Tag: Coral Carte

Dreamworking 

By Coral Carte

Recording and understanding one’s dreams is one of the foundational practices for a chaos magician, and is part of the novitiate curriculum for the Illuminates of Thanateros. I have been keeping a dream diary since I was 18, after encountering the writings of Carlos Castaneda, whose explorations of dreaming as a shamanic art opened a doorway for me into a deeper dimension of magic. Over the years, I’ve come to recognize that there are many kinds of dreams. Some offer clarity on everyday life, elaborating on the subtle emotional layers of mundane events. Others are unmistakably magical — revelations from the deep psyche that offer guidance, warnings, or invitations to refine one’s practice. And then there are those dreams that cross into the underworld, where it becomes possible to commune with the dead and other beings.

Dreaming is central to my path as both a chaos magician and a human being. Some dreams have left an indelible mark upon my soul. Once, not long after my mother’s death, I dreamt that I was with her in the land of the dead when I encountered a close friend who had appeared unexpectedly. He seemed shocked and confused, so I stopped him, calmed him, and stood by as he continued his journey. Only later did I learn that he had been shot and I most probably had been on the other side to meet him as he crossed over. Encounters like this remind me how fluid the boundaries of consciousness can be, and how the dreamspace allows us to serve as witnesses and companions in the mysteries of death and rebirth.

I keep both a magical diary and a dream diary. The act of recording dreams is a dialogue with the subconscious — and the subconscious, once it knows it’s being heard, begins to speak more clearly. I found that preparation is important: setting an intention before sleep, leaving a glass of water nearby, and keeping a notebook ready for immediate recording upon waking.

Once the dream recall is working and your dreams are clear enough to be recorded, then it’s time to work on the significance between the deeper layers. Give each dream a title, note the date, and list the symbols. Some, like water or stairs, are universal; others are deeply personal — square white tiles personally bring a recollection of my grandmother’s kitchen and therefore represent my safe space. Over time, as you weave these meanings together, the dreams begin to reveal the architecture of your own magical practice.

Learning the art of dream working not only deepens one’s magic, but also refines the subtle senses, opening channels of perception through the aethers. With patience and devotion, the dreamer becomes a bridge between worlds — able to receive guidance, commune with unseen intelligences, and move with greater awareness through the vast tapestry of consciousness itself.

My Experience as a Priestess of Chaos –By Coral Carte

I heard Daniel Foor once use the term “ritualist” to describe himself, and I knew that it was the description that fitted me best. I believe humans need rituals to mark the various passages in their lives, but in the Western world, we lack access to these practices except through the church, and we suffer the consequences. Before approaching chaos magic, I wrote and officiated ceremonies for myself and others, including rite of passage alternative ritual to the first communion, for an 11-year-old, the rituals for my own wedding, and a secular baptism rite for my son.

During the 2020 lockdown, when we took to the internet for connection, I was involved in several groups focused on consciousness. We held IOT meetings to support our community as often as possible. I also developed deep bonds with a Dream working group. Dreaming is a practice I discovered when I was still a teenager. Our approach was a deeply ceremonial practice of dream sharing and interpretation. I believe that my dreamwork, which I brought across to my IOT siblings along with my community ritual work, was what marked me as a Priest of Chaos. I continue my magical work during my dreams, and dreaming gives me access to alternative fonts of information. I have been keeping dream diaries for at least 20 years, and I am able to guide magicians into a coherent analysis of their own dream symbolism and interpretation.

I learned bodywork so that I could create healing, and when I added my shamanic practice, I was able to transform this discipline into a more magical ritual healing practice. I believe that the subconscious has access to higher levels of consciousness through the body. Through ritual bodywork, one can access a deeper state of gnosis quicker. I found that people were open and that through this transformative ritual bodywork, I could spread and share the practice of magic. Despite being afraid to acknowledge that I was working within a magical paradigm for much of my life, I was able to move through communities with my practice and instill a sense of belonging to a magical world in all of them.

I have led rituals at the three Occulture Festivals and through these have been able to show magicians from a cross-section of magical practices how to use magic by feeling it with their bodies rather than at an intellectual level. I’ve also presented a talk about Magic, Manifesting, and Remote Viewing to the scientific Remote Viewing community, where I “came out” as a practicing magician, only to discover that many viewers are actually involved in different branches of magic themselves. I believe Remote Viewing is based on a magical practice, and even Dean Radin, one of the leading scientists in the world of Remote Viewing, wrote a book about this called “Real Magic”. I regularly take ritual practices to communities outside of the IOT creating a sense of community helping people to transform and evolve into the best versions of themselves.

When I was invited to take on the role of Chaos Priest, it felt like stepping into the unknown, but I soon realized it was something I had been doing all along. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to help you recognize what you’re already doing. I took my title in a ceremony the first time we met in person since the lockdowns, which together with the experience of finally being face-to-face and embracing was strongly impactful. My journey as a Priest of Chaos has been a natural extension of the practices and passions that have shaped my life. From crafting meaningful rituals and guiding dreamwork to fostering healing through bodywork and engaging with diverse communities, I have embraced the role of a bridge between the magical and the mundane. This has allowed me to serve both the IOT and the broader community, fostering connection, transformation, and deeper understanding. For me, being a Priest of Chaos is about living authentically, sharing wisdom, and holding space for others to explore their own magical journeys, and I continue to grow, learn, and contribute.