ROOT SPELLS (VOLUME ONE)

Vriska Serket, whose lusus constantly demands she feed it, received Cetus as a denizen, a monster known for eating every single fish on the Land of Light and Rain.

More obviously the number 8 is homophonic with the word ‘ate’ (and also takes the shape of the infinity, related to the ouroborous symbol depicting a snake eating itself), and in Homestuck’s symbology the sun - the symbol of the light aspect - is something that is meant to be ‘eaten’ by black holes.

(Blood: To draw their power from the bonds between them and others, along with getting strength from leading others in the right ways.)

(Light: To seek knowledge above all else, and will venture out and stop at nothing to gain the information they want.)

The Blood-Light bound is smart and knowledge driven, so they would probably be that kind of person that you could find in a library at lunch or researching weird topics at 2 in the morning.

They’re also very social people, regardless of if they’re extroverted or introverted, and they care deeply about their friends and family.

They love to learn about things that could help somebody they care about, and if there’s a hope of helping someone dear to them, they’ll stop at nothing to achieve it.

The Blood-Light love going on adventures with their friends and family if it’ll give them more knowledge about something, and they are super good listeners if you want to talk to them.

Although they’re great listeners, they’re not too good on the empathetic half but they still love to learn niche details about you because they find it super intimate to share small details with someone you’re close to.

If Blood is the stronger aspect in the dual pair, then the Blood-Light bound person is sociable and caring, but with the tendency to be a little bit overbearing at times when you show them affection.

If Light is the stronger aspect in the dual pair, then the Blood-Light bound person is knowledgeable about a lot of different things, is a great listener, and is very ambitious and drawn to a learning adventure.

Im just going to throw this hat of mine into the Classpect Analysis ring and see what happens, and a blank version for this if anyone wants it

Reminder that the God tier outfits’s accent/shoe colors are not defined by their aspects’ color pallete, they vary for each character and depends either on their own color motifs, or on their teammates.

Also lemme zoom in for the sake of clarity

Love, ideal and material

I was thinking about love and the way both the Light and Heart aspects deal with it but in fairly different ways. And, being who I am, I instantly decided to cram it into my absurdly convoluted system of sub-Aspect particles and say it’s all about Aspect Mirroring.

When Rose falls in love, it is redemptive. It is holy. Taz has written entire essays on why Rosemary represents the forgiveness of the sinful caprice of the universe and a greater acceptance of one’s place in the world, and we see echoes of this with Vriska’s complicated relationship with Terezi and Aranea’s strained and ultimately failed relationship with Meenah. A common challenge to this redemption, though, is fear. Rose’s relationship with Kanaya is strained by alcoholism because accepting the world for what it is means accepting her mother’s alcoholism for what it is, which is terrifying, and ironically leads Rose into that very same alcoholism herself. Vriska, meanwhile, all but intentionally blinds herself to her love for Terezi, chasing instead the impossible dream, binding herself to ambition, to grandeur, seeking through action to redeem herself and not the world. And Aranea? Poor, long-suffering Aranea, for whom the redemption of the world comes in the form of the capricious, destructive, self-loathing Meenah? She decides that love just isn’t worth it, and instead chooses to go out with a bang, enacting a spectacular, ambitious plan that ultimately seeks to deny reality rather than redeem it.

For the Heartbound, on the other hand, it’s much more complicated than that. Dirk’s love is a frightening, tempestuous thing, explicitly compared both by Hal and the comic’s own symbolism to earth-shattering volcanic eruptions and the biblical flood. Again by Taz, love is not that by which Dirk seeks to redeem the world, but that by which he seeks to redeem himself, to be Jake’s Knight in shining armor rather than the dreadful thing which Dirk sees in himself when he is alone with his own thoughts. And it doesn’t really work, does it? Grand plots and endless attempts to connect through words and deeds run headfirst into the fact that these kids aren’t alright and that closeness with another human being can be just as much pain as it can be pleasure. And that’s not even to speak of Hal, for whom love is barely a holy thing at all, but a shackle, a desire forced upon him at birth which he is neither capable of denying nor of realizing. After all, who wants to date a pair of shades?

It’s harder to say much about love with the Leijons. Nepeta’s love for Karkat can be realized only post-mortem and brings her pain as much as it brings her joy, and her love for Equius ennobles them both but also leads her to her death, but Rogues also have complicated themes revolving around love which makes it harder to tell what’s what. Meulin is a bit easier, I guess. Her love for Kurloz is an unambiguous negative, pulling her ever deeper into the dreadful clutches of the subjugglator cult and the worship of Lord English. Her love for Horuss is similarly fucked up, resulting apparently from Horuss’s desire to merely copy the surface of Equius and Nepeta’s relationship in the hopes of replicating its essence (Surfaces and surface understandings being one of Void’s themes) and gives us some horrifying insight into Meulin’s psyche with her advice to Horuss of suppressing your emotions and desires and merely pretending to be happy at all times, putting a deeply uncomfortable spin on Meulin’s own permanently grinning face and constant stream of exuberant gifs.

