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

implies at least some element of control, either through guidance or
manipulation. It implies, that is, a technique whereby reality is encouraged,
persuaded, induced or coerced to conform to certain specific objectives.
Magic, in short, is the process of exploiting the malleability of reality, and of
shaping it – or alchemically transmuting it – in accordance with given
purposes or goals."
Much as with any consideration of the objective value of artistic creation,
what one magician considers an experience of infinite profundity may seem
entirely worthless or even ridiculous to another magician. For this reason,
among many others, magic is a discipline ill-suited for those who require
hard and fast rules and absolutely verifiable results.
Although we use the word magician in this text to facilitate ease of
communication, it should be noted that those operating outside of a Western
classical cultural framework are not limited to this word to describe
themselves. The Sanskrit word siddha is commonly used in India to describe
those who practice magic, and is certainly appropriate to the left-hand path,
considering its sub-continental roots. Related to this word through their
common Indo-European language stream is the Nordic practitioner of seithr,
a left-hand path sex magic of Northern Europe, a Hyperborean shamanism.
From Siberia comes the word shaman, the master of ecstasy whose magic is
achieved while in a state of trance. A multiplicity of other ways to describe
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the magician can be discovered in the esoteric traditions of the world; a
surprising amount of power can be awakened by locating exactly the right
designation for your practice.
Magic Black And White
A word already fraught with ambiguity and open to interpretation becomes
even mistier when painted a specific color. There are those who insist on
designating this form of magic as "black" and that form as "white." In our
view, this color-coding does nothing but perpetuate very limited and
arbitrary cultural and religious prejudices at the expense of clarity. At its
most simplistic and ignorant level, the black magic/white magic appellation
is connected to the equally primitive good/evil dichotomy. Since we
attribute no objective meaning whatsoever to the terms "good" and "evil", it
only follows that we must reject the popular consideration of black magic as
magic performed in the service of Evil and white magic as magic that
perpetuates the Good. Ancient Greek magi, despite their relative lack of
moral judgment, described practices intended to harm, bind or hypnotize as
kakotechnia, "the evil art". This concept can he compared to the common
Indian description of Tantric left-hand path magic – especially the
previously described six malevolent rites – as Abichara.
Historically, the phrase black magic seems to have been devised by
the alchemist Albertus Magnus, the thirteenth century mage who proposed
that black magic was the "demonic" opposite of a benevolent natural magic,
which he attributed to heavenly angelic powers. The twentieth century mage
Gurdjieff, often denigrated as a black magician by his detractors, proposed a
typically idiosyncratic definition of black magic, describing it as "a
falsification, an imitation of the outward appearance of 'doing'." For those
magicians whose identity formation demands a simple, easily grasped label,
the roles of black magician and white magician are attractive categorizations
requiring a bare minimum of thought to adopt. Self-described black
magicians, enamoured of popular conceptions of the allure of evil, and
usually motivated by a need to prove their social defiance, can step into an
instant one-size-fits-all subcultural role satisfying the need for easy rebellion.
At the other extreme, the self-described white magician, who is often
compelled to prove his or her social acceptability, can pat themselves heartily
on their hacks for becoming such benevolent beings. Both tactics reduce the
complex multiverse of magical operations to a cartoon level. If such