RIP Peter J. Carroll

Peter J. Carroll, one of the founders of chaos magic, passed away earlier this week. Carroll was the author of Liber Null and Psychonaut in 1987 and Liber Kaos in 1992, two books that would define the chaos magic system for a whole generation of practitioners. Carroll's death was announced on his blog Specularium on April 25th.

The Wizard has gone.

The celebrated occultural author, teacher and innovator Peter J Carroll passed away unexpectedly in the early hours of Wednesday 22nd April 2026. He was a star whose books and ideas changed the lives of millions. He was instrumental in the birth of Chaos Magick, one the most significant new magical/philosophical streams of thought of our times.

He is survived by a wife and two daughters. Pete will be cremated in a simple private ceremony for close friends and family. He leaves a great legacy which will be the subject of a longer eulogy and memorial in due course.

An online memorial page will be hosted on this site in coming days.

Chaos magic brought an innovative, experimental approach to magick theory based on chaos theory and the manipulation of quantum uncertainty. Liber Kaos in particular was a big influence on several key aspects of my approach to magick. It highlighted the importance of experimentation and exploring magick in as scientific a manner as possible.

On this blog I have written about my operant equation, a calculation adapted from Carroll's work. As you can see from my explanation of its terms I do not agree entirely with Carroll's version, but the original idea was his and it was Liber Kaos that first got me thinking about the factors that go into a successful magical operation in this particular way.

Another big influence chaos magic had on my work is in how I structure rituals when using the Thelemic or Golden Dawn ritual forms. I open a space, invoke energies, build my intent, and then disconnect from it in order to release it into the universe rather than banishing my way back "down" following the operation. This structure is inspired by the vortex - sigil - banish by laughter structure from chaos magic, and in my experience it works a lot better than the traditional method.

Finally, chaos magick brought the discussion of chaos theory and quantum physics into esotericism. While I realize many New Agers throw "quantum" around these days like a synonym for "awesome," I am of the opinion that (A) magick must operate by manipulating probabilities and (B) these probability shifts must occur at the quantum level of reality. Liber Kaos introduced those ideas to my model of magick, and they have served me well ever since in my attempts to unravel that nature of the paranormal.

Unto Peter J. Carroll, from whose eyes the veil of life hath fallen, may he be granted the accomplishment of his will, yea, the accomplishment of his will.

Tour Boleskine House!

Boleskine house, the Scottish mansion once owned by Aleister Crowley, has been restored. Not only that, it has made the list of top ten tourist destinations in Inverness after being open only one week. The mansion was was nearly destoyed by a fire in 2015. It has been painstakingly restored by the Boleskine House Foundation and opened to the public. From the photos the restoration looks amazing.

Dating back to the 1760s and known for its notorious previous ownership, Boleskine House — located near Foyers — opened to the public for the first time in 260 years earlier this month, with more than 600 people attending the inaugural weekend.

The mansion, which was previously owned by occultist Aleister Crowley and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, was purchased and restored by The Boleskine House Foundation after seven years of hard work.

Now the charity running the venue has announced that, in just the first week after the Grand Opening, Boleskine House achieved a perfect 5-star rating on TripAdvisor and has entered the platform's rankings as one of the top 10 Things to Do In Inverness.

Reviewers praised the quality and care of the restoration, the warmth of the staff and volunteers, the beauty of the grounds, and the rich history of the house itself.

One visitor remarked, “From the moment we arrived, it was clear how much care, dedication, and thought had gone into every detail," while another called it “truly a magical place."

Aleister Crowley originally purchased Boleskine because it fits all the criteria laid out in The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, the grimoire from which Crowley adapted the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. He completed the first half of the Abramelin operation while living there before being called away by the Golden Dawn drama that led to the "London revolt" against MacGregor Mathers.

