How did you get into chaos magick?

[ShenFyre]

I think the title says it all. How did you end up as a chaote, using chaos magick, however you wish to phrase it. With so many other options out there, why this one?

[empathy_engine]

During my high school years I experimented with different religions and even gave Wicca a try, but it just didn't work out for me. About two weeks ago I saw the documentary Talking With Gods about Grant Morrison. During the documentary he talks about magic and his use of sigils. About a week ago I gave it a try not expecting any real results, but after the next few days my intent seemed to have manifested itself. From there I downloaded a torrent of a bunch of chaos magick books and I'm about to order a hard copy of Liber Null and Psychonaut.

Chaos magick also complements my personal style and beliefs. I try to draw my inspiration from anything that seems suitable at the moment and avoid useless dogmatics whenever possible.

[ShenFyre]

That doesn't sound too disimilar to my own route. I've never been on a stuctured path, they just didn't appeal. So I termed myself as ecclectic, looked around and did things in ways which worked and made sense to me. Then a couple of years back I described something I do to a friend and he said "that sounds like a very chaos magick way of doing it". I raised an eyebrow but started looking into and well, here I am.

[empathy_engine]

That's cool. Right now I don't really have any friends who are into this stuff, so I guess I keep it as my own "dirty little secret". But hell, I live fairly close to New York City, so I plan on trying to meet up with other chaotes in the area.

[ShenFyre]

Aaahhh. It can help to have others who're of similar beliefs to yourself. I've actually been a complete recluse the last couple of years, only really started sneaking out and testing the waters the last few days. However, living in the middle of the countryside in England, I really don't expect to find others like me. The friend I mentioned above moved to the other end of the country last year.

I'm around a fair bit if you ever want to bounce ideas around online though.

[empathy_engine]

That would be delightful, Shen. =)

[reptilian]

Hmm. How did I get into chaos magic?

Well, truthfully, I think I've been practicing it my entire life. o.o I made sigils without knowing what they were called in elementary school, and I was always a fan of graffiti, glitterbombing and simple divination practices like omens or pendulums. I've never stuck with any magical paradigm for more than a week or two, just worked magic, not really knowing or caring what anyone else might call it.

As for when I learned about the general theories and culture associated with the practice? Probably sometime in 2004-05, I joined the old occultforums and learned about the Marauder Underground. I was never formally identified with that group but always considered myself a part of it and helped further the agenda. I participated in the LS experiment for maybe.. three years and continued working my own brand of magic in every task from getting dressed in the morning, to designing more complex spells to create hauntings.
Sometime during 2009 I kind of left off with magic for the most part, except for a few feeble attempts to learn tarot. Then I felt the itch again recently, read SSOTMBE by Ramsey Dukes, re-read the Ellis rap-sheet, starting getting familiar with Ellis again, and haven't looked back.

I decided to poke around the online community again mostly out of curiosity but also in search of a little input.

[Vashta]

Urban Shaman by Serge Kahili King, I think is what sewed the seeds. It's a really good book, I read it in high school and it totally blew my mind. It influenced my thinking and perceptions to a massive extent, and laid the groundwork that eventually led to my chaos magick practises. By the time I heard of chaos magick, which was maybe 4 or 5 years later, I instantly recognised it as what I'd grown into doing since reading Urban Shaman.

I'd been a practitioner of Wicca through most of high school, and then read the Urban Shaman book, my studies and practises diversified, I'd gone from Wiccan to eclectic to extremely eclectic to chaote just by natural progression.

I think that a lot of people can find themselves practising what's essentially chaos magick without even realising it; after years of study your methods and skills become so diverse, all plucked from a thousand different sources and mashed into a beautifully chaotic arrangement, that it's entirely your own, and personal, and what is right for you, which is, if not the fundamental goal of chaos magick, at least a massive part of it.

[wachter]

I was on a forum looking up reality glitches, and I found DKMU.
Short, sweet, to the point, and I still dont know how far down the rabbit hole goes

[???????? ?????]

@Vashta

Can you please give me some link for downloading Urban Shaman PDF , if you have one ..?

[Vashta]

Sorry, the work is still copyrighted, I can't provide a free version, if it was a public domain work then I'd have no problem with links being posted, but unfortunately it's not

UK Copyright laws can be pretty harsh, so we can't have illegal file sharing taking place on the forum.

I do highly recommend buying the book though, if you find yourself with a few bucks to spare. You can find useful information on the topic of Huna magick all over the net though, if you're interested, I'd highly recommend listening to the podcasts at http://www.hunatrainer.com/ which are heavily inspired by Urban Shaman and the works of other prominent authors in the subject. It's a great starting point, and you'll get a feel for whether Huna is for you.

[SolarFlea]

Before I knew about Chaos Magick, I had a situation. I had a pet cat that I loved, and it in turn only cared for me. My neighbor poisoned it with antifreeze, My cat Bastet, died and I was very upset. I went into the house and retrieved a box of Kosher Salt from the kitchen. All the while letting my rage and pain build into a force inside my lower abdomen. I sat at the bottom of my steps as I let my pent up emotion swell, while picturing the woman who was the object of my intent. At the point I felt my rage was at it's peak, I took a handful of salt and drew on the paving stone a random symbol. I then let all the energy flow up my spine and back, through my chest and head down my arms, and simultaneously blanked my mind and "blasted" the energy down my arms toward the salt and viciously blew it away in the direction of her home. The next day she was in a head-on collision, I think the other driver died, but I know she was in hospital for a long time and had to learn to walk again. This is what attracted my to what I call Chaos Magick. I have always feared if I read too much, or overthink it I will not have this kind of power again. I would very much like to hear your thoughts, opinions, and experiences on this.

[grendemon]

I don't feel that I "got into" chaos magic, to me it is the fact that someone came up with the word chaos to describe the type of thing I had been practicing since childhood. I have never been drawn to any particular path of occult teachings, instead I have taken what suited my needs at a particular time and adapted it to suit (the essence of chaos). I have never felt that "magick" needed to be complicated and long winded, it is there for all in anyway you see fit, If I feel like I want to perform a long drawn out ritual then that is what I do, however the results are no greater or less than a little sigil magick will bring about.

[Madavascus]

I got into the Chaos Magic meta-paradigm when I tried it and it yielded fascinating results, results similar to those aforementioned by SolarFlea. This was about 4 years ago in fact, so I discovered Chaos Magic rather late in my occult career.

[66dragonfly66]

this is fun!

Like alotta you chaos majik is natural, its not something we chose, more like something that happens. The theories are interesting, but chaos majik is much more natural than ceremonial majik, and sometimes more effective, but I know few CMers (but i respect it as much as evangelical xianity, and there is something to be respected there). Satanism(s) is interesting but too, well ridiculous and .. we all want alternatives to our own beliefs, and dont want to believe we are too nerdy for real living and rational experiences, or something like this.

I grew up pentecostal, and used to dance until i had visions. I also had a friend who grew up dianic, but was most likely dianic luciferianic and she walked into a dream of mine to hex me. and, i prayed in tongues to let go of the curse she brought. very interesting dream.
i studied recon druidry and wicca for a while, then got lost in feri and reclaiming. reclaiming is alot like chaos majik, but more cerebreal and less embodied. maybe more gnostic and less pagan. i met some feri gods and that was intense so got into reiki to not get an exorcism. I still very closely identify with Feri (and the peacock God more than the earth goddess, but since reading Pillars of Tubal Cain I became really interested in Lumiel)

[Niponic]

i got into chaos magick (and other kinds of magic) because i always felt limited and i wanted to expand my horizons and knowledge, explore the unknown etc.