Illuminates of Thanateros
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The Illuminates of Thanateros are an occult society that pursues chaos magic.
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History
In the late 1970s, two young British occultists with a strong interest in ceremonial magic, Ray Sherwin and Peter Carroll, began to publish a magazine called The New Equinox. Both were connected with a burgeoning occult scene developing around a metaphysical bookstore in London's East End called The Phoenix. According to themselves, both men became quickly dissatisfied with the state of the Magical Arts and the deficiencies they saw in the available occult groups. So in 1978 they published a small announcement in their magazine proclaiming the creation of a new kind of magical order, one based on a hierarchy of ability rather than invitation, a magical meritocracy. It was to incorporate elements of Thelema, Zos Kia Cultus, shamanism, tantra and Taoism. They called their creation the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT), enshrining the dualism of the gods of Death (Thanatos) and Sex (Eros).
Carroll and Sherwin began to publish private monographs detailing their system of magical practice, some of which had been articles in The New Equinox, others being intended as instruction to members of their order. The new style of magic they introduced, which focused on practical skills as opposed to metaphysical systems, became known as chaos magic. In the 1980s they began to attract a following in England, Germany and Austria, including some influential occult writers and practitioners. But before the decade was out, Sherwin would resign in protest that the IOT was beginning to resemble the hierarchical orders that were once anathema to the concept of the group.
Carroll carried on, and subsequently published the IOT's instructional documents in a book titled Liber Null & Psychonaut, and the IOT became known to occultists around the world. Carroll would later refine the direction of the IOT as a "real" magical order and manifest it as The Pact of the IOT, or simply The Pact.
In the early 1990s this chaos magic order suffered from what was called the Ice Magick Wars, and several schisms among the leadership broke the group into factions such as the Reformed IOT (RIOT) in Germany and The AutonomatriX in California. Shortly after, Carroll published Liber Kaos, disassociated himself from the group and retired from active participation. He explicitly stated this was not a consequence of disagreement with the state of the Pact but a matter of his personal development.
Structure
The Pact organizes itself along the somewhat "traditional" lines of a fraternal occult order, with initiations into progressive degrees denoting magickal skill and leadership within the group. It is notable that unlike other occult societies with a degree system, the Pact rewards progression in degree with hardly any privileges, but "punishes" it with added duties and responsibilities.
Degrees:
- 4° Neophyte
- 3° Initiate
- 2° Adept
- 1° Magus
There also are several offices, most notably including the Insubordinate, a low-ranking member who is to criticize, give feedback on, be informed about, and where necessary veto the work of a high-ranking member s/he is assigned to. Every Adept, Magus, and Magister Templi (leader of a local group) has such an Insubordinate. There also is a special degree "0°=5°", a degree for 2° and 1° members who retire from their duties, described as identical to the 3°.
There are no membership or initiation fees. This is a difference from all magical orders of comparable influence.
The Pact consists mostly of small, semi-autonomous Temples arranged into geographical Sections, i.e. United Kingdom, USA, Germany, Japan, Brazil etc.
Members are obliged to keep silent on internal affairs and the identities of their fellows. The latter rule does not seem to apply to deceased persons, as it is not a secret William S. Burroughs and Timothy Leary have been members.
Relation to the occult subculture
The Pact still exists as of 2004, as does the AutonomatriX, but not RIOT and other splinter factions. In the past decade, the Pact of the IOT has acquired a less outspoken leadership. It also replaced the former charta "Liber Pactionis" with "The Book", which gives a more realistic picture of the Pact than its predecessor.
Unlike such groups as the OTO or various offshoots of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, The Pact is an informal confederation of like-minded practitioners, rather than a legal entity or non-profit corporation. It has been described by Phil Hine as "the Order for 'serious' Chaos Magicians in the same way that the OTO exists for 'serious' Thelemites."
The presence of hierarchy in the IOT has been the cause of a lot of dispute around it in the chaos magic scene. Opposers think the concept is un-chaotic and limiting to individual members, while defenders believe the tradeoff in chaoticism allows for much more effective group work, especially on an international scale.
The Pact claims to be be involved in continuous "magical research" but appears hesitant to let others participate in the process. The group has a comparatively difficult application procedure and appears to reject a great majority of applicants. IOT members such as the aforementioned, Ramsey Dukes, Dave Lee, Joshua Wetzel, Julian Vayne and others continue to produce a large part of the literature available on chaos magic.
External links
- IOT America (http://iota.goetia.net)
- IOT Austria (http://www.chaosmagick.org/iot-austria) in German
- IOT Brazil (http://www.iot.org.br) in Portugese
- IOT Germany (http://www.iot-d.de) in German
- IOT Japan (http://www.chaosmagic.com)
- IOT Switzerland (http://www.iot-schweiz.ch) in German
- IOT UK (http://www.illuminates.org/iot-uk)de:Illuminaten_von_Thanateros