Tantric Influences on Thelem
by: Genevieve Petty
It is obvious to even the most casual It is obvious to even the most casual observer that Tantric practices in Hinduism and Buddhism share an observer that
Tantric practices in Hinduism and Buddhism share an element of sex with element of sex with Thelema, the religion promulgated by Aleister Crowley. But how
Thelema, the religion promulgated by Aleister Crowley. But how deep and how deep and how wide is the Tantric influence on Thelema? This paper will explore this question. wide is the Tantric influence on Thelema? This paper will explore this question.
To begin, another question must be answered. How could Tantra in Asia influence the ideas of a To begin, another question must be answered. How could
Tantra in Asia influence the ideas of a man man born in England in born in England in 1875? This particular man, Aleister Crowley, was 1875? This particular man, Aleister Crowley, was a privileged member of English a privileged member of English society who, as a young and adventurous spirit, took up the sport of mountain climbing. In 1902 he society who, as a young and adventurous spirit, took up the sport of mountain climbing. In 1902 he made a
successful assault on the peak K-2 (Chogo Ri) in made a successful assault on the peak K-2 (Chogo Ri) in the Himalayans. He returned to the area in the Himalayans. He returned to the area in 1905 for a disastrous climb 1905 for a disastrous climb of Kangchenjunga, after which he trekked through China with
of Kangchenjunga, after which he trekked through China with his wife. His his wife. His travels between 1900 and 1904 included extensive parts of India as well as Sri Lanka. travels between 1900 and 1904 included extensive parts of India as well as Sri Lanka.11 Therefore, since Therefore, since Crowley was
travelling in Asia, often in the company of Tibetan sherpas, he could have been easily Crowley was travelling in Asia, often in the company of Tibetan sherpas, he could have been easily exposed to Tantric teachings and exposed to Tantric teachings and practices. practices.
Another source of Tantric ideas could have been late Victorian society. During the latter half of the Another source of Tantric ideas could have been late Victorian society. During the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, several people -- Noyes with Nineteenth Century, several people -- Noyes with his
"Male Continence," Stockham with her his "Male Continence," Stockham with her Karezza" Karezza" techniques, Randolph with his "Anseiratic Mysteries" -techniques, Randolph with his "Anseiratic Mysteries" -- spontaneously spontaneously discovered forms of mindful discovered forms of mindful masturbation
for which they made great claims for health and bliss. While these sexual practices are not masturbation for which they made great claims for health and bliss. While these sexual practices are not exactly Tantra, they have enough similarity that exactly Tantra, they have enough similarity that people of
today mislabel them as people of today mislabel them as Tantra. Tantra.22 In the occult In the occult and avant-garde circles which Crowley loved to and avant-garde circles which Crowley loved to frequent, such shocking ideas would naturally be frequent, such shocking ideas would naturally be discussed as
an affront to Victorian repression. Who is to say that these discussed as an affront to Victorian repression. Who is to say that these sexual notions could not have sexual notions could not have precipitated into English minds from the vaguest precipitated into English minds from the vaguest of rumours brought home from Colonial India? of rumours brought home from Colonial India?
