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 twelve-
leaved, 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, so-

called "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 another bird
goddess called "Vyoma-Malini".
Here name means "she who is garlanded with the sky"
- perhaps also a personification of the "garland of pearls" (the
alphabet) worn by "Khagesvari".
Vyoma-Malini is described as having disheveled hair and chewing the
narcotic betal
- smeared with sandalwood paste and musk. She seems to be a ruddy
counterpart to "Kahesvari".
So we are beginning to see several important themes that require deep
meditation to divine their true meaning,
the red and the white, the alphabet etc.

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.