Editing Peter J. Carroll

{{Short description|British occultist}}
{{For|other people named Peter Carroll|Peter Carroll (disambiguation){{!}}Peter Carroll}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Peter J. Carroll
| birth_date         = {{Birth year and age|1953}}
| birth_place        = [[Southern England]], UK{{sfnp|Clarke|2006}}
| occupation         = Magician
| years_active       = 1970s–present
| website            = {{URL|https://www.specularium.org/}}
}}
'''Peter James Carroll''' (born 1953{{sfnp|Clarke|2006}}) is an English [[occult]]ist and writer.{{sfnp|Clarke|2006}} He is one of the originators of [[chaos magic]] theory, a cofounder of the [[Illuminates of Thanateros]],{{sfnp|Clarke|2006}} and the founder and chancellor of Arcanorium College.{{sfnp|Dukes|2011}}

==Career==
In the late 1970s, Peter Carroll and Ray Sherwin, two young [[United Kingdom|British]] occultists interested in [[ritual magic]], began to publish a magazine called ''[[The New Equinox]]''. Both men were connected with a burgeoning occult scene developing around The Phoenix, a metaphysical bookshop in [[London]]'s [[East End of London|East End]]. 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 [[Illuminates of Thanateros]] (IOT),{{sfnp|Davis|2008}} which has been described as "an unprecedented attempt of institutionalising one of the most individualising currents in the history of 'Western learned magic'".{{sfnp|Otto|2020|p=762}}

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.{{sfnp|Gallagher|Ashcraft|2006|p=102}} He has also written columns for the ''Chaos International'' magazine under the names Pete Carroll{{sfnp|Carroll|1996b}} and ''Stokastikos''.{{sfnp|Stokastikos|n.d.}}

Carroll elaborated a system heavily influenced by [[Austin Osman Spare]] in his early writings, particularly ''Liber Null'' (1978).{{sfnp|Carroll|1987}} However, somewhat confusingly, Carroll uses the term '[[Kia (magic)|Kia]]' to refer to the consciousness of the individual: "the elusive 'I' which confers self-awareness".{{sfnp|Carroll|1987}} The more general universal force, of which Kia is an aspect, Carroll termed 'Chaos': "The unity which appears to the mind to exert the twin functions of will and perception is called ''Kia'' by magicians. Sometimes it is called the spirit, or soul, or life force, instead... Kia is capable of occult power because it is a fragment of the great life force of the universe... The "thing" responsible for the origin and continued action of events is called ''Chaos'' by magicians... Chaos... is the force which has caused life to evolve itself out of dust, and is currently most concentratedly manifest in the human life force, or Kia, where it is the source of consciousness... To the extent that the Kia can become one with Chaos it can extend its will and perception into the universe to accomplish magic."{{sfnp|Carroll|1987}}{{Third-party inline|date=July 2024|reason=third-party sources needed for [[WP:DUEWEIGHT]] and for original analysis such as the phrase "somewhat confusingly"}}

In 1995, Carroll announced his desire to step down from the "roles of magus and pontiff of chaos".{{sfnp|Carroll|1996|loc=ch. 59}} This statement was originally delivered at the same IOT international meeting which Carroll discussed in an article titled "The Ice War" in ''Chaos International''.{{sfnp|Stokastikos|n.d.}}

In 2005, he appeared as a chaos magic instructor at Maybe Logic Academy at the request of [[Robert Anton Wilson]].{{sfnp|Carroll|2005}}

==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;{{sfnp|Carroll|1987|pp=49-51}} the other is [[Uncertainty principle|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]].{{sfnp|Carroll|1987|pp=49-51}}

==Books==
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=1987 |title=Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=0-87728-639-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/peter-j.-carroll-liber-null-psychonaut |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=1992 |title=Liber Kaos |publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser |isbn=0-87728-742-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/peter-j.-carroll-liber-kaos |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=1996 |title=Psybermagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magick |publisher=New Falcon Publications |isbn=1-56184-092-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/psybermagickadva0000carr |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=2008 |title=The Apophenion: A Chaos Magic Paradigm |publisher=[[Mandrake of Oxford]] |isbn=978-1-869928-65-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/peter-j.-carroll-the-apophenion |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=2010 |title=The Octavo: A Sorcerer-Scientist's Grimoire |publisher=Mandrake of Oxford |isbn=978-1-906958-17-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=2014 |title=Epoch: The Esotericon & Portals of Chaos |publisher=Arcanorium College |isbn=978-0992848828 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=2022 |title=Interview with a Wizard |interviewer=Ian Blumberg-Enge |publisher=Mandrake of Oxford |isbn=978-1914153143 |ref=none}}