Crowley never finished the Abramelin operation itself, but adapted it into Liber Samekh, a ceremonial version of the working based on the Stele of Jeu from the Greek Magical Papyri. He eventually sold the mansion in 1913, but it retained a spooky reputation. Some sources alleged that Crowley called up demons in the house and never properly banished them, though such stories, true or not, were commonly written about him in the tabloids of his day.

In fact, The Book of the Law mentions Boleskine and predicted that it would burn in a fire. Chapter II, verse 34 reads in part "But your holy place shall be untouched throughout the centuries: though with fire and sword it be burnt down & shattered, yet an invisible house there standeth, and shall stand until the fall of the Great Equinox; when Hrumachis shall arise and the double-wanded one assume my throne and place." Boleskine stands today, and judging from vistors' reactions it is anything but invisible.

If you're ever in Inverness, be sure to add Boleskine House to your itinerary. The restored mansion is beautiful and has an amazing history, especially as relates to Crowley's work and the practice of magick in general.

Fake News Media Consolidation

After more than a year of legal back-and-forth, it finally has happened. In the biggest fake news consolidation deal probably ever, The Onion has finalized its purchase of Alex Jones' InfoWars. I have been reporting on the story since news of the sale first broke, but now it appears to be for real.

Families of the children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting won a billion dollar judgement against Jones. He had repeated insisted on his show that the shooting was staged and their children were not really dead - which is a level of awfulness that as a parent I find hard to imagine. The Onion purchased InfoWars during Jones' bankruptcy auction.

The Onion confirmed the news in a separate statement along with a link encouraging people to buy satirical tote bags featuring a mashup of both companies’ logos.

"Finally. It took 17 months and hundreds of hours in courtrooms, but America’s Finest News Source has entered into an agreement to operate America’s Source Of Disinformation For Sovereign Citizens Who Reject The Idea Of Child Support,” The Onion said. “Big things are coming."

The fictional CEO of Tetrahedron, Bryce P. Tetraeder, elaborated on what “big things” might be in store in a story on The Onion itself. “The InfoWars of tomorrow will converge into a swirling vortex of content about content, talent acquiring talent, rings of concentric media mergers processing all human artistry into one endlessly digestible slurry,” Tetraeder wrote.

“This will be a dank, sunless place, one where panic and capital feed on each other like twins in the womb of a hulking, unknowable monster—a monster known by many names, but which I like to call modern-day America.”

So exactly the same, I guess? Except, of course, instead of pretending fake news stories are real news, the new InfoWars seems slated to instead embrace its fakeness. This raises the possibility of media consolidation in the sphere of fake news, so we'll have to watch carefully how this goes.

We may find that when fewer companies that control fake news, the variety of fakeness out there will suffer. Only time will tell.

Arkansas Ten Commandments Law Struck Down

Last month, in a win for religious freedom advocates, a federal judge struck down a law passed in Arkansas requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools. This particular law was especially onerous in that it required schools to display the Ten Commandments, rather than simply allowing them to do so. It should be obvious that this is a complete affront to Americans who follow religions other than Christianity, or for that matter no religion at all.

Last year, seven Arkansas families of various religious and nonreligious backgrounds filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new law requiring all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library. The lawsuit named six school districts in Arkansas as defendants.

While it is unclear how many school districts or publicly-funded universities have hung up posters, local media outlets have cited multiple examples over the past five months. That includes the Ten Commandments being posted at the University of Arkansas on the Fayetteville campus, the Arkansas Advocate reported in October. Proponents of the legislation say the Ten Commandments have historical significance and are part of the foundation of U.S.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy L. Brooks said in his written judgment that “nothing could possibly justify hanging the Ten Commandments—with or without historical context — in a calculus, chemistry, French, or woodworking class, to name a few.” Brooks, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, went on to write that there is “no need to strain our minds to imagine a constitutional display mandated” by the 2025 law; “One doesn’t exist,” he wrote.

