Chaos Magic and Why You Cannot Do Magic Wrong | The Seven, Episode 10
In Episode 10 of The Seven: Living with the Planets, Lucy Baldwin explores chaos magic, sigils, symbolic action, nervous system activation, ritual structure, and one of the most liberating magical truths:
You are not going to do magic wrong.
Chaos magic offers a radically simple frame. Create a symbol. Assign it meaning. Charge it with attention, sensation, or belief. Then let it work.
This does not mean all symbols are equal in power or depth. Lucy makes a case for the strength of older symbols, planetary archetypes, cultural rituals, and long-used magical grooves.
But chaos magic is useful because it breaks the spell of perfectionism.
Magic is not a recipe.
It is a conversation with reality, the psyche, the body, and the symbolic world.
Watch or listen to Episode 10 of The Seven here:
Key Takeaways
In this episode, Lucy explores:
chaos magic as a simple, symbol-based approach to magic
why you cannot truly “do magic wrong”
how fear of consequences can keep people from practicing
why all action, magical or ordinary, has unknown ripple effects
sigils as symbols created from desire or intention
how to make a basic chaos magic sigil
why planetary archetypes can strengthen magical work
how sensation and the nervous system charge ritual
gratitude as a felt state of already receiving
why letting go matters after ritual
the power of consistent ritual structure
Chaos Magic Is Wildly Simple
Chaos magic is useful because it strips magic down to its simplest structure.
A symbol is created.
A meaning is assigned.
An action is performed.
Magic has happened.
That can sound almost too simple, especially for people who have been trained to think magic requires the exact right words, herbs, colors, timing, planetary hours, and ritual procedures.
Those things can matter.
They can strengthen the communication.
They can deepen the ritual field.
But they are not what makes magic possible.
Magic is already part of how human beings move through the world.
We make symbols constantly.
We assign meaning constantly.
We act as if invisible realities matter constantly.
Chaos magic simply makes that process conscious.
You Are Not Going to Do Magic Wrong
One of the most important teachings in this episode is that magic is not a fragile recipe.
You are not going to ruin everything because you used the wrong candle.
You are not doomed because you said a prayer awkwardly.
You are not disqualified because your ritual looked simple, messy, or personal.
Magic is not a school exam.
It is communication.
Some symbols communicate more clearly than others. Some rituals carry more power because they are ancient, repeated, embodied, or emotionally charged.
But the deeper principle remains:
Magic is relationship.
It is not perfection.
The Fear of Magical Consequences
Many people are afraid of magic because they are afraid of doing harm.
They worry about unforeseen consequences.
They worry about backlash.
They worry that if they ask for the wrong thing or perform the wrong ritual, something terrible will happen.
Lucy offers a grounding perspective:
Everything has consequences.
Every action.
Every word.
Every choice.
Every silence.
We never fully know what the ripple effects of anything will be.
Magic is not uniquely dangerous because it has consequences. Life itself has consequences.
The point is not to become reckless.
The point is to stop treating magic as if it is more morally terrifying than every other way you participate in reality.
Magic Is Already Everywhere
A simple superstition like knocking on wood is already a kind of magical act.
It is a tiny protection ritual.
A symbolic action.
A way of interacting with fate, luck, speech, and possibility.
You do not have to call it chaos magic for it to function magically.
Human beings have always created little rituals like this.
We bless things.
We knock on wood.
We avoid saying certain things out loud.
We carry objects that feel lucky.
We mark thresholds.
We repeat phrases.
We use symbols to shift our relationship with reality.
Chaos magic helps us see that magic is not far away.
It is embedded in human behavior.
Why Old Symbols Have Power
Chaos magic can use arbitrary symbols.
You can create a sigil from scratch.
You can assign meaning to a shape.
You can invent a ritual.
And it can work.
But Lucy also emphasizes the power of older symbols.
Planetary archetypes, deities, hymns, prayers, cultural gestures, and long-used ritual forms carry grooves in the collective psyche.
The planets are especially powerful because they are ancient symbolic intelligences.
People have related to Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon for centuries.
When you work with them, you are not only making up a private symbol.
You are entering an old current.
That can give ritual weight.
How to Make a Simple Chaos Magic Sigil
A sigil is a symbol created from an intention.
Here is the basic process Lucy describes:
Write a phrase for what you want as if it has already happened.
For example:
“I have clarity.”
