We're in a period of our lives right now where our daemon isn't talking as much, isn't present as much. She's still there, but further back. So we take a moment today to express that... these moments are okay and normal to have.
People who don't have a daemon aren't expected to be connected with their inner selves all of the time. People who aren't daemons aren't expected to be aware of themselves and project themselves into the world and provide and inner dialogue 100% of the time.
If you are like us right now, in a time when your daemon isn't as present as they used to. You're okay. You're fine.
Perhaps other interesting things are capturing your attention, like a new hobby or series. Perhaps you're more tired than usual. Perhaps a situation at work or school or in your family or in your country is taking all of your mental energy. Perhaps other aspects of your inner self require more attention right now. Perhaps you don't really have an explanation as to why. You're not a bad daemian. You're not a bad daemon. It's okay to feel sad or miss each other. We miss each other. Sometimes we yearn for a world like Lyra's where we could see, hear and hold each other without needing any brain power.
In case you want a few ideas of small things you can do in these times that don't require too much effort, here are a few things you can try:
Say good morning when you wake up, and good night before bed
Try to do projection for just a moment, like taking a picture, but don't strain to maintain it and don't aim for details
Have an image, small figurine or item that reminds you of your daemon and place it somewhere you will see it regularly
Say a little something to your daemon from time to time without expecting a response or a conversation to come out of it
Sending warm thoughts to any other daemians and daemons who are going through a similar time.
Tried to write out my thoughts again about how a daemon can be us and their own person.
Daemons have existed as long as ourselves but typically will have been lacking separation and personification. This can lead to a daemon behaving very similar to ourselves when first bringing them to the surface. They may latch on and reflect certain internal monologues, like intrusive thoughts, or reflect our internal processing as a whole rather than a part. But from what I have seen with daemons they seem to latch on to the strongest feelings you have at first. If these feelings are negative then if your daemon is to move past such things you need to work on moving past those thoughts as well. Once you do that your daemon will be able to develop more into their own personality.
If people are already keenly aware of themselves and have developed and encouraged self-talk a daemon may come forward already very different than their person. This divide has been built up unintentionally, and why it seems like a daemon is their own person from the start. While on the opposite end daemon who had little subconscious building will be almost exactly you with very small differences. This may vary of course as everyone’s thought process is different; this is just an example.
So now let us look at what makes a daemon both us and them at the same time. Our daemons are an integral part of our thought process. Whether you notice it or not. They come from your brain, your personality, your history, your health. They cannot exist without you and you cannot without them. Can you exist without knowing your daemon? Of course. They would just keep doing your thing like your heart keeps doing its things. They would continue to just be another key part of your conscious thought and reasoning. They are there. Because they are you.
Have you heard of the split-brain theory? Where it is possible to disconnect the left and right side’s processing from each other? They have found in people who have this happen that each side can actually have their own wants and can argue over what they want to do, even if only one side is capable of speech. Prior to this split they were one unified person. Both “Bob” let's say. Bob was this whole unit up until the sides split. Now these two parts of Bob are able to act independently but they are still Bob.
Daemons are similar. When we reach out to a daemon, we are bringing them to the surface of our conscious. They are getting a unique identity of their own but under that they are still us. They get to learn their own likes, dislikes, drives, hobbies, etc. They can become extremely different from their person. But not matter how much they develop into their own selves they still function the same. They are still that integral part if your conscious thought and reasoning. That hasn’t changed because you are both one in the same. Just like the left and right side of the brain.
My daemon’s personalities are exaggerations of different thought patterns I have. They amplify parts of myself. They have this sort of “key” type that they have grown around. Tess is my energy. That is what she can narrow herself down to if she so chooses. But she still became her own person outside of that.
Now as for free will I have seen some daemons who feel they lack it. But I think most daemons don’t look at their life in such a black and white way. I also think it depends on how you treat yourself and your daemon. My daemons have free will, they can do and say what they want. Be who they want. But they choose to make me their center of attention. They choose to live their life revolving around me. They choose to do what is best for me. I think this is all because they recognize they are me. We are one. They are part of what keeps me alive and in turn them alive. I know plurality can add a lot more complex factor to this. But speaking as myself my daemons would not exist without me. It would be like a feather molted off a bird. It's still a feather but everything that the feather lived for, its function, its identity in the larger scheme of things is gone. It's just there... incapable of much else. There is no longer a purpose other than to look pretty or be used how others feel would be most useful. A tool for someone else. This is of course how my daemons look at such a life, it’s a messy comparison but it’s a comparison that resonates with them. Others may feel different.
