A quite enjoyable introduction to chaos magic. I feel now, having read a few books & watched a dozen Youtube videos on the subject, that I more or less understand the topic. It’s an interesting discipline, though I feel it is not for me: perhaps my aversion arose at a Rune Gild conference some years ago, where one of the speakers began: “Any chaos magicians here? Any wiccans?” and I started laughing, assuming it was a joke; to the first question, a couple dressed all in black, with purple dye in their jet-black hair, raised their hands with a superior look; to the second, a chestnut-haired woman in green, wearing wooden earrings. The person I was sitting next to later said, “did you notice how they looked exactly like you’d expect?” I asked him: “what exactly is a, uh, chaos magician?” and he to me, “someone with purple dye in their hair.”
One should not judge based on such a small sample size, of course; however, chaos magic feels dangerously superficial & solipsistic to me. My perspective is too strongly religious to accept that one can arbitrarily create a god and then pray to it for practical results. I assume the universe to have an implicit order, manifesting both in us and in the vast non-human reality; so some symbols (runes, for example) stick, however arbitrary their origin, because they resonate with something in us, and hence with something in the cosmic core from which we were birthed (and so they were never arbitrary).
There is however much of interest in the book; especially Chapman’s chapter on initiation: unlike the traditional account, in which one undergoes a single, transformative ordeal, Chapman argues for a process of constant unfolding:
It is customary in all magical approaches, traditional or otherwise, for the aspirant to undergo initiation. The word itself can be traced to ancient Greek where one of its many meanings was death. [I could find no evidence for this and think it’s probably false]. Initiation usually involves undergoing some kind of ordeal in a ritual setting, sometimes with a death/rebirth element, that marks a definite step away from what you were, and a step towards what you want to be.
In magical terms, you cease to be an ordinary human and become a magician.
The benefits of undergoing initiation are numerous. As stated earlier, in magical tradition this will usually involve access to previously hidden techniques or ‘secrets’ that the teacher or guru will hand down to the initiate, and more often than not functions as a formal recognition of some kind of attainment. It is not necessary to belong to an occult body in order to be initiated; however it can be beneficial to undergo an initiation ritual regardless of whether or not you do. This can be as simple or as complex as you like, and it is probably a good idea to incorporate a symbolic discarding of old, outmoded habits or ways of being, and an acceptance of new characteristics you wish to have.
Initiation can best be summed up as a transformation of the self.
Chapman takes issue with the standard model:
[…] if initiation is transformation, then you underwent initiation the moment you performed your first magical act.
Furthermore, every revelatory or transformative experience, from the moment you first used your lungs to the reading of this sentence, must be part of an initiatory process. As an exercise in revelation, the practice of magick can be considered an acceleration of this process. However, due to the very nature of revelation, initiation never ends.
I would tend to agree, having repeatedly undergone transformative ordeals, mostly near-death; after each I felt altered and saw things & myself differently, but then the bustle and banality of the everyday exerted itself once more, and I found I could barely even remember the momentous event of my near demise. I sometimes read over my old journals and am amazed at the clarity & vision I had then, and forgot since. That is, I think, the difficult lesson for the magician or religious seeker: to maintain a regular pattern of initiatory experience, rather than assuming it’s a one-time deal and you can get fat and relax with your occult groupies.
Remainders 