kaos

My basic criticism is that most of the “defining works” of “chaos magick” lack depth.
The iot started as an organisation set up by and for people of little occult insight who
had a distaste for hierarchy and real initiation. That was about it really. It got together
a series of techniques that were but pale imitations of hierarchical ritual, fostered a taste
for eclecticism, introduced pretend initiation, and, oddly enough, lots of people with
little occult insight and imagination started raving about it, no doubt because it appeared
to them to be a shortcut into the occult.
When I came along to see what all the fuss was about in 1985 I was flabbergasted
that such rubbish was the basis of what had rapidly become known as “the Chaos
current”. Yet I also knew that this current had a true aspect and I sought to bring out
that aspect and evolve it, which meant I had to dispense with what I considered to be
the “glister” of the current. So, when you ask me what is my criticism of the iot, perhaps
you expect me to point out some deep ideological divide or something. No such luck,
that I would have more time for, it is simply that it is shallow rubbish peddled as
something deep. I wouldn’t actually consider it at all worthwhile going through one of
their texts to do a point-by-point critique, I dismiss it as trash.
That said, the Chaos current did actually manage to attract later on quite a few
talented individuals, which was great because it meant we could get something far
more interesting going, something founded on new and evolving insights and coming
out of a greater understanding of the Western Magical Tradition, something profound,
not just a veneer of lame anarchy sprayed over a ragbag of occult techniques with little
encompassing vision of the whole of which they were a part.
It truly astonished me that anyone could find anything amazing or interesting about
the vision of the occult propounded by the likes of the iot, and yet they did, in their
droves, and still do. To me it is a sad indication of the demise of the occultist. It became
an accessory to a certain lifestyle that involved liking certain bands and wearing a black
teeshirt and in the end I began to criticise it in Situationist terms, which seemed to go
over the heads of those I was criticising. Given the Situationist perspective it was to be
expected that the pop version of the Chaos current should have become well-known
and widely propagated, whereas the true occult Chaos current (156) went underground.
JOEL
45