The universe is a series of chaotic machinations that exist deterministically. It can be seen much like a little black box, where inputs can give reliable and known outputs, yet the actual movements of which move from one point to the next are unknown. More and more, as we interact with, formulate hypotheses about, and merely experience the universe, we find that there are inconsistencies in how we understand their function. While we can reliably predict the outputs of any given input, there are many outputs that cause one to scratch their head when looked at from specific angles. If you don't include enough dimensions in your calculations, the math doesn't seem to make sense.

Nietzsche describes an effect of this black box known as eternal return. Given the same inputs, the same environmental factors, the same "impulses" of the independent actors, the output will always remain the same. With every movement of an atom, with every thought of a child, with every discussion had by each individual, the output is determined by the experience. Each moment that exists creates the realm of possible moments that come after it. Not in the sense of "an absolute and just god" deciding which realm every individual is sent to, but in the sense that we are, by interacting with and making conscious decisions, determining the characteristics of each subsequent moment. Every moment is also determined prior to those moments by conscious individuals making their own decisions.

The butterfly effect describes how, given enough time and entropy, one can safely describe how the flapping of the wings of a butterfly on one side of the world can "cause" a hurricane on the other. Through monumental and diminutive motions, specific movements, even the very act of thinking and experiencing the universe itself, we effect change on the world. A man finding himself getting a sandwich the day after a failed job can be the cause of so much pain and suffering rippling out from central Europe.

Cause and effect are almost completely central to our understanding of the time loop, with each antecedent moment causing each subsequent. A fish being caught off the coast of Japan can be the cause of a stock market crash. If we simply understand that each action is ultimately influenced by our every minor moment, then each of our actions carries with it more weight upon our lives than we realize.

We have found that astrological predictions can predict personality and the future obstacles, not via the fact that the planets align with the stars in such a way that they cause our lives and personalities, but via the way that their positions tend to correlate heavily with certain environmental factors that can coincide with certain relationships, personality developments, and even certain life milestones. We have gathered sufficient evidence to come to believe that these events are so closely correlated that many believe that one caused the other. But of course, the location of a planet hundreds of thousands of miles away and the positions of unrelated (possibly dead) stars that we, by sheer result of our evolutionary trait of seeing patterns, have formed mythological symbols around surely can't be the sole cause of the output of the black box of our lives?

If you ever take a chemistry class in high school - or even better if you manage to at least understand chemistry at a college level - you will be taught that mixing chemical a with chemical b can result in a final chemical c. That the resulting chemical c is the result of a chain of reactions from the two chemicals' atomic structure interacting on such a minute level that the chemical structures change by merely interacting with each other. Now this is an oversimplification, but much in the same way, our experiences change with each interaction, and, in many cases, the interaction with the memory of those experiences.

Peter Carroll attempted to describe the success of magic in a neat and concise formula, utilizing probabilities, subconscious resistance and awareness, personal gnosis and link to the outcome. By no means was he off the mark. These individual items ultimately have the most influence - at least magically - to the expected outcome of a spell. However, if we align ourselves with the black box output of the universe, effectively making the "probability" something will happen as high as possible (or in other words, aligning preceding events to be the most optimal for our desired output), we will find that the effect of our spells are increased tenfold - or at least highly correlated with the desired output. By now, I hope you are picking up what I am putting down, and you haven't hurt your back picking it up.

Divination has existed as a magical action for longer than we have had written language. It can be said to start with the interpretation of the movement of animals - possibly drawn from those same animals being the prime source of food for early groups of nomads. Among the oldest forms of divination are the interpretation of the entrails of a slaughter, the casting of bones (most often animal knuckles), and the "drawing of lots". These seemingly independent outcomes were the inception of many sources of advice for millennia. Even in the Eastern hemisphere, we find the casting of reeds and using a look-up table has been in favor as far back as 1000 BCE. In the Renaissance era, we find that cartomancy picks up steam as a major form of divination, finding its way into even the most devout religious institutions. Their accuracy, often in dispute, cannot be argued as their use expanded into the modern era, becoming more than a fringe activity. When a large enough sample size is reached, patterns that would normally not emerge at a small sample size can be found, or at least superimposed upon by our monkey brains. We often mistake these patterns to be recurrent as we increase the sample size. The eye mimics the structure of a nebula, the leaf the structure of a stream flowing into the ocean, the snowflake the structure of a coastline. Can we say the snowflake is caused by the same factors that built the coastline? The leaf the same factors that flows the river? Often, when testing hypotheses, we attempt to minimize the number of variables outside of our control, but when we discover that there exists more variables than control, we attempt to group these variables according to known patterns of effect to better understand the effects our controls have on the outcome.

Since time immemorial, magicians have studied the effects of Sigils, yet representation of our desires, more complex ideas, and even ancestors and gods have existed since humans have learned to draw on cave walls, and, despite this, the idea of "grouping" sigils together to form a more cohesive worldview has only existed for 15 years - as of the writing of this text. Yet, alchemical texts have used representations and their grouping to inform later alchemists on the processes to complete certain experiments. Masons have developed the use of "memory palaces" - which are simply groupings of symbols of more complex ideas in one place - as a means to remind themselves and, in some cases, other brothers of important places and information. Placing all of these into a cohesive worldview may seem the action of the mad, and I assure you, humble reader, that the world itself is mad. God plays dice, and our mere experience of the world changes both us and the world we experience. Yet, we, as creations both of the universe and ourselves, cannot begin to claim that we influence the world in discreet and subtle ways. Surely, as chaotic as the universe is, we cannot map it out to a level with which we can interact. You cannot begin to deal in free will, as our material conditions, the very stars themselves, have set out our course for us, making sure that our decisions are made long before we even draw our first breath. Surely, the universe is not so uncaring and easily swayed as to bend to the will of a speck of dust on a speck of dust hurtling through the vast emptiness of space.