“I received the support I needed.”
“This opportunity came to me.”
The wording matters because if you write “I want clarity,” you may be charging the wanting rather than the having.
Remove the vowels.
Remove repeating letters.
Use the remaining letters to create a symbol.
At first, it may look clunky.
That is fine.
Draw it again.
Simplify it.
Smooth it.
Let it evolve.
Eventually, you will have a symbol that may no longer look like the original letters, but carries the meaning because you created it from them.
That symbol is your sigil.
Charging the Sigil
Once the sigil exists, it can be charged.
This means giving it attention, energy, sensation, or emotional force.
You might charge it by:
meditating on it
staring at it
breathing with it
placing it in a ritual
activating strong emotion
activating embodied pleasure or erotic energy
feeling gratitude as if the thing has already happened
The key is sensation.
Magic becomes more powerful when it is not only mental.
The nervous system matters.
The body matters.
The physical felt experience of the desired reality matters.
Why Sensation Makes Magic Stronger
A ritual that stays only in the head can remain abstract.
But when you bring in sensation, you bring the magic into the body.
You feel the end state.
You feel gratitude.
You feel the body receiving.
You feel the reality of the thing you are asking for as if it has already arrived.
This is not pretending.
It is embodiment.
The nervous system is how you experience reality.
So when magic touches the nervous system, it becomes more physical, more memorable, and more alive.
Gratitude as Magical Embodiment
Gratitude is one of the simplest ways to charge a ritual.
Not vague gratitude.
Not forced positivity.
A felt state of:
Thank you.
This has already been given.
I can feel what receiving this is like.
That kind of gratitude pulls the desire into the body.
It lets the nervous system taste the end state.
This is part of why ritual can be so powerful: it lets you practice inhabiting the reality you are calling in.
Letting Go Without Clinging
After charging a sigil, many chaos magic traditions recommend hiding it, putting it away, burning it, forgetting it, or otherwise releasing constant attention.
The point is not amnesia.
The point is to avoid grasping.
Neediness can distort magic.
Obsessively checking, worrying, pining, and clinging keeps you in the state of not having.
There is a subtle art here:
Wanting sincerely.
Asking clearly.
Feeling gratitude fully.
Then releasing the desperate grip.
Magic works better when desire is not strangled by panic.
Ritual Structure Makes Magic Stronger
Even though chaos magic can be simple, Lucy also values consistent ritual structure.
A familiar structure tells the psyche:
We are in ritual space now.
That structure might include:
cleansing the space
lighting a candle
invoking a planet, deity, archetype, or presence
reading a hymn or poem
performing a symbolic action
feeling gratitude or devotion
closing the ritual in a consistent way
The specific action can change from ritual to ritual.
But the rhythm matters.
Repeated structure creates a ritual blueprint.
Over time, the body recognizes it.
The mind recognizes it.
The magic deepens.
Magic Is a Conversation, Not a Recipe
This may be the real heart of the episode.
Magic is not a recipe.
It is a conversation.
With reality.
With your own mind.
With the body.
With archetypes.
With the symbolic world.
With the thing you desire.
Chaos magic gives permission to simplify.
Planetary magic gives depth, history, and archetypal weight.
Nervous system activation brings the ritual into the body.
Ritual structure helps the psyche know where it is.
And letting go allows the magic to breathe.
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Lucy Baldwin (00:01.336)
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Seven. I'm Lucy Baldwin and this podcast is all about living with the planets and doing planetary magic. So today I wanna talk about chaos magic because chaos magic is wildly simple and I think that having an understanding of it and the perspective of it can help us understand our own magic and help us come into better relationship with working with the planets.
and ourselves. the idea with chaos magic is that all you have to do for magic to work is essentially create a symbol that represents the thing that you want to happen and then do that thing. And thus a magic has been done and that's it. So you could say,
I'm going to scribble on the wall and that means that nobody unfriendly can enter my house. And that is how simple magic can be. And the reason I think this is important is because something that I come up against again and again and again in my courses and I have noticed that I get fewer and fewer of these questions.