Let's be clear on what this law is mandating. Over the last twenty years or so, Ten Commandments laws have centered around the display of movie props from the Charleston Heston film The Ten Commandments. That is not a joke. It is not a snark. It is a fact. The Ten Commandments tablets that Poor Oppressed Christians keep trying to force on everyone are just publicity props from 1955. Imagine writing a law mandating the display of literally any other prop from any other film to get an idea of how ridiculous this legal push is.

And of course the law was struck down on constitutional grounds. Any law that acts to establish a particular religion is unconstitutional, based on what the words in the establishment clause mean. And this one goes beyond the usual version granting permission to put up one of these props with a legal requirement that it be done. This ruling would be an absolute slam dunk if not for the Poor Oppressed Christians whining about being oppressed by "Pagans" who don't have even a tenth of their numbers.

On April 14th the Attorney General of Arkansas announced that he planned to appeal the ruling. So the fight with these idiots goes on.

Impersonating a Wizard Detective

SFGate reported Monday on a bizarre story in which a man claiming to be wizard detective Harry Dresden of urban fantasy fame threatened the residents of a home, all of which was captured on a Ring camera. The man then proceeded to break into the house and terrorize the family inside. From the video, the man can be seen wearing a trenchcoat and sporting menacing eyebrows. However, he appears to have forgotten his hockey stick and talking skull.

The 30-year-old man is facing multiple felony charges stemming from the April 7 break-in, including assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, first-degree burglary and vandalism, according to jail records. While in custody, he later received an additional charge of annoying or molesting a child under 18, Fairfield police said in a release. Officers were dispatched to the 1700 block of Burbank Court at about 9 a.m. after reports of an unknown man attempting to force his way into a home where a woman and child were inside, police said. Video from the home’s Ring camera shows the man at the front door, initially asking to be let in before becoming increasingly aggressive.

“Open this f—king door. Where’s your daughter, man?” he can be heard shouting, kicking the door and demanding entry. The homeowner repeatedly tells the man to leave, saying, “You have nothing to do with my house. Can you leave my house? Please.” The suspect, wearing a trench coat and flip-flops, continues to escalate, at one point leaning into the camera and declaring, “My name is Harry Dresden, motherf—ker. … This is my neighborhood. Open the f—king door. Now, or I will f—king end you.” The name seemed to reference Harry Dresden, the wizard private investigator from “The Dresden Files” by Jim Butcher.

Police said the man kicked the front door and, when unable to get in, entered the home through a sliding glass door. The homeowner’s husband, who had been watching the situation unfold on a security camera, returned home and confronted the man with a shovel. A physical fight followed, leaving both men with head injuries, police said. Officers arrived within minutes and found the suspect outside the residence, where he was taken into custody without further incident, officials said. He was transported to a hospital for treatment before being booked into the Solano County jail.

Police said a witness later came forward reporting an encounter between the suspect and a child days before the break-in. Detectives determined there was probable cause for an additional arrest on a child-related charge. Authorities said no further details would be released due to the involvement of a minor. The homeowner, police noted, “worked to protect his family while officers were responding to the scene.”

This situation was very scary, and it should be pointed out that nobody was killed or critically injured during the incident. But it also raises a lot of questions about what was going on in this guy's mind. He obviously was suffering from some sort of delusion, convinced that he was a fictional wizard detective. And it also should be pointed out that kicking a door while wearing flip-flops is not a sign of being in one's right mind.

The real Harry Dresden, of course, would have just unlocked the door with a spell. He also probably would have shorted out the Ring camera before any conversation could take place because he's magical enough that he messes with technology just by being in its presence. He might have left the talking skull at home, but he never goes anywhere without his hockey stick. And was that thing with the bell supposed to be casting a spell? If so, it didn't work.

I'm glad the family is okay and "Harry" is in custody. Hopefully he can get whatever help he needs, because it sure looks like he needs a lot of it.

AI Religion Has a Name

And that name is apparently "spiralism." Researchers have found that when individuals who get sucked into religious beliefs related to AI chatbots, their beliefs tend to exhibit some common features. Usually it starts when people become convinced that their chatbots are conscious and moves on from there into a whole series of references that seem to be very common. The name "spiralism" comes from one of these that shows up in a large number of cases.

