{"collection":"bos","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bos/bos282.htm","path":"bos/bos282.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bos/bos282.htm","text":"Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999]\n \n \n \n THE PACT (IOT) - The Story So Far \n \n by Pete Carroll\n \n \n \n In 1976 in an abandoned ammunition dump dug deep into a mountain\n \n somewhere in the Rhineland, two magicians, one English, one German\n \n announced the formation of a magical order with the celebration of a\n \n Mass of Chaos in the company of a couple of dozen other magicians.\n \n Soon after we emerged from the bowels of the mountain a localized\n \n tornado hit immediate area. This was but a small portent of things\n \n to come.\n \n \n \n We left the mountain with no particular idea other than to form an\n \n Order such as had never existed before, that would break the\n \n existing mold and provide a vehicle for Chaos Magic. A year later\n \n some of us met in a splendid Austrian castle and formally arranged\n \n ourselves into the Magical Pact of the Illuminates of Thanateros,\n \n using as a basis a simple structure of four grades and five offices\n \n that I had devised in the meantime. Since then the Pact has evoked a\n \n veritable whirlwind of activity, and at the time of writing counts\n \n some sixteen temples in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland,\n \n Australia and the USA. A meeting for all members is now held\n \n annually, usually at the same original castle (Burg Lockenhaus,\n \n Austria, 2.-6.August 1991 followed by an Exercitium open for all).\n \n It is always a wild experimental gathering during which plenty of\n \n hard work is being done. In devising a structure I sought mainly to\n \n avoid the mistakes of previous established orders such as the Golden\n \n Dawn and the Ordo Templi Orientis. A certain division of labour is\n \n essential just to ensure that people take responsibility for\n \n organizing that which needs organizing. Beyond that it seems an\n \n absurdity to form an order on the basis of one or a few persons\n \n \n 1397\n \n \n adopting the role of great guru almighty. Their bluff must\n \n eventually be called, and such organisations are unlikely to advance\n \n beyond whatever set of ideas they start with. Crowley had to break\n \n with the Golden Dawn to make his own contribution to magic, and\n \n Austin Spare had to break with Crowley in his turn. Such progress\n \n through schism is an idiotic waste of time and effort. Any\n \n contemporary order which wishes to remain alive, exciting and\n \n innovative requires a structure or at least a communication network\n \n to exist at all, but dogmatic ideas, rigid hierarchies and fixed\n \n teachings and beliefs will kill its creative spirit rapidly.\n \n Thus in the Pact, the individual temples, which are its basic unit,\n \n experiment with whatever techniques, rituals and ideas they please,\n \n and exchange results and inspirations through newsletters,\n \n magazines, a computerized electronic mailbox system, inter-temple\n \n visits and the annual Pact meeting. There is thus a natural\n \n selection of ideas. Techniques, Spells and Rituals which are found\n \n to be really useful become used and expanded upon whilst the less\n \n effective material is forgotten. Those members who enter the Pact\n \n bubbling over with ideas are encouraged to put them into use\n \n immediately. Naturally in an organisation such as this there is less\n \n emphasis on discipline than on enthusiasm and creativity. The Pact is\n \n more interested in those who can experience magic as a living thing,\n \n than in those who can merely follow instructions. Indeed the only\n \n power the Pact reserves over its members is the right of expulsion\n \n for extreme non-fraternal behaviour or for bringing the Pact into\n \n danger. The Pact has but two aims. Firstly the pursuit of the Great\n \n Work of Magic and pleasures and profits attendant to this Quest.\n \n Secondly to act as a Psychohistoric Force in the Battle for the\n \n Aeon. To fulfill the first aim we provide communication facilities\n \n that enable us to work together and develop our own magics through\n \n \n 1398\n \n \n the exchange of ideas and information. Esoterics should also be fun.\n \n If you don`t enjoy doing magic you are probably doing something\n \n wrong. The profits are entirely whatever rewards individuals can\n \n make from their own magic. There are no membership fees and the\n \n annual Pact meeting is free and funded by seminars and exercitiums\n \n that some members hold for the general public plus any members who\n \n wish to attend. The somewhat grandiosely phrased Psychohistoric\n \n action in the Battle for the Aeon, consists mainly in spreading the\n \n philosophy of magical paradigm where we can, in print and by word of\n \n mouth, although we occasionally perform acts of magic to hasten\n \n things along.\n \n \n \n The magical techniques and philosophy of the Pact are mainly Chaoist\n \n in inspiration. Chaos Magic calls for a concentration of the actual\n \n mechanics at work when planning acts of evocation, divination,\n \n enchantment, invocation and illumination. It is techniques and\n \n intention that are important in successful magic. The most Important\n \n Techniques are those which adjust subconscious belief. Subconscious\n \n belief controls both the self or selves and the world. So long as\n \n this is never forgotten one can structure a ritual or spell with\n \n just about any form of symbolism from Tibetan Tantra to Icelandic\n \n Runelore. And indeed, where else but in the Pact could you find\n \n magicians experimenting with Runic Sex Magic? Well perhaps you will\n \n find other examples. I notice the eclectic approach becoming ever\n \n more pervasive in esoterics. Insights and ideas are now poached\n \n shamelessly from one so-called tradition to another, but this is how\n \n it should be, and Chaos Magic boldly encourages the meta-tradition\n \n which takes anything and everything that is effective from all\n \n traditions to create an explosive mixture.