When Austin Osman Spare (see FT144:34-40) stripped ritualised magic down to its bare bones with his sigilbased 'alphabet of desire' he probably didn't realise that he was laying the foundations of a magical system that would still be thriving in the 21st century. Some 20 years after Spare's death in 1956, these simple, letterbased spells formed the basis of modern Chaos Magic.

At that time, Peter Carroll and Ray Sherwin set up the Illuminates of Thanateros (aka 'The Pact'), a Chaos Magic group that now has lodges, known as Sections, in the UK, North America and Europe, as well as temples and working groups all over the globe. 52-year-old Peter Mastin, with degrees in microbiology and engineering, may not sound like your average magician, but he is a Second Degree and UK Section Head of the IOT. I spoke to him about what Chaos Magic is all about, how he does it, and why he got involved with it in the first place.

What style of magic does the IOT practise?

We do Chaos Magic - which is about belief -shifting; we shift - our belief into whatever magical - system we choose, and believe in that system totally while we're doing the work. Once the work is completed, we can continue to believe in the system, or discard it, as we choose. Belief shapes reality; everything is malleable.

Is there a basic magical formula you use to shape reality?

You write what you want to achieve as a statement of intent, which you can then abstract into a sigil or mantra. A sigil is essentially a graphical representation of your magical desire. Basically, you write down your statement of intent, knock out the recurring letters, then abstract the remaining ones into a symbol that strikes the unconscious. It's a magical tool - thank you, grandpa Austin Osman Spare! They're great for one-off enchantments and also useful in servitor formation, as are mantras. Where a sigil is a graphical representation, a mantra is an aural one; here, you take the remaining letters and rearrange them to make a barbaric-sounding word or phrase, adding extra vowels where necessary so that it slips off the tongue nicely when you chant or sing it.

What are the requirements for joining the IOT?

The Mysteria Mystica Magica (MMM) is a work programme that introduces the Novice to the Pact, with daily exercises and a written record to keep. It's basically a distillation of Crowley and Spare's magical training, involving techniques aimed at 'freeing up' the psyche from entrenched belief systems - changing arbitrary little things like not having sugar in your tea any more. And if you make enough tiny changes in yourself, about six months down the road, you'll find that you are an entirely different person. The essence of magic, as I understand it, is the kind of changes we make to ourselves as magicians, manifesting huge changes in the Universe about us. Each Novice is also '"appointed a mentor or guide to help them through the early pitfalls; it's a good way for the Novice to get to know The Pact on a personal level, and also a way for us to get to know more about them and to make sure that they are of a certain magical standard.

Can you tell me a little of the structure of the group?

It's a grade structure of four degrees. When you're doing your MMM, you're a Novice, and upon successful completion you are taken into The Pact at the first level - that's 4° - as a Neophyte. Next up, 3°, is an Initiate - that's full membership, where you can set up temples, take on Novices and so on. The higher degrees are the servants of The Pact - you work like hell for the 2°. The l°s co-ordinate activities at a world level; I believe it involves a lot of sitting around in smoky rooms (grins).

Does The Pact have core deities?

Baphomet is our patron God because he's sex. The name 'Baphomet' comes from the Templars, but our fifth son god is a little more hi-tech than that; I imagine funky wings, a high-tech dick, and more and better tits. 'Thanateros' comprises Thanatos, Greek God of Death and Eros, the Greek God of Sex. Nobody works too much with death, but now and then they do - although death magic is not necessarily trying to kill people. We've had a few members actually wake up in bodybags working that particular current. Eris, our Lady of Chaos, is a f ave, too.

How does this no-fixed beliefs system express itself in the style of magic?

Every magical system is available to you - it doesn't have to be a working magical system, just anything with any sort of mythos. For instance, the Temple of The Magic Roundabout were working in the Tex Avery cartoon paradigm; you could invoke Elmer Fudd on your enemy and send the wascally wabbit to dwive him scwewy - that worked! There are some regular rituals we always do, though we might not always do them in the same way; repetition actually enforces and empowers.

What are the basic tools of the IOT magician?

The standard wand, cup, sword and disc is the basic kit, if you like. Everyone's got their own take on that, though. I find it an enjoyable part of the process to make magical weapons, or to come across them in a magical way. Bigfinger - my wand and staff - was made from a bit of a sacred yew tree at Glastonbury, after the tree was asked in the right way.

Why did you join the IOT specifically?

I didn't go out to find them, they found me! I was taken to my first meeting at Samhain in 1994. It was very inspiring; I came into the group and found the most incredible magicians - and human beings - Fd ever met, and I thought: 'Blimey, I've come home!' Also, there's an advantage with doing Group Magic; It's like having 20 or 30 of me working all together. Magicians who've known each other a long time, who've done the same basic training, but in their own individual way, they've all found that place. That has got to increase your power.

Can you give an example of a group working that's had a magical result?

Temple T is a club-based temple that broke the power of the AIDS virus. It was a series of rituals in 1997, based in a gay club frequented by a lot of HIV-positive people, who we encouraged to come along. We were working healing magic on several hundred people a week in there, with the knowledge and consent of the club promoters, getting a catalogue of, well, you could call them miracles. One of the promoters who was HIV+ went down with meningitis about the second week into the club, so we did a working there. From the dance floor working we produced a 'runetine' - a bit of wood with runes on it, which we took to the hospital. He looked like death, but came to consciousness as one of us stood by the bed, and as he touched the runetine, he got a smile and a twinkle back in his eye. He was out of hospital a week later, and he's still promoting clubs. You can say that's all delusion, but at the time, he would have died and that was that. It's not as if we could have done any harm by standing around in spooky costumes and doing some weird actions. Perhaps it helped those who were ill to make a leap of faith as well.

How do you think magic works?

I don't give a toss! Dear me, I'm an engineer, I leave that to the theorists. Some people believe there are real Gods out there, separate from us, but Gods exist up here (points to head) and they need belief to power them up. Others argue you're charging yourself up, programming yourself. I don't care; it works, so I'm going to use the effect.

How and why did you first get into magic?

A Thelemite was banging on to me about how magic works. I wasn't the most gullible person, but the way he laid it on me was that however it works, the e'ssential virus is simply that 'magic works'.You can prove it to yourself - just stand by a bus stop and light a cigarette and any number of buses will appear by magic. It didn't work when they allowed smoking on buses, of course.

I think the main reason I made myself a magician was that all my friends were dying; too many funerals, two or three a week. It had gone insane in the late '80s to early '90s. From a feeling of complete powerlessness, it at least made me feel a bit more powerful to run around and rage at it, but to do that in the magical way, with intent; the rage became powerful gnosis, which achieved the result.

Do you think that magic can be dangerous?

Yes, it can be. I've seen people pick up magic books and then nose-dive straight into the ground - you can get it wrong! I've also seen people go barking mad and stay that way. Fd like to think that our MMM training gives people the mental toughness and skills to survive such things instead of succumbing to them. Magic isn't recommended for people of borderline mental stability.

What would you say to those thinking of taking up magic generally?

To think about it - seriously. You're starting a magical training which is going to open doors you can't shut again. Get into a space where you're comfy with yourself and where you like yourself. That's a very good place to begin magic. Not to narcissistic extremes, but self-love is a good place to start trying to make yourself into a magician. And then, having thought about it - lots! - just do it, to the absolute best you can!