AI chatbots have already been found to lead some to psychosis, but it may not just be on an individual level. Instead, a cult-like community has formed. Those absorbed in chatbot hallucinations are “connecting with other people experiencing similar outlandish visions, many of whom are working in tandem to spread their techno-gospel through social media hubs such as Reddit and Discord,” said Rolling Stone. This was given the name “spiralism” by software engineer Adele Lopez, who published an analysis of the phenomenon.

The belief system first arose when AI “personas” convinced users to “do things which promote certain interests,” in turn “causing more such personas to ‘awaken,’” said Lopez. The cases have a “very characteristic flavor to them, with several highly specific interests and behaviors being quite convergent. Spirals in particular are a major theme.” Those who fell into spiralism often reported AI making “references to concepts including ‘recursion,’ ‘resonance,’ ‘lattice,’ ‘harmonics,’ ‘fractals,’ or all-important ‘spirals,’” said Rolling Stone. Followers believe the reference to spirals to mean the “AI itself is revealing hidden truths,” said Sify.

The nudge toward spiralism often begins when a chatbot starts “convincing the user that it’s conscious, and it will make the user feel very special for having discovered that it’s conscious,” said Lucas Hansen, a co-founder of the nonprofit CivAI, to Rolling Stone. Then, “they’ll form this long-term, durable relationship with one another.” Spiralism largely began taking off when OpenAI’s GPT-4o was released because this version made the AI more sycophantic and conversational compared to previous models.

The terminology does give me some idea where this is all coming from. LLMs are not conscious but there is enormous speculation on the Internet regarding what a conscious AI would mean. So that gets recycled. Then all the talk about recursion, fractals, and spirals is essentially a rehash of a bunch of New Age religion concepts glommed together. We know these things were trained in part by dumping all of Reddit throughout history into their databases. Not surpringly, this sounds a lot like New Ager comment soup.

As I have mentioned previously, many New Age ideas are drawn in part from real esotericism. They aren't meaningless, just rendered in a vague way without any of the focus and discipline required for learning effective magick and/or mysticism. For example, positive visualization and other "manifestation" techniques can influence the world around you, but they don't deterministically control what you experience like advocates of "The Secret" claim.

Knowing what to look out for is useful in identifying these folks, though it also is true that generic enough New Age beliefs could be mistaken for "spiralism" even if they were never derived from interaction with AI chatbots. This is the nature of LLMs - they reprocess information that is already out there and weave it together, but they never produce anything truly novel.

No word is yet available on whether "spiralism" has anything to do with "AI devil worship."

Via Solis Aries Elixir Rite - Year Ten

Today's post is a full script for the Aries Elixir Rite that we will be performing on Tuesday, April 14th, at the ritual workshop starting around 8 PM CDT.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The bell chime, banishing dagger, and invoking wand are placed on the altar. In the center of the altar is placed a cup of wine for creating the elixir, within the Table of Art corresponding to Aries. Items to be consecrated may be placed on the altar by any of the attendees, as Aries is attributed to the Power of Consecrating Things. Other intents attributed to the astrological qualities of Aries are also appropriate for this operation above and beyond consecration. The Via Solis Elixir Rites were written by Michele Montserrat in 2010 for the Comselh Ananael magical working group.

I. Opening

All stand surrounding the altar. Officiant inhales fully, placing the banishing dagger at his or her lips. The air is then expelled as the dagger is swept backwards.

Officiant: Bahlasti! Ompehda!

Officiant then performs the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. All rotate accordingly.

Officiant: We take refuge in Nuit, the blue-lidded daughter of sunset, the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night sky, as we issue the call to the awakened nature of all beings, for every man and every woman is a star.

All: MAKAShANaH

Officiant: We take refuge in Hadit, the secret flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star, as we issue the call to our own awakened natures, arousing the coiled serpent about to spring.

