How about a Witch Hunt? Except we’re the witches, and we’re on a hunt. It’s sort of a magical scavenger hunt except you don’t know what you’re looking for. 

Meet tomorrow at 2 at the Lower Campus Garden. Bring a friend!

I joined @Briney Santastic for her imaginary experiment on Saturday, and we immediately found ourselves at ideological loggerheads.

I wanted to hunt for Night Dumplings. Briney felt that holding an intention in mind was counter to the goal of the Witch Hunt, which was to overcome capitalist meta-programming and discover the momentary magical situations that unfold naturally in the surrounding psychotopography.

So I went looking for Night Dumplings anyway, along the dirt road that runs past the psychic grounds maintenance buildings and into the woods, and down to the Lost Stream and the ruins. There I saw a pair of old hobos, one black, one white, and their dog, who wore the Radiant Sun Disc around its neck, so I knew that they were gods.

I did not find any Night Dumplings.

I went to the Witch Hunt on Saturday afternoon mostly just because Briney asked me to because I don’t really believe in those things. I’m here on a Scientia scholarship and to me the biggest “mystery” is why aren’t people studying harder for their summer finals??! (Actually, I stole that joke from my advisor, Mr. Sterne. But it's so true!)

But it was a beautiful day and good to get a little fresh air and sunshine. So we all checked out bikes from the bike stables and mine was extra frisky and kept rearing up and spinning its tires so I let it run and ended up on top of Storm Mountain, where I discovered an old weather control station from the 1970’s or something, all groovy contoured plastic and fat green computer screens. And dust. Lots of dust. It’s exactly what I needed for my forensic techno-archeology extra credit report. Thanks @Briney Santastic!

I have a friend with a car and we're taking a Witch Hunt field trip this weekend. It's a "1972 Ford Country Squire" which doesn't mean anything to me but she says it can go the speed of light.

She's picking me up at 11am tomorrow morning sharp in front of the administration building and we probably have room if you're cool and want to come.

Otherwise, whoever shows up to the usual Witch Hunt on Saturday at 2 you can just decide what you want to do on your own.

I know @Briney Santastic is out of town but does anybody know if we’re allowed to use pendulums to facilitate our reverse Witch Hunt? Because I make them out of various objects like chicken bones and marbles and I sell them on my EtPsy page if anybody would like to take a look.

My field trip Witch Hunt (where I was the witch and I was on a hunt) was a success! I found a white snake. It was in a drawer. When I tried to scoop it up in my white velvet bag it got a lot shorter, so I let it go.

I also got to drive through a county fair, but it also may have been the Psyhigh Fair and Rodeo that's happening this Saturday. On account of my friend's station wagon really does go the speed of light, and a little over. Anyway I played a ring toss game over old fashioned glass pop bottles that stretched their necks and squirmed in the air, so they were really hard to hit. And I played a creaky steampunk ufo catcher game and really wanted the toy derringer but didn't get it. The rides looked totally dangerous.

In answer to your question, @Sterling Silver, pendulums are not forbidden, so long as you are able to practice a style of total "no-mindedness" while operating it, as your own conscious/pre-programmed desires could sway the pendulum, which is the opposite of what we are trying to achieve. Similarly, the Witch Hunt rejects the capitalist notion of the reification of labor and human value as an exchange commodity, and thus can not endorse the purchasing of your items online or in person.

i've been having a problem achieving the proper state of mind for a witch hunt (where we are the witches and we are on a hunt to find things we're not looking for), @Briney Santastic. i feel like no matter how i try to clear my mind and just 'go with the flow' i run into a kind of wall, like the bottom of a swimming pool, where all the sound bounces off and it's like the soundtrack to everything in my whole life and i can't get past it. is it possible that i am just built that way and that is the limit of my potential experience?

yours,

bored in oklahoma

Oh @Narv Cummings I am so sorry! I know how frustrating that can be. Well, I don’t personally know FIRST hand, but I can imagine.

I think you may be approaching it all from the wrong direction. First, get out of the pool, the go to the cabana, get a drink with a little umbrella in it and join the conga line!

On the other hand, I suppose you could be one of those decoy bodies that’s just dreaming you’re a real boy. In which case then yeah, maybe it’s just not possible.

I just let my mind go. Like they tell you in the books. I thought of the first place that came to my mind and hopped on my bike and rode there. It was the prison. 

I rode around the prison till I came to a place in the back. It was the place the guards go to smoke when they are on break. Or just to smoke. One of them saw me and pointed at me and yelled "There's no way out, kid! Nobody's ever done it. Nobody's ever made it out!"

I do not know if I like this kind of witches' scavenger hunt.

Yes it's true @Leo Bouquet that the Scavenger Hunt of the Witches does not always bring us beautiful things. It can only lead us to events in our local probabilistic area.

For instance today, using the Witches' Wind technique, I found myself on one of the fingers of the river, near the old dump. There was a sunken motor boat, and a decrepit cement boat launch, much deteriorated.

I took this to demonstrate that even in this poisoned industrial landscape, there were still channels and pathways for the flow of information through space and time, and that we ourselves are vehicles for this information.

But I'm a glass half full kind of person.