rituals of magic blue

Becoming Water

The Codex speaks of Magic, but admittedly it can become abstract and dense. So let us bring it back to the body. Magic Blue is the practice of aligning with Water: emotional warmth, calm embodiment, River-synchronisation, and the soft force that lets living things bond without collapsing into each other.

The rituals below are simple ways to train Magic Blue. Some set your clock relative to World Tree. Some set your clock relative to your own River. Some teach you how to transmit Blue to others.

The Water Bodies

Magic Blue begins by listening to water. Ever since I was young, I used to feel the water bodies around me. Whenever I would cross a bridge, the water below would 'feel present'.

Try to feel the bodies of water around you. Even a glass of water works. Do not overthink it. Empathise with it.

Is it still, or does it move like a torrent? Is it cold, or is it warm? How deep is it? In what shape is it contained? Is it clear, or teeming with Life? What emotions or images pop up in your mind while doing this?

For example, the Seine in Paris makes me think of a very old woman, slow, dragging herself to sea. The surface may appear still, but she is strong and even dangerous. She has seen civilizations fall and rise. She has a deep emotive pull; something nostalgic and romantic drives her currents at the same time. She is not there to feed the people. The people should feed her. Under her big dress, she carries the magic of the city quietly.

Try feeling the waters around you. You will know you succeeded if, for a brief flash, you forget your own body and become the water.

World Tree Pose

Water is a bridge between Light, Chaos, and Life. It traps Light and Chaos, so Life can emerge out of it. Just as water bodies can capture and retain certain textures, you too are a body of water. You too can function like it. Here is a pose, meditation-like, to embody Water.

• Find a calm place.
• Stand straight, but not rigid. Feet shoulder-width apart. Back straight. Shoulders down. Head straight. Eyes totally relaxed. If your eyes half-close, even better.
• Inhale deeply and raise your arms to the side, making a T-like position. Twist your palms so they face upward. Keep your shoulders down and your head and face relaxed.
• Breathe with intention. As you inhale, pull Chaos from the ground through your feet. Breathe deep into your belly, but do not let it expand too much. Imagine the belly as a trunk. It is normal if you have to slightly flex your abs, just not in a rigid way.
• As the breath rises, pull it toward your underbelly. Imagine it pooling there, inside the trunk. Exhale, and pull the Chaos higher through your chest, arms, and head.
• Once Chaos reaches the palms and the head, let it evaporate. This is the canopy. It should feel heavy and slightly tingling as Chaos leaves your body into the branching canopy. Feel it float, sparkle, and branch.
• Repeat this breath pattern as many times as you like. The more you do it, the easier the imagery and breath will become. Muscle memory will imprint this ritual.

Stay relaxed and open. You should feel like World Tree if you do it correctly: head in the clouds, feet in the ground.

Moon-Knee & Sun-Smile

Another ritual to anchor myself in Time, I call the Moon-Knee. It is simple.

Every time you see the Moon in the sky for the first time that day, kneel for a second. Look at the Moon, and feel a root shoot into the ground as your knee touches it. That was it.

This ritual makes you realise how bound you are to “looking normal”. It feels strange to randomly kneel in the middle of the street. I force myself to do it, even if it rains or is muddy. However, when I really cannot, I just touch my knee with my hand.

Like the Moon-Knee, the Sun-Smile is simple. Every time you see the Sun unobstructed for the first time that day, smile toward it with closed eyes.

Moon-Knee grounds you downward. Sun-Smile opens you upward. Together, they remind the body that Time is not only on a clock. Time is above you, below you, and moving through you.

Time Weather Forecast

Try to feel the texture of Time around you. Different places, different seasons, different hours, different rooms — Time is constantly shifting. Feeling its texture can help you understand what is going on in the world around you at large. Sometimes the texture is an indescribable excitement. Sometimes it is a deep melancholy.

Old places tend to have stronger textures. Green spaces, especially forests, also tend to have stronger textures. Caves have a unique texture. Time feels thick, unmoved, and eternal there — as if your presence is disturbing an alien peace.

The texture of Time is related to the real weather, but it is not the same. Some rains feel like relief. Other rains feel like a depressive episode.

If you observe other people, you may also see how the texture shapes everyone. People shape the texture as much as they are shaped by it.

