kaos

its attendant orders. Modern occultism in the West owes its greatest debt to the Golden
Dawn, and that particular organization is a product of Enochian, as even a casual
examination of its origins will readily show. The System itself appears to incorporate,
and build upon, elements of Jewish Mysticism (most notably, “Merkabah Kabalah”),
that themselves may be traced to Babylon during the Captivity. From there, it may be
assumed that it disappears into the mists surrounding the Sumerians, and the beginnings
of “Western” civilization.
Of human bondage, knots, and such: My extremely limited introduction to “Chinese
Priest Cords” is from The Ashley Book of Knots, by Clifford W Ashley. I’ve been fascinated
with knots and rope work since childhood. A friend of mine, when he learned that it
was the technique involved that held my attention as much, if not more so, than the
erotic uses of same, declared me to be truly perverse, as opposed to the ordinary perversion
of enjoying tying-up a willing female.
Bondage is a definite theme in my experience of 156. In January of 2000, I became
quite literally obsessed with shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage. It’s why the
bondage theme in Michael Shuter’s illustrations of KAOS 13 caught my eye, and I
hoped that some part of the 156 current offered some tool that might be useful. After I
left California, the reports I had of the developments in Santa Cruz contained many
bondage elements, interspersed with the general sexual kink that I left too soon to
enjoy. There seem to be several related bondage themes. The design of the Tarot Trump
“The Devil”, being the most obvious. In so far as “The Devil” is a representation of Pan,
there may be a connection between paraoan and the bondage theme that emerged
back in 1990. I am a little unsure of the connection between Pan and Kaos. Perhaps you
have thoughts on this. Gardnerian Witchcraft incorporates both bondage and
flagellation, in association with the Devil. The idea of being whomped-on by a High
Priestess is not particularly appealing, though I’m not as violently opposed to the idea
as I once was.
My essay “The Black Lodge of Santa Cruz”: my understanding of events has deepened
as I’ve poured over my Journals. You were quite right, by the way. It is imperative that I
make some sense, if only for myself, of the events that led me to my exchanges with
you. This becomes more clear with each passing day I spend at the task. My greatest
difficulty is sifting through the many various themes and events, and determining what
is directly relevant to the tale. As noted above, paraoan seems central to the entire
story, in a way that is slowly resolving itself in my befuddled brain. But “he” stands
above and behind the work, as it were, and is not necessarily a major part of the narrative
itself. In this manner, that particular entity is not alone, and it’s a little tedious attempting
to tease-out the relative threads.
19