, that guilt was blocking my connection to them, so that I couldn’t hear what they actually thought about the idea I had for them.

We’re still not sure of what their opinion about it is, but at least it’s helpful to know that they might like it after all. (we’ve postponed further investigation of this until I’m more rested).

[Article] Tulpas in Median Topologies with Tulpas, Hosts, etc. – Fall Family

[Tri] This article is a reposting of what we said at https://community.tulpa.info/thread-can-a-tulpa-be-a-fictive-median-aspect?pid=170994#pid170994 on the thread https://community.tulpa.info/thread-can-a-tulpa-be-a-fictive-median-aspect with regards to the question of whether hosts and tulpas can be median with each other. The short answer is yes, Tulpas certainly can be median with other people in their system (group of all people in a body).

There are three major topologies between people in a system, which are

• Singlet – one person in one body (what most hosts are before making a tulpa)
• Multiple – people who are quite separate from each other in terms of identity, etc.
• Median – people who are not completely separate from each other in terms of identity, etc

Do note that “multiple” has many meanings in different contexts. We are using the topology context here, not the general plurality term (“plural” has been generally replacing it in many contexts) or the general term to mean non-created forms of plurality (plurality that is not tulpamancy and not many forms of soulbonding).

Now, an entire system could be multiple or median if all its members have that topology with respect to each other. But it is also possible to have different members have different topologies to each other. In the case of a generally multiple system with a subset of people who are median with each other, sometimes the median group will consider themselves or be referred to as a “median subsystem” (subsystem here meaning system within a system – nested plurality).

Most tulpamancy systems started out as the hosts by themselves (singlet) and then, with the addition of tulpas, become a multiple-topology system. But, this is not always the case. One example is where there is more than one tulpa who are median with each other but multiple to other tulpas and the host. Our own system is an example of this. We are a median subsystem (we have a sort of average identity we are all part of) that is multiple to our host Hail (who is also a median subsystem), the original S, Breach, and Au. (another median subsystem of tulpas).

Now, can a tulpa and host be median with each other. We are inclined to say yes.

Two people in a system can change their topology with respect to each other over time, for one. If say a host and tulpa who have a multiple topology with respect to each other partially merge together, they could end up with a median topology. We've experienced it with initially multiple tulpas (A., E., and Se.) coming together to form the median subsystem Au. We've seen it occur between other types of system members in the wider plural community. So, it stands to reason, a tulpa and a host could do the same. Furthermore, this is analogous to who two or more people who are median with respect to each other can separate further to become multiple with respect to each other. Our system has an example of the latter – Breach was originally a member of the median Hail subsystem but separated from the rest recently ending up with them having a multiple topology with respect to each other. It is also something that happens with other systems.

Now, another question would be, can a host and tulpa be median from the beginning and stay that way.

In the case of a shard-seeded tulpa, where a tulpa starts out the conventional way plus a small shard broken off the host, it can be done and has been done. But, this is a case of the creation of a being who rides the line between tulpa and split.

So, what about when there is no shard-seeding.

Well, a tulpa would have to be created from the beginning as an aspect. People can make masks, and these masks can grow to become people. So part of the ability to do it is there. But, the question is, is there accidental shard-seeding in the process? Can it be done without any shard-seeding what so ever? We are inclined to say yes but that it is difficult, but we have no anecdotes or other evidence.

[Immersion] Guess the Object – Watcher

I notice a lot of tulpamancers concerned with their visualization skills, and how those skills will influence their immersion in the mindscape. While it is a good skill to have, being able to see with your mind's eye is not the only one that aids with immersion. Senses like sound, touch, and even taste can all be recreated within the mindscape, and can allow for more detailed interactions with the mindscape and your tulpas/system mates, and even aid in switching down the line. This exercise focuses on touch, and helps with boosting immersion, minimizing bleedover, and improving parallel processing.

Imagine yourself in the mindscape, only with your eyes closed or blindfolded. Focus on your body in the mindscape as much as possible—feel the floor below you, or whatever you're sitting on. Rub your hands together, feel your face and pay attention to the way the skin pulls and bounces, or run your fingers through your hair.

Once your focus on the mindscape is stable enough (essentially, you should be focused on the mindscape in this point and not pulled away by external distractions), have your tulpa hand you a random object, and try and guess what it is based on what it feels like. If you're early in the creation process, you will very likely experience some bleedover while doing this exercise. That's okay, and will improve with time and practice. Also, don't worry too much about guessing “right”, and don't think too hard about whether you can actually feel the object or mindscape or not, since the more you overthink it, the harder it becomes to immerse. Just relax for now and focus on being present, and the rest will fall into place over time.

That's all there is to it. I hope this is helpful to someone. If this exercise worked for you or if you have any suggestions, feel free to comment.

[Meditation/Immersion] Detaching your Sense of Self from the Body – Watcher

By sense of self, I don't mean senses, nor do I mean proprioception—not really. This tip is also pretty abstract, and addresses a very specific issue I used to run into. Essentially, if I was in the mindscape and I touched something, or felt something, or ran my toe into something, I would feel it on the body itself rather than my body in-world, or the body's muscles would be compelled to move the way I was moving in the mindscape. This made immersion and improving my presence very difficult.

There is an exercise I've found that helps with this that involves some skill in meditation, so you should be able to relax and reach a meditative state decently before attempting it.

For the first exercise, meditate to the point that your sense of the body and limbs becomes blurry—for instance, you should lose track of smaller body parts such as fingers. As you do so, imagine yourself climbing a rope that leads out of the body. At first, you may feel tempted to move your physical arms, or your muscles might twitch or jump, but the more you practice, the more your awareness should shift from your body's arms to the arms you're imagining, and after enough time, you should start to feel the same sense of “blurry” energy surrounding your imagined arms that you do on the body's arms. This can help distance your sense of “self”, and whatever commands you're sending to the body, from the body itself, allowing you to feel more present and grounded in the mindscape.

This exercise was adapted from an astral projection technique, something I am also working on, so I will update at a later date if I run into anything else that could prove helpful. I did have one other tip in mind, but it escapes me at the moment. Nevertheless, I hope this one is helpful.

Some Thoughts on Parallel Processing (Mk. I) – Quandary

Clips from some posts I made elsewhere on the topic of parallel processing. Prelude to a much longer post.

—-​

My view is that parallel processing does not work like most seem to think it does. You are not doubling the front's bandwidth. Rather, your tulpa is learning how to more easily tap into it at will, and grab it for their own purposes. At the same time, you are supporting your tulpa in their work to learn how to take it.

It is not an instant process by any means, no more than it is an instant process for a physical person to learn how to speak without being spoken to when that's all they've known their entire lives. However, there are things that can be done to help it along, and possession is one of them. When someone controls the body, uses it to perform complex tasks, is the one who makes the decisions rather than the one riding along with the decisions, that's one of the best ways to practice taking control instead of waiting to be spoken to. In the same way that, say, reading theory can't trump actual experience for learning something, even though it might help. Nearly every tulpa I've spoken to experienced significant boosts upon learning how to control the body and after doing things of their own accord while in control.

—-​

[Honestly, parallel processing is something very poorly defined. It's hellishly broad, because “tulpa talking without your attention” (which I don't even think of as an advanced skill) is a whole other ballgame from “tulpa doing calculus while you do statistics”. But anyway, here's another post on teaching a tulpa how to talk without your attention...]

Lots, and lots, and lots of practice, and changing mindsets on both your and your tulpa's behalf. It can be very hard to break out of the “speak when spoken to” mindset as it is, only complicated by sharing a brain and having bottlenecks.

What you want to do, is accustom yourselves to simply chatting whenever. Not during a certain time. Not as part of a schedule. Don't ingrain it into your head that tulpamancy is something to be compartmentalized. It's really not. It's a way of living life.

Get used to asking him for his own opinions and thoughts on things. Start conversations with “how are you doing? want to say anything?” and wait instead of immediately launching into talking about your thoughts. Let him make some choices, even if the choices are as banal as Coke vs. Sprite when buying lunch. Don't just talk at him, but pull him forward and let him participate in this world. In doing so, you increase the connections he has to it.

Work with him to identify things that interest him, and cultivate those interests. Give him some things to chat about, himself, that aren't only tied to the weather or people's clothes or whatever everyday stuff is going on. Ask him to poke you if he's reminded of his interest and wants to talk about it.

Work on a cue he can drop to get your attention. A particular mindsound, like an ear worm, the sense of his presence, a flash of an image in the mind's eye. Language isn't the only thing that can be used to initiate conversation. Tulpish works well, too, and can be easier.

And practice.

PSA: Regarding Exorcisms – Quandary

**[Content Warning: Religious Abuse]** On a tangent, I remembered this post I made long ago. Sadly, it's still relevant.

—-​

No, this post is not a joke. Nor is it metaphysical in nature. Keep reading.

Recently, a topic was posted on /r/Tulpas by a user whose Christian friends believed his tulpa was a demon, who was asking what he should do. While a heartening majority gave solid advice regarding explaining the phenomenon or moving past the subject, a number of people treated it lightly, even telling him to go along to an exorcism for kicks.

That “advice,” however, can be extremely dangerous. As another user posted on that thread, do not go to an exorcism without someone who you trust will stop it if it gets dangerous.

It is likely that there exist exorcisms that aren’t physically dangerous. However, there exist many horror stories regarding the ritual, in which the exorcist went overboard and ended up traumatizing and/or physically injuring the subject, sometimes seriously.

