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Left-hand path and right-hand path

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"Left Hand Path" redirects here. For the Entombed album, see Left Hand Path (album).
"LHP" redirects here. For the heat transfer device, see Loop heat pipe. For the Lego series, see Lego Harry Potter.
The Baphomet, from Eliphas Levi's "Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie", 1854, adopted symbol of some "Left-Hand Path" belief systems.

The terms Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path are a dichotomy between two opposing philosophies found in the Western Esoteric Tradition, which itself covers various groups involved in the occult and ceremonial magic. In some definitions, the Left-Hand Path is equated with malicious Black Magic and the Right-Hand Path with beneficial White Magic.[1] Other occultists have criticised this definition, believing that the Left-Right dichotomy refers merely to different kinds of working, and does not necessarily connotate good or bad magical actions.[2]

In more recent definitions, which base themselves on the terms' origins amongst Indian Tantra, the Right-Hand Path, or RHP, is seen as a definition for those magical groups which follow specific ethical codes and adopt social convention, whilst the Left-Hand Path adopts the opposite attitude, espousing the breaking of taboo and the abandoning of set morality. Some contemporary occultists have stressed that both paths can be followed by a magical practitioner, as essentially they have the same goals.

Terminology

There is no set accepted definition of what comprises the Left-Hand Path and what comprises the Right. Early proponents of the terms, such as Madame Blavatsky, believed that they were essentially conflatable with Black Magic and White, although this has been criticised by later occultists as being overtly simplistic.

The Right-Hand Path

The Right-Hand Path is commonly thought to refer to magical or religious groups which adhere to a certain set of characteristics:

  • They adhere to social conventions and avoid taboos.
  • They divide the concepts of mind, body and spirit into three separate, albeit interrelated entities.[3]
  • They adhere to a specific moral code and a belief in some form of judgement, such as karma or the Threefold Law.[3]

Esoteric groups that could be considered to be RHP include Hermeticism, Theosophy, the New Age movement as well as various Neopagan religions such as Druidry, Wicca, Kemetism, Celtic Neopaganism, Slavic Neopaganism, Germanic Neopaganism, and certain traditions of Thelema such as the Ordo Templi Orientis and the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, or the Gnostic Catholic Church. Right-handed Tantra is also included. Some esotericists also consider the non-magical Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Islam to be RHP, although the terms are rarely used outside of magical groups.

The Left-Hand Path

The historian Dave Evans studied self-professed followers of the Left-Hand Path in the early 21st century, making several observations about their practices:

  • They often reject societal convention and the status quo, which some suggest is in a search for spiritual freedom. As a part of this, LHP followers embrace magical techniques that would traditionally be viewed as taboo, for instance using homosexual sex magic or embracing Satanic imagery.[4] As Mogg Morgan wrote, the "breaking of taboos makes magick more potent and can lead to reintegration and liberation, [for example] the eating of meat in a vegetarian community can have the same liberating effect as anal intercourse in a sexually inhibited straight society."[5]
  • They often question religious or moral dogma, instead adhering to forms of personal anarchism.[6]
  • They often embrace sexuality and incorporate it into magical ritual.[7]

Under these definitions, various esoteric groups, often with widely differing beliefs, could be considered to be followers of the LHP. These include various forms of Satanism, such as LaVeyan Satanism (which is organised through both the Church of Satan and the rival First Satanic Church) as well as Theistic Satanism. Other Western LHP philosophies include Luciferianism, Setianism, the Typhonian Order, Chaos Magic, Feri, and magicians who deal in demonology, as well as groups like the Dragon Rouge and the Order of Nine Angles. Several eastern philosophies could also be viewed as adhering to the LHP, including forms of Hinduism such as Aghoris and Vamachara and forms of Buddhism like Dugpas.

