Chaos Magic?

[Gho the Girl]

I've been hearing a bunch of stuff on Chaos magic, (actually, that's a lie, I've been hearing a little bit of stuff on Chaos magic) especially as referring to the paradigm shift. I actually was trying to explore what that means as it sounds something similar to things I have done in my practice and also to some bits of gnosis.

IF there isn't enough information here to start a discussion, please say so, sweatdrop  

[PurpleDragonsGems]

I've got a book with a section on Chaos Magic. I'll have to find the book and give you the name of it. Other than that, I havn't seen much on it.  

[PrometheanSet]

chaosmagic com was a wonderful site. However, after a decent friend of mine left, it crumbled, and only since reorganized as a glorified spam-searchengine.

Peter Carroll or Phil Hine will give you a decent view of the methods that a Chaos Magician will use. However, as each has a belief structure inherent in the writings, they are not really Chaos Magicians.

Chaos Magic actually started in the 1980s, as a reaction to all the rigidity in religion and occultism; rather than looking at the beliefs as paramount rules, they became means to an end.

Anything goes in chaos magic; Carroll seems to have invented a more meaningful chaostar that some find useful; I don't. Basically, take the symbol for mars, and take the arrow and place it around the circle in a way that looks something like an 8-pointed star. That symbol's been around before Carroll; however, he assigned colors & flavors of intent to associate with each arrow, and practices to go with them.

Sigils, lifted wholesale from Austin Osman Spare, are central to the stereotypical Chaos Magician's practice. Methods vary for their creation and employ.

Servitors are another interesting tool that some use, while others don't. Some use sigils to make servitors, or even as servitors.

When you combine that with the fact that you could temporarily take on the deep belief in some other religions and their rituals (or, simplified approximations - in chaos magic, nothing is sloppy as long as it works!) for the sake of a single working, or for a longer period of time, the freedom is just about endless. Though that doesn't come without risks.

Some of the sites here have things I would recommend to *all* magic practitioners.

http://www.boudicca.de/max1-e.htm
http://chaoscurrent.com/
http://www.chaosmatrix.org/

I hope this helps!


PS - the "Paradigm shift" may be referring to where a chaote can completely abandon a belief structure in order to take on another. I use this to build a sort of "default structure" which kinda resembles Taoist and Hermetic ideas.... But depending on who you ask, that might even disqualify even me from being a "true" chaos magician.

But, we are not like a certain sort of Discordians who roll a die in the morning to find out which belief structure to adhere to for the day. Such a shift is more of a conscious choice, not as much of an act as the shuffle.