And I think it's because I'm doing the good work out here sharing this stuff and also because I just, I've, you know, a lot of the people who take my courses have taken previous courses and so they've gotten this spiel many times or heard it many times. But the idea is that you can't and won't do it wrong. And that it is true that there are certain symbols that are stronger than others and that can be
let's say more effective communication, right? Than others. But magic, like you can't get it wrong. And I think a lot of people are also scared of magic because they're scared of doing harm. They're scared of unforeseen consequences. They're scared of repercussions. And I think this is a really important thing to address because the truth is that
Lucy Baldwin (02:23.668)
everything that we do has repercussions. Everything that we do has consequences. And we have no idea what the consequences are of any of our actions. And we certainly have no control over it. So, you know, probably a lot of us, I think in the 90s, it was really big, this idea of the butterfly effect, that a butterfly flapping its wings could affect
things that are happening on the other side of the planet and that every little thing is connected to every other little thing. so essentially everything that we do is extremely consequential and yet we have no idea what the consequences are. And so to think that we could understand that like A leads to B, which leads to C,
especially with magic, you know, I think a lot of people, get ideas in our head and we get scared, we get worried, and we sort of map meaning onto things that, you know, who can say what the true meaning of things are, who can say, you know, what the true connection is. But I think that that can definitely intimidate people when it comes to doing magic. And so I just...
I want to encourage you that this kind of magic that we're doing, it's...
It's very natural. It's very simple. And it's no different from anything else that we do. It's part of how we behave in the world is to do these symbols. And I think about when I was a kid, my dad took me on a trip when I was 13 to Europe. we were very superstitious. This was before I knew anything about magic.
Lucy Baldwin (04:25.89)
but we were very superstitious and so we would always knock on wood. And we actually carried a little piece of wood with us everywhere we went. And it was actually like a triangular piece of a molding. Like it was a very sort of fancy molding sample. I have no idea where it came from or how we got it, but we would always knock on it everywhere we went and we would keep it at hand because we were always knocking on it while we were traveling. And
I just think about how that is. I'm not even going to say that that's chaos magic because I think it's much bigger, right? There's actually a lot sort of symbol behind that. There's a lot of sort of like history and there's actually some grooves in that, right? This idea that knocking on wood would sort of protect you from jinxing yourself or protect you from bad luck.
is very steeped in our cultural identity. It's very steeped in sort of Christian history. But there is a way in which it's like we believed that doing that would protect us and it did. It's like, I don't know, just how we create these meanings and they evolve sometimes through culture. But
That is a form of magic, right? It's a small little ritual of protection is what that is. And so I just want to paint the picture here that magic can be so, so, so simple. And I do believe that...
there can be more power in certain archetypes, in working with archetypes than creating sort of arbitrary symbols. And I also know that arbitrary symbols can be extremely powerful in and of themselves. And there's more to it than just... than like following a recipe, right? Like magic is not a recipe that you follow.
Lucy Baldwin (06:45.706)
It is a conversation that you're having with reality, with your own mind. so, yeah, I think that, I don't know what else I have to say on this. It's only been six minutes, Jesus Christ. seven.
Lucy Baldwin (07:06.816)
Now, one thing I will say that definitely enhances magic. So there's a couple of things. One, as I've mentioned a few times on this podcast, is working with these old symbols, working with these deep grooves. So the planets, the archetypes of the planets as these symbols that already exist and hold a certain power just by virtue of having...
the history and the of the places that they take within the collective psyche, we could call it. But there's also bringing magic into like bringing in sensation, bringing in sort of like feeling, know, whether that be like emotional feeling, but also physical feeling and activating the nervous system.
So of course our nervous system is a really big part of, know, that's how we experience our bodies. That's how we experience the physical world. That's how we experience the reality that we're living in. And so, you know, the nervous system is how we feel sensations like, you know,
that we touch things and we feel them, that we smell things and we feel them, that we see things and hear things and we feel them. And also how we feel the sensations that are in our body, how we feel pain in our body, how we feel warmth in our body, how we feel, I was going to say heat, but what I mean by heat is like tension or energy or excitement, tickles, you know,
Like we feel our gut, we feel our heart, we feel our reproductive organs. And so a lot of people use those organs also to elicit sensation and in chaos magic, this is actually fairly common. So a lot of people will recommend a really simple process for making sigils. And then you would charge those sigils by
Lucy Baldwin (09:28.178)
activating those more pleasure and sort of erotic nature in your body while staring at those sigils. The point of this is that the sigil is a symbol that you've literally written. And I can tell you the process. I can give you really simple instructions.