Criticism

Criticism of both terms has come from various different occultists. The Magistar of the Cultus Sabbati, Andrew Chumbley, stated that they were simply "theoretical constructs" that were "without definitive objectivity", and that nonetheless, both forms could be employed by the magician - he used the analogy of a person having two hands, a right and a left, both of which served the same master.[8] Similar sentiments were expressed by the Wiccan High Priest John Belham-Payne, who stated that "For me, magic is magic."[9]

History of the terms

Vamachara

Main article: Vamachara

Vāmācāra (pronounced: vāmāchāra) is a Sanskrit term meaning "left-handed attainment" and is synonymous with "Left-Hand Path" or "Left-path" (Sanskrit: Vāmamārga).[10][11][12] It is used to describe a particular mode of worship or 'spiritual practice' (Sanskrit: sadhana) that are not only 'heterodox' (Sanskrit: Nāstika) to standard Vedic injection, but extreme in comparison to the status quo. These practices are often generally considered to be Tantric in orientation. The converse term to Vamacara is Dakshinachara (Sanskrit) (glossed 'Right-Hand Path') which is used to refer not only to 'orthodox' (Sanskrit: Āstika) sects but to modes of spirituality that engage in spiritual practices that not only accord with Vedic injunction but are generally agreeable to the status quo. That said, left-handed and right-handed modes of practice may be evident in both orthodox and heterodox schools of Dharmic Traditions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism and is a matter of taste, culture, proclivity, initiation, sadhana and Dharmic 'lineage' (Sanskrit: parampara).

Tantra and Madame Blavatsky

The occidental use of the terms Left-Hand Path and Right Hand-Path originated with Madame Blavatsky, a 19th century occultist who founded Theosophy. She had travelled across parts of southern Asia and claimed to have met with many mystics and magical practitioners in India and Tibet. She developed the term Left-Hand Path as a translation of the term Vama-marga, an Indian Tantric practice that emphasised the breaking of Hindu societal taboos by having sexual intercourse in ritual, drinking alcohol, eating meat and assembling in graveyards, as a part of the spiritual practice. The term Vama-marga literally meant "the left-hand way" in Sanskrit, and it was from this that Blavatsky first coined the term.[13]

Returning to Europe, Blavatsky began using the term. It was relatively easy for her to associate left with evil in many European countries, where it already had an association with many negative things; as the historian Dave Evans noted, homosexuals were referred to as "left-handed" whilst in Protestant nations, Roman Catholics were called "left-footers".[14] This association with negative aspects of society can be traced back to the Bible, in which it states:

And he shall separate them one from another,
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right,
but the goats on his left.
— Matthew 25: 32-33

Adoption into the Western Esoteric Tradition

In New York Madame Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society with several other people in 1875. She set about writing several books, including Isis Unveiled (1877) in which she introduced the terms Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path, firmly stating that she herself followed the RHP, and that followers of the LHP were practitioners of Black Magic who were a threat to society. Soon, certain other occultists soon picked up on her newly introduced duality, which, according to historian Dave Evans, "had not been known before" in the Western Esoteric Tradition.[15] For instance, Dion Fortune, the founder of the esoteric magical group, the Society of the Inner Light also took the side of the RHP, making the claim that "black magicians", or followers of the LHP, were homosexuals and that Indian servants might use malicious magical rites devoted to the goddess Kali against their European masters.[16]

Aleister Crowley further altered and popularized the term in certain occult circles, referring to a "Brother of the Left-Hand Path," or a "Black Brother," as one who failed to attain the grade of Magister Templi in Crowley's system of ceremonial magic.[17] Crowley also referred to the Left-Hand Path when describing the point at which the Adeptus Exemptus (such as his old Christian mentor, Macgregor Mathers) chooses to cross the Abyss, which is the location of Choronzon and the illusory eleventh Sephira, which is Da'ath or Knowledge. In this example, the adept must surrender all, including the guidance of his Holy Guardian Angel, and leap into the Abyss. If his accumulated Karma is sufficient, and if he has been utterly thorough in his own self-destruction, he becomes a "babe of the abyss," arising as a Star in the Crowleyan system. On the other hand, if he retains some fragment of ego, or if he fears to cross, he then becomes encysted. The layers of his self, which he could have shed in the Abyss, ossify around him. He is then titled a "Brother of the Left-Hand Path," who will eventually be broken up and disintegrated against his will, since he failed to choose voluntary disintegration.[17] Crowley associated all this with "Mary, a blasphemy against BABALON," and with the celibacy of Christian clergy.[17]

