Customer Reviews

Liber Kaos

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Liber Kaos is definately not a good book for someone new in chaos magic. Read "Condensed Chaos" by Phil Hine if you are a neophyte. Even though it does introduce key ideas about chaos magic Peter Carrol progresses rather quickly into more advanced concepts, that combined with large amounts of pesonal dogmatism makes it unsuitable for the newcomer.

As an advanced chaos mage you will clash with Carrol's ideas. The book from the beginning contains hard to agree with dogmatism. Within the dogmatism are some great theories and ideas but it is up to the reader to weave through it. Even though Peter Carrol in the father of chaos magic (with Austin Osman Spare being the grandfather) he suffers from what most authors about magic suffer from. Presenting their beliefs as universal truths.

Not all is negative though. Within his book there is a plentiful of concepts that you might or might not decide to include in your toybox. Moreover its a book that must be in your library since Peter Carrol is the first to give chaos magic a name and he is the one that started it all.

Assume nothing.

Less than 3% of all books on magic are worth reading. LIBER KAOS is one of them. The first part of the book attempts to explain magick in terms of quantum physics and chaos theory(interesting...that's all I can say). The second part of the book however,cuts straight to the nitty gritty of how to do magick properly to get results. Step by step procedure stripped of all religious, supersticious, and cultural symbolism and baggage. If you do not study these principles and use them you are shooting yourself in the foot.

This book consists of 3 parts. The first, Liber Kaos proper, deals with the principles of magic, aeonics and the principles of chaos. It includes Pope Pete's fascinating psychohistory model in which the shamanic, religious, rationalist and pandemonic aeons are measured against the materialistic, magical and transcendental paradigms to illustrate the historical ups and downs of the spiritual worldview. Part two: The Psychonomicon, discusses practical magic, sleight of mind, auric and different types of color magic, from octarine to purple. It also includes the Thanateros ritual, which is a celebration of Chaoist principles and a momentary invocation of the power of chaos itself. The appendices make up the third part of the book and includes Liber KKK: an extended series of magical operations; the Gnostic pentagram ritual; chaos monasticism, and; Liber Pactionis: the structure, rituals and protocols of the magical pact of the illuminates of Thanateros. The text is enhanced by diagrams and two illustrations, and there is a short bibliography which includes Stephen Hawking and Terry Pratchet. Pope Pete certainly provides a compelling read, but I'm not convinced of his premises. As another reviewer has said, chaos only occurs in a localized context. Certain patterns in the universe, like the platonic solids and sacred geometry (the golden mean) seem to indicate the prevalence of order in the larger scheme of things. Call me a heretic or Reform Chaoist if you will, but I don't believe Pope Pete is infallible!

I have just recently started reading Peter Carroll over the last few months. After 2 yrs of study and practice of magick, Liber Kaos is the most brilliant and refreshing book on the topic i've read in a long time. His writing is very concise, easy to understand, and are supported with fact. Every writer has their own veiw and experiances that will be expressed in there writing. This book expresses a more open mind than most, and is should be read by anyone devoted to magick.
PS- and of course it isn't for beginners, that's why Liber Null and Psychonaut exists. It should be obvious Carroll builds more advanced ideas on each book that has come out.

A great return to the basic concepts of magick regardless of dogma and tradition. Mr. Carroll cuts through the long held practices of Animism and Spiritism to find the Unified Magickal Theory, leaving that very theory open to conjecture and personalization.

The only downfall is that it may not be as accessible to those without knowledge of theoretical physics and mathematics.

LIBER KAOS is divided into two parts: first, the outline of what Carroll calls CMT (Chaos Magickal Theory) on a scientific basis, borrowing from quantum physics and catastrophe theory. The second part is devoted to the dynamics of practical magick. LIBER KAOS is Pope Pete's dissertation on magick, and should be read by every student of the art of arts.

this book is genuinely excellent. on my first attempt to read it, when initially developing interst in magic, i did not understand it at all. i came back to it a couple of years later after developing a broader and deeper understanding/experience, and this book catapulted my appreciation and understanding far further ahead. in a concise writing style that is woven with depth, Pete delivers very sophisticated ideas with an economy of words... no filler in Liber Kaos, loaded with genuine substance.

the beauty of this book permeates it's pages, on several levels. indirectly, it explains the logic of magic through analogy. directly, it provides a 25 step course for magical practice, based on shamanic, ritual, astal, and high magic... yet in the spirit of chaos magic the course is loosley defined and demands your own personal initiative. it is simply a guideline that can carry you through successive types of magic (evocation, divination, enchantment, invocation, and illumination) and through different models. in such a way you can develop your own personal style and get experience with different magical practices. just reading this section can broaden understanding of what the theory and practice of magic invovles (not "is", that would too definitive).

my expectation for this book was that it would be purely theoretical, yet it turned out to be surprisingly practical. also absolutely excellent is the exploration of "8 magics" (which can be tied together with more traditional qabalistic and planetary magical models/appraoches/practices). reading this has personally helped me understand my own leaning, where i am and where i want to go, and has extended this understanding to a connection with traditional magical correspondences. what "8 magics" involves, basically, is a colour system... red magic is related to vitality to withstand conflict (mars); purple magic is sexual (moon); orange magic involves cunning, e.g. business, poker, etc. (mercury); and so on.

so, while chaos magic is known to be paradigm smashing, involving adaptation/dropping of whatever belief of approach suits you at the moment... a closer reading of this book can uncover the ties that chaos magic has to more traditional models. highly, HIGHLY recommended! (along with books by Ramsey Dukes, a great predecessor of chaos magic)

This book makes for some profound reading, however some of Carrolls' concepts are a little hard to agree with. A must read for anybody trying to discover what Chaos magick is all about.

In this book, Pete Carroll attempts to lay down a universal theory of chaos magic, and attempts to compare it with the with what he sees as past paradigms (shamanism, animism, etc). The result is both promising and disappointing, but a good start in a new direction nonetheless.

On the positive side, Carroll suggests that there are possibilities to reconcile interpretations of quantum physics and magic in ways which are helpful. Furthermore some of his ideas (such as a two-dimensional concept of time) are ones I share, though I came about them through a different means as far as I can see (I develop a two-dimensional notion of historic vs mythic time after reading The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History (Princeton Classic Editions)). Furthermore the system as a whole shows a good foundation as something which could be expanded and taken in positive directions.

On the negative side, this book oversimplifies everything. Many of the basic ideas are ones which, contrary to Carroll's assertions are not new, and not unique to his tradition. His comparisons to older pagan magical traditions and to Hermeticism are both extremely oversimplistic. Indeed his "chaos magical theory" offers very little that's different other than a different perspective on ideas which are probably magical universals. This in itself is valuable, however, in that it can allow one to broaden perspectives.

The practical section in the back is helpful as well, but perhaps not detailed enough for a beginner. On the whole anyone interested in magical traditions generally should read this book, but do so while critically dissecting it.

Carroll does an interesting job of trying to explain a geometrical calculus related to his magic principles. While not altogether convincing, he sets in motion (with candor) the ideas of attaining magical goals through gnostic equations. This is no new idea, in itself, and has been manipulated and used to various ends by every magical agenda, to some extent, but Carroll finds an interesting way of wording things.

I can honestly say that this book is a decent complimentary novel to Liber Nox/Psychonaut. While its theories and applications I do not altogether agree with or fully grasp, I can understand its spark of interest in readers.

The one suggestion I have is to read this novel with an analytic mindset or you're apt to be carried off by his dilliniations in physics and mathematics without ever understanding the original principles that his dilliniations were taken from. And of course, "Reader beware."