“The manifest universe is just a tiny island of comparative order, set in an infinite ocean of primal Chaos or potentia. Moreover, that limitless chaos pervades every interstice of our island of order. This island of order was randomly spewed up out of chaos and will eventually be redissolved into it. Although this universe is a highly unlikely event, it was bound to occur eventually. We ourselves are the most highly ordered structure known on that island, yet in the very center of our being is a spark of that same chaos which gives rise to the illusion of this universe. It is this spark of chaos that animates us and allows us to work magic. We cannot perceive Chaos directly, for it simultaneously contains the opposite to anything we might think it is. We can, however, occasionally glimpse and make use of partially formed matter which has only a probabilistic and indeterminate existence. This stuff we can call the aethers.”
Peter J. Carroll, Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic (Cape Neddick: Weiser Books, 1987), 192.
This ritual is best performed after considerable practice with the gnostic pentagram ritual
as it both builds on and deconstructs aspects
of that ritual. This ritual also draws inspiration from the gnostic thunderbolt ritual.
Begin as in the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual intoning the vowel sounds I-E-A-O-U,
each with a full breath and moving down the body. Vibrate “Iiiii…” and visualize a blue sphere of light between your eyes. Vibrate “Eeeee…” and vizualize a yellow sphere of light in your throat. Vibrate “Aaahh…” and visualize a red sphere in your chest. Vibrate “Oohh…” and visualize a purple sphere about your genitals. Vibrate “U” as “Uurr” and vizualize a green sphere below you.
Now go to the edge of your space and while exhaling steadily in silence trace a cirle around your ritual area. See a black metalic ring of substance around you.
Now face East and trace an incomplete invoking pentagram of Air. Draw and
visualize dancing yellow lightning as you trace the first four lines intoning
I-E-A-O, then, rather than draw the final stroke up from the point of Earth,
pull the stroke down and connect it to the ring. See the flashing lightning
course down and encircle you. Vibrate U.
Turn clockwise to the South and trace an incomplete invoking pentagram of Fire.
Draw and visualize fire erupting in the course of the lines you trace as you
intone I-E-A-O, and again, rather than draw the final stroke up from the point
of Earth, pull it down and connect it to the edge of the ring. See the ring now erupt
in fire as well as lightning about you. Intone U.
Turn clockwise to the West and trace an incomplete invoking pentagram of Water.
Feel its cold icy energy flow as you trace the lines and intone I-E-A-O. The
fourth line will bring you to the point of Fire, and as before, draw this
energy down to the ring. See water course through and cascade off below the ring. Intone U.
Turn now to the North and trace an incomplete invoking pentagram of Earth.
Feel its solidity, frozen energy trapped in matter. Trace the four lines and
intone I-E-A-O. Once again the fourth line will bring you to the point of
fire. Bring this down to the ring. As you do so feel the earth fracture
around you. Intone U.
Once cast, the energy will continue to course and spin around you. The unstable chaotic energy of the broken pentagrams disrupt reality and create a boundry of unmaking. The world about you is disrupted by a veil of chaos. Hold this vision. See the energies cut through reality and leave you stranded in this island. Reach beyond the rift beyond teh ring draw the energy of chaos for your working.
To close this working, starting in Earth, trace banishing elemental pentagrams.
There should be a feeling of a resistance and a pop through as you connect the
missing gap in each. See the energy locked back into the completed pentagrams
and so grounded. Move around counter-clockwise closing off each.
I often get asked about Magick, and Chaos Magick in particualr, so I’ve decided to put together a list of what I personally consider the best places to start learning about these things.
Books:
Liber Null & PsychonautThis is the classic text on Chaos Magick. It’s more or less where it all started, and the ideas and techniques presented here is what most other authors steal from. It tries to be a bit spooky and might be a little hard to follow in places if you’re a complete beginner, but stick with it. And you can skip the Psychonaut section altogether and jump right on to;
Condensed ChaosThis is the book that did it for me. It’s both fun and easy to read, but it contains really good information and acts as a great companion to Liber Null.
Practical Sigil MagickThere’s a lot of posts and articles on sigils online, but a lot of them don’t teach you how to properly do them. Although I strongly urge people to experiment and modify their sigil practice, make sure you truly understand how they work, and that you do them correctly before you go about deconstructing and personalising.
The Psychonaut Field ManualAn extremely useful illustrated guide to modern Chaos Magick. This really is one of the best things out there. Might get a little advanced for the beginner at the end there, but I still think newcomers will gain a better understanding of how to approach these kinds of things with the right tools and technology.
For extra credit you might want to check out some of the talks onRuneSoup.
Comic books:
Promethea. This is definitely one of the best introductions to Magick out there. It covers everything from Magick, Tarot, Sex Magick, Kabbalah, demons and more. This is a must have! Get it now! It’s unbelievably good.
The Invisbles. A classic which covers some Chaos Magick and HyperSigils. A great supplement to have.
If you’re really serious about becoming a practitioner then nothing beats this 5 hourIntroduction to Chaos Magickcourse. Worth saving up for.
Now, please don’t forget to actually go outside of your comfort zone and try some of this stuff out. Don’t just sit there. Go outside. Go wild. Go crazy. Just go! Go, go, go! Hit the books. Hit the play button. Take notes. Take care. Be safe.
K-AOS: “Spare World?” print by Matt Kaybryn and Peter J. Carroll.
“I believe in the life, in the flesh of infinite variety. We are eternity, with – as now – a fleeting and fluxing consciousness.
Possibilities of being are limitless, because there is no total of experience or memory.
Our potentialities arte within this all-spaciousness, refined in by dimensionals and senses”.
“Thou art this and all that exists – but here’s the catch – never at one time.
Mind is universal and includes; Ego separates.
‘That art Thou’ never is … always.
I was or I may become this, and only “I am” in Ego, often losing self-consciousness.
I behold multiplicity in all things, and myself as the interrelating oneness, for whatsoever else I conceive will lead me astray or into ‘as if’.
The more I get into things, the more I am beyond them, so, the more within the more without, I am everywhere present yet unknown to myself except in Ego”.
The quotations above are from “Zos Speaks!” by Kenneth & Steffi Grant (1998).
Excerpt from “Dreaming” in Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J. Carroll
The dream state provides a convenient egress into the fields of divination, entities, and exteriorization or “out of the body” experience. All humans dream each night of their lives, but few can regularly recount their experiences even a few minutes after waking. Dream experiences are so incongruous that the brain learns to prevent them interfering with waking consciousness. The magician aims to gain full access to the dream plane and to assume control of it. The attempt to do this invariably involves the magician in a deadly and bizzare battle with his own psychic censor, which will use almost any tactics to deny him these experiences. The only method of gaining full access to the dream plane is to keep a book and writing instrument next to the place of sleeping at all times. In this, record the details of all dreams as soon as possible after waking. To assume conscious control over the dream state, it is necessary to select a topic for dreaming. The magician should start with simple experiences, such as the desire to see a particular object (real or imaginary) and master this before attempting divination or exteriorization. The dream is set up by strongly visualizing the desired topic in an otherwise silenced mind, immediately before sleep. For more complex experiences the method of sigils may be employed. A record of dreams is best kept separate from the magical record as it tends to become voluminous. However any significant success should be transferred into the magical diary.
Peter J. Carroll, Liber Null & Psychonaut (York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1987), 23.