The Limitations of Chaos Magick

ORDO AB CHAO

    This essay will address the flaws inherent in Chaos theory.  Although I intend to site Crowley initially to support my arguments, this essay will be expanded to include original material based on my own work.  Apart from statistical formulae addressing probability and shadow time, which is nothing more than a modern re-working of basic formulae that express the essential unity between Past, Present and Future, and the use of fancy words like "glossolalia", there is really nothing new under the Sun.  Thelema as a system already provides the practitioner with an outline for both Chaos and Order magick. Carroll remains as one of the most innovative authors in the magickal arena because there are always higher levels of abstraction capable of providing us with a more detailed, and perhaps more accurate, model of the universe.   Peter J. Carroll's contributions to Chaos magick and magick in general, although biased in favor of Chaos and entropy, are definitely worth exploring.  Much as Crowley before him Carroll spent a great deal of time separating that which is essential from that which is unnecessary.  Order arises out of Chaos, Form(s) proceed(s) from the Formless.  Fundamentally, Chaos theory is derived from Crowley's writings, the works of Osmand Spare (which Crowley considered to be a black magician), and Quantum Physics (which were already anticipated by Crowley). There are limitations to all these systems.

Why are we told that the Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs? Did we then suppose the converse? I think that we are warned against the idea of a pleroma, a flame of which we are Sparks, and to which we return when we "attain".  In Gnosticism, the "invisible spiritual fullness" that hypostases into progressive manifestation (aeons), and to which Gnostics seek to return through "perfection" of the Self. - Aleister Crowley, The Law is for All, (p.32).

    Peter Carroll in his books Liber Null & Psychonaut and Liber Kaos tries to show how the True Self is something that is not eternal but, an impermanent phenomenon manifest from Chaos, which he equates with Nothing, duplicating in a less elegant (but more obvious) fashion the theory of aeons labeled psychohistory, wherein he tries to demonstrate the aeon of Chaos as superseding those of Horus and Maat/Thoth.  The two rows at the bottom of the chart (sub-aeon, aeon) represent Carroll's rendering, while the top three rows delineate the Thelemic progression of aeons (NOTE: One might add Existentialist and Materialist along side Atheist.  Crowley would have ascribed what he called a higher form of Atheism or the realization of NOT-GOD to both Nihilist and Chaoist aeons):

Comparison of Thelemic/Maatian and Chaoist Aeons

    Neither the experience of Gnosis, nor the experience of the Self are continuos, experience alternates between the two, each defining the other, both being equally eternal.  One may relinquish the experience of Self for the experience of Gnosis however, one eventually comes back to the Dualistic experience of individuality, the process is infinite. Therefore, Carroll is wrong when he says that the True Self is something impermanent.  He is simply to a certain extent promoting the Buddhist concepts of Nirvana and Nihilism.  While Carroll is quick to quote or re-word Crowley (without giving him credit), it is evident that he has not grasped the fundamental principles outlined in Liber AL.

    Chaos magic does not supersede Crowley's work, however it does strive to make it into a less ambiguous science.   Magick as an art strives for an intuitive apprehension of the universe that may not lend itself to one model capable of explaining everything.  Perhaps, Carroll never had the patience to make any substantial progress through the formal grade structure?   There are many aspects of the Golden Dawn system that at first glance appear to hold an air of questionable validity when compared to modern science.  I tend to agree with Carroll's views on astrology and nearly everything else barring his views on the impermanence of the Self (he does however, demonstrate a means for the magician to reincarnate his individuality using a system he calls White, Red and Black rites) and those supporting entropy as a means of opposing the possibility of attaining physical immortality.

    There is of course a much simpler way to look at things, although this model in itself suffers from limitations.  The universe is a virtual reality.  The computer defines the laws of the universe, it's limitations and can play both good/evil, chaotic/orderly characters.   Only the present moment is real.  Both the past and the future can be altered.   The past can be re-written but, only to the extent that it does not interfere with the continuity of one's experience of individuality.  A complete re-write of one's past would necessitate a considerably different present. 

   In conclusion anything original, free from limitations, patterns must come from the Formless or Chaos and manifest itself as Form.  The master advises a sublime balance between Chaos and Order magick, which is after all, a balance between mysticism (gnosis) and magick.

ORDO AB CHAO

This is a work in progress and I will expand upon this essay as time permits...

SACRED HEART

The old ones speak of winter
The young ones praise the sun
And time just slips away
Running into nowhere
Turning like a wheel
And a year becomes a day

Whenever we dream
That's when we fly
So here is a dream
For just you and I

We'll find the Sacred Heart
Somewhere bleeding in the night
Look for the light
And find the Sacred Heart

Here we see the wizard
Staring through the glass
And he's pointing right at you

You can see tomorrow
The answer and the lie
And the things you've got to do

Oh sometimes you never fall
And Ah, you're the lucky one
But oh - sometimes you want it all
You've got to reach for the sun.

-Ronnie James Dio

�2005-2007.  Ian Axir.  All rights reserved.