Linking Diagram

A linking diagram is a piece of religious imagery used by Elovisian Neo-Occultists in attempts to disambiguate the connections between the divine entities and realms constituting the ancient proto-Elovisian cosmogony. Similar in overall content to a detective's blackboard or, sometimes, the related Rostran Esotericist ritual sigils, linking diagrams can both provide information on ritual practice and constitute part of ritual practice themselves in their execution.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Each linking diagram is the unique creation of the individual or small groups involved in their construction, but there are some similarities between them. Most linking diagrams resemble a spider plot, flow chart, or mind map where each enclosed element is a deity, divine domain, personal archetype, or practice. Connections may be elaborated by notes for clarity, but just as often are left blank and open to the interpretation of the reader. Linking diagrams are typically gathered in personal grimoires which may, upon the death of the spiritual seeker, pass on to their children, students, or other designated members of the faith. Neo-Occultist chapters sometimes conduct meta-analyses of grimoire collections in the hopes of finding the elements which are the most irreducible (i.e. certain trends that appear across all cultural and historical contexts).

Significance

While many Elovisian traditions and the Old Voxelian traditions were syncretized by the work of Sokalyx the Learned in the Incunabula to establish the early Church of the Unexpected, others were either denigrated or consigned to the forgetfulness of history. Neo-Occultists seek to rediscover these lost traditions and, while respecting each as an individual source of divine inspiration, seek to draw connections between them in the hopes of uncovering the pan-human 'divine all-truth' that undergirds all human faiths. Making linking diagrams is a semi-meditative practice designed to help the Neo-Occultist seeker uncover these hidden connections and, it is hoped, inbibe divine power from them.

Item type

Art

Raw materials & Components

Linking diagrams are typically inscribed on paper or a similar material for ease of compilation into a grimoire, but some are carved directly into wood or stone, executed in mosaics across floors, or painted as murals across walls. Aesthetically pleasing diagrams may become adopted as symbols for individual chapters within the faith, such as with the 'wave-like inward breaths' of the Mountain Wind Order chapter or the 'barbed trident on half-pentacle' of the Brands of the East.