CURRENTS

 

This is going to take a bit of explaining but I will try to keep it brief.  Chaos Magick is based on the notion that everything magickal comes from an undefined central source and that source is reflected in what are called “currents,” different belief structures that carry something of the source but by no means all of it and because of that they can be mutually exclusive yet all be functionally true in that they work for the individual at any given time.

 

Ok, I know that is one of the worst sentences I have ever written, but you get the point I hope.  Think of the currents as different electro-magnetic frequency bands all emanating from the same source but each having somewhat different effects.  Some carry music, some carry talk, some, gods help us, carry rap, some just carry noise.  But each band serves a function relating to what it is carrying.  So you have the Xtian current, the Buddhist current, the Discordian current, the Satanist current, etc..  All work yet none of them are true in and of themselves.  And you can move back and forth between currents, using all and believing in none.  It is merely a matter of taste and what you want to get out of it.

 

Now, BDSM has a similar situation.  It all comes from somewhere in the human psyche but it takes many different forms.  And no one form is true in the sense that it is universal in its application or desirability.  And there is nothing that prevents people from going around the different BDSM currents to try what works for them and rejecting that which does not work and changing as the mood strikes them.

 

In both cases, the only rule is there are no rules.

 

When we mix them, magick and BDSM, it gets interesting because then the currents do then have to mesh.  For example, Formalist BDSM with all its protocol stuff will fit very nicely with Xtian and Satanist currents and their associated worldviews.  I know that it sounds strange to mix Formalism and Satanism, but it has a long tradition, due to the heavy ritualized elements in most forms of Satanism.  (Just think of the sequence in Eyes Wide Shut.)  On the other hand, Formalism and the Lovecraftian or Discordian currents will not go together at all!

 

On the other hand, the Satanist current also works extremely well for those who reject Formalism if they are rebelling against a Formalist community.

 

The Current model has a number of advantages.  It removes the glamour of being “right” because there is no “right” or “wrong.”  There are only differing reflections which are chosen as a matter of taste and desire.  And by removing that need, it frees the individual to make the choices which suit him and his partner best without need for justification from any authority, for in the end the only authority that exists is resident in the individual.

 

So choose as you will, live as you will, love as you will.  You are answerable to no one but yourself in this.

 

Never forget, the only rule is that there are NO rules.

 

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”