The
Modern Occultist
Interview #21
Sanhre Daffowt
Chaos Witchcraft: Spells,
Sigils, and Spirits to Empower Your Magickal Practice (with Ivy Corvus)
MODERN
OCCULTIST
You’ve described your own essay in This Is Chaos as “blasphemy” against the Chaos Magick that Peter Carroll originally articulated, reframing gods and spirits as genuinely real fourth-dimensional phenomena rather than convenient thoughtforms.
That's a
considerably bolder theological claim than most chaos magicians are willing to
make out loud. What was the specific moment or experience that convinced you
the entities you work with needed to be treated as more than useful fictions,
and has that conviction ever been tested by an experience that didn't fit the
framework?
SANHRE
DAFFOWT
After my son was born in 2016 I could feel my father's presence in the room with us wherever we were. But I didn't believe in an afterlife. I had no theological framework that required me to interpret what I was experiencing that way. But his presence became stronger and stronger, and I think that opened the door. Chaos Magick has always been about the pursuit of magick without resorting to the supernatural. When Liber Null was written in the 1970s, the materialist view of reality was heavily favored, including within the way people interpreted modern physics. Consciousness was likewise assumed to be a byproduct of the brain. But that has never been demonstrated in any laboratory. The assumption was that eventually science would explain how matter produces consciousness, and for decades people simply accepted that explanation was coming.
But every advancement in quantum physics has taken us further and further away from that simple materialist picture of reality. The deeper we investigate into reality, the stranger it becomes. Matter itself ceases to resemble the solid, independently existing substance that classical materialism imagined, while consciousness remains one of the greatest unresolved problems in science. Chaos Witchcraft takes a radically different direction from Chaos Magick simply because that is where the evidence has led me in 2026. I see no compelling reason to begin with the assumption that gods, spirits, and other forms of consciousness must be imaginary simply because that assumption was intellectually fashionable fifty years ago. If our understanding of reality changes, our models of magick should be allowed to change with it.
Are the
gods archetypes? Yes absolutely, but in a consciousness first understanding of
reality, archetypes are just as real (if not more so) than you or I.
MO
Chaos Witchcraft the book grew directly out of your essay of the same name in This Is Chaos. Expanding a dense theoretical essay into a full two-part book, theory first, then a complete practical system of spells, sigils, and spirit work, is a very different kind of writing challenge. What did you discover you needed to add, or were forced to cut, once you had a full book's worth of space to actually build out the practice half of the system rather than simply gesture toward it?
SD
Not a lot
actually changed. The core ideas and practices of Chaos Witchcraft were
already there. I was mostly just excited to finally have the space to explain
them in detail and with the nuance they deserved. An essay forces you to
compress everything down to the central argument, whereas the book gave me room
to slow down, explain the philosophy behind the system, and then show what Chaos
Witchcraft actually looks like as a practical magickal practice. So it was
less about changing or cutting what I had already developed and more about
finally being able to fully articulate it.
MO
Your approach explicitly favors designing rituals without predetermined steps, letting structure emerge from the working itself rather than a fixed liturgy. For a reader who has only ever practiced with someone else's script, a specific chant, a specific circle-casting, in a specific order, what's the actual first exercise you'd have them try to start feeling out that kind of improvisational confidence, without it just collapsing into randomness?
SD
I actually
provide a number of rituals in the book. I see these primarily as magickal
experiments that anyone can perform in order to experience these phenomena for
themselves. But more importantly, I provide formulas for creating your own
spells and rituals. The goal isn't to replace one rigid system with another set
of scripts that have to be followed exactly. It's to teach you the underlying
structure of ritual so that you understand what you're doing well enough to
create your own. Once you understand the formula, improvisation isn't
randomness. It's informed creativity.
MO
Your own path moved through LaVeyan Satanism before arriving at Chaos Magick, Hermetic philosophy, astrology, and Zen Buddhism, an unusually wide-ranging personal curriculum before you built your own synthesis out of it. Looking back, what did LaVeyan Satanism specifically give you that the traditions you moved on to didn't, and is there a piece of that early framework that's still quietly load-bearing in Chaos Witchcraft today, even if it's not labeled as such?
