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{{Short description|International magical organization}}

The '''Illuminates of Thanateros''' are a [[dualism|dualistic]] magical order that enshrines the gods of death ([[Thanatos]]) and sex ([[Eros (god)|Eros]]).

{{Primary sources|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Illuminates of Thanateros

| image = ChaosStar.svg

| image_border =

| size =

| caption = The [[Symbol of Chaos|Sigil of Chaos]] the symbol of the Illuminates of Thanateros

| abbreviation = IOT

| motto =

| formation = 1978

| key_people = [[Peter J. Carroll]]

<br />Ray Sherwin

| purpose = [[Chaos magic]] society

| region_served = Worldwide

| website = {{URL|https://iotbritishisles.com/}}<br />{{URL|https://iot-na.thanateros.org/}}

| remarks =

}}

{{chaos magic}}

The '''Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT)''' ({{IPAc-en|ᵻ|'|lj|u:|m|ᵻ|,|n|ᵻ|t|s|_|Q|v|_|,|T|æ|n|@|'|t|Er|oU|s}}) is an international [[magical organization]] that focuses on practical group work in [[chaos magic]]. The idea was first announced in 1978, while the order proper was formed in 1987. This [[fraternity|fraternal]] magical society has been an important influence on some forms of modern [[occultism]]. It has been described as "an unprecedented attempt of institutionalising one of the most individualising currents in the history of ‘Western learned magic’."{{sfn|Otto|2020|p=762}}

The IOT has been described as "the Order for 'serious' Chaos Magicians in the same way that the [[Ordo Templi Orientis|OTO]] exists for 'serious' Thelemites."{{sfn|Hine|1995|p={{pn|date=January 2023}}}} The IOT is considered to be an occult{{sfn|Greer|2003|page=303}} or neoshamanic{{sfn|Versluis|2006|p=102}} organization.

In the late 1970s, two young British occultists, [[Ray Sherwin]] and [[Peter Carroll]], with a strong interest in ceremonial magic, began to publish a magazine called ''The New Equinox''. Both were connected with a burgeoning occult scene developing around a metaphysical bookstore in [[London]]'s [[East End]] called The Phoenix. The story goes that both men became quickly dissatisfied with the state of the Magical Arts and the deficiencies they saw in the available occult groups. So in 1978 they published a small announcement in their magazine proclaiming the creation of a new kind of magical order, one based on a hierarchy of ability rather than invitation, a magical meritocracy. It was to incorporate elements of Thelema, Zos Kia Cultus, shamanism, tantra and Taoism. They called their creation the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT), enshrining the dualism of the gods of Death (Thanatos) and Sex (Eros).

==Name==

Carroll and Sherwin began to publish private monographs detailing their system of magical practice, some which had been articles in ''The New Equinox'', others which were intended as instruction to members of their order. In the 1980s they began to attract a following in England and Germany, including some influential occult writers and practitioners. But before the decade was out, Sherwin would resign in protest that the IOT was beginning to resemble the hierarchical orders that were once anathema to the concept of the group.

The formal name of the group is ''The Magical Pact of the Illuminates of Thanateros''.{{sfn|Greer|2003|p=240}} The name "Thanateros" is a combination of the names "[[Thanatos]]" and "[[Eros]]", the [[Greek mythology|Greek gods]] of death and sex, respectively. The idea is that sex and death represent the positive and negative methods of attaining "magical consciousness". The word "Illuminates" refers to the claimed tradition of calling societies where those who have mastered the secrets of magic help bring others to mastership "the [[Illuminati]]".

==History==

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

===Early===

In 1976, Ray Sherwin and [[Peter J. Carroll|Peter Carroll]], two young [[United Kingdom|British]] occultists interested in [[ritual magic]], began to publish a magazine called ''[[The New Equinox]]''. Both were connected with a burgeoning occult scene developing around The Phoenix, a metaphysical bookshop in [[London]]'s [[East End of London|East End]]. Dissatisfied with the state of the magical arts and the deficiencies they saw in the available occult groups, they announced the creation of the Illuminates of Thanateros in a 1978 issue of their magazine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Chaos Magician - VICE |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/chaos-magician-132-v15n10/ |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=Vice.com|date=2 October 2008 }}</ref> They described it as a new kind of magical order and a [[meritocracy]] with strict admission criteria, where membership was based on demonstrable magical ability, rather than on invitation by members. They described the IOT as a "spiritual heir" to the [[Zos Kia Cultus]] and a "fusion of [[Thelema|Thelemic]] Magick, [[Tantra]], The Sorceries of Zos and [[Tao]]".<ref>''[[The New Equinox]]'', 1978{{incomplete citation|date=January 2023}}</ref> Subsequently, the group has sought to legitimize itself less through tradition and more through results-based experimentation.{{sfn|Duggan|2014}}

[[File:Iot ritual.jpeg|left|upright|thumb|IOT ritual; an anonymous costumed adept presenting an invocation of the deity Azathoth]]

