Left-hand Path

A term for people who feel that they are justified in using magick for purposes that are not constructive to other human beings.

The left hand has always been associated with subversion and weakness for time immemorial. In some cultures, the left hand was always seen as the weaker hand and the right hand to be the stronger one. The association of the left hand with the negative or the reversal of the natural order of things shows the meaning behind the left-hand path.

It is believed to receive energies and it is the right hand, which exudes the energy. The reversal movement in magic refers to the undoing action. The movement in reverse, the Deosil movement, is moving to the left-hand path, opening the magic circle

The Left-Hand Path Religions

It refers to some religious movements and religions which practice magic. They normally involve themselves in self-development instead of getting concerned with the entire community; they prefer self-analysis instead of group meditation; they do magic for self-benefit, empowering themselves for material reasons rather than using it for spiritual reasons.

The focus of the practitioners is all about free thought and individualism, personal abilities, and intelligence. Those who practice Chaos, Satanic and Thelemic magic are in this category. Some practitioners of the left-hand path are far beyond the limit of their behaviors.

Left-hand path religions are the opposite of the right-hand path religions which upholds symbols of the sun, of goodness, of herd mentality, and submission to religious authority and the gods. The idea of the left-hand path came from the Indian tantric philosophy which contrasts the left-hand path from the right path.

It is believed to have been brought about due to the Hindu teachings from India being brought to western countries and being westernized. Most of the religious practice in place today normally follow the right-hand path while the followers of the left-hand path being unconsciously discreet about revealing their associations.

The Features of the Left-Hand Path

They normally emphasize on:

• Personal and not universal. The philosophies of the left-hand path don’t claim that their religion is best for everyone and but they claim that, theirs is the valid religion and it is only for a chosen few.
• They emphasize on the rejection of codified doctrine and emphasize on free thought with their rules being mere guidelines.
• Individualism and the personal spiritualism are the core of the left-hand path even if the individuals are operating in a group. This then might turn out to mean that, all esoteric traditions throughout history, having had been individualistic in character might qualify to be called left-hand path religions; the difference though is the spiritualties which in the left-hand path are raised to a level of unequivocal ideology.
• The view of man as a psycho-physical totality meaning that there is no dualism in the left-hand path religions. Man’s essence is normally viewed as both psychic and physical and any absolute separation of the two is considered obscene or even impossible.

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