Here is one story: http://www.net-burst.net/demons/exorcism-dangers.htm

At a Bible study I was attending, a guest evangelist excited the other eight Christians present to “deliver me from a demonic spirit.” Until then, I had allowed no one but my husband to touch me throughout my adult life – no family, no friends, no Christians, no one! I have always made sure of that. Even to be touched by my husband was so upsetting that I would dissociate.

One person grabbed my wrists. I flinched and pulled away. They thought this must have been a demon and grabbed again. I struggled. The guest got some others to hold me. I dropped to the ground, trying to free myself and pull away. They followed me to the ground and pinned me. Eight people restrained me for over four hours, “delivering me from the devil.” (Did they really think God was too weak to deliver me in a much nicer way, if deliverance were really necessary?)

They took olive oil and rubbed it on my body. The ladies even rubbed it under my clothes. I was just growling and thrashing about in panic as they pinned my limbs and shoulders and head down. They hit me in the stomach several times, yelling and rebuking the devil in Jesus’ name. I hated myself for trusting them and not protecting myself.

I was seven months pregnant and within hours I miscarried, losing my baby boy. Too distraught even to cry, I just called the doctor and brought him to the doctor’s office with me. Thereafter, horrific flashbacks and memories from past abuse began to torment me.

I have always blamed myself for murdering my baby boy, because I had been unable to break out of their restraints, and because I trusted those people and had been part of that group.

My mental state quickly degenerated after that and about six months later I sought counseling and have been on a long healing journey ever since.

And here is another story:http://stmichaelsjournal.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/the-dangers-of-exorcism/

In the Pacific rim nations, it seems that the common belief is that demons can be “washed” away, and we find numerous accounts of death by drowning. We find that in other parts of the world people have died after being beaten to death by those trying to literally “beat the devil” out of the victim. One bizarre report claims that the family of the victim tried to cram crucifixes down the victim’s throat. Probably the bottom line here is that someone never thought to ask the question of “does it do any good to drown, beat to death, or torture to death the victim just to exorcize the demon?”

I’m certain you can find more if you look.

A final note: before anyone attempts to use this post as a justification for bigotry and slandering, please keep in mind that (a) the main two warnings were posted by religious sites condemning the brutality of the practice (one even with Biblical quotes speaking against egotism in exorcism), and (b) what you see is a foolish minority tainting the reputation of the sane, but easily overlooked majority. If you are a tulpamancer, then I trust you have already experienced unfair stereotyping with outsiders who jeer about “no friends” and “mental illness.” A religion does not an evil person make–religions, too, are victims of the pettiness and hate of narrow-minded followers.

tl;dr if someone thinks your tulpa is a demon and wants to get you exorcised, do not go unless you have someone you fully trust to intervene if it gets dangerous. Or better yet—just don't go at all.

[Article] Symmetry Between Hosts And Tulpas – Fall Family

Symmetry Between Hosts And Tulpas

by Hail Fall of the Fall Family

Date: 2016-03-13 Version: 0.1

Preface

One of the things I have experienced personally and seen in many other systems is that tulpas and hosts can be more similar than meets they eye. While some differences originate from their different origins (tulpas are made and hosts were there from the beginning), most differences come from how each lives. If both live the same, they become more similar. In other words, there is a symmetry between both categories of system members.

Many in the community speak of how, as a tulpa develops and ages, they become more and more indistinguishable from hosts. This is what this article is about. This symmetry extends to many things.

Typical Differences in Experience

In the tulpamancy community, most tulpas are young and live exclusively or nearly exclusively inside innerworlds/wonderlands/paracosms. And hosts are much older and are either sole fronters or front most of the time by a significant margin. I say “in the tulpamancy community” since there are many systems out there, whether in other plural communities or not, that have members who would fit the definition of tulpa and have sometimes different experiences than those in the tulpamancy community.

In the tulpamancy community, there aren't as many tulpas who are older and/or front significant fractions of the time, and hosts who spend a lot of time inside innerworlds/wonderlands/paracosms.

Not A Fair Comparison

Given these average differences in experience in the tulpamancy community, comparing host and tulpas is a bit like comparing engineers in South America to farmers in Australia (or, comparing apples to oranges). This difference and unfair comparison is the origin for a number of myths, misunderstandings, and other incorrect ideas such as:

• Tulpas are more imaginary than hosts, and hosts are more real than tulpas.
• Tulpas will always be weaker in strength than hosts at fronting, manipulating innerworlds/wonderlands/paracosms, and in their contribution to the composite person when merging/integrating/fusing or blending with a host.
• Tulpas can't make tulpas.
• Tulpas can't become primary or sole fronters.
• Tulpas can't have more than flat 1D or 2D personalities.
• Hosts strongly affect their tulpas for their whole lives and tulpas barely affect hosts.

A More Fair Comparison

To make a more fair comparison, one has to compare older and more developed tulpas who also front significant amounts of time to their hosts. It is especially important to consider systems where the hosts can fully switch and get inside to innerworlds/wonderlands/paracosms. In these systems, the day to day lives of hosts and tulpas are much more similar to each other.

One can also wander outside of the tulpamancy community to other plural communities and see systems with members who meet the definition of tulpa who are much older.

The Symmetry

When a more fair comparison is made, one can see several experiences (a few examples are given for some of them, but much of this comes from private conversations) which point to symmetry:

• Tulpas who have a variety of complex interactions with other people in various environments (work, family, online, etc.) and show a full range of likes, dislikes, quirks, goals, strengths, flaws, emotions, etc. Do note, the big variables here aren't fronting, but age and interaction with people outside the system by any means, which can include proxying.
• Tulpas who have become primary or sole fronters for various periods of time [2, 3, 4, 5].
• Tulpas who can forcibly possess, eclipse, and/or switch with their hosts [3, 4].
• Hosts who end up in a dormant or other inactive state when a tulpa is fronting and aren't active unless the tulpa actively thinks about them, much like how many hosts have to do the same with tulpas.
• Tulpas being able to influence their hosts' thoughts, actions, and personalities. Eclipsing is a good example of the first two. The last is discussed in a number of threads scattered about.
• Tulpas making tulpas. There is a huge number of threads on this all over the tulpamancy community. Kerin's log of making Nobillis is a particularly good example [2].

Older and very developed tulpas can do all the things that a host can do.

In addition, hosts can end up in states not unlike younger tulpas when they are not fronting. They can require active thought from the fronter (in this case, a tulpa) in order to become active. They can lose a lot of their ability to front and otherwise have innerworlds/wonderlands/paracosms feel more real than outerworld [2, 3, 4].

A very complicated topic is whether hosts are more real than tulpas, and tulpas more imaginary than hosts. An important question that goes with this is “Are hosts real?”. This is a question that dives into the topics of “what is consciousness?”, “what is sentience?, and “how to define person?”; which are huge philosophical discussions. Hosts certainly can affect the world and have a sense of self, so there is some level of reality. Tulpas also have a sense of self and can affect the world. So both have at least that one trait of reality shared. Now, a tulpa inside an innerworld/wonderland/paracosm could be said to be at least somewhat imaginary since they aren't made of physical matter and are in the head. But the same could be said of the host when they are fully switched and inside as well. So both can have some level of imaginariness as well. The fact that both hosts and tulpas can do these things suggest that both are at least partly real and at least partly imaginary.

These things all point towards tulpas and hosts being more symmetric (similar) than meets the eye. Differences in average age and development obscure the similarities to a great degree.

Some Personal Experiences

Part of what prompted me to finally write this article is some experiences this last week with three of my tulpas, Tri. They have become quite adept at possession and eclipsing and were even the primary fronters this last summer. But, they haven't been fronting lately and have lost much of their fronting strength like some hosts have experienced if they don't front very often [2, 3, 4]. But they were able to regain it all quite quickly by extreme determination, very strong emotions, and some other circumstances (this is a topic in its own right). They even surpassed their previous strength and at one point realized they could probably just absorb everyone else in the system including me (a host of sorts) by force (my dormancy was quite strong and they were able to pull and push me from them with ease) if they decided to (they would never actually test it). Regardless of whether their assessment was correct (I think it is), it brought the topic of this article back up. An important piece of this was that the thoughts that went through their mind when they thought about it and then dismissed it were much like those of hosts who decide to wipe out all of their tulpas. I guess they have fronted so much that they even sometimes think like hosts.

And there is another personal question. Am I a tulpa or a split? I was not the original person in this system. I came to be when the body was around 5 years old by a process that is hard to categorize as either splitting, tulpamancy, or both (shard-seeding and shard-feeding). If I am a tulpa, then I guess myself and the original, S, are yet more examples of the symmetry, being that I at least used to be nearly indistinguishable from the majority of hosts. I was the sole fronter for about 20 years and she has been inside faded away almost the entire time. 

Additional Reading

More information and thoughts on symmetry can be gleaned from the following articles and guides.

• Lecture on Tulpas IRC chatlogs from Pleeb and many others.
• Some Thoughts on Young Tulpas and Awareness by Mel of The Hidden Ones system.
• On The Development of Personality by Falah of The Quandary system.
• Expectations and Your Tulpa by Falah of The Quandary system.
• [Switching] So you wanna switch? Do you, really? Might be able to help that. by Seven and Aegis of the Keiretsu system.
• After it's started, how to get out of forcing. by Seven of the Keiretsu system.
• Malfael's Switching Guide (also on Tulpa.im) by Malfael of the Kaliya system.

