Atop the Nilachal Hills in northeast India
there stands Kamakhya Temple, a sacred site for the Tantrikas who
worship Shakti, the Feminine Power of divinity. Beneath this
temple lies an ancient cave-sanctuary and shrine. Inside the cave
is a rock formation that is considered the Yonimandala -- the Yoni of
Shakti Herself on Earth. This mandala rests in a cleft that is
moist all year as the result of a natural spring. During the Indian
month of Sravanah, the few fortunate worshippers who have been admitted
to the shrine may witness the very menstruation of the Great
Mother. The red water that issues from the cleft is said to be
intoxicating, and he/she who drinks of it will be liberated from the
bondage of the world.
The sacred sites of the Goddess, from the most
ancient times, have invariably been associated with caves, wells, and
springs -- openings in the Earth from which the fluid that sustains
life flows. They represent the gate of life in the body of Gaia
-- reflections of the gate that every human woman possesses. To
Shakta Tantrikas, woman is seen as the embodiment of the Goddess, and
the fluids that flow from her body are revered as sacred and
transformative substances, like the waters from those underground
springs.
The original Temple was the temple of flesh; the
human body itself. As Kenneth Grant suggests in "The Magical
Revival", the original, esoteric Gnosis was a physical gnosis.
The written, symbolic (exoteric) version of the Mysteries came later,
when the patriarchal establishment suppressed and banished the living
Goddess from their temples of stone and relegated her to the
brothel. Having Woman as the focus of religious life felt
disruptive to those who saw the only hope for civilization as order,
discipline, caste and class.
The earliest forms of religious worship were
ecstatic. It is only with the advent of "the curse of Monotheism"
that the exchange of energies between Man and Woman became
anathema. Religion became formalized and ritualized, and sought
to repress the deepest desires of mankind. In Christianity, the
body and the blood became the Bread and the Wine, mere symbols -- but,
significantly, the Sacrament of the Eucharist still entails the oral
consumption of sacred substances.
II. Kiss of the Yogini
Grant made a convincing case, in his first
"Typhonian Trilogy", that the origin of the sexual magick being
practiced in the Sovereign Sanctuary of the O.T.O. may be found in the
"left-hand path" Shakta schools in India. He was in an unique
position to draw this comparison, because in addition to being an
initiate of the OTO, he had been given a secret commentary on a Kaula
tantra. He was in a position to connect the dots. Since
Grant's writing in the early 1970s, a great deal of research has been
done on the practices of left-hand Tantra which goes far to illuminate
and clarify some of Grant's references to the Clan Kaula. Perhaps
the best academic study of the Kaulas to appear so far is "Kiss of the
Yogini" by David Gordon White (2003, The University of Chicago
Press).
White's contention is that authentic Tantrism
(before it underwent a "cleaning up" by the encroaching patriarchy) is
to be found in the Kaula Tantras: the handbooks that set down the
theory and practice of Shakta Tantrism when that was a dominant form of
Hindu religious practice in India, during the medieval period.
Kaulas at that time were held in great esteem, and benefitted from the
patronage of kings, who financed the construction of many Yogini
temples. The remains of these still stand to this day, the walls of
which display a veritable pornucopia of sexual magic in action.
In some of the bas-reliefs you will see a little Tantrika holding up a
leaf or conch shell beneath a coupling couple, ready to collect the
nectar that flows from their union. Later on, feminine-oriented
Tantrikas like the Kaulas were marginalized and vilified, their
transgressive ecstatic rites considered primitive and reeking of "black
magic".
There is a veil between the world of mankind and the
world of spirits. The Kaula Tantrikas, and others of the "left
hand path" traditions, sought to rend that veil by transgression, by
breaking the taboos that had been established to keep civilization,
well, civilized, and to keep the wild spirits away. The Kaulas
realized that is was worthwhile to venture beyond the safe walls of
society, because of the rewards offered by the "other side". The
Vedic tradition very clearly states what is acceptable in the way of
food, drink, sexual matters and behavior. The Kaulas sought to
break all of those taboos, in order to gain liberation not only from
societal restrictions, but from the sense of self itself.
