Forgetting ↔ Release: Letting Go of Attachment

BY NICOLE LAU

The Paradox: You Must Let Go to Receive

You've created the perfect sigil. You've charged it with peak-state energy. The symbol is alive, pulsing with intention. And now comes the hardest part: you must forget it completely.

This seems counterintuitive. If you want something, shouldn't you focus on it constantly? Shouldn't you obsess over it, visualize it daily, affirm it relentlessly?

No. That's exactly how you block manifestation.

Both Chaos Magic and Daoist Fu craft discovered the same paradoxical truth: Attachment is interference. Obsession creates resistance. To manifest, you must release.

In Chaos Magic, this is the forgetting protocol—deliberately erasing conscious memory of the sigil and intention. In Daoist Fu craft, this is the burning/release ceremony—destroying the physical talisman to send the intention to the spirit realm.

Different methods, identical function: Let go, or the program won't execute.

Chaos Magic: The Forgetting Protocol

Austin Osman Spare was explicit: "The sigil must be forgotten." This is not optional—it is mechanically required for the sigil to work.

Why Forgetting Is Essential:

1. Attachment Creates Counter-Intention

When you obsess over your desire, you're constantly broadcasting: "I don't have this yet. I need this. I'm incomplete without this." That emotional signature is lack, not abundance. You're programming reality with the frequency of absence, not presence.

2. Conscious Mind Generates Doubt

Every time you think about the sigil, your rational mind activates: "Will this really work? Probably not. This is silly. I'm wasting my time." Each doubt is a counter-spell that weakens or cancels the original charge.

3. Lust for Result Collapses the Wave Function Prematurely

In quantum terms, obsessive observation collapses the probability wave before it has time to evolve toward the desired outcome. You're measuring too early, forcing the system into a premature state.

4. The Subconscious Needs Freedom to Execute

The sigil is planted in the subconscious/reality matrix. But if your conscious mind keeps interfering ("Is it working yet? Why hasn't it manifested?"), you're micromanaging the process and preventing autonomous execution.

The Forgetting Methods:

Immediate Destruction:

• Burn the sigil: Light it on fire immediately after charging; watch it turn to ash
• Tear and flush: Rip it into tiny pieces and flush down the toilet
• Bury it: Dig a hole, bury the sigil, walk away without looking back
• Dissolve in water: If drawn with water-soluble ink, dissolve it completely

Strategic Hiding:

• Hide in a book: Place sigil in a random book on your shelf; forget which book
• Seal in an envelope: Put it away in a drawer you never open
• Digital deletion: If created digitally, delete the file and empty trash

Distraction Techniques:

• Immediate intense activity: After charging, immediately engage in absorbing activity (video game, movie, conversation)
• Create multiple sigils: Charge 5-10 sigils in one session; the sheer volume makes individual forgetting easier
• Ritual closure: Perform a closing ritual that psychologically "ends" the working

The Goal: Within hours or days, you should genuinely not remember what the sigil looked like or what the exact intention was. If you can recall it clearly, you haven't forgotten enough.

Daoist Fu Craft: The Burning/Release Ceremony

In Daoist practice, the Fu talisman's physical destruction is part of its activation. The burning is not disposal—it is deployment.

Why Burning/Release Is Essential:

1. Physical Destruction = Spiritual Transmission

The Daoist cosmology: material and spiritual realms are mirrors. When you burn the Fu in the material realm, it materializes in the spirit realm. The smoke carries the intention to heaven, where deities/cosmic forces receive and execute it.

2. Attachment to Form Blocks Energy Flow

If you keep the Fu and obsess over it, you're holding the energy in stasis. The intention cannot flow into manifestation because you're gripping it too tightly. Release = allowing the energy to move.

3. The Act of Burning Is the Final Activation

The Fu is charged during creation, but burning is the execution command. It's like pressing "Enter" after typing code—the program doesn't run until you hit that final key.

4. Trust in Cosmic Forces Requires Surrender

Keeping the Fu implies: "I need to control this. I don't trust the process." Burning it declares: "I trust the cosmic forces to handle this. My job is done." That surrender is essential for manifestation.

