|
|
|
- By Irreverend Hugh, KSC
First off, an article explaining Chaos Magic probably doesn’t belong in a strictly Pagan listing of traditions. Since many Pagans may be into certain occult practices, they may have heard of Chaos Magic. This article was written for two reasons: To counter any preconceptions or prejudices some Pagans may have towards it; and to show the beautiful and vivid collection of approaches to magic that fall under the term. There are also many Pagans of various traditions who practice Chaos Magic, so perhaps this can enlighten the rest as to what they are up to. Chaos Magic (CM) is strictly speaking, a set of approaches to magic that strip away a lot of occultist pedantry and get right down to the bare bones of magical activity itself. The criteria for success first includes observable results. These results can usually be shown to be replicable. The problem is that with any practice involving human individuals, there are variations and an individual’s personal system of beliefs or sense of what is possible can affect the results. (Parallel examples of this can be found in other human fields such as art or music if you need an example.) In the first decade or so of CM, it wasn’t so much a magical tradition or paradigm in itself but more of a "metaparadigmatic" approach. Beliefs were seen as simply emotive and mental tools to use in rituals to accomplish whatever the group or individual practitioner’s goals were. Though, since those times, CM has accrued to itself some pretty standard and distinctive elements and practices, these could still be seen as a means to an end and not to be used towards establishing any sort of new magical body of beliefs and rituals. Despite this stance, CM may be seen as its own distinctive tradition, depending on the group or individual practitioner. To get a handle on what CM is, it may be useful to describe the difference between one who practices CM and someone who practices, say Wicca. Whereas a Wiccan is a follower of the religion and belief system of Wicca, CM itself doesn’t mean its practitioners adhere to any one tradition or set of beliefs. Thus the CM practitioner could very well be a Wiccan, a member of Asatru, or a Druid. Usually the Chaos Magician is the type of individual who can successfully see the world from within more than one belief system or paradigm. In this spirit, many Pagans who are polytheists may also be practitioners of CM and not even know it. Many successful and well known practitioners of CM are conscious members of one or more Pagan traditions or occult groups as well. Chaos Magic can be seen as the heir to all of the magical traditions of humanity that stretch back to the distant and mostly imagined prehistory of our species. The one key difference is that outside of any useful belief in any sort of continuity with the past, Chaos Mages care little to nothing about philosophizing or taking it too seriously. The focus is on magic itself and the joy that can be ours by simply paying attention to the fact that reality is so much more than any one of our minds can conceive. Reality will and often does allow a certain amount of flexibility and tends to conform to the ways in which we see it. The point of CM is not to allow for any sort of solipsism to arise from this knowledge (which is a perennial danger) but to get the Chaos Mage to see exactly what is "really going on." This can only be done if one is willing to allow that all of what one thinks about reality is in one’s mind. So we allow ourselves to play with the mind, to see just how much of reality may or may not be influenced or filtered through our mind. It is the mind that is one of reality’s most beautiful expressions of magic, and contrary to what some may argue, the mind is one of the most flexible and fickle aspects of our existence. It also helps to have a flexible and infinitely adaptable mind so that one will be able to handle life on the day reality simply does not conform to one’s own conceptions. If beliefs are holding you back from succeeding at an endeavor, than CM would say (if it could say anything) that one should jettison those beliefs and adopt something that will work better. This will lead (and has lead) to some interesting developments in the practice of magic within the CM approach.
