CHAPTER 1

PRINCIPIA MAGICA

Principia Magica is in three parts. The first part, Fiat Nox, contains a briefexplanation of relativity and quantum physics and then posits a theory ofcosmogenesis constituting a quantum-based description of this universe and itsorigin, which argues that magic is both a necessary consequence of the structureof this universe and an essential component of it. The second part or stage,Quantum Metaphysics, describes the action of the magical component of realityand the principles by which the magician can manipulate its workings to his orher advantage. This section offers a radical reinterpretation of muchtraditional magical lore and explains a number of occult effects in terms ofpreviously unrecognized mechanisms. It also suggests a new magical technique,"retroactive enchantment," whose existence has been only vaguely suspected untilnow. The third, and final aspect of this study, The Equations of Magic, presentsthree formulae which describe the necessary ingredients of any spell or ritualdesigned to have parapsychological effect. The equations describe how to domagic, and by implication how to reduce the chances of failure; they also give aprecise indication of how effective an act of magic is likely to be.

Magicians without some knowledge of physics and mathematics may find parts ofPrincipia Magica rather challenging. However perseverance is recommended, forthis paradigm represents, probably for the first time, a self-consistentmetaphysic which elevates magic from a rather hit and miss art, explained byvague ad-hoc hypotheses to a potentially objective and quantifiable disciplinewith its own formulae for probability engineering.

An understanding of Principia Magica is not a prerequisite for performing thepractical magic in other sections of this book. However, a theoretical paradigmhas two values in any system. It suggests possibilities to be explored and itimplies limitations to be investigated and perhaps transcended. In short, itoffers a way of organizing the way one thinks about what one is doingpractically.

FIAT NOX

The two theories of relativity and quantum physics on which present scientificunderstanding of the universe is based appear to contradict each other. Althougheach theory has great explanatory power in various situations, the two theoriesresist integration and cannot be applied simultaneously. Relativity theory whichis a refinement of the classical Newtonian description of a mechanical clockworktype of universe is based on particles and fields presumed to consist of yetsmaller particles. These behave in a continuous, causal and deterministicfashion, no signal may propagate faster than light-speed and space, time, massand energy are continuously subdividable.

Quantum theory describes the behavior of matter in terms of probability waves.It is difficult to visualize what this means, but to a rough approximation itcan be said that in the quantum description reality can only be divided up intocertain minimum-sized pieces or "quanta." These quanta exist not as discretepoints in space and time but as waves of probability.

From the relativistic point of view, the wave functions represent theprobability of finding a particle at a particular point in space and time. Thus,whereas in relativity theory matter and energy and space and time are presumedto be infinitely subdividable to account for causality, in quantum theory anyfurther subdivision beyond the quantization level is achieved by probabilisticdistribution of the particle itself. Thus in the quantum description a particlecan be instantaneously everywhere although most of its existence is mainlyconcentrated at one small place in spacetime. Quantum theory describes auniverse based not on causality and determinism but on probability andindeterminism, in which processes are discontinuous and instantaneous signalscan be exchanged. Strange paradoxes arise if quantum and relativistic approachesare applied simultaneously. For example, a single quanta can be passed through ascreen with holes in it. Relativistic measuring techniques can readily confirmthat the quanta went through one hole or the other. However quantum measuringtechniques will readily confirm that half the probability wave of the singlequanta went through each hole, or rather that after having passed through thescreen, the quanta seems to have two histories of equal probability and thatboth seem to have given rise to the final result!

The problem is that the wave functions are obviously not mere mathematicalformalisms that specify a range of possible pasts or futures, they behave asthough they are actually "things," of some kind which can have real effects. Theproblem is far from being an abstract conundrum limited to the realms ofsubmicroscopic particle physics. All phenomena have a wave function, and suchfunctions affect any fairly complex event on the macroscopic scale as well, asthe section on Chaos Mathematics will show.

The CMT (Chaos Magic Theory) paradigm states that the wave functions areactually a mathematical description of etheric patterns and that this ether canbe considered as a form of information exchange between material eventsoperating over the minimum quantum of time, the Planck time, and furthermorethat the etheric dimension should be considered as somehow orthogonal to theordinary (pseudo) time dimension of classical relativistic descriptions. This isrepresented graphically in figure 1.

Thus quantum wave functions do not directly describe the actual behavior ofclassical relativistic mechanical events. They describe the probabilisticeffects of ether patterns, which can be considered of as a kind of shadowsubstance, upon the progress of material events. Quantum and relativistictheories can be integrated at the small expense of assuming that if wavefunctions have an effect on particles then they must consist of something thatis somehow real. Thus the CMT universe can be thought of as the intersection oftwo realms, the classical relativistic realm with its space, time, mass, andenergy and the quantum realm consisting of probabilistic ether patterns inshadow time.

BOOTSTRAPPING THE SERPENT

As there are currently two physical descriptions of reality—the classicalrelativistic and the quantum—one might expect there to be two differentdescriptions of the cosmos on the grand scale. However, only the classicalrelativistic description has attracted much attention. This description is thefamiliar big bang scenario, in which all space, time, mass, and energy appearsto have erupted from a single point called a singularity some fifteen billionyears ago. If, as many theorists suspect, there is sufficient mass in theuniverse, it should eventually collapse back...