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

with so many aspects of the rite, are also held to be carried out for practical
purposes; the washing of the body is thought to allow for the
electromagnetic energy of the sinister current to course between the sexually
locked bodies more freely. For this reason, the male adept also bathes
thoroughly before the secret rite. Of course, the aphrodisiacal aspect of the
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cleansing of the erogenous zones and genitals also comes into play.
The shakti is then carefully massaged with minute amounts of
essential oils, fragrances chosen for the magical significance and influences
induced by their aromas. The use of these scents varies widely within the
actual practice of Tantric cults, although even modern practitioners tend to
avoid synthetic perfumes. The male frequently anoints his alter ego's hand
with jasmine, her breasts and cheeks with patchouli, sandalwood on her
thighs, saffron on the soles of her feet, and musk for the vaginal mound.
Although the use of these scents on the female's body is directed on one level
to the full arousal of the senses, each fragrance, as any modern maker of
perfumes would know, are also highly stimulating aphrodisiacs. Specifically,
these scents are aimed at awakening the dormant powers of the root, or
muladhara, chakra, the lowest of the chakras, where the serpent fire sleeps
coiled near the base of the spinal column.
During the meditative process of the mudra's living deification,
vermilion is daubed on her forehead, a clear dot is placed between her brows,
and her feet and toes are colored scarlet. A small amount of sandalpaste,
often found on statues of goddesses in India, is placed on her face.
The shakti's yoni is worshipped, no longer merely as one particular
human's vagina but as the impersonal mysterious source and matrix of all that
exists, the fountainhead of creation itself. In revering the yoni, the adept
contemplates a portal leading to the core of the universe, the very heart of
reality in the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple of the Nine Gates, from
which all manifestations of maya must enter this plane of reality. Ritual
adoration of the vulva, or yoni puja is completed with application of flowers
and vermilion, traditional Indian modes of honor to divine forces. This act of
literal veneration – a word that once exclusively described the ritual devotion
to the goddess of erotic passion Venus – is designed to awaken in the mudra
a sublime awareness of her incarnation as the Feminine Daemonic in human
form, lifting her above common mortality for the duration of the rite. This
aspect of the rite is probably an archaic remnant of sexual worship dating
back to the earliest form of religion in the Indus Valley.
Other parts of the mudra's body are also consecrated by the male
partner, which are enshrined with divine presences through vocalization of
the appropriate mantra. This phase of the rite, known as nyasa, is also
directed to the glands that radiate the hidden endocrinal power known as
ojas, and the chakra points, the seven vertical lotuses of the subtle body
through which kundalini rises. The ojas is that subtle energy thats deliberate
build-up and cultivation gives a person his or her ability to command
personal authority, and is the bodily powerhouse from which an individual's
magical ability derives. During this complicated operation, the consciousness
of both the male and female practitioner alike is altered to a higher state of
being. For him, his partner is the goddess, and she herself is convinced of her
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own transhuman shakti power, just as the male is transformed into Shiva
during the timeless span of the rite. This self-deification of the human
organism is an essential aspect of left-hand path initiation.
Despite the Vama Marga's emphasis on the Goddess, the male
principle is the focus of other erotic ceremonies. In some autoerotic rites, the
male adept worships himself as a god, anointing his erect penis as the living
godhead. The sacred courtesans, the devadasi, or temple dancers, performed
an invocation of Shiva enacted through ritual fellatio of a consecrated male.