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[Opinion] Foundational Chaos!

Everyone's got one.
Asteriskos

Asteriskos

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I wanted to get some opinions and thoughts on what others feel is a good basic "foundational" start on the subject of Chaos Magick, and the direction it may have been envisioned to go in from the get go (for lack of a better way to phrase it). Unless someone has access to an experienced practitioner who might say "Okay, today it's Chaos Magick day", most folks are initially exposed through a book/s. Since the late 1970's there's been a "corpus" building up on the subject
including some gems and some not so much, so I'm going to state my .02 cents here on what I think is the absolute "minimum" for a well rounded introduction to the subject. If I mention an author that has produced a lot of content my thought will be the most "practical" as foundational. This will be rock bottom minimum, usually I would imply the most recent editions by default (maybe not always though) if not I'll try and explain why.

Peter Carroll:
  • Liber Null & Psychonaut
  • Liber Kaos

Ray Sherwin:
  • The book of Results
  • The Theater of Magic
Anything of an introductory nature on Chaos Theory, Science, Quantum Physics, et al.
(Simply because this is the Real World Twenty First Century, and it Helps IMO.)
I don't mean to say pursue "grad" work here just a basic familiarity with the subject,
My background is somewhat technical so this stuff is of interest, YMMV.
I'll simply give a couple of examples that I think make a Real Good General Intro.

Felix Flicker, PhD:
  • The Magick of Physics: In Everyday Life
Alan Chapman:
  • Advanced Magic for Beginners
That it. I think this is enough for a good basic intro to Chaos Magick! This is more than enough
to become proficient in it's use as well as understand the Mechanics.
 
MorganBlack

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Cool topic, Asteriskos.

My 2 cents:

1. A huge influence on me :
-- Ramsey Dukes - 'SSOTBME Revised - An Essay on Magic'


2. Can I add Neville Godard's Law of Assumption here?

I loved Chaos Magic as theory for many years, but the techniques did not work for me until I read Neville. That inner sense of "this is just... so" just part of reality, however you get there, was missing in classic chaos magic texts for how I'm wired.

He's mostly for us more right-brained creative types. Neville was a dancer and his techniques work well for us. Which amounts, basically, just using your imagination to create a scene like being in a first-person video game experiencing with total immersion a situation where the thing you want is also. Do it a few minutes everyday until it 'clicks' in your head that it's done. Fiat est.
 
Asteriskos

Asteriskos

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MorganBlack said:
Cool topic, Asteriskos.

My 2 cents:

1. A huge influence on me :
-- Ramsey Dukes - 'SSOTBME Revised - An Essay on Magic'


2. Can I add Neville Godard's Law of Assumption here?

I loved Chaos Magic as theory for many years, but the techniques did not work for me until I read Neville. That inner sense of "this is just... so" just part of reality, however you get there, was missing in classic chaos magic texts for how I'm wired.

He's mostly for us more right-brained creative types. Neville was a dancer and his techniques work well for us. Which amounts, basically, just using your imagination to create a scene like being in a first-person video game experiencing with total immersion a situation where the thing you want is also. Do it a few minutes everyday until it 'clicks' in your head that it's done. Fiat est.
Click to expand...
Brother you can add Anything you want here!
Ramsey "Lionel Snell" Dukes stuff is of course kick-ass IMO too! I printed Lots of his essays.
My bad for ommitting him, because he sure was/is one of the early one's to shape the paradigm, er... Meta/Paradigm! :cool:
MorganBlack said:
Neville Godard's Law of Assumption here?
Click to expand...
This I gotta look into because I'm "ignorant" by omission, if you say it's good, nuff' said!

I'll tell you as well that I've liked a Lot of the stuff you've put up! I'm one of those people that can "feel" things, I got both Left and Right lobes going on so... thanks. I'm impressed by your stuff too! Rock On!
 
Asteriskos

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I know I'm not the only one that's expressed the wish (over time) for a Chaos place of it's own here. I'm also aware of how much work it is to move things around and manifest that, so failing that, squeezing it in here Does work. I just reread both Liber Null and Liber Kaos recently which prompted this whole shooting match here. I do believe something I was told (back in the mists of time) you will likely understand a book after around the third pass through it. I've read those books more than that and I can Still get even deeper Insights, amazes me greatly!
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Vandheer said:
The Master Works of Chaos Magick by Adam Blackthorne is also so good!
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Agreed, I've checked it out!
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Some of the newer current authors have put out some good stuff, it appears to be evolving. What I posted at the beginning was probably me not wanting the "Foundational" stuff to be overlooked, which sometimes is, IMO! I'm all for putting out Original Insights, Chaos surely contains more than we've seen up till now?
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I welcome the thoughts on books, also if anyone has any thoughts on the "principles and/or concepts" let's say "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted" or Anything, ( Bad habit those Capitals ) please feel free talk about it here!
 