The group's formation was heavily affected by [[Anarchy|anarchic]] and [[Counterculture|countercultural]] ideas and in their descriptions of the practice of [[chaos magic]], "chaos is depicted not simply as a cosmic force, but as a call to action and destabilization against the establishment and against reality itself."{{sfn|Meletiadis|2023}} In contrast to established [[Neopaganism|neopagan]], [[Occultism|occultist]] or [[Esoteric Christianity|esoteric Christian]] magical organizations, it took its [[Experimentalism|experimentalist]] approach and many of its concepts from science, especially [[chaos theory]], as many of its early members were scientists.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Dave |date=2007 |title=The History of British Magick After Crowley |publisher=Hidden Publishing |isbn=978-0-9555237-0-0}}</ref>

Carroll carried on, and subsequently published the IOT's instructional documents in a book titled ''Liber Null & Psychonaut'', followed by ''Liber Kaos'', and the IOT became known to occultists around the world. Carroll would later, following ideas of [[Ralph Tegtmeier]], refine the direction of the IOT as a "real" magical order and manifest it as The Pact of the IOT, or simply The Pact. The Pact organizes itself along the somewhat "traditional" lines of a fraternal occult order, with initiations into progressive degrees denoting magickal skill and leadership within the group. It consists mostly of small, semi-autonomous Temples arranged into geographical Sections, i.e. UK, USA, Germany, Japan, Brazil etc. Unlike such groups as the O.T.O. or various offshoots of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, The Pact is an informal confederation of like-minded practitioners, rather than a legal entity or non-profit corporation.

The group says about itself that in its early years, it was "rarely more than a loose correspondence network and a few people meeting for rituals in [[East Morton]]" and that the sustained organization was established only in 1987.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iotbritishisles.com/the-book-of-the-pact/ |title=The Book of the Pact |website=IOT British Isles |date=29 May 2020 |access-date=2024-07-16}}</ref> By 1989 it had grown to 130 members worldwide.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Ziegs |first=Beate |date=November 1989 |title=Chaos-Magie |trans-title= Chaos magic |url=https://archiv.kursbuch.online/de/profiles/f6ee67d5697c-kursbuch/editions/kursbuch-98-das-chaos/pages/page/15 |language=de |magazine=Kursbuch |___location=Hamburg |publisher=Rotbuch Verlag |access-date=2024-07-16}}</ref> Members included [[Timothy Leary]] and [[Robert Anton Wilson]],<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Fäustchen |first=Fra. |date=2008-03-13 |title=Moderne und Postmoderne Magie |trans-title= Modern and postmodern magic |language=de |magazine=Shekinah |___location=Rudolstadt |publisher=Edition Roter Drache |isbn=978-3939459125}}</ref> as well as [[William Burroughs]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Douglas |date=2003 |title=Magick and Photography |url=https://ashejournal.com/2015/03/16/magick-and-photography/ |magazine=Ashé: Journal of Experimental Spirituality, vol. 2, no. 3 |publisher=Rebel Satori Press |access-date=2024-07-16}}</ref>

However, in the early to mid-1990s this ''Chaos Magic Order'' began to behave chaotically, and several schisms among the leadership broke the group into factions such as the ''Reformed IOT'' (RIOT) in Germany and The AutonomatriX in California. Eventually Carroll disassociated himself from the group and retired from active participation, explicitly stating this was not a consequence of disagreement with the state of the Pact but a matter of his personal development.

===Ourano-Barbarian===

In recent years the Pact of the IOT has toned down its rhetoric and acquired a less outspoken leadership. It also replaced the former charta "Liber Pactionis" with "The Book", which gives a less overblown picture of the Pact than its predecessor. The Pact still exists as of this writing, as does the AutonomatriX and other various spin-off groups, but not RIOT.

In early years the IOT developed their own magical language to use in rituals. Ourano-Barbarian is not spoken as an everyday language and its purpose is to distract the conscious mind and free the magician from the linear thought process while creating ritual proclamations and statements of intent.<ref>http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/ob.php</ref> "One theory is that by using nonunderstandable language in ritual situations, this type of language occupies the verbal parts of consciousness, allowing a certain amount of Freedom of Belief to arise in the rest of the brain".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://iotbritishisles.com/the-book-of-the-pact/ | title=The Book of the Pact | date=29 May 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.chaosmagick.org/barbdict/ | title=Ouranian Barbaric Dictionary - Learn the Language of Chaos Magic }}</ref>

===Ice magick schism===

In the early 1990s the order experienced a [[Schism (religion)|schism]] as a result of conflicts about the doctrine of 'ice magick',<ref>{{cite book |title=The Blood of the Saints |author=Chapman, Alan |author-link=Alan Chapman (writer) |author2=Barford, Duncan |author2-link=Duncan Barford |publisher=Heptarchia Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-9563321-0-3 |pages=284–285}}</ref> a major proponent of which was [[Ralph Tegtmeier]].<ref name=icewar>{{cite web |title=The Ice War |url=http://galdrnet.com/kaos/icemage.html#The%20Ice%20War |author=Carroll, Peter J. ("Stokastikos") |publisher=Chaos International 23 }}</ref>

