Enchantment, in the context of Chaos Magick, is the pragmatic and intentional act of casting a spell to influence reality. The fundamental language of this practice is symbolism. It operates on the principle that specific images, glyphs, and complex systems act as a direct, non-verbal interface with the subconscious mind and the fabric of reality itself. A magician uses symbols as concentrations of meaning and intent to project their will and create tangible change in the macrocosm (external reality).
The Function of Symbols in Enchantment
A magickal symbol is a complex psycho-energetic circuit, a glyph that bypasses the rational, doubting mind (the psychic censor) to communicate a command directly to the subconscious. Your conscious mind thinks in discursive language, but your deep mind—the part that controls your body and shapes your perceptions—thinks in a language of images, emotions, and patterns. Symbols are the native tongue of that deeper consciousness. When you use a symbol in a spell, you are inputting a command in the correct programming language, one that the operating system of your reality understands implicitly. This is the engine that drives all effective enchantment.
Primal Symbolism: Geometry and Animism
Before complex systems, there were the primal symbols. Simple geometrical shapes, for example, have near-universal meaning ingrained in the human psyche; a circle is used for protection and wholeness, an upward triangle for aspiration and fire, a square for stability and earth. The earliest forms of magick, such as animism and shamanism, are built on this foundation. In totemism, an animal becomes a living symbol of a desired quality—a magician might carry a bear claw (or its symbol) to enchant themselves with strength and courage. For an animist, a specific river is not just water; it is a symbol and source of the power of flow and change, and can be called upon in spells.
Established Symbolic Systems
Established symbolic systems offer the magician access to egregores—vast reservoirs of belief and energy built up over centuries. To use a traditional symbol is to plug your spell into a pre-existing and powerful grid.
| System | Example Symbol | Use in Enchantment |
|---|---|---|
| Enochian Magick | The Seal of an Angel | Contacting a specific angelic intelligence to carry out a high-level task related to that Angel’s domain. |
| Ancient Egypt | The Djed Pillar | Used as the central focus in a spell for stability, endurance, or asserting divine authority in a situation. |
| Godai (Elements) | Japanese kanji “Chi” (地) | Invoking the qualities of Earth (grounding, stability, prosperity) to manifest a material result. |
| Jungian Archetypes | The Sage Archetype | Actively invoking the Sage archetype within oneself before an exam or complex intellectual task. |
| Tarot | The Empress Card | Placing the card on an altar in a fertility or creativity spell to act as a symbolic engine for manifestation. |
| Runes | A Bind-Rune of Gebo & Wunjo | Creating and charging a composite symbol to enchant a relationship with the energies of partnership (Gebo) and joy (Wunjo). |
Psychological Models and Sensory Modalities
From a modern perspective, the choice of symbol can be optimized by understanding your own cognitive processes, a concept explored in models like NLP. The VAK model from NLP (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic) is a useful tool here. A magician can determine their dominant sensory modality and tailor their symbolic enchantment for maximum impact:
- Visual: A primarily visual person will find enchantment through sigils, scrying, and complex imagery most effective.
- Auditory: An auditory magician will excel with methods involving chants, mantras, and incantations.
- Kinesthetic: A kinesthetic practitioner will get the best results by charging a physical object they can hold, using magickal postures, or through ritual dance.
Creation and Discovery of Personal Symbols
The apex of Chaos Magick symbolism lies in moving beyond established systems to forge and discover your own intensely personal glyphs.
- Creation: The modern father of this practice was the artist Austin Osman Spare, who pioneered the classic sigilization method and the technique of automatic drawing. In automatic drawing, the magician enters a trance and allows their hand to move freely, creating forms that can be scryed into to find symbols emerging directly from the subconscious.
- Discovery: A magician can also use divination and introspection to discover powerful symbols that already reside within their psyche. In deep meditation, images can spontaneously arise that, if recorded, reveal a personal lexicon of power symbols. Similarly, one might perform a Tarot reading asking, “Show me a symbol of my inner strength”, and then adopt the resulting card as a personal power symbol for future enchantment.
Using Sortilege for Enchantment
While the tools of sortilege like Tarot and runes are primarily known for divination, they are exceptionally versatile instruments for active enchantment. The secret is to shift your mindset from asking a question to making a statement. You do not lay out cards to see what will happen; you lay out the cards representing the reality you command to happen. You select the cards that symbolize your victory, your success, or your healed relationship—you build your desired outcome on the altar, and then you charge that tableau with your will. This transforms the tool from a receptive map into a proactive engine of change.
Building a Personal Symbolic Language
The goal for a Chaote is not to exclusively master one system, but to become fluent in the language of symbolism itself. The most effective practice involves the synthesis of multiple approaches to build a rich, personal, and eclectic symbolic vocabulary. A magician might use the structure of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life as a “filing system”, but place a personally significant Rune at the sphere of Geburah, and use a Tarot card to represent the path leading to it. For a specific ritual, they might invoke a Jungian archetype like The Shadow, and then use a personally created sigil to represent the intended integration of that shadow aspect.
This is not confusion; it is mastery. It is an understanding that the symbols are not the source of power; they are the keys that unlock it. The power itself resides in the magician’s belief and will, and the most effective keys are always the ones that fit the unique locks of your own mind.