References

1. Tulpa.io Terminologies. Terminologies. Tulpa.io
2. Kerin, Nobillis, Watchdogs, and Kevin. kerin – Experiments in Progress. Tulpa.info Forum. Community >> Progress Reports.
3. Fall Family. The Tulpas of The Fall Family. Community >> Progress Reports.
4. Oguigi and Koomer. Oguigi 内儀 & Koomer – The Diary. Community >> Progress Reports. Information can also be found at their tumblr ponystasha.tumblr.com.
5. Neguilla. Re: Tulpas Who Have Become The Primary Body Controller/s. Reddit. /r/Tulpas.

[Immersion] Walking the Walk – Watcher

Many people struggle with balance in the mindscape, myself included. This tip is a bit short and sweet, but I found a lot of my issues surrounding locomotion arose as a result of overthinking.

Maybe this will best illustrate it: when you walk someplace, unless you're climbing a flight of stairs or a steep hill, it's very unlikely you'll be focused on the movement of every part of your body. When you want to walk somewhere, it's more likely you'll focus on where you're going rather than what you're doing, and your sense of balance, or equilibrioception fills in the blanks and acts on its own to get you where you need to go. Despite this, time and again I found this was exactly what I was doing: I was concentrating on the movements of my mindscape body instead of where I wanted to go and getting distracted by all the things that were off about my movement.

While moving around in the mindscape is still far from perfect, I find that simply shifting my perspective has done a lot to alleviate the more major glitches many people seem to face. Best of luck out there.

[Meditation/Immersion] Double Breathing – Watcher

This tip is a little more challenging, and as a result you may need to be well practiced in detaching your sense of self from the body before attempting it. Now, a common piece of advice in meditation is to focus on your body's breathing. This tip takes that aspect of meditation and expands on it in order to better draw attention to your innerworld form.

For this exercise, get into as deep a trance as you can, and focus on your breathing. Note when you breathe in and breathe out, and the pause in between. Now visualize yourself in your mindscape body, and shift focus to that body's breathing. It makes things easier—at least it did in my case—to imagine my mindscape body inhaling while the outerworld body exhaled. 

This may be a bit confusing at first, and you will very likely get distracted or mix up which body is breathing where, but with time and persistence, your attention should shift to your mindscape body much more easily and with less confusion, and with practice, it will become possible to ground yourself there by paying attention to that body's breathing instead.

This took me a while to get used to, so let me know if this is at all confusing!

[Immersion/Dissociation] Life is but a Dream – Watcher

This exercise is very abstract, and as a result, it's hard to describe well, but I'll do the best I can. If you've ever had a lucid dream, you'll know that our dreams can be extremely vivid. So much so, barring some minor details, they can mirror real life. This exercise works around that principle. Also, due to the nature of it, this exercise is probably best done at home on the weekend, and not on a crowded street.

Imagine the reality in front of you isn't real, and instead, what you're experiencing through the body is just a vivid lucid dream or fantasy. Now imagine that the mindscape and your tulpas/system mates are the waking world.

That's really all there is to it—of course, it's something much easier said than done. The more you distance yourself from meatspace, the less emphasis you will unconsciously put on what's going on around you, and the more invested you get in whatever is happening in the mindscape, the easier it will become to focus on it.

I hope this helps, and I will do my best to clarify if needed.

[Immersion] Close-up – Watcher

This is a quick tip may help if you're struggling to see the mindscape in first person.

Start by imagining yourself in the mindscape in third person. Now imagine you're looking at yourself through a camera. Rotate it around, up, down, whatever, and take in as much of the mindscape's surroundings as you can. Then start to zoom in closer, and closer, and closer, until you're looking from where your mindscape body's eyes should be.

If you're inexperienced with first person view, things will likely glitch the first few times you do this—your body and the space surrounding may distort. If you're really struggling with your form, pair this exercise with the mirror room and see if it helps stabilize your self-perception.

[Immersion] The Mirror Room – Watcher

To state the obvious, this exercise is not for those with a phobia of mirrors, but I find it can really help you get used to inhabiting a body in the mindscape and form a better sense of how that body bends and moves, and how it orients itself in space. This is especially helpful if you're trying to get used to visualizing the movements of a complicated form. It can also help to form a stable presence and keep movements from “glitching”.

In first person, imagine you're in a room—fairly small, but not claustrophobic, maybe eight feet by eight feet across. There is no door (you're in the mindscape after all), and all the walls, as well as the ceiling, are lined with mirrors. Sit in front of one of the mirror walls and examine your body in the mindscape closely. Your face, body, clothes, everything. Watch your face as you make different facial expressions, and note the subtle movements your mindscape body makes as you breathe. Lean from side to side and watch your body sway.

When you're comfortable enough, stand up and stretch in front of the mirror. Stretch your arms and legs out as much as you can. Lean all the way forward and all the way back. Lay on your back, stretch out your hands, get used to watching your own movements.

While doing this, try and keep track of your innerworld body as well as its reflection. Eventually, looking in a mirror in the mindscape should be exactly the same as looking into one in meatspace—regardless of whether your form is the same or not.

I usually pair this exercise with the waiting room, and although I still get pulled to the front from time to time, I can stay in back for a decent amount of time and have a much better sense of my mindscape body, which is pretty good considering a few months ago I didn't have a form at all. Be patient and persistent, and your work will pay off.

[Immersion] Meditation Within The Mindscape – Quandary

From our progress log:

We did find a useful immersion technique today, or at least have found the start of one. It involves essentially immersing into the mindscape and then from there attempting to meditate (in the “clear your head as completely as possible, acknowledge but do not comment on passing thoughts/sensations”). Whenever you get distracted from meditation, redirect the distracting thought away from your physical-world state and towards your mindscape state—for example, if you reflexively try to pay attention to your body, make yourself pay attention to your innerworld body instead of your physical-world body. 

Or to put it another way, act as if you are meditating in the mindscape, not the physical world.

This adds an additional buffer between you and the physical world, and trains your mind to pay attention to the mindscape first when immersing, even when your thoughts wander. I should mention that I've already got some degree of skill with detaching my perception of body from the physical body, so this might be easier done once you've practiced that skill by itself to begin with.

A variant I haven't tried at length involves, again, meditating while inside, but instead of attempting to establish a completely null state of mind and using the mindscape body as a “safety net” when distracted, attempting to establish a peripheral awareness of the mindscape body's sensations. I have a feeling that may be possibly easier for me than attempting to go completely null.

I'm considering taking this a few levels further and first immersing myself in one mindscape, then immersing myself in another mindscape from there before meditating. This way, if I lose focus in the innermost mindscape, I'll only be jolted into the outer mindscape instead of the physical world. Of course, how well this succeeds depends heavily upon how strongly I can “root” myself in the mindscape that's meant to serve as a safety net, but it does seem like this brain at least takes well to the concept.

The downside to this is that I do fall asleep faster, but falling asleep seems to be a general problem for us, and since falling asleep correlates with dissociation, I'd say that it's likely a sign that I'm dissociating from outerworld faster. Again, it seems like our problem is less being unable to immerse and more immersion being all or nothing, all meaning the body goes to sleep the moment I fully dissociate and I get lost in a dream. But that's a discussion for another time.

Some Advice on Coming Out – Watcher

Man, it's been a while since I've posted here. We've been pretty preoccupied with offline stuff in the past few months, and aside from that, while we have plenty of ideas for stuff to do around the community we haven't had much energy to write it out with school in session. Luckily, the semester's officially out today, so why not kick it off with a little celebratory post?

I'm not the only one who's been busy in meatspace, as a matter of fact. Mel has been too ever since I told my friend group about him. Which is to say, we're now out as plural to most of the people we know. We had our own reasoning for why, which is something best outlined at a later time, but the gist of it was, it was getting pretty impractical for both of us to stay in the closet with our fronting schedule, and considering online friendships can't always fulfill Mel-the-extrovert's social needs it was only practical he got to know our meatspace friends—we see them fairly regularly anyway.

So, without further ado, have a few tips on coming out as a system to others—and keep in mind, these are tips, not a full on guide. Your own experience can and likely will differ, but a little perspective never hurt anyone.

Understand Your Audience

When coming out to anyone about anything, it's important to take their perspective into account. Coming out to the wrong person about the wrong thing could have disastrous consequences, and everybody takes these things differently. Some people are safer to come out to than others, so keep that in mind if you're considering telling someone. If you are hesitant about telling someone because you feel it would be unsafe or end badly for you, it's probably better not to tell them, since you can't go back in the closet once you've come out of it.

Hope for the Best, Be Prepared for the Worst

In the case of our friend group, we've known each other going on seven years now, and we can talk about personal subjects relatively openly. They're all kind, understanding people, and I knew if we framed it in a way that made sense to them they wouldn't ditch me over it. At worst, we'd continue being friends even if they didn't want to talk to Mel, at best, they would want to get to know him too. So with this group, it wasn't so much an issue of being hesitant over how they would react, but a question of how to explain it in a way they could understand. We kind of won the lottery in that area, so if you do plan to come out, make sure you're prepared to handle the worst case scenario should it happen.

As an aside, friends are often much, much easier to approach with this kind of stuff than family or the people you live with. Friends can harass you or blackmail or spread rumors, but for the most part they're easier to avoid. We don't plan to tell the family for that reason.