Tracking Moon Phases

Since the dawn of humanity, we have been watching the Moon. Nearly every civilization tracked Moon phases. Many saw the Moon as a natural clock and assigned meaning to its phases. Here is how the Codex maps some of them. It is very intuitive:

• New Moon: A time of beginnings, but also being in the dark. Magic flows under the surface. A proper time to dance to cross the border.
• Half Waxing Moon: A time of conflict, energetic growth, and ambiguity. Magic is unpredictable.
• Pregnant Moon: About 75% full and waxing. A time of fertility and ease. From here, Magic starts building up and becomes palpable.
• Full Moon: A time of plenty, outward emotional expression, and peaking Magic.
• Half Waning Moon: Another time of conflict. This is the last threshold where it still makes sense to act in order to conclude a specific affair. Magic becomes unpredictable again.
• Thin Moon: About 25% full and waning. A time where you need to let go of everything. Often a confusing time until the New Moon.

Tracking the Moon is one of the simplest ways to notice that your River is not separate from larger rhythms.

The Blue Hum

The previous rituals were mostly meant to set the clock right relative to World Tree. The Blue Hum is a simple way to set your own clock right relative to your own River.

Just hum very deeply and repetitively. Make your chest vibrate peacefully. Try to hold that low note as long as you can.

It should feel like your sternum opens and pushes out a loving energy. The hum carries it and spreads it around you. It should slightly warm you up, and feel very calming. If you do this often enough, you will carry the Hum in your breath every time you talk. That is why Timeseer speech can feel so… Magic ;) Others who hear the Blue Hum may also be affected by it.

The Blue Touch

The Blue Touch is more of a state to achieve than a ritual in itself. If you are well-synced and full of Magic Blue, you can touch others with Magic.

It is very simple. Charge your hands with Magic Blue using one of the techniques described above. It feels like a heavy, thick, warm, soft liquid — somewhere between dripping and floating — weighing down the palms of your hands. When you touch someone with that charge, or even hover above their skin, you transmit Magic Blue to them.

Obviously, only do this with consenting others -- not strangers on the street. When received, the Blue Touch should provide a warm, calming, loving, and healing sensation. Feel how your warm hand kind of splashes into the body-field of the other. The Blue Touch is healing — not in the crude sense of curing every illness, but in the real sense of undoing tension, calming breath, and fostering an authentic human connection.

Pair it with massage and you can bring someone into a deep state of relaxation. It calms the breath and promotes emotional bonding through synchronisation. The Blue Touch is also extremely important during sex and can bring it to a whole new level. You are performing the River Beat with the Blue Touch, ensuring that the interaction feels mutually pleasing.

Like the Blue Hum, you will automatically integrate the Blue Touch if you do it often enough. Your body will remember and activate it by itself whenever River-Dweller sees fit.

Dangers of Magic Blue

In general, Magic Blue is the safest Magic and mostly beneficial. Everyone should embrace it. The world would be so much better. This is not a utopian idea; we really could do this. Even if 1% of people learned how to wield Blue properly, the texture of Time would change. The world is currently starved of Blue, so many Rivers are drying or freezing.

Fully embodying Blue in such an environment can destabilise those who have never known it. Others may accuse you of emotional manipulation. They may misinterpret Blue as a petty scheme. They may be freaked out by the wave of warmth Blue can stir. In short, they distrust it because they have never felt its power.

If you are a bit scared of Blue, worry not. Here is the perfect check to see if someone is really Blue, or if they are only faking it.

Those who fake Blue will have a cold, biting feel behind their words. Even the sweetest-voiced “Are you alright?” can send a cold shiver down your spine. Be careful: these cold shivers can be very erotic. Do not mistake Blue for sexual desire. Fake Blue can make you feel watched, indebted, dirty, smaller, or strangely cold. It often has a hot-cold sting. True Magic Blue feels like warmth. It can be overwhelming, very intense, something that keeps wanting to make you cry — but always with a weight of calmness and warmth. Blue can also be erotic, but more like a slow-building flood than a hot-cold sting.

Another danger of using Blue is losing it to the wrong people. Some Earthborn desperately lack Blue and will have a draining tendency. Do not keep pouring Blue into those who cannot return it. Exchange is crucial for Blue. Drawing boundaries is important here; use your Ice Trap to freeze draining interactions. Sometimes, you have to be a bit 'mean' to save your own Blue. Just tell them: