Lesson III - IV - Breaking the red pots

Category: Religion and Philosophy

Breaking the [Red] Pots
Lesson I ended on a "humanistic" note. The next section strikes a very different tone.
The contrast may give you some insight into the difference or similarity between "us
and them"; "then and now". The way an ancient texts such as the KJN appears to
switch between "high" and "low" concerns is not unique to the Kaulas. It is a feature
of many late classical magical systems - see for example the Greek Magical Papyri.

KJN now moves onto a topic whose title would have been instantly recognisable to a
magician of the late Classical world. To the modern mind this discussion of practical
magick and its sometime malific uses seems strangely discordant after previous more
’humanistic’ philosophy. Magicians of India’s "Iatro-Tantrik" period were often asked
to prove themselves in ’battle’ - and some say they each tried to outdo each other in
terms to the powers (siddha) they claim to wield.

I was taught that competence in this area is contingent on diligence in the more
gnostic, meditational techniques of the KJN. This results magick is therefore the fruit
or vindication of ones spiritual growth. Even so I feel very ambivalent about this
chapter. Are the formulae complete - difficult to say. Here’s an example:

"Meditating on Shakti as "Bindu-Nada" and drawing together both darkness and light
as dissolved into the effulgence of the birth-circle (janmastha), one should meditate
that such a thing occurs in the body of the object. In half a twinkling of the eye the
person may be paralysed." This section includes positive and malific results magick.

The above "spell" seems to presume some prior knowledge - which is probably given
elsewhere in the KJN or that the magician was assumed to possess.

[In construction - E&OE - feedback please]

Sahajanatha (Mogg)