Now that I have Now that I have postulated how Crowley could have geographically encountered Tantra, it becomes postulated how Crowley could have geographically encountered Tantra, it becomes necessary to define Tantra. Although Tantric texts necessary to define Tantra. Although Tantric texts date only to medieval India, Catherine Yronwode date only to medieval India, Catherine Yronwode contends the origin of its practices probably resides in
Dravidic rites of yoni puja and linga puja. In precontends the origin of its practices probably resides in Dravidic rites of yoni puja and linga puja. In
preVedic times, the indigenous people honored the Vedic times, the indigenous people honored the vulva and penis both with vulva and penis both with
offerings accompanied by offerings accompanied by prayers to phallic-shaped and yoni-shaped statues and s prayers to phallic-shaped and yoni-shaped statues and stones and by deliberate sexual tones and by deliberate sexual arousal of the arousal of the genitals of persons representing fertility forces. These
rituals constituted the genitals of persons representing fertility forces. These rituals constituted the oldest human religion, oldest human religion,33 sex sex worship, a view shared by scholars like Marija Gimbutas worship, a view shared by scholars like Marija Gimbutas44 and Riane Eisler. and Riane Eisler.55
Miranda Shaw discovered that Tantric Buddhism developed as Miranda Shaw discovered that Tantric Buddhism developed as a protest movement by lay a protest movement by lay people during people during India's Pala Period. At that India's Pala Period. At that time monastic orders flourished and had acquired
ecclesiastical privileges of time monastic orders flourished and had acquired ecclesiastical privileges of wealth and status what wealth and status what were not shared with ordinary Buddhists. Desirous to were not shared with ordinary Buddhists. Desirous to return to the "universalism" return to the
"universalism" of Mahayana Buddhism, lay people developed Tantric of Mahayana Buddhism, lay people developed Tantric practices which allowed them to live practices which allowed them to live everyday everyday lives and still pursue lives and still pursue enlightenment/lib enlightenment/liberation. As their
method, direct experience of eration. As their method, direct experience of ecstatic states of ecstatic states of consciousness superceded the arid scholasticism of monks consciousness superceded the arid scholasticism of monks and nuns. and nuns.66 Eventually, monastic universities Eventually,
monastic universities such as Nalanda, Vikramasla, Odantapur and Somapur incorporated these Tantric such as Nalanda, Vikramasla, Odantapur and Somapur
incorporated these Tantric techniques into their techniques into their curriculum. curriculum.77 file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Genevieve/My%20D...anae's%20Portfolio/academic/under/tantric_thelema.html (1 of 11)2/17/2004 1:35:15 PM file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Genevieve/My%20D...anae's%20Portfolio/academic/under/tantric_thelema.html (1 of 11)2/17/2004 1:35:15 PM
As Tantra developed, influences from contemporary religious practices can be traced. Hatha yoga contributed body postures to Tantric practice. Bhakti yoga added devotion as the attitude to be maintained by Tantric practitioners. Other incorporations from orthodox Hinduism include 1) visualization of a Deity
during the rite, 2)recitation of a mantra, 3)concentration on a yantra, which is usually an iconographic symbol of the vulva, and 4)tapas, which are austerities such as fasting or refraining from touching the person embodying Deity. Concepts of kundalini influenced through introducing techniques of
breath control and semen retention in order to raise subtle energy streams within practitioners' bodies.8 Two forms of Tantra emerged in India: these were identified as the righthand path and the left-hand path. The right-hand path stressed the meditational aspects of Tantric practices to achieve ecstasy and
usually confined its practitioners to a monogamous relationship. The left-hand path stressed the physiological elements and preferred multiple partners, often simultaneously, during sex.9
When Buddhism reached Tibet, it encountered two religious streams which mingled with it to create Tibetan Tantrism. One of these was a native animism called Bon, in which complementary male and female Deities were worshipped and propitiated. As centuries of Tibetan Buddhism produced countless images of
boddhisattvas, each painting continued to contain its male saint with its female shakti sitting on his lap, often in an erotic pose. If asked why the female figure was always present, Buddhist monks replied that enlightenment for a male was unattainable without the female half of energy. The other strand