Decide What you Do and Don't Want to Share

When coming out about something, anything at all, how much you tell someone is entirely up to you. The same goes for how you tell it. So, to put it simply, while you may be tempted to give whoever you're coming out to a whole tulpamancy/plurality 101 primer, that may not be necessary, and in might just confuse them further. Don't be afraid to start small and simple, and work your way up. When we were planning everything out, we started by explaining John Locke's concept of the prince and the cobbler (wherein, if a prince and a cobbler were to share one body, they would still be two unique people), and we went on from there.

Get a Second Opinion/Let Everyone Speak their Mind

The use of that metaphor was entirely Mel's idea, by the way. Coming out as plural or a tulpamancy system doesn't have to fall entirely on one member. In fact, it would be wise to have everyone in the system who's interested pitch in or develop a plan of action. As for me, I wanted to write a story, or create something that illustrated what we were like as people, while Mel took the more scholarly approach. Eventually we decided to compromise, I did small drawings and comics and stuff, he drafted up the initial letter to our friends, I looked it over and gave advice, we both edited a bunch, and then I told our friends in person.

The point I'm making is, while finding a way of explaining you're a system that's right for you can be important, it can be just as easy to get so wrapped up in how to explain everything you never do. Feedback and affirmation from people you trust, or the system members involved, can help assuage that worry.

Test the Waters/Ease Yourselves Into It****

We didn't come out to everyone at once. In fact, a good month or so before I came out to the first few friends of ours I made it clear to them there was something I was trying to articulate, that the subject matter was kind of taboo and often misrepresented in the popular imagination, and I would tell them soon once I'd found the words for it. Eventually I started sharing stuff we could relate to as a system, and then on Halloween, at a (fairly tame) party, I mentioned the fact that I had a friend who was a plural system.

One friend expressed interest in it, and had a fairly good understanding of what it entailed. So we started talking back and forth about it and eventually I took a dive and came out. In all, it went pretty well, and it gave us all the more confidence when approaching the rest of our friend group.

Another thing myself and others have done is to find an avenue that helps your friends relate to it. For instance, I brought up my writing here and there, and mentioned how, for some authors, characters seem to develop lives of their own. Another system we know opened channels of communication by discussing dreams. If there's something familiar to you that your friends know you for and aren't nervous to ask questions about, it can make communicating the idea much easier, and it can make your plurality in general seem like less of a sudden, random thing and more a regular part of your life.

Ease Your Friends Into It Too

Congratulations! You're out as plural! Your friend group knows and, hopefully, is supportive and looking forward to getting to know your system mates. Of course, it's not going to be that easy. Even if your tulpas/system mates know your friends as well as you do, your friend group will still need some time to adjust to the idea that there are others there besides the person they're used to talking to. And in the case of the rest of your system, it will take some time to adjust to socializing with them and being known about. Eventually everyone will strike a balance and adjust, but until that time, it's important not to rush anyone into things, as much as you may be tempted to if you're in the position of a middle man like myself.

So there you have it, a few tips on telling other people about your system. For those who are curious about the process or who've been considering it themselves, here's hoping these will be of some help to you or offer some new perspectives.

Parallel Processing: Counting – Fantasia

For those who want to work on parallel processing, but aren't sure how, this is a method we discovered that might work!

Tulpa, take on full possession of the body. You should be comfortable in using it. In the meantime, host, start counting to yourself, without getting distracted, or pausing. All other activities outside become irrelevant to you at the moment. Tulpa, try typing out a story, or if you have a willing friend, go chat with them!

We got hilarious results our first time around. I couldn't quite think properly, and ended up typing a word thrice without noticing, among other things. The important thing is to keep practicing. The tulpa should already be quite familiar with doing mundane things like talking, but being forced to do them while the host is distracted encourages them to develop their own “thinking” space. Hard at first, but practice makes perfect!

Parallel Processing/Passive Forcing: Games Tulpas Play – Chaoticpix93

This is going to be set up as a list of all the 'games' that Annalisse and I play every day. Kinda things to pass the time while waiting for other things, or things we do together as just things to do.

It's going to be updated as I remember more and more of them. 

Parallel Procesing:

The What Is It Game: 

Go together to /r/misleadingthumbnails. This is a site where people say that a thumbnail looks like something else, but looks like something else entirely. Like, you have a picture of a block of blu cheese, but from the thumbnail it looks like ants on a hill or something. The game is that we look at the thumbnails and try to figure out what we think the object REALLY is. Sometimes it's not very obvious!

Collary to that is going to /r/whatisthisthing which is a sub of people finding weird objects that nobody knows what exactly it is. So we try to guess the functionality of it. 

Can also be played with Clouds.

Another thing that we do, now that we're doing it because of the TV.

We like watching The Price is Right (or pick a game show of your poison) and we try to guess prices of things along with the guests.

Another one is the road/car games that families have been playing for years. 

Pididle.

I don't know how it's spelled insomuch is that's what the game is called. Essentially all the cars you see on the street with one headlight are called pididles. Every time you see one, you exclaim 'Pididle!” and you get a 'point' the person with the most 'points' at the end of the car trip 'wins'. My mom and my brother played for YEARS racking up weekly scores, and the like.

Along that vein is the game

Punch Buggy:

This is similar to the last game except you exclaim when you see a Volkswagen Beetle. It was more fun when the new beetles were out on the street. If you don't have touch imposition down, you can just play it similar to the last game. If you do have touch imposition, watch out! XD

Stop Worrying and Love the Tulpa – Watcher

I wrote this a billion years ago. Well, okay, one year ago, but I think it still applies. I've edited a few things here and there.

Hey you, newbie. Yeah, you. I see you over there, wringing your hands and shuffling about at the back of the room, looking like there’s something you’re just dying to say if you could even figure out what it was–but you never do. Maybe you’re worried about embarrassing yourself in front of the tulpa gurus. First of all, you have nothing to worry about, and second of all, there is something very, very important I would like to say to you.

Stop worrying and learn to love the tulpa. That’s it, that’s all you have to do. All those guides? Good to read through to get a basic idea of things, but still based on subjective experience. Things can and will be different for you so don’t dwell on them because they are internet guides and not the cops. That guy who totally made a fully-imposed tulpa capable of switching in, like, five minutes? Good for him, but don’t be mad at yourself if making a tulpa isn’t like that for you. All those poindexters out there spitting out hundred page manifestos at each other over whether tulpas are teh science or magic or made of unicorn farts? Ignore them. They’re wasting their time and yours–precious time that you could be spending with your tulpa instead.

Here’s all you really need to do: experience your life as usual, and find ways to have fun with your tulpa as they experience stuff alongside you. Read your tulpa a book if you want, or watch a movie, or draw pictures of them, go on an adventure-whatever. It’s not so much what you do, it’s how you do it, and if you do it with the intention of helping your tulpa develop in some way, of helping them become more aware and more capable than they currently are, you can’t fail. Talk to them! Interact! Have them talk to others, too. Your tulpa will probably enjoy spending time with you no matter what you do together, since either way they're growing and experiencing and learning.

So don’t bog yourself down with doubts or beat yourself up for not progressing or get swept up in community infighting-hell, unplug the computer and go hug a tree if you have to. As long as you don’t give up and, more importantly, have fun along the way, you really can’t go wrong here. Stop worrying and learn to love the tulpa.

Because if you can do that, your tulpa will love you back.

Wonderland Creation Via Daydreaming – Fall Family

Wonderland Creation Via Daydreaming

by Tri Fall (The Triumvirate subsystem) of the Fall Family

Date: 2015-06-07 Version: 0.91

We are going to share a small tip for creating innerworlds/wonderlands that has worked for our system.

The idea is to leverage off of one's abilities to daydream. When one daydreams, one is making a world that usually isn't quite an innerworld/wonderlandyet. The trick is to make it one. One essentially has to make it more permanent and get the mind to latch on to it so to speak. Psychologically, this is getting the innerworld/wonderland stored into medium or long term memory, or at least more resiliant short term memory.

The first step is to daydream a world like the one you want to make. Note that you may not be able to daydream in all senses. That is OK. Do it in what senses that you can daydream in. There is no requirement that sight/visual be one of those senses. Spend a good amount of time daydreaming there. Now, the very important thing is to make sure you commit as much of it as you possibly can to memory before you stop daydreaming.

Then, later, daydream again trying to recreate that world as best as you can from memory.

Repeat this. With each time, it will generally take less effort to recreate it. Do note that things will change a bit from what you remember. Some of those changes you will need to correct, but others can be left be. Just remember, commit the changes to memory and try to recreate them the next time you daydream the world.

Eventually, the world should hopefully latch and have some level of permanence meaning that changes carry over from one visitation to the next automatically, though new changes will arise. For example, you make a table at some point and it will be there the next time, but a day-night cycle might start spontaneously.

It can also worth trying to add other senses if desired. This can help the process tremendously as it gives you more ways to remember each detail meaning if some are forgotten, the others can be used to reconstruct it, either manually or automatically.

If you are having a particularly hard time making a daydream world, start very simple and small. Say, you might start with the interior of a small room with ambient lighting. You can work you way up and add more to the world later, or it might get added automatically at some point.

It is hard to say at which point in this process the daydream world crosses the line into being an innerworld/wonderland, but regardless of where that line is, you now have one.

