Peter J. Carroll

For other people named Peter Carroll, see Peter Carroll.

Peter James Carroll (born 8 January 1953) is an English occultist, author, cofounder of the Illuminates of Thanateros, and promulgator of chaos magic theory.

Early life

Born in Patching, England, Carroll studied science at the University of London and claims to have graduated with a "precisely calculated minimum pass". After university, Carroll was employed as a school teacher, and spent four years in India and the Himalayas.

Career

Carroll's 1987 book Liber Null & Psychonaut is considered one of the defining works of the chaos magic movement. Carroll was a co-founder of the loosely organized group called the Illuminates of Thanateros.

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.

Carroll has written columns for the Chaos International magazine currently edited by Ian Read, under the names Peter Carroll and Stokastikos, his magical name within the IOT.

In 2005, he appeared as a chaos magic instructor at Maybe Logic Academy at the request of Robert Anton Wilson, and later founded Arcanorium Occult College with other known chaos magicians on staff including author Lionel Snell and Ian Read. This experience re-awoke his interest in the subject of magic and he has since continued writing.

Holy Guardian Angel

Carroll split the concept of the Holy Guardian Angel in two and speaks of two "Holy Guardian Angels". According to his work Liber Null and Psychonaut, one is the Augoeides, a projected image of whatever the magician strives for, and the other is quantum uncertainty, which ultimately determines the acts of the magician and is a spark of the only true creative force, the chaos of chaos magic.

Bibliography

• Liber Null (1978) and Psychonaut (1982) (published in one volume in 1987) ISBN 0-87728-639-6
• Liber Kaos (1992) ISBN 0-87728-742-2
• PsyberMagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magick (1995) ISBN 1-56184-092-0
• The Apophenion: A Chaos Magic Paradigm (2008) ISBN 1-869928-65-2
• The Octavo: A Sorcerer-Scientist's Grimoire (2010) ISBN 978-1-906958-17-6
• EPOCH: The Esotericon & Portals of Chaos (2014) ISBN 978-0992848828

References

Works cited

• Caroll, Peter J. (1987). Liber Null & Psychonaut. San Francisco: Weiser Books. ISBN 978-0877286394.

Further reading

• Clarke, Peter Bernard (2006). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Psychology Press. pp. 105ff. ISBN 978-0-415-26707-6.
• Drury, Neville (2011). Stealing Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Modern Western Magic. Oxford University Press. pp. 251ff. ISBN 978-0-19-975099-3.
• Morris, Brian (2006). Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 303ff. ISBN 978-0-521-85241-8.
• Penczak, Christopher (2007). The Temple of High Witchcraft: Ceremonies, Spheres and the Witches' Qabalah. Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-7387-1165-2.

External links

• Carroll's website
• Templum Nigri Solis - A Brief History
• Arcanorium College
• Maybe Logic Academy :: Peter Carroll Archived 17 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine

Interviews

• Peter J. Carroll Interview from Abrasax Magazine, Vol.5, No.2.
• Peter J. Carroll Interview from Sinobu kurono, Kaos Knight

Articles

• The Magic of Chaos by Peter J. Carroll
• Liber KKK - An introduction to Chaos magick technique. by Peter J. Carroll.
• The magician as Rebel Physicist by Pete Carroll