Академический Документы
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Abracademia 3 – 2009 Content
Editorial by Res page 3
Becoming Sorcerer by Janice Duke page 5
Kali Painting by Janice Duke page 18
Report on Project Eschaton by Peter J. Carroll page 19
Magic and Media: or, be careful what you wish for! page 24
by Jaq D Hawkins
Why Chaos Magic in Art? by Ilya Lechtholz page 28
Initial Findings on
Eight fold Analysis of the
Eight Rays of the Chaosphere by Oumi Hegovai page 29
Hail Willpower by Devin Drew page 38
Meta Art by Devin Drew page 39
N+3 by Devin Drew page 40
Jerry and his little Friend by Ilya Lechtholz page 41
Radical Subjectivity and the Spectacle
by Devin Drew page 50
My sophomore year at Arcanorium College
by Jonathan Stovall page 52
Bright from the Well
Chapter 13 Ginnung by Dave Lee page 58
Apophenia review page 62
Frontpage by Isis Solaris
abracademia
The News Journal of Arcanorium college
Volume 3, Number 3
Executive and Copy Editor: Res
Production and Picture Editor: Isis Solaris
Abracademia is published electronically.
Copyright © 2006 Arcanorium College.
Individual art and articles copyright © their respective artists and authors.
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EDITORIAL
Ah, technology! It does allow us to achieve so much more than we could without it;
however, the physical constraints of the world around us still determine access to that
technology, so sometimes superfast production gets delayed when computers get packed
away during house repair work... which explains why this issue of Abracademia has taken a
little while to appear!
As you will see though, the material remains as fresh and exciting as when it was written.
Magick springs eternal, so we proudly present for your delectation and delight a collection of
work by the students and staff of Arcanorium College.
I have to say the quality of the material this issue has reached a very high standard, I found
both the fiction pieces and the articles describing magickal experiences moving,
informative, and at times laugh out loud funny. Most importantly, they made me think.
Magick provides us with so much in the way of creativity and entertainment, emotional
depth, a connection with the wider world as well as the worlds within. Yet we sometimes
discount the valuable contribution to our lives of the poke raw magickal thinking provides,
towards getting our intellects to function willingly and playfully. Chaos Magick provides that
unbounded space for Anything Goes to exist. Everything is permitted....
However the work only lives when you, the reader, apply your own thoughts to what lies
before you; and so, I leave you to apply your eyes and neurons to these stories, to make of
them what you will.
This whole process supplies the real magick to a journal. Only when it affects, enables, and
promotes thought and reflection, does a magickal attitude start to spill out into other areas
of life. And we need to think and reflect about our wider lives beyond the sandbox of
magick, given how the choices each of make as individuals change the face of the world,
near and far. I hope, that these changes happen in conformity with our will.
I also hope that technology continues to function, and becomes ever more accessible. We
need the tools it supplies to communicate non‐locally, express ourselves, find the
information and inspiration we so desperately want, the interactions upon which the
present and the future depend.
As an intrinsic emergent property of the natural world, technology and the information
society mark a step along the path to what happens next. Why do magick? To let us open
the doors of perception to strange new worlds, to choose the criteria upon which we judge
the best of those, to develop the skills required to collectively choose the best, and to set off
on the journey to the many diverse worlds we decide upon as worthwhile.
Res, Nov 2009
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"It has often been said that, if the human species fails to make a go of it here on Earth, some
other species will take over the running. In the sense of developing high intelligence this is
not correct. We have, or soon will have, exhausted the necessary physical prerequisites so far
as this planet is concerned. With coal gone, oil gone, high‐grade metallic ores gone, no
species however competent can make the long climb from primitive conditions to high‐level
technology. This is a one‐shot affair. If we fail, this planetary system fails so far as
intelligence is concerned. The same will be true of other planetary systems. On each of them
there will be one chance, and one chance only."
Sir Fred Hoyle, "Of Men and Galaxies," 1964
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Becoming‐Sorcerer
A Critical Application of the Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze on Modern
Occult Practice, with Specific Reference to Chaos Magic
by Janice Duke
In order to experiment with and understand the flux of reality the magical
practitioner, whom I shall refer to as the sorcerer, utilizes various practices. This essay will
focus upon the ways in which the empiricist and vitalist interpretations of the philosophy of
Gilles Deleuze apply to the conceptual basis of these practices, how and why they benefit
from this re‐evaluation and the problems that arise from this.
I will argue that thanks to these interpretations we can find counter arguments to
the claim that phenomena are independent. This then allows for the theory that
sympathetic magic can be understood without having to refer to simple causal relationships.
Instead the practice relies on creative acts in lieu of a fixed body of Truths. The sorcerer is
therefore involved in a liberated process rather than the fixing of identities.
Central to this view is Deleuze’s particular idea of empiricist philosophy, which has
two main elements. The first is his rejection of transcendence, and the second is the idea of
empiricism as active and as primarily creative. Philosophy is creative in this sense in terms of
the creation of concepts: ‘Empiricism is by no means a reaction against concepts…On the
contrary, it undertakes the most insane creation of concepts ever seen or heard.’ (Deleuze,
2004 xix)
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Immanence: Movement
In the Ethics Benedict de Spinoza combines the two elements of this empiricism
within a single movement, one that rejects transcendence with the thesis of a single
substance within which all beings are modal expressions. For Deleuze this single substance is
what he terms a ‘plane of immanence’, within which all that exists is situated (Deleuze, 1988
p.122). Beings, or modes, are defined by how they relate to each other, kinetically and
dynamically. ‘A body can be anything’ (Deleuze, 1988 p.127), such entities are characterized
in terms of ‘relations of motion…speeds and slownesses’ of the particles that compose
them. This, and their power to affect and be affected by other entities, defines the threshold
of their individuality (Deleuze, 1988 p.123, 125).
Through his reading of Spinoza, Deleuze wants to move us beyond thinking of
isolated individuals with innate qualities that define their being (SPP p. 123‐124), toward an
understanding of entities in constant flux through the creative play of interacting intensities
bifrucating them as they become problematised through relation to one another (Deleuze,
2004 p.307).
Deleuze views individuality as an individuating process rather than a stable
ontological unit. He conceives entities as complex networks of relations, therefore they are
not to be thought of in isolation, but as developing in pre‐individual fields that exceed them
and of which they are singular resolutions (Deleuze, 2004 p.307‐308). The path an
individuation takes depends not only on the entity, but on the relations it has with the world
around it. Thus, entities that appear to be be of similar constitution can be individuated in
radically different ways depending on the problematic field to which they belong and relate
(ibid).
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Paralell to this philosophical emphasis on individuality, the basis of magical practice
is an individuating sympathy. The detail of this practice is the princple of the connection of
phenoema through Homeopathy, assosiation by similarity, ‘things which resemble each
other are the same’, and Contagion, assosiation by contiguity, ‘things that have once been in
contact with each other are always in contact’ (Frazer, 1960 p.15). In practice all facets must
be creatively combined, to form firmer connections (ibid).
Traditionally a ‘mysterious’ non‐causal force that transcends the material, such as
‘Spirit’ (Vitebsky, 2001 p.12), ‘Goddess and God’ (De Angeles, 2004 p.53) or ‘Aether’ (Carroll,
1987 p.29), is thought to provide this connection between phenomena, with the sorcerer
working through it via concepts such as ‘self‐love’ (Spare, 2002) or ‘will’ (Carroll, 1987 p.153,
Crowley, 1973 p.xii).
However, if we return to Deleuze’s work on Spinoza and his study in Difference and
Repetition of shifting networks of virtual intensity, where connections are already
establishing continuously, an agent of transcendence is not required. Further, if we are no
longer thinking of individuals freely acting upon the world, and instead of individuating
process acting upon and being acted upon by sets of relations, it is through these that the
sorcerer may divine, enchant, evoke and invoke1.
It is the connection between phenomena that is vital in such magical endevour, and
it is such connection that Deleuze puts forward. Through similarity of intensity forming
connection we find the homeopathic element, such contact also provides that required for
contiguity, forming a strong degree of sympathy between phemonmena through
preindividual fields, virtual potentials that exist in the actual (Deleuze, 2004 p.307‐308).
Through such connections we can say that when Matt Lee describes a woman
‘becoming‐bear’ (Lee, 2002), for Deleuze she would not be imitating or identifying with an
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archytype or universal bear, ‘becoming is never imitating’ (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987
p.239). She would be invoking the affects she has in common with ‘all‐things‐bear’,
individuating through the virtual intensities she shares with this idea (Deleuze, 1988 p.124),
and through it becoming a creative and entirely singular expression.
However, it seems that these critical points against sorcery (and science in general
with reference to causality) raise questions: how do we know Deleuze’s description of reality
in terms of virtual/actual individuating processes is tenable? What is wrong with causal
explanations? Or causal explanations allied to ones in terms of free will?
Concepts: Experimentation
The answer to these questions about method and causality lie in Deleuze’s critique
of abstract universals. Here we find that Deleuze is more radical than certain forms of
magical practice.
Wiccan doctrine, amongst others, is in the habit of referring to universals as the
conceptual basis for practice. For example it speaks of ‘that essential polarity which
pervades and activates the whole universe’ (Farrar and Farrar, 1996 p.49) conceptually
dividing reality so that one thing is only known with reference to another. Men and women
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are seen as ‘expressions of the God and Goddess aspects of the Ultimate Source’ (ibid),
polarised abstractions that refer to conceptual ‘Truth’ that defines their identity.
For Deleuze, such abstract universals are misleading and dangerous, because ‘form
will never inspire anything but conformities’ (Deleuze, 2004 p.170). Abstract universals are
forms as they are essencial unchanging models, ‘true’ and ‘pure’, that we supposedly
‘discover’ through thought. But for Deleuze these ‘images of thought’ merely rediscover
already established values, thus the conventions of the past become imposed upon the
present (Deleuze, 2004 p.170‐172).
Through his exploration of presuposed postulates that provide the background for
philosophical systems, Deleuze questions this notion of thoughts relation to truth. He then
goes on to criticise identity when it is based upon this (Deleuze, 2004 p.207). For him truth is
a relative, changeable consensus of opinion among a group (Deleuze and Guattari, 1994
p.146), such certainties, and even doubts, lack the ‘violence’ required to ‘force us to think’
(ibid).
For Deleuze, concepts ‘only ever designate possibilities’ (Deleuze, 2004 p.175).
Thought is an encounter, a creative act, provoking us to create in order to cope (Deleuze,
2004 p.175‐176). As such concepts act and are affective, rather than simply conveying ideas.
