Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Carl Jung, a prominent psychiatrist in the early 20th century, was the first person to come up with an idea similar to daemonism. He came up with analytical psychology. It suggested that humans had a suppressed self that could be found within our subconscious. Jung called these “inner selves” anima (the feminine side of males) or animus (the masculine side of females). This analytical psychology stated that in order to fully develop and grow psychologically, we had to get in touch with this suppressed self, sort of like another part of us, part of our personality. By communicating with this hidden part of our minds and listening to it, we could become more balanced individuals.

In 1995, Philip Pullman published a novel entitled The Golden Compass. In the novel, which took place in another dimension similar to our own, people’s souls exist outside their bodies. They were called daemons. They took the form of an animal, which was symbolic of a person’s personality, mood, and character. When a person was young, their daemon was “unsettled” meaning that the daemon took many forms and would frequently change according to how the child felt. As the child grew older, the daemon would change less, until it finally “settled”, or took a form and stayed that way. By the time people were adults, their daemons were in a fixed form that represented their personality.

Further books in the series had the characters come to our world, where it was revealed that we also have daemons, except that they are locked away inside of our minds instead of out in the world. It was even suggested that by using careful meditation we could actually get in touch with our daemons.

This is of course all fiction. But it can be related to Carl Jung’s analytical psychology theory. By cautiously looking deep into ourselves and examining our personalities, many believe that they can indeed find their “daemon”.

It’s not like if you meditate and scrutinize yourself, you’ll all of a sudden have an animal following you wherever you go. But it is possible to envision this “inner self” in your head. It is possible to hear its voice. It’s even possible to “project” it, or imagine it in the real world.

It all takes time. Once cannot simply project one’s daemon the first time they recognize its existence. It takes practice, determination, and the ability to analyze who you are.

Some might call daemons “imaginary friends”. They are similar, but they aren’t imaginary. True, they are all in the mind, and only you will be able to see it, but they do exist. They are as real as you are. They are a physical part of your brain and who you are.

Communicating with your daemon has its benefits. By getting in touch with this other part of who you are, you can become more balanced. You can take comfort in the fact that you’re never truly alone. Your daemon is your friend. They can comfort you when you’re sad, rejoice with you when you’re happy, help you solve problems you couldn’t solve on your own.

Daemons are, for the most part, the opposite gender of who you are. For guys, that means they usually have a female daemon, and for girls, that usually means they have a male daemon. Why is this? Most believe that it is because of our personalities. Daemons are, in essence, the supressed part of ourselves. Thus, it would only make sense that it is our opposite gender. Guys are usually more masculine and tough, so having a female daemon can show their more feminine, elegant side. Same goes for girls-the daemons can show their more boysh and masculine side. Of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone. Many males have male daemons, and many females have female daemons. It all depends on who we are and what kind of personality we have.

That’s my little explanation of daemons and daemonism. You can find out much more about them on these two sites:

http://findyourdaemon.googlepages.com/home

http://daemonpage.com/