by Fr. A.o.C.
An essay written by a founding member of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn (OSOGD), posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.magick in November 2003. The OSOGD was formed by practitioners from the IT world who saw in the open source software movement a model for what ceremonial magic should become: freely distributable, openly modifiable, with no artificial gatekeeping by initiatory hierarchies.
The essay maps the nine principles of the Open Source Definition — Free Redistribution, Open Source Code, Derived Works, Author Integrity, Non-Discrimination by Person, Non-Discrimination by Field, License Distribution, License Independence from Product, and License Non-Restriction of Other Software — directly onto a theory of magical practice. The argument was quietly radical in 2003: that the era of esoteric secrecy was over, and that occultism needed to enter the Information Age.
Fr. A.o.C. names three organizations exemplifying open source principles: the AutonomatriX (chaos magic guild, "anti-copyrighted" corpus), the Horus-Maat Lodge (Thelemic, open membership by declaration), and the OSOGD itself. This essay captures a specific historical moment — the convergence of internet culture and magical practice — that transformed how occultism would spread in the twenty-first century.
Much has been made of late in the Computer Sciences of the "open source" style of computer programming. To many, it is the Holy Grail of computing, to others (like Very Large Software Inc.) it is the end of civilization as we know it.
But what is the idea behind it, and how does it relate to the practice of Magick?
Open Source computer programs are, simply put, those whose inner workings — the computer "source" code itself — are available to anyone and furthermore, are modifiable by programmers other than those who created the software in the first place.
The most famous Open Source computer software is Linux, the operating system fashioned after Bell Laboratories' UNIX system, which competes with other operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS. Another widely used Open Source program is Apache, an Internet server program that is the host software for more than half the ISP computer systems in the world.
This is in contrast to "closed" computer programs — everything Microsoft has ever created, for example, which they jealously guard and protect by both technological and legal means. To their way of thinking, if everyone had the ability to mess around with software "intellectual property," then the incentive to create new and exciting computer programs — the ability to make great sums of money from them — would be destroyed, and chaos would soon follow.
In the computer science community, Open Source also implies that it is not only POSSIBLE to examine and alter the original programming code, but such tinkering is ENCOURAGED rather than suppressed. To this end, certain commonalties of usage and form are generally adhered to in order to make the modification process as accessible as possible.
The Nine Principles of Open Source Software
To be specific, Open Source computer programs must follow these guidelines:
1. Free Redistribution. Anyone is free to copy and pass around the program without restriction or payment of royalties. It is "non-copyrighted" material.
2. Open Source Code. Source code is the inner workings of a computer program, in the form used by the original programmer. Open Source programs always include the "source" information so others can alter or expand on the program's functions.
3. Derived Works. This permits other programmers to modify and derive new programs from an original program.
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code. When someone modifies or adds to an original program, they include all of the original material along with it, so others can also modify it.
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups. The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons. It must be open to all.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
7. Distribution of License. The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without any further authorization.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product. The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution.
9. The License Must Not Restrict Other Software. This allows a programmer to distribute their own special software alongside Open Source software.
There are legal definitions used to cover Open Source software, most commonly the General Public License or GPL, which codifies much of the above list of attributes.
Applying Open Source to Magick
If we draw a comparison between the rituals and methods of ceremonial magick and those of computer programming, some interesting parallels emerge. Both are somewhat "arcane" human endeavors, requiring much study and inculcation of unique symbolism and nomenclature before they can be effectively used. Both disciplines are goal-oriented, generally undertaken to codify certain procedures that yield a definite result.
While the computer sciences work with mathematical symbols and operations that drive analytical-calculation devices to achieve certain goals, magickal sciences work with psychological symbols and operations that drive the subconscious and psychic mind to achieve certain goals.
In the bona fide magickal "traditions," such as the Goetia, Enochian, or Abra-Melin, it is made abundantly clear that NO modifications to the original texts, artifacts, incantations, procedures, pronunciations, symbols, etc. are permitted. While these restrictions are not enforceable by law or contract, the traditions that come down with these systems usually include admonishments to the practitioner to change nothing, or risk dire consequences.
Other magickal traditions, such as those associated with lodges or covens — Wicca or the Golden Dawn — are approached as "secret societies" whose members are under oath not to reveal various levels of secrecy. In some cases only certain parts of the tradition are secret (such as passwords and handshakes), in some cases the major part of the lodge's functions are kept secret (the rituals and symbolism), and in extreme cases one is not even allowed to admit to others that the lodge or coven exists.
In this manner, the great majority of magickal traditions can be compared to the "secret" and copyrighted forms of computer programs. Only certain "inner circles" (the company's programmers and officers) are allowed access to the "inner secrets" (the source codes); usage of the software is restricted to those "initiates" who possess the "passwords" or "keys"; and distribution of the software ("revealing the secrets") is prohibited by oath and by copyright law.
What Would Open Source Magick Look Like?
