Mastigos master a world ruled by desire, thought, and perception. Thought is substance. Space is sentiment. You might feel like your true love never leaves your side or that the road stretches to an unpleasant destination. You’re not imagining things, but without Awakening, you’ll always trudge a lattice of miles, imprisoned in the Lie of objective distance. Without discipline, your thoughts are not your own — they can scarcely be said to inhabit your brain. Your passions travel invisible planes. Space is a set of chains forged by desire and associations, and they can be shaken from both ends.

The two common names for the Path reflect its individualistic, confrontational nature. The traditional title is Warlock, a name for sorcerers that also translates to “oathbreaker” in Old English. In the case of the Mastigos, the name fits not because of their untrustworthiness, but their typical disdain for taboos and impatience with social pretense. In the latter half of the 20th century, young Mastigos borrowed the term Psychonaut from chaos magicians and human potential gurus; but where those Sleepers explore their shallows of their souls through drugs and meditation, mages map the depths and fish out the creatures they find. How would they treat you, with your demon-haunted mind, lost in the prison of distance?

Ruling Arcana

Mind and Space. Passions and the connections. The unknown reaches of the soul, manifest in hidden places in the world. To understand the Mastigos approach to Mind, cast off the notion that consciousness is an inner advisor, babbling your thoughts. The true self is calm and transcendent, beyond even the debatable concept of the superego. It never strives, but is the path of a river, the layout of mind-palaces. A Psychonaut places himself above thoughts, wrangling their goetic manifestations to do her bidding, and reaches out with transcendental clarity to touch the thoughts of others.

Warlocks rattle the chains of connection: the true nature of Space, instead of what Sleepers measure with yardsticks and maps. A Master of Space shrinks them to black iron threads, finely wrought, often tangled, and easily severed.

Inferior Arcanum

Matter. Matter sticks in the conceptual gullet of the Mastigos. It seems to populate the Lie alone, a too-solid illusion to fill the empty spaces between Sleepers. Yet “base” elements undeniably possess Supernal vibrations and have a claim to the world of truth. Mastigos find it difficult to understand Matter’s faint, unthinking hum.

Symbols and Myths

The Devil and Temperance. Demons and wrathful gods. Serenity and decadence.

In the Awakened Tarot, Mastigos map their experience to two contrasting cards. The Devil represents a Warlock’s passions. Everyone carries an annex of Pandemonium where their desires dwell, but Mastigos not only possess a strong inner menagerie, but the clarity to name and subjugate its inmates. Their Mystery card is Temperance: the path of control and sign of the psychopomp who guides souls between worlds. Despite the initial victory of Awakening, suppressing the Goetia is a lifelong struggle, waged through raw determination, meditative calm, and occasional bribery — feeding your passions can calm them, for a time.