They are intensive, expressing the virtual existence of an event in thought; ‘as Nietzsche
succeeded in making us understand, thought is creation, not will to truth’ (Deleuze and
Guattari, 1994 p.54). Truth must be seen as a matter of value to be considered, as part of
regimes of force, rather than viewed as an innate disposition (Deleuze, 1983 p.110).
Truth alters what we think is possible, according to Deleuze. Once we put aside the
supposition that thought naturally recognises truth we attain a ‘thought without image’
(Deleuze, 2004 p.207‐208). This also applies to identities, which become determined by
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problems instead of finding their solution. We must ‘learn to forget our attachments to any
particular self and body’ (Williams, 2003 p.10) through experimentation. This lack of defined
individual identity is liberation.
Such creative participation is the hallmark of Chaos Magic, which claims that it
requires only ‘the acceptance of a single belief to make someone a magician…the meta‐
belief that belief is a tool for creating effects.’ (Carroll, 1992 p.77) To a Chaoist ‘nothing is
true’ because concepts are merely instruments lived for effect, and as such ‘everything is
permitted’ (Carroll, 1987 p.59).
Contrary to Wicca, and similar practices with intricate and highly regimented
otherworld cosmologies and metaphysical theories alluding to dogmatic Truth, Chaos Magic
is distinguished by its ‘cavalier’ approach to metaphysics and ‘puritanical devotion to
empirical techniques’ (Carroll, 1992 p.191‐192). It is not a question of ‘what is true?’ for a
Chaoist; it is a question of ‘which concept will be most effective?’ It is not a question of ‘who
am I?’ but a question of ‘which “I” to become?’
But is this merely offering a relativist account of truth? Not in the simplistic sense of
any one point of view being as valid as another. For Deleuze ‘relativism is not the relativity of
truth but the truth of relation’ (Bova and Latour, 2006), it is an openness to shifts in
perspective, the establishment of relations between frames of reference without any one
fixed perception.
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Vitalism: Understanding
For Deleuze, any real experience is an experience of variations, as opposed to an
experience of identity; it is of the world of virtual variations that lie beneath any illusory
identity (Deleuze, 2004 p.347). The plane of immanence is always there, but always in flux,
under construction through concepts that are always creative rather than ‘true’ (Deleuze,
2004 p.175‐176).
This is the vital spark of Deleuze’s philosophy, a univocal ontology, unified becoming
that proposes life that has nothing ‘beyond’ it, has no ‘duality’ and contains within itself its
own means of development through process, through the repetition of difference (Deleuze,
2004 p.48‐49). Through this, life and thought are activities, always transforming and being
transformed, always thresholds connecting to one another.
The ‘individual’ within this is ‘a thing where thought takes place’, and this need not
be ‘the conscious thought of a human being’ in such a ‘series of processes that connect
actual things, thoughts and sensations to the pure intensities and ideas implied by them’
(Williams, 2003 p.6). Not human‐centric and so connecting being fully with reality, it is
through these we may experience a becoming‐bear, a becoming‐tree, a becoming‐stone.
The difference between human beings and all else is pushed aside by Deleuze’s conception
of thought as independent of consciousness (Deleuze, 2004 p.175‐176).
To attempt to stay the same, to hold on to a fixed idea of the self or a view of the
world as static is a mistake. A change of perspective will show us that something that
appears fixed is changing (Deleuze, 2004 p.271). Identity is always an illusion, a perspective.
Through individuating processes there can be no distinct individuals, we are always
becoming (Deleuze, 2004 p.307‐308, 320)
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It is claimed that the archetypes of Wicca can never be destroyed, that they are as
much a part of us as ‘bones or nerves’ (Farrar and Farrar, 1996 p.16). But to see, for
example, all women as essentially expressions of the ‘Great Mother’ and men as unable to
identify with this (Farrar and Farrar, 1996 p.18) is limiting to men and women.
From a Deleuzian perspective the concept of the ‘Great Mother’ changes with each
application of it; any invocation of the ‘Great Mother’ should be a creative and singular
expression of a being, through which both are changed. A male experience of the ‘Great
Mother’ would be no less singular on that account.
For Chaoists, as for Deleuze, this idea of a ‘true self’, through an archetype, through
biology, through any claimed foundation, must be fully criticised to weaken its hold so it
cannot place a limit on what a being can do (Carroll, 1987 p.45‐48)2. It is not enough to
simply recognise our identifications and influences, or to attempt to abandon them, as we
are ever part of processes involving them. We must expose them as utterly changeable
through experimentation (ibid). It is only through this that the sorcerer is able to strive for
‘the meta‐identity of being able to be anything’ (Carroll, 1992 p.77).
Through his focus upon developing concepts of immanence and difference to put
forward a univocal ontology, does Deleuze present us with a post‐structuralist theoretical
anti‐humanism? Yes, it is an anti‐humanism, however, for Deleuze the human subject is not
central or privileged in such networks of forces (Deleuze and Guattari, 1994 p.54). From this
point of view the concept of an essential ‘human condition’ seems just as limiting as the
concept of the ‘Great Mother’. Such forms are counter‐productive, imprisoning our creative
process in an attempt to conform to fixed identities (Deleuze, 2004 p.170‐172).
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Practical Metaphysics
Deleuze refers to an entity that is not defined by identity, but by process. This entity
is referred to as an ‘embryonic subject’, a ‘nomadic subject’ and ultimately, in A Thousand
Plateaus, ‘becoming’ (Due, 2007 p.10). This ‘nomad’ is inseparable from ‘territory’, from
relations with the world around it, as in an individuating process. These networks of forces
are subject to constant ‘deterritorialization’ and ‘reterritorialization’ (Deleuze and Guattari,
1987 p.381), or conceptual experimentation, invading ‘the individual psyche causing it to be
directed in multiple directions’ (Green, 2001) which Deleuze and Guattari refer to as ‘lines of
flight’. The figure of the sorcerer is approached as a ‘memory’ or conceptual personae,
embodying the threshold of these experiences.
The sorcerer is ‘neither an individual nor a species; it has only affects; it has neither
familiar or subjectified feelings, nor specific or significant characteristics’ (Deleuze and
Guattari, 1987 p.244). The sorcerer personifies the pre‐individual in this context, multiple in
the virtual possibilities it holds, anomalous and imperceptible through being without
internalised identity, instead swarming with potential, aware of the potential, ‘nomadic’ in
divining and directing it rather than being directed. ‘The ability to access this mode of
multiplicity is what is meant by sorcery’ (Lee, 2002).
For Chaoists the very foundation of their practice is the awareness that with each
passing ‘moment the consortium of “I” puts forward a new face. I am not who I was seconds
ago, much less yesterday. Our name is multiple’ (Carroll, 1987 p.59). For both Deleuze and
Chaoists the sorcerer has no centre; it is a transient assemblage of parts, adhering to as few
fixed principles as possible (Carroll, 1992 p.59, 1987 p.48). ‘A human being, in its most active
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essence, alien and anomalous even to itself, is therefore most purely expressed in the
sorcerer, the only successful madman’ (Kerslake, 2007b p.169). As even if ‘at the level of
pathos…multiplicities are expressed by…schizophrenia. At the level of pragmatics, they are
utilised by sorcery.’ (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987 p. 506)
Through this ‘sacrifice’ of ‘truth for freedom at every opportunity’ (Carroll, 1992
p.79) the Chaoist aims to not be limited by fixed concepts or identity, and it is precisely such
liberation to which Deleuze would direct us. Chaoists see it as a mistake to view any one way
of being as more liberated than another, for them the possibility of change is what is
paramount. Liberating behaviour is ultimately that which aims to increase future possibility
for action, not only for the Chaoist but also for all those with which they are interacting
(Carroll, 1987 p.45).
For Deleuze the sorcerer is an experimental and destabilising figure; occult forces
are focussed upon as promoting action, growth and liberation (Kerslake, 2007a)3. Deleuze
and Guattari’s ‘schizophrenia…is about breakthrough and freedom rather than breakdown
and despair’ (Green, 2001). This changes the role of philosophers to a creative one, rather
than one of rediscovery, as Deleuze shifts the emphasis of philosophy from being to action.
Thus sorcerers experiment with ideas in practice in order to promote further
experimentation and growth.
Deleuze does not provide the sorcerer with a set of instructions, rather a
philosophical basis for practical experimentation. Any system pertaining to ‘truth’ or stability
would ultimately atrophy magical practice, by discouraging such experimentation. Therefore
magical practice benefits more from drawing upon a philosophy that rejects images of
thought, rather than any school of thought that claims access to objective knowledge and
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‘truth’, though this remains useful in defining that which undergoes experimental scrutiny
(Williams, 2003 p.194).
Through the empiricist and vitalist interpretations of his philosophy, Deleuze
‘offer[s] a model of matter that no longer needs concepts such as ‘aether’ to allow non‐
causal connections’ (Lee, 2002) through his conception of the relations between the virtual
and the actual, pre‐individual and individuating process, making possible the claim that
phenomena are not independent. Through this it is possible for the theory of sympathetic
magic to be understood without having to refer to simple causal relationships.
Deleuze’s notion of thought as creative act provides a conceptual basis for
‘paradigm shifting’ that grounds the highly mystical notion of the ‘universe as [a]
spontaneously magical…shambles’ that tends to confirm whatever beliefs we have (Carroll,
1992 p.191), including the potentially highly limiting notions of foundational subjects found
in Wicca and Witchcraft.
Deleuze provides a practical and creative philosophical basis for the notion that
‘nothing is true’. Instead of ‘useful sarcasms’ (Carroll, 1992 p.78), he shows that
philosophical ideas can and should be approached through experimentation and open
structures, valuing knowledge as ‘an embodied, active process of experimental learning’
(Lee, 2002). Instead of relying on a fixed body of ‘truths’, the focus of sorcery becomes
practical experimentation through creative acts, with the sorcerer participating in a liberated
process rather than the fixing of identities.
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Footnotes
1 Divination: practices aiming to extending perception by ‘magical means’, in order to
become aware of information or probabilities. Enchantment: practices aiming to impose ‘will
on reality’, in order to effect events. Evocation: practices aiming to call entities that ‘may be
regarded as independent spirits, fragments of the magicians subconscious, or the egregores
of various species of life forms, according to taste’. Invocation: practices aiming toward
‘deliberate attunement of consciousness’ with an ‘archetypal [entity] or significant nexus of
thought’ (Carroll, 1992 p.157‐158).
