Chaos Magick

http://www.beyondweird.com/occult/orchaos.html

Well magic, like some of the great religious messages is essentially simple, but is prey to the process whereby simple ideas become extremely complicated beliefs which can lead you further and further away from doing any magic at all. Weave back through time to æsomewhere in the paleolithic era to find a tribal shaman sitting on a rock gaping at the visions revealed by a soggy piece of toadstool. Fast-forwards a few millenia and youll find a Magical System that comprises of several hundred- thousand words, obscure diagrams and appendices which will probably state at some point, that drugs are a no-no. The birth of Chaos magic came about in the late 70's, at about the time that punk rock was spitting out at the music industry and Chaos Science was beginning to be taken seriously by mathematicians, economists, and physicists. The two ænames most associated with the birth of Chaos magic are Pete Carroll and RaySherwin, though there were others lurking in the background, such as the Stoke Newington Sorcero (SNS)rs who later became entwined with the first stirrings of the Punk movement.

Some of Pete Carroll's early writings on Chaos was published in The New Equinox, published by Ray Sherwin, in which the first adverts proclaiming the advent of the Illuminates of Thanater os (IOT) magical order appeared. Interestingly enough, there is no mention of the term æchaosÆ in the earliest versions of IOT material.

Ray Sherwin's Morton Press then issued Pete Carroll's Libers Null, and SherwinÆ sown The Book of Results , which expounded the very practical method of æSigilisationÆ as developed by Austin Osman Spare, which has become one of the core techniques associated with Chaos magic. The early growth of Chaos magic was characterised by a loose network of informal groups who came together to experiment with the possibilities of the new current. With the demise of The New Equinox, the æchaos kidsÆ reported their results and heresies in the pages of Chris BrayÆs new magazine, The Lamp of Thoth. The early Chaos books were joined by two tapes 'The Chaos Concept' which discussed the basics of Chaos magic, and 'The Chaochamber', a science-fiction pathworking which combined elements of Star Trek, Michael Moorcock, and H.G. Wells. Chris Bray's 'Sorceror's Apprentice' Press then re-released, Liber Null, The Book of Results, as well as two new books, Pete Carroll's Psychonauts, and Ray Sherwin's The Theatre of magic. These, together with articles from the growing Chaos corpus in the LOT, drew more people into experimenting with the new approach. Thanks to the efforts of Ralph Tegtmeier, the Chaos approach was also receiving attention in continental Europe. The basic message of Chaos magic is that, what is fundamental to magic is the actual doing of it - that like sex, no amount of theorising and intellectualisation can substitute for the actual experience. Pete Carroll's Liber Null, therefore, presented the bare bones of the magical techniques which can be employed to bring about change in oneÆ s circumstances. Liber Null concentrated on techniques, saying that the actual methods of magic are basically shared by the different systems, despite the dif fering symbols, beliefs and dogmas. What symbol systems you wish to employ is a matter of choice, and that the webs of belief which surround them are means to an end, rather than ends in themselves (more of which later).

from: C H A O S Phil Hine version 1.3 1992-1997


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