The complete and controlled expression of our inner faculties
cannot be omitted from the reintegration of our identity, the harmonious
reawakening of our chakra and the correct and aware use of our vital energies.
Almost the entire sum of our vital and spiritual energies
originates in the sexual sphere (a much broader concept than simply ‘having sex’).
The sexual energy that I am referring to can express itself directly or
indirectly in forms that are more or less controlled and harmonious.
The indirect expression
of sexual energy includes all our creative expressions, above all artistic
ones, but also expresses itself in relationships which draw on sexual energy as
a source.
The direct expression of
sexuality, from an esoteric point of view, distinguishes itself for the most
part in an active humid path[1] and a contained dry path[2].
There are different spiritual and operational magic traditions - setting
aside evaluations of a moralistic kind, for freely and consciously experimenting
– always in the sphere of tradition and magic-mystic discipline – with different
forms of individual sexuality, be they hetero/homosexual or in plural contexts,
which in turn follow different formulas.
In the context of such traditions, the mature and aware individual
is considered free to relate or not, to any partner on any level, thus
completely transcending sexuality by fully living it or sublimating it.
Sexual Magic is the most important aspect of the Alchemy of Living Forces.
The energy can be directed inside oneself (for example to reawaken
the chakra or Kundalini or to achieve an androgynous state) and outside the
self, to create and nourish thought forms or entities, or even to act upon
events and synchronicity according to very complex formulas.
The directing of sexual energies is a magical and spiritual
possibility of great importance because it corresponds to the conscious use of
the great energetic potential that is contained inside each and every one of
us.
However, it is important to remember that we are talking about an
alchemical discipline that requires seriousness, maturity and elevation in the
way that it is lived, not only in terms of sexual relationships but also as
regards the emotions and feelings involved. Only in this way can our sexuality, whether it is expressed or
contained, be consciously directed towards a spiritual reawakening, the
completion of the self, magic, theurgic and generative alchemical operations or
the reawakening of subtle, spiritual energies and faculties. These forces, that
we nevertheless express in our ordinary lives (even though in an unconscious
and casual form), have to be used in a constructive way, or else they suffer
from the limits of our conditioning and our more base and egoistic instincts,
transforming themselves into deformities of the mind, obsessions and parasitic
entities.
In Tantra the realization of the androgen happens through the relationship
with a partner, in the context of a relationship that is elevated to priestly
dignity (ierogamìa): in woman, man finds a reflection of his own feminine
aspects, just as woman finds a point of reference in man to reawaken her
masculine aspects. These are operations that above all demand that
indispensible premise, the full recovery of ones femininity and masculinity in line
with ones current psycho-physical nature, its functions and most authentic
virtues. A nature that is often (think of the conditions of women), profoundly
repressed or perverted.
In European culture the figure of the androgen first appears in Plato’s
description in the ‘Symposium’: in the dialogue, Aristophanes speaks of this
third gender, not as a child of the Sun like men, nor a daughter of the Earth
like women, but as a son of the Moon, which the nature of both participate in. The
myth says that self-sufficient completeness makes androgynous humans arrogant
enough to imagine they can scale Mount
Olympus, and Zeus (not wanting to
destroy them and deprive Olympus of their
sacrifices), divides each one in half, reducing them to just masculine and
feminine.
That which Elémire Zolla calls the never placated ‘human nostalgia
for wholeness’, is the root and in someway the constraint on love (« to the
brama and to the pursuit of wholeness, well, touches the name of love»). In
Hindu metaphysics, the masculine polarity represented by Śiva (the destroyer)
and that of the feminine represented by Shakti (Parvati, the divine energy),
need Ardhanarishvara, or the androgen in order to fuse together.
In the West’s platonic narration, the androgen’s persistence and its
use in successive culture, such as alchemy, signal the archetype of the ‘coincidentia
oppositorum’ in the androgen. Nourished
by Neo-Platonism and alchemical studies, the men of Humanism and the
Renaissance turned the figure of the androgen into one of great importance.
The modern image of the androgen aims for completeness and
integration, not only on the religious and mystic plane but also on the
psychological plane and in terms of image. Such completeness also implies,
apart from the integration of essences on alchemical and metaphysical planes, an
integration of the perception of the world. This is achieved thanks to the
contemporaneous and complete employment of the right and left hemispheres of
the brain, that is: rational-masculine processing and intuitive feminine
processing. A heightened awareness of our own profound dimensions can then be
celebrated along with an integration of the individual personalities of the
soul structure.
