Review: An Introduction to Chaos Magick, by Adrian Savage

An Introduction to Chaos Magick, by Adrian Savage
Magickal Childe, Inc., 0939708132, 50 pp., 1998

Not really a lot going on in this tiny tome; mostly containing information that can be easily found elsewhere. What little this introduction might offer is either heavily biased, or at worst complete falsehood.

Savage demonstrates a limited view of Satanism – indeed, a fundamental misunderstanding of Modern Satanism and shows absolutely no respect for this highly fascinating religion which he goes at lengths to demonize. While Savage manages to grasp the basic concepts found in Wicca, its actual history seems to elude him. It’s littered with common historical fabrications. His poor attempt at comparison between these religions and ceremonial magick further exemplifies his basic lack of awareness about the scene he is trying to describe.

This slim volume, with its enormous font and overly-generous margins, is really little more than a poorly written essay, riddled with typos and misinformation. It isn’t worth the money. The only fathomable reason it was even allowed to be published is likely due to the limited amount of literature available on chaos magick in the 80s as it was growing as a hot topic.

The entire ‘book’ is available on the Chaos Matrix, exact location here: http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/chaos/texts/intchaos.html

Psyche serves as the editor for SpiralNature.com and Plutonica.net. She also operates a tarot consultation business, Psyche Tarot. She has been published in The Cauldron, Konton, Tarot World Magazine, among other magazines, and her essay “Strategic Magick” appeared in Manifesting Prosperity (Megalithica, 2008).