Principles Of Kaula V-viii

Lesson V: Moon Magick Category: Religion and Philosophy "Moon Magick" Chapter 5 introduces several important topics connected with the meditational or internal approach favoured by the Yogini Kaulas. 1. The importance of a focus on the moon. Remember the maxim "as above, so below; as outside so inside". Now let your meditations focus on the internal moon and its phases. 2. The Cakras. The KJN is the first Hindu source to list their locations and apply the term "cakra". The eleven includes the "six" of later works, so the theory obviously went through some refinement over time. "The various spokes [of the wheels] of divine maidens are worshipped by the immortal host in [1] the secret place (genitals) [2] navel [3] heart [4] throat [5] mouth [6] forehead [7] crown of the head [These maidens] are arrayed along the spine [up] to the trident [located at the level of the fontanel. These cakras are of eleven sorts and comprised of thousands of maidens, O Goddess" [They are] five-spoked and eight leaved, [as well as] ten and twelveleaved, sixteen leaved and one hundred leaved, as well as one hundred thousand leaved." Trans by White "Kiss of the Yogini" 3. Colour magick. The KJN finished this rich chapter with some discussion of the "correspondences" between the yogini’ that reside in these cakras, their colours and what these might mean. Red : subjugations but also enjoyment Purple: drives away White : cause good health Gold : shakes cities Lesson VI: The Jiva Category: Religion and Philosophy Lesson six deals with the "Jiva". The concept is maybe best understood in relation to the doctrine of "as above, so below". The "Jiva" is some kind of transpersonal or transcendental "soul" or monad. Bagchi says in his introduction that were we describing the external world, this would be the "Siva". So we may think this is the divine principle located within each individual mortal.

"Jiva" is also sometimes translated as the subtle body, some philosophies say that when the material body dies, it is the "Jiva" that exits the body via the top of the head (Brahma-randhra) and transmigrates to another. Consequently this section continues with a discussion of "mortality" and how in Kaula lore this can be extended by the inbibation of certain magical elixirs found within the body by meditation. This is the so-called "hidden moon" - which exists in a secret reservoir within each individual. There is a paradox here - if the elixor is already in the body, why is there any need to find and drink it? And why would consuming it not also deplete it? Perhaps it is mysteriously replenished by a flow of life given fluid (rasa) from a mysterious realm outside of the body? Perhaps Kaula lore internalises earlier Kula doctrines concerning a physical eucharist? There are many other example in Hinduism whereby earlier "crude" ideas are treated in a purely metaphorical way. See for example Shri Aurobindu’s commentary on the Vedic Horse sacrifice. But which approach is right - the physical or the metaphorical? Lesson 7: Moon magick continued Category: Religion and Philosophy To make sense of this difficult lesson one needs to know something of the Hindu lunar calendar. The Hindu month was divided into two halfs (paksa) of fifteen days or (tithis) [I can't represent the sanskrit characters correctly here, so bear that in mind] The full moon was called "purnimavasya", the new moon "amavasya" or "bahulavasya". Of the two halfs, that beginning with the new moon was called the light half (suklapaksa) and that with the full moon, the dark half (krisnapaksa). The KJN describes an internal meditation to be done on first day of the lunar fortnight. The language is ambiguous as to whether the new or full moon is meant. I think that given the nature of the practice, it must be the full moon. But what do you think. Given that Matsyendranath has reframed an older practice as an internal technique, one can never be 100% sure as to where metaphor ends. For example when it says "meditate in a deserted spot" - this might be yet another metaphor. But in the underlying Kula I believe the "sadhaka" would have worn black clothes and gone to a deserted spot in the forest to a clearing lit by the full moon. The KJN requires some months of preparation before this communion with the female spirits,

the Yoginis. Now the sadhaka draws down the power of the moon and also receives the lunar essence from the Yogini. This should be visualised as a small heap of unguent on the top of the head. This in turn melts allowing its cooling, lunar essence to flow over the body and enters the body via the skin. Repeated on a regular basis over six month this has a rejuvenating effect on the practitioner. These lunar essenses are complex and vary through the moon's ebbing and flowing. Thus the KJN begain to talk of the 16 petals that share in this essence - and these probably coincide with the lunar kalas. Perhaps we should consider the practice on the so-called "white nights" - ie the days around the full moon. These nights are also perhaps "white" in contra-distinction to the "red" rites to be described later in the book. Also the sixteenth day - which is special as it is the say during which the setting sun and rising moon can be in viewed at the same time. The lunar mysteries of the KJN were not unique but were a continuation of earlier "international" magical ideas. See for example Mogg Morgan's "Supernatural Assault In Ancient Egypt". At the end of this section is a passage that may throw some light on the Kaulas relationship to "guru" and other sources of knowledge. It says: "Only the Kaula may do these things. Without knowing shastra, guru, mantra and Shiva and unless one is a Natha of the Kaulas Agama, one is a pashu." Bagchi precised this as: "When the knowledge of kula is attained one should no more keep the mind under control, because the kulashastra is beyond the reach of illusion; the guru the mantra as well as Shiva are all beyond illusion." Perhaps the translators have struggled a bit with the meaning, but this verse seem to say that when one knows the practice the practitioner is beyond, shastra, guru, mantra and even Shiva?? Lesson 8: The Yoginis Category: Religion and Philosophy The dialogue of Shiva and the Goddess now addresses some very complex matters connected with knowledge of the female "demonic" entities that are the source of the Kaulas gnosis. This gnosis seems to be on the borderline between the earlier "kula" practices, which were more concrete, to a more internal, reframing of the older praxis. To begin one needs a ritual partner or "shakti" of which there are two kinds, external or internal, real or imagined.