SD
Absolutely. LaVey's explanations of magick and philosophy are simple, relatable, and practical. Those are qualities I very deliberately wanted Chaos Witchcraft to have as well. While I certainly don't agree with everything in The Satanic Bible, I still consider it one of the most influential books on magick I have ever read. It showed me very early that occult philosophy doesn't have to be unnecessarily complicated or inaccessible to be powerful. That emphasis on making magick understandable and practical is absolutely still present in Chaos Witchcraft.
MO
The Order of Chaos describes itself as built around three pillars: transformation, ritual, and community, and your own student testimonials consistently praise your ability to make dense material feel usable rather than overwhelming. What's the most common misconception a total beginner walks into your Mystery School holding about what Chaos Magick actually is, and how do you personally unwind that misconception in the first real conversation you have with a new student?
SD
I try to
never tell anyone that their beliefs are wrong. I am no guru, and I don't have
all the answers. Instead, I do my best to meet people where they are and work
with the beliefs they already hold, and simply ask: Are these beliefs working
for you? Are you getting the results you want? If the answer is no, then I try
to help them develop an understanding and belief system that is more coherent
and more useful to them. For me, that's much more important than convincing
someone that my worldview is the correct one.
MO
In your personal opinion—and to the benefit of new students and initiates—how would you describe “Occult Philosophy”?
SD
To me, occult philosophy is the philosophical investigation of consciousness, reality, symbolism, Magick, spirituality, and those aspects of existence that aren't adequately explained by our ordinary material experience. It is an attempt to understand the deeper nature of reality and our relationship to it.
MO
What was your personal start on your own journey on this path (or chosen profession)?
SD
My personal
journey into the occult began when I was fourteen and trying to make sense of a
world without my father. That's when I purchased my first copy of The
Satanic Bible, and it became my introduction to occult philosophy and
magick. Everything I do professionally today, however, really started with The
Order of Chaos Podcast. It was born out of a simple desire to discuss
occult topics with experts and fellow seekers. From there, it gradually grew
into the work I do today.
MO
To this magazine, the concept of “modern occultism” can (and should) be equally viewed from both the academic and practical sides. What would you recommend to a person only now coming along to these subjects, and is uncertain if an objective academic career, or a true “practical path” may be right for them?
SD
I don't
think those two paths need to be separated. In fact, I think the best
occultists should strive to be both academics and practitioners. Study the
history, philosophy, science, and cultural context behind what you're doing,
but then actually practice it. Perform the rituals. Experiment with the
techniques. Record your experiences and examine the results. Academic study
without practice can leave you analyzing experiences you've never actually had,
while practice without study can leave you accepting claims without
understanding where they came from. I think modern occultism is strongest when
those two approaches inform one another.
MO
What is one book, film, lecture, or teacher that helped shape your journey and personal philosophies that you would recommend to a new student or occult practitioner (or historian / academic)?
SD
Personally,
I think your own imagination is the greatest source of inspiration you could
ever encounter. I would encourage any new practitioner to cultivate that before
looking for someone else to tell them what occultism should look like. But if I
were to recommend outside influences, for film I would choose The X-Files, not
because it is some exposition on occult truth, but because it's a fun show that
inspires the imagination. As for a lecturer and thinker, I would recommend
Mitch Horowitz. Mitch is one of the most dedicated, and knowledgeable occult
researchers in the world. His contributions to the field are enormous, and his
integrity is uncompromising.
MO
And finally, what is one daily activity that you believe is a MUST for all seekers of the occult philosophies and/or arts?
SD
Journaling. Maybe even more so than meditation.
Journaling is how we track our progress, understand our own thoughts, and
recognize synchronicities across time. Memory is imperfect, and without a
record it becomes very easy to reinterpret our experiences after the fact. A
journal allows us to look back and see patterns, changes, successes, failures,
and connections that we might otherwise miss. I believe a magician's most
powerful tool is their journal.
(Every day, Modern Occultist News will present "This Day in Occult History" and your "Daily Occult Review" and will dive into the birthdays, rituals, breakthroughs, and crucial moments that shaped today’s many esoteric traditions. From the Hermetic revival to Witchcraft, from Crowley to cyberspace, we’ll bring the best stories and latest trends to today’s own modern occultists everywhere.)
Modern Occultist
2026. Modern Occultist Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.