Birth of the Goddess Apophenia

The Apophenion: A Chaos Magick Paradigm by Peter J. Carroll
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Apophenia is the seeing of connection between event that others fail to see. In this small but intense book Peter J.Carrol one of Chaos Magick's supreme mages gives forth to the reader a philosophy that is much different then that offered by any other other magical system. It is totally non theistic in it's own way, challenges assumptions and throws in a whole bunch of science. Chaos philosophy views magic as a technique and regards religion as important only so far as it helps the practitioner reach their goal.

Pan psychism is the author's philosophy. It is a philosophy which tackle first the concept of identity. Things like stones, physical matter and ourselves are not this mass of inert matter. Rather we are doing constantly. In a state of action. The atoms and molecule that comprise the stone or human are in constant motion. So are we. To stop doing means to stop being. There is no state of being on a state of doing. Everything also has a mind and consciousness of sorts. Whether it be tea cups, rocks trees or human beings. The mind or consciousness is tied solely to the body and cannot exist independently of the body. Free will or the illusion of the ability to choose is nothing more than a combination of predetermined factors and randomness. Identity is another factor that needs to be examined. Exactly who are we? Our some total of personality is comprised of influences derived from other personalities that we see in the news, media, parents and friends. All are equally real in our subconscious mind. In effect there is not one self but many selves housed within the physical carcass of our body. To get through life the different selves have to compromise with each other.

Chaos magick has a very do it yourself philosophy and that include making a do it your self religion. This making of a new religion is called neo pantheism. Neo-Pantheism has eight component parts of it's philospophy. 1) Nothing is true and everything is permitted. 2) Belief and intent create reality. 3)Alchemy 4)Female perspective 5) Psy or sky faeries 6) synchronicity and meaning . 7) personal mythos and narratives and 8) Cosmic holism and transcendence.

The author believes deeply in deeply in Quantum theory. In Quantum theory an object can be in more than one place at the same time. Things are made up of particles and waves and while it is not possible to catch a wave it is possible to catch a particle. Time is three dimensional which means that it does not go just forward and backward but that it can move sideways as well. This ultimately that means that while there is one present there can be a numerous possibilities of the past and numerous various of the future. One can change the future by changing the past but only so long as it does not alter the present. Get your mind around that if you can. The author posits that the universe is four dimensional which is why it is able to hold itself together.

The author give the reader his theory on the universe which is based upon physicist theories. The universe is in the shape of a hypersphere which at it's furthest point is antipodal. All points of the universe touch the antipodal point at one time. This movement could be compared to the kneading of dough. The universe is 11 billion years in diameter.

The author does believe that there is life on other planets and that there are superior life forms. The thing is would they care one wit about life on Earth? The author tends to think not. We are too insignificant. If we made progress and evolved instead if destroying ourselves the author thinks that maybe they would be interested.

The Goddess Apophenia was born May 26,2005. She was birthed along with her twin. To find out about her twin you will just have to read the book. The book comes complete with a ritual devoted to Apophenia and the required tools. Enjoy your journey into the profound yet practical world of Chaos Magic.

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