you write down the phrase of the thing that you want, the thing that you're trying to create or manifest or call in. And I recommend writing it as though it has already happened. Because if you write it as though you want it, then you are magicing the wanting of something rather than the having of it. So,
I have X or I won X or I got X or X happened to me, right? Like it's already happened. And then you delete, cross out, erase all of the vowels. You delete, cross out, erase all of the repeating letters. And then you have your core letters that you work with. And then you use those to craft
a symbol and you can evolve that symbol over time. So you start by sort of like putting each of the letters onto the symbol and you'll get this sort of like weird clunky, stupid looking thing. And then you can kind of start to smooth it out and just write like new iterations of it. I'll often have just like a whole page of like the sort of progression and then I'll end up with something that's sort of like smooth and much more simple. And maybe it won't have, you won't actually be able to see all the letters in it, but I've like gone through this sort of
process of creating it from those letters. So it has evolved, but I created it. And so I know what the symbol is. I know what it represents. And then I would charge it. And you can charge it by meditating while staring at it. But you can also charge it, like I said, by activating your nervous system, using your sort of like erotic sexual energy, and then looking at
Lucy Baldwin (11:41.919)
looking at the sigil while you do it. And this is just a common, this is just a common really simple chaos magic sigil. And then a lot of times people will suggest, and this is an old thing, not old, but a lot of people are really into this idea of like, kind of putting it, hiding it somewhere where you're not going to see it. You don't want to like think about it all the time. You don't want to be pining after the results. You want to kind of just like...
let it happen, right? Because thinking about it and being reminded of it creates that sort of like grasping and we want to hold things more lightly, right? This is a big piece of this like manifestation side of things is like holding things in such a way that we're able to allow them to happen without so much attachment, without that neediness, without that graspiness. It's kind of like
with my kids, you know, when the younger siblings are just so desperate to play with the older siblings and nothing makes the older siblings want to play with them less. Right? I just, see it. I have this happens at numerous, varying age levels amongst my five children. And, you know, it's not very seductive to be desperate. Right. And so we can think about that in terms of what we're trying to create in our lives. This like clinging, grasping.
energy and how do we sort of let go of that? And this is something that like a learning this balance is something that it would be hard for me to sort of teach on this 20 minute podcast episode. But what I'm trying to say, so I guess actually now I've addressed sort of three things that can make our magic more powerful. So just to review, number one is, well, so the first of all, chaos magic is magic can be so simple.
It can be so simple. It's just a symbol. It can be arbitrary. You create the symbol. You do the symbol. And then the magic has been done. It can be that simple. And then ways to elevate our magic is one, we can work with archetypes, deities, forms, of practices, symbols that already exist, that have power.
Lucy Baldwin (14:04.942)
And I actually think that knocking on wood is a great example of that for a protection ritual. And you could even do like a whole ritual in which you knock on wood as a symbol of protection. Then there's...
But especially, like, I'm really into using planets and working with planetary deities. And I've talked before, I have a whole episode called, the Planets or something like that, just a few episodes ago, about why I love this particular symbol set. And then, you know, even within that, it's like there's old poems, like there's the Orphic hymns that you can read, and that really sort of...
I feel like energizes those symbols and brings even more power to the ritual because you're using something that many thousands of people have used over centuries. so that I know a lot of people and I have had this impulse where it's like, want to use something new. And sometimes I do, but I think reading those poems does.
carry a certain weight and it increases the weight. then the second thing that I mentioned was activating the nervous system. So, you know, feeling it, like trying to bringing in the feeling. And another way that I do this and I talk about this in my programs is especially in the way of like when we're feeling gratitude or we're feeling appreciation.
And one of the ways that we can sort of like boost magic or a ritual is to feel the appreciation for the thing that we're asking for as if it's already happened. And so feeling that physical state of having already received the thing is a really powerful thing to sort of incorporate into your magic because you're pulling it into the physical felt realm.
Lucy Baldwin (16:15.188)
you're giving yourself, you're allowing yourself to feel what it feels like to have already had the thing. you're sort of, you're really signaling like, this is what I want to feel like, this is the end state that I'm going for. And it's about the feeling and it's grounded in the body. And grounding in the body is a big part of what I'm talking about here when I'm saying like, bringing it into sensation. And then the next thing that I just mentioned,
Lucy Baldwin (16:50.85)
I have no idea. I had mentioned it. had a third thing. I have no idea what it was. That's really annoying.
