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Order In Chaos: Is Structure Useful?

By Hxaosanto
hxaosanto@yahoo.com

I often feel alone. I'm a "ceremonial chaos magick ritualist." I can be very anal-retentive, and I like complicated rituals and settings. Often people ask me, "What the hell are you thinking? Why are you trying to impose order on chaos? Don't you know we're supposed to be free-form and do whatever we want?" Yes, and I choose to be free-form and create complicated orderly bits. To understand the reasons why someone would try to impose order on that which can't be grasped or quantified, one should first understand the reasons for tools and rituals.

Tools include items such as robes, wands and other consecrated tools, temples and ritual areas, books, candles and lamps, incense, calendars and schedules, etc. Almost all magickal traditions use tools of some sort to assist them in their magickal workings. Often, the human body itself is considered a tool. Some traditions place a lot of importance on tools - some don't.

Rituals are workings to pursue a goal. They can be done alone or in a group. They might be complicated, with many parts and details, or simple, with few actions or requirements. Some groups (and many individuals) have specific locations set up for ritual work. Almost every religion, philosophical school, and magickal tradition in the world have rituals of some sort.

So, why would a magickian who concentrates on what is as unknowable and as full of flux as Chaos wish to limit themselves with a constant set of tools and rituals? Focus is the reason. The human mind and body need a certain measure of focus to work properly and powerfully. Without focus, the mind wanders and the body has no direction.

Probably the most important part of any magickal ritual is the intent. What should this ritual accomplish? What should this ritual's result be? Even if you expend a massive amount of energy and pull off the ritual flawlessly, without an aim the energy becomes "wild" and may not cause the desired result. With a well-formed intent and focus, you at least have a fighting chance of taming the energy, and then causing that energy to do the work for you, even if you botch the rest of the ritual.

Tools and rituals assist in keeping the intent of the ritual at the forefront. They help everyone involved (even if that's only one person) remember what they're doing and in what direction to focus their efforts. Some people, because of how their minds and/or bodies work, have more of a need for structure than others.

As chaos magickians, we harness that which underlies all of reality. We use that which causes virtual particles to appear out of nowhere and disappear to the same non-place. We accept that Chaos cannot be grasped, and yet we work with the powers of Chaos anyway. Chaos does not need structure- we do. But the powers of Chaos themselves seem to follow a certain sort of structure in rituals, too. Virtual particles, for instance, come in relatively few forms, with only a few variables. Chaos almost always adheres to well-known laws of energy conservation. Even Chaos, although chaotic, seems to have some structure.

I'll leave the "how" as an exercise for the reader. For now, try creating a very complicated ritual with a very clear intent, and see if that works. Then do a completely off-the-cuff ritual with the same intent and compare the results. Create a magickal system with many overlapping schedules, cycles, models, and attributions that are personally relevant to you. Use this system for a year or two and see if doing so helps your focus.

Or ignore this article and go be "free-form."

Hxaosanto is a chaos magickian influenced by Taoism, Buddhism, quantum physics, and Esperanto. Or he's a whacked-out nutcase. Or both. Or something else entirely. He is currently in the process of relocating to southern Arizona where he hopes to start a magickal monastery and retreat center. He's also writing a book about all this stuff. He has no live fish. And he spells it with a 'k' due to personal preference. Feel free to e-mail him praise or money at hxaosanto@yahoo.com

Rev. Hxaosanto
hxaosanto@yahoo.com