Why did you study magic?

This depends on how you define “Magic”. When I started out as a 9-year-old, I was initially invested in yoga meditation, self-hypnosis and Positive Thinking – not overtly magical practices and disciplines as such, but definitely related.

Later on, when I discovered first the Sigil Magic of Austin Osman Spare and, almost in parallel, Ceremonial Magic of the Golden Dawn etc. type, I was literally blown away by its efficacy, from which point on there was no turning back.

What was the first magic you learned?

While I had dabbled in parapsychological experiments focused on telepathy, astral travel and remote viewing before, my first formal approach to Magic was conducted by following the regime proposed by Rudolph von Sebottendorf and his (purportedly Turkish-Masonic) Letter Magic in my early twenties. This did not work out too well, driving me to the verge of serious depression, so I had to abandon it eventually. (I have written about this at length in my book Living Magic which also features a detailed introduction into this particular magical discipline.)

Next came Sigil Magic as outlined by AOS plus the various flavours of Golden Dawn etc. Ceremonial and Hermetic Magic. This was a generally experimental and auto didactic approach within the framework of our Bonn Workshop for Experimental Magic. (More on which in Living Magic too.)

Did you practice witchcraft? (Sorry, this is a stupid question…)

(Not a stupid question at all: For many contemporary occultists, Wicca was actually one of the first gateways towards more serious formal approaches to learned and traditional Magic.)

The short sweet answer is: no, I was never initiated into Wicca nor for that matter any other neo-pagan cult or organisation even though I have always viewed them with great sympathy.

This said, I did actually write a commissioned (anonymously authored) book on Wicca once (in German) which became a minor bestseller in its own right, being very positively received by the Wiccan community overall.

Can you tell us some of the results of your successful sigil magic?

While I’m not very much given to speaking about my personal magical practice and results (call it superstition, but I do in fact believe in holding one’s peace in matters magical for a plethora of reasons, especially when it concerns going public with things rather than restricting them to private exchanges with trusted companions), what I am willing to share is that Sigil Magic resulted in an incredible amount of highly unlikely “coincidences” manifesting desired results aplenty, both material and social. This is essentially what hooked me up with practical Magic for the rest of my life to date.

To my limited knowledge, the only German sorcerers I know of are Franz Bardon, my friend Hagen, and you, but of course I know that there are many practitioners of chaos magic in Germany. What kind of magic ideas do you have in Germany right now? And what are the percentages of Thlema, Wicca and GD?

I don’t think there is any reliable statistical data available in terms of percentages or market share, I’m afraid. The best I could give you would be an anecdotal assessment – little more than an informed guess, actually  – as I haven’t personally participated in the German occult scene for quite a while now. Hagen would be far more knowledgeable in this regard.

What I can tell you is that most of the communication and networking that typically constitute a scene have shifted to the online world i.e. the Internet. While this has enabled a lot of international global exchange and bonding, the sheer extent and scale to which this is now possible has its shadow sides as well: people tend to cocoon into their own bubbles even more than they did before in offline times. Things being so fragmented and even atomised these days, it is almost impossible to reliably determine what is going on as a whole.

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In 2023, Japan is mostly GD. Next is the Wiccan sect. Next is Thelema, which is the number of supporters and practitioners. Order of Chaos Knight, of which I am CEO, has been teaching and practicing chaos magic for 20 years.

The idea of a GD lineage magic group is used in Japanese fantasy novels. In Japan in the near future, a 15-year-old boy and a girl fight using psychic powers and magic. In this work, Aleister Crowley is the founder of the city where the boys and girls live. Therefore, even if you are not interested in magic, readers of fantasy novels know Aleister Crowley as a magician.

I find this an interesting take. What it certainly illustrates is how different cultural fads and fashions can develop if not diverge in parallel or even in total ignorance to/of each other. For example, I have been told by people familiar with the local scene there that Italian occultism is being dominated by the Traditionalists of the Evola and Group of UR type to this very day. Obviously, this doesn’t mean to say that there are absolutely no chaos magicians or Wiccans etc. in Italy, just that they constitute anything but a majority within the field.

Can you explain why sigil magic works?

In my Models of Magic concept I have suggested viewing Sigil Magic from a psychological point of view as that is what Austin Osman Spare himself did. So it may the the Unconscious that does it by wilfully suppressing your wishes.

However, that’s no bonafide explanation by any robust standard. All it really does is convey a warm, fuzzy assurance that we may not be batshit crazy when deploying such techniques of bending the arm of chance, as chaos magicians would put it.

But let’s face it: when all is said and done, no explanations of magic have ever held water upon closer critical scrutiny. In my view it would be way more honest to acknowledge that we simply still don’t know!

Are there any magicians in Germany who are research maniacs?

As far as I can discern, most research conducted these days is performed by academic scholars. Whether any (or perhaps even many) of these are also closet practitioners is not for me to say.

One notable exception is Frater Acher with whom I am running the Paralibrum occult book reviews website (Paralibrum.com). Here is one practitioner who conducts a lot of premium academic research, digging through the most obscure archives and even translating unknown if not unpublished occult texts from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance, interpreting them and making them accessible two modern-day practitioners.

Does the German Thelema still believe that contraceptive sex creates evil spirits?

I have no such idea.

Frankly, I don’t believe they ever did. Not sure where you got that one from, nor can I entirely rule out the possibility that there may have been the odd thelemite crackpot entertaining such a notion, but as for me I’m not aware of anyone who does.

What are your hobbies?

I live in a small apartment compared to everyone else in Germany.

My hobby is to grow a lot of roses on my balcony. I also live with cats and snakes.

I’m not sure I would call it a “hobby” as I tend to abide by the philosophy that if anything is worthwhile doing at all it is also worth doing as best you can with your full devotion, attention and effort i.e. not as a mere way of killing time. So what I do is devote some time to refurbishing and restoring tobacco pipes. I wouldn’t call myself a collector, but having been an ardent pipe smoker for almost 55 years now I guess I’m not a complete tyro in this field either.

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I was alarmed when something similar to the sigil magic scam happened in Japan more than 10 years ago. Carol is also aware of this incident.

They used sigils of wishes of people they didn’t know at all, and then wrote multiple marks of the clients on their bodies and activated them with bungee jumps.

I think this is an ineffective method. What do you think?

I think it’s utter bullshit as it goes against the very basic tenets and logic of sigil magic itself. Merely a sorry waste of time…

What is your most used tool for magic?

I don’t use tools for magic any longer and haven’t done so for decades. If you want to compare this with some traditional framework, the “technique of the empty hand” might come to mind – though even using a hand at all, be it empty or full, would actually constitute an overkill…

Please give some comments for your fans and researchers of chaos magic in Japan.
There is an old and ridiculous statement among the Japanese that chaos magic is black magic. I have denied it at every turn, and I have to write the same thing again in this book. Chaos magic is not black magic. Due to search mania, it seems that chaos magic is considered black magic. Also, Japan glorifies Crowley. I think your “Secrets of the German Sex Magicians” is a great book with criticisms made against Crowley’s followers.

I’m in total agreement with you! These are merely statements by the clueless and ill-informed for the gullible and lazy-minded. Actually, the best definition of “black magic” I have ever come across in over sixty years of research on the subject is: “Black magic is always the other guy’s magic.”

Informed relativism and non-essentialism is what Chaos Magic is all about after all. It is still one of the most intelligent and cutting edge avant-garde approaches in all of magic’s universal history in my view: novel, innovative and disruptive. So do keep it up!

 Directory of Modern Magicians　＞　Ralph Tegtmeier｜FraterU∴D∴