He’s a saqra mask from Ayacucho, Peru. When I asked for his name, he answered “Amachay.” Amachana is the more common word and one I’m familiar with, but evidently both mean something like “protect and defend.”
My question is this, he has a name and if I give him things (like offerings), and treat him like an alive-thing, what does that make him? Egregores are ‘gods’ that are contrived, servitors are thoughtforms (I think?), I’m not sure what category to put him in. What do you call something like this with a physical anchor and also a spirit of some kind?
*Saqra is a type of spirit known for it’s mischievous qualities. It’s a daemon.
Did you buy the mask with the idea that there is already a spirit attached?
These dance masks might not be intended to be normally spirit vessels though, as they seem to be made for the saqra dance during festival season, and can be different types, captains, children, a female, clowns etc.
So I’m going to agree with you that there’s an egregore in here, created between you and the mask maker, and maybe a dancer if it was used in festival. An egregore is a thoughtform made and supported by multiple humans, but you’re really the one working with it now, so if you feed it and work with it it will get stronger and the connection will get clearer. The mask is a vessel, it’s temporary as nothing physical lasts forever.
It was never meant for use in a festival, but to be a decorative representation.
I felt it’s energy when I bought it, but I didn’t buy it with the understanding that it had something “alive” in or attached to it. Thanks for helping me understand better though about the egregore situation.
Thank you for this reminder. It lessens my curiosity about it being a physical object with a spirit/soul/something else. Thanks for the definition of egregore!
Oh kind of like Venetian masks that you get in the Venice artisan shops, they’re made just for tourists but at the same time, they are made by hand and every one is unique?
I feel like there’s magick in the hands of artisans that make a thing with skill and love, so the mask is already magick because of that, and then you bought it to life. If you develop it to be self sustaining it could exist forever, using the usual servitor building techniques, otherwise without attention it could eventually fade back into the background and be no more.
The mask feels intensely magicakal! It’s made for decoration, but I get the feeling I’m not the only one who has a relationship with one of them. I know there are local people who have them as well, but yes I was a tourist when I purchased mine. I have the roots, but I don’t live there.
The artist is actually one of the best. He uses a formula that has been passed down from master to apprentice and it’s super secret and I believe it’s also 100% natural. They are all handmade and the artist, from what I’ve been able to read, is incredibly connected to the cultural/regional Aymara (Quechua, Incan, indigenous Peruvian) traditions which of course include lots of witchcraft.
