An Alchemist in His Laboratory by Balthasar van den Bossche

I first came across the idea of these models of approaching high strangeness in the ideas of chaos magicians, as specifically applied to the practise of magic and how it might work, however I believe extending the idea of these models to all esoteric practise and all experiences of strange phenomena proves useful. I do not advocate one model over another, but do believe the wise practitioner or experiencer will develop the ability to view their practise and experiences through each of these lenses.

You may develop favourites, and may even find one gets you better results. Better results does not mean the model is true in a scientific sense, just that adopting that belief system is more effective at bring about certain kinds of experiences. It should also be noted that each model consists of a broad category and probably contains diverse competing and mutually hostile viewpoints. The spirit model, for example, may contain every perspective from the shamanic to the monotheist interpretation of spirits, and monotheism contains many sects and religions that each have their own conflicting viewpoints.

I have also added a couple of models onto the original list common to chaos magic, as I think not all the models of magic explain all models of high strangness experiences, despite the overlap.

The Psychological Model

Perhaps the most comfortable and default model adopted by the contemporary mind. Even those brought up religious probably accept the scientific paradigm of the mind to a greater or lesser degree. From the point of view of magick and esoteric practise, this model gained prominence in the early 20th century along with the rise of the theories of Freud and Jung. Both Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune were known to advocate for this interpretation of magic, Fortune especially so. Many more recent authors in esoteric disciplines such as tarot emphasise the psychological nature of the reading.

Casting 'magic spells' in a psychological paradigm, becomes a way of sending messages to the subconscious, in order to change our behaviours in ways conducive to attaining the desired results. No supernatural explanation required. Evocation, or talking to 'spirits', becomes explained as talking to 'repressed aspects of the self' that dwell in the subconscious, by having them talk to us in our own language. Scrying and dream interpretation become a matter of learning to listen to the subconscious messages we normally suppress, in its own intuitive language. Reading runes or tarot become kinds of advanced Rorschach inkblot tests. Invocation, and possession, becomes a matter of allowing these parts of the self to express themselves outwardly to greater or lesser degrees, sometimes bound to a certain space and time. Glorified method acting perhaps?

Of all the models, this one seems the safest for the beginner, less likely to lead them on wild flights of fancy, and remains a grounding safe haven and reality check for more experienced practitioners that explore the other models.

The Spirit Model

In contrast, the spirit model posits the idea that non-physical entities are able to interact with us, are responsible for all kinds of strange phenomena, experiences and can be persuaded to perform magic on behalf of a sorcerer. This model is pretty ancient and pre-enlightenment was the predominant viewpoint in Christendom. Some spirits were considered 'good' and were prayed to as God, The Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels and saints. Other spirits were considered evil and communion with them strictly prohibited on pain of death, such as demons, devils and Satan. In some times places a third group was tolerated as neither wholey good nor evil. For example, the fae.

However more ancient forms of spirit model divided things not into good and evil, but rather by above and below. Spirits of the Earth and underworld concerned fertility of the land, the ancestors, death and rebirth, knowledge of plants, herbs, fungi and medicine. These spirits were immediate and concerned our everyday experiences. All parts of our lives had a corresponding spirit. The spirits of the above, in particular the stars, took on greater importance when we relied on them for navigation. This later knowledge probably developed in South East Asia and spread out from there after the Laurasian flood.

So why would a anyone adopt a spirit model today? Well, if you want to get deep with spirits, it tends to work better if you don't think of them as parts of your own mind. The spirit model remains best when working with invocation and evocation techniques. And these are powerful techniques.

Getting caught up in belief can prove a danger, so the occassional grounding and return to the psychological model is recommended. Especially when describing practises and experiences to those in different belief systems. In ufology, this model is explored as ultraterrestrial theory by authors such as Jacques Vallee and John Keel. This posits the theory the ufonauts are beings from another dimension rather than another planet.