The six different styles of practice are arranged in some sort of heirarchy, beginning with the three kinds of "external shakti". 1. "Sahaja" is when the practice is spontaneous and accomplished with one's partner, lover or in more traditional times "wife". (Note that marriage was once the norm for practitioners and indeed "gurus"). 2. "Kulaja" is a practice with a veshya or "prostitute". the jargon may also indicate this was how it was in the original (and more extreme) "kula" of the middle of the first millenium. 3. "Antyaja" - or lower class, ie "Shudra" woman or partner, socalled "untouchable" by the upper classes. The KJN suggests internal, perhaps symbolic alternatives to the above problematic categories: 4. The internal or spontaneous form of "Sahaja Shakti" comes naturally when your body is sexually aroused or you just feel sexy. 5. The Kulaja variety is the garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, the source of all knowledge. So perhaps internal meditation on language and phonems etc. 6. The third internal form on which Matsyendranath dwells the most. This is an elaborate mental image of the "Khaga-isvari" - the "Bird goddess". Perhaps no coincidence that this has a remarkable resonance with the avian entities of antiquity, ie Graeco-Roman magick. I'm thinking of the cult of the Akh and also the Ba (not to be confused with Ankh) of Egyptian religion and the very old cult of the Akhw. See my "Supernatural Assault in Ancient Egypt". In a nutshell, conceptualising the "soul" or "self" as an internal bird entity is part of the international currency of magick at the time Tantra was formulated and the light of the gnosis in Egypt was extinguised. Over and above her, or perhaps twinned with her, is goddess called "Vyoma-Malini". Here name means "she who is garlanded with the sky" - perhaps also a personification of the "garland of alphabet) worn by "Khagesvari". Vyoma-Malini is described as having disheveled hair narcotic betal - smeared with sandalwood paste and musk. She seems counterpart to "Kahesvari". So we are beginning to see several important themes meditation to divine their true meaning, the red and the white, the alphabet etc.

another bird pearls" (the and chewing the to be a ruddy that require deep

Worship of the Yogini [by?] the heroic (vira) practitioner, is done using "two vessels". You as "sadhaka" should worship the circle of 64 or 55 "yoginis". 64 is a significant number, for example the number of permutations of

the "I Ching" and similar oracles - for example the "Tantrik Knuckle bone". 55 is the number of letters in the sacred Sanskrit alphabet. The inner secrets of this form of worship are specific to each clan. Clans originate in different geographical regions and naturally each region has its specific, local "yogini". The "yoginis" are all said to be "born of the field" ie they are from natural, wild places, often mountainous or places of power. These places have become sacred because of the Yoginis. For example "Prayag" at the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna. These are ones that Maysendranath knew but it would be wrong to suppose that the "Yoginis" are confined to the Indian subcontinent. The "Yoginis" are everywhere. In the Kaula system they are arranged into a heirarchy. At the centre a duality. From this eight basic "yoginis". From the eight an outer circle of sixty-four The practition usually makes contact with this outer circle of "yoginis" The practitioner calls down the "yoginis" to the ritual circle where they take possession of, or "ride" the partner. There is an exchange of ritual substances ie the exchange is mutual The "yogini" gives something to the "siddha". The "siddha" gives something to the "yogini" There is a sexual componant to this exchange but not in the conventional sense: This is eucharist magick Or in some cases - a mutual, oral exchange. Hence "kiss" of the "yogini". This long, complex chapter, continues with a long enumeration of the types of yogini and the regions and landscapes from which they originate. Perhaps because of the complexity, Matsyendranath brings into play some universal principles for the creation of words of power, used to invoke them. And he uses, or perhaps transposes a system of vowel magick, that was first synthesied in the late antique magical world of Roman Egypt.

In my book "Tantra Sadhana" I present some of elements of this international system, using the seven Greek vowels, as they could be used in Kaula. As this is beyond any particular language or culture i suggest you can make your own choice as to which language system you use as a starting block. I believe that Matsyendranath merely used his own language, and we can do the same. That is one of the Kaula "secrets" that he reveals in his book. For Matsyendranath spoke using eigh vowels: A, I, U, R, L, Ai, Om, Ah and these he combined with eight consonants Ksa, La, Ha, Sa, Ç, Sh, Va & Ra preface these with some special power words: "Hrim"* and "Shrim"* You can improvise countless mantras, although 8 x 8 yields the significant 64 "yogini". I think the method is freeform, i.e. its all about intent. The final part of the lesson is about the geometry of the "yoginis". The power goddess as the centre is "heralded" by a triangular "constellation" of goddesses. The next emanation is a circle (cakra) of eight "yoginis". Beyond this are various "permutations". The practitioner tend to traffic with the outer, mediating forms of the "yogini". This pattern of concentric circles can be likened to the view of the famous seven chakra system, as viewed from above. The further one penetrates into the circles of "yoginis" - the greater the power they can bestow.