What is Chaos Magic?
The other day I was asked what the word pagan means and who or what is a pagan. I replied it was a blanket term used for anyone loosely associated with earth-based religions and/or magickal practice. I could’ve gotten more specific and referred the person to the root word paganos, but that root word has little bearing on what the word pagan means now.
But the question got me to thinking about what the word magic(k) means and who decides that meaning and if the meaning is even necessary. According to Lev Vygotsky and A. Luria, people who practice magic are primitive people, who despite having an abstract way of relating to reality (through magic) are nonetheless not completely in touch with reality because those people associate natural occurrences with magickal acts. And though this definition of Vygotsky and Luria is now quite provincial and old, it nonetheless represents an outsider’s viewpoint of magic, which does infect how people perceive magickal practitioners. And of course you also have the rabid fundamentalist who views anything smacking of magic as being something evil and perverted.
But even an insider’s perspective on magic and how it should be defined is one fraught with a variety of definitions and approaches toward magic. Hine defines magic as follows: “Magic is a doorway through which we step into mystery, wildness, and immanence…Magic is about change. Changing your circumstances s that you strive to live according to a developing sense of personal responsibility” (1995, p. 11). But as Hine notes further down in the page, “But, no, magic has become obfuscated under a weight of words, a welter of technical terms which exclude the uninitiated and serve those who are eager for a ‘scientific’ jargon with which to legitimize their enterprise into something self-important and pompous” (1995, p. 11). I’m inclined to agree. The need to define the term is a need to justify the term, as if by doing so we’ll get a bit more acceptance than we might otherwise find, or if nothing else it’ll give us a secret phrase we can use along with the secret handshake we need to attend Wednesday night’s meetings. And yet there is a need for some defining principle that tells us what magic is, isn’t there?
Certainly the practices and methodologies of magic are also defined, “They [referring to Burroughs and Gysin] pointed out that alchemists always used the most modern equipment and mathematics, the most precise science of their day. Thus, in order to be an effective and practicing magician in contemporary times one must utilize the most practical and cutting edge technology and theories of the era” (P-orridge, 2003, pp. 113-114). Perhaps then the scientific jargon that is used, the technical terms that describe magic are a way of keeping up with the times. But even so I don’t believe P-orridge is advocating that. I know I am not advocating it. At the time I write this I am a graduate student in an academic program where we endlessly define and redefine terms and I have yet to find the usefulness for all of this defining and redefining, if only for the simple fact that words are ambiguous and have loopholes the size of Jupiter contained in them so that nailing down meaning, definition, and certainty is an exercise where you are trying to plug every hole in a leaking ship, but finding that for every hole you plug, two more appear.
And this is where chaos magic, comes into play, because if we already have a lot of definitions for magic (and we do…just read any book on magic and you’ll find a different definition for what magic is or is not) then it gets even more complicated when we try to define the different subfields of magic. And the reason is simple. If we can’t agree on what an overall definition of magic should be, chances are we won’t agree on what a definition of shamanic magic or chaos magic, or any other field of magic, is. The meaning is lost in a shuffle of words designed to find meaning, but in fact representing nothing more than a desperate search for meaning, whilst forgetting that meaning is found not in the semantics of a term, but rather in the action that goes into any endeavor you seek to manifest into reality. The problem with finding a meaning for magic or chaos magic is that quite simply there are so many people doing magic and all of these people do not necessarily agree or need to agree on what magic or chaos magic is. It’s simple enough to say it is, we do, and therefore meaning is achieved in our actions as opposed to defining what it is we’re doing.
Still let’s consider briefly what chaos magic might be defined as. The first technique that springs to mind is sigils. Chaos magic is based, in part, off of A. O. Spare’s sigil techniques. Another technique would be entity work. A lot of what chaos magic is known for is the entities that are created, such as Fotamecus. And beyond the techniques, perhaps what chaos magic does, is important for our definition. Chaos magic is results magic, designed to get you what you need now, as opposed to later. But already we run into problems, because chaos magic is more than this. Certainly what people know of chaos magic outside of those who practice it can be boiled down to my rough definition above. But this definition doesn’t begin to encompass what chaos magic is or does. For instance, chaos magic also takes a variety of other approaches toward magic, spirituality, science, etc and mashes it all together and each person goes his/her own path.
And let me give you a few examples from my own path within what might loosely be called chaos magic. I am a painter, of both my body, and pieces of paper. Sometimes I even mix in collages and all of this is dedicated toward a magical practice that doesn’t fit any traditional of what magic might be. My body, as a palette, acts as both a sigilistic expression of my will, but also a map of the territories I’ll journey into, a way of reminding my altered state to stick on my path and not get too distracted by what’s going on around me. Sometimes my body and the paint even acts as a way of connecting with the land, creating a bond between the power spots I create and the energy in my own body, with the paint as the medium of that expression.
And I love to incorporate pop culture into magick. As pop culture is contemporary culture, a practice of it magically reflects an adaptability of it that is highly prized in chaos magic. By using pop culture I’m keeping up with the times and using what is around me for maximum gain and minimum effort. Whether it’s Harry Potter or an anime show or even a soundtrack there is magic there to be found, not so much because of anything inherent in the movie, show, or music, but rather because of what I choose to do with it, the meaning I choose to manifest through my doing.
Perhaps what chaos magic really is, is what you make of it. And if so that’s a better definition than one which seeks to pry apart and determine to the exact degree what something is or isn’t. Or to put it another way…there is no magic, but there can be a lot of doing and manifestation and if it’s convenient for you to slap the words chaos magic on what you do…more power for you, so long as it works for you.
Works Cited
Hine, Phil.
(1995). Condensed
chaos: An introduction to chaos magic.
Falcon Publications.
P-orridge, Genesis Breyer. (2003). Magick squares and future beats: The magical
processes and methods William S.
Burroughs and Brion Gysin. In Richard
Metzger (Ed.), Book of lies: The disinformation guide to magick and the
occult (pp. 103-118).
Vygotsky, L.S. &
Luria, A. R. (1993). Studies on the history of behavior: Ape,
primitive,
and child. (Victor
I. Golod and Jane E. Knox Trans. & Eds.) Hillsdale:
Author Bio
Taylor Ellwood is currently pursuing his
PH.D in Literacy, Rhetoric, and Social Practice at