Have fun.

Immersion via Imposition – Quandary

Debated putting it here or in the Switching section, but I think it works best here.

This is a tip that may appear utterly off the walls, but strangely, it works for us and a number of other systems we know. Basically, it's this—have your tulpa try to impose you in the mindscape. While they do so, relax as much as you can while also imagining yourself being surrounded by the mindscape from a first-person view. It essentially results in you getting a very strong pull (complete with tugging sensation) inside—it likely won't disconnect you from your physical surroundings on the first few tries, but it should ground you pretty strongly in your mindscape. (I think I've heard of multiples using similar methods to forcibly tug someone out of the front if needed.)

(Original credit for the tip lies with either the Fall Family, Nobillis, Kettu, or maybe someone else? Just passing this on.)

— Falah

Now for my perspective. I am not exactly a tulpa—I am a multiple systemmate. However, given that we—inclusive we—are capable of anything the other is capable of, I feel this should still apply.

I have seen people baffled on how exactly they or their systemmates are to impose a host in the innerworld. The answer is simpler than many suspect—the same manner in which a host imposes a systemmate's presence in the outerworld, coupled with the same process one uses to wish an object into existence in the innerworld. Now, I say this all with the assumption that one's innerworld is malleable in such a way—that in order to obtain something, one simply must imagine it there—but if that is not the case with yours, some additional creativity may be needed. I shall speak more on that shortly.

First. Presence imposition. I will leave the meat of the process to another guidewriter, but if your system does not know how to impose presence, here is the essence of it. 

First, you must acclimate yourself to what it feels like to feel a presence. Walk somewhere with physical persons—preferably stationary—and turn so you cannot see them. You will find that you still have an inexplicable sense that they are still there, even if you are not seeing or hearing them in any way. That is presence.

Now, to learn to feel a presence that is not “physically” present. There are a variety of ways to go about this, most involving symbolism. Common symbols are a “field” of fluid or energy that one “feels” a disruption in, or a compass within one's mind with an arrow pointing towards the location of the person being imposed. Others that may be of interest are a radar screen or a “string” of sorts running between you and the imposed individual. 

That is not all, however. That is only the imposer's end. For a successful, authentic imposition, you must also have the cooperation of the imposee. In other words, the imposee must agree to being imposed and actively participate by imagining themself within the imposer's environment. Anything less results in an imposition that is lifeless—like imposing a doll rather than a person—and/or difficult to maintain.

So that is imposition. Now for the second part—using imagination to create/summon your host's form into the innerworld. Here is where the process becomes much more subjective, and I can only offer my own experiences and hope others may be able to extrapolate. Essentially, in our own innerworld, in order to conjure an object into being, one must simply imagine it coming into shape before them—it is as if you are visualizing something in your mind's eye, but it takes form “physically” as you do so, swirling and solidifying into existence. It is easier to do this with less complex objects than complex ones, but, I digress...

Essentially, what you must do using what methods you have available to you, is create your host's form within the innerworld. When it is created, you must then impose their presence inside the form you have created. This will pull them towards the inside, assuming they are cooperative and also doing their part in relaxing and imagining themself inside—it is still possible to pull them even if they are not relaxed and doing the imagining, though it is more difficult, like pulling a load without wheels as opposed to a load with wheels. It is also possible to do this without conjuring a form first to place a presence inside, although that is also summarily more difficult.

And there it is! The best of luck with your endeavours!

— Rain

Introduction

This guide is a work in progress as of 03/13/2016

This guide aims to organize and expand upon the series of tips I posted in the Other Tips and Articles section to create a somewhat cohesive guide on wonderland/mindscape immersion. People at all levels of experience, whether systems are not, are welcome to try the steps outlined in this post. This post will only cover immersion, not wonderland creation–a guide for that can be found here.

That being said, I do feel as though I should add a few notes on my background: I have been daydreaming all hours of the day for as long as I remember, and have practiced lucid dreaming techniques and meditation on and off since I was a preteen, so what comes easy to me may require more work from a beginner. I have also only just recently made progress in dissociating from the body’s senses, though not nearly enough to write a proper guide on how to leave the body entirely—keep your eyes peeled.

In short, I'm well aware some aspects of this guide may come across like this and will do my best to mitigate that. That said, I do hope some of the approaches and perspectives in this guide will be of help to some.

Presence

By far the most important sense to focus on in my experience hasn’t been sight or sound, but presence. It doesn’t matter how well you can see or hear something, if you don’t feel as though you are present in a certain place, it will still have no more depth than watching a movie on a screen. A good way I’ve found to develop presence is to create a form for myself , as it is much easier to feel present when I have a body of my own than when I’m a disembodied voice.

Another helpful exercise for this is Life is But a Dream–if it’s hard to feel actively present in the mindscape when shifting your focus to it, sometimes it is easier to shift your focus away from the outerworld. It is also helpful to think of the mindscape as you would any other place–not “imaginary”, not “less real”, just another space you occupy, if one with slightly different rules and laws than the other.

Developing a sense of presence, like most aspects of mindscape immersion, is all about tenacity, and different things will work for different people. What worked for me was imagining myself in some sort of room I couldn’t leave, and some others have had success with having their system mates impose them inside or meditating in the mindscape itself. Grounding exercises involving the other senses can be helpful, as well as focusing on the presence of any tulpas/system mates who are in the mindscape with you at the time.

Generally, developing presence can be slow going, but will get stronger the more time you spend in the mindscape.

Audio/Visual

Hearing comes relatively easy to me, and much of my own struggles come not from being unable to hear sounds, but from losing track of them. However, generally, if you’re struggling with hearing different sounds, the same approach that helps your tulpa develop their voice will likely help here: listen to different sound samples you would likely hear in the mindscape, and do your best to recreate them while immersing. Then, when you have a good idea of what the sound is like, pull your attention away and stop consciously trying to generate it. The better you get at doing this, the more immersive the sound will become, even to the point of auditory imposition–though that’s something for another guide.

Losing track of different sounds, or “tuning out” of them can and will happen from time to time, and it’s something the brain tends to do in meatspace as well. One thing that helps, and this goes hand in hand with the treat-the-mindscape-like-any-other-place bit above, is to remember that just because the sound can’t be heard doesn’t mean it is gone, or that it can’t be tuned into again.

Sight works in a similar way as improving sound: if you’re struggling with visualizing something, find as many pictures as you can and do your best to recreate it. Another word of advice is that, early on, when developing visualization, it can be helpful to go from the bottom up: to start with a fuzzy, undetailed image, then slowly sharpen it and fill in more details, just as you would when painting a picture.

Tactility/Scent/Taste

I find that tactility requires a greater sense of presence to truly immerse in. The easiest starting place for tactility in my case is focusing on my in-world body, and how it bends and moves, then expanding my focus outwards to what I’m sitting or standing on. Taste, interestingly, started more as a form of imposition, long before I got a handle on focusing on my mindscape body, before shifting inward. A very strong scent for me, however, is scent–certain smells can hit me like a wall while inside, and I’m still working out how or why that is.

Proprioception/Equilibrioception/Thermoception

I’m still practicing getting a handle on these senses, I will update when I do.

A Note on Meditation and Not Over Thinking

Meditation and relaxation itself can be a very, very helpful skill when it comes to immersing yourself in the mindscape, since with enough practice, you can learn to shift your attention from your meatspace body to your innerworld body in a number of ways. Zen meditation is also a helpful tool for inducing dissociation, described in the next section. In fact, mindscape immersion in general requires you to shift your perspectives to a degree, like when it comes to learning to let go.

In fact, a large amount of immersion involves just that: not only letting go of your meatspace body, but also learning to accept the mindscape as its own place. A big mistake I made early on was trying to stay in conscious control of every little thing when I didn’t need to. These days, the more and more I focus on being there, the more and more the brain fills in the gaps. So relax, have fun, and don’t panic if you experience a few glitches and try not to correct every little thing as it goes wrong–the deeper you learn to immerse, the more readily these things will learn to correct themselves. Besides, it’s also not all on you. Your system mates/tulpas share the mindscape just as you do, and are just as capable of influencing it, so don’t hesitate to ask them for help or advice, since chances are they know more about what it’s like to live in your head than I ever will (of course, I’m always open to questions too).

Dissociation and What it Feels Like

This final section will be short and sweet bonus, and will wrap everything up for now. I’ve dissociated a few times on and off over the years, and I’m only now figuring out how to induce it at will. Keep in mind, this is how I experience it, your mileage may vary.

Have you ever been so tired you started nodding off to the point where you were on the edge of sleep and lost track of your body for a moment before being shocked back into wakefulness by something? Essentially, that is sort of what it feels like in my case: my senses will “fade out”, I will lose track of my sight (will be unable to feel my eyes), hearing, touch, etc. So far, it only lasts for a split second and can’t be controlled. However, unlike when I’m really tired, when I jolt back, the body is wide awake, and so am I.

One noteworthy aspect of it is that I often don’t realize it’s happened until it already has. My current hypothesis is that blacking out completely requires a certain degree of voluntary forgetfulness: forgetting the body, the senses, where you are, what you’re thinking of, etc. As I better figure things out, I’ll update this guide along the way.

For now, go forth and immerse yourselves, and happy forcing.

Preface

Much thanks to Malfael, Seven, fireparrot, GM, Falah, H and Sharky, and others for servitor discussions, answering questions, bouncing ideas off of, and/or reading over this. Also, much thanks to a few people in the multiple community who pointed out major ethical considerations.