2 The specific practices suggested for this are: Sacrilege (acts of insurrection that break
through conditioning ‘Put a brick through your TV’), Heresy (seeking alternative ideas to
those thought reasonable in order to expose all as arbitrary), Iconoclasm (exposing the
disguised gulfs between theory and practice in human affairs), Bioaestheticism (listening to
and satisfying the simple needs of your body) and Anathemism (revealing the transitory and
contingent nature of all things by cutting down fixed principles, and holding to the fewest
possible). For more detail see Peter Carroll’s book Liber Null and Psychonaut.
3 For an interesting account of Deleuze’s possible connections to Occultism, see Christian
Kerslake’s article Deleuze and Johann Malfatti de Montereggio and Occultism (2007a), and
for further discussion see the section ‘The Occult Unconscious’ in his book Deleuze and the
Unconscious (2007b)
Bibliography
Bova, John in Conversation with Latour, Bruno (2006): On Relativism, Pragmatism, and
Critical Theory, Naked Punch, Issue 6
Carroll, Peter J. (1987): Liber Null and Psychonaut, Weiser Books, Boston
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Carroll, Peter J. (1992): Liber Kaos, Weiser Books, Boston
Crowley, Aleister (1973): Magick in Theory and Practice, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London
Deleuze, Gilles (2004): Difference and Repetition, Continuum, London
Deleuze, Gilles (1988): Spinoza: Practical Philosophy, City Lights Books, San Francisco
Deleuze, Gilles (1983): Nietzsche and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, New York
Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Félix (1994): What is Philosophy? Verso, London
Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Félix (1987): A Thousand Plateaus, University of Minnesota
Press, Minneapolis
De Angeles, Ly (2004): Witchcraft, Theory and Practice, Llewellyn Publications, U.S.A.
Due, Reidar (2007): Key Contemporary Thinkers – Deleuze, Polity Press, Cambridge
Farrar, Janet and Farrar, Stuart (1996): A Witches’ Bible, Phoenix Publishing, Washington
Frazer, J.G. (1960): The Golden Bough, A Study in Magic and Religion, Macmillan & Co. Ltd.
London
Green, Dave (2001): Technoshamanism: Cyber Sorcery and Schizophrenia,
http://www.cesnur.org/2001/london2001/green.htm
Kerslake, Christian (2007a): Deleuze and Johann Malfatti de Montereggio and Occultism,
Culture Machine, Issue 9
Kerslake, Christian (2007b): Deleuze and the Unconscious, Continuum, New York
Lee, Matt (2002): ‘Memories of a Sorcerer’: Notes on Gilles Deleuze‐Felix Guattari, Austin
Osman Spare and Anomalous Sorceries, http://www.fulgur.co.uk/authors/aos/articles/lee/
Spare, Austin Osman (2005): The Book of Pleasure, I‐H‐O Books, U.K.
Vitebsky, Piers (2001): The Shaman, Duncan Baird Publishers, London
Williams, James (2003): Gilles Deleuze’ Difference and Repetition a Critical Introduction and
Guide, Edinburgh University Press
17
Kali by Janice Duke http://www.janiceduke.com/
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Report on Project Eschaton.
By the Chancellor, Peter J. Carroll.
During Semester 5, 2007‐2008, the Staff and Members of Arcanorium College conducted a
review of the world situation to see if anything needed doing about it.
In response to concerns that had built up over some time, the Chancellor, with the
assistance of several members of Staff, prepared a series of discussion papers on the
following topics:
A) Immanent Disaster?
1) Overpopulation.
2) Global Warming.
3) Resource Exhaustion.
B) Origins of Disaster, & Critique.
4) Organised Religion. Critique of religions.
5) Political‐Economic Theories. Critique of such theories.
C) Chaoist Alternatives.
6) Chaoist Metaphysics. Panpsychic, Neopantheist.
7) Chaoist Philosophy. Values and Ethics.
8) Chaoist Practise. Celebration and Magic.
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We seem to have a widespread assumption that Humanity faces immanent global disaster.
Magicians traditionally consider all such assumptions in terms of possibility or
impossibility with the aim of empowering themselves. Thus each individual magician can
determine a reality of choice‐ and perhaps swim against the tide of popular opinion and
established convention where necessary, in order to achieve the freedom of the
Universe(s).
Debate raged for some six weeks with over 380 messages and some several thousand
readings. Some participants advanced the proposition that we do not face any more
problems than usual on this planet.
A small but militant faction expressed the view that as belief creates reality, magicians
should firstly believe in an optimal past, present, and future for themselves, as doom
prophecies can become self fulfilling.
Others expressed the view that if we didn't entertain belief in at least the strong possibility
of global disaster then we would have no motivation to avert it or to prepare strategies to
deal with it.
A not so small, but pacifist faction declined to make, or act upon any value judgements, or
interfere with the conditions on this planet.
Others supported the hypothesis (A), that we now face a set of problems unique in their
global scope, and that civilisation itself‐ if not the survival of the human race‐ lies at stake.
During the period of the course, fuel and food prices, world population levels, and the
deteriorating global economy seemed to feature rather prominently in the conventional
media.
The initial discussion papers advanced the hypothesis (B), that the potentially catastrophic
problems of overpopulation, global warming, and resource exhaustion all have their roots in
existing organised religions or in secular economic beliefs about perpetual growth.
The initial papers also advanced the hypothesis that magical and esoteric thought has always
historically played a leading role in the development of new paradigms and belief systems.
The initial papers argued that magicians may have a unique ability and duty to help
humanity think its way out of impending catastrophe, if such appears the case.
Lastly that if so, the hypothesis (C), that an emergent philosophy broadly based around what
one might call Chaoist ideas, might provide some solutions.
Overall we seemed to achieve an approximate consensus of ‘maybe’ on all three
hypotheses, with some dissent. We also unearthed a huge wealth of links and references.
We intend to continue in a further course in 2008‐2009. In the meantime I present some by
no means unanimous thoughts from our work so far.
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1)Overpopulation.
Few if any authorities expect a ‘demographic adjustment’ (a reduction in birth‐rates due to
female emancipation, reduction in infant mortality, and increasing financial security) to
prevent the human population attempting to grow from the current 6.7 billion to about 9
billion by 2050.
2)Global Warming.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels do appear to roughly correlate with this planet’s
temperature.
We appear to have almost doubled the levels since the advent of industrialisation and we
may double them again before we bring fossil fuel use under control. Thus some degree of
human initiated global warming seems inevitable. The speed and extent of such warming
remains unknown but a global rise of more than a couple of degrees will have disastrous
effects on world agriculture. The rise in human produced carbon dioxide may trip a series of
positive feedbacks that release catastrophic quantities of greenhouse gases from the land
and the seas.
3)Resource Exhaustion.
The human race has based its post WW2 boom in food production and transport and its
steep increase in population and manufactured items almost entirely on oil. We may have
already reached peak oil production anyway, but any further use of fossil fuels can only add
to global warming.
The huge recent expansion in human numbers and activity has led to serious environmental
degradation and the loss of vast numbers of species already.
4)Organised Religion.
The three Abrahamic monotheisms all assert that their deity has given them the earth and
all its creatures to do with as they wish, and that it wants them to go forth and multiply.
21
5) Political‐Economic Theories.
Virtually all current political‐economic theories assert the desirability of continual growth in
production and consumption, despite the knowledge that beyond a certain level this brings
only marginal or even negative changes in quality of life.
6)Chaoist Metaphysics. Panpsychic, Neopantheist.
Chaoist philosophy rejects the ludicrous monotheist claim that some deity created the entire
vast universe and that it also acts as a personal deity to all of its warring followers.
Instead it suggests that the universe and everything in it has a natural origin and that to
some degree it all has ‘life’, and that humans conceptualise gods to represent various
aspects of life which concern them.
7) Chaoist Philosophy. Values and Ethics.
Various ideals follow from the panspychic and neopantheist perspective in the context of
the above.
All forms of life have an intrinsic value irrespective of their utilitarian value to us. Humanity
does not occupy a theogenically sanctioned privileged position in the scheme of things.
Humanity has however developed the privilege of recognising that it cannot continue to
expand its numbers and consumption without limit, and can use its intelligence accordingly.
Inner wealth and the quality of human interaction do far more to enhance quality of life
than excess material consumption.
8) Chaoist Practise. Celebration and Magic.
The monotheist paradigm has ceased to give useful results. Atheism has little beyond a
scientific wonder at the material complexity of the universe or mere nihilistic consumerism
to offer.
22
Chao oism on the other hand ssuggests a universe that exhibits life and chaotic creativity on
n all
leveels from quan
nta to mind, a panpsychic universe wwhich runs seelf‐creatively on what we e can
call magic.
Thiss can lead to what we can
n call ‘High M
Magic’, the m
mystical appreciation of, aand the attempt
to coommune witth, the ultimate chao‐creeative force o
of the univerrse.
It alsso leads to aa ‘Low Magicc’ in which we interact wiith gods and spirits and d
demons whicch
we kknow that we have abstrracted, myth hos style, from
m nature and our own psychology.
In so
ome ways thhis resumes tthe approach h found in su
uch oriental ssystems as B
Buddhism and d
Taoiism where a high level noon‐deistic mysticism sits on top of a system of go
ods and spiritts
and rituals and ccelebrations drawn from folk practicees.
How difference exists. Chaoist ‘peasants’ u
wever a big d unlike Buddhist or Taoist peasants
understand full wwell that theey have abstrracted such neopantheisst mythos entities for theeir
ownn enjoyment,, inspiration,, and enlightenment, and d to enhancee their magiccal interactio
on
with
h the universse.
Chao oists describ
be such a parradigm as ‘Fiffth Aeon’ ph
hilosophy to d
differentiatee it from the
fourrth aeon paraadigm of athheism/nihilism, the third aeon paradigm of mono otheism, the
seco
ond aeon parradigm of paaganism, and d the first aeo
on paradigm
m of shamanism.
IN
N CHA
C AOS
23
Magic and Media:
or, be careful what you wish for!
by Jaq D Hawkins
Part Two
In part one of this story, (see last issue), I explained how magic mixed with a love of
fantasy fiction led me first into writing the first of what would become a series of
novels, and then to finding a publisher with some unusual connections to the project.
Much to my amusement, the story doesn’t stop there. Ganesha still had a laugh or
two up his sleeve waiting for me.
One thing I’ve found in the magical life is that once you set loose a piece of well-
executed magic, odd synchronicities become a normal part of everyday life in
connection with the intent. Having cast a spell to get a story, and more importantly
the fantasy world created for it, into the general public eye, there was no chance that
placing it with a small relatively new publisher with limited distribution channels could
possibly satisfy the needs of the spell. Either the publisher was going to have to have
some incredible luck with establishing distribution connections, or something else
would have to happen to bring the story to public attention.
