Peter James Carroll (born 8 January 1953) is an English

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

ist, writer, and physics graduate. He is one of the originators of

chaos magic Chaos magic, also spelled chaos magick, is a modern tradition of magic. It initially emerged in England in the 1970s as part of the wider neo-pagan and magical subculture. Drawing heavily from the occult beliefs of artist Austin Osman Spare, ...

theory and a cofounder of the

Illuminates of Thanateros The Illuminates of Thanateros () is an international magical organization that focuses on practical group work in chaos magic. The idea was first announced in 1978, while the order proper was formed in 1987. This fraternal magical society has b ...

Career

In the late 1970s, Peter Carroll and Ray Sherwin, two young British occultists interested in

ritual magic Ceremonial magic (ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an e ...

, began to publish a magazine called ''

The New Equinox ''The New Equinox'' was a ceremonial magic publication founded in the mid-1970s by Peter J. Carroll and Ray Sherwin, whose main interest at that time was the magic of Aleister Crowley. It was published between 1976 and 1979. The magazine was ba ...

''. Both men were connected with a burgeoning occult scene developing around The Phoenix, a metaphysical bookshop in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. Having grown dissatisfied with the state of the magical arts and the deficiencies they saw in the available occult groups, they published a small announcement in a 1978 issue of their magazine, announcing the creation of the

(IOT), which has been described as "an unprecedented attempt of institutionalising one of the most individualising currents in the history of 'Western learned magic'". Carroll first issued ''Liber Null'' in 1978 and ''Psychonaut'' in 1982. They were published together in the 1987 book ''Liber Null & Psychonaut'', which is considered one of the defining works of the chaos magic movement. He has also written columns for the ''Chaos International'' magazine under the names Pete Carroll and ''Stokastikos''. Carroll elaborated a system heavily influenced by

Austin Osman Spare Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist and occultism, occultist who worked as both a draughtsman and a painter. Influenced by Symbolism (arts), symbolism and art nouveau his art was known for its clear use o ...

in his early writings, particularly ''Liber Null'' (1978). However, somewhat confusingly, Carroll uses the term '

Kia Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

' to refer to the consciousness of the individual: "the elusive 'I' which confers self-awareness". The more general universal force, of which Kia is an aspect, Carroll termed 'Chaos': In 1995, Carroll announced his desire to step down from the "roles of magus and pontiff of chaos". This statement was originally delivered at the same IOT international meeting which Carroll discussed in an article titled "The Ice War" in ''Chaos International''. In 2005, he appeared as a chaos magic instructor at Maybe Logic Academy at the request of

Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...

Holy Guardian Angel

Carroll split the concept of the

Holy Guardian Angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...

in two and speaks of two Holy Guardian Angels. According to his work ''Liber Null and Psychonaut'', one is the

Augoeides The body of light, sometimes called the 'astral body' or the 'subtle body,' is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, posited by a number of philosophers, and elaborated on according to ...

, a projected image of whatever the magician strives for; and the other is

quantum uncertainty In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle (also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) is any of a variety of mathematical inequalities asserting a fundamental limit to the accuracy with which the values for certain pairs of physic ...

, which ultimately determines the acts of the magician and is a spark of the only true creative force, the chaos of

Works

Books

* * * * * * *

Selected articles

;Chaos Magic * * An introduction to Chaos magick technique. * * ;Physics * * * * *

References

Notes

Citations

Works cited

* * * * *

External links

Carroll's websiteArcanorium College

Interviews

from ''Abrasax Magazine'', Vol.5, No.2.
Peter J. Carroll Interview
from ''Sinobu kurono'', Kaos Knight {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Peter 1953 births Living people 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English non-fiction writers 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English non-fiction writers Chaos magicians English male non-fiction writers English occult writers English physicists