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A magical organization or magical order is an organization or secret society created for the practice of initiation into ceremonial or other forms of occult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. Magical organizations can include Hermetic orders, esoteric societies, arcane colleges, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices.
Peter James Carroll is an English occultist and writer. He is one of the originators of chaos magic theory, a cofounder of the Illuminates of Thanateros, and the founder and chancellor of Arcanorium College.
Ceremonial magic encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires. Ceremonial magic is part of Hermeticism and Western esotericism.
Chaos magic, also spelled chaos magick, is a modern tradition of magic. Emerging in England in the 1970s as part of the wider neo-pagan and esoteric subculture, it drew heavily from the occult beliefs of artist Austin Osman Spare, expressed several decades earlier. It has been characterised as an invented religion, with some commentators drawing similarities between the movement and Discordianism. Magical organizations within this tradition include the Illuminates of Thanateros and Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.
A sigil is a type of symbol used in magic. The term usually refers to a pictorial signature of a spirit. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, a sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome.
The Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT) is an international magical organization that focuses on practical group work in chaos magic. The idea was first announced in 1978, while the order proper was formed in 1987. This fraternal magical society has been an important influence on some forms of modern occultism. It has been described as "an unprecedented attempt of institutionalising one of the most individualising currents in the history of ‘Western learned magic’."
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was a British occultist and member of the S.R.I.A.. He is primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a ceremonial magic order of which offshoots still exist. He became so synonymous with the order that Golden Dawn scholar Israel Regardie observed in retrospect that "the Golden Dawn was MacGregor Mathers."
Philip M. Hine is a British occultist and writer. He became known internationally through his written works Condensed Chaos, Prime Chaos, and Pseudonomicon, as well as several essays on the topics of chaos magic and Cthulhu Mythos magic. He has facilitated workshops and seminars on modern magical practice in America and Europe and contributed to a wide range of occult journals, having been most active from 1986 to 1996.
In Western esotericism, left-hand path and right-hand path are two opposing approaches to magic. Various groups engaged with the occult and ceremonial magic use the terminology to establish a dichotomy, broadly simplified as (malicious) black magic on the left and (benevolent) white magic on the right. Others approach the left/right paths as different kinds of workings, without connotations of good or bad magical actions. Still others treat the paths as fundamental schemes, connected with external divinities on the right, contrasted with self-deification on the left.
The Bornless Ritual, also known as the Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia or simply Preliminary Invocation, originates from the Graeco-Egyptian Papyri Graecae Magicae (PGM), a collection of ancient spells, invocations, and hymns compiled between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century CE. Initially used for exorcism and healing, the ritual invokes the "Headless One". In modern times this entity has been re-interpreted as the "Bornless One" without beginning or end, who symbolizes the unity of the divine and the practitioner. Some interpretations suggest that the ritual may have connections with the Egyptian god Set. It is also called the "Headless Rite" or the "Invocation of the Bornless One".
Kenneth Grant was an English ceremonial magician, novelist, and advocate of the Thelemic religion. A poet, novelist, and writer, he founded his own Thelemic organisation, the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis—later renamed the Typhonian Order—with his wife Steffi Grant.
The Symbol of Chaos originates from Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné stories and their dichotomy of Law and Chaos. In them, the Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern.
Abrahadabra is a significant word within Thelema, received and revealed by Aleister Crowley in The Book of the Law, the central sacred text of Thelema. This magical formula represents the Great Work accomplished—the union of the microcosm (individual) and the macrocosm (universe). It is considered the key to the Aeon of Horus and a word of power that symbolizes the realization of True Will.
An egregore is a concept in Western esotericism of a non-physical entity or thoughtform that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a distinct group of individuals.
Margaret E. Ingalls, known by her pen name Nema Andahadna or simply Nema, was an American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer known for her magical writings about the Ma'atian current.
Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4 is a book by 20th-century occultist Aleister Crowley. It is widely considered to be his magnum opus.
Donald Michael Kraig was an American occult author and practitioner of ceremonial magic. Kraig published six books, including his 1988 introduction to ceremonial magic, Modern Magick. He was also an editor for Fate Magazine and for his main publisher Llewellyn Worldwide.
Mandrake of Oxford is a specialist independent publisher based in Oxford, England, primarily known for the publication of "hands-on" books for occult practitioners. The company was started in 1986 under the name Golden Dawn Publications, but changed its name to Mandrake upon the publication of Sexual Magick by Katon Shual in 1988. Mandrake publishes texts on Hermeticism, magick, occulture, Qabalah, sex magic, tantra, and Thelema.
References
Citations
- 1 2 3 Collins 2004.
- ↑ Duggan 2015, p. 407.
- ↑ Woodman 2003, p. 43.
- ↑ Otto 2020, p. 763f; Luke 2007, p. 90; Woodman 2003, p. 43; Meletiadis 2023, p. 17.
- 1 2 Hine n.d.
- ↑ Woodman 2003, p. 180.
- ↑ Snell n.d.
Works cited
- Collins, Steve (2004). "Technology and Magick". Scan: Journal of Media Arts Culture . 1 (2). Macquarie University. ISSN 1449-1818 . Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- Duggan, Colin (2015). "Chaos Magick". In Christopher Patridge (ed.). The Occult World. Routledge. pp. 406–411. doi:10.4324/9781315745916. ISBN 978-1-315-74591-6.
- Hine, Phil (n.d.). "An Interview with Ramsey Dukes". Head Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 December 2006.
- Luke, David (2007). "The science of magic: A parapsychological model of psychic ability in the context of magical will". Journal for the Academic Study of Magic . 91 (4): 90–119.
- Meletiadis, Vasileios M. (2023). ""Book Zero" through the Years: The First Two Editions of Peter Carroll's Liber Null". Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism. -1 (aop): 1–31. doi: 10.1163/15700593-tat00004 .
- Otto, Bernd-Christian (2020). "The Illuminates of Thanateros and the institutionalisation of religious individualisation". In Fuchs, Martin; et al. (eds.). Religious Individualisation. De Gruyter. pp. 759–796. doi: 10.1515/9783110580853-038 . ISBN 978-3-11-058085-3.
- Snell, Lionel (n.d.). "YouTube channel". YouTube.
- Woodman, Justin (2003). Modernity, Selfhood, and the Demonic: Anthropological Perspectives on "Chaos Magick" in the United Kingdom (Ph.D. dissertation). Goldsmiths, University of London. doi: 10.25602/gold.00028683 .