Another of those figures that Fortune considered to be a follower of the LHP was Arthur Edward Waite, who did not recognise these terms, and acknowledged that they were newly introduced and that in any case he believed the terms LHP and RHP to be distinct from Black and White Magic.[18] However, despite Waite's attempts to distinquish the two, the equation of the LHP with Black Magic was propagated more widely in the fiction of Dennis Wheatley, Wheatley also conflated the two with Satanism and also the political ideology of communism, which he viewed as a threat to traditional British society.[19] In one of his novels, Strange Conflict (1941), he stated that:

The Order of the Left-Hand Path... has its adepts... the Way of Darkness is perpetuated in the horrible Voodoo cult which had its origins in Madagascar and has held Africa, the Dark Continent, in its grip for centuries.[20]

Later 20th and 21st centuries

In the latter half of the 20th century various groups arose that self-professedly described themselves as LHP, but did not consider themselves as following Black Magic. In 1975, Cults of the Shadow was published, in which the books' author, Kenneth Grant, a student of Aleister Crowley's, explained how he and his group, the Typhonian OTO, practiced the LHP. Grant took the term back to its roots amongst eastern Tantra, stating that it was about challenging taboos, but that it should be used in conjunction with the RHP to achieve balance.[21]

When Anton Szandor LaVey was developing his form of LaVeyan Satanism during the 1960s, he emphasised the rejection of traditional Christian morality and as such labelled his new philosophy to be a form of the Left-Hand Path. In his The Satanic Bible, he wrote that "Satanism is not a white light religion; it is a religion of the flesh, the mundane, the carnal - all of which are ruled by Satan, the personification of the Left Hand Path".[22]

Usage in Tantra

Tantra is a set of esoteric Indian traditions with roots in Hinduism and later Buddhism (which is a separate Dharma). Tantra is often divided by its practitioners into two different paths: dakshinachara and vamachara, translated as Right-Hand Path and Left-Hand Path respectively.

Dakshinachara consists of traditional Hindu practices such as asceticism and meditation, while vamachara also includes ritual practices that conflict with mainstream Hinduism, such as sexual rituals, consumption of alcohol and other intoxicants, animal sacrifice, and flesh-eating.

The two paths are viewed by Tantrists as equally valid approaches to enlightenment. Vamachara, however, is considered to be the faster and more dangerous of the two paths, and is not suitable for all practitioners. This usage of the terms Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path is still current in modern Tantra.

See also

References

  1. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 152.
  2. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 176.
  3. ^ a b Hine, Phil, quoted in Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 204.
  4. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 197.
  5. ^ Shual. Sexual Magick. Page 31.
  6. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 198.
  7. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 205.
  8. ^ Chumbley, Andrew, quoted in Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 212-213.
  9. ^ Chumbley, Andrew, quoted in Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 214.
  10. ^ Bhattacharya, N. N. History of the Tantric Religion pp. 81, 447. (1999) ISBN 81-7304-025-7
  11. ^ Kaal Ugranand Saraswati differentiating “traditional Vamamarga” from conceptions of the word “vamamarga”
  12. ^ Tantra, Vamamarga (The Left Handed Path: Kaula sadhana)
  13. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 178.
  14. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 177.
  15. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 181-182.
  16. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 183-184.
  17. ^ a b c Magick Without Tears
  18. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 182-183.
  19. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 189-190.
  20. ^ Wheatley, Dennis (1941). Strange Conflict.
  21. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 193.
  22. ^ LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. The Book of Lucifer 3: paragraph 30.
  • Crowley, Aleister (1991). Magick Without Tears. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-018-1. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Flowers, Stephen (1997). Lords of the Left Hand Path: A History of Spiritual Dissent. Runa Raven Press. ISBN 1-885972-08-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Sutcliffe, Richard J. (1996). "Left-Hand Path Ritual Magick: An Historical and Philosophical Overview," in G. Harvey & C. Hardman (eds.), Paganism Today, pp.109-37. London: Thorsons/HarperCollins. ISBN 0-7225-3233-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Svoboda, Robert E. (1986). AGHORA, At the Left Hand of God. Brotherhood of Life. ISBN 0-914732-21-8. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Webb, Don (1999). Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to the Left Hand Path. Runa Raven Pr. ISBN 1885972105. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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