Just as England is said to be the birthplace of the religion of Wicca in the 1950’s, it can also be said to be the birthplace of what became identified as the Chaos Magic movement in the latter 1970’s. It could be said to be the logical evolution of magical and occult experimentation and knowledge as applied from a post-modern perspective. When CM came together as a distinctive approach, it was the newest development in results-oriented magic since the Discordian Society’s explosive growth in the early 1970’s. CM and its chaos-positive approach can be said to be an outcome of the growing Erisian influence over many aspects of the occult world, as well as the influence of the various chaos-oriented theories in science and the post-modern cultures of today’s world. Despite its rather recent history, CM looks back to occult pioneers like Aleister Crowley (with Thelema) and Austin Osman Spare (with his Zos Kia Cultus). Crowley and Spare are seen as sort of unwitting grandparents of the movement. The former contributed both the idea that armchair occultism and pedantry impress no one and that one should form their own system, while the latter lived in his own system. Spare’s ideas on sigil magic also greatly contributed to the movement. While both of these characters are well known for their longwinded and almost incomprehensible writings on magic, they are looked to as sources. Back to England in the late 1970’s: In 1978, Peter Carroll, who is considered the first major proponent of the Chaos approach, formed the group known as the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT). Around this time he published the seminal text of hard occult magic called Liber Null which is now considered a Chaos Magic classic, though at that time the word chaos was yet to be used. By the latter 1980’s, because of the IOT and various chaos oriented occult journals, Chaos Magic was fully established. Groups like the Leeds Order Of Neuromancers (LOON) and others were consciously identifying with the chaos approach. It was also around this time that a lot of cross fertilization with the Discordian Society happened. At the same time, in the realm of fiction and its literature (which many occult writers claim to not be a part of), the American writer Robert Anton Wilson, who popularized Erisianism in his works, published many books such as The Cosmic Trigger and the Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy which explored the idea of paradigm shifting and mental/emotional programming. The 1990’s saw the publication of many of the theories, ideas, and results of CM experimentation in book form. (All of which are alleged by serious occultists to be non-fiction.) Peter Carroll published his Liber Kaos which continued the hard occult magic tendencies of CM and explained a bit more about the IOT. The brightest gem from this period would be Phil Hine, whose down to earth approach probably won more people over to the chaos approach then any one of the so-called magical organizations. His Condensed Chaos is the best introduction to CM ideas and practices written so far. Unlike Peter Carroll, Ray Sherwin, and other more hard occult writers, Phil Hine’s perspective was friendly and understandable by many people who wanted the bare bones of the chaos approach without having to become the sort of "High Magus" that Carroll and others seemed to be going for. (Interested Pagans who don’t want to feel berated for believing in deities or who don’t want to listen to certain occultists’ spurious invectives against Wicca, should read Phil Hine’s material.) By the end of the 1990’s the little known CM approach was undergoing a relatively explosive growth. (Relatively, because most occult or magical movements are small.) Various groups have come and gone in England, Europe and in North America. Today, the IOT is still active and popular. Despite what others have said about its structure and hierarchy, it has endured when other groups couldn’t muster even a few years of existence. The LOON appears to have gotten lost in the Erisian Movement, though a few people show up online from time to time claiming to be members. There are the Kaotic Illuminated Adepts (KIA) which appears to be a reaction to the more structured and "hierarchical" IOT. Then there is also the AutonomatriX which is a non-hierarchical organization which rarely accepts new members. Two of the most popular magical groups working within CM are The Temple of Psychick Youth and Z-Cluster. There are also many new groups which can be shown to be from the CM movement or at least influenced by it such as Chaozation, or 23 Cluster. Thanks to the rise of the internet, Chaos Mages and those interested can share freely in many of the various approaches, rituals, experiments, and results. True to it’s open source and free-form outlook, most of the CM rituals and experiments can be found in one version or another online for the perusal of those interested who may wish to continue them with their creativity applied. Unlike the usual occult shop, which may or may not have one or two CM publications, the internet has exploded with CM writings, artwork, spells, sigils, and other ideas. The secret of the magic is out. There is no secret.
