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My power drawn from chaos, The demons lie within.
No doctrines of obstruction, Or laws based upon sin.
To be my own dictator
To let my mind runfre
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, Universal uncertainty of order,As the old ones bend down upon their knees. Do not hesitate to question,
Do not hesitate to fight,
For as a sorcerer of chaos, I hold the sword of might.
Since the dawn of time, man has looked upon the world and the universe which he inhabits, trying to understand the reason for his existence. Primitive tribal cultures began to develop a system of effective sorcery related techniques as a result of this desire to know what it is that holds the planet in the heavens and guides the forces of nature. The answer to them was basically a simple one: the fundamental power in the cosmos was Magick. This basic acceptance of the power of magick did not undermine social or political development, even when Plato saw the key to understanding life as being based upon reason, courage and desire with everything that man had or could create being an artificial replication of the original divine artifact or idea. Here not for the first time man begins to contemplate the notion of divinity (God) in a big way.
Ancient pantheons of gods and goddesses reflect the entire spectrum of the human psyche developed through individual archetypes as well as the more fundamental battle between the forces of order and chaos. This can be seen with the role played by Eris and the Titans of the aOl:ient Greek system in their cosmic battle against the forces of order in terms of stability. The ancient Chaldeans recognised the importance of the forces of chaos; Tiumat's hallIe with Murduk, who destroyed her to bring about order to the cosmos and thus giving form to the primordial sea, is a further indication that chaos as a force has been accepted and recognised in mythological and magickal terms since man began to write. Further, the frost giants in Nordic mythology play an important role, in that they can be seen to be one Illunifestation of chaos, the long winter or "dark night of the soul." The runes themselves, starting with Fehu, outline the path from which chaos became order with Odin sacrificing an eye to learn the secrets of their magick and to comprehend 1 11l' forces of nuture.
Wit hill Iht.'sc uncient cultures, one can also begin to see the development of diverse
ul'"I"Cllldll'S 10 activating the magick that these people perceived to exist as an
hlC lrp" II1 1rlll fon:e. With human migration, cultures began to learn from other ,,1'01'11'/1 ill ,li fft'll'nt geographical locations. As lands became conquered and " t I.lllt lloazlrll/rrlilliolls rhallenged, the victors started to remove the old gods and ' 'I" "",,, tl"'1II wllh tlll'ir own. This can be clearly seen with the movement and 11'\'111111'1111'''1 ol l hr I�OlllUII Empire, the Christian Crusaders and much later with the I(lII ol"llIlI l' �"hll llt loll I Il l hl' vllrious .. New Worlds." As Europeans travelled to such ntlll llll'lIl� II_ ,\llh'lI. " " I1'drll 111111 Australia to name but three, their eyes were "1"'111'11 I I I wlllll I hl'Y �IIW liN IIII' pri mitive nuture of the indigenous peoples' approach It I I I II' IlIld" 1 �l llI Idlllll IIlId 1'1 1111 1 1 11 of Ihl'ir t.'lIvironment. For the first time in centuries, h I l I lP" 1I1I 1 1 11111 1I1 1 1 1,'d wllh hlN 1 I 11 1110lhl' i s l k religion had to crush the shamanic and SI lIl'l'1 y pl llrll" " � IIII'Y ,'lil li" 1Il·IH�S. 101'lIl1l rol lhe Iribal people such as the Sioux and 1 'l'IIdl' lo ll\' uhk I I I III�III" 1 11 1 1,'1 111111 ,'111111'1 11. I f you cun convince someone that what I hey IIt 1 'is (' v i I II lid I hlll 1111' 1 " I.' I IIIIy 1 1111" l illI' gllil (who happens to he white) it is the firsl slagl' ill Ihl' d('.,11I 11'I11I1 I III 1111 " lIlin' culture. This is unfortunately what happened. Or 10 pUI il ill illll ll hl'l' wily .. k i llill).'. ill I Ill' 11111111' of (iod."
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As new political systems developed, backed by a new science based upon order to ensure the survival of this new global religion and regime, it would appear that the gods of order had won a decisive victory over pluralism, diversity and chaos. On closer examination this does not appear to be the case. Three expressions of this order in the twentieth century notably Nazism, Communism and Capitalism have in one way or another nearly led to the destruction of the entire planet. Well maybe the philosophies of the men of order are not such a good set of ideas after alL "So what?" you might be saying to yourself, well let's have a closer look at what has happened with man spreading his tentacles all around the globe.
Man has been a great recorder of the events that he has witnessed, be they primitive drawings on a cave wall, books containing the philosophies, religions and ideas that he has come across, or sacred scripts etched into temple walls or upon standing stones. This driving desire to categorise, order and to understand has been one of the more beneficial activities of the driving force of the so called rational mind and order. The exploration of the various continents did not totally destroy the magickal practices of the indigenous people. If one looks at the various expressions of vodoun that can be found in such places as Haiti and South America, it is not too difficult to deduce that Catholicism failed to totally convert the people. Thus this recording of events has left a rather contradictory set of beliefs and practices that can be examined by any person who has the desire to question the prevailing truths. This of course is easier for some people to do than others.
All this eclectic knowledge, be it in the form of a religion, magickal culture or a set of philosophical ideas, has been brought back to the home base of those who recorded it. Not only the words and ideas have returned to the explorer's land, but also the originators of this diversity of cultures have been taken by force through slavery, or come of their own free will with the promise of finding utopia in the west. One only has to look at modem London to find Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Nazis, Communists, Shamans, Sorcerers, Africans, Asians and whites all living within close proximity of each other. As individuals they all feel that they have found a reason for their existence on this planet, be it a political, religious or materialist view. The forces of order seem to have brought together a potentially very chaotic culture. Recent riots in Britain and America show that the foundations upon which western civilisation have been built are very rocky indeed. So where is the ultimate truth hiding amongst this cultural diversity that is called London? The Chaos sorcerer/magician has raised his head to say "sorry people but there is no ultimate truth."
In accepting that there is no ultimate truth the chaoist is freed from dogma in whatever form it decides to manifest. The magickal practices from around the world huvc heen brought together, the Chaos Sorcerer utilises whatever he feels is required III hring about the desired effect, without first having to check that he is doing it nn'unling to the book. Chaos magick in general is a magickal system based upon IIII1�kklll excc\ lcnce. training and the constant development of new ideas, techniques IlIh l phi losophies. Not to be contained within one religious, political or philosophical
1 24
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