The thing that sets the Kaulas apart from their
successors is emphasis on the exchange of "powerful and transformative
sexual fluids" between the male Siddhas and the female Yoginis,
according to White. The male Siddha (perfected
being-in-the-making) aka Vira (hero) assumed the role of Shiva in these
rites. His consort embodies Shakti in the form of the
Yogini. The Yoginis evolved from the earlier Hindu traditions
involving the Mothers/Matrikas or Seizers -- wild nature spirits that
were hybrids of bird, beast, and human form. The transaction
between them was mutually beneficial: the Siddha was granted "siddhis"
-- supernatural powers -- by the Yogini, while the Yogini required the
male sexual prana to power her ability to "fly".
Of course, "flight" has a deeper meaning than merely
winging around on currents of air, and the Yogini is not your gentle
"earth mother" sort of goddess. The Yoginis evolved from the
Lilith-like Matrikas/Seizers of Dravidian paganism, winged and powerful
witches who were propitiated with blood sacrifices and alcohol.
But as the Dravidian nature religion was transformed by Tantrism, the
transaction changed. The Siddha/Vira offered a more subtle and
powerful form of energy to the Yoginis -- his semen -- and in return
the Yogini offered her sexual discharge, a substance the males needed
to become perfected beings.
The nectar that flows from the Lotus of the vulva is
liquid gnosis. To the "authentic" Tantrics of old, this is
literally true. White cites recent translations of Tantric texts
that explain this in the context of initiation into the Kaula
circle. The "male" method, used by most other mystical schools,
is to transmit the secret teachings that constitute initiation from the
mouth of the guru to the ear of the initiate. By contrast, in
Kaulism, the most important factor is what comes from the Mouth of the
Yogini -- the "nether mouth", the Lotus Mouth. This is "dravyam"
-- liquid gnosis -- beyond words, experiential, truly and inevitably
transforming. Words can be misunderstood and forgotten. The
powerful transformative fluid that issues from the Mouth of the Yogini
has no such limitations. This is the Sacrament that truly carries
the chain of initiation, the real source of Light from the
Darkness. All of the books, all of the words, could arise to the
sky and disappear, but it is the liquid grace that can be passed
physically from person to person that will keep the chain
unbroken. In "The Alchemical Body" (University of Chicago Press,
1996), White refers to 9th century diagrams used to trace the clan
lineages of deities and Siddhas, in which the fluid sexual energy
emanating from the godhead radiates outwards into the clans and orders,
by way of biological transmission by goddesses and yoginis.
How is the clan nectar absorbed by the members of
the circle? In rare cases, it is claimed, a highly trained Siddha
is able to do this by siphoning the mixed sexual fluids back up his
urethra after intercourse (vajroli mudra), and raise this raw elixir up
through his Sushumna nadi, being refined along the way, up to the
cranial vault and to the "inner Moon" or "Moon Island" of the Sahasrara
Chakra, where it is transformed into the ultimate nectar -- Soma.
The proficient Yogini/priestess is thought able to do the same with the
mingled sexual fluids in her womb through upwards suction. More
commonly, the nectar is passed on by a literal "oral transmission" --
from mouth to mouth.
III. From Mouth to Mouth
The chewing of the betel leaf is popular in
India as a breath freshener after eating, and as a sexual
stimulant. The leaf itself serves as an edible wrapper for other
ingredients, including Areca nut, catechu and lime. Combined in a
packet known as Paan, these ingredients have a mild stimulant and
aphrodisiac effect. The sharing of the Paan cud, from
mouth-to-mouth between lovers, is revered as a form of sexual
foreplay. The catechu produces a bright red dye, so the mouths of
the lovers who share this delicacy are reddened. The idea is not
to swallow the Paan cud, but to allow it to be absorbed by the mucous
membranes of the mouth, so that the stimulant and aphrodisiac effects
can be enjoyed.
The paper "IX degree Emblems and Modes of Use" is
still a highly-guarded "secret document" in the OTO. It can be
found on the internet, but there is nothing there that hasn't been
spelled out in other ways by other writers on sexual magick.
Everything you need to know can be found in Appendix A of Donald
Michael Kraig's "Modern Sex Magick", which is a synopsis of its
contents. The mechanics of sex magick -- the utilization of
coitus to produce a mixed Elixir charged with a specific intent, which
can then be used as an oral sacrament or for the charging of talismans
-- was revealed decades ago. The Supreme Secret of the OTO is now
common knowledge -- or so it seems. There could well be some
essential element that has not been "leaked" to the public.