Besides the eccentricities and personal preferences of groups or individual practitioners, a number of practices are shared broadly among the CM community, at least in theory, if not in actual reality. CM does borrow from any source but with the caveat that the original technique or ritual is subject to the change and whims of the practitioner. This leads to situations in which a Chaos Mage is able to do things to and with a supposedly timeless and fixed occult technique that many other occultists say is impossible or shouldn’t be done out of fear for dire consequences. Chaos Mages will even invent rituals, sometimes even deities and thought forms for the purpose. At other times, Chaos Mages will invoke various cartoon or science fiction characters and still get successful results. This has provoked a lot of argument and debate among the occult community. Many people outside of the CM movement have simply dismissed CM because of this free-form approach. But the Chaos Mage’s ultimate retort is the results. They have found that magic is something that deserves to be approached on its own terms (which CM usually tends to call chaos because of its infinite potential and flexibility) and can be done so from any angle that the human mind can conceive of. This discovery of magic’s infinite variety of expression and endless potential is the crowning achievement of CM. Thus a Chaos Mage may just as likely work within a Wiccan paradigm, work within a circle, while drawing down the moon, in order to either do Wiccan forms of magic, or to learn what it is like to be an actual Wiccan. They may also be just as likely to call up a fictional yet feared character such as Cthulhu to practice the art of banishing with laughter in an attempt to show any newer mages that if one can get over oneself and not take it all too seriously, than one can most definitely take the same attitude towards any supposed beings out there. Or a Chaos Mage who thinks of their self as a Witch may pull off a successful "drawing down of the streetlight" ritual. Need magical energy? Simply ride the subway and tap into the electrical charge. This nonchalant attitude has made the CM approach seem disrespectful or shallow by adherents of one or more belief systems or ethical views. But the idea behind such experiments and rituals is to show a person just how plastic and free-form both our minds/emotions and magic really are. Chaos mages often engage in what many call "metaprogramming" or "paradigm shifting." The various aspects of existence are viewed in varying ways depending on the paradigm or belief system. Some aspects may not even be possible depending on the belief, whereas other aspects which society deems impossible may be shown to be very real under another paradigm. So a Chaos Mage may one day wake up and decide to view the world from a Wiccan paradigm. On another day, they may decide to view the world from a scientific materialist paradigm. Then on another day, they may take up Aleister Crowley’s beliefs. This is not done in as willy nilly of a fashion as this may first come off. Chaos Mages do tend to fully explore other belief systems and their attendant rituals and props (including the appropriate emotional and intellectual responses) in a spirit akin to an anthropologist. The one thing that sets off the Chaos Mage from someone who is merely eclectic however is that the Chaos Mage is not supposed to be beholden to any system of organizing reality. One of the most common techniques used by Chaos Mages is the magical trance (‘gnosis’ in CM) which is used for all sorts of operations and spells, and I suspect just for the fun of it by some. Even so, this trance state is not necessary for enchantment since CM has discovered that magic is only linked to energy through our metaphors. Thus the mage can simply carry out the rite through the most minimum of symbols (a hand gesture or a power word) under the most limited form of awareness (such as in sleepiness or drunkenness) and still get the sought for results. Many people ask whether CM practitioners practice black or white magic, left or right handed magic. The response is either "neither" or "all of it." Strictly speaking Chaos Mages may use the eight magic color schema first developed by Peter Carroll. So instead of just black or white, there are eight basic varieties. (I should note that some people modify this schema for their own purposes and many don’t use it at all.) As far as "left" or "right" handed go, both of these sides of practice are explored and developed but the idea behind CM is not to get caught up in either because the goal is to be able to practice "empty handed magic." I have not focused so much on the plethora of rituals and magical doings as much as the paradigm shifting, because the fluidity behind this practice is the core of CM. Laughter is key to the Chaos Mage for many reasons: It is an effective method of banishment; it is a good way to avoid the hubris that many occultists fall under; and laughter is the meaning of our lives, if such a thing could be said. What is more magical than laughter, since it is also one of the best ways of getting the mind to open up to change or to view the world from another angle? (The other effective way is fear, and we know that not many like that.)
