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

It might be said that the accusations leveled at the early Christians concerning
their sexual practices can be dismissed as nothing more than the usual
vilification suffered by any unpopular minority religion. However,
archaeological evidence unearthed in the past century seems to confirm that
Christ's original teachings may well have centered on a form of secret sexual
initiation. And just as Mary Magdalene serves as Christ's shady guardian
angel in the authorized Catholic version of the myth, she is also an important
figure in the more complete picture of early Christian sex magic now
emerging.
Clues as to the actual nature of Mary Magdalene – and the long
hidden esoteric roots of Christianity – surfaced as long ago as 1896, when a
German Egyptologist discovered a previously unknown early Christian text
entitled The Gospel Of Mary. That a Gospel would be attributed to this
notorious fallen woman was a startling indication that later Church fathers
had deliberately obscured the presence of a Feminine Daemonic in early
Christian teaching. In 1945, this picture became even clearer when local
residents of Nag Hammadi, Egypt stumbled upon a hidden trove of ancient
apocryphal documents preserved in a desolate cave. Dubbed the Gnostic
Gospels and the Nag Hammadi Library, these were clearly scriptural
chapters that never made it into the sanctioned Bible.
No wonder, since they presented an unexpected picture of the early
Christians completely at odds with the previously accepted notion of an antifemale,
anti-sex, male-dominated community of believers. The texts
supported the Gospel Of Mary's evidence that Christ's original disciples
were actually initiates of a Gnostic mystery cult. Not the least of the shocks
revealed in the Gnostic Gospels was the role of Mary Magdalene as an
important teacher in her own right within this initiated circle. This function
fills in the details missing in the later depiction of Mary as a mysteriously
omnipresent – but not especially wise – passive witness and adjunct to her
Master's magical deeds.
The Mary Magdalene of the Gnostic Gospels is never referred to as
a prostitute. It becomes obvious that this was a much later accretion added to
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her myth, perhaps in an attempt to minimize her original importance. But it
is probable that her later image as archetypal whore is a confused echo of a
strong erotic component in her being, an element we will explore in some
depth. A mythic figure as potent as long-lived and potent as Mary
Magdalene is bound to be transformed through the centuries; the magician
attempts to view all the many levels that form the whole.
The Gnostic texts repeatedly state that Mary of Magdalene grasps
some core mystery of Christ's teaching better than any of his male disciples.
She is referred to as "the woman who understood completely" and "the
anointer" – Jesus praises her as the disciple who most deeply comprehends
his instruction. Indeed, it seems that the female initiates in Christ's circle all
possess some secret knowledge that the males are lacking. Mary is only the
foremost of seven female disciples who are said to be "strong by a
perception which is in them," an advanced state of consciousness that the
twelve male disciples readily acknowledge, although not without envy. Of
course, these seven wise females were deleted from the final edition of the
Bible, and Mary Magdalene's own minimal presence in the approved
scriptures is but a pale reflection of her prominence in the Gnostic Gospels.
It has been speculated that the seven females may connote the seven
planets of ancient astronomy, and that the twelve males represent the twelve
zodiacal signs. If so, this tics into the concept of Christ as Hellenized magus;
such star lore played an important part in the magic of that time. The
Biblical story of Mary Magdalene being possessed by seven demons is also
evident in the Gnostic Gospels – this may well be another veiled use of the
number seven; the number was often associated with female erotic magical