As we know, magic will take the path of least resistance. Sometimes that path can be
convoluted.
When I was writing the story, it came to me in scenes as if I were watching a film
version. I could see the actions of the characters and hear the music in the
background. Subtle expressions brought the faces of known actors to mind, some
who would be difficult to secure for a first time author’s novel.
24
In the land of fiction writing, that’s what I was. My track record of occult books meant
little in a different genre with more widespread appeal. It was a bit like moving up to
high school from primary school. It doesn’t matter how much you accomplished
before, you’re still a noob.
Yet my ‘lucky accident’ had at least got the book published fairly soon after
completion, something many writers strive for when they first start out. For some, it
can take years. Many never see print at all. But the fact that I had gone with a small
publisher meant that it was going to take a while for sales to get moving to the point
where the planned sequels would be required. I had time to try my hand at
screenplay writing.
This was a new area for me. I wasn’t determined to write it myself, if I had done it
badly, I would have sought a screenplay writer to help. But I wanted to give it a go
and see how it went. I got a book from the library on screenplay format and started
writing again.
The images I had enjoyed while writing the book returned immediately, I was
gloriously back in my goblin world. But film works differently than novel writing.
Scenes have to change more quickly between things that may have been written in
different chapters. It was almost uncanny how naturally I was able to accommodate
this, keeping a bookmark in at least two and sometimes three places as the story
flowed together in the new medium.
When I finished, I was amazed at how naturally I had taken to this new format. It
flowed smoothly, telling the story in easily visualised scenes that would keep up a
good pace and work easily. But now I needed to do something with it. My thought at
the time was to sell it to a production company. Despite spending much of my young
life in Los Angeles and being generally familiar with the world of media, I felt the need
to learn a little about the world of film so that I could establish exactly who it was I
should be trying to sell it to.
As it happened, I had recently been in touch with an old friend who had graduated
film school. He was also a magician. In an odd synchronicity, I had recently made a
new friend as well who had an interest in magic and even had one of my books on
his shelf before we met. By profession, he was a film composer. Both of these friends
recommended reading the same book: The Guerrilla Filmmakers Handbook by Chris
Jones and Genevieve Jolliffe. I can still hear Ganesha laughing.
25
As it happened (I use that phrase a lot you may notice), a used copy of the book
became available at a very low price, so I bought it instead of getting it from the
library. The book was basically about two young film school graduates who were
making their way in the business, but it laid out the answers to all the basic questions
about what a producer does, what was required to make a film, gave contacts
information for organisations, funding bodies, foreign offices, and all sorts of basic
information that the aspiring filmmaker needs to know.
The most significant information for me at the time was what a producer does. A
producer organises the project, and does rather a lot of admin work. These are two of
my better skills. What needed to be organised was broken down into easy
categories. Locations, actors, props, insurance, wardrobe, scheduling, budget, and
most importantly, a good script. I had a good script. The rest sounded like a lot of fun,
the sort of thing I thrive on. The glimmer of a crazy idea was sparked.
I rang my film school graduate friend and asked him if I was crazy for thinking of such
an idea. He didn’t think so. My logical side told me it was a good idea to study some
more. My magical self recognised that I had just crossed the abyss. I was going to do
it.
My first move, as with any new venture, was to scour the library. As it happens,
Norwich library has an excellent section on film media. I read voraciously about
funding, producing, camera work, lighting, directing, acting and every aspect of film
that exists. I was probably putting myself through a more intensive book education
than many film students ever get. I was particularly interested by just how simple
many special effects can be, and started recognising how over used modern
computer generated effects have become. Making a better movie actually costs less
money!
But while I was imposing this reading regime on myself and watching old films on
DVD to examine the examples in the books, another avalanche of ‘coincidence’ was
forming. It turned out that I had rather more social contacts within the film world than I
ever would have guessed. Suddenly people I had known either in person or on
Internet forums started making passing references to their involvement. One just got
his Masters degree in film, another has been producing television programmes all
this time and nobody in the group ever asked him what he does. It was one after
another, suddenly coming out of the woodwork. Pandora’s Box was open.
26
I found myself networking with the film community in London on a regular basis.
People were enthusiastic about the project, and many wanted in. Filmmakers who
had been struggling for years on their own projects found my ability to lay out details
on a spreadsheet and find ideal locations at a good price of great interest. Even
more, the fact that I had secured involvement from a known actor generated thinly
disguised envy from some of them, and even an attempt to hijack the actor by
another producer.
That too had been a ‘lucky accident’, although I had to be proactive for the
introduction to actually occur. A friend whom I had known for years was enthusiastic
about the project, and mentioned that her brother, who I had met briefly, was an
actor. We met up and I quickly realised that he was a natural for one of the important
supporting roles. Then it came out that he used to be room mates with Kevin
McNally, and they were still great friends. Although he had never abused his
friendship with the famous actor, he took him a copy of the script.
Word came back that he liked it. Meanwhile, I had been finding DVD’s of many of his
films, and realising that I had a contact to a truly great actor. Eventually I asked for
his email address so that we could arrange lunch. He consented, and we met at my
favourite restaurant in London. It turned out that he is a delightful man, and a fantasy
fan. He had loads of scripts being sent to him because of his popularity after Pirates
of the Caribbean, but the only one he really liked was mine. He agreed to do the
project, and gave me permission to put his name on my website. I still had
negotiating with his agent to look forward to, but I had accomplished what the
Guerrilla Filmmaker’s Handbook said that first time filmmakers can’t do. I had
secured a name actor on my first project.
All this time I had been making devotions to my Ganesha statue. Burning incense
and bringing flowers had become a regular observance. These practices would begin
to fall by the wayside a little at a time as the film project took up more and more of my
time. Ironically, it would be the needs of the uphill struggle of seeking film funding
that would distract me from the very practices that might have made it easier.
In part three of this story, I will tell how the level of devotion I showed to my statue
related directly to events unfoldin
27
Why Chaos Magic in Art?
by ilya lechtholz
Chaos Magic gives material. Lack of material obscures most creative minds. The question
generally asked of oneself is “what to do?” As a magical meta‐system it provides a mental doorway
whereby self and the external world can reconnect, as if one is a lock and the other a key, both
symbiotic to the individual at the doorway. Chaos Magic is a way of seeing and reassessing not only
oneself, but the world and the universe at large. This reassessment generates the material which
can then be artistically expressed.
“But why express self and what for?” – a question which is very much at the core of the
modern anxiety‐ridden and perplexed creative mind. Birds no longer sing because they are birds.
They must have a reason why they want to sing in the first place. The question seems to be the
result of self out of place in society and the universe at large. It is very much an existential
question.
Chaos Magic, however, provides a clear cut answer to this question: The purpose is to
transform oneself and the world through constantly changing paradigms of thought.
Transformation of self seems difficult. Transformation of the world seems virtually impossible.
However, this is only true if one thinks of time, and its mental counterpart memory, as linear.
Chaos Magic, by incorporating current quantum physics and modern cosmology within its
framework, provides the modern mind with seemingly bizarre, yet believable alternating
paradigms. It generates a light at the end of the tunnel for those who have suffered existentially.
The knowledge, or gnosis, gained with acceptance of this metasystem is that not all is
straightforward, yet underneath it all is quite simple, and most of all possible.
Chaos Magic reveals push buttons at the fingertips of self, uncovering long forgotten
possibilities one may have for self control. If self chooses to transform, it can, thereby modifying
the events of the external world. One can take a link out of space‐time and insert another possible
event, as long as that event is rational within the linear context of space‐time, or what we usually
refer to as a logical sequence of events within one’s memory. Even if events don’t make sense,
they can always be explained rationally as coincidence. All magic, therefore, is rational.
Art, as a formal act expressing self, gains purpose within Chaos Magic, as an act of
freedom. An act of freedom, regardless of the form of expression, such as painting, writing, acting,
etcetera, leads to transformation. Within such a perspective, a seemingly impractical act of an
artist gains a place, or one may say space, and therefore time and meaning.
Magic may seem at first useless, especially in art, unless the useless act is harnessed as a
marker of transformation that yields practical results. Magic may seem deceptively powerless, and
in that lies its power. In Chaos Magic a useless, seemingly random act gains freedom, and in the
process suggests possibility, probability and most of all necessity for certain future events to occur.
Cultivate freedom of uselessness, for one will discover that in art, as in all of the world, that is the
most practical choice of all.
28
Mine Own Hand, Severed and Cast
Upon The Shore of Eire;
or,One Dollar Across the Potomac.
also called Liber Granum Sal:
Initial Findings on
Eight fold Analysis of the
Eight Rays of the Chaosphere
by Oumi Hegovai
“The relationship between great men and their enemies often resembles
the relationship between Apophenia and its enemy, the established order.”
-Tiw Ixosedayma, nonexistent sky fairy
“Dad‐a‐chack? Dum‐a‐chum?”
-Lobstrosity, The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
29
NeoTraditional Associations of the Eight Rays
30
Table of Eight fold Analysis of the Eight Rays
Octarine Ray
Octarine: Apophenia. The structure from silence, the new idea out of
chaos that comes of its own accord. Definition by function and
action.
The essence of magical inspiration; acknowledging that which we
deny,avoid or fear; turning to face the music; mitigation of
consequence and planning for catastrophe.
31
Red Ray
Octarine: Asymmetry. Unfair advantage and powerlessness; exploitation;
suicidal sacrifice; desperation; momentum; popular support;
rebellion,revolution; humiliation, cruelty, torture.
32
Orange Ray
Purple Ray
33
Yellow Ray
34
Blue: Command. Victory; elevated status among peers; going before the
public eye and becoming the center of attention. Relief after
prolonged competition; rest and repair. Estimable achievement.
Promotion.Enjoying the benefit of one’s labors. Little ease; hard
work and concentration; travel.
Green Ray
35
Blue Ray
36
Black Ray
The formula for the Mandelbrot set allows for the full
spectrum of variation permissible within the limitation of the
constant. In this case,the Chaostar schema provides the constant. the
Operant provides the variables: experience, ideation, individuality.
When the chaoist formulates the chaostar in hisher mind, it acts not
only as a blueprint for new synaptic networks within the gross
anatomy of the central nervous system, but it also provides a storage
and retrieval mechanism.
Away with imitation! Let us innovate. Fuse, combine,
reformulate,shuffle, until synthesis! Let us push innovation and
boldness of exploration to the forefront of all hallmarks of chaoism.
