Chaos Magick
by Ray Sherwin
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Chaos Magick has its roots in every occult tradition and in the
work of many individuals. If any one person can be said to have
been responsible, albeit unintentionally, for the present climate
of opinion that person would be Austin Osman Spare, whose magical
system was based entirely on his image of himself and upon an
egocentric model of the universe. He did not intend that the
system he devised for his own use should be used by others since
it was clear to him that no two individuals could benefit from
the same system. Nor did he fall into the trap of presuming that
the information revealed to or by him was pertinent to all
mankind as all the messiahs did. Aleister Crowley came to look
upon him as a "black brother" purely because he refused to accept
Crowley's Law of Thelema, preferring instead to work beyond
dogmas and rules, relying on intuition and information uprooted
from the depths of self.
The most recent public expression of Chaos Magick has been
through the work of the Illuminates of Thanateros, an order which
Pete Carroll and I initiated in 1978. Our aim at that time was to
inspire rather than lead magicians interested in the Chaos
concept by publishing ideas of a practical nature. Our approach
differed to Spare's only insamuch as we were interested in group
as well as solo magick. The response to our writings was much
greater than we anticipated and by 1982 there were groups working
in England, Australia, America, Egypt and Germany as well as
allied groups such as the "Circle of Chaos" and many individuals
working alone.
The difficulties of running such an order soon became apparent.
What seemed simple to us, both in concept and technique, was not
simple to people who had not suffered the bizarre and arbitary
intricacies of what is now referred to as "traditional magick."
This put us in an awkward position because it meant that a
magical concept which, by our own definition, could not be taught
now needed to be taught. Both Pete and I held guruship and
hierarchy as anathema yet now we were being expected not only to
teach but also to lead.
It has been said that all systems of magick have the same end
result. I doubt that this is true because so many systems
restrict their practitioners within such narrow parameters of
dogma and morality (even if there is no priesthood as such) that
instinct and imagination are stifled by rules and doctrines. A
path cannot be chosen sensibly until all paths have been examined
for comparison and to restrict oneself to one path would, in any
case, limit ones experience and modes of thinking.
A solution was eventually to the problem of how to reach that
which could not be taught. No rules or instructions were ever
given, only suggestions. No mention was made of notions best left
for the individual to decide such as reincarnation and the
existence or nature of god. Ideas of that nature have little
bearing on the performance of practical magick anyway, and
individuals practising the techniques rapidly came to their own
conclusions. We knew that we were on the right track when we came
to collating the information sent to us by individuals and
groups. Without exception everyone who sent results to us
considered the techniques they had used to be extremely potent
but - and this was the important thing - they had all come to
different conclusions on matters of philosophy. That they had
come such varying conclusions and still wanted to remain within
the loose organisation structure we had set up was more
encouraging than anything else.
To detail the methods of Chaos Magick would be spurious since
they are adequately dealt with in available publications. It
would be useful however, to point out a popular misconception
which has been unintentionally fostered by people writing in
specialist magazines. There has been some confusion about the
word 'chaos', some writers believing the word to have been used
in this context to express the techniques themselves. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Whilst it is correct that some
modes of gnosis are effective because they confuse the
ratio-cinative functions they ultimately lead to clarity and
magicians involved in the Chaos current tend to be meticulous in
the way they organise their programme of work. This is a legacy
inherited from the "93 system". We formulated the term "Chaos
Magick" to indicate the randomness of the universe and the
individuals relationship with it. The antithesis of chaos,
cosmos, is the universe suitably defined by the successful
magician for his own purposes and that definition is under
constant scrutiny and may be regularly changed. Chaos is
expressive of this philosophy and reinforces the idea that there
is no permanent model for the individual's relationship with
everything that he is not. The word encompasses not only those
things we know to be true but also what we suspect may be true as
well as the world of impressions, paranoias and possibilities.
If there were anything such as a Chaos Credo it would run on the
following lines: I do not believe in anything. I know what I know
(gnosis) and I postulate theories which may or may not enter my
system of adopted beliefs when those theories have been tested.
There are no gods or demons, except for those I have been
conditioned into acknowledging and those I have created for
myself. I create and destroy beliefs according to their
usefulness. In the words of the wise "nothing is true, everything
is permitted" - provided it interferes with no-one.
At the group level obviously a consensus of some sort must be
reached. I use the word consensus advisedly because other
descriptions such as "shared reality" would be quite misleading
since no notion beyond the concrete can be shared. It can, at
best, be appreciated. Guidance in technique is always useful but
reliance on books, even books on Chaos Magick, is best kept to a
minimum in favour of working by instinct.
Group workings usually fall into four categories - experimental,
initiatory, repeated ritual and celebratory (for which several
groups may come together) although by no means all groups include
all four categories in their repertoire. More important for a
group working any sort of magick is to build and maintain an
atmosphere which excites and inspires the imagination. The groups
already in existence have, to a large extent, moved away from the
idea prevailing in the seventies that theatrical trappings are
not necessary. They tend to use any device which will contribute
to the magical atmosphere they wish to create. The traditional
magical weapons are sometimes used but, more often than not,
quite new weapons peculiar to each group are made. Masks and
robes are effective and, therefore, widely used although nudity
is not frowned upon (See the "Cardinal Rites of Chaos").
As far as experimental magick is concerned, sigilisation has been
the most widely researched subject, but telekinesis, ESP and
telepathy as well as many methods of raising power have been
looked into in varying degrees of detail.
Chaos Magick is not looking for converts but anyone who is
already inclined towards magical adventure and who is prepared to
break new ground would be warmly accepted by the existing groups.
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BOOKS ON CHAOS MAGICK
* LIBER NULL - Pete Carroll
* PSYCHONAUT - Pete Carroll
* THE THEATRE OF MAGICK - Ray Sherwin
* THE BOOK OF RESULTS - Ray Sherwin
* CARDINAL RITES OF CHAOS - Paula Pagani
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