What is Chaos Magick?

[johnnathan]

What are its Origins? Are there many different belief systems within it? What is it all about and what are the study's? Thanks

[Clockwork Ghost]

(Ripped from Wikipedia)

Chaos magic is a school of the modern magical tradition which emphasizes the pragmatic use of belief systems and the creation of new and unorthodox methods.

Although there are a few techniques unique to chaos magic (such as some forms of sigil magic), chaos magic is often highly individualistic and borrows liberally from other belief systems, due to chaos magic having a central belief that belief is a tool. Some common sources of inspiration include such diverse areas as science fiction, scientific theories, traditional ceremonial magic, neoshamanism, Eastern philosophy, world religions, and individual experimentation. Despite tremendous individual variation, chaos magicians (sometimes called "chaotes") often work with chaotic and humorous paradigms, such as the worship of Hundun from Taoism or Eris from Discordianism. Some chaos magicians also use psychedelic drugs in practices such as chemognosticism.

Chaos magicians are often seen by other occultists as dangerous or worrisome revolutionaries.

This magical discipline was first formulated in West Yorkshire, England in the 1970s. A meeting between Peter J. Carroll and Ray Sherwin in Deptford in 1976 has been claimed as the birthplace of chaos magic, and in 1978 Carroll and Sherwin founded the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT), a chaos magic organization. Liber Null (1978) by Peter J. Carroll further developed this new, experimental perspective on magic. This book and Carroll's Psychonaut (1981) remain important sources.

Visionary artist and mystic Austin Osman Spare, who was briefly a member of Aleister Crowley's A∴A∴ but later broke with them to work independently, is largely the source of chaos magical theory and practice. Specifically, Spare developed the use of sigils and the use of gnosis to empower these. Most basic sigil work recapitulates Spare's technique, including the construction of a phrase detailing the magical intent, the elimination of duplicate letters, and the artistic recombination of the remaining letters to form the sigil. Although Spare died before chaos magic emerged, many consider him to be the father of chaos magic because of his repudiation of traditional magical systems in favor of a technique based on gnosis.

Following Spare's death, magicians continued to experiment outside of traditional magical orders. In addition to Spare's work, this experimentation was the result of many factors, including the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s, the wide publication of information on magic by magicians such as Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie, the influence of Discordianism and Robert Anton Wilson, and the popularizing of magic by Wicca.

The first edition of Liber Null does not include the term "chaos magic", but only refers to magic or "the magic art" in general. Texts from this period consistently claim to state principles universal to magic, as opposed to a new specific style or tradition of magic, and describe their innovations as efforts to rid magic of superstitious and religious ideas. Psychonaut uses the label "individual sorcery as taught by the IOT".

Chaos came to be part of this movement defined as "the 'thing' responsible for the origin and continued action of events[...]. It could as well be called God or Tao, but the name Chaos is virtually meaningless and free from the anthropomorphic ideas of religion. The Symbol of Chaos used to signify it was apparently, but not explicitly, lifted from the fantasy novels of Michael Moorcock. Carroll wrote that the chaotic aspect of this magic aims for "psychological anarchy[...] The aim is to produce inspiration and enlightenment through disordering our belief structures.

Read the rest of this article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic

[adawehi]

If you happen to be a martial artist and happened to have studied the late Bruce Lee's theories, you should understand "The way of no way". Bruce did exactly as we Chaos practitioners do, we borrow liberally from the other arts and have zero problems modifying those ways if necessary to fit us. In essence, why reinvent the wheel when we can take a wheel already invented, tinker with it a bit and make it work on what we want it to work on.
Not all Chaos practitioners should be feared yet as ws stated there are some to be leery of. There are some that are vampires and will feed off the energy of others simply because they can. Others are comfortable creating turmoil and feel it serves their purpose. Others have zero problem using harmful curses and believe it is their right.
There are also many of us who will use gray magic to do nothing more than help pay the bills and strongly disagree with cursing, feeding or creating turmoil. I and my friends that practice are from this group.