In certain tantric traditions, but also in those of the Middle East, it is not taken for granted that a man will
express his masculine aspect in a predominant manner or that a woman will
express her feminine aspect; this does not detract from masculinity or
femininity and the value of heterosexual relationships. Theories exist however,
in which the rediscovery or the completion of our complementary aspect does not
necessarily have to correspond to relations with the opposite sex: it is worth
saying that the completion can also occur between individuals of the same sex.
The androgen would be a forewarning of the so-called Alchemical Nuptials: the union of our human aspect with that of the divine.
During sexual relations, at the moment of union, a moment of ‘presence’
can be experienced, an instant in which one intuits a sense of completeness,
during which cosmic and divine energies may flow. According to certain schools
of thought, the practice of Sexual Magic can be used to achieve a special
physical conception. It is employed, in fact, in operations to program incarnations, or to encourage
the incarnation of selected and evolved souls in the body of the unborn baby (Avatar
Magic) also, directly or indirectly, by means of alien or higher entities.
The ‘dry path’ could be more appropriately considered as the
containment or sublimation of sexual expression. The monk, male or female, from
an esoteric point of view, has the task of directing their energies through
abstinence: the monk aims for the same objectives of spiritual realization and
the completion of the self but this does not happen by means of ‘the other’ but
through an individual process that is personally guided and or exclusively
directed towards higher forces or ideals. Historically many Orders of Knights
assumed a monastic investiture to best express their role as defenders or
pursue sacred values.
In many Orders a ‘short-term’ or temporary monastic period is
practiced in which certain rules typical of monastic life are observed, for
example: celibacy, prayer, a vegetarian diet and so on. Often it is a period of
reflection and spiritual retreat, or a phase of preparation before assuming a
special role in an initiatory context.
From an esoteric point of view, the permanent couple - exclusive
and stable – and the path of abstinence correspond to precise sacred pathways,
in as much as they are very extraordinary choices, especially if the contract
is intended for an indeterminate amount of time (something that is rarely
encountered in the esoteric field). Besides being an authentic sacred pathway, such choices are
considered dangerous because – if not channelled by conscious motivation and
discipline – they can lead to repressive and restrictive implications that
consequently deform human nature[3].
A path of inner search does not have to - and certainly not
straightaway - focus on Tantra and sexual magic. They are complex and difficult
themes to deal with if the mind has not first been purified of moral taboo and
the malice that ensues.
Greatly welcomed however are moments of personal reflection on
this theme, with a partner and later perhaps in a group context, with
psychological and meta-psychological support, to open the mind and heart to
greater equilibrium. It goes without saying that all of this requires great maturity
and purity of mind.
Whether or not, we feel inclined towards this Path or particular
need, one that many consider a ‘minefield’, in the deepening of our inner
relationship with the Self, it must be said that a healthy or serene sex life, that
is free but most of all aware, is the basis for an overall harmony that
certainly renders the examination, the emancipation, and the expression of the Higher
Self, smoother and more effective.
Even though I do not want to enter too much into the merit of
traditions and practices for reawakening and consciously managing sexual
energies, it is useful at this point to say a couple of words about the so
called ‘Left-hand way or path’.
Tantrism and the Left-hand Path
In the Hindu tradition, while the word Yoga means ‘Union’ – with one’s own soul, the cosmos, with God – and includes many different techniques of a physical, mental and spiritual kind (to achieve awareness, meditation, devotion, conscious action, and the truth), Tantra means ‘Loom’, or also ‘thread’, ‘continuity’ and communion. Tantrism consists of many esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhist philosophy and is considered a sort of ‘short cut’ to the full Realization of Consciousness, Enlightenment.
In Tantra we distinguish between two principal paths: the ‘dakshinachara’
(or ‘samayachara’), the Right-hand Path, and the ‘vamachara’ (or ‘vamamarg’),
the Left-hand Path. These terms were adopted and abundantly used by Western
occultists, often in the wrong way or distorted by a hinterland of Catholic moralism.