Peter Carroll learned more about the racial doctrines that Tegtmeier was teaching, and criticized him for it. That led to an untenable conflict between Carroll and Tegtmeier, which culminated in Tegtmeier and all of his followers seceding. The vast majority of German and Swiss members left the order, which constituted about 30% of the order's total membership.<ref>Mayer, Gerhard (2008). ''Arkane Welten: Biografien, Erfahrungen und Praktiken zeitgenössischer Magier''. Ergon Verlag. {{ISBN|978-3-89913-618-0}}</ref> Ralph Tegtmeier and a few others were subsequently [[excommunication|excommunicated]].<ref name="icewar" />

===Recent===

After publishing ''Liber Kaos'', Carroll retired from active participation in the order, though he remains on good terms with many of the longstanding members.<ref>{{cite web |title=Message 0 |url=http://specularium.org/index.php?option=com_blog&view=comments&pid=5&Itemid=137 |author=Carroll, Peter J. |date=Dec 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714152429/http://specularium.org/index.php?option=com_blog&view=comments&pid=5&Itemid=137 |archive-date=2012-07-14 }}</ref>

The group claims to have been "constantly evolving" and grown highly diverse,<ref>{{cite web |title=On Considering the History of the IOT |date=23 May 2024 |url=https://iotbritishisles.com/2022/05/23/on-considering-the-history-of-the-iot/ |website=IOT British Isles |access-date=2024-06-05 |ref=none}}</ref> and has grown to include local representations in additional regions such as [[Bulgaria]],<ref>{{cite web |title=IOT – Българска сатрапия |url=https://bulgaria.iot-d.de/ |website=IOT Bulgaria|access-date=2024-06-05 |ref=none}}</ref> [[France]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Cyber Temple Burgundi |url=https://burgundi.thanateros.live/ |website=IOT Temple Burgundi |access-date=2024-06-05 |ref=none}}</ref> [[Greece]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Το IOT στην Ελλάδα |url=https://greece.iot-d.de/ |website=IOT Greece |access-date=2024-06-05 |ref=none}}</ref> [[Poland]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Iluminaci Thanaterosa |url=https://iotpl.thanateros.org/ |website=IOT Poland |access-date=2024-06-05 |ref=none}}</ref> It maintains various social media channels and regularly offers events that are open to non-members.<ref>{{cite web |title=IOT Seminare |url=https://iot-d.de/?page_id=33 |website=IOT Germany |access-date=2024-06-05 |ref=none}}</ref>

The order organizes local groups (Temples) and larger meetings where members can take part in magical work in group context: “IOT Temples are autonomous, provided they follow a few basic rules, which keep the IOT’s identity intact. This means that there isn’t a single type of work that all Temples will engage in – each is an affinity group with its own specifications. Throughout the Pact, the variety of working paradigms and magical models used is quite extensive”.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iotbritishisles.com/the-book-of-the-pact/ |title=The Book of the Pact |website=IOT British Isles |date=29 May 2020 |access-date=2024-09-20}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===

*{{cite book |last1=Duggan |first1=Colin|chapter=Chapter 41: Chaos Magick |editor-last1=Partridge |editor-first1=Christopher |title=The Occult World |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-0415695961}}

*{{cite book |title=The New Encyclopedia of the Occult |last=Greer |first=John Michael |author-link=John Michael Greer |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-56718-336-8}}

*{{cite book |author-link=Phil Hine |last=Hine |first=Phil |year=1995 |url=http://www.textfiles.com/occult/ERIS/cc.txt |title=Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic |publisher=New Falcon Publications |isbn=1-56184-117-X}}

*{{cite journal

| last1 = Meletiadis

| first1 = Vasileios M.

| date = 2023

| title = "Book Zero" through the Years: The First Two Editions of Peter Carroll's Liber Null

| url = https://brill.com/view/journals/arie/aop/article-10.1163-15700593-tat00004/article-10.1163-15700593-tat00004.xml?Tab%20Menu=abstract

| journal = Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism

| volume =

| issue =

| pages = 1–31

| doi = 10.1163/15700593-tat00004

|doi-access= free

}}

*{{cite book |last1= Otto|first1= Bernd-Christian|year= 2020|chapter= The Illuminates of Thanateros and the institutionalisation of religious individualisation|title= Religious Individualisation|pages= 759–796|publisher= De Gruyter|doi= 10.1515/9783110580853-038|doi-access= free|isbn= 978-3-11-058085-3}}

*{{cite book |last= Versluis|first= Arthur|year= 2006|chapter= North American Esotericism|editor-last1= Gallagher|editor-first1= Eugene V|editor-last2= Gallagher|editor-first2= W Michael|title= Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America vol. 3|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0275987169}}

==External links==

* {{official website|http://iotbritishisles.com/|Official British Isles website}}

* {{official website|http://iota.thanateros.org/|Official US website}}

{{Chaos magic series}}

{{Magic and Witchcraft in the British Isles}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illuminates Of Thanateros}}

[[Category:Chaos magic]]

[[Category:Magical organizations]]