Aepalizage!
37
19 June, 2008
Hail Willpower
Devin Drew
Hail Will Power!
Smiter of the Weak!
A Merciless Advocate of Strength!
I invoke Thee, o' Great Empowerment of Will!
I invoke the just wrath of the Beast in a land of Sheep!
Together we tear apart the self deprecating urges!
Together we Crush lethargy,
apathy,
and all decaying deviancies of Self.
With you, o' Strength of Will, I am the Genius of Empowerment!
I am a warrior of the Light
in a Land of Dense Matter.
With hard work I am truly Spectacular
and with perseverance I shine like a Star!
the Great Work is accelerated through me!
I am the worker bee and I am the queen,
nourished by harmonious effort
and invigorated with vitality.
To me virtue clings tightly,
like a vice to squash my baseness.
I am affirmed and determined!
I am the wrath and discipline of my Highest Will,
whether known or unknown.
I construct myself as though a work of High Art.
I conquer the shadows, and manifest the Kingdom DeLight!!!
38
Meta Art
Devin Drew
First a general thought on language:
taking statements out of context is potentially malicious; what is true in one sense may
easily be false in another. The social concept of language is not well integrated (in the sense
of connection to the process of change). Symbolic, emotional and psychic components of
language are often more effective at communicating higher thoughts, if these channels are
"open".
Performing/Creating with a Sense of Importance:
the animating principle behind an art piece is more than the genius of conduction (i.e. a
person's abilities at conjuration)‐ unless this individual is possessed by radical subjectivity in
its purest form. The capacitor for conduction is a medium refined through skill, motivated to
the manifestation of the Spirit, defined here as the animation of matter OR the emanation of
Dasein. Spirit, as it appears through the art event, does seem to be characterized by the
structure of a medium; this is a phenomenon of filtration due to genetic and psychological
components of individuation. The Spirit is then further refined through the medium's tools
of communication in the transition from the mental to the material.
The artist as medium develops a skill in addition to dexterity of manipulating his material‐
symbolic tools. This additional skill is the ability to stimulate the imagination, motivated by a
sense of importance. This is perhaps why the most emanative artists are passionate to
"break new ground". This new ground seems mostly determined by the potency of their
emanations and evocations. The stimulation to create fine art also implicates the
consciousness of "an event in history", as opposed to the passing of time.
When spectators of art identify as witnesses to an event, or a stage of the event, they
validate an artist's own assertion and concretize its mytho‐historic importance, based on an
ability to perceive either part or most of the event's emanation.
It is also quite possible for spectators to magnify the importance of a work independently of
its generative potency. This will create a hype surrounding the event, which is itself a social‐
unconscious work of art. However, it does not seem this hype can alter the emanations
without altering the event.
39
N+3
Devin Drew
Dense matter is replaying the tapes of the cycle of futility, but desire is a path of
evolutionary acceptance, or eros. Firstly, there is a process of trial and error, and secondly
the understanding of what experiential decisions lead to a greater coefficient of
probabilities.
The symbolism in Genesis of Paradise Lost implies correctly that there is no such thing as
certainty in the pre/post moral context. Morality creates the possiblity of “certainty”, which
is an experience of illusion. The Garden of Eden symbolism, as well as the psychological
structure of ego‐identifying consciousness, exploits this insight through scare tactics meant
to instill fear of the new. Why would it do this?
The knowledge of good and evil is none other than the knowledge of control and resistance.
Survival is the preconditional ground for an accepter to develop expanding potentiality‐ the
experience of Life. When expanding potentiality is halted, self‐defense becomes the path of
acceptance.
There cannot be creativity without the antimony of the squelcher. Perhaps desire and death
become meaningless in the void, but this seems like more of the limit of a futurally based
continuous sum, than anything phenomenologically understood by any member of the
species homo sapiens. The idea that the fulfillment of ultimate desire inevitably leads to
unity or peace is merely a concept; experientially, it seems there is always a dialogue, always
a play... even the experience of samdahi is a dance... if the Adept consciously dies during
extended samadhi it is not to reincarnate physically‐ it is to explore the greater quantum
probabilities of a “current” that needs a more appropriate vessel than 3rd dimensional
physicality.
40
Jerry and His Little Friend
ilya lechtholz
“Come in, Jerry.”
“Doctor Lazar?”
“Yes, please come in. Sit down. Relax. What seems to be bothering you?”
Jerry’s right eye was twitching.
“It’s my right eye, doctor. Sometimes it seems as if something is in front of it,
as if flickering, as if a bug is there,” said Jerry nervously.
Dr. Lazar examined the young man’s face carefully. Jerry was perspiring. His
hands were shaking. He nervously adjusted the buttons on his jacked, attempted to
find pockets that weren’t there, smiled for no reason.
“Does this happen often?” asked the doctor.
“At least several times a day,” said Jerry, “I don’t feel anything. It’s just that it
keeps flickering, like there’s something there.”
The doctor rolled up his chair.
“Let me take a look.”
Doctor’s cold fingers lifted Jerry’s eye lids. He examined carefully, squinting at
times. He seemed concerned.
“Bend your head backward,” he said, producing a strange opthalmological
gadget. A thin beam of light shined into Jerry’s right eye, then his left eye.
“They look identical,” the doctor finally said.
“Thank you,” said Jerry, “It’s good to know. But there are times when...”
The doctor interrupted him, “Do you take prescription medication?”
“No.”
“Any over the counter medication?”
“No.”
“When was the last time you had your physical check up?”
41
“When I was in college, but...”
“Hold on a minute!” said the doctor interrupting Jerry. He quickly pulled out a
magnifying glass from the drawer of his desk. Looking through the lens, as he shone
the light into the cornea, his eyes straining, he seemed captivated by something.
After a minute, he leaned back, raising his eyebrows.
“There it is!” cried Jerry. “I see it again. Do you see it?”
Doctor nodded in silence, seeming bewildered.
“Yes, I see it,” he finally said, but couldn’t say anything else.
“What is it, doctor? What is it?” Jerry was anxious to hear the news.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said the doctor. “I see...I see you.”
A moment of silence passed.
“What?!” cried Jerry, jumping out of his chair. “Did you say you see me?!”
Jerry slapped his right eye, rubbing it profusely. “There it goes again.”
“Wait,” said the doctor anxiously, “let me take a look again.” His forehead
showed perspiration. “Yes...yes, yes, yes,” he kept saying to himself, “I don’t believe
it.” The good doctor quickly picked up a stethoscope off his desk and stuck the two
ends in his ears. “Close your eyes,” he commanded. Jerry complied. The doctor then
placed the stethoscope to his right eye. “Shhhhh! Don’t say a word.”
A minute of silence had passed, seeming to Jerry an hour. Jerry heard sirens
of police cars, ambulances whizzing by. Outside was hustle and bustle. People
screaming for no reason other than to get someone’s attention. Taxi driver’s
impatiently honked at anything that moved.
The doctor heard something else.
“Let me out! Let me out, I said! Do you hear me? How many times do I have
to tell you? I want out!”
And what did the doctor see? What he saw was something that he read
about a long time ago written by a so called quack of a doctor, theorizing on new
developments of paranormal phenomena of the modern age. His name was Doctor
Rolph Katisha of Finland.
But the doctor’s thoughts were interrupted.
“Doctor, what the hell is going on? What do you see?” impatiently cried Jerry.
42
Inside the pupil of Jerry’s eye was a little Jerry pounding on the lens of big
Jerry’s eye with a fist, demanding his way.
“I said, get me out of here!”
That’s when Jerry paused. It was as if something was injected in his brain, a
thought of a sort, or a theatrical scene, as it were, in its totality. “Doctor,” he said, “I
believe that I understand what you’re seeing. Are you seeing me inside of my eye?”
The doctor let go of his stethoscope, as it fell to the floor. His eyes were
bulging wide open. “I don’t believe it. It’s just like he said. Yes, it’s...”
“Who said, doctor?” Jerry was more anxious than ever.
“I believe what you have is a rare case of what’s known in the medical
community as Homunculosis of the eye. And what you’re telling me about
understanding what I’m seeing supports such a diagnosis,” the doctor said as his
mouth dried.
“Homunculosis...” was all that Jerry could say.
“It has been theorized by none other than Doctor Rolph Katisha of Finland,
that when a person undergoes extreme stress in a meaningless environment, his
identity of self splinters from the rest of the mind and as a psychological equivalent
of such an event; and as all psychological phenomena by nature have physiological
and neurological counterparts, materializes as a humanoid that resembles the
master (being you in this case), attempting to escape the boundaries of the cranium.
Thus, even if the phenomenon is psychological in nature, it carries such a high
emotional component of anxiety, that it takes the mind, or the brain, if you prefer,
into a mental vortex of a sort, that produces a paranormal phenomenon of the
humanoid, which does indeed have a physical reality.”
“Psychological...” said Jerry, staring somewhere into a blank wall.
“Not only is it psychological. It’s more than that. It is real!” said the doctor.
But Jerry would not respond. His thoughts were nonexistent. A minute or two
passed.
“Does he speak English?” finally asked Jerry.
“Not only that. He sounds just like you,” replied the good doctor for some
reason cheerfully, as if that would make things better.
“Is there a need to operate?” asked Jerry.
43
“According to Doctor Katisha’s theory, the homunculus will come back again
if physically extracted. The solution must be psychological, or perhaps I should say
parapsychological in nature. In fact Doctor Katisha is currently here, lecturing in New
York. One of the few wonderful aspects of this city is that everyone at some point in
time passes through here. I will contact him immediately. You must see him at once.
I’m sure he will be fascinated to meet you,” said the doctor with a slight smirk, “or
should I say, both of you?”
“I feel humorless today, doctor,” replied Jerry as he was handed a card with a
scribbled telephone number.
Jerry came home to his wife Kate.
“What did he say?” asked Kate anxiously.
“You won’t believe it,” said Jerry. “Wait till you hear this...” And he told her
the story.
She sat there. And sat there, staring at a vase of flowers on the table.
“And I thought it was sexual, us not having done it for six months, and all
that. You know, you being flat all the time,” she said quietly.
Jerry, offended, jumped out of the chair. “Come on, Kate, that’s not fair. It’s
not me. It’s that every time I go to bed all I want to do is sleep with my mind
regurgitating what I will do and hopefully not do on my job the next day. I’ve been
stuck in this corporate shitmare for the past twenty years, and I have no clue as to
what will happen to me next. I mean, I have to get the hell out of there!”
