I. VAMA MARGA Foundations Of The Left-Hand Path - staticfly.net

One cannot speak of left-hand path initiation without attempting to
define the psyche, that elusive but all-important personal essence that is the
consciousness itself. Although the importance of the flesh to sex magic must
not be underestimated, the physical body alone is only the tool that the
psyche manipulates to exercise its subtler and less tangible objectives. Of
course, the argument has been offered that the psyche may well be nothing
more than a complex phantasm produced by the brain, and is therefore
nothing more than another bodily phenomenon. While this is a quandary no
magician should ignore, a scientific analysis of this question extends beyond
the scope of this study. Let us instead focus on attempting to provide a
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definition of the soul/psyche that serves the initiate and the magician in his or
her work.
Of no small significance to the initiate working with the
masculine/feminine polarities intrinsic to erotic magic is the fact that the very
word is derived directly from the Greek name Psyche, the Hellenic goddess
of the soul. This connection between our modern word "psyche" and the
name of a goddess illustrates the very ancient understanding of a mystery
central to the left-hand path, "the path of woman". The psyche, understood as
an indwelling goddess, is essentially a feminine essence that literally
animates the human being, related to the feminine shakti power so central to
the traditional Indian left-hand path. In the Gnostic tradition, the idea of the
divine Sophia, the spark of divine wisdom that is said to be hidden in every
human being, is also understood as a female entity. In the modem West, the
influential psych-ologist Carl Jung provided us with a contemporary model of
this concept. Jung's anima, which he borrowed from one of the Latin words
for the psyche, was defined specifically as the feminine psychic essence
inhabiting every man's consciousness.
The best-known myth concerning the goddess Psyche also sheds
light on the subject of this book, for Psyche was said to have fallen madly in
love with none other than Eros. This passion between the spirit and sexuality
demonstrates a clear esoteric understanding in the ancient world of the
inextricable bond that exists between two levels of being that the
Christianized West has always insisted on separating. Much of the Occidental
magical tradition maintains this division between the Erotic and the Psychic,
although they arc reconciled again in the work of the left-hand path magician.
While every level of your psychobiological being is impacted and
transformed through the process of left-hand path initiation – including the
body so scorned by the male-directed mass religions – it is in the more fluid
psyche, your core self, that the most enduring Remanifestations occur. Every
culture and metaphysical teaching possesses its own system of soulcraft, and
we recommend that the pragmatic magician compare as many of these as
possible before determining his or her own approach to the development of
the psyche.
An Exercise In Etymology
Hopefully, in reading this chapter, you have identified some magical words
or phrases that you may have adopted during the course of your life that are
deserving of etymological analysis. Although this book is written from the
perspective of left-hand path sex magicians for others who wish to learn this
art, the reader should not instantly adopt the identity of "left-hand path sex
magician" unless the principles and exercises outlined here actually speak to
you.
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As for the Sanskrit jargon of the left-hand path tradition itself shakti,
kundalini, mantra, maya, yoni and so forth the magician should understand
that these words are but useful descriptive devices. One shouldn't lose the
forest for the trees by becoming so immersed in nomenclature that one
neglects the far more useful realities these sounds symbolize. To do so would