I have not posted much here for while because I have been very busy working to complete the robomancy and technomancy projects, but I would take a moment to write briefly about something that has been on my mind—and on my face—much of late.
I recently acquired a Samsung Gear VR headset which is quite a lot nicer than my Google Cardboard one. I have dozens of ideas for sorcerous applications of this technology, but one theme I continue to explore through my technomantic and robomantic Work is telepresence. VR can teleport you to a virtual reconstruction of the Temple of Delphi, or a temple of Zhothaqquah on Cykranosh, or a place more abstract than could exist outside cyberspace. It has the potential to situate you in the same ritual space with participants who are physically far remove from your proximity. VR is immersive in ways the 2D (or flat 3D) interfaces I design are not.
Take StreetView VR for example. You can pull up Google StreetView on your smart phone or personal computer and look at a 3D photograph of many places. Here is the Museum of Witchcraft in Bostcastle, one of my favorite places in the world. You can continue “walking” down toward the harbor or go up the street into town.
StreetView VR shows you the same thing but you are more “in it.” You can be looking at the museum and physically turn your head around and now you are looking at the bridge across Valency. It is not in real time, and it is certainly not the best way to get in touch with the genius loci of a place (for that you need to take your body to wherever you wish to commune), but inasmuch as a photograph may be regarded as a magical link, the ability to immersively situate yourself within a photograph is pretty cool. You could also use a 360° camera to take photos of places to virtually work within, or set up a 360° live video feed in the midst of, say, a temple populated with your partners in maleficium.
It would not take much to develop responsive sigil overlays or other magical interface elements for this sort of thing, but even without such enhancements you may use your imagination to project or receive ætheric impressions.