chaos magic

Terms and practices within chaos magic

The term chaos is a greek term which in theogony of Hesiod mean "the infinite abyss".
Chaos was the first state of the universe.
According to the theogony the first gods were the chaos and the night,
They cave birth to the first god which throu the war established order.
but even gods have their own civil wars. and the order many times threatened by chaos.
So the terms chaos magic which refers to pre-universal powers and the other forms of magic which refers to the universal powers of order they are both effective.


The gnostic state

gnostic state is a concept introduced by Carroll , also referred to as gnosis. This is defined as an altered state of consciousnesss what is necessary for working most forms of magic.
This is a departure from older concepts which described energies, spirits or symbolic acts as the source of magical powers. This concept has similarities with the Samadhi in buddhism, made popular in western occultism by Aleister Crowley and further explored by Austin Osman Spare.

The gnostic state is achieved when a person's mind is focused on only one point, thought, or goal and all other thoughts are thrust out.
There are many different ways to reach this state. but i think that the buddhist or hindu meditation techniques and the use of mantras muntras and mandalas, helps to develop your abillity to reach this state.



According to the belief of chaos magic, specific rituals, meditations and other elements of more traditional forms of magic are not to be understood as valuable in and of themselves, but only as gnosis-inducing techniques.

Magical paradigm shifting

One of most important features of chaos magic is the concept of the magical paradigm shift. This term derives from philosopher Thomas Samuel Kuhn, Carroll made the technique of arbitrarily changing one's world view (or paradigm) of magic,
An example of a magical paradigm shift is doing a Lovecraftian rite, followed by using a technique from an Edred Thorsson book in the following ritual. These two magical paradigms are very different, but while the individual is using one, he believes in it fully to the extent of ignoring all other (often contradictory) ones.

The shifting of magical paradigms has since found its way into the magical work of practitioners of many other magical traditions, but chaos magic remains the field where it is most developed. Changing belief systems at will is also sometimes practiced by followers of Discordianism.

Some chaos magicians think that trying unusual, and often bizarre beliefs is in itself an experience worth having and consider flexibility of belief a form of power or freedom in a cybernetic sense of the word.

Belief as a tool

According to chaos magic the believe can be an active magical force. It emphasizes flexibility of belief and the ability to consciously choose ones beliefs,
For the practitioner the believe is a tool rather than a relatively unchanging part of ones personality. Various psychoogical techniques are employed in order to induce flexibility of belief.
Other chaos magicians suggest that people need no "belief" to work magic.

creative ritualism
In chaos magic, the idea that belief systems and gnosis-inducing techniques are interchangeable has led to a particularly wide variety of magical practices evidenced in large and diverse directories of rituals one practitioner is good to invent his own magical style.
The basic chaos magic training manual Liber MMM, mandatory for membership in the IOT, requires the original creation of a banishing ritual.
sources:
wikipedia
theogony of hesiod