Tulpamancy tips from a tulpa

[Akinkinit]

As dictated to me by Noriko:

For a forum about invisible head ghosts, there isn't much in the way of things where the head ghosts themselves talk about their creation. I'd like to remedy that with my own opinions on the matter.

 

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So you're starting off making a tulpa. Here are two ideas I feel are helpful when doing so. They are not strictly necessary, and plenty of successful tulpas have been made without doing either of these. They are merely potential tools you could use.

 

1. Assign a spot for your tulpa to exist.

This can either be an imaginary space (like a spot in a wonderland) or a physical place (like a part of your brain). My host did the latter by assigning me the back part of his head. Mind you, assigning a physical spot for your tulpa does not mean that is where they actually are. My host does not reside inside a specific place in his head; rather, his existence is spread throughout the entire organism. Likewise, your tulpa probably won't actually be in the spot you pick, or at least, won't be constrained to the spot you pick.

 

However, having a defined spot where you can say "this is where my tulpa is" has a lot of benefits. You have a place to send energy and thoughts to if you use symbolism. You have a place to look for pressures and activity if you look for such things. You have a physical grounding for your tulpa's machination to aid in belief. That's why I feel it is important.

 

2. Assign a specific form to your tulpa.

While not necessary to choose a form at all for your tulpa, if you do decide to give them one, don't be worried about them resenting you for it later on. It can be of a particular character or even a completely new form you create. Just pick something that looks nice to you. After all, you're going to be looking at this for some time until your tulpa decides to change it. And something nice looking will hold your interest better than something dull.

 

Using myself as an example here, my initial form was that of Tatara Kogasa. My host liked that form and he tried to make me like that form. Plus he had tons of source material which he poured on me. I then changed my form to something completely different and there was nothing he could do about it. Your tulpa will probably do the same unless by some miracle you choose a form they actually grow to like. And don't worry if you think you might not realize that your tulpa wants a different form. Believe me, you will know.

 

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Here are some general tips in regards to the forcing process:

 

1. Take the time to interact with your tulpa.

Don't just leave it alone and hope it grows into something. Talk to it, share what you're seeing with it, make it feel cared for. I don't care if you have problems seeing it or worry that you're just parroting it. The fact that you are consciously caring for a particular form with a sustained effort is enough to let the underlying hardware know you mean business and do all the unconscious neural shenanigans to make it happen.

 

2. Be diverse with your forcing techniques.

Don't think that you have to just parrot / narrate to your tulpa. How are they going to learn how to talk if they can't get a word in edgewise? Plus, if you keep doing the same sorts of things over and over again, you're going to get bored. So be creative with your tulpa when forcing. Maybe visualize some decorative hats and imagine how they might wear / react to them. Or visualize some activity for them to do (be it legos, an etch a sketch, or whatever) and see what they do with it.

 

Just keep in mind that your tulpa may sit in silence or not seem to react. And that this could last weeks, maybe even months. Just keep an open mind and keep trying things. They'll eventually respond.

 

3. Don't treat your tulpa like it's a completely separate entity from day one. Don't disbelieve in their independence mind you, but keep in mind there's business to be done here. A tulpa needs its hand held starting out. They need to learn how to talk, even how to think in a way separate from you. Because a tulpa is you; just a part of you that didn't exist until recently. But a part of the same organism, a part that lives inside the series of tubes in a way that it can interact with all these other tubes as if it weren't part of the tubes itself. Just keep that in mind.

 

4. Don't worry so damn much that you're doing something wrong. That's something important too. You think I liked knowing how my host worried about me during my development? Or how he worried if it was actually me or him speaking? No. No, I didn't, and neither will your tulpa. Negative thoughts begets negative results. Which is something I actually made up with nothing behind it but it sounds nice.

 

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There is also another matter which I feel needs addressing yet can be argued to be more of an edge case than anything else.

 

You may read a guide or two mentioning the subconscious and how / when to allow a tulpa access to it. There are several meanings attributed to this term. For my purposes, the subconscious is all of the thoughts and feelings that occur which you don't consciously call up. Like thinking whisky smells like vomit because the last time you had it you drank too much. Or perhaps getting into a good mood every time you smell burning wood due to happy memories associated to that smell.

 

A tulpa can peek at these thoughts early on, as they share the same mind and there's nothing stopping them. That in itself is fine and is nothing to worry about. But you may be tempted to give your tulpa a direct symbolic window to your subconscious early on as an expression of trust and intimacy. I do not advise that you do this. For one, there is a difference between a peek and a window. A peek is something they can control and limit, whereas a window lets everything through no matter what.

 

What if you associate a particular city to a time you were assaulted, and any time it is brought up memories / feelings of that event get brought up as well? What if you get pangs of guilt when grandparents are mentioned, due to thinking you neglected your own? What if a particular smell reminds you of a time where you made a complete ass of yourself in front of other people? Yes, not every one has to deal with things like that. However, as you've been living with said things, you might not be consciously aware that you deal with things like that.