Free will, existence, purpose... that's a SUPER heavy subject and not exactly something that is easily agreed on. I would say that all depends on what you and your own daemons feel about it. What conclusion you feel is more accurate to your experience, morals, or ideals.
Also we do tend to get a bit philosophical in our explanations. Discussions of the self get tricky and as long as the self is tricky so are daemons. When I say daemons are "us" and "you" I mean the "self". Everything that comes together to make the identity and personality we have. My daemons are part of what makes up the self. But I am not my daemons. Like I am not my ADD. I am not my emotions. The self is the "whole" you. It is the entirety of everything coming together. However I acknowledge that without them I would not exist as me. So I like to say I am my daemons for the simple fact that I owe them my existence. Way for me to be contradicting right? But it makes sense to us.
Most of the daemon imagines posted on Tumblr.com are too wholesome. To paraphrase George Carlin, “one of the things I really like to do in my life is complain,” so I’ve come up with some that are more accurate to the Salty Bastard Experience.
Imagine you and your daemon swearing at other drivers together.
Imagine the suffering of everyone else in the car, because there are two of you.
Imagine your daemon watching while you play video games and making fun of you every time you die.
Imagine writing a “strongly worded” email to a coworker, landlord, etc. and your daemon looking over your shoulder and giving you advice on how to make it more subtle, or more polite… or more blatantly passive-aggressive.
Imagine your daemon baring their teeth and snarling at people who try to make small talk on public transportation.
Imagine un-settled daemons intentionally turning into the largest form they can to strategically blockade the entire couch from their siblings.
Imagine your daemon actively encouraging you to turn on the sprinklers when the neighbors’ kids are in your front yard again.
Imagine instead of getting the children of people you hate a recorder or a kazoo as a present, getting them an “educational” picture book about extremely loud animals like the White Bellbird, because their daemons will definitely try out those forms.
Imagine a man and his Great Pyrenees dæmon sitting on the floor of their bathroom after a bath. The man is carefully blow-drying his dæmon's neck fur with one hand, and picking through the knots of her fur with a comb in the other. With so much fur, this grooming session will take a while, but neither the man nor his dæmon mind.
Imagine a girl leaving the window to her apartment open on a warm, rainy day so her Amazonian tree toad can sit on the sill, soaking the raindrops into his skin. The girl is reading a long book that keeps dropping her into a doze. The two aren't speaking but contentedness swells between them. Far from the distance, a rumble of thunder creeps in to say hello.
Imagine a magpie dæmon covered in pollen from the sudden influx of spring. Their person gently rubs them down with a damp cloth, separating each feather for cleaning. The magpie is perfectly capable of preening themself, but they don't want the taste of pollen in their beak for the next few hours. Usually it's easy for bird dæmons to avoid getting dirty, but the days are getting hotter and the magpie has been increasingly less inclined to fly, so they were riding on their human's shoulder when they ran into a tree. Karma? Perhaps.
Imagine a mule dæmon getting its hoof picked. "It's fine, you just have a a bit of gravel that's stuck," says the man, with his dæmon's hoof in his hands. His dæmon just huffs and tosses their head, annoyed they aren't being spoiled a bit more in such a time of distress.
Imagine a child with a dæmon that's stuck as a gosling. They aren't settled yet— they can still change shape if they focus hard enough— but sometimes, as their mother told them, people just need their dæmons to look and act a certain way for a little bit, until they feel ready to move on. Every day, the child makes certain to fill up the bathtub so their dæmon can swim for a while, ducking their downy head underwater and bobbing back up like a cork. Usually swim time devolves into splash fights; their mother has resigned herself to toweling up water for the next few weeks.
Imagine a woman herding her ewe dæmon out into the backyard, shears in hand. Lots of people don't realize that sheep dæmons need to be sheared. "What, do they think wool grows in backwards?" The ewe grumps, and the woman just shakes her head. "Make sure not to cut too close," the ewe adds, as if the woman ever does; this has been their routine for almost twenty years.