was Taoist alchemy. This consisted of exercises of strict breath, muscle and semen control that were believed to promote longevity, perhaps even immortality. Some Tibetan scholars claim that LaoTzu himself referenced "yoni puja" as the "valley spirit."10 Anyway, Tibetans merged these native
religious elements with Indian Buddhism. Up until China's invasion of Tibet under Communism, monks at nearly all monasteries were required to spend two years at least in specifically Tantric practices. Usually when a monk was about seventeen, he was sent into isolation inside a cave. His only contact would
be a woman, usually around thirty years old, who would initiate him into Tantric sex. He would be fed by her and ministered to by her alone. He would see on one else. When she was absent, the monk would be expected to meditate upon her and upon having sex with her until his imagination became as vivid as reality. At this point his lover became a "tulpa." Gradually, by lengthening the time between her visits, she would wean the monk from experiencing physiological ecstasy into experiencing spiritual ecstasy.11
In India, Tantric practices began to be perceived as only a left-hand path. Suspicions and fears drove Tantric practitioners into greater secrecy. By the time the British took India, Tantra was underground. Its women initiates had lost so much status that they were perceived by Indians and British alike as
glorified temple prostitutes.12 Vamamarga was the name by which this left hand path was known. Yet it is quite obvious that Tantra is a form of yoga, and the final purpose of each form of yoga is integration of the individual consciousness with the
cosmic phenomenal manifestation.13 It differs from asceticism, which renounces everything to seek such perfection, in that perfection is being realized through "fulfillment of all wishes."14 In the end the Tantric practitioner hopes to abolish all duality within the unity of cosmic
transcendence.15 Buddhists call this feat liberation. To achieve it, however, file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Genevieve/My%20D...anae's%20Portfolio/academic/under/tantric_thelema.html (2 of 11)2/17/2004 1:35:15 PM
Tantric practitioners immerse themselves in sensual experience because "the inferior levels of consciousness cannot be effortlessly controlled and surpassed unless fully and frantically, intensely and totally, lived in the whole plentitude of their power.16 Not only can Tantric practitioners stay in
the "world," they are required to embrace all features of everyday life.17 As Tripura Rahasya said:
"Second-hand knowledge of the self gathered from books or gurus can never emancipate a man until its truth is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization will do that. Realize yourself, turning the mind inward."18
Sex is a vital aspect of ordinary human life. In Tantra, sex is worshipped either as a principle or as an actual practice. An example of worshipping sex as a principle is a ritual performed by a man in Kerala wherein he abducted a virgin having outstanding physical features. He divested her into nudity,
anointed her with liquor, invoked Shakti by chanting mantras and gesturing mudras, gave her flowers and then set her free. Throughout the rite, he strove to remain free of all lust for her. 19 Others engage in sex while controlling their breathing into a relaxed pace, controlling their minds into focus on Shakti or Shiva or some object and controlling semen by the rhythm of contractions.20 Mere sexual pleasure is never the goal although frequently attained.21 As Dinu Roman explains:
"The sexual beatitude raised at the transcendental level of an extraordinary psychic experience with a spiritual character reflects then, the ineffable happiness of a subtle cosmic nature known in yoga as ananda and in Tantra as samarasa."22
Female partners transform through such awareness into living symbols (Para Shakti) and men embody the Everlasting Male (Shiva).23 Human sex in Tantra strives to unite this cosmic pair of fundamental forces while simultaneously obliterating awareness of any individuality. Robert C. Svoboda considers Tantric rituals to be essentially sacrifices of "self" into a purgative fire that destroys maya. The female partner is the fire and semen represents the "self" that is consumed.24 It is felt that unless consistently incinerated, the human ego will balloon out of proportion and automatically cause cosmic disruption.25
Secondary and yet essential to the above cosmic act is the personal achievement of states of altered consciousness. Every successful practitioner reports expansion of consciousness as the credential of her/ his accomplishment.26 According to Tantra, ordinary wakefulness is considered to be only a "very
