On the left hand path.

(Mahakala and the wheel of life)

The subject of what the left hand path really is is a controversial one. There seems to be at least two, maybe three, main theories and based on some of the books I have read on the subject. I will present them here along with references to the books I have used. I will start with the books that deals with the oldest traditions and work my way towards today.

I'd like to start with the most ancient notes on the term left hand path that we probaly have. It is based in what we today would call hinduism and my first point is being made in the book Encountering Kali by Rachel Fell McDermott and Jeffrey J. Kripal. They write that vamachara (left hand path) tantrism is the strife to realize the nature of the world as pervaded by the one shakti (the female force, in this book specifically symbolized by Kali). This is done through rituals of pancatattva with use of the 5 forbidden things in hinduism. This is an antinomian practice that is done to overcome the apparent duality of this world. It affirms radically the way of the phenomenal world.

Next up is the book Aghora - at the Left Hand of God by Robert E. Sveboda. This is the biography of an Aghori and self proclaimed pratitioner of left hand path hinduism. This book explains the left hand path as the perfect symbiosis of right and left. The left hand does however traditionally do the more "inauspicious activities". The left hand path is the faster but more intense and dangerous path towards the goal. And the goal of both the right hand and left hand paths are to realize the universe as atma. This is done, on the left hand path, by the use of traditionally forbidden things in ritual such as corpses, sculls, menstrual blood and the eating of human flesh. The reasoning is that the aghori shouldnt fear anything in samsara because all is atma and we too are atma. To eat ones own feces not as a perversity but as a sign of recognition of the unity that is the all. "Everywhere I see, everything is Me".

Moving along to Buddhism in the book The Tantric Tradition by Agehanda Bharati. The same kind of antinomian nature is described in relation to the practices of buddhistic vamachara tantra. Here however the goal is seen to be the realization of the world as sunya or emptiness and that nothing has a real individual existence at its core.

If we make a huge leap to modern day in Stephen E. Flowers book Lords of the Left Hand Path. This perspective is highly influenced by th deinition of the left hand path as described by Dr. Michael Aquinos Temple of Set. Flowers explains that in his opinion the right hand path is the uniting of the Self with the objective universe, God or nature. The Self is destroyed. The left hand path however would then be the path to free, empower and bring forth a more forceful individual existence of the Self. Often to a level that is seen as divine. Flowers does indeed touch on other perspectives such as the ones described above that the right hand path and the left hand path does lead to the same goal but in general he doesnt deal alot with it and does everything to prove his own point. That to me is one of the major faults in the book because in all my sources that are not not connected to the "satanic scene" it is the traditional view described above (hindu and buddhistic vamachara tantra) that reigns supreme. Im not sure where the idea of the total individuation of the self entered the left hand path in the equation before the modern era. If anyone knows, please contact me.

Furthermore we have the view of the relatively small Swedish magical order Dragon Rouge in Glimpses of the Left Hand Path. Their main symbol, the dragon, symbolizes the union of all opposites. The left hand path is seen as the revival of the contact with nature, with primordial atavistic chaos, that which has been demonized by, among others, the christian religion. The feeling here is that the left hand path is non-dualist and that light and darkness complements eachother (just like it does in taoism or hinduism) while the righ hand path seeks to destroy the darkness and then reign supreme as "the one". This is also explained in Mörk Magi by Tommie Eriksson. It explains how the author sees Chaos and Darkness as the base of our existence and thus the foundation for light. We shoud then embrace all of nature and not just small parts of it and not ty to destroy one part of it which he claims is a trait of right hand path religion.

This is also a philosophy that is described by Jeremy Christner in his Kosmology booklet (not related to Dragon Rouge as far as I know). However this incorporates another element where Chaos is the foundation of all and that light emerges out of necessity but that the Demiurge who appears with the light, and is a creative aspect of light, thinks he is the be all end all of everything that is. The "dark path" would then be to fight the delusional worldview of this demiurge.

Chaos magician Peter J. Carrol writes in his Liber Null & Psychonautthat: "the magician [in the left hand path sense] aims to become a center of creation and destruction himself, a living manifestation of Chaos force within the realm of duality, a complete microcosm, a god" They see Chaos as the ruling force behind the universe and to be as Chaos would then be to act in a left hand path type of way.

Furthermore we have the Temple of the Black Light. This too is a small organisation and they have a view on the left hand path that we cant really find anywhere else. In their world light and darkness is at odds with eachother. This world, the cosmos, is a creation of the light and as such the goal is to ultimately destroy it. This is very different from hinduism and related systems who see the dark force as permeating this cosmos and actually in itself giving rise to this world. The goal is to realize this. The TotBL however has a more dualistic view and seeks to ultimately destroy this world. How they fit this into the use of hindu godess Kali is beyond me as the destruction of the world is but one of her three main qualities. The other two being the one who emanates the universe and then as the one who nurtures it.


This was written as a small overview of the different perspectives that do exist on the term left hand path and how different it can be used by different religions or in some cases different people within the same religion (at least same in regards to the name). This is no claim to any truth even though my personal feeling did shine through a few times. I hope this might create some curiosity with some readers who decide they want to know more.