In the late 1970s, Peter Carroll and Ray Sherwin, two young British occultists interested in ritual magic, began to publish a magazine called The New Equinox. Both men were connected with a burgeoning occult scene developing around The Phoenix, a metaphysical bookshop in London's East End. Having grown dissatisfied with the state of the magical arts and the deficiencies they saw in the available occult groups, they published a small announcement in a 1978 issue of their magazine, announcing the creation of the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT), [3] which has been described as "an unprecedented attempt of institutionalising one of the most individualising currents in the history of 'Western learned magic'". [4] In 1995, Carroll announced his desire to step down from the "roles of magus and pontiff of chaos". [9] This statement was originally delivered at the same IOT international meeting which Carroll discussed in an article titled "The Ice War" in Chaos International. [7]

A diverting miscellany of Pop Occult wank templates beloved to obese, ponytailed goth bros. (Imagine Deepak Chopra weaned on White Wolf and Chaosium tabletop RPGs and early Dead Can Dance records.) Hine, Phil (1998). Prime Chaos: Adventures in Chaos Magic. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 9781609255299. Morris, Brian (2006). Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp.303ff. ISBN 978-0-521-85241-8. Hands down, my favourite part is the Liberation in Liber Lux, seeing as it really shaped my entire outlook ever since I've read it over a decade ago.

Clarke, Peter Bernard (2006). "Chaos Magic". Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Psychology Press. pp.105ff. ISBN 978-0-415-26707-6. Since our consciousness is ineffable, it has no form of its own yet it can only be expressed in some form, a magician can really trip himself up by confusing that form - whether it's his ego, his god, his fears, desires, and names - for the real thing. He's sure to end up either mad or a religious maniac. That false god, which is called Choronzon, should be banished whatever form it appears in, and we should refrain as much as possible from trying to define that infinite mystery. In the feet, blood accomplished the exact same thing, allowing you to briefly walk on hot coals. Now, if you stand in the coals for a couple of seconds without moving, you will burn because the blood will no be able to absorb enough heat.

The Way of the Wand. Religion seeks knowledge and power through the understanding of the will of Supernatural Agencies. Science … Read More Carroll, Peter J. (1987). Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic. Weiser Books. ISBN 0-87728-639-6. Stokastikos (n.d.). "The Ice War". Chaos International. No.23. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017 – via PhilHine.org. David Bowie compared the randomness of the cut-up technique to the randomness inherent in traditional divinatory systems, like the I Ching or Tarot. [49] New chaos magic groups emerged in the early 1980s – at first, located in Yorkshire, where both Sherwin and Carroll were living. The early scene was focused on a shop in Leeds called The Sorceror's Apprentice, owned by Chris Bray. Bray also published a magazine called The Lamp of Thoth, which published articles on chaos magic, and his Sorceror's Apprentice Press re-released both Liber Null and The Book of Results, as well as issuing Psychonaut and The Theatre of Magic. [28] The "short-lived" Circle of Chaos, which included Dave Lee, was formed in 1982. [29] The rituals of this group were published by Paula Pagani as The Cardinal Rites of Chaos in 1985. [30]Chryssides, George D. (2012). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements (2ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8108-6194-7.

Urban, Hugh (2006). Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520932883.The central defining tenet of chaos magic is arguably the idea that belief is a tool for achieving effects. [42] 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. [ citation needed] Religious scholar Hugh Urban notes that chaos magic's "rejection of all fixed models of reality" reflects one of its central tenets: "nothing is true everything is permitted". [12] Versluis, Arthur (2007). Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esoteric Traditions. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp.141ff. ISBN 978-0742558366. Player turn: - INCOME(connected systems), PRODUCTION(at Fortresses), MOVEMENT, COMBAT(retreat, out of combat), (PLACE FORTS)

The unity which appears to the mind to exert the twin functions of will and perception is called Kia by magicians. Sometimes it is called the spirit, or soul, or life force, instead... Kia is capable of occult power because it is a fragment of the great life force of the universe... The "thing" responsible for the origin and continued action of events is called Chaos by magicians... 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. [8] V) The Wand as an instrument of INVESTIGATION. A Wand, like a person, remains sanctified through continual improvement, add fresh notches and symbols or completely rebuild it as needed.Carroll, Peter J. (2022). Interview with a Wizard. Interviewed by Ian Blumberg-Enge. Mandrake of Oxford. ISBN 978-1914153143. The relativism which is inherent in chaos magic is where I don't fully agree with, although I do recognize this phase in thinking (and practising) is a necessary part of evolution. I might agree with Carroll's ( actually Hassan-I-Sabbah's ) postulate that "nothing is true, everything is permitted", but that does not make me doomed to be a "nihilist" or a "vitalist". I do still believe that "The road to excess is the path to wisdom". By devoting oneself to something, even if irrational, to make the Kierkegardian leap of faith, is what makes life worth living. Vitalism exhausts itself sooner or later. To be truly alive is to assume the impossible and live by it. The narrative, yes even mythology, is what needs to return to the occult to make the magician mobile and not a fancy empiricist and dilettante of the arts.