“Chaos is the universal potential of creative force, which is constantly engaged in trying to seep through the cracks of our personal and collective realities. It is the power of Evolution/Devolution.”
When chaos is used in magick, there is no place for confusion or disorder. Chaos is the creative principle behind all magick. When a magickal ritual is performed, regardless of 'tradition' or other variables in the elements of performance, magickal energy is created and put into motion to cause something to happen.
Chaos is not in itself, a system or philosophy. It is rather an attitude that one applies to one's magick and philosophy. It is the basis for all magick, as it is the primal creative force.
A Chaos Magician learns a variety of magickal techniques, usually as many as s/he can gain access to, but sees beyond the systems and dogmas to the physics behind the magickal force and uses whatever methods are appealing to him/herself. 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 magick 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 subconscious mind in magickal 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 some degree of the 'high' that this state induces.
An understanding of the scientific principles behind magick does not require a college degree in physics (although it wouldn't hurt much if the linear attitude drilled into the student could be by-passed), as experience in magickal results will bring the necessary understanding.
Many of the principles of magick must be self-discovered, my only intent here is to try to define and pull together the various elements associated with Chaos magick into an intelligible whole. Chaos has no limits.
For me there exist two main aspects of magick; the parapsychological and the psychological. In enchantment and divination, I believe that the magician is attempting to interact with nature via non-material causality. He is basically exchanging information with his environment without using his physical faculties.
Austin Osman Spare precisely identified the mental maneuvers necessary to allow this to occur. The maneuvers are startlingly simple and once you have understood them you can invent an unlimited number of spells and forms of divination. The maneuvers are sacred but the forms of their expression are arbitrary; you can use anything at random.
I consider that when a magician interacts with those apparently sentient sources of knowledge, inspiration, and parapsychological abilities that are defined as spirits, gods, demons, and elementals, he is tapping into the extraordinary resource that each of us already has.
When activated they may also receive some input via non-material causality from outside. Yet since we all contain such a rich multitude within our own unconscious or subconscious and can also receive congruent information from the collective unconsciousness as it were, then the possibilities are practically limitless.
Given the correct technique one can invoke or evoke anything, even things that did not exist prior to one thinking of calling them. This may sound like complete Chaos, and I can absolutely confirm that it is!
Chaos magick is a handful of basic techniques which must be adhered to strictly to get results, but beyond that, it offers a freedom of expression and intent undreamt of in all previous forms of magick.
ii-wy em Hotep - Patrick Gaffiero
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