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

abstract symbolism of words. One particular combination of words can
literally open infinite doors of opportunity for the speaker, while the same
exact words uttered in another situation might guarantee that the speaker is
murdered.
What is true in an exoteric sense, is confirmed in esoteric teachings
from all quarters of the world. As we have seen, the Tantric left-hand. path
teaching maintains that the universe can be controlled through a precise
magical technology of sound manipulation related to words uttered by the
gods to create the worlds, the science of mantra. Very similar is the Nordic
lore of the runes, especially the magical and mystery-veiling verbal vibration
said to be released by the proper utterance of the runic staves. The Biblical
Book Of John, plagiarizing a much older Mesopotamian text, famously states
that "In the beginning was the Word" or Logos. The Memphite Theology of
ancient Egypt also contends that the creation of the world was implemented
by the spoken word of a divine being – the neter Ptah. The left-hand path
magician recreates the universe in part by taking on the god-like role of
uttering the hidden words of power.
Despite this overwhelming and universal importance of words to the
creation and ordering of reality, the majority of humans misuse these
potentially sorcerous tools with exasperating inexactitude, creating realities
for themselves that are profoundly disordered and chaotic, because they
literally don't know what they're saying. Therefore, the magician is well
advised to become proficient at the application of words to the manipulation
of reality. Not all magical skills are learnable; this one is. Many a magician
will protest that they don't need words to perform their magic. This is very
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often true, and obviously in the ecstatic and physical techniques of erotic
magic, words are often superfluous and even irrelevant to the objective.
Nevertheless, magic is essentially the art of communicating to different levels
of reality, and the honing of word structure and meaning is a key ingredient
in all communication, even (paradoxically) non-verbal methods.
So that this directory is as clear as possible, our first order of
business is to define the basic terms we will use, especially those expressions
that most easily give rise to confusion. The vocabulary of Western magic is
almost entirely handed down to us from the world of Graeco-Roman
antiquity, a cultural matrix imbued from top to bottom with an unambiguous
acceptance of the value of the magical art that contemporary Western culture
can in no way approximate. Many of the cognitive dilemmas inherent in selfdescribed
magicians of this era making use of the inherited terminology of
long-dead cultures can be clarified by a more precise understanding of the
actual etymological roots of these words.
Furthermore, the recognition of the fact that words carry very
specific powers and associations has long been a basic core principle of
magical practice. Like both the poet and the engineer, the magician strives to
discover just the correct word, understanding that nomen est omen (name is
power). What one calls something or somebody can actually change that
object, quality or person in subtle but significant ways. As Julius Evola
remarked in his Men Among The Ruins, "every word has its soul". Our
dissection of the magical vocabulary is carried out in this spirit. Contrary to
the academic's dry and rational analysis, our quest is for the hidden soul, the
animating daemon concealed in these words. The left-hand path magician
deliberately seeks to break with the general pattern of the mass mind as
demonstrated in any particular time and place. in the general atmosphere of
illiteracy bred by an increasingly audio-visual culture, what could be more
arcane than developing your knowledge of words?
Magic
Inasmuch as this work is directed to the practicing magician, it behooves us
to dig into the foundation of the original meaning of magic itself. "Magic"