Peter J Carroll
Interview by Ian Blumberg-Enge
ISBN 978-1-914153-15-0 cased
ISBN 978-1-914153-14-3 soft
approx. 312pp
365 key questions
plus Cosmic Appendix The Occultaris
Click the edition you want:
Peter J Carroll developed the Theories and Practices of Chaos Magic which caused a revolution in magical and esoteric thinking in the last few decades of the twentieth century, and they continue to heavily influence it in the twenty-first century.
As the first in a new tradition of Sorcerer-Scientists, Carroll developed a paradigm in which Magic lies far closer to Science than to Religion. He formed a worldwide magical order to promote and develop new insights into magic and then largely disappeared from public view to procreate and build a business empire and continue scientific and metaphysical research in private.
This book of interviews reveals the extraordinary life and adventures and thoughts of one of the world’s most exceptional antinomian thinkers. It contains much that may intrigue, surprise, amaze, and outrage the reader on a very wide range of topics.
The appendix contains Carroll’s Hypersphere Cosmology thesis which presents a radical alternative to the big-bang theory, and which has, so far, resisted all attempts to falsify it.
Peter J. Carroll is one of the founders of the Magical Pact of the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT) which he led for a decade. He has spent thirty-five years in research and experiment and is the author of three other books:
Liber Null & Psychonaut, Liber Kaos: the Psychonomicon, and Psybermagic.
Cover by gazinkart.com
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Review – of Interview with a Wizard – on Amazon by Jozef.
This book is a true gem that brings a touch of the authentically Chaoist perception of the reality. Not only in content, but also in form. Magic, physics, politics, psychology, history, technology, cosmology, and lots of humour. The questions are thematically mixed in different ways, they don’t create huge monothematic blocks, which was a great idea and adds a chaos magical flavour.
However, this is not random rambling. The whole reveals a philosophically holistic Pete’s view on reality, which does not derive primarily from theories, but from experience and decades of bare Chaos Magic practice. This perspective is unique and cannot be precisely labelled; it is the result of a fruitful life dedicated to magic.
The emphasis here is on fruitful. I can say with a clear conscience that Chaos Magic, as presented here, is one of the few magical currents, if not the only one, that in its application and true function expands, enriches, and vitalizes life, not the other way around. Along with this, and importantly, it is consistent with our current empirically based knowledge in, for example, psychology (Steven C. Hayes), statistics and probability (Nassim Taleb), and others.
The occasional criticism of Chaos Magic that I hear is that it has no roots and is just a confused postmodern creation. My argument is exactly the opposite, that Chaos Magic is currently one of the few, if not the only, authentic continuation of the magical tradition. This book is a proof of that. The magical tradition has never been based on a blind adoption of something from the past, nor has it been based on religious dogma. It has always been eclectic, creative, and sought to integrate up-to-date knowledge from other disciplines. This is convincingly demonstrated in Stephen Flowers’ book Hermetic Magic or in the Ronald Hutton books.
Last but not least, Interview is also a highly practical book. There are gems in the answers regarding magical practice that I didn’t find in Pete’s other books. This is probably due to the way Ian Blumberg-Enge asked the questions, as he doesn’t appear to be a long-time practitioner of Chaos Magic, but he has an incisive, inquisitive mind and is able to capture the essence well. In doing so, he extracted particularly interesting details from Pete. This makes the book suitable for complete beginners who want to learn what Chaoism and Chaos Magic are all about, as well as for experienced practitioners who are inspired to augment their own practice.
Pete can be proud of his legacy and the significant mark he has left on the Western magical tradition. He seems to have single-handedly reshaped it – forever and definitely.