Kate was distraught with tears swelling in her eyes. “I know,” she said, “It’s
been hard on me as well. Are you keeping your appointment with that doctor,
what’s his name?”
“Doctor Katisha,” said Jerry, “Strange name. Yes, I’ll see him. I’m willing to try
anything.”
But then Kate realized she hasn’t seen the homunculus herself. She became
curious. “Jerry, may I take a look in your eye? I have a magnifying glass for reading.”
“Yes, why not,” replied Jerry. He reclined on the couch, tilting his head
backward toward the lamp light. Kate carefully approached him, and looked in. She
could see nothing. Nothing at all.
“Where is he?” she asked.
44
“You don’t see him? But I see something flickering in front of my eye, like a
moth,” said Jerry.
Kate looked closer. “I don’t see a thing,” she finally said disappointed.
Jerry sighed and closed his eyes. All he wanted was to sleep, to fall deeply
into slumber and fall out motionless at the other end of the rainbow, where he
would be left to lie forever and ever.
He fell asleep, and this is what he saw.
One morning a young man awoke. Gazing into a mirror he
realized that it revealed nothing but his face. Such a capsule of being was
insufficient as he longed for something he knew not what. Thoughts of wasted
time and death permeated his thoughts. He walked outside.
As the Great Sun rolled across the horizon, driving him nowhere across
winding streets and onto a circuitous path. He came to an iron gate. He slowly
opened the gate; the accumulated rust of the ages fell off it onto the dried up
soil. Beyond the gate was a graveyard, filled with headstones, dilapidated,
reclining one against another, some about to fall sideways. It was a place
forgotten long ago.
An old man appeared, wearing a straw hat, and a small child at his side.
Looking at the young man’s forehead, the old man said, “You’re a very lucky
man. You have found nothing, for there is nothing to find. Yet knowing that
you will not find it, you nevertheless look for it.”
The old man’s beard turned blood red, his eyes generating a deep purple
shade. His gaze fell unto the young man’s mind. The young man saw haze in
the old man’s eyes that seemed to gain a three dimensional presence, coming
toward him in waves. He felt faint and gently fell upon the dry earth.
Through the earth he fell. Fearing he would face morbid decay, he
attempted with all the strength in his body to resist. It was to no avail. He was a
feather floating onto a marble floor.
Before his eyes was a strange sight he did not expect. “You see,” said the
old man, who had apparently followed his fall, holding on to a hand of the child
who seemed there yet elsewhere, “it is the Day of Jupiter. See the celebration.
Look at the tables beset with a feast. Hear the waltz under the electric candle
light. See the beautiful women and gorgeous men enjoying each other in
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splendid company. Please, partake of their celebration, as the Day of Jupiter is a
celebration of life above. For as above, so as below.”
The young man could not believe his eyes. Slowly he realized that all was
as real as he himself. That is when he felt a force pulling him upward, back
through the dry earth above the trees and houses, up further above and beyond
where birds would fly, through the clouds and the stratosphere, toward a
strange black planet with the outline of continents such as observed on planet
Earth. As he looked back, he saw the old man gliding behind him, holding on to
his straw hat with the small child alongside, holding on and gazing elsewhere.
Below them was planet Earth, slowly receding into the cosmic background.
“This is a real planet, just as the one you know,” said the old man,
“prepare to land.”
On through the black stratosphere they floated, down, toward the trees
and houses. When the young man’s feet touched the ground, he realized that
he was at the doorstep of his home.
He entered. All was there, just as where he came from. He stood in front
of the same mirror, and looked into it.
“Remember,” said the old man, “as below, so as above. However, next
time when looking into a mirror, no longer call it a mirror, but a looking‐glass.
It will make all the difference in the world. And now, it is time to go back. It is
time to fall to Earth.”
Jerry slowly opened his eyes. The flickering was there, but he felt a strange
sensation of being, just being in this place, called his bed, at that moment in time. He
felt calm, satisfied, somehow reassured. It was morning.
It was the day of his appointment with Doctor Katisha, who immediately
made time for him as soon as Jerry explained his problem. His appointment was first
thing in the morning, and he made it there on time.
Needless to say Doctor Katisha was excited to see Jerry.
“Aha!” was the first thing he said, “I told them! And they thought I was a
lunatic. I knew it all along. This sort of materialization of a humanoid subspecie is as
natural to the mind as...as...black holes to the universe.” Doctor Katisha had an
unpleasant habit of swallowing his words, as he thought faster than he could speak.
“It’s the same cosmic calamity as a super nova, but on a human scale. It is the
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psychological analogue of the cosmic event. Now they know! Now they will listen to
me!”
Jerry just couldn’t share the doctor’s excitement.
“Doctor, your enthusiasm is no doubt appropriate. However, for a man in my
condition, I feel like a laboratory rat,” said Jerry spreading his arms sideways in a sign
of helplessness.
Doctor Katisha smiled. “Nonsense,” he said waving his hands, “you’re fine.
You think that you’re not, but you are. You come to me thinking you have a problem.
But there’s no problem.”
Jerry could not comprehend Doctor Katisha’s conundrum.
The strange doctor continued. “May I ask you something private?”
“Certainly,” replied Jerry.
“Judging by the ring on your finger, you are married, no?”
“Yes.”
“How often do you engage in marital relations with your wife?”
“What’s that got to do with it?” flared Jerry, obviously offended by intrusion
into his personal life. The flickering in his eye intensified. The homunculus was
jumping up and down at an extraordinary rate.
“My God, he’s jumping in there like crazy!” cried Jerry.
Doctor Lazar was ready to examine with a magnifying glass in hand.
“Let me take a look,” he said, gently opening the eye lids of Jerry’s right eye.
“Aha! There he is the little fellow. And he looks just like you, same hairstyle even,”
smiled the strange doctor.
The homunculus gave him the middle finger. “Fuck you, you old bastard!”
“Oh, ho, ho!” exclaimed the doctor, “He’s a feisty little fellow, isn’t he.
Obviously got excited when I ask you a question of great emotional importance to
you. So tell me, how often do you engage in sexual intercourse with your wife?”
Jerry sighed. “We haven’t made love in six months.”
“Ah,” said the doctor, “I know.” He gestured upward with his finger,
“problem getting it up, up, up.”
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“Is it impotence, doctor?” asked Jerry, feeling most embarrassed.
“Nonsense,” comforted Doctor Katisha, putting his hand on Jerry’s shoulder.
“Let me explain.” Doctor Katisha became very serious, gazing somewhere through
the open window of his office. “I have my own theory. By the way, has your wife
examined your eye?”
“Yes,” said Jerry, “but she didn’t see him.”
“Aha. It all makes sense. Let me see,” mumbled the doctor to himself, “where
should I start?” Then he fell into his thoughts once again.
“Three things,” he continued. “First, you don’t see the obvious. You don’t
have common sense. You have a replica of you living inside your eye, yet you don’t
stop to think how magical this circumstance really is. Second, you don’t appreciate
the obvious. You don’t accept your wife for what she is. There’s magic, but then not
everyone is meant to see it the same way you do. If she did see this creature, she
would panic. Nothing would ever be the same between the two of you. It’s better for
you that she thinks you’re insane. Enjoy her and her presence in your life. And third,
you don’t do the obvious. If under stress, take a vacation. Your mental state is in
need of a slight adjustment. However usually the adjustment doesn’t take place,
unless you become aware of it, which now you’ve done since you’ve come to me,
and I explained to you all this.”
“That’s it?” asked Jerry. “That’s all there is to it? All I need to do is accept
your explanation and take a vacation?”
“Not quite, Jerry,” said the doctor. “You must leave room in the formula for
the secret ingredient, that which is known as ‘the action’.” The doctor took out what
looked like two red marbles from a drawer and presented them to Jerry. “Here, take
this souvenir on an Atlantic cruise with your wife. Every morning place the marbles
inside a glass. Fill the glass up with water. Focus on the glass and say quietly to
yourself, ‘I thank all the spirits, the gods, the devil and God under the great ocean of
Chaos for making Kate and I into One.’ Then drink the water. Doctor Lazar and I will
arrange a medical leave for you. No worries. Bon voyage, Jerry.”
In a month Jerry came back to see Doctor Katisha. He had changed. Now he
was golden‐eyed, energetic, shining like the Sun, a man reborn.
“Doctor, I have to thank you profusely for curing me, and to forgive me for
being such an idiot and doubting your powers!” exclaimed Jerry.
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“Aha!” said the doctor in his usual manner, “I can already tell your little friend
is gone and your other little friend is where he should be.”
“Are you kidding me, doctor? I’m enjoying myself not only qualitatively, but
quantitatively as well, if you know what I mean...” Jerry grinned like an ape.
“I told you so, didn’t I?” The doctor was truly happy, nodding in approval.
“And unlike Paracelsus, the great alchemist of yesteryear, you didn’t even have to
apply cow dung to your eye.”
“Yes,” said Jerry, “I feel I’m a truly happy man. How can I thank you, doctor?”
“Ah... just enjoy yourself and make a significant contribution to my little bank
account,” replied Doctor Katisha, as the Sun yawed outside his window, strapping on
its golden cosmic boots to get the hell out of town for the night.
49
The self of process is defined by radical subjectivity, itself defined by spontaneous creativity.
Spontaneous creativity‐ the qualitative‐ is the essence of poetry and improvisational jazz.
Poetic and artistic work has merely represented a game that can be played in actuality. Art
as we know it, as the spectacle, is dying, has been dying for a long time. "Art in its period of
dissolution‐ a movement of negation striving for its own transcendence within a historical
society where history is not yet directly lived‐ is at once an art of change and the purest
expression of the impossibility of change. The more grandiose its pretensions, the further
from its grasp is its true fulfillment. This art is necessarily avant‐garde, and at the same time
it does not really exist. Its vanguard is its own disappearance." (GD) The art object that is
created is not as important as the process of creativity as a state of consciousness. Just as
King Midas had a touch that turned everything to gold, the true artist has a touch that turns
representation into reality. "The work of art of the future will be a construction of a
passionate life" (RV). Guy Debord stressed the importance of avoiding ideology in these
matters. However, it must not be forgotten that the most effective disciplining and cohesion
is born only out of pleasure. Pleasure and play are the conditions of real life, just as eating
and sleeping are the conditions of survival. Real life must possess an understanding of the
genius of childhood and incorporate its subjective process of play. What develops in the
radical adult is a subtlety, not a mimicry of childlike behavoir. Humor is also an appropriate
way of expressing the failures of spectacular culture.