Chaos Mages tend to believe that it is possible and even desirable to change one’s set of beliefs when the need or will arises, such as for magical purposes. Paradigm shifting is encouraged. The idea behind this is to learn to see that "reality," or most of what we take to be "reality" is just our own elaboration over the basic chaos of existence. What we understand, we call order. What we don’t understand, we call disorder. The rest we ignore. Understanding, what we understand, and how we come to understand all come from the way beliefs modify our perceptions. Without getting bogged down in arguing whether or not the disbelief in having beliefs is itself a belief, it should be pointed out that CM is not against beliefs or having them. Otherwise why would practitioners experiment with changing their beliefs and expanding their perception? CM practitioners just feel that it is not necessary to cling to any set of beliefs unless the individual agrees to. Likewise all other phenomena and the ways we think about them. This allows for a view of existence that is polytheistic in spirit if not the letter, meaning that CM allows for multiple levels of reality or realities and for multiple approaches, whether or not the individual actually believes in various deities. Individuals or groups can even use the belief in one or more deities for a time in order to accomplish a certain magical rite, or to achieve a certain expansion of consciousness, or even just to see and understand what it feels like to be in such a believer’s shoes. Thus it could be said that the one thing that the Chaos approach shares with many forms of Paganism is the idea that it is not so important which set of beliefs one adheres to so much as what one does. Reality, existence, etc. is said to be held up and brought into play through magic, which many Chaos Mages, if not all, see as its own ‘force.’ The material and spiritual sides of existence are simply shadows of magic. This makes reality infinite in approaches and aspects. The universe is really a multiverse. Your self is really a collection of various aspects, thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, and ideas that you have merely and artfully given a sense of unity to. Chaos Mages give no quarter to things like karma, magical rules, or any so-called correct or incorrect ways of doing things. These things have more to do with ethics or beliefs and ethics or beliefs should be decided upon by the individual. The famous CM saying "Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted" sums up the chaos approach to reality and also to specifically magical practices. Chaos Mages don’t necessarily believe in spirits or deities because these are seen as belonging to one or more paradigms that can be changed or shifted. In fact, magic is approached from what is known as the four working models (or paradigms): Animism (spirit), Energy, Psychological (the one everyone uses to explain magic to skeptics), and Informational (which is Chaos Magic’s contribution to the future development of magical practice). I will briefly cover these here, but you can find more detailed descriptions of them in the writings of Phil Hine or Patrick Dunn. In the animist, or spiritual model, magic is seen as working with spirits or the life force, since all things can be said to be alive. Sometimes this idea is expressed by the idea that magic is the life force. The mage, witch, or shaman (or even the errant clown) either bargains, petitions, or forces the spirits, deities, or life force to conspire in getting the results one wants. (I am admittedly treating this in a very shallow way for brevity’s sake.) This model, as some of you may have guessed slips easily into the energy model where that "life force" is not necessarily seen as a spiritual force but more of a subtle (or not so subtle, depending on the culture or belief) energy which animates us all. In the energy model, the mage, witch or shaman (or even the aforementioned erratic clown), simply has the ability to shift or manipulate energy patterns and movement to gain results such as healing a sick person or binding one from doing harm. The energy model is one of the most successfully used models today since it is the most basic and intuitive to many people. I also suspect it is the most popular because it is the most fun. In the psychological model, magic is seen as merely affecting a change in one’s consciousness that allows one to be able to handle the raw data from reality more successfully and adapt accordingly. This model helps occultists explain magic to skeptics, especially if using the Jungian theories. But it fails to explain how a witch or mage could cast a spell on someone who disbelieves in all magic and yet the spell succeeds anyway. (The aforementioned eristic clown, would simply laugh at the skeptics for being so serious.) The informational model is the most surprising and to my knowledge was first developed within CM and its various groups and practitioners. It views magic as information and information as the source of all templates or patterns of existence. Thus the mage or witch merely has to change one or more facets of the information and the necessary change will occur in the expression of reality. (The aforementioned erring clown would simply smile.) One’s mind is a powerful collection of vortices of the information that links all existence. Thus, a spell can be accomplished in one’s mind which then causes a change in the information which leads to change in the environment. It doesn’t matter whether or not energy is raised. In fact, from this model, energy raising is seen as just a technique for getting to a state where the necessary information change can happen. This model became necessary to explain enchantment from across the world without using any energy (since information exists with neither distance or time as aspects), or retroactive enchantment (which appears to be a startling discovery that CM practitioners stumbled upon). It seems to be the prevailing model for use in various internet-based enchantments. This model is also the engine behind what is now being called "Post Modern Magic," which may very well overtake CM as an innovative body of knowledge and practice. (Note that some people consider CM as the first form of "Post Modern Magic.") Keep in mind that from the CM approach, neither of these models is viewed as better than the other. Nor is one meant to replace another. They are simply working models that are available for one to conceptualize and work magic. Many rituals will use one, more, or all of these models. What CM is trying to explicate from all of these is magic itself. The idea is that magic should now be allowed to stand on its own as a unique body of knowledge or a human field of endeavor as much as we consider science, art, or music to be unique fields of human endeavor. Magic should no longer be viewed as appendages of various other fields of endeavor. The individual practitioner is seen as free, with magic being not only a way of causing change in one’s life and environment, but also a way of realizing that freedom. Though Chaos Mages may view the self as a collection of aspects and elements, any of which can be explored and emphasized, this view of freedom, or free will is adhered to whether consciously or not. In fact, many say that this view of the self as being made up of many aspects (a parallel with polytheism), is what allows one to realize one’s free will.
