Horn 1: History of the Left Hand Path – Vamamarga and Kabbalah
Introduction
Why is an understanding of the Left-Hand Path important to the modern Vampyre Community? History of where we come from and the influences behind our structures, beliefs, and practices. While not all Vampyres may consider themselves practitioners of this path, ignoring the influence is intellectually lazy and ignores a major influence of our lovely community.
As a Left-Hand Path practitioner for almost 2 decades, I have taken precaution in not being biased and paint the Left-Hand Path in a false representation. As someone that has been both empowered and inspired by the philosophy and Demonic Divine, I also disagree with a lot of the old perspectives of Satanic and Left Hand Path flavored Vampyrism. I have done my best to keep this article based in fact and not feeling.
The Aghori
The Left-Hand Path has it’s basis in the Hindu concept of vamamarga, literally ‘left-hand path.’ It represents the two paths of Brahma, that of Shiva and Vishnu, deities of Destruction and Preservation. There are two well known sects of Left-Hand Path in India, one that still flourishes and one that has been eradicated. I will only go into detail on the Aghori as they are more a tantric sect and not the Thuggees, as they are, one, extinct, and two, atrocious criminals that robbed and murdered. They are considered vamamarga because they worshiped Kali and believed the blood they spilt was an offering to her.
Vamamarga is not simply the belief in dark forces and doing ‘black magic,’ it is historically much deeper, darker, and transgressive. The Aghori, which means ‘Terrible’ is a sect of Shaivite Sadhus, worshippers of Shiva. They are itinerate and survive off of donations, which is a common practice in many ascetic traditions. As most Yogis, they perform ceremonies of fire (puja), devotion through music (bhakti), breathwork (pranayama), and meditations to dissolve suffering (Samadhi). Where they are unique is their transgressive concepts of attaining union with Shiva, and why they are called the Aghori. They are grave dwellers, cannibals, and necromancers. They eat the flesh of the dead believing it will transmute into spirit and be pure when entering Shiva’s blessing.
Shaivites that cannot afford a proper Brahmic ritual, being the top caste of devotees, often go to the Aghori and offer ganja (marijuana) and whatever else they think the Aghori may want. The Aghori do not seek darkness and the dark gods as we do in the West. Rather, they see God in all aspects of existence. Where Vaishnavas (worshippers of Vishnu) see God in the warmth of the rising sun and the chirping of birds, Shaivites go so far as seeing god in fecal matter and decay. They do not reject that God is also in the blooming flower, they reject the idea that is only where God is found. God created all things, so God can be found in all things.
One sect has gone away from the above mentioned transgressions into the realm of healing:
“Aghori-type movements can be traced back to at least the 11th-century AD. The extreme practices of the Aghori holy men aimed to achieve a spiritual state of non-discrimination by seeing the divine in everything — even pollution and death.
“The idea was to overcome all fears and aversions. Non-discrimination means you can have no hatred or fear of anything or anyone,” Barrett explains.
In the 1970s, a reform movement began among the Kina Ram Aghori sect. Instead of embracing untouchable practices — such as the ritual consumption of human flesh and feces — the Kina Ram Aghori began embracing untouchable people through social services.”
Kabbalah and Kellipot (Qabala and Qliphoth)
Now we move onto what influenced the West’s understanding, and perversion, of the Left-Hand Path. Once again, the Left-Hand Path refers to the Left Hand of God and is represented on the Left side of the Tree of Life (Kabbalah), specifically in the sephira (sphere) of Geburah, or Severity, which is ruled by Mars.
Further, we have the ‘hidden’ sephirah Da’ath, which means Knowledge, and is the same on both sides acting as a neutral bridge. Others have said Malkuth, the lowest sphere that represents the material realm, is another portal to the Sitra Achra (Other Side), and goes down into the Hell Realms. Each sephira is ruled by an angel so each kelipa (shell) is ruled by a demon, and each sphere or kelipa has a Path. In the Kabbalah, each path is connected to a Tarot Major Arcana, and in the Kellipot, while still symbolic of an Arcana, are also ruled by different minor hells and demons.
In the Western Mystery Tradition, particularly the Hermetic Order of the Golden Day and Ordo Templi Orientis, the Kellipot was used as a roadmap for Crossing the Abyss. Crossing the Abyss is another way of saying traversing the dark night of the soul:
“The dark night of the soul” is what St. John of the Cross describes as “purgative contemplation,” in which God specifically darkens a person’s will, intellect, and senses in order to test the authenticity of one’s love for God. . . When a person desires complete union with God, it is necessary that s/he must first enter into a period of time in which his/her senses are darkened, the intellect is clouded, and the will dies to itself…One faces the temptation to abandon one’s faith, to conclude that God does not exist – or if He does, in fact, exist, He is not a merciful and loving God.”
Conclusion
Continuing the study of either Hinduism or Jewish Mysticism and their relationship to the “Left Hand Of God” will be both enlightening and challenging on what it means to be a follower of this path. We are not simple egoic Satanists that see ourselves as gods or dark magic practitioners that refute any and all concepts of Light and Holiness. Rather, we can take this as a challenge of our preconceived notions of this wondrous path. It is all divine, everything from sex to death, from the birth of a star and emergence of a solar system and life on a planet, to the emptiness of grief, the decay of relationships and bodies, and the end of all known life. Every aspect of existence is divine.
Theologically speaking, this means the Vampyre is just as Holy as the Priest, albeit differently. The demon does “God’s Will” simply through their design to reject God, as the angel does God’s Will by embracing God’s Love. God, in this essence, is not Jesus, Buddha, or any name or figure, but the concept of creation and the myriad ways in which it presents itself. On the Left, we embrace the dark, demonic, decaying, and despotic essence of our perceptions, yet we also acknowledge the light, angelic, loving, fruitful, and joyous essence of our perceptions.
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