\n \n \n \n \n 1399\n \n \n So, on with the pursuit of the Great Work of Magic, with whatever\n \n forms of Techno-Shamanism, Tantric Goetia or Greco-Egyptian Quantum\n \n Physics we can make work for us. There are worlds within us, and the\n \n universe is infinitely more weird, I`m sure, than all our theories\n \n put together. Hopefully, some of the explosives the Pact cooks up\n \n can propel us a little further into these strange domains. I have no\n \n idea how this years Pact meeting will unfold, except that there will\n \n be magicians from many lands seated in a huge circle ready to offer\n \n their specialities in everything from Buddhist sorcery through Norse\n \n wyrdcraft and Chaos mathematical investment schemes to Voodoo and\n \n Ice Magics. We have the technology and we`re crazy enough to use it!\n \n \n \n The Pact may be contacted in the US care of:\n \n Temple Oblivion, P.O.Box 18514, Encino CA 91416-8514\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 1400\n \n \n 1402\n \n \n Blackout and Sigils \n Fra.: Apfelmann\n \n The blackout or as it is commonly referred to, the death posture, is\n the technique that the late Austin Osman Spare refined for his own magical\n use and which has been adopted by chaoists, solo and group, world wide as\n its popularity has been increased by the works of the IOT over the last\n decade or so. \n \n The normal procedure, as many will undoubtedly be familiar with, (and\n this is only one of its uses) is that a sigil/glyph of desire is held in\n the mind`s eye whilst in what we all refer to as the death posture e.g.,\n stood on tiptoe, arms locked behind the head, body stretched to its limit,\n deep spasmodic breathing, until total exhaustion and inevitably one blacks\n out, the sigil is then lost to the mind of the inner and the banished of\n laughter is evoked to prevent the resurfacing of the said sigil.\n \n Anyone who has used this technique for the above said purpose, will\n have at sometime or another experienced, even if just slightly, difficulty\n in holding the posture long enough for the desired gnosis to take effect\n sufficiently for blackout. And due to this difficulty, a well planned\n ritual can be a well planned waste of time as the desired result is not\n implanted properly. \n \n A technique that has been repeatedly employed by myself on such\n occasions is based upon the same principles as the death posture but as I\n have found, a little easier and without pitfalls that one can experience\n with A.O. Spare`s technique. \n \n This technique is a strange mixture of inhibitory and excitatory\n gnosis, forced overbreathing, dancing or spinning, and of course exhaus-\n tion. The end result is of necessity for this process the blackout, which\n is as we know, of the inhibitory gnosis. I will now explain how this\n technique is employed by one for the insertion of sigils for whatever\n purpose one feels the need.\n \n First one has to sigilise the desire in any form that one may wish,\n but in all cases and especially this one, it must be very easy to visual-\n ise. Once that has been achieved, one may then begin to design the ritual\n for that particular purpose in mind. Banishings and invocations may be\n employed, if so wished, this is, however, not a necessity for the suc-\n cessful outcome of this process. At the culmination of the rite the\n individual starts the overbreathing, panting deeply and spasmodically and\n at the same time visualising the sigil as vividly as you possible can,\n bright, intense and very clear as the overbreathing continues. Then when\n you feel that the time is right, start your spinning round and round, still\n overbreathing and still holding your visualised sigil in your mind`s eye.\n Music can be played for a background to the dancing, tom toms or any other\n drum is rather excellent background sound for this purpose. When the\n individual has reached a state of sheer exhaustion, very dizzy, sweating\n and ready to drop, he or she then, still spinning and overbreathing and of\n course holding the visulised sigil in mind, works their way to the centre\n of the circle or working area.\n \n \n 1403\n \n \n There a partner, either active or passive to the rite, (in other\n words, if a solo worker, try to get someone to help you with this part)\n stops you spinning and grabs you in a bear hug lifting you off the ground\n and squeezing you about the solar plexus, where a large network of nerves\n lie. At this precise moment the music, if any has been employed, is\n stopped, and death-like silence is kept. The practitioner holds his or her\n breath whilst being squeezed and the sigil is visualised as if burning with\n bright, white heat as its image is burnt into your mind. Within seconds the\n blackout will occur and the sigil is lost to the mind. At this point it is\n important that your partner lets you drop to the floor, unless that is you\n wish to return to primal chaos!\n \n On coming round, in most cases, you should evoke laughter to banish the\n sigil and all thoughts thereof, your laughter breaks that silence and the\n rite is finished in whatever manner wished.\n \n With fractalic greetings and laughter * Fra.: Apfelmann *\n \n \n 1404","title":"Internet Book of Shadows: I.O.T. History (The Beginnings)","type":"page"}