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In Western esotericism the '''Left-Hand Path''' and | |||
In Western esotericism the '''Left-Hand Path''' and Right-Hand Path are the dichotomy between two opposing approaches to [[ritual magic]]. This terminology is used in various groups involved in the [[occult]] and ceremonial magic. | |||
==Definition== | ==Definition== | ||
According to some definitions, the Left-Hand Path is equated with malicious [[black magic]] or black [[shaman|shamanism]], while the Right-Hand Path with benevolent white magic. | |||
Other [[occultist]]s have criticized this definition, believing that the Left–Right dichotomy refers merely to different kinds of working and does not necessarily connote good or bad magical actions. | Other [[occultist]]s have criticized this definition, believing that the Left–Right dichotomy refers merely to different kinds of working and does not necessarily connote good or bad magical actions. | ||
In more recent definitions, which base themselves on the terms' origins in Indian Tantra, the Right-Hand Path (RHP, or Dakshinachara), is seen as a definition for those magical groups that follow specific ethical codes and adopt social convention, while the Left-Hand Path (LHP, or Vamamarga) adopts the opposite attitude, espousing the breaking of taboo and the abandoning of set morality. Some contemporary occultists, such as Peter J. Carroll, have stressed that both paths can be followed by a magical practitioner, as essentially they have the same goals. | In more recent definitions, which base themselves on the terms' origins in Indian Tantra, the Right-Hand Path (RHP, or ''Dakshinachara''), is seen as a definition for those magical groups that follow specific ethical codes and adopt social convention, while the Left-Hand Path (LHP, or ''Vamamarga'') adopts the opposite attitude, espousing the breaking of taboo and the abandoning of set morality. Some contemporary occultists, such as Peter J. Carroll, have stressed that both paths can be followed by a magical practitioner, as essentially they have the same goals. | ||
==Philosophy== | ==Philosophy== | ||
Another distinguishing characteristic separating the two is based upon the aim of the practitioner. Right-handed path practitioners tend to work towards ascending their soul towards ultimate union (or reunion) with the divine source, returning to [[heaven]], allegorically alluded to as restoration or climbing back up the ladder after the "great fall." In [[Lesser Key of Solomon | Another distinguishing characteristic separating the two is based upon the aim of the practitioner. Right-handed path practitioners tend to work towards ascending their soul towards ultimate union (or reunion) with the divine source, returning to [[heaven]], allegorically alluded to as restoration or climbing back up the ladder after the "great fall." In the ''[[Lesser Key of Solomon]]'', they embrace the light and try to annihilate anything they regard as "dark" or "evil." On the other hand, left-handed path practitioners do not see this as the ultimate aim but a step towards their goal. | ||
Left-handed path practitioners embrace the dark as well as the light in order to invoke the [[alchemy|alchemical]] formula ''solve et coagula'' ("dissolve and precipitate"), confronting the negative in order to transmute it into desirable qualities. Left-handed path practitioners descend towards union with the divine to obtain Godhood status, with [[Yahweh|God]]-like powers of their own, having reunited with the ultimate divine source-energy; then once there, taking one more step separating from that divinity, out of this creation into a new creation of their own making, with themselves as the sole divinity of the new universe, apart from the previous creation. | Left-handed path practitioners embrace the dark as well as the light in order to invoke the [[alchemy|alchemical]] formula ''solve et coagula'' ("dissolve and precipitate"), confronting the negative in order to transmute it into desirable qualities. Left-handed path practitioners descend towards union with the divine to obtain Godhood status, with [[Yahweh|God]]-like powers of their own, having reunited with the ultimate divine source-energy; then once there, taking one more step separating from that divinity, out of this creation into a new creation of their own making, with themselves as the sole divinity of the new universe, apart from the previous creation. | ||
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Practitioners often utilize forms of [[sex magic]] as part of their rituals. | Practitioners often utilize forms of [[sex magic]] as part of their rituals. | ||
==History== | |||
In New York, [[Helena Blavatsky]] founded the [[Theosophy|Theosophical Society]] 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. | |||
The [[occult]] community soon picked up on her newly introduced duality, which, according to historian Dave Evans, "had not been known before" in the Western Esoteric Tradition. For instance, [[Dion Fortune]], founder of the magical group the Society of the Inner Light, also took the side of the RHP, making the claim that followers of the LHP were homosexuals and that Indian servants might use malicious magical rites devoted to the goddess Kali against their European masters. | |||
===Crowley=== | |||
[[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. | |||
Crowley also referred to the left-hand path when describing the point at which the Adeptus Exemptus chooses to cross the Abyss, which is the location of Choronzon and the illusory eleventh [[sefirot|Sephira]], which is [[Da'at]] 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 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. Crowley associated all this with "Mary, a blasphemy against [[Babalon]]," and with the celibacy of Christian clergy. | |||
===Waite=== | |||
A figure 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. However, despite Waite's attempts to distinguish 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. | |||
[[Category:Occultism]] | [[Category:Occultism]] | ||
[[Category:Magic]] | [[Category:Magic]] | ||