==See also==
*{{annotated link|The New Equinox|''The New Equinox''}}

== References ==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist|2}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=1987 |title=Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=0-87728-639-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/peter-j.-carroll-liber-null-psychonaut |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |year=1996 |title=Psybermagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magick |publisher=New Falcon Publications |isbn=1-56184-092-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/psybermagickadva0000carr |url-access=registration}}
*{{cite magazine |first=Pete |last=Carroll |date=1996b |title=The magician as Rebel Physicist |magazine=Chaos International |number=21 |via=PhilHine.org |url=http://www.philhine.org.uk/writings/ess_rebelphy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020133931/http://www.philhine.org.uk/writings/ess_rebelphy.html |archive-date=2009-10-20 |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite web |first=Peter |last=Carroll |date=2005 |title=Chaos Magick Authority: A brief Autohagiography |website=Maybe Logic Academy |url=http://www.maybelogic.org/peter2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061217061612/http://www.maybelogic.org/peter2.htm |archive-date=17 December 2006 |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Peter Bernard |chapter=Chaos Magic |title=Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-26707-6 |pages=105ff}}
*{{cite magazine |first=Avi |last=Davis |date=2 October 2008 |title=A Chaos Magician |magazine=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |volume=15 |number=10 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/chaos-magician-132-v15n10/ |access-date=2022-06-27}}
*{{cite book |last=Dukes |first=Ramsey |year=2011 |title=How to See Fairies: Discover Your Psychic Powers in Six Weeks |publisher=Aeon Books |isbn=978-1781812907}}
*{{cite book |title=Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America: African diaspora traditions and other American innovations |first1=Eugene V. |last1=Gallagher |first2=W. Michael |last2=Ashcraft |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |year=2006 |isbn=0-275-98717-5}}
*{{cite book |last1=Otto |first1=Bernd-Christian |year=2020 |chapter=The Illuminates of Thanateros and the institutionalisation of religious individualisation |title= Religious Individualisation |pages=759–796 |doi=10.1515/9783110580853-038 |isbn=9783110580853 |s2cid=213653031 }}
*{{cite magazine |author=Stokastikos |date=n.d. |title=The Ice War |magazine=Chaos International |number=23 |via=PhilHine.org |url=http://philhine.org.uk/writings/ess_icewar.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226005736/http://philhine.org.uk/writings/ess_icewar.html |archive-date=26 December 2017 |url-status=dead}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
<!-- these should be used to replace primary sources where possible -->
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last=Drury |first=Nevill |author-link=Nevill Drury |title=Stealing Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Modern Western Magic |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-975099-3 |pages=251ff}}
*{{cite book |chapter=Perennialism and Iconoclasm: Chaos Magick and the Legitimacy of Innovation |last=Duggan |first=Colin |editor=Asprem, Egil |editor2=Granholm, Kennet |title=Contemporary Esotericism |publisher=Taylor & Francis Group |year=2014 }}
*{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Dave |year=2007 |title=The History of British Magic After Crowley: Kenneth Grant, Amado Crowley, Chaos Magic, Satanism, Lovecraft, The Left Hand Path, Blasphemy and Magical Morality |publisher=Hidden Publishing |isbn=978-0955523700}}
*{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Brian |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8 |pages=303ff}}
*{{cite book |last=Urban |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Urban |year=2006 |title=Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520932883}}
*{{cite book |last=Versluis |first=Arthur |year=2007 |title=Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esoteric Traditions |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-0742558366 |pages=141ff}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{official website|http://www.specularium.org/}}
*[http://www.between-spaces.com/history.html Templum Nigri Solis - A Brief History]
*[https://www.specularium.org/arcanoriumcollege Arcanorium College]

===Interviews===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100206021432/http://www.philhine.org.uk/writings/ess_petecint.html Peter J. Carroll Interview] from ''Abrasax Magazine'', Vol.5, No.2.
*[https://www.facebook.com/notes/kaos-knight/interview-manuscript-1-from-sinobu-kurono/1449359078529028/ Peter J. Carroll Interview] from ''Sinobu kurono'', Kaos Knight

{{Chaos magic series}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Chaos magicians]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English occult writers]]
[[Category:English physicists]]