April 26, 2026: The Wizard has gone.
Mogg Morgan wrote “With great sadness, we have to inform you that the celebrated occultural author, teacher and innovator Peter J Carroll passed away unexpectedly in the early hours of Wednesday, 22nd April 2026. He was a star whose books and ideas changed the lives of millions. He was instrumental in the birth of Chaos Magick, one of the most significant new magical/philosophical streams of thought of our times. He is survived by a wife and two daughters.”
Remembering Pete, “If there isn’t a photo, it didn’t happen.”
That was one of Pete’s favourite sayings. He would often deliver it with that unmistakable twinkle in his eye and the dry humour that so perfectly reflected his character. It was classic Pete — playful, irreverent, sceptical and just provocative enough to make you stop and think.
And yet there is a delightful irony in those words. For someone who transformed the landscape of modern magic, there are remarkably few photographs of Pete in the public domain. It is almost as though he quietly stepped aside and allowed his ideas to take centre stage instead. Perhaps that was entirely fitting. Pete never sought celebrity; he sought understanding.
I first met Pete in 2008 at the Colours of Chaos conference, in London. Like many others there, I was looking forward to meeting the man whose writings had challenged so many assumptions about magic. His books had already inspired a generation of practitioners to think independently, to experiment fearlessly and to question accepted truths.
Meeting him was an absolute pleasure. Despite his reputation as one of the foremost magical thinkers of our age, Pete was approachable, generous and wonderfully unpretentious. Conversation flowed easily, punctuated by his sharp wit and infectious sense of humour.
When I asked whether he would be willing to give an interview for Wiccan Rede, he agreed immediately. The resulting conversation was published in two parts in the Beltane and Lammas 2009 editions of this magazine. Looking back now, I realise what a privilege that was. It gave me the opportunity to meet not simply the author of Liber Null and Psychonaut, but a man of enormous curiosity whose mind never seemed content to rest.
Pete is rightly recognised as one of the principal architects of Chaos Magic and as one of the pioneers of the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT). Through works such as Liber Null, Psychonaut, Liber Kaos, The Octavo and The Apophenion, he fundamentally changed the way many people approached magical practice. Rather than offering another fixed system of belief, he encouraged us to treat magic as an experiment — to observe, to question and to discover through direct experience.
Although our magical paths were different, we shared something essential. Whether Wiccan, Druid, Heathen, ceremonial magician or practitioner of Chaos Magic, we are all explorers of mystery. Pete reminded us that genuine magic begins with curiosity. He invited us not to believe blindly, but to investigate, to challenge and, when necessary, to rethink everything we thought we knew.
What impressed me most during our interview was that he never pretended to have all the answers. Even after decades of writing and teaching, his interests continued to evolve. Mathematics, cosmology, consciousness, philosophy and the nature of reality itself all became part of his continuing exploration. He remained, until the end, a seeker.
As Co-Editor of Wiccan Rede Online, I am grateful that our magazine was able to preserve a small part of Pete’s voice through those interviews. More personally, I am grateful to have met the man behind the books. His kindness, generosity and quiet humour left as much of an impression on me as his formidable intellect.
Pete’s influence reaches far beyond the tradition he helped to create. His ideas continue to inspire magicians of every path who value independent thought over dogma and experience over unquestioned belief. His books will undoubtedly continue to provoke, challenge and inspire future generations.
Pete once joked, “If there isn’t a photo, it didn’t happen.” Perhaps he was only half serious. His legacy is preserved not by photographs, but by the ideas that continue to spark curiosity in others. It is found in the minds that have been opened, the conversations that have been shared, the questions that continue to be asked, and the lives that have been changed. By that measure, Pete’s life happened in abundance.
Farewell, Pete, may your journey continue into the mysteries you spent a lifetime exploring. See you in the Multiverse.
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