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The definition of Chaos Magic

Chaos magic is hard to define because it is an idea rather than a set of rules for magical practice. The core of chaos magic is that the practitioner is free to adopt whatever works for them. This understanding comes from the perspective that it is not necessarily the ritual or path itself that has any inherent magical qualities, but the practitioner themselves.

Chaos does not come with a specific Grimoire or even a prescribed set of ethics. For this reason, it has been dubbed “left hand path” by some who choose not to understand that which is beyond their own chosen path. There is no set of specific spells that are considered to be “Chaos Magic Spells”. A Chaos Magician will use the same spells as those of other paths, or those of his/her own making.

Any and all methods and information are valid, the only requirement is that it works. Mastering the role of the sub-conscious mind in magical operations is the crux of it, and the state called “vacuity” by Austin Osman Spare is the road to that end. Anyone who has participated in a successful ritual has experienced the “high” that this state induces.

The Chaonomicon by Jaq D Hawkins

What exactly is Chaos Magick?

Chaos magick, also spelled chaos magic, is a contemporary magical practice. It was initially developed in England in the 1970s, drawing heavily from the philosophy of artist and occultist Austin Osman Spare. Sometimes referred to as “success magic” or “results-based magic”, chaos magic claims to emphasize the attainment of specific results over the symbolic, ritualistic, theological or otherwise ornamental aspects of other occult traditions.

Chaos magic has been described as a union of traditional occult techniques and applied postmodernism – particularly a postmodernist skepticism concerning the existence or knowability of objective truth. Chaos magicians subsequently treat belief as a tool, often creating their own idiosyncratic magical systems and frequently borrowing from other magical traditions, religious movements, popular culture and various strands of philosophy.

It is unknown when the term “chaos magic” first emerged, with the earliest texts on the subject referring only to “magic” or “the magical art” in general. Furthermore, they often claimed to state principles universal to magic, as opposed to a new specific style or tradition, describing their innovations as efforts to rid magic of superstitious and religious ideas.

The word chaos was first used in connection with magic by Peter J. Carroll in Liber Null & Psychonaut (1978), where it is described as “the ‘thing’ responsible for the origin and continued action of events.” Carroll goes on to say that “It could as well be called ‘God’ or ‘Tao’, but the name ‘Chaos’ is virtually meaningless and free from the anthropomorphic ideas of religion.”

Early leading figures include Peter J. Carroll and Ray Sherwin.

Peter J. Carroll’s Books

Chaos magic differs from other occult traditions such as Thelema or Wicca in that it rejects the existence of absolute truth, and views all occult systems as arbitrary symbol-systems that are only effective because of the belief of the practitioner. Chaos magic thus takes an explicitly agnostic position on whether or not magic exists as a supernatural force, with many chaos magicians expressing their acceptance of a psychological model as one possible explanation.

Other magical traditions like Wicca, Qabalah or the Golden Dawn system combine techniques for bringing about change with “beliefs, attitudes, a conceptual model of the universe (if not several), a moral ethic, and a few other things besides.” Chaos magic grew out of the desire to strip away all of these extraneous elements, leaving behind only the techniques for effecting change; hence the emphasis is on actually doing things – i.e., experimenting with different techniques, rather than memorizing complex rules, symbols and correspondences – and then retaining those techniques that appear to produce results.

This “pick’n’mix/D.I.Y” approach means that the working practices of different chaos magicians often look drastically different, with many authors explicitly encouraging readers to invent their own magical style.

The central defining tenet of chaos magic is arguably the “meta-belief” that “belief is a tool for achieving effects”. In chaos magic, complex symbol systems like Qabalah, the Enochian system, astrology or the I Ching are treated as maps or “symbolic and linguistic constructs” that can be manipulated to achieve certain ends but that have no absolute or objective truth value in themselves – a position referred to by religious scholar Hugh Urban as a “rejection of all fixed models of reality”, and often summarized with the phrase “nothing is true everything is permitted”.

Some commentators have traced this position to the influence of postmodernism on contemporary occultism. Another influence comes from the magical system of Austin Osman Spare, who believed that belief itself was a form of “psychic energy” that became locked up in rigid belief structures, and that could be released by breaking down those structures. This “free belief” could then be directed towards new aims.

Other writers have highlighted the influence of occultist Aleister Crowley, who wrote of the occult:

“In this book it is spoken of the Sephiroth and the Paths; of Spirits and Conjurations; of Gods, Spheres, Planes, and many other things which may or may not exist. It is immaterial whether these exist or not. By doing certain things certain results will follow; students are most earnestly warned against attributing objective reality or philosophic validity to any of them.”

Within the magical system of Austin Osman Spare, magic was thought to operate by using symbols to communicate desire to something Spare termed “Kia” (a sort of universal mind, of which individual human consciousnesses are aspects) via the “passage” of the unconscious – hence the need for complex systems of symbolism. Provided there was enough “free belief” to feed them, these desires would then grow, unconsciously, into “obsessions”, which would culminate in magical results occurring in reality.

Peter J. Carroll inherited this model from Spare, but used the term “Kia” to refer to the consciousness of the individual: “the elusive ‘I’ which confers self-awareness”. The more general universal force, of which Kia is an aspect, Carroll termed “Chaos”. In his own words:

“Chaos… is the force which has caused life to evolve itself out of dust, and is currently most concentratedly manifest in the human life force, or Kia, where it is the source of consciousness… To the extent that the Kia can become one with Chaos it can extend its will and perception into the universe to accomplish magic.”

