The Magic of Chaos
Crowley certainly helped put the boot in against monotheism but the process was already well
advanced. Science, which had basically evolved out of renaissance magic, had more or less finished
monotheism as a serious parasite on advanced cultures. Crowley was enthusiastic about science and
appropriately so for his era, but in the work of Austin Spare we begin to detect a certain foreboding.
However it is Spare's work that appears more austere and scientific when compared to some of Crowley's
more baroque symbolic extravagances. Spare rejected the classical symbologies of forgotten ages and
sought the magic of his own personal arcana. Using the minimum of hypotheses he evolved a magic
from his own racial memories and subconscious. Independently of complex systems he developed
effective techniques of enchantment and divination requiring only ordinary language and pictures.
Spare's work forms the bridge between an older style of magic brought to fruition by Crowley (which
derived most of its appeal, power and liberating potential from its religious style of anti-religion) and the
new magic. The new approach is characterised by a kind of scientific anti-science. This is increasingly
becoming known as Chaos Magic. It would be no more useful to dub Chaos Magic as pseudo-science
than it would be to dub Crowley's ideas as pseudo-religion. It is astrology as it is normally practised that
is mere pseudo-science much as satanism and freemasonry are pseudo-religion.
Chaos Magic attempts to show that not only does magic fit comfortably within the interstices of science
but that the higher reaches of scientific theory and empiricism actually demand that magic exists. This is
somewhat analogous to the way in which many religious theories implied the possibility of theurgic or
demonic magic.
The best magic has always had a strong antinomian flavour. The most remarkable magicians have
invariably fought against prevailing cultural norms and obsessions. Their victories represent not only a
personal liberation but also an advance for humanity. History bequeaths us no records of the renegade
shamanist magicians who must have brought about the advent of paganism, but we know a little of the
anti-pagan magicians who created monotheism: Akhenaton, Moshe, Gautam, and so on. As monotheism
became a steadily more repressive and obscene force, a new generation of magicians arose and fought it.
Some fought too openly and were destroyed; others were more subtle and planted effective seeds of
destruction on a purely philosophical level, and others hastened its destruction by taking theological
and theurgical ideas to outrageous conclusions. The roll of honour is here much larger, including such
notables as Gordiano Bruno, Cornelius Agrippa, John Dee, Cagliostro, Eliphas Levi, and recently,
In history the pagans have been viewed as godless infidels. Many who practice paganism live in fear related to the judgment of others that hold differing views on religion. Much of the persecution of the Pagan has been related to their practice of magic. What is amazing is that much of the magic once practiced by pagans was similar to that of modern medicine (Some Basic Pagan, n.d.). Despite their apprehension and fear of persecution, it has been reported that Paganism has been described as one of the most rapidly growing religious movements in the world today (Eilers, p.
Directions: Read the essay entitled The Scientific Revolution: The Disenchanting of the Universe and respond to each of the following questions as thoroughly as possible. Your answers can be either hand-written (in ink) or word-processed. However, you must paraphrase—answer in your own words. If you quote directly from the essay, you should then interpret the quote.
that ll the power was contained in himself. So he did a very clever thing, he took
"Give me a good theory over a strategic plan any day of the week," is the opening sentence of Michael Fullan's book “Six Secrets of Change”. The read is a guide for both business and education leaders who desire to make their organizations successful. The six secrets that are illustrated in this book are offered as a theory of action. Individually each secret may appear to be simple, yet Fullen layers them with intricate details that express its value to change. Although some of the secrets may be difficult to understand the author makes a conscience effort to provide real-life examples of these secrets through organizational practices. He discusses organizational attitudes and behaviors and provides example in which execution has been successful and other areas that have not been successful. By using these examples, Fullan provides a blueprint for organizational leaders that can be used to guide their action towards successful long lasting changes. Ultimately this will improve organizational culture and efficiency. Michael Fullan is a well-known, author of works devoted to leader...
Spanos, Nicholas P.. "Witchcraft and social history: An essay review." Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 21: 60-67. Print.
In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).
Upon hearing the word chaos, one's mind usually imagines a place of total disorder and confusion. This is the usual meaning of the word in normal usage. However, there has been a literal explosion of scientific interest in chaos and how to control it or at least understand it. Understanding chaos would undoubtedly be of great benefit to mankind. By making use of this total disorder and
While the Trobrianders and the Azande that Bronislaw Malinowski and E.E. Evans-Pritchard describe in their respective ethnographies are miles apart in terms of physical distance, both groups place a great emphasis on magic in their society. In describing such a concept that in Western terms is associated with fiction and skepticism, Malinowski and Evans-Pritchard differ in the way they explain the role magic has in each community.
Berenson, Alex; Henriques, Diana B. (December 13, 2008). "Look at Wall St. Wizard Finds Magic Had Skeptics". The New York Times.
This insistence creates two problems. One is a problem of representation, in which the books confirm the strict illusion-reality dualism so characteristic of most contemporary medieval fictions. The second is a problem of interpretation, since they finally appear to undermine the very values of imagination and tradition that Cooper wishes to espouse.
... the reader using the familiar and comforting phrase and then immediately hammering home the gruesome truths of the conflict. By creating this intentional disparity, Owen’s aim of shocking the reader into believing and accepting his viewpoint is very much closer to being achieved.
Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997)
Psychological susceptibility to various faiths in the fact that human life is exposed to supernatural forces that affect a person's fate, and often prejudge its outcome, always existed in all human societies and cultures. One of the major determinants of this psychological susceptibility is superstitions that appear as the main engines of believe in the intervention of supernatural forces in human’s life. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica (2010) ‘superstition’ could be defined as ‘belief, half-belief or practice’, which does not have any rational explanation or basis. Despite this fact, according to Behringer (2004) the amount of believers in witchcraft and superstitions are significantly higher than in XVII century.
...t. The Chaos Game can be applied to create other fractals and shapes, and is a major part of an entirely separate area of study: chaos theory. The fact that the Sierpinski Triangle transcends the boundaries of fractal and number theory proves that it is an important part of mathematics. Perhaps the Sierpinski Triangle still holds secrets that, if discovered, will change the way we think about mathematics forever.
literature. The rise of the Renaissance was undetected at first because of wars, and hardship