Thought-form

Thought-form is an occult term used to describe beings or entities deliberately created by the agency of human thought, particularly as a group effort. It overlaps the term Egregore used in Chaos Magic. The concept of Tulpa (see [1]) has similarities with that of thought-form but usually entails the activity of just one thinker.

The supporters of a thought-form

In folklore the Bogeyman is a being which parents tell a child about in order to scare it into obedience. Let us call the parents plus the child, who conspire or cooperate to create the illusion of the Bogeyman's existence, the supporters, and extend this term to cover all those responsible for the "human thought" giving rise to a given thought-form.

The need for careful definition

In the widest sense, any entity which is the subject of contemplation or acknowledgement, or spoken of (between two or more people) as if it existed, might be considered a thought-form. Such a notion is too general to be useful: it includes all scientific theories and all legendary beings such as the Angel Gabriel, historical personages accruing legends such as Gautama Buddha, and legendary characters whose historical existence is a matter for rational debate such as Jesus, St George or Robin Hood.

Working definition. For the purpose of this article, we define a thought-form as a being:

• deliberately created by a group of people, or by one person and communicated to others (i.e. there must be multiple supporters)
• the creator/s is/are aware of having originated it
• it is believed capable by its supporters of exerting action in the real world (i.e. it is not confined to some fictional world).

This definition deliberately excludes:

• overtly fictitious being like Mickey Mouse or Frodo who are never presented by their supporters as existing in anything but their own fictitious world,
• folk-heroes and beings which might possibly have a historical prototype, like Santa Claus or St George, but are the subjects of manifestly fictitious tales,
• personifications of elemental or natural phenomena like Mother Nature and Jack Frost,
• putative originators of popular ideas, like the "Sod" of Sod's Law,
• gods or demons of accepted religions. These, it can be argued, pre-exist the activities of their supporters, who have merely channelled (manifested, invoked, incarnated, discovered) them in order to bring them to other people's awareness.

This does not prevent a being in any of the above excluded categories becoming a thought-form by changing its nature to escape its categorisation. For example, suppose Mickey Mouse were to appear in a dream to a lady whose life is thereby changed for the better. Why Mickey Mouse, formerly a fictitious character, would thereby escape exclusion and merit consideration as a thought-form is because he is no longer overtly fictitious (the lady believes she has seen him, albeit in a dream) and he has exerted an effect in the real world, namely by changing the lady's life.

Properties

The above definition of thought-form is careful to say nothing about whether it possesses intelligence (independent of the pooled intelligence of its supporters). Nor does it say whether its action in the real world (e.g. to kill someone) is due to its independent activity, or arises as an indirect result of what its supporters allege it to have done (e.g. pronounce sentence of death upon somebody living). Like all abstract notions, even robust ones like circles and straight lines, what constitutes a thought-form depends on one's perspective and beliefs, especially what one believes to be the nature of the "real world".

One person's thought-form can be, or subsequently emerge as, another person's god, angel or saint. History offers us examples of a deliberately invented thought-form doing so, e.g. the entity Aiwass promoted by Aleister Crowley in connection with his invented religion Crowleyanity which has subsequently gained followers. Another example is Mithras, god of Contracts. Encyclopedia Britannica (Eighteenth Edition) asserts that Mithraism was put together by an unknown "religious genius" in the Roman Empire during the 1st Century, presumably to furnish the young Empire with a compliant cult to inspire its soldiery.

An objection to Mithras being a thought-form under our definition is that it/he pre-existed the foundation of the Roman cult, being none other than the Persian god Mithra (see: Mithraism). One answer to this is to accept that Mithras is a thought-form built-up from (divine) precursors. Another is to allow that, as the number of supporters of Mithra increased (viz. to include the adherents of the Roman cult Mithraism), the original concept altered in nature.

Published reports

Janet and Stewart Farrar (A Witches' Bible, ISBN 0-919345-92-1) makes several mentions of thought-forms, which they relate to the Complex in Jungian psychology. They report a case-study in which a thought-form, "Mara", was deliberately fabricated by their coven to guard a seal breeding-ground called Inishkea (see: [2]) against marauding fishermen. The authors claim that people unconnected with their coven have actually reported seeing "Mara" on the island, in the act of fulfilling its (her) purpose.

Might the Farrars have channelled a pre-existing psychic being or complex, under the illusion they were inventing it? As exponents of Wicca they would be well aware of that possibility, but instead they write as if they had originated "Mara" by careful synthesis, albeit with components taken from Celtic folklore.