Knowledge from Chaos : A presentation of Chaos-Gnosticism and its branches

Abstract

Chaos-Gnosticism is a branch of the occult tree which through an eclectic approach tries togather all the dark, antagonistic aspects and forces from certain religions and mythologies ofthe world in order to reach back to the primeval Chaos, the stage that existed before theCreation. With a fundamental gnostic worldview the cosmos is seen as a prison, created byDemiurges, and in Chaos a total freedom rules.The philosophy (or Chaosophy to use a term used by the Chaosgnostics) has spread all over theworld during the past ten years or so. It is vital, in connection to this fact, to give the importanceto the music scene, especially the genre called black metal, for the spreading of theChaosgnostic ideas. Some of the leading bands in this genre, for instance Dissection, Watainand Arckanum, have adopted the Chaosgnostic tenets into their music and thus making theseideas more known all around the world than they otherwise would have been. That being said,it is not clear how many actual practioners of Chaos-Gnostcism there are since it is mainly anindividual religion and the handfull of orders that exist display no sorts of missionary ambitionsand are, additionaly, quite closed for outsiders.Although the first ideas of Chaos-Gnosticism emerged in Sweden in the middle of the 1990´s,an in-depth academic survey has not yet been made on the movement itself. This essay aims tochange that by putting Chaos-Gnosticism in its correct historical and occult context and also byshedding some light on the fundamental tenets and beliefsystem aswell as the importance ofnumerology and central symbols. The essay also presents the three different Chaosgnosticbranches that has emerged to date: Temple of the Black Light, with its Qabbalistic approach,Templum Falcis Cruentis, inspired by folktraditions of Central America and the biblical figureof Cain and finally Thursatrú in which the Chaosgnostic worldview is adopted on Old Norsemythology