The transmission
Ramsey Dukes (a pen name of Lionel Snell, b. 1945) is a British writer and magical philosopher whose witty, intellectually rigorous essays profoundly shaped the theoretical underpinnings of chaos magic.
Trained in mathematics, he approaches magic as one of several valid “models” for engaging reality, alongside science, religion, and art. His landmark essay SSOTBME (Sex Secrets of the Black Magicians Exposed) and works like Thundersqueak and What I Did In My Holidays argue that magic is best understood not as a competing physics but as a distinct, useful mode of thinking — a stance that licensed the chaos-magic practice of switching belief-models pragmatically.
He is a thinker’s occultist, prized for clarity about why magical practice might work psychologically.
What they gave
Models of magic: Framed magic as one valid model of reality among several, to be adopted situationally — a cornerstone of chaos-magic epistemology.
- Belief as a chosen tool: Articulated the deliberate, provisional use of belief, undergirding the “results-agnostic” approach to inner work.
- Magic as a mode of thinking: Located the value of magic in how it reorganizes perception and attention rather than in literal supernatural force.
- Intellectual legitimacy: Gave practical occultism a sophisticated philosophical defense.
The line they stand in
Influenced by: Aleister Crowley; the philosophy of science and cybernetics; the emerging chaos-magic current.
- Influenced: chaos magic theorists; Phil Hine and the IOT-adjacent scene; results-agnostic magical philosophy.
Revelations they taught
Essential Works
- SSOTBME: An Essay on Magic1974
- Words Made Flesh1988