Illuminates of Thanateros - Relation To The Occult Subculture

Relation To The Occult Subculture

Chaos magicians have frequently reacted to more traditional, religious or occult approaches to magic with scorn or derision. This applies in particular to the IOT, which 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 view that occultism is rife with superstitions and needs to be reformed or replaced by a bolder and more critical approach to magic has been prominent in programmatic texts from early on. Still the IOT is commonly understood by outsiders to be an occult or neoshamanic organization.

The group has a comparatively difficult application procedure and appears to reject a great majority of applicants. However, chaos magic has long spread beyond the IOT as evidenced by the large community of practitioners throughout the world. IOT members such as Ramsey Dukes, Dave Lee, Julian Vayne and many others continue to produce a large part of the literature available as regards chaos magic. Other sources of chaos magic literature include Kenneth Grant and Jaq D. Hawkins.

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 chaoism allows for much more effective group work, especially on an international scale.

While little activity of the IOT is visible to the outside public, the order has held annual open seminars for nearly two decades. Many notable chaos magicians have been speakers there.