Current version (0.95) finished on 2015-05-03. If you have read a previous version a long time ago, forget about it. It was terrible.

This guide is written primarily using the terminology of the tulpa community. Equivalent terms from other plural communities will sometimes be mentioned in parenthetical statements to make this guide understandable to a wider audience.

As has been said, “a servitor is like a tulpa but with no sentience and they are made like a tulpa, but made so that they do not deviate into having aspects one may attribute to a tulpa like a personality, sense of self, etc.” But there is more to it than that. That's the short version. This guide is the long version.

What Is A Servitor?

A servitor (sometimes called a golem in other communities and classified as a type of fragment/shard in the multiple community) is a thoughtform, just as tulpas are. There are many kinds of thoughtforms such as puppets, tulpas, servitors, daemons, egregores, NPC's, etc. and some that blur the lines between categories (e.g. tulpa-daemons as described in this image by Falah) or just don't easily classify as any of them. Thoughtforms are things, machines, people, entities, constructs, etc. that one makes inside one's mind. If we want to get real technical, wonderlands (called inner worlds, headspaces in other communities) can be thoughtforms, but here in this guide we usually restrict the definition to individual things, machines, people, entities, and constructs that/who are animate (note, they do not need a form). To quote the glossaries of Tulpa.io and Tulpa.info:

Tulpa.io Terminologies said:

SERVITOR:

A non-sentient thoughtform created with the purpose of automating or assisting with a certain task–these tasks can be both mental and physical by way of having the servitor control the body. Essentially a highly refined and elaborate autopilot, can be likened to a method in a computer program.

Tulpa.info Wiki Glossary said:

Servitor:

A tulpa-like entity with seemingly no willpower, volition or sentience of its own; a mental puppet that may seem to act independently but acts only as a servant to its creator.

In other words, a servitor is an automaton, robot, program, etc. that is made to perform one or more functions and tasks.

There is an everyday example of something that can sometimes be easy to turn into a servitor that many people already have. If you can type fast to the point where you no longer think about where the keys are at all (way beyond hunt-and-peck), you might easily be able to make a typing servitor. Or perhaps, if you merely think words and your hands automatically type them, you may already have one, or at least would have an easier time making one.

What distinguishes a tulpa and a servitor? They share a ton of traits with each other, which is evidenced by the definition. And it is easy to imagine a thoughtform that would be hard to categorize as either one. They are both autonomous, meaning that they live/operate without puppetting/parrotting, but differ in sentience, willpower, etc. It is then more accurate to think of them as opposite ends of a spectrum of autonomous thoughtforms. On the one end you have thoughtforms who are sentient and have a sense of self, a set of beliefs, try to find meaning in the world, have wants and desires, can choose their own goals, etc. We call the region on that end tulpas. On the other end you have thoughtforms which are not sentient and don't have a sense of self (note, they may still factually know what they are like WolframAlpha does if you ask it “what are you?” but that is different than sense of self), focus only on the tasks they are given and don't think of existence beyond that, essentially are the goal/s that they are given and can't choose their own, etc. We call the region on that end servitors. It is because of these traits that a servitor would be classified as a type of fragment/shard in the terminology of the multiple community. There is a lot of grey area in between the two ends of the spectrum. There isn't really a term for that region near the middle, either – maybe servi-tulpa (as neat as “tulpator” sounds, it isn't very descriptive and thus would make a bad candidate). A servi-tulpa could perhaps be described as semi-sentient.

While the servitor end of the spectrum is inherently not sentient and middle region semi-sentient, they can most certainly be complex enough to have some appearance of more sentience than they actually have, which could be called pseudo-sentience. The previously mentioned computer example would be WolframAlpha which knows what it is and can answer a variety of questions but is not actually sentient. Now, a group of servitors and/or servi-tulpas functioning together can, as a group, acquire a higher level of sentience and/or more convincing pseudo-sentience. Neguilla + Oxford and Dartmoth are a good example of this. Their combination exhibits more sentience and/or pseudo-sentience than they do individually.

Now, can a group of servitors functioning together achieve semi-sentience or full sentience while all individually remaining completely non-sentient servitors? That is a question worth further exploration. It is certainly possible for a large collection of non-sentient units to, when put together, make a sentient collection. Individual neurons, which are not sentient, can make a human brain that is sentient. Whether the same can be done with servitors is an open question.

Fundamentally, though, sentience itself is a hard to define concept as the debates here on tulpa.info forum have shown. Philosphers and scientists have had similarly difficult times. I would suggest you read around if you are interested in the topic.

Overview

In its simplest incarnation, a servitor is a thought repeater. It repeats a pattern of thoughts that are given to it to do. As an example, a timer servitor could do the thought process “estimate time elapsed from internal time sense until it reaches the value given to me, and then send alarm sound to whoever is controlling the body.”

The way a servitor can be made depends to what extent you can make a thoughtform that is autonomous and just lives/works (called the “Just Make It Method” method here). If you can't do that, you have to do a brute force method. Both will be explained here. On average, the longer you or other inhabitants of your brain have been making thoughtforms, you have not been the only inhabitant of your brain (means you are plural), and/or you have had wonderland/s (also called headspaces and inner worlds); the less likely you will need to resort to a brute force method or if you do, the less brute force you will need to do. Most people are able to do the “Just Make It Method” or a combination of both methods eventually, so do try it first and try it again periodically rather than concluding that you cannot do it right off the bat. There is one step in common to all methods, which is deciding the servitor's Function/Task/Program. For a non-brute-force method, after that you just make it (will be explained more). The brute force method described here (note, there are other methods) has two additional steps. When doing this brute force method, all three steps have the following equivalences to the process of making a tulpa:

1. Decide Servitor's Function/Task/Program. This is equivalent to the process of deciding a tulpa's initial personality and traits before making the tulpa.
2. Puppet/Run Servitor Manually. This is equivalent to the early forcing of a tulpa and puppetting/parroting them to help them learn things.
3. Make Servitor Run Without Puppetting. This is equivalent to the stage in making a tulpa where they can actually act and do things without being puppetted/parroted and the gradual growing of autonomy.

Forms

A servitor does not innately have to have a form. That said, many kinds of servitors do need a form in order for them to carry out their function (a clock servitor could, in most implementations, be a good example). More importantly, even for a servitor that does not require a form for its function, having a form can offer very powerful symbolism to help in their creation process and also make it easier to stop/terminate the servitor. In the brute force method of this guide, steps 2 and especially 3 can become a lot easier to do with the symbolism that a form gives. By giving it a form, you start to consider it more separate and independent from yourself, thereby accelerating its development to operating on its own without puppetting. A form is often necessary when making a servitor by a non-brute force method.

[All Methods] Step 1. Decide Servitor's Function/Task/Program

In the short answer of how to make a servitor “You make a servitor like a tulpa, but with more puppetting and not allowing it to deviate.”, this is the equivalent of deciding a tulpa's initial personality, form (optional), and traits.

In some ways, it goes without saying, you need to first figure out what functions and/or tasks you want your servitor to perform. But there is a catch. A servitor can only do those things that you or other members of your system (the other people living in your body) are capable of doing, though sometimes no one needs to know how to do them yet. So, if a servitor has those limitations, why bother making them. They provide automation. If the tasks are not fun things to do, a servitor will not complain where as a sentient being would. Also, one can make a servitor that does several things simultaneously that no one in the system is capable of doing simultaneously, even though those things can be done individually. Note, that in this case, the servitor generally has to be made with more limited functionality and then have more functionality added later.

Servitors can possess and eclipse (forms of cofronting/corunning), switch, be imposed (called projection in other communities), be vocal, communicate in thoughts, type, drive, dig through memory, help remember things, act as security software inside, and many many more things.

Then, you need to actually work out how to do these functions. If you are not doing the brute force method in this guide, you need to figure out how the servitor will do these things. Then, you need to figure out how you would do those functions and tasks manually yourself and develop the thought process required to do that. Remember, at its simplest, a servitor is a thought repeater.

One possible idea for making a servitor to follow certain instructions and be able to modify those instructions is to make a servitor that uses the symbolism of computer programming languages as is discussed in glitchthe3rd's Servitor Workshop It is not necessary, and may not even be desired, but some people have had success with it, so it is worth noting. The code is essentially thought processes for the servitor to do. Again, a servitor is a thought repeater.

Some examples of possible servitors are given below. This list is just the tip of the iceberg of what has been tried and what is possible.