Later chaos magicians have stressed that this basic operating process can be explained in multiple different ways, from within different paradigms. For example:

  • Within a spirit model, the job of a shaman is to communicate their intentions to their spirit helpers, who then work magic on their behalf.
  • Within an energy model, a magician might direct their own qi/ch’i towards specific aims.
  • Within a psychological model, a magician uses symbols to condition their unconscious to work towards their goals.
  • Within an information model, a magician transmits information to an underlying matrix or field in order to produce specific effects.

Since chaos magic is built around an experimental, D.I.Y. approach that involves stripping all magical techniques down to their barest essence, any practice from any magical tradition can be incorporated under the banner of chaos magic: from Satanic ritual, to Wiccan sabbats, to energy healing, to Tantric practices, etc. However, there are a few techniques that have been specifically developed by chaos magicians, and are unique to the tradition.

Most chaos magic techniques involve something called the gnostic state, or gnosis. This is described as an altered state of consciousness in which a person’s mind is focused on only one point, thought, or goal and all other thoughts are thrust out. The gnostic state is used to bypass the “filter” of the conscious mind – something thought to be necessary for working most forms of magic.

Since it takes years of training to master this sort of Zen-like meditative ability, chaos magicians employ a variety of other ways to attain a “brief ‘no-mind’ state” in which to work magic. Three main types of gnosis are described:

Inhibitory gnosis is a form of deep meditation into a trance state of mind. This type of gnosis uses slow and regular breathing techniques, absent thought processes, progressive muscle relaxation, self-induction and self-hypnosis techniques. Means employed may also include fasting, sleeplessness, sensory deprivation and hypnotic or trance-inducing drugs.

Ecstatic gnosis describes a mindlessness reached through intense arousal. It is aimed to be reached through sexual excitation, intense emotions, flagellation, dance, drumming, chanting, sensory overload, hyperventilation and the use of disinhibitory or hallucinogenic drugs.

Indifferent vacuity was described by Phil Hine and Jan Fries as a third method. Here the intended spell is cast parenthetically, so it does not raise much thought to suppress – “doodling sigils while listening to a talk which is boring, but you have to take notes on”, for example.

Phil Hine’s Books

  • Prime Chaos
  • Condensed Chaos
  • The Pseudonomicon

Synchromysticism, a portmanteau of synchronicity and mysticism, is “the art of realising meaningful coincidences in the seemingly mundane with mystical or esoteric significance”. It has also been described as “a form of postmodern animism” that “combines Jung’s notion of meaningful coincidences with the quest for the divine, or self-actualization through experience of the divine.”

From the beginning, the founders of chaos magic were clear that the “results” to be attained through their techniques consisted of synchronicities, with Carroll stating in Liber Null & Psychonaut:

“All magical paradigms partake of some form of action at a distance, be it distance in space or time or both… In magic this is called synchronicity. A mental event, perception, or an act of will occurs at the same time (synchronously) as an event in the material world… Of course, this can always be excused as coincidence, but most magicians would be quite content with being able to arrange coincidences.”

Essentially, chaos magic consists of a set of techniques for deliberately engineering synchronicities. As Carroll makes clear in later texts, magical “results” consist of “meaningful coincidences” or “a series of events going somewhat improbably in the desired direction.” Later chaos magicians have made the link between chaos magic and synchromysticism more overt. Gordon White, for example, writes in Synchromysticism as Kabbalah:

“How does the Technical Hermetica ‘work’? How did Ficino’s system of planetary ritual magic ‘work’? Simply put, both work because some things are associated with other things. Symbols recur, patterns repeat, sounds heard on a radio associate with similar outcomes in your life. An Animist universe speaks a language of symbol and synchronicity. To you, to itself, to the birds. This awareness underpins systems of magical correspondence the world over – such as practical Kabbalah or Technical Hermetica… These systems are indications that the universe speaks in a symbolic language… use them in a wider synchromystic context.”

Elsewhere, White speculates that this may be “the secret of kabbalistic apotheosis” – “hearing the language behind the words, connecting the things that aren’t connected… a mystical framework for exploring and encouraging synchronicity.”

The Symbol of Chaos can also be found in Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion stories and its dichotomy of Law and Chaos. In them, the Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern.

In contrast, the symbol of Law is a single upright arrow. It is also called the Arms of Chaos, the Arrows of Chaos, the Chaos Star, the Chaos Cross, the Chaosphere (when depicted as a three-dimensional sphere), or the Symbol of Eight.

Alternative symbols of chaos include The Sacred Chao of Discordianism and The Five Fingered Hand of Eris.

There are a number of other symbols that have the same geometrical pattern as the symbol of Chaos, such as any of various eight-pointed stars, the star of Ishtar, star of Venus, the Eastern Dharmachakra and the Wheel of the Year.

Common Concepts in Chaos Magic

Sigils

Many chaos magicians use sigils. Most often they are a picture that has been created to symbolize the desired outcome or intent.

This is then charged by a number of methods, which catalyses the manifestation of the intent.

Max from BWC creates unique and powerful Chaos Magic Sigils for many purposes – CLICK HERE

Linking Sigils (LS)

Many chaos magicians incorporate LS or linking sigils into their work. The linking sigil has been created to link things together for mutual empowerment.

LS has been used to connect places, sigils, events and magical works for over a decade and has grown to be particularly powerful and useful.

Servitors

Servitors are somewhat independent energetic or thought creations. A chaos magician would create a servitor with a particular intent, such as protection. This servitor then functions semi-autonomously in order to fulfil it’s purpose.

Servitors are often created in familiar forms that reflect their function.

Advanced magicians can create complex servitors that are capable of learning, maintaining and feeding itself and can even acquire personality and a form of sentience.

Andy from BWC offers personalized Servitor Creation Services

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