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

left-hand path strive to integrate some of this feminine essence within
themselves, a practice not confined only to India. Shamans in almost every
culture, for instance, traditionally take on certain female attributes to propel
them on their visionary journeys, a striking example of the universality of
the left-hand path's working principles.
The Italian magician-philosopher Julius Evola, the most erudite
twentieth century Western interpreter of the left-hand path, analyses this
universal essence of feminine magical force in his 1958 magnum opus The
Metaphysics Of Sex, when he observes that:
"...in China the character wu, used to designate a person who exercised the
arts of magic in a strict or 'shamanic' sense, was originally applied only to
females. The techniques employed by the wu to contact supersensual forces
were sometimes ascetic and at other times orgiastic; in the latter case it seems
that in the beginning the wu officiated wholly naked. The wu had to have
youth and fascinating beauty as preliminary qualifications for her work, and
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the meanings of the characters yao and miao as `queer', `disquieting', and
'mysterious' refer to the type and qualities of the wu."
This archaic Chinese equation of feminine power with both the magical and
the genuinely "weird" energies in the universe reveals how the archetype of
the left-hand path makes itself known again and again in unconnected
esoteric traditions around the world.
Learning of left-hand path exaltation of the Feminine Daemonic
might lead those of our readers indoctrinated by the omnipresent feminist
cant and dogma that slants much modern esoteric thinking to falsely assume
that the left-hand path's alternate definition as the Way of Woman allows it to
be interpreted as some sort of feminist movement with spiritual trappings. It
must be made clear that these mysteries have nothing to do with the
politically correct vision of Woman promulgated by most feminist
ideologues, nor can ancient magical and initiatory principles be credibly
forced to serve any modern political creeds.
The awe-inspiring dark goddess who flows through the sinister
current is far removed from the idealized image of the gentle, nurturing
pacifist beloved of modern day feminists. The Woman of the Vama Marga
does not fit comfortably into the imagined utopia of a wondrous prehistoric
matriarchy ruled by wise, peaceful women posited in the wishful thinking of
feminist pseudo-historians.
Nor is the left-hand path exaltation of Shakti a mystical argument for
the complete equality of men and women – the left-hand path is actually
based on a deep recognition of the essential differences between male and
female which are central to every aspect of Vama Marga practice. This is in
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no way a question of inferiority and superiority. It's simply a recognition that
the masculine and feminine principles are unique phenomena in their own
right. The left-hand path act of sexual alchemy that creates the spiritual
androgyne is based on a deliberate conjunction of opposites; such an
alchemy would be impossible to achieve if it were conducted between forces
that were basically identical, as modern gender politics insists.
One need only behold the manifold Shakti in her form of Kali, blood
dripping from her lips, wearing a necklace of decapitated human heads and
brandishing a formidable array of death-dealing devices, to understand that
the Feminine Daemonic informing the left-hand path is not a poster girl for
feminism. Even less is She a suitable role model for the woman who accepts
the submissive domesticated roles of traditional wife/mother/daughter.
Immensely powerful though Shakti in her many forms may be, it would be a
mistake to confuse this feminine strength with feminist jargon of
"empowerment"; the left-hand path cannot be politicized so crudely.
The left-hand path principally honors the nightside of feminine