What is Chaos Magik/Magick?

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

In another thread willow mentioned Chaos Magik/Magik. I am sort of familiar with this from William S. Burroughs' cut ups, and Throbbing Gristle, and friends who sort of dabbled in it; but what exactly is it?

A friend of mine who dabbled in once told me how it's basically trying to turn reality into whatever it is that you want via your thoughts.

I've never done it or really used it but what exactly is it?

 

[panic in paradise]

I cant be sure about Burroughs or TG. Chaos Magick though is a form of ancient magick dubbed something else, with some changes in the wording and practices that is very destructive in ways the practitioner has no knowledge of.

 

[twentysix]

Honing the chaos capable of transference via human mind. ? Uhh.

A butterfly flaps it's wings fast enough, although something different. Our minds. Observing actively. Hey would not the universe somehow favor this lens? I don't necessarily mean favorite, but we may have, as handed organisms, manipulative priority in a sense. We may actually be, at least one of its favored hands.

Sapa.

 

[Termino]

What exactly is it? I don't think there's an exact answer - chaos magick is something different to each practitioner. It uses a wide variety of techniques and imagery, from ancient to contemporary, to influence the belief system of the chaos magician. It's highly individualized and creative.

Check out the works of Austin Osman Spare, Peter Carroll and Phil Hine.

 

[panic in paradise]

Honing the chaos capable of transference via human mind. ? Uhh.

A butterfly flaps it's wings fast enough, although something different. Our minds. Observing actively. Hey would not the universe somehow favor this lens? I don't necessarily mean favorite, but we may have, as handed organisms, manipulative priority in a sense. We may actually be, at least one of its favored hands.

Sapa.

you allow the butterfly(or what ever else) to land in your(or anyone's) hand.

 

[trees_please]

sounds like a one-way ticket to a psych ward

 

[P A]

^This.

As with the 'Indigo Scam Phenomenon' thread, I can't tell whether this is a certifiable topic or not. If it were, I suppose it would fall squarely under the discursive domain of the 'Spiritual,' but I'm really not sure how relevant Chaos Magickckckkkk is to the human condition as such. Anyway, as usual, I'll leave this one open so long as it doesn't devolve into another New Age shitfit.

 

[webbykevin]

I don't think it's a topic worthy of a place in PS, just my opinion.

 

[panic in paradise]

I don't think it's a topic worthy of a place in PS, just my opinion.

you would have to understand 'universal chaos theory', philosophy, deductive rationality, and spirituality, firstly.

its ancient business.

 

[twentysix]

I don't think it's a topic worthy of a place in PS, just my opinion.

Where would you suggest?

 

[panic in paradise]

the light falls where it may

in timely accordance, upon the time and place left over, lastly.

 

[webbykevin]

Where would you suggest?

Homeless Threads

 

[MyDoorsAreOpen]

P A, I'm going to have to disagree with this being a topic poorly suited to this forum. I've never gotten into Chaos Magick, but from what I understand, it consists of activities capable of producing profound shifts in where you see your place in the greater picture. I'm not saying you have to find this a worthwhile project, personally. But there are people who do. And more to the point, shifting perspectives on yourself, the world, and your place in it does fall pretty squarely into the domain of this forum.

I don't know about anyone else, but I for one would be interested in hearing from folks who've practiced CM, what the rituals were like, what intentions they had, and what they took from it.

Magick -- the deliberate exercise of will over the world around us -- is an unpopular but nevertheless ancient and well established part of the human experience, and I suspect there will always be some people who practice it. You can write it off as a Darwinian adaptation that once served an important societal function but does no longer. I don't, though at the same time I'm skeptical of physically manipulating the external world with one's mind alone, which I don't think is the goal of magick.

 

[P A]

P A, I'm going to have to disagree with this being a topic poorly suited to this forum.

I didn't condemn the topic as off-base or irrelevant - I merely expressed my doubts as to whether it was a meaningful one or not; furthermore, I said I'd leave it open. Short of wholehearted endorsement of this tripe (which you are unlikely to obtain from me), I'm not sure what else I can offer you.

 

[rangrz]

MDAO, What is the goal then? Alt, if it's not with mind alone ( that is, doing it physically) would it not be subsumed into engineering/trades/science/medicine/business/politics or one of one the other conventional ways to manipulate the physical world?

 

[Mu-ham-mad]

What a pile of tripe.

 

[twentysix]

MDAO, What is the goal then? Alt, if it's not with mind alone ( that is, doing it physically) would it not be subsumed into engineering/trades/science/medicine/business/politics or one of one the other conventional ways to manipulate the physical world?

If we understand "magick"... maybe.

 

[Mu-ham-mad]

I have a feeling that rangrz would even deny that alchemical transmutation is possible. There's no hope for some people.

 

[rangrz]

I have a feeling that rangrz would even deny that alchemical transmutation is possible. There's no hope for some people.

I would never deny that nuclear transmutation is possible. I've done it myself and in any event, denying it would be denying the validity of my field of study.

That said, the techniques used (particle accelerators and high neutron flux reactors) are FIRMLY in the domain of science and engineering and not the plate of steaming tripe called magiccccccckkkkkkk

 

[MyDoorsAreOpen]

rangrz, my understanding of magick is that you affect an inner change in your own mindset, so that you interact differently with other people and the outer world, and reap different results from it.