I. VAMA MARGA Foundations Of The Left-Hand Path - staticfly.net
I. VAMA MARGA Foundations Of The Left-Hand Path - staticfly.net
I. VAMA MARGA Foundations Of The Left-Hand Path - staticfly.net
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electrical shock. Indeed, a jolt of electricity is an appropriate metaphor for<br />
this tangible transmission of power, as those who have undergone the flow<br />
of the sinister kundalini current from one gender to another have often<br />
testified.<br />
Like electricity, the full manifestation of the Kundalini energy is<br />
extremely difficult to control once aroused, a potentially dangerous<br />
operation which permits the practitioner to confront reality as it really is – it<br />
is the most dramatic of the physical mechanisms that allow the initiate a<br />
state of awakening.<br />
This potentially devastating experience is known to have caused<br />
permanent psychic disruption in many who have attempted it. Fittingly, a<br />
metaphoric comparison is made to the dangers involved in disturbing a<br />
sleeping cobra from its slumber: Kundalini, it is said, "awakens from her<br />
sleep as a serpent, struck by a stick, hisses and straightens itself'. What<br />
normally descends is caused to ascend by the will of the initiate. Kundalini,<br />
which means "She Who is Hidden" is the literal presence of the dormant<br />
goddess within every human body. Through controlled breathing, or<br />
pranayama, combined with the ritualized sex act, the feminine-lunar and<br />
masculine-solar streams of energy are merged, resulting in an orgasmic flare<br />
of radiance that illuminates understanding, and activates dormant energy.<br />
Coiled at the seat of Shakti at the muladhara chakra, Kundalini rises<br />
from there, passes through the chakras (or wheels) that line the spinal<br />
column, to be united with Shiva at the Sahasara chakra, where the seat of<br />
Shiva is located. At the crown chakra, the kundalini energy opens the ajna<br />
chakra, or third eye, a subtle organ radiated from the area of the pineal gland<br />
79<br />
in the physical body, allowing the initiate to see for the first time. <strong>The</strong><br />
feminine kundalini force, like maya itself, is said to hypnotize humans and<br />
keep them in thrall to unreality when it lays asleep at the base of the spine,<br />
only serving as an awakening power when it rises.<br />
This spiritual coupling of Shakti and Shiva within the body through<br />
Kundalini-Yoga mirrors the sexual coupling of male and female left-hand<br />
path adepts. In the language of Western theurgy, Kundalini can be<br />
understood as an act of invocation, conjuring the goddess within the<br />
magician's own body. As with all yogic procedures, it is not uncommon for<br />
magical powers, or siddhi, to develop during this process, particularly siddhi<br />
related to the feminine principle, such as enhanced intuition and<br />
clairvoyance. On an archetypal level of consciousness, the symbol of the<br />
kundalini serpent is an enigmatic mixture of male and female imagery, a<br />
hermaphroditic creature that simultaneously brings to mind the common<br />
phallic associations of the erect snake secreting its life-producing venom,<br />
and the feminine nature of the concealed goddess it is said to incarnate.<br />
We can find telling echoes of the ancient Sanskrit word kundalini in<br />
other Indo-European languages. <strong>The</strong> old Anglo-Saxon "cunt", and the<br />
modern English "cunning" are only two of the most pertinent examples.<br />
Another is the name and character of Kundry, a sinister sorceress in the Grail<br />
saga of Parsifal. <strong>The</strong> wild Kundry, described as a "she-devil" and "hell-rose"<br />
is said to have learned her black art in "far Araby" – a hint at the tale's<br />
Persian origins. Her affinity with the malefic wizard Klingsor is clearly that<br />
of initiatrix; she is Klingsor's dark kundlini-shakti, his anima externalized.<br />
Through Kundry, Klingsor hopes to seduce the pure fool Parsifal and gain<br />
control of the Graal, enduring symbol of the Feminine Daemonic. <strong>The</strong><br />
minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach embedded his tale with a wealth of<br />
esoteric references; many of them suggestive of the cult of the Feminine<br />
Daemonic hidden within the troubadour tradition.<br />
Kundalini, understood as a hidden feminine power, is nearly identical<br />
with the Germanic Goddess Holda, whose name can also be translated as<br />
"She Who is Hidden". This heathen goddess survived well into the Christian