Post by Matt on Jul 20, 2014 15:47:52 GMT -7
These are just what I believe to be the best possible current representation of some sort of unnecessary outline to Chaos Magic, as I currently understand it.
Chaos Magick is, first and foremost, about what works for the individual practitioner. Chaos Magick goes against traditional magic in the sense that you don't follow a certain path, or set of beliefs. You merely study all systems that you can, to understand and break them down to the fundamental level to find what works for you, the individual. Without limiting yourself to one way of thinking or another.
"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."
Chaos is constantly changing, never the same, so the philosophy, the ideas, the very nature of the chaos magician must also mirror this, to appropriately harness the energy of chaos.
"The problem of morality in magick and lack of it in Chaos Magick is not so much a problem for the magicians as for those around them. Morality, after all, is nothing more than a set of principles, usually, but not always, stated that groups of people expect others to live by if they wish to be accepted into that group."
The main objective of the chaos magician is not to fall into any set guidelines created and perpetuated by others. Think and create for yourself, but still learn from the mistakes of others.
"Now magick, operates in a universe where the principles of any given human social grouping are simply not going to apply. For example, if I invoke the deity Electricity, that god is not going to care if I use his energy to light my house or electrocute my neighbor. The society I live in will have definite and strong opinions on the matter, but the deity will not."
Again, its important to note that you don't want to fall into set principles or morals of others, you want to work to construct your own. Study those that exist, understand them, find what works for you, and use it to your advantage. But never stay with something permanently, because in doing so, it becomes much less potent as your mind becomes jaded to set ideas. As I understand it, the mind is not meant to constantly operate within finely constructed lines. Much as all energy in itself is not meant to be confined to a physical form or structure.
"Chaos Magic posits no beliefs -- at least none to be considered absolutely "true". Nothing is true. You are therefore free to take anything you like and use it AS IF it were true. Everything is permitted."
"Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." A saying I first heard from an old friend and psionic practictioner long ago that I never really understood until now. In other words, there is no universally acceptable truth due to all individuals and their experiences being uniquely theirs . Everything, from its most raw form, energy, is filtered. It is broken down, reconstructed and allowed to exist in some form or another. Now whether it is the universe itself, or the mind of the magician that dictates what is permitted, is up to scrutiny.
"Chaos Magic sees nothing but infinite chaos, stochastically dragged into existence by each and every observer according to their predispositions, and by manipulating these predispositions it can be bent in desired directions by a canny intelligence."
I have nothing to add to this point.
"Chaos Magick has its roots in every occult tradition and in the work of many individuals."
This is because, before there were set precedents and practices, people actually created their own magic from scratch.
"It comes with no belief system. It's just a set of techniques and tools and of approaches to techniques and tools"
This is essentially all that Chaos Magick is at the core, to my understanding thus far. In a sense, the latter describes all form of magic, the the main defining point is that chaos magick is without set beliefs and mentalities. The most potent chaos magicians run off pure instinct and intuition alone.
In other words, the mind, beliefs, and practices of the chaos magician must always be changing and evolving to truly be considered Chaos Magick. The practices themselves don't necessarily lack structure, unless it is of the Will of the practitioner at the time.
Why Choas magicians are such assholes: ""The first stage of seeing through the game can be a shocking enlightenment that leads either to a weary cynicism or Buddhism. The second stage of actually applying the insight to oneself can destroy the illusion of the soul and create a magician."
Most Chaotes, particularly young ones, are convinced they see through the game, but they don't necessarily know the rules they claim to be breaking. Still they're convinced of their own superiority. When you're convinced of your own superiority, yet still young and/or insecure, it's easy to show defensiveness by mockery and derision. Such mocking can bolster your internal sense of status, putting yourself above others."
I thought this was just funny, in a way I have experienced to be true, for the most part.
"Chaos is the creative principle behind all magic. When a magical ritual is performed, regardless of `tradition' or other variables in the elements of performance, a magical energy is created and put into motion to cause something to happen."
I currently personally don't believe that energy is created or destroyed, but rather that the chaotic nature is what breaks things down to some degree and transforms them, then puts them into motion in a way that is intrinsically chaotic.