The Energy Model

The word energy comes to us from a Proto Indo European root verb werg that means to do. When esotericists talk of energy, they generally don't use the word to mean the same thing as scientists. Instead of measurable energy, think of subjective feelings. These can range of feelings of heat or joy generated in meditation or prayer, spooky feelings in haunted houses, that sort of thing. Different traditions use different names for this concept. For example, in Taoism we find the concept of chi, employed in many martial art forms. A strength of this model is that it allows for simple visualisations, and no requirement of communication with entities. You can simply create or experience strong emotions or focus on energies you want to remove, manipulate, transmute and so on. In healing, you can sense the destructive energy of an illness and draw it out, whilst visualising a positive healing energy strengthening the patient.

From the point of view of approaching experiences of high strangeness, the energy model explains some phenomena better than others. Strange lights, eerie feelings, phantom smells or sounds can all be reasonably explain when assuming an energy model. Meetings with entities, alien abductions, ghost sightings and the like become harder to explain without at least some overlap with the other models.

Seeing a universe made of fundamentally of energy does not preclude those energies emerging into forms that exhibit intelligence however. After all, wouldn't we see ourselves, as humans, as examples of entities made of such energies? But then if we allow for this, we blur the line between energy and spirit models.

The Information Model

This is a pretty new model. One of the oldest writings exploring it I'm aware of comes from 'Words made Flesh' by Ramsey Dukes, and essays by the same author that predate the book. Since the film 'The Matrix' there has been an explosion of more mainstream authors writing about the same thing. In many ways the information model resembles the energy model, except instead of energies, the universe is seen as data being processed. Spirits, and even ourselves, then become seen as sub-programs within the main program. Magick is reality hacking. Strange phenomena are bugs, glitches or signs of prior or ongoing hacking attacks. Or maybe even deliberately programmed experiments to observe reactions.

The Advanced technology model

In ufology, materialists seem divided into three camps;

• Sceptics who believe it is all fraud and sighting of whether balloons.
• Those, like the late Dr John E Mack and Carl Jung, who interpret it as a psychological phenomena.
• And those that are convinced of the existence of 'nuts and bolts'* craft, with physical (biological or robotic) alien entities.

Can physical technological explanations work for other kinds strange experiences and the practise of magic? Quite possibly yes. Here we would have to believe in the existence of a science so advanced it appeared to us as magick. Who might possess such technology? Aliens from another world or dimension, future human or post-human time travellers, government black projects or an ultra secret society. We would then need to believe that magick worked because they were arranging for it to work on our behalf via their advanced technology. In magickal practise this would seem a special case of the spirit model. However, from the point of view of paranormal investigation, it requires a whole different approach.

_* The term 'nuts and bolts' is used to signify the material solidity of the craft, and not a belief that actual nuts and bolts were used in the construction.

The Conspiracy model

From a magick point of view, this is a pretty paranoid explanation of why your magick works. It would require the belief that a secret society is observing you at all times and deliberately arranging for magical results to manifest in order to mess with your head. Less than useful on the surface, but given the high number of magicians that are also pranksters, always one worth baring in mind. Did you let slip to a potential prankster that you were doing magic for a given intent? Could they have arranged a 'coincidence'? The bigger the magical result, the bigger and more unlikely the conspiracy required to explain it, until you eventually arrive at a Truman Show scale conspiracy where everyone you know is in on it.

In paranormal investigation this model is perhaps considered more often, given the number of fraudulent claims.

The Meta model

Finally we arrive at the concept of the meta-model. This stems of a pragmatic approach to magic where all models are born in mind, none firmly committed to for any length of time, and the strength of each model considered for each experience and any magical work to be undertaken. Each have their strengths and weaknesses. From a magical point of view, understanding them all allows for choosing the best tool for any job. From an investigator point of view, understanding them all allows for building an understanding of experiencers, who might each cling to a specific model quite strongly, so you can communicate with them in their own language. From an experiencer point of view, being able to see your experience through multiple lenses might help deepen your understanding of it.