The operators

Beneath the six ways of noticing sit six operators — their formal cousins. Each names an operation the substrate is doing, rather than a category of content. This is the notation underneath the soft-mode work upstairs; you don't need it to meet the guides, but it is what lets their conversations hold their shape.

The six operators

Six operators run the diagnostic. They are the formal cousins of the six ways of noticing. Each names an operation — a thing the substrate is doing — rather than a category of content. They are written with their canonical glyphs and Greek letters.

Glyph	Operator	Operation
∴	Air σ	Distinction-making, separation, the cut that names.
≈	Water ρ	Relational binding, resonance, what touches what.
▲	Fire λ	Propagation, what spreads, the lambda of transmission.
𐂷	Wood β	Growth structure, becoming, the bend of development.
☷	Earth δγ	Metabolism, integration, what is digested and what stays.
⛨	Metal μ	Refinement, the cut that keeps, what falls away.

Together, these six operators cover the basic moves any pattern-substrate can make. A seventh layer — Aether ✶ — names what emerges when the six operate together. Aether is not a seventh operator. It is the integrative field the others produce. It belongs in the formalism rather than the operator set.