small fraction of our native intelligence."27 This process of mental liberation has been compared to an inverse evolution wherein a practitioner must return through and discard each and all stages of terrestrial evolution until he/she arrives at the unique origin, the emptiness that is and creates Sratantrya.28 Such effort releases the entirety of human potential.29 Occasionally, diet and drugs were combined to induce ecstasies, especially in female
participants.30 But the primary mechanism of achieving expanded file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Genevieve/My%20D...anae's%20Portfolio/academic/under/tantric_thelema.html (3 of 11)2/17/2004 1:35:15 PM
consciousness during sex related to semen retention. If the male could refrain from ejaculation, the semen would transmute into ojas and tejas, subtle streams of energy which would travel from the perineum at the base of the spine (root chakra) through the lymphatic system into the brain. The ojas and
tejas would then be processed by the brain. The tejas would radiate as an aura while the person united with Universal Consciousness, while the ojas would be used for longevity. Ojas and tejas would also be produced in women through multiple orgasms. Some practitioners claimed that their menstrual cycles were
interrupted and ovulations altered through such process.31 One reference regarding longevity is found in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika III on page 87: "The yogin who can protect his bindu overcomes death, because death comes by discharging bindu, and life is prolonged by its preservation."32
Other Tantric goals involve acquiring power to effect a practitioner's will in the world. Tantric principles insist that "any kind of action from the part of any being, must automatically, through reflection, influence any other form on the same level of creation."33 Thus, even Randolph in his "Anseiratic Mysteries," considered the "nuptive moment," (orgasm) a prime opportunity for prayer. 34 Especially Tantrics of the left-hand path used the exercises to
gain psychic powers. One Tantric practioner expressed it as "I do what I do so I can do what other men cannot do."35 In Thelema the ultimate goal is the discovery and development of each individual's Own True Will. That does not imply doing as one pleases. Crowley wrote: "Each member must make it his main work to discover for himself his own true will, and to do it, and do nothing else."36 "The essential attainment is the perfect annihilation of that personality which limits and oppresses his True Self."37
"He must accomplish … identification of himself with the impersonal idea of Love."38
Like Tantra then, Thelema's goal in its sexual practice transcends pleasure while retaining it. That goal attempts to merge the individual into a Universal. Also like Tantra, Thelema is not necessarily a practice of denial or renunciation. While it can include such disciplines, it also practices hedonistic indulgences in all forms of sensual activity -- and not just sex. Experimentation with activities and procedures is a feature of its approach -- just like Tantra's demand that "direct experience" supplant scholarly analysis in the quest for reality.
Crowley and his followers repeatedly searched for states of altered consciousness. It is well-known that Crowley employed drugs for this purpose. His sexual magic was also aimed at achieving "emancipation from thought … consecration as a pure vehicle of energies."39 Like the vamamarga, he and other
Thelemites also used sex acts as a means of focusing will at moments of orgasm to effect specific outcomes. In other words, sex was used to gain power, exactly like the left-hand tantrics. Thus, both short-term and ultimate goals of Thelema and Tantra bear striking similarities, which implies influence through the creator of Thelema.
Tantric practices are often criticized by feminists for objectifying individual women and thus excluding them from the role of spiritual questor. These women are perceived as mere "means" for male attainment of enlightenment or power. Since relationship is as irrelevant as pleasure to the final accomplishment of transcendence, the personality of the female partner is ignored and replaced by a symbolic Goddess in the minds of practitioners. However, Tantric women practitioners are encouraged to perceive their lovers as the god Shiva, the Everlasting Male principle, rather than actual men during sex.40 Many women, such as Yeshe Tsogyal and Dakmedma, achieved status as yoginis themselves.41 In the instances of worship without any sexual acts which occur as Tantra, those female vehicles might be said to serve only as objects.
