The word "Illuminates" refers to the claimed tradition of calling societies where those who have mastered the secrets of magic help bring others to mastership "the Illuminati".

In 1976, Ray Sherwin and Peter Carroll, two young British occultists interested in ritual magic, began to publish a magazine called The New Equinox.

Dissatisfied with the state of the magical arts and the deficiencies they saw in the available occult groups, they announced the creation of the Illuminates of Thanateros in a 1978 issue of their magazine.

"[9] In contrast to established neopagan, occultist or esoteric Christian magical organizations, it took its experimentalist approach and many of its concepts from science, especially chaos theory, as many of its early members were scientists.

[10] The group says about itself that in its early years, it was "rarely more than a loose correspondence network and a few people meeting for rituals in East Morton" and that the sustained organization was established only in 1987.

Ourano-Barbarian is not spoken as an everyday language and its purpose is to distract the conscious mind and free the magician from the linear thought process while creating ritual proclamations and statements of intent.

[19] After publishing Liber Kaos, Carroll retired from active participation in the order, though he remains on good terms with many of the longstanding members.