Simply put, it would be a magical "tradition" — and it doesn't matter if the tradition is one hour or a thousand years old — which conforms to the same parameters as open source computer software. To use the same list of attributes as before:
1. Free Redistribution. Anyone is free to copy and pass around the rituals, operations, lectures, knowledge documents, etc. without restriction or payment of royalties. It is "anti-copyrighted" material.
2. Open Source Code. All the symbolism and ritual procedures of the magick are spelled out in simple, easy to understand language, with no effort to bury the real meanings in arcane names, archaic terms or specialized nomenclature. If such trappings are a necessary part of the system, then they are explained fully so that a person of reasonable intelligence and learning can grasp the basic fundamentals. Symbols and their meanings are clearly explained. The goal is to make the inner workings accessible enough that a canny practitioner could expand upon and/or modify the system and still derive magickal value from it.
3. Derived Works. One may take parts of the original works and derive variations that would also be magically useful. No artificial restrictions are placed on it, such as the admonishments "not to change so much as the style of a letter!"
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code. That those who expand upon the original system make reference to that system, so others may "backtrack" to it and derive their own expansions and derivatives.
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups. One cannot restrict the use of the system to certain people — by gender, for example, or only by those of a particular ethnic background.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor. One cannot include admonishments to "only use it for personal enlightenment" or "only for healing aims," or other value judgments such as "white" or "black" magick.
7. Distribution of License. Every practitioner of the system is fully "authorized" to use the system and its tools and procedures — no one is considered a "heretic" or "usurper." There are no passwords or secret procedures open only to "official" members.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product. The original system's philosophies or intentions are not made part and parcel of the system itself. A person or group may develop a magical procedure or system for accomplishing some large overriding goal (such as "World Enlightenment"), but it is not required that other practitioners share that goal in using the tools of the system.
9. The License Must Not Restrict Other Software. Add-ons to the original system would not be considered "non-canonical" or improper for any reason.
Three Examples
There are three notable examples of groups promoting real Open Source Magic that can be accessed on the World Wide Web.
The AutonomatriX, a Guild of Chaos Magicians dedicated to the propagation of magickal knowledge and information. Their entire "Book of Shadows," called The Corpus Fecundi, is publicly available and "anti-copyrighted," allowing anyone to use the materials therein in any way they see fit. They also maintain a page on their website for Commentaries by others who use their work. The Guild has no "secrets," and membership is open to anyone who can get an active member to sponsor them.
"The AutonomatriX is a networking chaos magic guild of those striving to discover, rejuvenate and disseminate magical ideas and technical skills with success as the only key to validation. AutonomatriX is control under self and selves under their own control. A Member of the AutonomatriX agrees that he/she can be inspired by others' work and wishes to exchange information with and inspire others; the only requirement for Membership is the willingness to contribute and distribute information."
The Horus-Maat Lodge, a Thelemic organization based on the works of Crowley and Nema (author of Ma'at Magick), with open membership by declaration and access to all the Lodge's rites and workings.
"The Horus Current of revolution and ecstasy, which was heralded through the Eye of Frater Perdurabo and others; The Maat Current of mystery and mutation, which was heralded through the triangle of Soror Nema, Frater Achad, Frater Belarion and others. These systems have been found to be excellent springboards from which to leap into your own True Will, a basis for your own individual formulae of magick... There are no degrees, lessons, laws, requirements, or restrictions of any kind in the H.M.L., save Truth."
And the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn (OSOGD), which has taken the vast corpus of the Golden Dawn tradition, modifying and updating it, and releasing its resulting rituals and teaching materials to the general public. Unlike the Horus-Maat Lodge, it is an Initiatory Order with a teaching curriculum based on the classic Hermetic Order's methods and sources.
"Following the demonstrably advantageous practice of the Open Source Software movement, we build our Order on the sources of knowledge that are accessible to anyone. Our sources are already open; we simply affirm this obvious fact. We have no 'secrets' to conceal, in particular those that have already been revealed. And in any case, the era of artificial secrecy is at an end. Ours is the Information Age, and we embrace it fully."
The spirit of "D.I.Y." and building on what has gone before — the spirit of the Open Source movement — will continue to influence and typify the exploration of Occult Arts in the twenty-first century. It is a development that is long overdue — one that can break the antiquarian and hierarchical systems that have shackled us to the past and hamstrung the Art for millennia.
Colophon
Written by Fr. A.o.C., a founding member of both the AutonomatriX and the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn (OSOGD), posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.magick in November 2003. The essay was written in response to questions about what "open source" meant in a magical context, drawing on internal discussions among the OSOGD's founding members. According to the author, it was intended for publication on the OSOGD website.
The OSOGD approached the Golden Dawn's published corpus as open source software: the Cipher Manuscript as the operating system core, with "modules" grafted from Stella Matutina, the A.A., Whare Ra, and Vajrayana sources. They modeled their distribution on the GPL.
Original Message-ID: [email protected]
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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