Tantra, in all its different possible expressions, is not to be
seen as Vedic tradition. The rituals of the Tantric Left-hand path, in particular,
are often rejected or considered extremely dangerous by orthodox Hinduism. However,
in Tibetan Buddhism, Tantrism plays a central role and is totally harmonized
with Yoga
thanks to the Buddhist code whose ethics
mitigate the most dangerous aspects of tantric practices.
Certain practitioners search for the union of masculine and
feminine principles inside themselves, through paths of sublimination and union
with spiritual forces. In other cases the union, or rather the completion,
comes through sexual practices, during which the divine union of Shiva and
Shakti is celebrated. In tantric practice Mantra (formulas), Yantra (vehicles) and
Mandala (patterns) are also used. Sexual practices carried out in a ritual form
are not only an aspect of tantric alchemy but are without doubt central to Vama-marg Orders.
The conscious management of sexual energy is the basic element in
this practice and there is quite a distinction between working white and working black.
In white work, the energy, in order to be directed towards the
reawakening of higher consciousness cannot be discharged by ejaculation while
in black work it is achieved through the completion of the sexual act.
In the first case we have a form of separation from desire, in the
second its exaltation. In each case the sacred objective remains the same, though
neither path is exempt from all kinds of deviance when not sustained by the
necessary knowledge and spiritual maturity.
The most important Tantric Schools are the Kaula and Vamachara Circles.
In the West Tantra has been assimilated as the use of sexuality in
the context of magic (or mystical) experiences and appears in many different
operative and theoretical formulas. For example, what we can learn about Tantra
from Crowley,
Grant, Reich or Osho, may appear very different and yet the various approaches
can and should be reconciled, given that they are all complimentary depending
on their path.
The Right-hand Path and the Left-hand Path are two different
approaches to achieving the same result. Generically, the Right-hand Path concentrates
on the observance of a precise code of ethics, morals and devotion towards one
or more divinities, while the Left-hand Path pursues the exploration and evolution of the Self before any other
objective.
All in all, from the Thelemic and neo-Gnostic point of view, it is
a false dichotomy but one which indicates two very different paths. The second
path, with its emphasis on the Super-Conscious Self, has often meant and been
wrongly considered as egoistic, therefore associated with ‘Satanism’ or ‘black magic’: the devil, evil, the dark, evil portents, hell
and to the overwhelming power of the feminine, that power which has to be – as
the sad story of the Inquisition teaches us – subordinated and condemned. Such
moral condemnation originates not only in the influence of Judaic-Christian
patriarchy and the reactionary culture of Catholicism – and more recently from
a certain syncretistic ‘gnosis’ which is rather pretentious abstruse and
bigoted – but also from inside the same esoteric movements. This often occurs in
a contradictory way as in the case of Blavatsky who described certain practices
as immoral, even though in certain of her lesser known works (for example in the magazine Lucifer), she does not refrain
from considering certain magic–mystical aspects of the tantric-sexual tradition
of the East. Also Crowley, when he refers to the ‘Black
Brothers’ speaks of the Brothers of the Left-hand Path, but with a very
different meaning, referring to those who have failed and who have not gone
beyond the enticements of the ego. Those whose presumption rather than leading
them to Genius, has lead them to Madness and a loss of control, who are
engulfed by the profound forces within that they themselves have reawakened.
When confronting the Abyss they then do not know how to offer all of themselves
in order to be reborn as shinning Stars (image of the Higher Self).
The Left-hand Path is considered as the most direct and rapid path
to enlightenment but it is also the most dangerous, given the unexpected
potential expressed by the energies involved and reawakened.
Today it is often referred to as the Draconian, Qliphotic or Dark Path of the Kabbalistic Tree although in this case, there
are also many different methods and schools of thought.
The Magick of Crowley integrates the
two paths into a complete magical-mystical process without placing too much
emphasis on their distinction unlike the work of Kenneth Grant which clearly
highlights the differences.
[1] As
far as this is concerned on the ritual-operational plane we talk about Sexual
Magic, while on the more mystical plane we use the term Tantra.
[3] In effect, even though commonly accepted (opportunely
conditioned by the seats of socio-political and religious powers with the aim
of controlling and subjugating), the formula of the couple united in holy
matrimony, just as that of priestly celibacy, can often result in hypocrisy and
psychological problems or even dangerous perversion.
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