Crowley developed the concept of the "Scarlet Woman," a female partner who assisted a magus through sex into experience of transcendence and attainment of powers. This magical partner was viewed as symbolic as in Tantra. Crowley wrote that "to work the magick, you must first be united with Divinity … once this "marriage" has been consummated…"42 and "Once you "know" Her (or Him) all subsequent "earthly" ecstasies take the form of devotional offerings to the Great Lover who regards the devotee with increasingly sweeter embraces until finally the embrace is eternal."43 The bodies of these women became
instruments through which Thelemites sought spiritual access. Their personalities, uniquenesses as individuals were unimportant. They facilitated a male's spiritual development and were neither taught nor expected to have magical ambitions or spiritual attainments of their own. A Thelemite friend of mine used as his partner a woman who neither believed in Thelema nor cared about performing magic -- and was in fact, professedly Christian. Crowley lists several women as having been his Scarlet Woman: Rose Edith Kelly, Leila Waddell, Dorothy Olsen, Leah Hirsig. He also tells us that Victor Newberg served him in a
similar manner. While all of these people are called "assistant" by Crowley, and all have magical names, only Victor Newberg, his male lover, has a magical title, indicating recognition of equality with its attendant possibility of spiritual development through the practices. And as "frater", or brother, only men seem to have been accepted as Crowley's apprentices -- Raoul Loveday, Norman Mudd, Frank Bennett.44 While words of gender equality ("Every man and
every woman is a star"45 ) exist in Thelemic texts, such was and is not now practiced. In Tantra, practitioners so immerse themselves in experience that they transcend experience into an expanded consciousness. To do this they become "mindful" of each and every act, each and every thought, each and every emotion in experience. The frantic, intense living of both sexual and non-sexual emotions is called Shakipata and leads into the frantic, intense living of each moment in time called Nirvikalpa.46 Through such "mindfulness" they banish past and present into an Eternal Now, escaping linear constructs of time and space which is a human mental framework. Achievement requires "tireless practice."47
In all his recommendations to disciples, Crowley advises them to be "aware" of every aspect of what they are doing. Whether meditating in yogic postures or sweeping floors or riding buses or engaging in sex, minds are to be totally focused into each event. "Mind is the great Slayer of the Real,"48 by which Crowley meant the mind naturally interprets phenomena. By constantly striving to focus mind into a simple reception without interpretation, Crowley aspires like the Tantrics to transcend mind into awareness of other dimensions of being and uses similar methodology.
To stimulate and help Tantric practitioners achieve spiritual progress, a variety of aids are frequently used. Asanas consist of specific postures in which sex worship and/or sexual activities are performed. These have been derived from hatha yoga for the most part. Mudras are specific ritual gestures used to evoke and express emotions. Mantras are sounds chanted during practice to focus the mind through hearing. In Tantric philosophy, every letter of the
Sanskrit alphabet is a Bija Mantra or seed sound and is associated with a chakra that it can affect within a human body. Every sound also possesses a subtle energetic color.49 Yantras, which are icons that the eyes concentrate upon during exercises, often correspond in hue with accompanying mantras. Rhythms produced by drumming, rattling and music assist in timing the control of the sexual organs. Perfumes from incenses and body ointments stimulate through the sense of smell.50 In other words, care is given in Tantra to create a ceremony of sexual worship that surrounds participants.
Aleister Crowley was a "ceremonial magician." In all his rites (not just the sex magick), he used elaborate arrays of odors (pleasant and unpleasant), of sounds such as chanting and songs, drumming and whistling, of images like circles, pentagrams, words, veve designs. He wrote precise formulae of gesture, postures, and positions for each rite. While such ceremonialism could have many sources, since Tantra also has these elements in its practice, it could have contributed.
Although Tantric texts exist, the majority of practitioners depend on gurus or masters to unfold its secrets to them. Robert Svoboda advises that "secrecy prevents any abuse of knowledge." He claims that oral transmission of Tantric truths and techniques is necessary because the texts were deliberately falsified through omission of essentials so that certain powers would not be available to the undisciplined and unready.51
Despite Crowley's prodigious output of books, Thelemic principles remain a mystery. He taught his disciples in secrecy. He wrote in One Star in Sight that the "secret of how to do is a secret not to be revealed."52 His language is frequently so obscure in his books that any meaning is difficult, if not impossible, to decypher by readers. Thus, mentoring becomes the sole method of Thelemic transmission.
