Daemon-ology (no, not Demonology)

So, I love typologies and trying to figure out how they work, what they mean, etc. Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, various online personality tests, it's all great stuff in my opinion. Maybe it's because I like the idea of being able to point at something and say "ahh, see, that's what I'm *really* like," which of course prevents me from having to do the actual hard work myself. Now whether that's because of laziness or because I fear having to defend myself and would like some sort of "authority" to fall back on, that's perhaps a more difficult question.

Of course, that's a rather negative take on why typologies and the like fascinate me. Hmm...

Another thing I really like, and which is mostly related, is the idea of an outwardly visible representation of the self in animal form. Historically (that is to say, in the history of my white English Christian cultural context), one of the more familiar examples of this was the, well, familiar. Ok, so maybe the familiar isn't the best example I'd like to hold up.

In more modern literature/pop culture, J.K. Rowling and Phillip Pullman probably have the best example of what I'm talking about in their respective Patronus Charms and Daemons. The Patronus is probably the single thing I most wish was real from Harry Potter, a protector you can summon, made of hope and willpower, that takes a form specific to you and your personality. It may or may not be reflective of you specifically (the forms of Harry Potter and Professor Snape's patroni, as example, are not reflective of themselves so much as another extremely important person/protection in their life). I would love to be able to cast the Patronus; if nothing else, the curiosity of how it would appear fascinates me.

And whatever problems I may have with Phillip Pullman's worldview and some of his stances, I adore the concept of the daemons, a physical reflection of a person's own soul. And so, while surfin on the Interwebs last night, Coyote stumbled across this "discover your daemon" test at the Golden Compass Movie website. Fantastic! So, I took the test, and the site determined that my daemon is a fox named Trina. Here, looksee



So, intrepid reader, shall you also take this fun little online test and let the moviefolks tell you what your daemon would be if that world were real? Now of course, I know that as with all online personality type-tests, this one no doubt has problems, weaknesses, and it has a rather limited selection of animals that can be your daemon. For example, of the 30 possible choices, 20 are mammalian (a very common human bias), and none are reptiles (snake, croc, turtle?) or amphibians (frog, toad, salamander?). I am surprised, and rather impressed, that any arthropods were included at all. Still, despite these weaknesses, I did like the quiz. Maybe I'll include some others in the future.

Ta for now!