• Alarm clock
• Typing servitor
• Memory display so more than one person inside can look at a memory together
• Wonderland error corrector (some people's wonderlands get errors in them that need correction)
• Autopilot for some task or another with the body (see Words of Warning because one needs to be careful here)
• Speech servitor (like the typing servitor but for speech so people inside wonderland can talk without possessing the voice or switching)
• Heads Up Displays (HUD)
• Specific memory rememberer

Ethical And Moral Considerations

Given that servitors and tulpas exist on a spectrum, certain ethical and moral issues come up. It is wrong to force another person (includes tulpas) do work for you merely because you don't want to do it. But it isn't wrong to make your computer do work for you (say, a calculation) that you don't want to do. A thoughtform that is all the way at the end of the servitor end of the spectrum is like the computer. But, as one gets away from that end of the spectrum closer and closer to the tulpa end, ethical and moral questions arise with making the thoughtform to do some task or another. What tasks and functions are wrong to expect a tulpa, host, or other sentient system-mate (most people are more familiar with the less generic term headmate) to do, but not a servi-tulpa who is closer to a tulpa? What tasks and functions are wrong to expect a servi-tulpa who is closer to a tulpa, but not a servi-tulpa who is closer a servitor? What tasks and functions are wrong to expect a servi-tulpa who is closer to a servitor, but not an all the way at the end servitor? For a given task or function, where on the spectrum must they be given a choice in whether they want to do it or not? If they can't choose or make an uninfluenced choice because they are too far towards the servitor end, what tasks and functions are ok to give and which ones are not? If the thoughtform moves around on the spectrum, as discussed in the “If They Develop Sentience And Become A Tulpa”, when do they need to be given a choice of whether to continue the task or function? To what level is it right or not to try to keep a servitor from sliding in the tulpa direction to prevent this conundrum?

How does this apply to groups of servitors, servi-tulpas, and/or tulpas functioning together as a group and thus have more sentience than they do individually?

There is some similarity here to the discussion of what types of medical testing are OK to do on cells, insects, fish, rats, apes, and humans.

An often given tip with servitors is to build in a kill switch to make them easier to stop. There are ethical and moral considerations here as well. For a completely non-sentient servitor, is it right to give the servitor a kill switch? For a tulpa, most people (including myself) would say it is wrong to give one. What about a servi-tulpa (I personally think it is wrong here too)? Also, servitors and servi-tulpas can move towards the tulpa end of the spectrum and become more sentient as discussed later in this guide. Given that an initially non-sentient servitor could one day become a tulpa, possibly on their own accord, is it right to build a kill switch into a servitor? I suggest reading about the topic of “tulpa dissipation” in the tulpamancy community and “killing headmates” in the wider plurality community for further reading on this theme.

[Just Make It Method] Step 2. Just Make The Servitor

If you have the ability to just imagine up things in your wonderland, you can imagine up the servitor and see if it just starts working.

If you don't have the ability to imagine up things in your wonderland, your servitor might be such that it can just be made from component parts like you would make a computer or an alarm clock from its components. Build the servitor and see if it just starts working.

If neither of these methods work or are possible, you have to go on to a brute force method to get them working. If they work just a bit, you might be able to tinker with them or use some of the brute force method techniques to get them working.

The idea in this method is that either your will that the servitor works is enough to get it going, or the rules of physics for your wonderland are ingrained enough that a servitor constructed from the right parts (assuming the servitor is of a type where this would even make sense) will work just like a machine in outerworld (the physical plane, place not in wonderland, sometimes called RL, etc.) would. This is why this method is more likely to work for those who have been plural for a long time, have had a wonderland for a long time, and/or have been making thoughtforms for a long time.

[Brute Force Method] Step 2. Puppet/Run Servitor Manually

In the short answer of how to make a servitor “You make a servitor like a tulpa, but with more puppetting and not allowing it to deviate.”, this is the puppetting stage.

With the thought processes that you developed that the servitor needs to do, start running them manually. The idea is to do it enough times that it becomes automatic, much like can learn to do things by muscle memory. You will have to do all the functions and tasks the servitor is supposed to do in the sequence (or with the algorithm) that you want the servitor to do them in. If it has a form, then you need to puppet its form too. It needs to be run a lot. You need to get to the point that you can run it very reliably without errors. If you deviate the way you run it, the changes will be incorporated into the servitor. This could take a long time, feel like a lot of work because it can be, feel really silly (why am I thinking the same thing over and over to myself) much like how parroting a tulpa feels like talking to yourself. As a general rule, the more complicated the servitor, the longer this will take.

Having a form to puppet can help make it feel less like you are just thinking the same thing over and over again to yourself, and can help with achieving the next step quicker due to symbolism.

[Brute Force Method] Step 3. Make Servitor Run Without Puppetting

In the short answer of how to make a servitor “You make a servitor like a tulpa, but with more puppetting and not allowing it to deviate.”, this is stage where it starts to operate without puppetting.

This is perhaps the hardest step, and paradoxically easy and difficult to explain. The servitor needs to start operating correctly when you turn off the puppetting, instead of stopping dead in its tracks or doing its functions and tasks incorrectly. This will be a gradual process. At first, it might stop quickly. Later, it will take a while to stop. Later, it might stop if you start thinking about something else or it will operate slowly or skip a step or something. There usually is not a sudden jump from it not being able to operate at all without puppetting to being completely autonomous and operating error free. This is just like how tulpas tend to develop sentience and independence gradually.

In the previous step, you were executing the thought processes required to do its functions and tasks. Now, those same thought processes must separate from you and run independently as opposed to stopping or malfunctioning. If the servitor has a form, it may not feel like this is what you are doing, but it essentially is this, but masked by the symbolism that the form brings in. If it is formless, you will be well aware that you are doing the thought processes and getting ever better at doing them accurately and automatically. This is exactly what has to separate from you. Those thought processes that are yours become the servitor which is then no longer you. It is in many ways akin to cell division in biology, but a very unequal division.

Now, it is possible that in doing step 2, of running it many times, it may be well on its way to separating from you naturally without you having to do anything. If it has a form, this is common and it just happens. But if it is not separating on its own or hasn't separated enough, that is when the process becomes difficult and you have to cause more separation to get it to the point where it will do the rest naturally. If you can, get good enough to run its thought processes manually well enough that you can do it while doing other activities. At that point, it is pretty close to separate and may do the rest itself.

If it still isn't separate and able to run on its own, you are going to have to push. You need to treat the servitor as if it is separate from you, even though it isn't yet. This is exactly why having a form can help so much. Since it has a form, it feels separate to you and it is easier to treat that way. This helps the same way as the ” treat a tulpa as sentient at the start” tip for making a tulpa does, though in the case of a tulpa it is more than just helpful – it is polite and respects them as people as they steadily fill those shoes without treating them as less than they are (better to treat them as more than less). If it was a formless servitor, giving it a form at this point could help. If it has a form already or you don't want to give it a form (or a form would hurt its functionality), you will have to resort to something else or just keep running it manually for a long time and let it happen automatically. Perhaps, build a mental wall between it and yourself. Never tried it, but it seems like it might work.

If you still can't get it to separate and run without puppetting, another thing you can do is make the servitor simpler by reducing its functionality and the tasks it performs. What you took away can be added back later.

Note that with formless servitors, after separation, you may have thought bleed, where you hear the thought processes of the servitor as it runs. It is running on its own, but you hear its thought processes. Because you separated it from yourself, it is reasonable that thought bleed could happen. It may fade with time, or you will have to do something to insulate the servitor from yourself.

Adding Functions And Tasks to An Existing Servitor

While still letting it just run with its existing functions and tasks, you do one of the servitor methods for the new functions and tasks you want the servitor to perform. The servitor is already operating and separate from you, so it should be easier generally to incorporate them into the servitor than make a servitor in the first place with those same exact functions and tasks. If you made the servitor by a brute force method, it is possible that you might now be able to use the “Just Make It Method” to augment it.

Stopping/Terminating A Servitor

There are several ways to stop a servitor. First, it/they may be sentient enough to be reasoned with and convinced to stop. The further the thoughtform is from the servitor end of the spectrum, the more likely this is doable. Just as the first approach to dealing with a tulpa or host one has problems with is to talk to them and try to reason with them, try to reason with the servitor or servi-tulpa first. You could also push it further down the spectrum towards being a tulpa as described in the next section to make this easier. If these methods don't work, more forcible methods are necessary. In the spirt of the “Just Make It Method” of making a servitor, the servitor might simply stop if you tell it to stop, try to imagine it stopping, etc. Given that you now have more experience with thoughtforms than you did when you made it, this will often work even if you had to make the servitor by a brute force method. After that, another method would be to take advantage of any stop condition in its programming if it has one and it still works (basically an expansion on the method of telling it to stop). If these don't work or aren't possible, the next thing to try is some form of symbolism. If you gave it one, you could activate/trigger a kill switch, which is a form of symbolism. If it does not have a kill switch but has a form, you can try what you would do to stop a physical machine (break, smash, etc.) or use any other abilities you can do in wonderland (e.g. disintegrate, remove from existence, etc.). Now, if it doesn't have a form or it is effectively immortal (you vaporize it and it rebuilds itself and resumes its function), it is much harder to destroy. You might try giving it a form and then destroy it.

In the unlikely event that none of the previous methods worked, one very reliable way to stop and terminate a servitor, which works regardless of whether it has a form or not, is to absorb it. That is basically merging with it, but since you have sentience and it does not, it is highly asymmetric making it more an absorption. Merging/absorption generally requires symbolism to be even remotely easy to accomplish. A simple form is to simply pull the servitor's form into your own form/wonderland body. If it doesn't have a form, you could try to pull its essence (whatever that is) out of nowhere and coalesce it in your wonderland and then pull that into your form. The stronger and more advanced the servitor, the harder it will be to absorb. Also, for a very strong servitor, who you are after the absorption might change a bit. I used to be an integrated multiple, meaning that I was merged with my system-mate, and while I was dominant, our combination was notably different than me. With a servitor, the change should be much much smaller.