"We are trained from an early age to think in linear terms, but nature and the chaos within it are non-linear, and therefore require non-linear thinking to be understood."
This. I can't emphasize enough how much I agree with this statement. Even though it goes against what has already been said about not falling into set beliefs and restricting the mind to one line of thought or not. However, the point is to always evolve and change the way you think, not necessarily to disagree with everything or to decide to refuse to agree with anything. That would be ignorance.
"Essentially, "egregore" is an older english word that seems to be fading out of use. It refers to the "spirit of a thing", usually referring to some organization humans create (clubs, states, fraternities, countires, etc.) that summates its principles, beliefs, and goals, and guides people in accomplishing them."
"The moment it becomes more than one person can handle, I consider it an egregore. At this point, it becomes capable of making some of its own demands, guiding its own work (though usually along the lines of the original goal of the people who created it) and in general "taking on a life of its own".
Once you get bigger than this, you get a godform: something that has grown so strong that the people involved with it take up a subservient relationship, often worshiping it, or appealing to it for help."
I thought these points below were just relevant and didn't have much to add to them, just interesting to me.
"Chaos is not in itself, a system or philosophy. It is rather an attitude that one applies to one's magic and philosophy. It is the basis for all magic, as it is the primal creative force. A Chaos Magician learns a variety of magical techniques, usually as many as s/he can gain access to, but sees beyond the systems and dogmas to the physics behind the magical 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."
Egregores: "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. Anyone who has participated in a successful ritual has experienced some degree of the `high' that this state induces."
"Essentially, "egregore" is an older english word that seems to be fading out of use. It refers to the "spirit of a thing", usually referring to some organization humans create (clubs, states, fraternities, countires, etc.) that summates its principles, beliefs, and goals, and guides people in accomplishing them."
"The moment it becomes more than one person can handle, I consider it an egregore. At this point, it becomes capable of making some of its own demands, guiding its own work (though usually along the lines of the original goal of the people who created it) and in general "taking on a life of its own".
Once you get bigger than this, you get a godform: something that has grown so strong that the people involved with it take up a subservient relationship, often worshiping it, or appealing to it for help."
I will add more to this later on.
Chaos Magick is, first and foremost, about what works for the individual practitioner. Chaos Magick goes against traditional magic in the sense that you don't follow a certain path, or set of beliefs. You merely study all systems that you can, to understand and break them down to the fundamental level to find what works for you, the individual. Without limiting yourself to one way of thinking or another.
"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."
Chaos is constantly changing, never the same, so the philosophy, the ideas, the very nature of the chaos magician must also mirror this, to appropriately harness the energy of chaos.
"The problem of morality in magick and lack of it in Chaos Magick is not so much a problem for the magicians as for those around them. Morality, after all, is nothing more than a set of principles, usually, but not always, stated that groups of people expect others to live by if they wish to be accepted into that group."
The main objective of the chaos magician is not to fall into any set guidelines created and perpetuated by others. Think and create for yourself, but still learn from the mistakes of others.
"Now magick, operates in a universe where the principles of any given human social grouping are simply not going to apply. For example, if I invoke the deity Electricity, that god is not going to care if I use his energy to light my house or electrocute my neighbor. The society I live in will have definite and strong opinions on the matter, but the deity will not."
Again, its important to note that you don't want to fall into set principles or morals of others, you want to work to construct your own. Study those that exist, understand them, find what works for you, and use it to your advantage. But never stay with something permanently, because in doing so, it becomes much less potent as your mind becomes jaded to set ideas. As I understand it, the mind is not meant to constantly operate within finely constructed lines. Much as all energy in itself is not meant to be confined to a physical form or structure.
"Chaos Magic posits no beliefs -- at least none to be considered absolutely "true". Nothing is true. You are therefore free to take anything you like and use it AS IF it were true. Everything is permitted."
"Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." A saying I first heard from an old friend and psionic practictioner long ago that I never really understood until now. In other words, there is no universally acceptable truth due to all individuals and their experiences being uniquely theirs . Everything, from its most raw form, energy, is filtered. It is broken down, reconstructed and allowed to exist in some form or another. Now whether it is the universe itself, or the mind of the magician that dictates what is permitted, is up to scrutiny.
