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

meet again at some later time to exchange any relevant experiences that may
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have occurred after the orgy. Magicians learn how effectively their wills have
disrupted the world around them by paying attention to the synchronicities
and odd coincidences that so often manifest in the wake of a working. The
intense bond forged by sex magicians during the orgy can last for a
considerably long time, with the side- effect that strange or unlikely parallels
and repeating themes will often emerge in their separate lives. It can also be
quite interesting for celebrants to compare their dreams in the weeks
following an orgy, for the same reason. Collating this post-working
information, should it surface in any significant manner, can often provide
the catalyst for future group incursions into the daemonic realm.
Alone Together
Finally, the left-hand path magician who considers the orgy as a possible
tool for his or her sorcery and initiation must keep in mind an essential
paradox. The sinister current strives to steer clear of plugging into group
consciousness, preserving the severe isolation of the magician's self-created
state of independent being. The orgy, of course, derives part of its great
power for effecting internal and external change from the deliberate linking
of many magician's psyches through shared erotic energy And yet, this very
linkage – strengthened by the inexorable pull of sexuality over the nervous
systems of the celebrants – can actually serve to distract from the sovereign
and autonomous nature of the self. How easy it is for any act of sex magic to
lessen rather than sharpen that distinct sense of self-awareness that drives
the sinister current. The overwhelming excess of sensation and psychic
melding that takes place at the height of an orgiastic rite multiplies this risk,
and necessitates well-developed powers of self-control.
Few other magical methods can be forged into such a forceful
weapon for bending the stuff and substance of matter and mind as the group
sex working. But as with any weapon worth its weight, orgiastic magic
requires that its explosive powers are handled carefully for maximum
efficiency.
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XI.
Pain/Lust
The Rites Of Dominance And Submission
I teach the art of turning anguish to delight.
—Georges Bataille, Inner Experience
A Heritage Of Sacred Suffering
Little remains to document the precise nature of the mystery religions of
Greece and Rome but we know that the initiatory application of erotic pain
played a role in some of these rites of self-transformation. Although the exact
form of these rites is now lost to us, the so-called Villa of the Mysteries in
Pompeii, preserved beneath volcanic ash for centuries, permits us a glimpse
into a lost tradition. On the wall of one of the chambers in the villa, a
remarkable succession of murals illustrates a secret process of initiation
presided over by Dionysus, or Bacchus.
In the first painting in the series, a sacred text appears to be read,
perhaps an invocation of the god of erotic frenzy and divine intoxication.
Then, offerings are made, which result in an act of divination. The phallus of
Dionysus is unveiled to his newest female initiate. She then undergoes a
ritual death, enacted by submitting to flagellation, kneeling before another
initiate, who seems to be comforting her during her ordeal. She is then
portrayed performing the Dionysian dance of the bacchante as preparation
for the hieros gamos – the sacred marriage to the god, most likely carried out