PsyberMagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magick

by Peter J. Carroll

A witty and iconoclastic commentary on magick and modern occult subculture by one of the founders of Chaos Magick. PsyberMagick contains astonishing, controversial and revolutionary ideas on the theory and practice of magick, the structure of the universe and the nature of the mind. It holds many surprises as it challenges many of the conventional assumptions and paradigms of magick. Filled with practical techniques, PsyberMagick give you the means to undo the fallacy of "being" and reach "sideways" into imaginary time to accomplish magic(k). Done in the style of Aleister Crowley's Book of Lies, and humorously illustrated, this book is a must for all Chaoist and Western magicians.

Genres: Magick, Occult, Nonfiction, Magic, Philosophy, Witchcraft, Spirituality

136 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

He maintains a personal website at www.specularium.org

and acts as Chancellor to Arcanorium College:- www.arcanoriumcollege.com

Peter Carroll began his career in Magic at London University where the Chemistry proved so tedious that he settled on a pass degree in that and an unauthorized first in Magic, with Liber Null & Psychonaut emerging as his postgraduate thesis over the next several years whilst teaching high school science.

He then set off around the world wandering in the Himalayas, building boats in India and Australia and seeking out unusual people.

Then after a stay in Yorkshire, he headed back to the Himalayas for a while again before returning to settle in the west of England to found a family and a magical order. Appalled by the compromises made by so many magi to make a living out of their writing or teaching, Carroll decided to make his fortune with a natural products business so that he could write and teach only what had value and interest for him.

Past Grandmaster of the Magical Pact of the Illuminates of Thanateros

Chancellor of Arcanorium College

Acting Marshall, Knights of Chaos

A Bard of Dobunni Grove


*Whilst Carroll derides the very low predictive power of natal astrology he nevertheless looks forward to his Uranus return.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful for the established student of Western magick as a means of challenging unnecessary orthodoxy, but I would not suggest taking it as a replacement orthodoxy. This is particularly true of the unfortunate and misguided (though interesting) attempts to misapply poorly understood—and since disproven—idiosyncratic variants of quantum mechanical theorizing to the proffered world view. This again may be useful as a mental exercise, but it certainly should not be held to have truth value in any scientific sense. (This is perhaps rectified in the later edition, but I haven't seen it so I don't know, and I rather doubt it anyway.)

[Constantin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Good but MEH at the same time"

It is written in a nice witty manner, and it has some good information in it and interesting ideas.
It is a good read for those who want to challenge the westernised stereotypical "orthodoxy" but it is not a "replacement" for it.

BUT

What puts me off in this book, is that some parts of it reek of arrogance. It is as if the author wants to point out "how special" he is and how everyone else is just wrong. And I think this is simply done in order for the author to justify their sexual habits, bad choices (that is in denial to admit he regrets), and questionable morals.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting read. Even if you are a complete skeptic, this book has some incredibly interesting philosophic/world-view perspectives on life, religion, and occultism.

[dp · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read that I could've done without. It's a collection of aphoristic style musings that acts as a bridge between Carroll's first two books and his more recent works. I've already started reading The Apophenion and I can see its ideas budding here. The quantum physics at the end completely went over my head. All in all, not bad - funny, innovative, heretical - but not necessary.

[Belle Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second, possibly third, reading of this book. I'm not sure why, but I found it more resonating this time. The chapters on physics are a bit of a slog, but the rest was more applicable than on other readings. I guess you just need to go back to some books to extract everything you can from them. This was certainly one of those. No doubt, in years to come I'll re-read it and think, what a load of bollocks. But it worked for me right now.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides meaningful insight on defining your own beliefs. If you are interested in Chaos theory, this is an essential read.

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish.

[Jessie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This presents several spiritual barriers, including cynicism, othering, pride, skepticism, and addiction to power.

"If only one fifth of your spells work you have real power" (Commentary 6).

[Arkadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that purports to be in touch with the supreme connectivity of the university but in practice reads as navel-gazing, self-adoring and generally wholly unconnected to warmth or lovingness as a general consideration or priority. They talk about chaotic goodness being supreme, but I don't see the "goodness" engaged with here, only an undercurrent of worship of personal success and privilege.

Thoroughly not my jam and left me feeling a little grossed out and like I was reading a book by a narcissistic charlatan. Will pursue other perspectives in the chaos magick space - Carroll ain't for me.

[Michel Ortega · Rating 5 out of 5]

A game-changer.
Part III of the series written by Pete and the Illuminates of Thanateros.

As every volume of this series of books, PsyberMagick continues with more information about the process of the magus.
While reading it, the scientific examples about the three dimensional time becomes proof of the thesis that Peter explains since the first part.

A must read for that persons curious or interested in the Chaos.

Choyofaque!

[Diego Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most serious book I've read about chaos magick so far. And it is also one of the dullest and silliest ones at that. I really hope Peter comes up with a new revised version soon as I'd love to read his take on the more recent science discoveries like non-locality, black holes and the Higgs Boson.

The part about the 4 magical weapons rituals was my favorite.

[Matias Selzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is great and it presents many interesting things.
Even though I understand the format of this particular book, some the information about each topic tends to be very poor.

[Cadence · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but none of what was here really expanded upon my understanding of chaos magic or particularly inspired me. YMMV, but it wasn't for me.

[Pavel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reader can trace a strong David Bohm connection

[Fabian Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of somewhat topical and occasionally poetic rants by Carroll, some of the points of which are fairly self-evident. Probably his worst book to date. Could be worse I guess.

[Black Glove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esoterrific
A concise depth of fascinating notions and curious perspectives can be found in this darkly enlightening book. I've been re-reading it for weeks. Rumination definately required. - I must say I'm more of a philosopher than a wizard, although my beard is getting longer by the day. Chaoism - with its peculiar angles - is thought-provoking if nothing else.

[Sighris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and too the point... with few errors! Pope Pete does it again! ;)

[Chad Oldham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enlightening gem from carroll, written completely in E-Prime.

[Christopher Gaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for anyone interested in metaprogramming.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I plan to reread in hopes of absorbing more on the second go. I haven't followed the equations very well.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very strong first half, but the latter half lacks a lot of strength.

[Hannes Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains some interesting exercises.