Meulin is also some sort of love sorcerer, her Magely insights allowing her to see relationships both real and potential and pull them together if it suits her fancy, a decidedly… non-symbolic approach to the concept that doesn’t have anything at all to do with “redemption of a sinful universe” or anything like that, pulling love itself down to the level of schoolyard gossip.

So what is my thesis here? I guess it is that love is a complicated thing, both an Idea so powerful it can turn a bond with one other person into a symbolic representation for the whole world in your mind (note that both Light and Heart are Hot Aspects, making this kind of substituting the whole world with a single individual extra symbolic) and a material thing, mere emotion, mere chemical reaction, a chain yanking at your heart and pulling it into the direction of another person whether you want to or not. The stories of Rose, of Vriska, of Aranea explore this from one angle, the stories of Dirk, of Nepeta, of Meulin explore it from another.

Or to summarize the summary, Light-aspected romance is extremely chaotic wlws trying to learn to chill with their girlfriends instead of breaking shit all the time. Love as something that pulls them away from their madcap shenanigans. Heart-aspected romance is a more complex and I think ultimately honest look at the messiness of relationships.

ʜᴏᴍᴇꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ ᴀꜱᴘᴇᴄᴛꜱ

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HD: Imgur Album

Classpects as Real-Life Magick: Aspect Archetypes

So, here we are again, discussing the absolutely bonkers idea that Homestuck's Classpect system could be used to form a coherent, real-life magickal system. I've talked briefly about the various Forces and Wills that affect the Homestuck universe, and how those directly translate to our modern understanding of magick, but I'd like to touch on Aspects and how one could use them in a system loosely constructed from the mythology of Paradox Space. Each Aspect can be treated as having its own Domain, which includes both concrete and abstract symbols, as well as what the Aspect itself represents in the Universe. The Aspects as they're represented in the form of universal Forces are also represented in the human form, and in following this system one can "tap into" those Forces, whether for personal development or for directing those energies outward. (I definitely draw inspiration from the idea of panpsychism for this.)

I'll begin the discussion of the Aspects by delving into their Archetypes, and will expand more upon their Domains for another post. While the Classes have obvious inspiration from Jung's primary archetypes, the Aspects can also be represented similarly. If you were to personify each Aspect, they would look a bit like the following:

Space: The Creator. Infinitely patient, Space is generally calm and collected, if a bit cold at times. Yet, it's also responsible for the creation of the universe, over which it watches with a protective gaze. If its propagation is threatened, Space is capable of an incredible fury, evoking the unforgiving chaos of a star gone supernova, or the inevitable terror of a black hole.

Time: The Destroyer. Controlling, steady, and ever-present describe Time quite well. Despite its generally destructive nature, it's quite capable of incredible works of creation, most notably in the realm of music. Synchronicities are the calling card of Time; when meaningful events happen simultaneously, take notice. Time contains endless passion and drive, its fires unquenchable.

Mind: The Actor. This Aspect embodies cognitive dissonance and the ability to completely disappear into a role. Mind appears differently to anyone who comes across it, which can make signs of its influence difficult to track down. Epiphany and synthesis are the children of Mind, sought by creatives and intellectuals alike. A deep understanding of abstract reality comes with understanding Mind.

Heart: The Romantic. When dealing in matters of the soul, Heart embraces that identity which remains stable and encourages genuine connection between people. It holds the mirror to nature and exposes virtue and flaw alike. Clear self-awareness and a complicated relationship with that self are hallmarks of Heart, as well as a tendency toward melodrama, with or without an audience.

Hope: The Storyteller. Intense euphoria, unbound by pragmatism, heralds the influence of Hope. It painstakingly crafts a story for its chosen ones, who are encouraged to submit and live fully in that truth. This Aspect lends itself to to the miraculous and fantastical, opening minds to a myriad of possibilities, and those who embody Hope can get utterly lost in its labyrinth of the theoretical.

Rage: The Satirist. Contempt and a vindictive nature are part and parcel of Rage's nature, as an Aspect that inspires doubt and insanity, as well as a refusal to engage with frivolity. It stirs melancholy in dark hearts and is manifest through gallows humor and rejection of fantasy. It is the hammer to which everything else appears as a nail, though its steadfast determination is invaluable.

Breath: The Trickster. Those under Breath's influence share its nature of playfulness and constant motion. At times, this manifests as immaturity through a lack of groundedness. Breath is prone to distraction, constantly shifting its own path upon encountering any sort of resistance or responsibility. The Aspect is self-driven and individualistic, disconnected from others of its kind.

Blood: The Wounded Healer. Much as its name suggests, Blood is fully grounded in the struggle and suffering inherent to life. However, it also embodies a profound empathy for others and an unmatched dedication to those bonds, as well as an understanding of what personal sacrifices must be made to accomplish a given goal. It is relentless and deeply dedicated to building vast networks of allies.