"Chaos Magic sees nothing but infinite chaos, stochastically dragged into existence by each and every observer according to their predispositions, and by manipulating these predispositions it can be bent in desired directions by a canny intelligence."
I have nothing to add to this point.
"Chaos Magick has its roots in every occult tradition and in the work of many individuals."
This is because, before there were set precedents and practices, people actually created their own magic from scratch.
"It comes with no belief system. It's just a set of techniques and tools and of approaches to techniques and tools"
This is essentially all that Chaos Magick is at the core, to my understanding thus far. In a sense, the latter describes all form of magic, the the main defining point is that chaos magick is without set beliefs and mentalities. The most potent chaos magicians run off pure instinct and intuition alone.
In other words, the mind, beliefs, and practices of the chaos magician must always be changing and evolving to truly be considered Chaos Magick. The practices themselves don't necessarily lack structure, unless it is of the Will of the practitioner at the time.
Why Choas magicians are such assholes: ""The first stage of seeing through the game can be a shocking enlightenment that leads either to a weary cynicism or Buddhism. The second stage of actually applying the insight to oneself can destroy the illusion of the soul and create a magician."
Most Chaotes, particularly young ones, are convinced they see through the game, but they don't necessarily know the rules they claim to be breaking. Still they're convinced of their own superiority. When you're convinced of your own superiority, yet still young and/or insecure, it's easy to show defensiveness by mockery and derision. Such mocking can bolster your internal sense of status, putting yourself above others."
I thought this was just funny, in a way I have experienced to be true, for the most part.
"Chaos is the creative principle behind all magic. When a magical ritual is performed, regardless of `tradition' or other variables in the elements of performance, a magical energy is created and put into motion to cause something to happen."
I currently personally don't believe that energy is created or destroyed, but rather that the chaotic nature is what breaks things down to some degree and transforms them, then puts them into motion in a way that is intrinsically chaotic.
"We are trained from an early age to think in linear terms, but nature and the chaos within it are non-linear, and therefore require non-linear thinking to be understood."
This. I can't emphasize enough how much I agree with this statement. Even though it goes against what has already been said about not falling into set beliefs and restricting the mind to one line of thought or not. However, the point is to always evolve and change the way you think, not necessarily to disagree with everything or to decide to refuse to agree with anything. That would be ignorance.
"Essentially, "egregore" is an older english word that seems to be fading out of use. It refers to the "spirit of a thing", usually referring to some organization humans create (clubs, states, fraternities, countires, etc.) that summates its principles, beliefs, and goals, and guides people in accomplishing them."
"The moment it becomes more than one person can handle, I consider it an egregore. At this point, it becomes capable of making some of its own demands, guiding its own work (though usually along the lines of the original goal of the people who created it) and in general "taking on a life of its own".
Once you get bigger than this, you get a godform: something that has grown so strong that the people involved with it take up a subservient relationship, often worshiping it, or appealing to it for help."
I thought these points below were just relevant and didn't have much to add to them, just interesting to me.
"Chaos is not in itself, a system or philosophy. It is rather an attitude that one applies to one's magic and philosophy. It is the basis for all magic, as it is the primal creative force. A Chaos Magician learns a variety of magical techniques, usually as many as s/he can gain access to, but sees beyond the systems and dogmas to the physics behind the magical 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."
Egregores: "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. Anyone who has participated in a successful ritual has experienced some degree of the `high' that this state induces."
"Essentially, "egregore" is an older english word that seems to be fading out of use. It refers to the "spirit of a thing", usually referring to some organization humans create (clubs, states, fraternities, countires, etc.) that summates its principles, beliefs, and goals, and guides people in accomplishing them."
"The moment it becomes more than one person can handle, I consider it an egregore. At this point, it becomes capable of making some of its own demands, guiding its own work (though usually along the lines of the original goal of the people who created it) and in general "taking on a life of its own".
Once you get bigger than this, you get a godform: something that has grown so strong that the people involved with it take up a subservient relationship, often worshiping it, or appealing to it for help."
I will add more to this later on.
..