Chaos Magic

[okster]

Just now coming across a vein of books I have not looked into before, self-described as Chaos Magic - Ramsey Dukes, Ray Sherwin, Phil Hine, Peter J. Carroll, etc., and I guess also encompassing Hakim Bey, RA Wilson, etc.

Starting to look around, I found and interesting entry at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic

Looks like an interesting area. Wondering if anyone here has anything to say about this stuff. Recommended books? Opinions about the general ideas? Other similar angles to consider?

[ February 28, 2006, 04:44 AM: Message edited by: okster ]

[Agent Smith]

pointless

[ March 03, 2006, 10:06 AM: Message edited by: Agent Smith ]

[silentwolf]

Yup yup, you'll only gain by doing the exercises...funny how all these systems eventually gain internal politics and social crap...

You might also want to check out my book, "Awakening: Theory and Practice for the Aspiring Shaman," it's full of exercises and theory on what I feel makes them work, but it's really not for the stable-minded or the undetermined.

[Thom]

Chaos Magic - I'm no expert, but i must admit i find the 'banish with laughter' attitude of chaos magicians, which Agent Smith briefly referred to, a bit trite. Some laughter is not joyous, and comes from dodgy sources. Laughter can feed negativity.

Everybody knows how great it is to experience a belly shaking burst of humourous appreciation, and certainly being able to see the funny side when you look in the mirror and see the devil is useful, but stuck in my memory is the experience of seeing a group of chaos magicians force themselves to laugh off the beasties they'd raised. It seemed to me that instead they were being laughed, if that makes sense.

I've no great experience of that scene though, Okster - you might find it more healthy than i did.

I would like to add that song seems to me a very intense tool - closely related to laughter and metaphor, incidentally. It seems to me that people would benefit from creating or finding their own songs, but I don't see much exploration of this among the 'new edge' thinkers...

[Dna]

What form did the beasties take, the beasties that your group of Chaos Magicians raised?

What did they hope to achieve by raising up beasties? I think it sounds like a risky thing to do.

Dna.

[silentwolf]

Actually, most Buddhists feel that if you can't find humor in any situation, something is very wrong.

[Thom]

Hi Dna, they weren't my group, so i can't really answer your questions.

I used the word 'beasties' advisedly, because it seemed appropriate to convey the atmosphere that i sensed surrounding their activity.

[Thom]

Silentwolf, "Actually, most Buddhists feel that if you can't find humor in any situation, something is very wrong."

Sure. Most real people probably feel the same.

[whitewave]

Hi Thom,
I agree that song is a very powerful transformational tool---and have started incorporating it into my spiritual practice....connecting to Source and letting it sing through me. I know that this is going to a major part of what I share with others as a teacher. It is very beautiful to watch people open up to the song inside them. Check out the book The Way of Song, by Shawna Cole, which gives guidlines for developing this practice.

[Eagle Wing]

there's been quite a lot of chaotic magic flying around this bored lately

somebody must have tossed the golden apple.

kind of reminds me of that old scene at the Grateful Dead shows years back -- quite a few kindred spirits trying to get it on in the midst of quite distracting chaos. Sort of partly made the scene what it was -- unpredictable but full of potential and random beauty. The trick of navigating this chaos is of course always to keep in touch with the music -- with the song within,
the inner vibration

i always love visiting the thoughts on this board,
but the chaotic "magic" seems to be getting thicker. This kind of thing will require more effort from those who actually care about charting an intentional course, lest the chaos overwhelm the intent of the board and dissipate its effect.

the best part of this forum is the community of people who share their personal experiences and intellectual interests pertaining to the questions at hand.

maybe this forum needs less chaotic magic, and more discipline and focus on the ideas,
the perspective we are seeking.
love,
Eagle Wing

[Thom]

Hi Whitewave, have you got any links for that book you mention? It sounds interesting, but I can't seem to find anything online.

[whitewave]

Hello there Thom,
The link is www.wayofsong.com. (http://www.wayofsong.com.) I'm thinking of going to one of their training sessions this summer. Spirit song opened my throat chakra. When I do it now I experience incredible pulsing ecstatic energy in my throat chakra, moving down into my heart. Reminds me of what Daniel said about Steiner's assertion that we would shift to reproducing through our throat chakras, that we would sing the world into being. This is how I feel when I sing this way.

[Thom]

Thanks Whitewave and Manning. I couldn't find anything on a google search, perhaps Shawna is Chinese.

[Thom]

I think what I have in mind by song is something like the duende Lorca sought. It's in the bullfight as in the dance. Here is Lorcs'a essay Theory and Play of the Duende, which most of you will know:
http://www.worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/TonyKline_Collection/Html/LorcaDuende.htm

Theres a Scots ballad which can capture it, if sung well:

The Twa Corbies

As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the t'other say,
'Where sall we gang and dine to-day?'

'In behint yon auld fail dyke,
I wot there lies a new slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair.

'His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady 'a ta'en another mate,
So we may mak our dinner sweet.

'Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I'll pike out his bonny blue een;
Wi ae lock o his gowden hair
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare.'

'Mony a one for him makes mane,
But nane sall ken where he is gane;
O'er his white banes, when they are bare,
The wind sail blaw for evermair.'

A sense of the melody can be picked up from this site : http://www.heatherlands.com/seafire/pages/frames.html?http%3A//www.heatherlands.com/seafire/pages/audio.html (scroll down a bit)

Whitewave when you say, 'Spirit song opened my throat chakra,' I think the same thing happened to someone close to me. She literally found her voice by singing a lot! I'll try and post a bit more extensively about my personal experience with songs a bit later, maybe start a new thread.