This is meant to be a brief introduction to what Chaos Magick is in-case anyone is interested. I want to preface this post by saying that it is a good idea to do more individual research on the subject of magick, it would take me pages to give an in-depth review of literature. With that being said, I hope you enjoy this introduction and feel free to ask questions.
Chaos Magick was created in England in the 1970’s, it was built largely off the philosophy of occultist Austin Osman Spare. A good alternate name for Chaos Magick would be “results-based magic”, this is because Chaos magick puts a much greater emphasis on obtaining the desired result and the means of obtaining them are much more arbitrary.
Arbitrary and idiosyncratic are two great words to describe Chaos magic. This is because Chaos magic does not accept the idea of an absolute truth and suggests that all occult systems are based arbitrary symbols/rules that are only effective because of the belief of the practitioner. Chaos magic is largely founded on the idea of using belief as tool to produce desired change in reality. The practitioner often achieves this by creating an arbitrary and idiosyncratic belief system of their own, this belief system often borrows from other traditions, lores, theories, philosophies etc.
The beauty of Chaos Magic is that you are essentially choosing your favorite aspects of whatever belief system/magical traditions you like and leaving out what you dont like. So if at this point you are frustrated and wondering, “well, what does Chaos Magic do?” you might have missed the point. Chaos Magic will do what you choose to believe it will do. You make the rules, you determine through what means you will achieve a result.
So now you might be wondering "alright, cool. So where am I supposed to start? Well I can help point you in the general direction. If you plan to practice Chaos Magick I highly recommend you start by reading this book (its free)
I really suggest you go through the whole book and understand each page, it’s a pretty easy read but the concepts can be quite abstract so make sure you take a minute to really understand what the author is writing. He gives exercises you can easily perform and experience yourself and gives you an exact format and formula to conduct them. In this book you will learn about sigil magic and much more.
I think that brings us to the end of this brief introduction. Once again, I’m happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability and I hope you enjoyed this intro.
The book I recommended gives some basic precautions. Like if you are working with sigils you need to be very specific with how you word your desire. For example, if you write “I want a new car” once you charge the sigil you will “want a new car”, i.e. you will have the desire for a new car. A better way to write it would be “I will get a new car”. He also lists other examples on how you should word sigils. But a large part of chaos magic is creating your own rules to follow that work best for you.
I suppose the best advice I would give is to go into it with good intentions. Dont try and do anything scummy like manipulate other people or hurt others for no reason. And also as the old saying goes, “be careful what you wish for”, think everything through and be mindful of the result you desire. I like to think of chaos magick as the magic of making wishes that come true.
Not unless you want it too. I think the term “Chaos” in this instance means to convey that the practitioner of Chaos Magick is a force of “Chaos”, in that they do not conform to a fixed-model of reality.
For example, in my reality and magical belief system it is possible for me to believe that every time the 3rd person I see wearing a gold shirt means if I give them $100, that signifies that I will receive $300 in the next coming days. This isn’t really harmful but it is rather “chaotic”. You create the spells, the rituals, and the very beliefs that guide your reality.
There are no rules and the beliefs are arbitrary and idiosyncratic, this is inherently chaotic because it implies that there is no absolute truth. Essentially, everyone is playing the rules to their own unique game and discarding the accepted “truths” of society. That is the “Chaotic” nature of chaos magic
I’m pretty sure I read, I believe on this forum, that Chaos Magick is the same thing as Manifestation/Law of Attraction. Do you disagree with that idea @NobleLight?
This is where Chaos Magick gets tricky and abstract, especially regarding definitions. Lets start with how you define “Manifestation”. I define manifestation as “Bringing into existence”. So, to me, manifestation is a concept. For example, “I manifested a new car”. This could be through using money, the lotto, instant materialization etc.
Chaos Magick on the other hand, is what I view to be more of a system in which you use belief as a tool to produce change in you reality that conforms with your will. For example, lets say you want to manifest a car. It is possible that in my system of Chaos magic, I may choose to use sigil magic to charge a sigil that will allow my car to manifest into my life.
So I dont think you can call Chaos Magick equivalent to Manifestation, because they are 2 different concepts. You can say that Chaos Magick is a system to manifest your desires.
Sure, no problem. It can be hard to explain what Chaos Magick “Is” because it almost goes against the definition of Chaos Magic. The best way to put it is, Chaos Magick is what you choose it is. We could both practice Magick, yet I could do it through the use of a scientific aesthetic and another could use it through the aesthetic of praising satan. This doesnt make one “wrong” because there is no “wrong” because there is no absolute truth. It’s a tricky concept to wrap your head around.
To answer the question above simply regarding Chaos Magick vs Manifestation I would say
Manifestation is a verb/noun used to describe something coming into existence
Chaos Magick is a system in which you use belief as a tool to influence your reality conforming with your will.
Thanks for the recommendation!
I was eyeing chaos magic for some time but then rather leaned towards Franz Bardon’s work.
Isn’t it the chaos magic guys who say magic is about intent + tweaking probabilities? E.g. “it is hard to win the lottery because even if you can multiply your chances 100 times through magic, it is still extremely low” and “your intention is going against a lot of other people’s intention, and a lot of people intent to win passionately”.
Sure, I love sharing knowledge and this is such an interesting subject.
I’m not sure which guys your referring too but I can kind of see what you mean. A lot of magick in general is based on first having a desire and then building and intent and then through whatever magical means producing a desired result. I’m sure some magick systems use probabilities in their system but I don’t believe that it is an inherent aspect of Chaos Magick.
Since a central theme of Chaos Magick is there is no absolute truth, the only limitations upon the practitioners are the ones imposed on themselves by their system of beliefs.
So for your example of winning the lottery, it is just as plausible for a practitioner of Chaos Magic to believe “I desire to win the lottery. Because I am the creator of my reality and everything is energy, I can choose the lottery as a means to provide me abundance. I have a strong belief in sigil magic so all I have to do is make a sigil stating me desire, charge it, and leave it to the forces of the universe. Soon without a doubt I will win a lottery in some way shape or form”
also to answer an earlier question, Servitors are considered to be a branch of Chaos Magick. Austin Osman Spare stated first stated that the psychological complexes theorized by Carl Jung could be deliberately created through a sigil technique
I got something good for you, took me a little digging. If you search “austin osman spare” “sentient sigils” (with quotations) you can find a link to a pdf with massive library of essays on Austin Osman Spare. I didnt link it because you need to do click on it from google.
Here is a brief excerpt I found
“Spare’s system of Sentient Sigils explained below. Sleep should be preceded by some form of Karezza during which a specially chosen sigil symbolizing the desired object is vividly visualized. In this manner the libido is baulked of its natural fantasies and seeks satisfaction in the dream world. When the knack is acquired the dream will be extremely intense and dominated by a succube, or shadow-woman, with whom sexual intercourse occurs spontaneously. If the dreamer has aquired even a moderate degree of proficiency in this technique he will be aware of the continued presence of the sigil. This he should bind upon the form of the succube in a place that is within range of his vision during copulation, e.g., as a pendant suspended from her neck; as ear-drops; or as the diadem in a circlet about her brow…”
“presence of the Shadow-Woman will be experienced with a vivid intensity of sensation and clarity of vision. The sigil thus becomes sentient and in due course the object of the Working materializes on the physical plane. This object is, of course, determined by the desire embodied in and represented by the sigil”
Depending on how you define servitor this might be the earliest mention I have found of summoning a psychological complex through use of sigil magic. It’s possible he expands on this idea in some of his books