It is important to remember that your fantasies can become reality‐ you don't need to
forget about them. "All my wishes can come true from the moment that modern technology
is put to their service." (RV) Typically the spectacle will impose a realization of a spectacular
fantasy, and society becomes a passive identifier. If someone is fully devoted to becoming
what they want to be, realizing their fantasies, and thereby achieves that goal through the
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spectacle, subjectivity has subversively altered the agenda of the spectacle. "The forces of
the artistic spectacle must be dissolved and their equipment pass into the arsenal of
individual dreams. Once armed in this way, there will no longer be any question of treating
them as fantasies. This is the only way in which the problem of making art real can be seen."
(RV)
"The real values of culture can be maintained only by negating culture. But this negation can
no longer be a cultural negation. It may in a sense take place within culture, but it points
beyond it." (GD). Analytical thought directed towards life is doomed to remain detached.
Instead, "Critical theory must communicate itself in its own language‐ the language of
contradiction, which must be dialectical in both form and content...The very style of
dialectical theory is a scandal and abomination to the prevailing standards of language and
to the sensibilities molded by those standards, because while it makes concrete use of
existing concepts it simultaneously recognizes their fluidity and their inevitable
destruction...Ideas improve. The meaning of words plays a role in that improvement.
Plagiarism is necessary. Progress depends on it. It sticks close to an author's phrasing,
exploits his expressions, deletes a false idea, replaces it with the right one." (GD). Theory and
tactics must maintain a "hedonistic foresight" (RV) which prevents a spontaneous thrust
from "burning itself out". Radical theory postpones the activity of radical subjectivity
without compromising it, stacking all the dominoes until the time is right to tip them over.
However, the organization of spontaneity must necessarily also involve spontaneous
aspects. Evolution is a curved slope of foreplay coalescing, with great patience, into ecstasies
of discovery and pleasure.
What can really accelerate the agenda of radical subjectivity, without compromising itself,
is for the authentic experiencer to look for similar or complimentary individualistic desires in
others. "This 'historic mission of establishing truth in the world' can be carried out neither by
the isolated individual nor by atomized and manipulated masses, but only and always by the
class that is able to dissolve all classes by reducing all power to the de‐alienating form of
realized democracy‐ to councils in which practical theory verifies itself and surveys its own
actions. This is possible only when individuals are 'directly linked to universal history' and
dialogue arms itself to impose its own conditions." (GD). It is my assertion that the realized
democracy Debord anticipated is not possible without the intervention of the Divine
Magnetism. When the state of radical subjectivity passes a certain level of energetic
concentration, the forces of destiny more potently engage in synchronistic protection and
propulsion of initiated individuals.
51
My sophomore year
at Arcanorium College
by Jonathan Stovall
My occult interests began in youth, but my knowledge began to coalesce and
cascade in my early 20s, when I “borrowed” a copy of Crowley’s Book Four from a roommate
of a friend. I found that I possessed a flair for astrology, and was involved at that time with
seriously expanding my consciousness and my worldview. I was also introduced to the
concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone put forth by Hakim Bey, although I didn’t fully
appreciate the scope of his work at the time. I learned of Chaos Magick, as many of mine
and younger generations (I’m 35) through the presentation given by Grant Morrison at
Disinfo. in 1999. His extremely revealing and explicitly simple presentation inspired me to
have a go at practical magickal work. In contrast to my years of reading, learning, and
storing theoretical knowledge, the effects were quite dramatic. I began creating and
working with sigils, researched the history of Chaos Magick, and – to my surprise – saw
tangible effects of my efforts in a multiplicity of ways in my everyday life.
I joined Arcanorium in April of 2007. I learned of the college through Peter Caroll’s
website, www.specularium.org which I found particularly interesting due to my educational
background, and my interest in Mr. Caroll’s classic occult works. After joining, I realized that
the college was staffed by many of the same authors which I had come to admire greatly,
and that they were friendly, open, and easily accessible. I found the atmosphere of the
college unlike any other internet forum, populated by intelligent, astute, and understanding
individuals. I suppose that the 2007‐2008 year has actually been year 1.5 for me in the
college, but due to the volume of work I have performed since joining, and the unconditional
acceptance by the fellow students and staff, I feel as if I have learned and accomplished
more than in the past 10 years.
Shortly after joining the college, I was floored to receive a pleasant email from Peter
Caroll himself, asking me if I would mind reviewing some physics abstracts which
tangentially pertained to his theories, along with a request to review some calculations. I
found myself willing to help, but my higher level physics mathematics had become rusty
from using only geometry and optics equations in a clinical medical setting for the past 9
years. Pete was polite and patient with my procrastination and my poor follow up on this
issue. I believe I made some small amends by reviewing some more basic mathematics for a
forthcoming work by Mr. Caroll which shall not be discussed here. Suffice to say however,
he temporarily placed the rough draft of this upcoming work in an area of the college for
review, comments, and editing. This in itself was an exciting opportunity ‐ to see a work in
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progress by a highly respected author, and to participate, along with the other students, in
the development of his next classic.
From September 2007 to January 2008, Pete offered a 2 semester course titled
Kondensed KAOS KERAUNOS KYBERNETOS. This was presented as the rigor of Liber KKK,
which is normally advised to be performed over the course of a year, crunched down into
around 4 months. Concurrently, Lola Babalon offered a course on planetary magic, in which
I also participated. Semester 2 brought a repeat of Lola’s course, Tantra 4 One, and Isis
Solaris’ course on the Poweranimal, both occurring during the second half of Pete’s rigorous
2 semester course. Due to the constraints, I failed to finish either of these other classes, but
I gained vast understanding from reading others’ work in the Poweranimal course, and brief
participation in the Tantra course brought needed relief to a weary, overworked individual.
I had heavily debated starting the K3 course, having little practical magickal
experience under my belt. This would be an intense endeavor, and I was unsure if I would
start. After inspiration struck in the form of encouragement from other students, I jumped in
head first, committing myself to follow through and not do a half‐assed job in the process.
Around 30 began the process, including students and teachers along with the chancellor
who was also running the college and this particular department of Sorcery and Alternative
Science.
Reading others’ KAOS KERAUNOS KYBERNETOS posts, while going through the
process myself, proved to be very enlightening. As the first time at this whirlwind (sped by a
factor of x25 or so.) some of the lighthearted banter and support truly helped steer and
mold the shape of workings which remained serious and had potential for danger. As I
progressed, I felt at the edge of the spinning hurricane, preparing and gathering, time
constraints always slamming into the front of the brain. Catching the wind, and floating with
the violent breeze to the center of the hurricane ‐ the eye of the storm. The other
participants all helped unwittingly. I like to think that I aided them as well.
Work progressed through Sorcery, Shamanism, Ritual, and Astral magicks, utilizing
the techniques of Evocation, Divination, Enchantment, Invocation, and Illumination. Each
participant was left to their own devices, guided only by this meager, yet substantial
framework. Many fell by the wayside or bowed out of the project, due to their own
commitments outside of the college. Everyone gave it their best shot in this grand endeavor
and all are to be commended for their efforts.
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I finished my work by expressing my gratitude for all of the questions, comments,
insights, and criticisms which passed through the online posts. Not in mine alone, but in all
of the participants. I learned so much from this experiment. When I thought about how I
almost didn’t participate, and all of the things which I experienced, and ways in which I had
grown, I saw a glimpse of the nuances of how the universe occurs. I had definitely rethought
many things, picked up a few tips, discarded a few practices, and pushed my limits at
times. Mostly, I had changed several boundaries within my world. Some widened while
others pulled back a bit. In all, I had a great time.
Working through the structure of K3 definitely added a layer of subtle teaching
through the entire process. Experiencing the differences between the techniques and the
transitions between each of the layers, brought clarity to areas of thought which I didn’t
realize were unclear. The work forced me to adapt and bend, not relying on favored
techniques, yet allowing enough personal freedom to not feel completely overwhelmed and
out of my element.
Work in Sorcery was good, and early work seemed to be propelled by everyone’s
enthusiasm. My understanding of the work, and what it entailed, changed through the
course primarily from others’ progress.
Shamanism was definitely where I felt that I accomplished most. I felt at home
there, and considered my personal style to be closer to between shamanism and ritual. I
tried to get in touch with some more ‘primitive’ aspects of existence, while adding a novel
touch. I felt very satisfied with my work in this section.
Ritual results were very impressive at first, but later work felt a little uninspired and
‘by the book.’ This was one difficulty I had with the ritual work – sticking to formulating and
writing out the whole affair then executing it. I had been used to working somewhat
spontaneously, with planning primarily done in my head – not really any written record,
aside from sigils. It was a good exercise in discipline ‐ I really didn’t think I could manage
creating a grimoire when first reading the assignment. Enriching my dream work was
fulfilling, but my other self‐imposed problem with the ritual work was my confining
approach toward the theme of the work. This added another layer of rigidity to an already
highly structured scheme.
Preliminary and final astral work prompted me to closely evaluate my relation to the
phenomenon we call magick. After going through the hands on, down and dirty work, astral
had become quite an experience. One gets used to working with props, sometimes to the
point where one forgets why the props exist. Progress seemed astounding since little linked
it to the physical, yet results existed. Questioning the route to take to initiate sleight of
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mind now seemed apt. Each stage, while only a classification, can be applied to different
situations with an eye on method as a means to an end.
This had been truly an enlightening experience on a very practical level, given that
the results obtained through this short working were profound, and were completely
unforeseen and unintended. I had discovered that magick in daily life emerges often
through the most mundane channels, yet awakens to the infinite possibilities of the mythical
and physical universe.
After such an intense course, I found myself completely drained. Jaq D. Hawkins
gave a course the next semester in progression spells, which helped me to get back on track
by designing servitors to add in my physical recovery. The fourth semester found me
participating from behind a curtain in Lionel Snell’s class in clairvoyance for the non‐psychic,
and in Dave Lee’s class on trance and higher consciousness. Both proved rejuvenating and
insightful, despite my lack of active online participation. Isis’ course on Soul Retrieval added
a needed layer of help, and was incredibly healing, even as a non‐participant. Reading each
person's journey toward renewal brought pieces back to my soul as well. Simply reading the
journey of my fellow students brought solace, peace, and perspective to my recovering
psyche. Lionel's course also helped me sheath the sword and drink freely from the cup of
receptive observation, and not a moment too soon.
The next course in which I participated fully was Res’ course entitled Doing Magic.
This was a very straightforward course, only asking participants to perform one act of magick
daily and to keep an online record of said work. The course was structured to guide
participants through one week each of asana, sigil work, divination, and servitor creation.