The one revelation for me, when I read Kraig's
summation of Emblems and Modes, was the instruction that after creating
the Elixir, the male should suction the combined sexual fluids from the
nether mouth into his own mouth and then share that with the Priestess,
in a Kiss. And it is not to be immediately swallowed, it is to be
held in the mouth and slowly absorbed.
This is precisely what the medieval Kaulas
did. This is the true "Kiss of the Yogini". Modern sexual
magick, it certainly seems, is in one sense a revival of the Kaula
tradition, but couched in the language and symbols of European
alchemy. Grant got that right, decades ago, and had the cajones
to reveal it. Little wonder he angers the "spermo-gnostics", the
males who, with their persisting Osirian attitudes, want to be in
charge of the transaction, and who view their "holy seed" as the
operative force in the operation.
"The Mass of Maat" in Nema's "Maat Magick" is reminiscent of the
Kaula rite -- the woman takes the active role in the rite and the male
a passive one -- she is Yogini to his Siddha. In this Mass, the
Priestess uses both her oral and vaginal mouths to draw the ojas from
the male, who lies supine on his back in the corpse asana. It is
Babalon riding the Beast. After both achieve orgasm, the Priest
is to extract a portion of the Elixir from the Yoni and share it
mouth-to-mouth with the Priestess.
The Word of the Aeon of Maat is "IPSOS", which
translates as "by the same mouth". But it seems to me that this
does not refer solely to the mouth that speaks words. Consider
this passage from Liber Pennae
Praenumbra:
"By the same
mouth that first ingathered, is the honey spent, the secret Alchemy
within the Centers turning SilverGold."
The "mouth" referred to here seems to be, in
Kaula terms, the nether mouth of the Yogini, ingathering the
food/offering of the male Siddha. The transformation from pollen
to honey/nectar takes place within the chalice of the uterus, the body
of the bee. The honey that flows from the nether mouth is then
gathered by the Priest, and shared, like the Paan cud, from
mouth-to-mouth, from Priest to Priestess. This is the secret
Alchemy that cannot be expressed in words. It is the direct
transmission of Gnosis.
White notes, in the chapter "The Blood of the
Yogini", that among the Tamil Tantrikas, sexual congress with a
menstruating woman is favored as being the most powerful. In this
tradition "velli" or silver is the male seed and "pon" or gold is the
menstrual blood -- their intermingling could be called "SilverGold" as
in the above passage. I don't believe this passage from Liber
Pennae Praenumbra refers to menstrual blood, but the similarity in
imagery is thought-provoking, and brings to mind the mouth-to-mouth
sharing of the red juice of the betel leaf mentioned above.
IV. The Blood of the Moon, Monthly
Menstrual blood, in all cultures, has been
considered a dangerous yet powerful substance. In many cultures,
women were segregated or considered verboten during their monthly
menses. Why? Because this moon blood makes things
happen. Conception of human children is not possible during the
menstrual period, but still, all that issues from the vulva of the
Goddess is essential for creating new forms of life, be those physical
or astral. Early Tantrikas viewed the vulva as both bleeding and
blood-thirsty.
The Yoginis, White notes, were considered powerful
Witches connected with the flow of blood, particularly menstrual
blood. If the Kaulas considered mingled sexual fluids "power
substances", then those containing this red elixir were the most
powerful. It is interesting to note that, in the earlier Hindu
tradition, the Mothers/Seizers were called and fed by the shedding of
the blood of the male Siddha, in addition to the sacrifice of
animals. In the later Kaula tradition, this bloody sacrifice was
replaced by the sacrifice of male seed to feed and nourish the Yogini,
who in turn fed and nourished the Siddha with her own sexual
emissions. A comparison can be drawn between the sacrificial
"dying god" formula of the Aeon of Osiris being supplanted by the
sacramental formula of the Aeon of Horus, which entails the co-mingling
of male and female energies to produce a new thing -- the Child.
Have you ever wondered about that recipe for Cakes
of Light in Liber AL? It does have some similarities with certain
Tantric sacraments, although Crowley may not have been consciously
aware of these when that passage was scribed. In the Kaula
Tantric rite of Panchatattva -- the 5 M's -- the elements of the
sacrament are grain, fish, wine, meat and maithuna (sexual
congress). The recipe for Cakes of Light comprises meal (grain),
honey, "thick leavings of red wine", oil of Abramelin and olive oil,
and "rich fresh blood", the best being that "of the moon,
monthly". It should come as no surprise that, in some Thelemic
circles, the preparation of Cakes of Light incorporates the mixed
sexual fluids of the Priest and Priestess for that "special
sauce". White describes a Panchatattva rite in which the five
physical elements, transformed by mantra into "amrita", are then
combined with "Kulamrita" -- the female vulvar discharge, along with a
drop of blood from a virgin in first menses. This mixture is
combined in a conch shell and consumed by the participants during the
performance of the Tantric rite. There are obvious differences,
but intriguing similarities, I think, between the sacramental food of
the Thelemites and Kaula Tantrikas.
