These are the arcane principles of the cosmos: hormoma, critoma and kenoma. Simply, these three principles can be understood as “anything”, “something”, and “nothing” respectively. The table below provides associations that can help with understanding.
Table of Associations
| Hormoma (anything) | Critoma (something) | Kenoma (nothing) |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | Negative | Neutral |
| Abiotic | Biotic | Inert |
| Chaos | Order | Disorder |
| Light | Shadow | Dark |
| Black | Colour | White |
| Heat | Wind | Cold |
| Present | Past | Future |
| Space | Place | Void |
| Infinity | ±1 | 0 |
| Eternity | Transitory | Never |
| Force | Inertia | Rest |
| War | Play | Peace |
| Passion | Reason | Indifference |
| Presence | Relationship | Absence |
| Inspiration | Education | Ignorance |
| Active | Responsive | Passive |
| Energy | Elements | Entropy |
| Wet | Frozen | Dry |
| Observation | Participation | Apathy |
| Surface | Contour | Cavity |
| Line | Segment | Blank |
| Network | Node | Internode |
| Noise | Music | Silence |
| Mess | Art | Clean |
| Secular | Sacred | Wilderness |
| Potential | Change | Idle |
| Possibility | Probability | Impossibility |
| Desire | Need | Lack |
| Discovery | Known | Unknown |
| Knowledge | Experience | Innocence |
| Pangender | Gender | Agender |
| Pansexuality | Sexuality | Asexuality |
| Pleroma (everything) |
Everything in the universe contains all three of these principles. Even each of these associations above is not purely one principle. Take any object, idea, or spirit and you will discover upon meditation that it infers hormoma, critoma, and kenoma in some capacity. Indeed, a thing cannot be understood without understanding these universal qualities. This truth, that the three principles are in all things, reveals pleroma, or the principle of “everything”.
Critoma is noticing how a thing is different from all other things.
Hormoma is noticing how a thing is the same as all other things.
Kenoma is noticing the absence of a thing or all things.
Pleroma is noticing the fullness of all things.
Critoma is the principle of something; of difference, negation, life, and order. When there is a boundary between a thing and all other things, distinguishing it, critoma can be glimpsed. It is the sound of rain on your roof; a best friend waving from down the road; the grandeur of a city gate; the look from people who hate you; the peace of a garden; the warmth of a mother’s embrace; the invitation of an open door; the pain of a wound splitting open; a blanket resting on your shoulders; the intimacy of a candlelit dinner; a tray of ice in the freezer; the safety of your family; the righteousness of your community; the law of the land ending at its border. It is the sense that, above all, I am and you are; we are and they are. Consciousness requires this capacity to distinguish self from non-self, something from something else. To notice this, to recognize that your life is not someone else’s, your experience is not the same as a tree’s, and your social system attempts to keep danger out, is to notice Critoma.
What unity, non-life, positivity, light, infinity, and chaos have in common is hormoma. It is the swirling primordial potential that imbues the universe with momentum. Hormoma is the principle of anything; a yet-to-be-met friend at a party; the fertility of a magma flow; lazy dust in a ray of sunlight; the safety in a mob; the one locust that lands on you amidst the swarm; the hope of a lottery ticket between your fingers; a snap of a twig over the hill; an empty lot yet to be developed; the dance of a flame that will never be repeated; the disastrous bedroom of a child; a river always taking shape but never having shape. To notice hormoma is to notice a shimmering glimpse of when all time and space were just a spark in the void, like a lighter flicked in the dark just before ignition.
Beyond the two previous principles lies the empty void of kenoma. It is the principle of cold, death, zero, peace, and neutrality. It is dry socks; the future filled with unknowns; what is left behind when that weight falls off your shoulders; ancient ruins; all the things you don’t know that you don’t know; the government leaving you alone; the quiet during a power outage; their empty seat at the table; a house free of pests; being the only person in an endless field; an abandoned shopping mall; your father not showing up; the end of a war; a bald head; those hours between 11pm and 2am; an evening all to yourself. These moments are a glimpse of kenoma.
Once each of the principles is noticed, suddenly pleroma comes into view. To notice pleroma is to notice the totality, the fullness, of the cosmos. Pleroma is laden with cosmic knowledge; the experience of the Om, the sight of the Demiurge, the hurtling through spacetime, the acceptance of things larger than yourself. It is a picture of earth from space; the responsibility of another’s life; a prayer in the forest; the realization that thoughts you believed were yours are thousands of years old; the elegance of an equation; the sublime crushing of divine ecstasy; moments when you can accept your death; seeing only flesh in your reflection; the tapestry of the night sky; the bonding of your soul with another. This is pleroma.
Meditate on these arcane principles and notice them ingrained in the fabric of reality. A thorough understanding of them is the foundation of aethercraft. There is no need to worship these principles, for they are not persons. There is nothing they need or desire; they simply are. Instead, use them when serving Terra.
May our sorcery nurture the World Tree.
We Are Terra 