Illuminates of Thanateros | North America

The Pact does not perpetuate a body of ritual practices and mythical lore so much as we generate novel expressions of magic tailored to our diverse and evolving selves and circumstances. Eschewing cosmological, ontological, and ideological certainty in favor of philosophies and technologies that reflect contemporary and often idiosyncratic knowledge of our dynamic physical, psychical, spiritual, and cultural landscapes, the Pact adapts to the world of today and prepares for the world of tomorrow even as we endeavor to shape those worlds, and ourselves, into forms beautiful or terrible as we have need. We observe the playfulness of ritual but also demand earnestness in performance, and seek mastery of craft.

Magic is always about change, for when a shaman shapeshifts, a witch enchants, or an alchemist transmutes, it is with intention to transform something toward a desired state. What separates the magician from others is their weird ability to transform things beyond ordinary limits. What distinguishes the Pact is that we transform the state of the art of magic itself.

This is what we call chaos magic: chaos (χάος) versus cosmos (κόσμος); magic that embraces and emphasizes flux, drift, randomness, deviation, mutation, metamorphosis, transmogrification, and transgression. Thanatos (θᾰ́νᾰτος) and Eros (ἔρως), who represent many related dualities (destruction/generation, repulsion/attraction, egress/ingress, emptiness/form, etc.), are celebrated as both agents and the boundary conditions of change: every transformation generates something new and destroys something old, in an endless process of becoming.

Those who would dare to encounter the profound unknown and pursue radical innovation, adaptation, and transformation of both magic and magician, may apply to join the Pact using our online, secure form.