What It Does
This project is inspired by a dream I had about a cult named (the) Zephyron who wielded occult power over technological advancement, and who labored in favor of the Singularity. They were named after Zephyr, the west wind of the Greek Anemoi (Ἄνεμοι), and they possessed a magical anemometer that measured the speed of technological progress. Their meetings were recognized by the presence of hyacinth flowers.
To properly operate the enchanted anemometer, ignite some hyacinth incense and take a moment to center yourself and clear your space, then imagine a technological change you wish to see in the world. Pay attention first to whatever you see in your mind: what does this new technology look like, and what do the changes it has on the world look like? Next, notice what you hear: what does this technology sound like? Are there noises or spoken words around this technology? Then, pay attention to what you feel: what does this technology feel like? Where in your body is this feeling located, and how does it move (if it moves)? Ask yourself: if this feeling had a color, what color would it have? Amplify the color by making it brighter and allowing it to extend throughout your entire body until your whole being is suffused with the color and it extends just beyond the boundary of your skin. Begin pushing it out of the palm of your hand as your reach out toward the anemometer, which begins spinning, slowly at first and then faster and faster as you continue amplifying and project your energy at the anemometer, watching it swirl around and propelling the arcane device onward…1
How It Works
WindOfChange is an example of a semi-headless project: although you use a keyboard, video monitor, and mouse to make the program, none of those is required to interact with the project once you click the green flag to set it in motion.
The enchanted anemometer is made with LEGO and controlled with a WeDo 1.0 motor and distance sensor. During the ritual, the action of outstretching your hand toward the anemometer triggers the sensor and activates the motor. Retracting your hand causes the motor to decelerate until it stops.
The anemometer may be ritually consecrated prior to use.
WindOfChange has but one sprite, Anmmtr with one script and one variable, speed.
Make It Better
- Replace the LEGO anemometer with one made of wood or metal.
- Add ritual music that gains in volume or tempo as the anemometer spins faster.
- The technique I just described, of inducing trance by focusing on the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic aspects of a memory or fantasy, and then associating the feeling of that experience with a color and amplifying or manipulating it, is an application of one of Philip H. Farber’s Meta-Magick techniques, “Energy Flow Modeling.” See Brain Magick: Exercises in Meta-Magick and Invocation (Llewellyn, 2011) 49–50.