This course came at exactly the right time for me. Before the class began, as
mentioned above, I found myself in recovery from severe burnout from my K3
work. December marked the beginning of a big slowdown, increasing as if I were struggling
to run faster through water. The two semester class proved to be instructive and
challenging, but incredibly demanding. I found myself in a state where I felt unable to
actively participate in classes, my social outlook was poor, and my physical health languished
on the backburner for a few months. I occasionally found myself loathe to even follow
topics in the forum. Clearly, I allowed this to occur. I was a victim of nothing but poor
planning and inexperience. I must again clarify this situation by explaining that my K3 work
exists as my first experience at an extended set of consistent magickal workings – and in a
highly condensed time frame.
When this course came up, I was still at the tail end of this phase. I knew I intended
to participate ‐ needed to participate – to help with the slump, but had no idea how to begin
writing again. Starting with asana seemed easy enough, and my daily practice of journal
55
keeping outside of this online foray could easily be transferred to the class. I just forced
myself to crank out a structured timeline at the last minute. The asana week helped me
ease into transferring ideas via writing, in a way others would understand.
As sigil week approached, I could not think of any desires. Suddenly, at the right
time, six flooded my brain in a chain reaction of subtly interrelated ideas. A seventh was
required, but nothing came. A sudden event in my life provided the last desire. This last one
was a lesson in ‘losing to win,’ since the enchantment failed, but I learned a thing or
two. The other sigils had rather long term intent, and I have forgotten the details of the
desires, although the general info on a couple remains. I’m not pressing for immediate
results, some take time and discipline.
Divination week really went on the whole time for me, since I do this daily anyway. I
did go into more depth in my analysis during this week, but I preferred to let the log of my
events reflect (or not) the traits that I was shown on any particular day. I think I learned
more about divination from others’ posts, seeing the variety of methods and
interpretations. I was also inspired by another student to resume my study of the I Ching
after observing his astute observations flowing from its use.
Servitor week lingered in my mind for a while before I developed a framework, and
even longer until I finished. I picked up a few incredible ideas from the other participants,
and refined a few of my own. I very much consider the time, effort, and energy put into the
creation process – creation of the sigil, journeying to find the groundsleeve, and melding the
two into the final form as the charging of the servitor. I remain pleased with all of my
efforts. Plus, I managed to crank out another piece of sorcery in the form of a Ba Gua
rosary.
I now feel thoroughly back up to speed, in a better state overall, and ready to take
on whatever is thrown my way with a guarded confidence. I look forward to participating
again, without draining myself, and perpetuating stability (balance) on many levels within
my work.
As I write this, Lionel’s course for the personal demon workgroup is halfway finished,
and I still intend to jump in. Procrastination is one of any demons, and so is abruptly
changing the rhythm of a natural flow. Lola is also teaching a highly engaging and intriguing
course on magical herbalism, full of useful information. Summer term promises a course by
Jaq on Magic and Sexuality, always a lively topic, and a course by Isis on the 20 count
medicine wheel, in which I plan to participate.
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I’ve learned so much more than I could have imagined prior to joining the college,
and I intend to stay around for quite a while. With such an enriching environment and
engaging classes, with seasoned, supportive, intelligent individuals – who wouldn’t?
Leibnitz Machine
57
Bright from the Well by Dave Lee
http://www.chaotopia.co.uk/bftw.html
Chapter 13 : Ginnung
From the pregnant gap, the zero of Ginnung, arises the primal dyad, fire
and ice. Expansion in a puff of flame has a tendency to disperse instantly, and
it is held in check by a tendency to condensation. This dynamic gives us forms
such as atoms, titanic, (‘giantish’) fiery energies bounded in a tiny knot of
spacetime.
From the heart of chaos, from the Gap at the core of what consciousness
does, arises two kinds of inner work – magic and something else. This
something else is often called meditation, and the word is useful, but likely to
be misunderstood if I use that term without qualification. What I’m talking
about here is the range of practices that cultivate the ability to double
attention, to achieve ecstasis or transcendence.
This kind of work has suffered misunderstanding as a result of its
names. Mystics would call it mysticism, but I think mysticism carries some
very questionable ideological baggage. The term I favour is: a drive towards
wholeness of experience. The attitude of the practitioner of this kind of work
is one of acceptance of change and a basic faith in the benignity of the deep
mind’s processes. In Stanislav Grof’s holotropic breathwork, which is a variety
of connected breathwork, the attitude is of faith in the holotropic or
wholenessseeking function that Grof identifies as the basis of healing. The
breathwork session is started lying down, with the hands open, symbolizing
acceptance of what will come.
This is not a religious procedure. You don’t have to believe in anything
except the existence of part of you that is driven to call into you an improved
way of experiencing the world, a new pattern that conditions your perception.
The procedure is analogous to invoking something unknown, a new edition of
your present self, from chaos or Ginnung, from the unmanifest processes of
consciousness. It is a smaller scale version of Odin’s sacrifice on Yggdrasil, in
which he meets the Mystery, who gives him the runes. We aspire to a new
assemblage of self, and the Mystery gives us the keys to our lives.
What are these new patterns, and where do they come from? I’ve called
the source of these patterns ‘chaos’ or ‘Ginnung’. Can we say more?
To some extent, the patterns are called in by specific aspirations. As a
vehicle of aspiration, we may create an idealized self, a special magical self.
This magical self, from one point of view, is an imagined thing. The creation of
a magical self involves an act of imaginative aspiration, building an image of
what we want to become.
Another type of aspirational self may not have such specific outlines,
may partake more of chaos. Such a self is built of ecstatic consciousness, built
of the sparks of total awareness that follow deconditioning. The identity has
come adrift, but not in a psychotic way. Identity is merely suspended, not
broken, while identification ceases. The attention is aware of the flow of
events, but not choosing to identify, to make the usual internal monologue of
selfidentification. This self is hardly a self at all, in the sense of a cyclical,
bounded trance. The arrow of its aspiration points to the unknown. This is
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about as near to a version of the Holy Guardian Angel as a metaphysical
minimalist can accept.
That experience of flow replacing identity is valuable in itself. It
refreshes deeply and may renew one’s zest for life. What happens after that
ecstasis is interesting too: identification with better patterns often results.
The mundane selves will function better, and you will have an increased sense
of selfpossession, both in the mundane sense and in the sense that you no
longer identify with selves without knowing you ‘own’ them.
New patterns have been taken up during ecstasis. Where do these new
patterns originate? A Platonist would say the realm of Forms, eternal
metaphysical ideal forms of all the categories of the perceived world. My own
Holy Guardian Angel experiences seemed to indicate rather that they come
from a kind of shadowfuture which transmits information back in time, which
seems to me no more incredible than Plato’s dualistic metaphysics.
How we regard the source of the patterns may be a matter for personal
taste. These notions don’t require much theory, they are experiential realities.
The method of practical aspiration is to aspire to the change and accept the
transformation with the openhanded gesture of invoking the Mystery, Runa,
to provide you with the keys to your life. Just as you learn to trust your
intuition in magical action, you learn to trust the wholenessseeking function
of your mind to steer and sustain you as your present wholeness collapses
into a higher coherence. That higher coherence emerges from Ginnung, chaos.
Ginnung is not only that which makes magic possible, but also provides the
reassortment of patterns that creates novelty.
It is worth noting that the results of the wholenessseeking process are
not dependent on conscious insights. Certainly, big, communicable insights
can arise in the midst of breathwork or meditation, but many breathwork or
meditation sessions end with no memorable insights. They usually end,
however, with a distinct sense that things are better in some way. The point is
that ecstasis is worthwhile in itself. The mechanism not only of the healing of
sickness but of all positive selfreadjustment may rely on a good dose of
ecstasis.
The Ginnung Glyph
We can identify Fire with the wholenessseeking process, the fluidity of
selfhood, magic with Ice, the physicality of results.
Alternatively, we can identify Fire with magic, as the active, motive
pole, and Ice with the wholenessquest, for the stillness of the mind.
Like the Chinese dyad of yin and yang, this is not a fixed dualism, the
categories changing and shifting as one thing changes into another.
The rune most closely referring to magical action, a ansuz, can be made
into a pattern which resumes the entire dynamic of practical magic. The three
ansuzes form a spinning vortex related to the triskele and the swastika:
ESC, ‘GNOSIS’ BELIEF
DESIRE
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The quest for wholeness can be glyphed by three t tiwaz runes. Tiwaz
shows us an arrow pointing to the sky, the aspiration to cosmic order:
ASPIRATION
TRUST IN HOLOTROPIC DOUBLING OF
PROCESS AWARENESS
It is notable that the names of the two main runes in this glyph, ansuz
and tiwaz, are both ancient words meaning ‘god’. The rune y ihwaz is the
hidden element of this process, the axis of transcendence or ecstasis itself, the
line that runs from the surface of the earth to the Pole Star, the Nail round
which the swastika of the Plough, Woden’s Wain, revolves through the
seasons.
The two diagrams can be combined into the single image of Ginnung,
formed in and around the seedcrystal hagalaz form, mother of all the
runestaves. In the original icecrystal form, the expansive forces are in
equilibrium with the contracting forces, and the hailcrystal is frozen. In the
Ginnung glyph however we see how the dual powers of consciousness emerge
from the seed. Each doubleended arrow carries its own dyad – ecstasy / ESCs,
desire / aspiration, belief / trust – each a pair of facets of the same basic
process. The whole glyph is enclosed in the circle of wholeness the tiwaz
arrows aspire to.
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Ginnung
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R. Conner "interpreter":
Peter Carroll was the first author I read who made magic magical and one of the
few whose writings have repaid close repeated reading. Carroll is to be
congratulated for writing this book and Mandrake for publishing it. The
Apophenion is a gold mine of Carrollisms, and I could cite a score or more, even if
few of the insights are original and some have been phrased more elegantly. That
said, their power is undiminished and their application to magical working as
timely as ever. No one with the slightest interest in magical theory should miss
this book.
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great deal of company. If you figure yourself among the numerically disabled, be
warned. It may well be that Peter Carroll is the Giordano Bruno of our era and
that he has demonstrated the elusive physics of magic, and if so, I am
exuberantly pleased if ultimately quite unenlightened in spite of it. I'm just
saying...
The artwork: first rate cover and the Muses (pg 112) are suitable for framing.
Two quibbles: either the proof reading of the book or the software used to
compose it is deplorable. There are there are annoying repetitions of repetitions
of words and the punctuation occasionally appears derived from an alien-as-in-
not-of-this-world grammar.
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