Learning About Ideograms
Journaling a class is a terrific way to embed learning of the course or experience. The next few articles are a summary of my experience taking Birdie Jaworki’s TransDimensional Mapping class. This is not a replacement for having your own direct experience.
In TDM, ideograms are quick, simple marks or squiggles you make on paper as your first response to a getting familiar with “the experience.”
They’re not meant to be carefully drawn—instead, they’re an automatic reaction, like your subconscious speaking through your pen.
Think of ideograms as a kind of symbol your mind creates to describe the target’s basic features.
For example:
- A wavy line might mean water.
- A flat line could suggest a flat plane, like earth.
- A soft curve, or perhaps pointed might suggest a hill or something natural.
- A quick 45º angle if most often a structure of some type.
- Quick circlular shapes are often beings, and you can get an idea of their position by it’s position.
- Quick squiggly mark is often energy.
Initially these are the perfect starting point for experiencing ideograms to help open the door to mapping an endeavor. (An experienced mapper will develop a keen relationship over time with their ideograms as they transform into a subconscious language.)
Probing Ideograms
When you create an ideogram in TDM, the next step is to explore it. Take the tip of your pen and probe it asking for sensory words and write them down in a column. You may “just” quickly receive them, so jot them down.
Probe with suggestions like:
- What does this feel like? (Is it hard, soft, rough, smooth?)
- Does it remind me of a texture, temperature, or movement?
- Are there any other sensory impressions, like smells or sounds?
The idea is to use the ideogram as a starting point for uncovering more about the experience. It’s the first step in a process that builds from these raw, instinctive impressions into more detailed and structured insights. Think of it like cracking open the door to what your mind already knows about the event/subject—you just need to step through and explore!
After Probing Sketch a Quick Impression
As quickly as you drew the ideogram, probed 10 to 20 sensory words, follow with drawing an impression. These three actions are the very first steps in learning how to start a mapping process. There’s a lot of other knowledge that goes with this initial process recorded in my class notes. I’m only journaling the highlights of the 5 day course.
First Examples
Remember that every experience is done blind. We (the students) have no idea what the subject is. The subjects are assigned using a series of random numbers. The numbers become the identity of the topic and are recorded on the paper. Just as fast as they are jotted down, the ideogram takes form and is marked on the paper.
Melbourne Tightrope Walker
This is the very first subject. The goal in this first exercise was to experience using three sheets of paper and write the assigned number, a quick ideogram, then probe for sensory words followed by quick sketches. At this point any success feel wonderful!
Scan 1: The ideogram was the one similar to the mountain. But it also resembled the structure. Probing lead to some terrific sensory words. Like goes up, whiz, leans, (mirror and blast?). The sketch felt light climbing to the top of a tall building. The star at the top felt something at the top was significant, maybe star like. There were people below.
Scan 2: The ideogram felt like something flat, but there was something attached to it. The probing lead to words like pre, follow, ledge, drop off, brown, barely, roam. The sketch sorta looks like a head and arms outward, there’s sound playing somewhere, maybe a place with music. I am not sure what the image was that looked like it was spewing sound or something.
Scan 3: The Ideogram was interesting. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was round like a horizon and it made me feel like it has something to do with the earth. The sensory words noted a stick, pose, and it takes awhile, it’s up. Some other words not sure. The drawing looked like footsteps on top of the world. And not sure what the splashes are.
Deconstruction: (Analyzing after subject is revealed): Happy I was able to record as directed and it sure felt mysterious. Now that sometime has passed and actually feel quite delighted with how much I perceived in just a few minutes. What was so accurate is he definitely had to climb a structure. There was a ledge and a drop off. He did have a stick, and yes, he probably felt like he was on top of the world looking out at the horizon. I bet a lot of people broke out in a sweat watching him. Fearful that he would fall. A lot of emotions were probably being experienced. I can understand the “pose”, and maybe there was music below, like a celebration afterward and people were smiling and celebrating? Not going to spend more time on this one since it’s just the beginning of this five day journey.
Pope Benedict on the Move in the Popemobile
It’s so fascinating. I learned the value of metaphor in this experience. Because I am not religious my subconscious had to really work to get me to comprehend “the Pope.” (The following text includes some deconstruction.)
I don’t recall the order of each view. (Note: The purple ink was written when I was deconstructing what I had received.)
Scan One: The unicorn stumped me until I understood what a significant public figure I was viewing. I am not religious so my subconscious had to find a mystical way of relating to me the topic. I researched symbolism of a unicorn. It was dazzling learning of its connection to religious symbolism. Its rich Christian allegorical significance and appearance in Church-related art reflect its importance in conveying key spiritual ideas. It also tied in with so many of the sensory words. So the first scan was about the Pope as a religious being! The small round circles could have something to do with those escorting him.
Scan Two: This one describes the vehicle! Yes, it has handrails inside the bubble, and the guy walking beside the car is holding the car’s handle. All the words fit, and the little drawing shows the raised “bubble” part with a vertical element (the pope standing), and yes, the “bubble” opens.
