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

During two-person magical workings, sinister current sex
magicians incarnate these divine hypostases of cosmic masculinity and
cosmic femininity in a constant state of metamorphosis, taking on a
multitude of forms. The couple's magic flows into the world from the erotic
interplay of masculine and feminine currents, creating or destroying
phenomena in the world just as Shiva/Shakti's never-ending coupling,
sometimes known in Tantric lore as "the great rite" creates and destroys the
universe.
Although many modern left-hand path sex magicians in the West
are drawn to the Indian symbolism and pantheon of gods, the initiatory
coitus of divine male and female essences is not at all restricted to the
mythological symbolism of Shiva/Shakti. The sex-magical rite may be
effectively manifested on the terrestrial plane using the symbolism of any
cultural tradition. The Nordic Wotan and Freya, Set and his bride Astarte
(Babalon), the succubus Lilith and Samael, and countless other divine
couples representing aspects of the transhuman male and female essences in
their myriad of forms are equally appropriate. Ultimately, left-hand path sex
magicians are not obliged to incarnate the forms of any known divinities, the
elevation of their own consciousnesses to divine states can be accomplished
without recourse to any mythological prototypes. Left-hand path sexual
magic is not devoted to the submissive worship of deities; the final objective
is the transformation of the human magician into a divine force through
erotic initiation. The selection of a particular god-form to incarnate as a step
towards his or her own self-deification is the prerogative of the human adept
undergoing initiation, not a matter of blind faith in the supernatural.
Despite Tantra's integration of the male and female polarities into
its worldview, the feminine pole is accorded by far the most importance. The
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extent of Tantric devotion to the goddess Shakti is illustrated by the fact that
male Tantrikas are commonly referred to simply as shaktas. It is Shakti, the
feminine manifestation of the dual Godhead, who is especially accentuated
by adherents of the left-hand path as she who gives birth to, sustains,
permeates, vivifies, and ultimately annihilates the cosmos. The leftward
current is often referred to as "the better half', a saying reflected in the
modern Western custom of referring to one's wife, the shakti power, as "my
better half'. This avowed superiority of the left over the right is not a matter
of moral superiority; the sinister force of Woman is primarily deemed better
in the left-hand path because it is perceived as stronger, and is in fact the
only power dynamic enough to create initiation.
A concise explanation of the willed overcoming of the rightward
male properties of the body and universe by the feminine sinister force is
provided in the Mahakala Tantra. Although the Sanskrit terminology may
be daunting at first to those unfamiliar with it, the following passage clearly
outlines the underlying process of all left-hand path operations, albeit in
poetic terms not instantly accessible to the rational side of the brain:
"Purusa [pure consciousness] is called right (Daksina, because he is the
right side of the body) and Shakti is called left, (Vama because she is the left
side of the body). So long as the right and left, the male and female, remain
equally powerful, so long alone does the bondage of samsara [the world of
appearances blocking core reality] endure. When by dint of intense sadhana
[spiritual practice] the left shakti has been awakened, when the left has
overpowered Purusa, the right shakti, and lost herself in gracious joy on his
body, that is to say when both the right and the left are filled with her power
then she who is bliss unalloyed grants highest liberation to Jiva [the
individual consciousness, perhaps comparable to the Western 'soul']."
Opposite Doing
As we have seen, a celebration of inversion and opposition is keyed into the
very phrase Vama Marga – the contrary path. Accordingly, the method of