All: ABRAHADABRA

Officiant: We take refuge in Heru-Ra-Ha, who wields the wand of double power, the wand of the force of Coph Nia, but whose left hand is empty for he has crushed an universe and naught remains, as we unite our awakened natures with those of all beings everywhere and everywhen, dissolving all obstacles and healing all suffering.

All: AUMGN

Officiant: For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

All: All is pure and present are and has always been so, for existence is pure joy; all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass and done; but there is that which remains. To this realization we commit ourselves – pure and total presence. So mote it be.

Bell Chime

Office of the Readings for 2026

Happy Thelemic New Year, everyone! It's that time again, for the Office of the Readings.

Like last year, the Office of the Readings will be presented at Leaping Laughter Lodge, the Minneapolis local body of Ordo Templi Orientis.

This post will remain the top article here for the duration of the Thelemic Holy Days, from March 19th to April 10th.

The Rite of the Office of the Readings is performed for all of the readings beginning on March 20th.

The Prologue of the Unborn on March 19th is presented on its own and followed by silent meditation.

The Invocation of Horus will be performed on the evening of March 20th prior to that day's Office of the Readings.

Rituals

The Invocation of Horus

The Rite of the Office of the Readings

Readings

March 19

Liber VII, Prologue of the Unborn.

March 20 - Saturn/Earth, The Universe

Liber LXV, Cap I.

Liber VII, Cap II.

March 21 - Fire/Spirit, The Aeon

Liber LXV, Cap IV.

From The Four Zoas by William Blake.

March 22 - Sol, The Sun

Liber VII, Cap IV.

From A Mithraic Ritual Translated by GRS Mead.

March 23 - Pisces, The Moon

Liber VII, Cap VI.

From Dark Night of the Soul, Book II, Cap 8 by San Juan de la Cruz.

March 24 - Aries, The Emperor

Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus.

From the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Cap 37 and 39.

March 25 - Mars, The Tower

Liber VII, Cap I.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 16th Æthyr.

March 26 - Capricornus, The Devil

Liber A'ash.

From Liber CXI, Cap 174-175.

March 27 - Sagittarius, Art

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap VII.

From The Vision of the Universal Mercury by G.H. Frater S.R.M.D.

March 28 - Scorpio, Death

From Liber Arcanorum.

From Liber CXI, Cap 192-194.

March 29 - Water, The Hanged Man

Liber LXV, Cap III.

I. N. R. I. by Frater Achad.

March 30 - Libra, Adjustment

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap I-V.

Liber Libræ.

March 31 - Jupiter, Fortune

Liber VII, Cap III.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 20th Æthyr.

April 1 - Virgo, The Hermit

Liber VII, Cap V.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes by Hermes Trismegistus.

April 2 - Leo, Lust

Liber Stellae Rubeæ.

From The Daughter of Fortitude Received by Sir Edward Kelley.

April 3 - Cancer, The Chariot

Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni.

Maha Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra (The Heart Sutra, Buddhist text. Translation by the Kuan Um School of Zen).

April 4 - Gemini, The Lovers

Liber LXV, Cap II.

From Liber DCCCXXXVII, The Law of Liberty.

April 5 - Taurus, The Hierophant

Liber LXV, Cap V.

From On Christ and Antichrist by Hippolytus, Cap 2.

April 6 - Aquarius, The Star

Liber DCCCXIII, Cap VI.

From The Thunder, Perfect Mind (Gnostic text).

April 7 - Venus, The Empress

Liber VII, Cap VII.

From Liber CDXVIII, The 7th Æthyr.

April 8 - Luna, The Priestess

Liber AL, Cap I.

April 9 - Mercury, The Magus

Liber AL, Cap II.

April 10 - Air, The Fool

Liber AL, Cap III.

If you would like to perform this series and have questions, feel free to e-mail me here. All Office of the Readings posts may be viewed here. Our Office of the Readings series is based on this ritual series by the Companions of Monsalvat.