I am not a expert at Chaos Magic. Hell, let's face it, I downright suck at it. As a skeptic I barely believe that it exists. I personally feel that it is just a way of putting yourself in a trance like state that changes your subjective view of your surroundings. It is just an occult tradition that has no traditions. It is DIY and MYOB religion. It is the refusal to listen to anyone else when it come to what works for you.
And it almost never works for me. I'm entirely too antsy for meditation. I can't sit still for more than a couple of minutes before my skin starts to crawl and my muscles rebel against me. Pagan rituals don't seem to work for me either. I just can't turn off the disbelief center in my brain. I also couldn't do it back when I was a Christian. I'd often hear people after a service talking about how "the Holy Spirit sure moved here today" and be completely dumbstruck by the concept. It was just so foreign to me. Props or pageantry don't seem to help either.
Having said that, there are a couple of things that do actually put me in the ultra-fine religious state of gnosis. I'll just cover the first one in this post and talk about the others later on.
One thing that seems to work about 75% of the time for me is a simple music relaxation technique. As I've said before I am a very auditory learner and music can have a very strong effect on my psyche. First, I isolate myself in a distraction free room, which isn't easy when you are married and have a 2 year old. The only equipment I need is an MP3 player and a good pair of headphones. I'm not an obsessive audiophile but good headphones are a must for this. I like hearing every single note clearly and it helps to block out any background sounds around you. I then lie as still as possible while listening to an album with an ethereal feel to it. The old standbys like "The Dark Side of the Moon" almost always work. I get chills every single time I get to "Us and Them". I've also used Radiohead's "Ok Computer" and Broken Social Scene's "Feel Good Lost"with good results.
As with any Chaos Magic this technique doesn't work for everyone and doesn't work every single time. This particular technique can get me into a shallow trance-like state and positively affect my mood. However it doesn't seem to be good for much else. I'll get to the more powerful stuff next time around.
Chaos Magic and the Dark Side of the Moon
Posted by : Rev. Ouabache | Sunday, April 5, 2009 | Published in discordianism, irreligion, law of fives, religion
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Keep at it.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Thank you for this post...I have some of the same issues with meditation, but they have begun to disappear with time.
Still difficult sometimes.
However, when I am having issues - I usually just pop on a slow sonata or the like on headphones and tune out, as you suggest. However, I've found that music with lush, repetitive beats and no lyrics works better for me in some situations. Having words usually draws attention from my rational-thinking side. The best experiences I've had are with the artists Wisp (specifically Honor Beats and In a Blue Face) and Skytree (anything by him will do).
And thank you for the suggestions, Dr. Fenderson. I'll give them a try.
I'm all over the map when it comes to lyrics. Having no vocals makes it a lot easier to focus but sometimes the voice is just there as another musical element and sometimes the lyrics help me concentrate on a particular idea. It's one of those things that I need to try to play around with more.