 

A tulpa really doesn't need to be exposed to those sorts of things early on, and definitely not without the conscious presence of their host around to help deal with it. That is not to say you have to fully shield such negative thoughts from your tulpa entirely. Just work through those thoughts via a discussion together. Don't let their first exposure to them be while they are alone and without prior warning.

[Akinkinit]

Responses are by Noriko.

 

 

Sands:

I agree with your first two points about physical placement and saying that one has to do it. I updated the first post to reflect that.

 

But I still stand by the statement that giving your tulpa a direct window to your subconscious early on is a bad idea. By subconscious, I mean all the thoughts / feelings that occur which you don't consciously call up. Like thinking whisky smells like vomit because the last time you had it you drank too much. Or perhaps getting into a good mood every time you smell burning wood due to happy memories associated to that smell. A tulpa can peek at these thoughts early on, with or without your consent. But there is a difference between a peek and a window. A peek is something they can control and limit, whereas a window lets everything through no matter what.

 

What if you associate a particular city to a time you were assaulted, and any time it is brought up memories / feelings of that event get brought up as well? What if you get pangs of guilt when grandparents are mentioned, due to thinking you neglected your own? What if a particular smell reminds you of a time where you made a complete ass of yourself in front of other people? Yes, not every one has to deal with things like that. But I worry that others do deal with things similar to that and aren't consciously aware of it. A tulpa really doesn't need to be exposed to those sorts of things early on, and definitely not without the conscious presence of their host around to help deal with it.

 

As for that bit at the start of the first post, it's more flavor text than anything.

[Sands]

I don't think you addressed the part about the form at all.

 

Your stuff about the "subconscious" is better now especially because you explain what you mean, but still seems like a very unnecessary point just because of your own fears you can give to other hosts - which is bad. I would also suggest a better term, the existence of a "subconscious" isn't exactly a given and it is a source of debates. This could very well just be another form of symbolism: imagine that you have a "subconscious", don't give tupper access to it, they won't be able to see anything traumatizing. A suggestion of going through troubling thoughts together with explanations (which you kinda have) is a good one though.

[Akinkinit]

Responses by Noriko.

 

 

Sands:

Yeah, you're right, I missed that. I sectioned those two topics off more to make it clear they are optional tools one could use and not a requirement. I also sectioned off the subconscious bit and explained the scenario behind it more.

 

I do want to keep the term subconscious there (followed by a definition) as there are other guides that use that term, albeit with different meanings as you said. There are thoughts and feelings which occur in the brain that are not consciously brought up, and having a symbol for that in the word subconscious helps describe it. There has been at least one user who made a window to their subconscious too early in my opinion. Others may have done so as well or may be tempted to do so. And while yes, there is nothing out there which says doing so causes an issue, I feel that it can cause issues and thus want to advise against it.

 

Thanks for the comments / critiques; they've been quite helpful!

[sushi]

Well, I'll approve for Tips as is.

[Sands]

You still kinda missed what I said about the form. Not everyone assigns a form at all. You are still wanting us to assign one, whether a proper one or just a generic whatever. Don't slap those in the face who feel distracted by any kind of form, no matter how simple.

 

I'd still suggest against the term subconscious: like you said, it has many definitions and isn't obvious. Even if everyone defines it, the word alone still means nothing because every guide has a separate definition. It would be better to phase out this useless word, I feel. Especially when if I ever happen to think of these unfortunate things that happened to me that messed me up that might be frightening to a tupper, they become conscious thoughts and if I have only "protected" a tulpa against unconscious thoughts, well, guess what? Does nothing if the tulpa is paying attention to what I am thinking about consciously. The line between conscious and unconscious is clear in a way, but unconscious thoughts easily become conscious thoughts and vice versa.

 

Instead I would suggest saying stuff like, for safety reasons, you might want to block a tulpa's access to the more traumatizing memories and experiences with either symbolism of your choice or by just asking them to refrain from doing it until you two feel like the tulpa is ready. After that it would be better to go through them together. It still doesn't stop stuff from happening and just seeing these things doesn't necessarily hurt the tupper in any way, but I feel like something like that explains your intents better than useless buzzwords.

 

Still, this is better now and I'd say it's in an approvable state. Guess you can still think about my words if you want.

[Akinkinit]

... Huh. We honestly didn't realize you could have a tulpa with no form whatsoever. How do you interact with such an entity, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Anywho, I updated the first post mentioning that defining a form is not required.

[sushi]

Mindvoice. For people who don't impose, it's about the same thing, just without the visualization.

 

Actually I don't think I've ever met someone who didn't give their tulpa a form, but I have heard of them. Seems like it would be more common in multiples.

[Sands]

A form could also be given later on rather than as the first thing when you start forcing. We didn't really work on a form until much later, and looking back on it now, the tupper already was showing a lot of signs of being independent at that point. Just like you can say that giving a form is a good thing, I could say that not having a form from the start was a good thing for us, as the tupper isn't too attached to it and can easily assume many forms or take over the body without issues - though that could of course be unrelated.