Imagine a teenage boy's hermit crab dæmon molting her exoskeleton for the first time. Both of them are more than a little alarmed. It feels strange, she tells the boy, being so soft and vulnerable, hardly able to move until her exoskeleton hardens up. The boy keeps fiddling with the different shells they'd picked out earlier from the supply store. He hopes she picks the one that's been painted black and gold.
These pictures are so beautifully painted. Reminds me of my genet dæmon turning from spotted to aquatic when it’s bath time to swim with me, and how much he likes to climb on everything. He’s also such a sweetheart at night and loves to cuddle <3
Reblog with a picture of your dæmon/ a close representation in their settled or stable form(s). If they’re not settled or stable, use one of their favorite forms! Zephy wants to say hello to some others :)
Give me weird daemons. Give me ugly, creepy, fragile, impractical daemons. Give me spiders and slugs and hyenas and poisonous frogs and easily-crushed butterflies and daemons that are too big to take into crowds or through a doorway and aquatic daemons that mean you can’t ever leave the coast. Daemons that come with more symbolism than their human was prepared to deal with. Daemons that don’t settle “properly”.
Give me daemons that bicker with their humans. That drag them out of bed in the morning when they don’t want to face the world and force their humans to face things they don’t think they’re ready for. Give me the fallout from daemons that push their humans too hard. Daemons that don’t follow the usual social protocols, that don’t like interacting with other daemons, that talk directly to other humans even though it makes some people scandalized.
Give me daemons that are the same sex as their humans. Daemons that are the same sex as their humans and their humans realize they’re trans because of it. Daemons that are the same sex as their humans and their humans are cis. Daemons that are trans. Daemons that transition when their humans do or before their humans do. Daemons that are as fluid as their humans, that can present along the entire spectrum of their species’ sexual dimorphism, that sometimes have manes and sometimes have more colourful plumage and sometimes grow extra horns.
Give me daemons that intentionally settle as something soft because that’s what their human needs to hold. Daemons that settle as something small because they’ll both be happier if they can ride in their human’s pocket and always be in contact or always be out of the way of others or be more easily hidden from the prying eyes of others. Daemons that settle as huge, dangerous things even though their humans don’t feel very scary at all - daemons that settle as huge and dangerous things because their humans don’t feel scary or safe. Give me daemons that are misunderstood. Snake daemons that have similar markings to a much more venomous cousin but are harmless. Daemons that are huge but gentle. Swan daemons that look graceful and pretty and have broken 3 people’s arms already.
Give me daemons that pull back. Daemons that hide in pockets or in shadows. Daemons that aren’t ever going to let their human’s romantic partner touch them, and that’s okay. Daemons that don’t understand or like their humans sometimes, because they are their humans, and honestly how often do we understand and like ourselves, especially when we’re young?
Give me daemons that mirror their human’s health, and daemons that don’t. Daemons whose fur loses its gloss when their humans are stressed or ill. Daemons and humans that are both deaf. Daemons who lose a paw when their human has to have a limb amputated. Daemons who are missing a limb in every shape they take in childhood because their human was born without it. Daemons that share their human’s disability because it’s a part of them just like the way they both hate the smell of citrus or they can both curl up their tongues.
Daemons who don’t match their humans, or who settle as creatures with abilities that let them make the world more accessible to their humans. Daemons who settle as birds so that they can grab things off of shelves for their wheelchair-using humans. Daemons who settle as something big so their humans can climb on top when they’re tired or in pain. Monkey daemons that can type on their human’s behalf when they’re having a migraine and don’t want to look at a screen. Daemons that can perch on their blind human’s shoulder and whisper directions and sights into their ear, that describe colours and prints so their humans can paint and be fashion designers.
Give me humans and daemons that fall in love at different speeds. Give me daemons that keep secrets from their humans. Give me daemons with unusually short ranges who can’t be parted from their humans, and daemons with unusually long ones that creep people out. Give me daemons that will check your teeth after you eat a salad to tell you if you have spinach stuck there. Give me humans that will check out a library book in a genre they never read because the main character settled as the same wildly obscure species their daemon is and they’re trying to make them feel better about it. Give me human/daemon pairs who have to re-evaluate the assumptions they’ve made about some species when they meet their college roommate and they’re a scorpion and you’re a frog and you’ve read this story - but you end up being best friends. Give me human/daemon pairs that so far have only dated people with big burly predator daemons, who are absolutely floored when they instantly fall for someone with a ladybug.
