UrbanMage/Steel Gods

From Barbelith

Respecting steel gods and glass elementals.

We decided to share with you some {gods, shared thoughtforms, archtypes} that we have expermented with. Feel free to compare your experiences of aspects of the city with our characterizations below.

Ineoria - the neon goddess, blinding spirit of illusion and delusion and direction. Beautiful and fragile. She dwells in a delicate pocket universe atop a pile refuse. She is a beacon in the darkness but offers no sanctuary. She can guide from afar, show the way but will not interfere. She is a goddess of signs, truth and fiction intertwined. She cannot be touched by human hands.

Groghuh - the rubbish spirit. Like Ixat (lord of taxis) Groghuh is a keeper of secrets. Things discarded, things lost. He has a great treasure hoard beneath every city. Like dragons of old. He often appear as a drunken bum, in filthy clothes and rotten teeth. He finds beauty in the mundane, magic in the unwanted. He brings solace and sanctuary to those who have no place left to go.

Cthaaanhiss - traffic spirit. A strange creature who dwells in the hum and flow of traffic. It is road rage, it is traffic lights that all turn red, it is congestion and delays. But it can also remove congestion, to those it favours. Speed the passage between locations. A strange temperamental creature, given to foul moods and irrational behaviour. Like liquid it flows, it cannot be still. Stillness, silence is Cthaaaniss’ death.

Ixat - the lord of taxis. Knower of secrets, mover of people. Ixat knows all the secrets told to taxi drivers everywhere. He knows all the secret locations in every city, he has been to them all. Ixat has secretly tamed Cthaaaniss, through unknown pact. He moves through traffic with ease, but only when he wants to. He knows mainly through whispers and confessions, so his information is not always to be trusted.

This is not to mean that only our gods will do or only new gods will. Here is an example from one of our lives:

I live in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. I spend my time travelling through the neighboring cities of Burnaby (Where My University SFU is), New Westminster (Which is in the way), and Vancouver which is the main city (Where the other University UBC is). One weekend when I was driving to The other University in West Vancouver (I hang out there on most weekends) I got lost. I knew the route but something went wrong with the roads. I ended up visiting every part of my cities.

I ended up at one of my former job sites on the border of Vancouver and Burnaby. Then after more wandering in the {maze, road system} I wound up at the site of my summer job, fully in Burnaby. I drove through East Vancouver into Downtown to the site of my only good job. Now again I knew how to get to the University from where I was. This is how it was funny, roads that should have connected TURNED INTO OTHER ROADS. I ended up going over a bridge into North Vancouver. I wandered in the {maze, road system} of North Vancouver. Finally got accurate information about the direction to go, from my friends at UBCity. I headed off on the road that connected to the road through West Vancouver to UBC and it turned into the wrong road. Luckily The road it turned into also went in the right direction.

As I was driving not sure whether I was lost or not and aware that this was not a normal event asked the city to send me the message that it was trying. I opened up my perceptions to my city and it sent me the message. Poseidon

The name Poseidon leapt out at me from a blue neon street sign of what I figure was a greek restaurant. How did I know that this was the message I needed. It is hard to explain, it clicked. It felt right. Plus what were the odds that I would pass Poseidon at that time on that day?

The {god, consciousness, energy} that the greeks knew as Poseidon, god of the Ocean is alive and well and he holds clout on the Vancouver {maze, road system}. Classifying my experience as a "oddysey" I greeted my girl with the phrase "I have returned to Ithica". I had hoped that this would be the last of it.

However, for the last three weeks I have been unable to go anywhere outside of Surrey with out getting horribly lost. Even to places I am very familiar with, such as my school. I now rely completely on Public Transit, which luckily is really good in the Greater Vancouver region.

• What might I have done to raise Poseidon's Ire?
• What, in a city magick perspective, might I do to placate him?
• As the message was passed by neon what role could Ineoria have played?