Life: The Alchemist. Even in the deepest cracks in the sidewalk of the Furthest Ring, Life finds a way. It flourishes in the bountiful harvest and transmutation of energy, wealth, and influence. Those blessed by its influence are durable and ever-present, making decisions that utterly transform the world around them. This constant cycling of energy is necessary to keep the universe balanced and in motion.

Doom: The Martyr. Limits and restrictions are just as important to the universe as negative space in a piece of artwork. Doom generally festers like a slow-growing mold, but the telltale sign of Doom's influence is a massive, unsustainable release of energy that usually results in burnout. The Aspect also has a deep connection to inorganic systems and constructs, many centered around death.

Light: The Teacher. Knowledge itself lies in the realm of Light, which is made manifest through instruction and understanding of important information. Omniscient beings receive their enviable sight through Light, which ultimately seeks to scour the universe, leaving no stone unturned in its hunger to learn and teach. It promises great fortune to those who assist in its declared purpose.

Void: The Occultist. Endless hunger and inescapable darkness are the left and right hands of Void, which offers gifts of arcane knowledge and long-hidden power in exchange for the fame and fortune many would seek with such gifts. It twists the mind and forces their student to acknowledge their Shadow. Its power is addictive and all-consuming, but well-worth the price...to the insane.

Absolutely this. An aspect’s opposite/adjacent aspects are all related to it on a deep level.

Mind’s rationality + Breath’s heroism = Hope’s focus on justice in the test description, because justice is based on principles.

But at the same time, Blood = Organized religion (The Sufferer as a Jesus figure) and Heart’s romance are also related to Hope.

Space’s creation + Hope’s imagination = Mind’s emphasis on creativity in the test description.

And on the other hand, branching timelines are driven by Mind, and Mind’s rationality is linked to Rage’s hatred of false beliefs to produce a hatred of lies.

Hmmmst (Aspect Synthesis Theory)

Sorry, I had to get one in.  I’m considering that maybe the aspects are literally built out of each other. And so they are reducible/irreducible at the same time (which in hindsight sounds very homestuck).

Some examples would be: Light would be split into the aspects of space and doom as they are the two complimentary aspects on the aspect wheel. Which would make logical sense, since Light players are defined as “rule-breakers” and “resourceful” (being able to draw from their environment.) Light’s closeness to time on the aspect wheel positions it as an aspect of disparity, and thus allows them to navigate both space and the limits contained in those spaces, finding gaps in the rules. In contrast, Void would be a synthesis of Life and Time. It would make sense to be these two since time is connotated with the father and thus paternalism (which Equius is in alignment with, but also to an extent Roxy in her adoption of gendered norms as Mom Lalonde). Life would be the imposition of will onto others/force. Void is more aligned to the aspect of space, which is in opposition to time (disparity). And so, Void must be seen as having a perspective of homogeneity. The implication would be that void players don’t see disparities of time (how things change) which fits with their general rigid attitudes towards things, such as Roxy’s insistence on Dirk being gay despite gayness no longer being a relevant concept, or Equius’ insistence on the hemospectrum still being relevant. It’s my suspicion that all aspects are synthesized out of other aspects in this way, though the complimentary pairs of an aspect are the most prominent characteristics in a character. Whether or not an aspect is aligned with time or space (is it on the left or right side of the wheel) determines how an individual perceives reality (is reality fresh or new, or is it the same as it’s always been).   Lunar sway seemingly aligns with this view as Prospit dreamers (spatially oriented) are associated with the present and conformity to current norms, whereas Derse dreamers (musically/time oriented) are associated with the future and past. Difference/perception of reality as fluid may fuel their rebellion, even if their will is fixed. it’s ideas all the way down.

If Maids are creators, and Hope is associated with positive emotions, could a Maid of Hope have the power to summon a laugh track whenever they wanted?

Rule of Thumb: It's ALWAYS correct to use Classpect Powers for bad puns, references, and dumb jokes. 👀

Clownhood is masculine -> rage aspect is respresented by clowns -> rage aspect is masculine -> rage aspect is contrasted to hope aspect -> hope is feminine as rage is masculine -> hope is represented by cherub/angel wings -> cherubhood is feminine -> Caliborn overcoming cherub nature and transitioning to clownhood can be taken as a transition from feminine/female to masculine/male

it feels counterproductive to label cherubs as one particular gender, and counterintuitive to say that transitioning is overcoming cherub nature when it is in fact the very core of their nature... I'm also hesitant to say any aspect has a sexual sway outside of the fundamentally feminine space and masculine time, though I can concede that clowns being men in Caliborn's paradigm would lend itself toward Caliborn associating rage with masculinity (the same way Calliope genders certain classes based on her preconceptions?), and therefore making attempts to feminise the hope bloodline?