I figured, as a way to get a bit of inspiration for what to write about (I'm new to this blogging thing), I'd start by answering the questions I asked in my daemonism survey. So, starting with the first one:
"What is a daemon to you?"
Which is a complicated question, with many layers to it! A daemon can be so many things.
Daemons, and daemonism as a whole, are mostly based on His Dark Materials - a work of fiction. But there's more to daemons than that. Daemonism has developed into something that, in many ways, transcends the source that inspired it. Daemons have the potential to be so much; the only limit is the mind, and it should go without saying that the mind is an incredibly diverse, incredibly powerful thing.
But the question is "what is a daemon to you". So I'm going to let go of all the infinite possibilities for a moment, and focus on what my experience has been.
A daemon is a lifelong companion.
A daemon is a friend.
A daemon is always there for you, and always supports you - in their own way.
And a daemon is intrinsically connected to their daemian; they're close to the heart, always (even if they live in the mind). I could no more imagine existing without my daemons than I could imagine life without my emotions, or my sense of logic. They're so very vital to who I am.
But a daemon is also themself. Usually. They have their own identity. They may even have their own preferences - their own thoughts and opinions. Some are autonomous, some are not; it doesn't matter. They're still daemons.
There is no limit to what a daemon can be. There's no boundaries. If anyone tries to tell you what your daemon can or can't be, ignore them.
A daemon is, above all else, personal. What it means is for you, and you alone, to decide.
{With a little help from your daemon, ofc c;} - Aka
Helped me establish and learn to enforce boundaries.
Expresses the emotions I suppress and remind me I am allowed to be angry or sad.
Validated my feelings in regards to my past yet not let me linger in them negatively.
Encourages new experiences yet not belittling me if I am too uncomfortable or afraid.
Makes me feel joy and laugh despite depression and anxiety.
Offers motivation to do tasks despite procrastination or perfectionist tendencies and helps figure out ways to make the tasks not feel as overwhelming.
Reassures me that I am not alone or forgotten.
Reminds me of my needs so I won't forget and starve.
Teases me in a bearable manner when I act 'stupid' even if it is just me forgetting where I put things or tripping over air or giving myself the hiccups.
Gives me motivation to keep going when everything feels too hard to deal with.
Show me they care about love me.
Remind me that I need to take care of myself, 'be selfish' because hurting myself to help others only ever made me hate myself because it isn't sustainable.
Folks sitting around reminiscing about their daemons’ Settling, like
Person A: Oh, it was so memorable, Sheina Settled just after my Grandmother died, I wish she could have seen, their forms are so similar.
Person B: That must be nice. Dre Settled while we were watching Brother Bear. Ma noticed before we did, we had company over at the time, it was a whole thing.
Touch ID! Phones can regongise a dæmon’s paw print or maybe a feather print or just their skin in general as well as yours, so that if you’re in an emergency your dæ can unlock your phone for you! (Also would probably end up with you finding a lot of selfies your dæ took whilst you were looking away from your phone)
Playgrounds! Playgrounds having special adaptations so dæmons of all shapes and sizes can play with their humans. Would probably include more open spaces for bigger dæs and not having climbing frames that are so narrow and closed in, whilst also having places where children with smaller dæs can hide out and feel protected and closed in. Also the playgrounds would probably be bigger in general for kids with bigger dæmons and if the people caring for them have bigger dæs
Sleepovers with your dæ! Kids and teens staying up late with their dæmons and nicking sweets from the cupboards. Watching scary films on their phone and comforting eachother when it gets scary (and trying not to be too loud and wake up parents).
Feel free to add more! Like seriously, add more we are obsessed with modern dæmon headcanons 😂
We all have days where we are feeling down, having trouble connecting with our daemons, or need someplace to take note of a great joke or their random shenanigans. Well, what if you had a journal or album to run to whenever you needed it?
It can be about your daemons, or it could be created by your daemon, maybe it could be about your forms, or it could be about all the great things you do together. There is no limit EXCEPT that you should try to keep your daemon involved. Make it something that brings you joy or inspires every time you turn a page.