V. The Goddess with Clipped Wings
In full Kaula Circle worship, one
Siddha/male is surrounded by up to 16 Suvasinis/Yoginis. 15 of
them embody one of the "kalas" or lunar essences of each day of the
waxing moon -- the 16th represents the Full Moon, Shakti herself.
It is the lunar/feminine energy that creates the matrix in which the
male worshipper plays a stabilizing, but secondary role.
The Kaulas developed a coherent system of the
worship of feminine power, embodied in living women, around the 8th
century, White writes, but by the 11th or 12th century, the external
worship of the Yogini was all but gone. What happened?
These powerful nature spirits were victims of Tantric reformers who set
about internalizing and subordinating the physical worship of the
Kaulas into the system known as "High Hindu" Tantra, in which the
Goddess dwells within the body in the form of Kundalini, the serpent
power. The Shaivite schools of High Tantra seek protection from
the "horrifying" female "demons", as much as the Shakta Kaulas sought
to embrace them. The wings of the Yogini were effectively
clipped, and the need for living priestesses abandoned in favor of a
more abstract form of worship in Hatha Yoga. The Circle of
Yoginis, White maintains, is the inspiration for what became the
chakras/wheels within the yogic body.
Along with the diminishing of the importance of
living priestesses came the "masculinization" of Tantric initiation,
according to White. In later Tantra the Yogini is eclipsed by the
Guru, who accomplishes initiation by passing on the Shiva-seed to the
male aspirant by means of mouth-to-mouth and body-to-body transmission,
along with the verbal endowment of a mantra. In some schools, the
guru accomplishes "insemination" by spitting into the mouth of the male
student. This spittle is actually meant to represent the purified
sperm of the teacher after it has been channeled up into the Sahasrara
chakra and transformed into Soma. No longer was the living water
of the female needed to carry on the chain of initiation -- the
male assumed that role, having Shakti safely tucked inside his own
body, in the Muladhara Chakra.
VI. Femignosis or Phallic Gnosis?
This Shaivite/male-oriented tradition seems
to be the one on which the OTO of Karl Kellner and Theodor Reuss (and
subsequently Aleister Crowley) is based. P.R. Koenig coined the
term "spermo-gnostics" in referring to the philosophy and practice of
this OTO. Reuss, the major architect of the OTO, was strongly
influenced by "the cult of the Lingam" and saw women as non-essential
to the alchemy of sex magick, except as providers of "gluten" for the
serpent-seed of the male, the vagina merely serving as a "retort" to
contain the elixir. (See "Magia Sexualis" by Hugh B. Urban,
University of California Press, 2006).
Such is the attitude expressed so often in Crowley's use of sexual
magick, in which a woman is used as a mere vessel for the Holy Seed, or
a chalkboard upon which the Magician writes his Will. She remains
faceless, and dispensable, a mere blank slate.
So, what should we make of Grant's assertion that
the sexual mysteries of the Sovereign Sanctuary derive from the
Shakta-Kaula schools? Perhaps, indirectly, they did, but were
distorted by Reuss's own lingam-worship.
In my opinion, Grant's work is an attempt to address
the misconceptions of Reuss and Crowley, and to restore the living
Goddess to her rightful place. In that, he is attempting a
reformulation and evolution of the OTO. I believe that is a
necessary step, if the Order of Oriental Templars is to survive and
thrive in the future.
Dare I say it -- maybe there is room enough for two
OTO's in the world -- a Shaivite school and a Shakta school?
Those sects have survived side-by-side in India for centuries, although
not without friction. But they have survived, and they simply
agree to disagree, knowing that ultimately, they are after the same
thing, yet travelling different roads.
But, this isn't just about the small group called
OTO. The restoration of the Sacred Feminine, after centuries of
subjugation, is the most important Work we can be involved in at this
time, and that work is being pursued in many arenas. We have a
long way to go.