This article has been a bit brief and shallow in itself. But it is simply an overview which has by necessity overlooked many of the ideas and developments of Chaos Magic. Anyone who wishes to further research this fascinating body of knowledge can start with the bibliography I have listed below. Just keep in mind that you are the most successful puller of your own leg and you should do fine when dealing with magic, whether CM or otherwise. As the members of 23 Cluster say "Your system of limitations is not a prerequisite for our actions." -Irreverend Hugh, KSC ( September 19th, 2006 / Bureaucracy 43rd, 3172) Website Bibliography The following websites are good starts for research into Chaos Magic. You will find a lot of info and links to more info on just the first two of these sites. Simply start at these sites or run a search on ‘chaos magic.’ For those of you looking for info on either Aleister Crowley or Austin Spare, you will find many articles dealing with them and their works below, if not links to more direct sources. You can also do searches for them. http://www.chaosmagic.com The Chaos Magic website and forums. This is the largest chaos magic oriented website you will find, with extensive archives of articles and practices. It also contains an occult library containing electronic versions of classic occult works. http://www.chaosmatrix.org The Chaos Matrix website. Contains articles on chaos magic, other occult approaches, and Discordianism. Also has links to free pdf downloads, and has a humorous articles section you may wish to read. http://www.sourceryforge.org Sourcery Forge, an open source website in the style of wikipedia and other popular open source libraries. http://www.kiamagic.com The website of the Kaotic Illuminated Adepts http://www.philhine.org.uk Phil Hine’s website which contains many free pdf books. Especially look for his "Oven Ready Chaos" which is a downloadable pdf primer text for chaos magic and is the major source for his published Condensed Chaos (listed below). http://www.autonomatrix.org AutonomatriX’s website and corpus of knowledge. The corpus contains many dead or broken links however and the group appears to have gone on hiatus. http://www.zcluster.org The Z Cluster website. http://www.topy.net Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth http://www.horusmaat.com/silverstar/SILVERSTAR1-PG13.html For an interesting article of Chaos Magic by Marik. http://www.oocities.org/tribhis/chaoists.html http://www.oocities.org/tribhis/defofchaos.html Both of the above links are to articles I wrote a couple of years back explaining and defending the chaos approach for the Discordian group known as the Purple Monkey Mafia. I have since modified my stances, but they are good records of where I was at. That site will be moving to its own domain soon. When it does, the above pages will redirect, so no worries. Books Bibliography Liber Null and Psychonaut by Peter J. Carroll (Weiser, 1987) Liber Kaos by Peter J. Carroll (Weiser, 1992) Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine (New Falcon, 1995) Prime Chaos by Phil Hine (New Falcon, 1999) Postmodern Magic by Patrick Dunn (Llewellyn, 2005) [The last book listed is the freshest look at magic out in a long time and may very well point towards the future of magic.] Bio Irreverend Hugh, KSC, (a.k.a. Tequilarius Malignatus) is a Discordian Pope (and so are you), who was until recently (Lughnasadh, 2006) the Episkopos of the Purple Monkey Mafia / Discordians for Softer Sandpaper Society - not that he claims any responsibility for their actions. Besides being a Discordian for several years, he has been practicing Neopagan Witchcraft since 1995 or 1996. In addition to this, he practices the Vajrayana version of Buddhism. He takes a passionate interest in consciousness studies, experiments, and related fields. In recognition of his fierce contributions to Counter-Evangelism, he was recently named spokeperson of the Justified Ancients of Mummu, a group that has for centuries been waging conflict against political/economic tyranny, religious domination, and prejudice. When he is not working at or studying any of the above, he enjoys writing scrawls known as poetry and involves himself in photography periodically. Best of all, he enjoys sunrises. Kallisti! |
|
|