It can be physical or digital, simple or complex, only images or all text. How about a mix of everything? Again, no rules so be creative and let inspiration flow.
I hope you all enjoy this idea and feel free to tag me! This is an event I am hosting on my Discord server but I wanted to include my Tumblr daemians as well. Lots of creative people around these parts, so figured you all maybe would like this.
Tried to write out my thoughts again about how a daemon can be us and their own person.
Daemons have existed as long as ourselves but typically will have been lacking separation and personification. This can lead to a daemon behaving very similar to ourselves when first bringing them to the surface. They may latch on and reflect certain internal monologues, like intrusive thoughts, or reflect our internal processing as a whole rather than a part. But from what I have seen with daemons they seem to latch on to the strongest feelings you have at first. If these feelings are negative then if your daemon is to move past such things you need to work on moving past those thoughts as well. Once you do that your daemon will be able to develop more into their own personality.
If people are already keenly aware of themselves and have developed and encouraged self-talk a daemon may come forward already very different than their person. This divide has been built up unintentionally, and why it seems like a daemon is their own person from the start. While on the opposite end daemon who had little subconscious building will be almost exactly you with very small differences. This may vary of course as everyone’s thought process is different; this is just an example.
So now let us look at what makes a daemon both us and them at the same time. Our daemons are an integral part of our thought process. Whether you notice it or not. They come from your brain, your personality, your history, your health. They cannot exist without you and you cannot without them. Can you exist without knowing your daemon? Of course. They would just keep doing your thing like your heart keeps doing its things. They would continue to just be another key part of your conscious thought and reasoning. They are there. Because they are you.
Have you heard of the split-brain theory? Where it is possible to disconnect the left and right side’s processing from each other? They have found in people who have this happen that each side can actually have their own wants and can argue over what they want to do, even if only one side is capable of speech. Prior to this split they were one unified person. Both “Bob” let's say. Bob was this whole unit up until the sides split. Now these two parts of Bob are able to act independently but they are still Bob.
Daemons are similar. When we reach out to a daemon, we are bringing them to the surface of our conscious. They are getting a unique identity of their own but under that they are still us. They get to learn their own likes, dislikes, drives, hobbies, etc. They can become extremely different from their person. But not matter how much they develop into their own selves they still function the same. They are still that integral part if your conscious thought and reasoning. That hasn’t changed because you are both one in the same. Just like the left and right side of the brain.
My daemon’s personalities are exaggerations of different thought patterns I have. They amplify parts of myself. They have this sort of “key” type that they have grown around. Tess is my energy. That is what she can narrow herself down to if she so chooses. But she still became her own person outside of that.
Now as for free will I have seen some daemons who feel they lack it. But I think most daemons don’t look at their life in such a black and white way. I also think it depends on how you treat yourself and your daemon. My daemons have free will, they can do and say what they want. Be who they want. But they choose to make me their center of attention. They choose to live their life revolving around me. They choose to do what is best for me. I think this is all because they recognize they are me. We are one. They are part of what keeps me alive and in turn them alive. I know plurality can add a lot more complex factor to this. But speaking as myself my daemons would not exist without me. It would be like a feather molted off a bird. It's still a feather but everything that the feather lived for, its function, its identity in the larger scheme of things is gone. It's just there... incapable of much else. There is no longer a purpose other than to look pretty or be used how others feel would be most useful. A tool for someone else. This is of course how my daemons look at such a life, it’s a messy comparison but it’s a comparison that resonates with them. Others may feel different.
Free will, existence, purpose... that's a SUPER heavy subject and not exactly something that is easily agreed on. I would say that all depends on what you and your own daemons feel about it. What conclusion you feel is more accurate to your experience, morals, or ideals.
Also we do tend to get a bit philosophical in our explanations. Discussions of the self get tricky and as long as the self is tricky so are daemons. When I say daemons are "us" and "you" I mean the "self". Everything that comes together to make the identity and personality we have. My daemons are part of what makes up the self. But I am not my daemons. Like I am not my ADD. I am not my emotions. The self is the "whole" you. It is the entirety of everything coming together. However I acknowledge that without them I would not exist as me. So I like to say I am my daemons for the simple fact that I owe them my existence. Way for me to be contradicting right? But it makes sense to us.