Lucy Baldwin (17:01.356)
Maybe it'll come to me. And another thing that I want to mention is I actually am a big fan of having a similar ritual structure so that when I'm doing ritual, I'm sort of opening and closing the rituals the same way, or at least with a similar rhythm, a similar pattern.
sort of like an outline, like it kind of has the same outline, it has the same opening acts, it has a similar sort of order of events, and not always exactly the same, because some rituals have different elements that other rituals might not have, but, you know, I'm always gonna like cleanse my space, I'm always gonna light a candle, I'm always going... I'm usually gonna... I'm gonna invoke something probably, and that will probably involve poetry, it may involve some chanting, different things.
I'm going to then have my sort of symbolic actions that I'm taking. And this is the part that's most likely to change from one ritual to another. Then I'm going to feel into, I'm going to feel gratitude. I'm going to have that sort of devotional reverence, appreciation, gratitude, sense of like, holy shit, thank you so much for having given me this thing that I'm asking for. Or,
if it's not that I'm asking for something, because sometimes in ritual I'm not asking for something. Sometimes I'm just connecting to something greater for myself. Sometimes I'm just seeking wisdom. Sometimes I'm just making an offering. And so then maybe it's just feeling appreciation for that archetypes existence, feeling appreciation for life, feeling appreciation for whatever it is that I'm thinking about within this context of the ritual. And then I will...
you know, close the ritual in a similar manner as I close every ritual. And so I've created a pattern and sort of a blueprint so that I always know when I'm in a ritual. And it's actually, it's simple, but it's also, I think, powerful. And then the last thing that I was saying that can make a ritual really powerful is...
Lucy Baldwin (19:18.688)
Nope, I still can't remember it.
the fuck was I talking about?
Lucy Baldwin (19:30.414)
talking about like knocking on wood and then I was talking about
Lucy Baldwin (19:39.726)
Talking about chaos magic.
Lucy Baldwin (19:47.438)
I gave instructions for how to do a sigil.
I got it. And then the last thing that I sort of touched on earlier is this idea of holding it without that sort of clinging desperation, holding it like, yes, of course I want it and I would be so grateful and I'm so grateful that that's what's coming to me and I can find
a piece in just sort of knowing that that's happening. I don't have to obsess about it. I don't have to think about it. I don't have to worry about it. And I don't have to fixate on it. can just sort of like trust that it's coming and allow it to happen and just sort of like be free in the peace and knowing that that's happening. I hope that... Yeah. So that's...
Chaos Magic, that's me again for the umpteenth time telling you that you're not gonna do it wrong. And then a few things that you can do to enhance your magic and make sure that it's super ultra powerful. Thank you so much. and I do want to let you know that I have a free community called Inner Circle and you can join at the link and I would love to have you. do.
free rituals every month. So you're welcome to come and join and participate in a ritual. I try to make them fun and sort of, they're not super heavy. more, yeah, they're just, they're fun ways to connect and be in community and do magic and connect with these planetary archetypes. And I hope to see you there.
New to Lucy’s work?
Start with Lucy Baldwin’s complete overview of planetary magic here
This episode is part of The Seven: Living with the Planets, a podcast exploring planetary magic as a path of self-growth, ritual practice, desire, embodiment, and spiritual transformation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is chaos magic?
Chaos magic is a flexible approach to magic that often uses personally created symbols, intentions, sigils, belief, and altered states to produce magical effects.
Can I do magic wrong?
You can become more skillful, but magic is not a fragile formula. It is more like symbolic communication with reality, the psyche, and the body.
What is a sigil?
A sigil is a symbol created from an intention. In chaos magic, sigils are often made by writing a desired outcome, removing repeated letters, and turning the remaining letters into a symbolic design.
Why are planetary symbols powerful?
Planetary symbols carry long-standing archetypal weight. Working with Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, or the Moon connects your ritual to old symbolic grooves.
Why is letting go important after magic?
Letting go helps release grasping and desperation. It lets the ritual stand as a completed act rather than keeping you stuck in the feeling of not having.
Next Steps
If this episode resonated with you, continue exploring Lucy Baldwin’s work here:
You’ll find current offerings, free practices, podcast links, and ways to go deeper.
A good next step is the free guided Existential Kink practice available there, especially if you want to explore desire, shadow, receiving, and radical approval in a more embodied way.