We’re going to get to Chaos Magic, but I have to walk us through some Options first.

Magic is about Options: some work better than others. Magic is about effecting change, which means that choices matter. We have several before us: today, we’ll look at the following:

Choice 1: Do nothing
Choice 2: Throw a party
Choice 3: Run
Choice 4: Destroy things
Choice 5: Chaos Magic

And by the way, If you didn’t read last week’s post, click here: https://mythcrafts.com/2017/01/31/tantric-tuesdays-pre-magic-101/

Option 1: Nothing.

It’s the easiest way out.

It doesn’t do much, usually.

Sometimes it works.

Typically, not so much. But hey, sometimes it works.

At least it’s still an Option.

Option 2: Get Wasted.

It’s happier than Option 1, but it does cost time and money.

Sometimes it also costs lungs, livers and lives.

Still, it might be happier than doing nothing.

And like the previous Option, sometimes it works.

Sometimes.

Option 3: Move Away.

If this Option works for you, good on you, mate.

Get out, if you can, while you can.

Some of us can’t.

And therefore, we have to look at other Options.

Because here is where we are, and home always comes with a price.

Far more than a house.

Far more than an empire.

But always less costly than hope.

Option 4: Blow Things Up.

Yes, that alas is an option.

People from a variety of faiths, customs, beliefs, religions, nations, and walks of life have taken that strategy.

Me, I’m not a fan.

No symbolic gesture is worth an innocent life, no matter the intent.

I’ve had many friends who served as warriors for my country, and they all acted as their duties called.

Honorably.

At least one of them had to hold fresh, bloody baby flesh.

Fresh, bloody baby flesh.

Visualize that.

And if you think that image is too hard to handle, if that bothers your conscience, if that damages your pride, imagine how it lingers with our soldiers, the ones who we send away to do the work we consider unthinkable (and yes, our tax dollars do count).

Unthinkable, and worse yet, unspeakable.

Of course, no one speaks.

And after the carnage, who dares speak truth to power?

Not me!

Primarily, because I don’t care to hear power speaking back. Because it isn’t talking to me, or to you – it’s only talking to itself.

Yes, murder can be self-congratulatory. Ask your local congressperson.

Ask your President.

When Power does speak back, it tends to whimper in shades of grey, or scream in deafening tones of crimson red.

This is not a new thing; Murder Inc. has been a thriving, thieving, and prosperous corporation for quite a while, and they bought the history books a long time ago.

Don’t worry; they’ve still got a whole world’s worth of business left to do.

Can we fight back? Let’s consider the next Option:

Option 5…

Option 5: Chaos Tantra.

This is where we start.

At the heart of Tantra is a visual image, a symbol sometimes called a Mandala. A fancier term is Yantra, which is nice because it rhymes with Tantra (and Mantra, which we’ll get to in a later post). Still, Mandala is the most common way of describing a symmetric, circle-oriented design that can be used for meditation.

From circle to center, from outside to inside, and back again. To quote alchemy, as above, so below.

The Mandala is a pathway to drawing inwards.

So is a Sigil. However, Sigils eschew symmetry in favor of ciphers. While Mandalas do encode meanings, a Sigil is encoded meaning.

A Sigil is the private thought of a magician, made semi-public.

If the Mandala is the heart of Tantra, the Sigil is the heart of Chaos Magic, which we’ll be exploring in depth next week.

There other ways of patterning mediation and magical intent. For instance, in Voodoo traditions, a symbol called a Veve is often used:

The practice of using imagery for meditation and magic goes back to the age of cave dwellers, back when our only light was a flickering flame. It worked then.

And if you don’t think it works now, consider this:

Simple images make for powerful politics.

Simple words make for powerful people.

Can Chaos Magic effect powerful change?

Try for yourself, because that’s the one secret that can’t be sold.

It can only be done.

Do As Thy Will…You know the rest (and if not, that’s okay. Make it up as you go along; that’s the whole point of doing).

So, for now, I’m sticking with this Option.