View source for Symbol of Chaos

{{Short description|Symbol from the books of Michael Moorcock}}
[[File:Chaos Star.png|thumb|Chaos Star]]
The '''Symbol of Chaos''' (also known as the '''Chaos Star''') originates from [[Michael Moorcock]]'s [[Elric of Melniboné]] stories and their [[dichotomy]] of Law and Chaos. In them, the Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern.

The symbol has been adopted in [[Role-playing game|role-playing games]] such as ''[[Warhammer (game)|Warhammer]]'' and ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', as well as modern [[occult]] traditions, where it represents [[chaos magic]], and also as a part of [[punk rock]] subculture and branches of [[Contemporary anarchism|modern anarchism]].

==History==
Michael Moorcock conceived this symbol while writing the first [[Elric of Melniboné]] stories in the 1960s. It later became common in popular culture, appearing in occult traditions and role-playing games.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Symbol of Chaos |url=https://www.symbols.com/symbol/symbol-of-chaos |access-date=2023-09-01 |website=www.symbols.com}}</ref> In an interview, Moorcock described how he designed the symbol:<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Rhys |first=Dani |date=2022-11-20 |title=Chaos Star – What Does It Mean and Where Did It Originate? |url=https://symbolsage.com/chaos-star/ |access-date=2023-09-01 |website=Symbol Sage |language=en-US}}</ref>
{{quote|I drew a straightforward geographical quadrant (which often has arrows, too!) – N, S, E, W – and then added another four directions and that was that – eight arrows representing all possibilities, one arrow representing the single, certain road of Law. I have since been told to my face that it is an "ancient symbol of Chaos".}}

In the 1970s, the Chaos Star became the main symbol of [[chaos magic]], a British occult tradition.<ref name=":1" /> It is the official symbol of the [[Illuminates of Thanateros]], a [[magical organization]] dedicated to chaos magic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Chaos Star — Illuminates of Thanateros North America |url=https://iot-na.thanateros.org/chaostar.htm |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=iot-na.thanateros.org}}</ref>

The symbol's first appearance in a commercial role-playing game was in the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' supplement ''[[Deities & Demigods]]'', which featured gods and monsters from Moorcock's books. It was later adopted in ''[[Stormbringer (role-playing game)|Stormbringer]]'' (a role playing game based on Moorcock's Elric stories), ''[[Warhammer (game)|Warhammer]]'',''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', or ''[[Warhammer Age of Sigmar]]'', among other games.<ref name=":0" /> It has occasionally been used astrologically as a symbol for the trans-Neptunian planetoid [[19521 Chaos]].<ref name=miller>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21224-dwarf-planet-syms.pdf|title=Unicode request for dwarf-planet symbols|last=Miller|first=Kirk|date=26 October 2021|website=unicode.org}}</ref>

== Political uses ==
[[File:ChileAnarchist.jpg|alt=Chilean insurrectionary anarchists wearing the Chaos star symbol|thumb|Chilean insurrectionary anarchists wearing the Chaos Star symbol]]
The Chaos Star in its original form has been adopted by multiple Eastern European and North and Latin American activist groups affiliated with [[post-leftism]], [[insurrectionary anarchism]] and [[nihilist anarchism]]. The symbol likely came into modern anarchism movements from [[Punk subculture|punk]] artwork and [[zine]]s fulfilling the need for a unified symbol. A contributing factor to its adoption may be that Moorcock himself identifies as an [[anarchist]].<ref name="Mythmakers & Lawbreakers">{{cite web |last=Killjoy |first=Margaret |date=2009 |title=Mythmakers & Lawbreakers: anarchist writers on fiction |url=http://www.tangledwilderness.org/pdfs/mmlb10-michael-web.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425055349/http://www.tangledwilderness.org/pdfs/mmlb10-michael-web.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2017 |access-date=15 November 2016 |publisher=AK Press}}</ref>

According to [[Anton Shekhovtsov]], [[Aleksandr Dugin]] has used a modified version of the symbol to represent his idea of [[Neo-Eurasianism]], and it can be seen on the logo of his [[Eurasia Party]] and the cover of his book ''[[Foundations of Geopolitics]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shekhovtsov |first=Anton |date=2008-12-01 |title=The Palingenetic Thrust of Russian Neo-Eurasianism: Ideas of Rebirth in Aleksandr Dugin's Worldview |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14690760802436142 |journal=Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=491–506 |doi=10.1080/14690760802436142 |issn=1469-0764 |quote=Occult symbolism plays another important role in Dugin's ideological imagery. The eight-arrow star that became an official symbol of Dugin's organisation had first appeared on the cover of Osnovy geopolitiki, posited in the centre of the outline map of Eurasia. Misleadingly identified by Ingram as a swastika, this symbol is a modified 'Star of Chaos' and can be presumed to refer to 'Chaos Magick' ... The 'Star of Chaos' is one of the symbolic 'tools' adopted from Michael Moorcock's fantasy books|url-access=subscription }}</ref>''

== See also ==
* [[Arrow Cross]]
* [[Dingir]]
* [[Unicursal hexagram]]
* [[Octagram]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commonscat inline|Arrow Star}}

{{Chaos magic series}}
{{Michael Moorcock}}
{{Warhammer 40,000}}

[[Category:Pictograms|Chaos]]
[[Category:Religious symbols|Chaos]]
[[Category:Michael Moorcock's Multiverse]]
[[Category:Chaos magic]]
[[Category:Symbols introduced in the 1960s|Chaos]]
[[Category:Magic symbols|Chaos]]
[[Category:Fictional symbols|Chaos]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Anarchist symbols]]