Scan Three: This perspective informed me that the “experience” was on the move and an idea about where they were going. Again, bees are symbolism, protectors and loyal guards. The bee is also significant in identity icons. I think my subconscious was trying to show me a reference to a route and how what was on the move had to go through some type of entrance. Even the “silver-ish color fit.
Eniwetok 1956 – Small Pacific Island
Scan 1: The drawing felt like a large structure but connected to something billowing. I felt like it was a location where people were in lounge chairs, and they were playful and easygoing. Yet the “experience” sensory word described far away. It was noisy, moving, rising, dropping angled, and pillow(billow?)
Scan 2: I kept seeing trains! And they were on a track but had to go through a security gate. There was a whistling sound. It felt like people were constructing, and the trains were going back and forth, but the people had to be careful. They needed the “all clear” before moving the trains through. For some reason, workers were going to lunch near a place that served food like tacos. The reference to vacation could have had something to do with a location where people would go.
Scan 3: This scan has a focus of an intersection, like trying to choose a direction. And the spot up by the wavy hills feels like something trying to find the right spot, or location and it seemed to be a distance from the structure. Maybe the location was out of the way. I noticed the location spot was also remote from the structure.
This is the first attempt at creating a simple map after the three scans.
Map 4. This simple map became very interesting and brought up all kinds of questions. I sensed the whoosh on the side of the building, which felt like steam or something that was not good. It was like the material in the first scan. I saw hills in the back, too. This area also seemed remote. So I asked where it was! Answer: “southeast.” I remembered the word “tacos” and saw people taking a break, but something irritating was in the air, like setting off allergies. I felt local people worked here, but there wasn’t much else around. That was why they had to have a food area for the workers. The building with the three doors felt like an industrial type of place. And this is where the trucks loaded or picked up some items. I also saw it was a gated area, and there was a guard building with someone in it. Also, it felt like a UFO was hanging out above a “tool shed”. I feel this shed was symbolic for everything you need to make something. So they were keeping an eye on a production type of site. But, why the lipstick?
Deconstruction of Experience
After learning what the experience was I decided to ask AI some questions about how lipstick could be related to hydrogen bombs! Here’s the answers I received. Surprise to me!
Beryllium in Lipstick Cases and Hydrogen Bombs
Hydrogen Bombs:
Beryllium, a lightweight and strong metal, was used in the hydrogen bomb as a neutron reflector and in the design of nuclear initiators. It played a key role in the functionality of nuclear weapons.
Lipstick Cases:
During the same era, beryllium alloys were sometimes used in manufacturing high-end, durable lipstick cases due to their strength and resistance to corrosion.
(Later Birdie also mentioned that she was aware of a Lipstick NHI, and that she RV’d these ETs. That was interesting, too!)
Also why did I get a location of SouthEast, & how were trains related?? So ask AI.
The “White Trains” were operable primarily from the 1950s through the 1980s, during the height of the Cold War. They were a critical part of the United States’ efforts to safely transport nuclear weapons, components, and materials across the country.
Again, fascinating. I am experiencing how viewing an experience doesn’t mean you just map the photo, the photo is often charged with information if the subject is also charged. So, I can let my left brain rest knowing I am sensing a big picture rather than just a result.
Something Nasty is Going on in the Tool Shed
(Had to provide a chuckle because that is a line out of the movie, “Cold Comfort Farm” …but in this case it’s ET’s being watchful of the process of making a hydrogen bomb I am assuming.)
Of course there’d be ETs above the tool shed! They’d be watching how the bombs were being made and what was going on with materials and what was needed to make a hydrogen bomb. This location isn’t where the bomb was detonated, but it sure feels descriptive of a location where they were made.
So I did some research on why this felt like New Mexico (location SE). I asked where the first hydrogen bombs were made, and here’s what I learned:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), New Mexico Role: This was the central hub for nuclear weapons design during the Manhattan Project and beyond. Los Alamos was responsible for the theoretical design and initial development of hydrogen bombs, including the first thermonuclear device, Ivy Mike, tested in 1952.
Now I understand why the “whoosh” was coming out the side of the building. My subconscious was trying to tell me the building and the whoosh which was the experience image of the hydrogen bomb being detonated in Eniwetok were related.
When I researched pictures online many had the same elements as the New Mexico location. Oppenheimer, the movie also featured the Los Alamos Lab! Wow, and I wrote “Just like the movie” at the top of the 4th map. I haven’t seen the movie, Oppenheimer nor did I know this link consciously.
Again, fascinating! My biggest takeaway is how much I don’t know with my waking mind. But my subconscious really does know way more than I perceived. I can sense how our inner mind really does have access to everything. As Birdie stated, we are learning to figure out how to build a communication bridge between our waking and inner minds. I am also beginning to understand that my mapping experience may be showing a pattern right know of wanting to grasp the big picture.
To continue, click > Mapping Experience: Bees, Drones & a Neolithic Site