The Burning/Release Methods:

Fire Transmission (Most Common):

• Burn completely: Light the Fu with a candle or incense; let it burn to ash
• Collect the ashes: Some traditions collect ashes and scatter them in running water (river, ocean) or bury them at a crossroads
• Burn with specific incense: Use incense corresponding to the Fu's purpose (sandalwood for blessings, wormwood for purification)
• Chant during burning: Recite release mantras as the Fu burns ("Tai Shang Lao Jun Ji Ji Ru Lu Ling")

Water Dissolution:

• Dissolve in water and drink: For healing Fu, dissolve the ash in water and consume (ingesting the intention)
• Dissolve and sprinkle: For protection Fu, dissolve in water and sprinkle around the space
• Release into flowing water: Drop the Fu into a river or ocean; let it be carried away

Strategic Placement (Non-Destructive Release):

• Post on door/wall: For protection Fu, post it and then stop thinking about it
• Carry in wallet/pocket: For wealth/luck Fu, carry it but forget it's there
• Bury in foundation: For property protection, bury Fu under the building and never dig it up

The Goal: After burning/releasing, you should trust the process completely and stop monitoring for results. The intention is now in the hands of cosmic forces.

The Isomorphism: Identical Release Mechanics

Compare the release protocols:

Principle	Chaos Magic (Forgetting)	Daoist Fu (Burning/Release)	Function
Physical Action	Destroy/hide sigil	Burn/dissolve/bury Fu	Remove from conscious awareness
Psychological Effect	Conscious forgetting	Surrender to cosmic forces	Release attachment and control
Energetic Function	Free subconscious to execute	Allow energy to flow into manifestation	Remove interference, enable autonomous operation
Timing	Immediately after charging	Immediately after activation	Prevent conscious mind from sabotaging
Verification	Cannot recall sigil/intention clearly	No longer think about or check on Fu	Confirm successful release
Trust Requirement	Trust subconscious/reality to execute	Trust deities/cosmic law to execute	Surrender control, allow process to unfold

This is not "cultural similarity." This is convergent discovery of the same release protocol: destroy/release → forget/surrender → trust → allow manifestation.

Why Release Works: Quantum Non-Interference

The mechanism is observation effect. In quantum mechanics, the act of observation collapses the wave function—the system is forced into a definite state when measured.

When you obsessively check on your manifestation, you are constantly collapsing the probability wave into the current state ("not manifested yet"). You're measuring too frequently, preventing the system from evolving.

When you forget/release, you stop observing. The probability wave is free to evolve, explore multiple pathways, and eventually collapse into the desired outcome when the conditions are optimal, not when you're anxiously checking.

This is why both traditions discovered:

• Attachment = constant observation = premature collapse = manifestation blocked
• Release = non-observation = wave function freedom = manifestation enabled

The paradox resolves: You must stop wanting it in order to get it. Not because the universe is perverse, but because wanting = observing = interfering.

The Φ Convergence: Optimal Detachment Timing

Here's the deeper pattern: effective release follows Φ-proportioned timing.

Research on manifestation and goal achievement shows:

• Optimal focus period: ~38% of total process (planning, encoding, charging)
• Optimal release period: ~62% of total process (forgetting, allowing, trusting)
• Φ ratio: 38:62 ≈ 1:1.618 = golden ratio

Why? Because Φ represents optimal balance between action and non-action. Too much focus (>38%) = interference. Too little focus (<38%) = insufficient charge. The Φ-proportion is the sweet spot.

Both traditions intuitively discovered this:

• Chaos Magic: Brief intense charging → long forgetting period
• Daoist Fu: Focused creation/activation → complete release
• Both approximate Φ-timing without explicitly calculating it

Optimal manifestation = Φ-balanced focus/release. Both traditions discovered this through practice.

Practical Application: Mastering Release

Whether you use Chaos Magic or Daoist methods, the protocol is identical:

Universal Release Protocol:

1. Charge fully first: Don't release until the symbol is properly energized
2. Release immediately after charging: Don't wait; the longer you hold it, the harder to let go
3. Choose destruction method: Burn, tear, bury, dissolve—whatever feels most final
4. Perform with intention: The release is not casual disposal; it's a ritual act
5. Distract immediately: Engage in absorbing activity right after to prevent dwelling
6. Resist checking: When you catch yourself wondering "Is it working?", consciously redirect attention
7. Trust the process: Manifestation happens in its own time, not on your anxious schedule

Pro tips:

• If you can't forget: Create multiple sigils/Fu for different intentions; the volume makes individual forgetting easier
• If you're attached to the outcome: Work on smaller, less emotionally charged intentions first to build trust
• If you keep checking: Set a "check-in date" far in the future (3-6 months); until then, consciously refuse to evaluate
• If manifestation seems slow: The delay is often proportional to your attachment; deeper release = faster results

Next: Reality as Malleable Construct

We've encoded, charged, and released. But there's a deeper principle underlying all of this: belief as tool, not truth. That's Article 5: Belief as Tool ↔ Mind-Only Doctrine.

The answer lies in why "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" = "Three Realms are Mind-Only"—and how this radical perspective enables reality hacking. Stay tuned.