If it does not have a kill switch or a physical form that can be destroyed without it getting back up and resuming what it was doing, you could be in real trouble if you need to stop or destroy the servitor. For some people, absorption is easy, but for others, it is nearly impossible. Note that different people living in the same body may have differing abilities to absorb a servitor, so if you have system-mates but you can't absorb the servitor, they might be able to. If you want more information on this topic, I would suggest you read about it in the multiple community where it is called integration, fusion, and merging depending where.

If They Develop Sentience And Become A Tulpa

What does a servitor become if it does gain sentience? They become a tulpa. Basically, they slide along the spectrum from servitor to tulpa. If a servitor does this, they become their own person, and should be treated as such from that point on, as you would any other sentient being.

Some people have reported that the servitors they make can gain sentience on their own and become tulpas. Others have only had this happen with very advanced servitors. Others haven't had it happen even with very advanced servitors. It varies considerably, and also depends on your expectation to some extent. If you expect your servitors to gain sentience on their own, they are considerably more likely to do so. If you don't expect them to do so, they might still but are less likely, or might hide it. You shouldn't presume that they will become sentient tulpas, or that they would not.

Time for a bit of a philosophical interlude. There is no reason to think there is a brain constraint keeping servitors from gaining sentience. So, an open question is what predispositions servitors might have towards becoming tulpas. One could imagine that if a servitor's function and/or efficiency would be improved by moving along the spectrum towards tulpa, they might. Or they might not. Is it like the android or robot in futuristic movies who does tasks over and over again without emotions and steadily adapts to their situation till they want to find meaning in their life, explore themselves, and grow? Or is it it like that in only some cases? And even if there is a predisposition towards becoming sentient, the timescale could be so long as to be irrelevant.

As an anecdote, I have had none of my servitors, even the advanced ones that were really hard to destroy, break free of their programming, gain sentience, and become tulpas.

Of course, one can deliberately turn servitors into tulpas or otherwise move them towards the tulpa end of the spectrum. This can be done by doing personality forcing on the servitor until they become a tulpa or gradually pushing a servitor beyond its functionality and force them to grow, much like how you get a tulpa to grow beyond what they were originally assigned to be. Watchdog 1 gave a good description of the latter.

Words of Warning

Servitors can be healthy compliments to your life, conveniences, curiosities, or dangerous. And when I say dangerous, they can be really dangerous. They are automatons that blindly follow their functions and tasks, regardless of the consequences and whether it is wise to do so or not. Unlike asking another sentient being to do something, a servitor will not question the instructions you gave it and will follow them to the very end.

Think very carefully about servitors that can write and/or modify memories, possess (type of co-fronting), switch, modify thoughts of other members of the system (group of beings living in the same body), are formless, don't have a kill switch, etc. Safe servitors can certainly be made with these abilities or attributes, but one does have to be more careful when making such servitors because there is the potential for damage.

I say this from experience, being that all of the most advanced servitors I ever worked on were unhealthy, harmful, or outright dangerous. I am giving this warning as a fool who could have used the warning myself. They had no kill switches and were all formless, making them very hard to stop. The one that did the most damage took two whole weeks to stop, and in its 1.5 months of operation, it had scrambled up my memory pretty badly (that was part of its functionality, actually, which was really foolish), caused considerable emotional confusion, etc. I only just recently figured out how to terminate my emotion dampeners I made 10 years ago. I lost 10 years of having my full emotional capacity due to my stupidity long ago. Thankfully, I never completed the most dangerous servitor idea I ever had. I can have dark thoughts, so I was afraid that I was a dangerous person and began working on a servitor that would, among other preventions, take control of the body and commit bodily suicide if my thoughts got too dark. Rather than actually working on my dark thoughts and realizing that thoughts do not imply action, I tried to make a servitor that could actually KILL me. I go into a little more detail about my dangerous servitors in this post.

There is also the possibility of excessive escapism in the case of servitors that can control the body. Is it healthy to have all of life's unpleasant tasks handled by servitors?

Now, most servitors that people make are safe. I am the exception rather than the rule. So be careful, but remember there is no need to be paranoid.

Coming Full Circle

Now you have the long answer to the often given short answer “a servitor is like a tulpa but with no sentience and they are made like a tulpa, but with more puppetting so that it does not deviate.” of how to make a servitor. The world of servitors is very large, with many types of servitors not yet attempted. Be creative, be safe, explore new ground, and have fun.

References

1. Tulpa.io Terminologies. Terminologies. Tulpa.io
2. Tulpa.info Wiki. Official Glossary. Tulpa.info.
3. Astraea System. Glossary. Astraea's Web. Multiplicity >> Glossary.
4. Okibi. The Daemon Page.
5. Falah. States of the Unconscious.
6. Kevin. Re: Possession: Different Methods?. Tulpa.info Forum. Tulpas >> Questions and Answers.
7. Wolfram Alpha LLC. Wolfram|Alpha.
8. Neguilla. Re: If you have a servitor, what do you use (pronoun) for?. Reddit. /r/Tulpas.
9. glitchthe3rd. glitchthe3rd's Servitor Workshop. Tulpa.info Forum. Guides >> Submissions.
10. Watchdog 1. Re: Tulpas Intentionally made from servitors. Tulpa.info Forum. Tulpas >> General Discussion.
11. Hail Fall. Re: Goodbye Koomer and Oguigi. Tulpa.info Forum. Community >> Lounge.

Disclaimer Time

Before reading this document through and through, please remember that this is based mainly on my experience, with input from others and information gained over the past few years. This is by no means a perfect guide, nor is it intended to be the end-all-be-all of guides. This guide may be edited in the future based on new information and experiences gleaned over time, as well as added to by others.

On The Impressions Of Others

Whatever the reason, be it paranoia or lack of self-confidence or self-knowledge, there is a prevalent need not to sound fake. This is not a need that one encounters early on – the first experiences are always new and fresh and exciting! More often than not, however, one eventually enters a community that relates to their set of experiences – be it tulpamancy, or plurality, or otherkin. Encountering others places restrictions on us. We begin to respect at least some of our peers; respect forms a sense of bonding, and we do not want to betray that bond by being...different. By being fake.

Whatever the reason, and whatever the cause, we become desperate to fit in. We certainly do not fit in with ‘most people’, so we want to remain accepted by what sense of community we’ve found. In feeling this way and forming such a bond with a group of people, we become severely limited.

In my case, I have past lives to explore, masks to create – yet despite being a median system through various causes, I have hesitated to explore this sense of neurodiversity. Even among the people I trust most to know I am not being ‘fake’, I still worry and wonder. Perhaps that is simply my sense of paranoia – however, I do know that others have experienced such a sense before. So we need to create a space that is ‘safe’ for us to explore.

Personal Truth – A Sense Of Self

Before we begin to explore whatever we are wanting to explore, we need an anchor. Even though we are not exploring for the sake of others, having something to keep us partially rooted allows us to bring us back to ourselves. Perhaps especially important for median systems and some otherkin is an ability to bring ourselves back to the person that we are presently despite the masks or selves we wear or become. It is worth noting that this ‘anchor’ may or may not also help validate with the experiences with others,

This sense of self, this ‘personal truth’, can consist of a few things. It is likely going to be intangible, but it could be a personal possession as well. Here are some thoughts of mine:

• Your name. The name that you choose to call yourself, regardless of legal name or not, can be your strongest self-identifier.

• Your form. What you represent yourself as, not only holds a part of you, but also ideals derived from the form itself. Human, pony, whatever have you – everything has positive and negative traits that also help to define you.

• A strong memory. A memory of you being you in the now, in your current life – something strong. For me, memories of my time with my late mother, as well as my mate, form a good package of memories that help remind me of who I am if I start to get lost in exploration or depression.

• A personal belonging. The crystal that feels like it’s yours, the watch that reminds you not of the present time, but your past as well. Items and objects of sentimental value.

• Someone meaningful to you. Your mother, your best friend, a tulpa, a system-mate. These people can often remind you of who you are, just by interacting with them.

A Safe Space – Or, The Black Box

With a personal anchor in hand or mind, you can assure yourself that you won’t get lost in space~

Jokes (and references) aside, it’s time to make your safe space. This isn’t literal...those who know me know I like to spend a lot of time dwelling in metaphors and imagery. You might not have a dedicated space for whatever you do, especially if you don’t do a lot of #metaphysics work, so any place where you can sit and be comfortable is appropriate.

To create a safe space, we will set an intent. This is to remind ourselves and let our brains/subconsciouses/spirit-guides/etc know what we are doing, and to leave us alone or help us in our endeavour. The following is an intent I have written that feels good to me, but you can re-write it or create your own as well:

I set this space with intent to explore myself without outside influence.

That’s it. Really. That’s as simple as it gets.

~

The whole plan goes as follows:

• Sit, lay, or generally be-comfortable in a space where you are least distracted.

• Take a few deep breathes.

• Speak to yourself either verbally or in your mind, the intent that you wish to set. In this case, to create a safe place to explore and be you.

• Explore. Force tulpas. Examine yourself. Do what you need to do. This part is all on you.

• Do whatever you do when you are done exploring/meditating/etc.

• If you feel lost in the wind afterwards, bring your anchor to mind, or interact with it/them if it is a belonging or individual. Take a few more breathes, and remember who you are in the moment.

This is a process I have been taking up recently, especially setting an intent when I meditate and relax. If nothing else, I can also make the period before bed a good time to set a safe space and explore and learn. The intent simply helps my mind focus on what I desire to accomplish. Hopefully, this process helps you too.