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Anziel_Merkaba

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Chaos magic is a great way to get into Hermeticism tbh. I started as a chaos wizard and from my experience, unless you actively avoid it or just never progress further along, you will naturally transition into the Hermetic paradigm from the chaos magic paradigm as you advance as a practitioner. Mind you I'm not saying Hermetic kabbalah, just Hermeticism, I don't need any Jew magic in my All-is-One-is-All.
 
Asteriskos

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Over a long time ( and believe me I've given this a Lot of thought ) I've begun to crystalize something like this. If someone were to ask ( and I realize we're All asked over and over ) "What kind of magician, sorcerer, wizard, witch, et al, are you?" after rereading both Carroll's foundational books again this just expressed itself: "I'm a Chaos Magician whose drawn to Graeco-Egyptian and Folk Magic/k" Always have been from the get go. Point is, if anyone wants to talk about Why they might Want to Practice Chaos Magick and/or will it work with XYX paradigm, or anything else that's cool too!
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Anziel_Merkaba said:
Chaos magic is a great way to get into Hermeticism tbh. I started as a chaos wizard and from my experience, unless you actively avoid it or just never progress further along, you will naturally transition into the Hermetic paradigm from the chaos magic paradigm as you advance as a practitioner. Mind you I'm not saying Hermetic kabbalah, just Hermeticism, I don't need any Jew magic in my All-is-One-is-All.
Click to expand...
Okay, fair enough, Hermeticism is a vast paradigm in it's own right. Rock On!
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Anziel_Merkaba said:
Chaos magic is a great way to get into Hermeticism tbh.
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Chaos magick is a great way to get into all kinds of different paradigms, good point!
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What paradigm-al doorways has Chaos magick opened for You? Were you led to Chaos magick from another paradigm, what resonated where and Why? Just some thoughts!
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For most of the time during writing this up we've had a Monumental thunderstorm going on here, so much so that I had to go outside and "Suck the Energy Up!" Seriously, I'm an "elemental" kinda guy, and I never let a good Thunderstorm go to waste. I was trying to get some words down so my wife came in to smile and ask me if I was going to go outside (on the deck)? Well yeah! She's an elemental kinda Gal! Chaos going "Feel the Chaos, Magicians!" Thunderstorms are so damned Refreshing! "Talk to Me Thor", Wow! Does anyone else grab an opportunity to draw energy from Nature / Natural Phenomena? It's always been natural for me, even getting a boot in the butt when I was 5-6 for trying to stay outside in storms.
 
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Asteriskos

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Anziel_Merkaba said:
The issue with your statement is that Chaos Magic and Hermeticism are technically the same paradigm, just with different mindsets behind them.
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I don't agree with that, but I do agree they often cross pollinate each other and are ultimately compatible in a Chaos magick sense.
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MorganBlack said:
Can I add Neville Godard's Law of Assumption here?
Click to expand...
@MorganBlack

I hadn't read this but I can see how that context would be super helpful for Lots of people! I don't wonder at all (now) why you liked it and found it helpful, there's a good look at it here:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


I would recommend anyone sitting on the fence regarding chaos magick to check out that link. Thanks for bringing this (hopefully) to a lot of folks attention!
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Asteriskos said:
I would recommend anyone sitting on the fence regarding chaos magick to check out that link. Thanks for bringing this (hopefully) to a lot of folks attention!
Click to expand...
Let add that this book isn't "specifically" about Chaos Magick, and doesn't speak in "magical terminology", oer se, but might be something to check out and see if anything "resonates". Any questions ask here, I'll try to clarify.
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Asteriskos said:
Ramsey "Lionel Snell" Dukes stuff is of course kick-ass IMO too! I printed Lots of his essays.
My bad for ommitting him, because he sure was/is one of the early one's to shape the paradigm, er... Meta/Paradigm! :cool:
Click to expand...
A couple more "early" in the new "meta-paradigm" names sure can include Dave Lee and of course Phil Hine, both of which have made their own contributions. There are lots, but I wanted to give some perspective to the formative few years before launching into the here and now.
I'm not deliberately trying to leave anyone out, just giving a quick picture of the early "scene".

At some point hopefully we'll look under the hood and deconstruct something?
 
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