A modern practitioner of Tantra, Dinu Roman, defines Tantra as a science of man despite its invocations of Shiva and Shakti, that mingles elements of physiology, psychology, magic and spirituality towards an accelerated development of human consciousness and personality.53 Indeed its view of the Real Universe is as an "extremely complex, multi-dimensional web of invisible energies" which humans can
manipulate through Tantric disciplines.54 Such understanding is rather non-theistic when compared with religions like Christianity or Islam where a God controls the Universe.
Crowley was speaking of Thelemites when he wrote "By His Wisdom made He the Worlds, the Word that is God is none other that He," thus putting humans as creators through magical process.55 Thelema expresses non-theism also as "I am alone; there is no God where I am."56 and as "Every man and every woman is a
star. A separate star; and indeed, in a sense … a separate god."57 Roman, in his discourse on Tantra, also identifies the human body as an instrument through which cosmic forces -- "invisible energies" operate. "The individual human structure and the outer macrocosmic manifestation, or Universe, are similar."58 Are not these ideas too close to be unrelated? Both Tantra and Thelma accept the system of chakras, seven major and many minor energy points within the human body which can be deliberately stimulated to raise energy that is found in the ayuraveda of Hinduism.
Although non-theistic, Tantra practitioners believe in and invoke help from other planar beings, both boddhisattvas and dakinis and creatures described in rather "demonic" terms. An Indian proverb relates:
"Mahouts die by elephants, snake charmers die by snakes, and tantriks die by the entities they summon and attempt to control."59 In one example, a master of vamamarga advised a disciple that the being he saw while in his vision was Mohini, a succubus who could have offered the disciple a twelve-year pact wherein Mohini would have done the man's bidding as long as he satisfied her lust once per month. The master congratulated the disciple for his distraction of Mohini by throwing white stones.60
In Thelema, Crowley proclaims that the "world of divine beings" is to be explored through sexual channels and that such relationship with an "elemental lover" provides joy that transcends any human union.61 Another way that Dr. Christopher S. Hyatt put it was "the sexual role the magician assumes with the
elemental is one of loving dominance … you bestow your ecstasy as a gift and allow your elemental partner to share, through you, the Divine love."62 Crowley's Enochian Sex Magic and Goetia consist of specific rites for contacting beings of both beneficent and malignant intent. He often referred to an individual's spirit mentor as his "Holy Guardian Angel."63 Or as Louis Umfraville Wilkinson writes in the introduction to Crowley's The Law is for All, "I am myself persuaded that there are intelligences and powers not normally accessible to any of the senses."64 Obviously both Tantra and Thelema believe in the existence of orders of superhuman beings that can help or hinder spiritual progress.
Another correspondence lies between the concept of dharma and Crowley's "own true will." Dharma is an ethics peculiar to an individual. Each person in Tantra has her/his own dharma. There is no single established standard that applies to every Tantric practitioner. That is why Tantra has so many different and sometimes contradictory methods such as celibacy and sex, chanting and silence, retreat into a hermitage and immersion in everyday affairs, et. al. Dharma recognizes individuality. Dharma also
recognizes the relevance of circumstances, internal and external, to determination of what elements compose it for a person. Another proverb reflects:
"One can fall due to the earth, another can, without doubt, raise himself with the help of the earth."65
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."66 Crowley's extrapolation of this principle goes "men and women … exist in their own Truth, which is both universal and unique.67 They move in accordance with their own Wills, which are each unique, yet coherent with the Universal Will. They perceive (that is, understand, know and feel) in Love, which is both unique and universal." He continues by writing that each person must be "free to choose and to use
those [tools] which his own experience and instinct dictate as proper when he essays the Great Experiment."68 In Enochian World of Aleister Crowley, he counsels "resign yourself at the outset to take responsibility for your own magical reality … there is only your universe which you can access … there is only your magick, facilitated by the methods," and "no two magicians will have identical experiences in evocation."69 In Liber LXI vel Causae he writes again, "Every man must overcome his own obstacles, expose his own illusions. Yet others may assist him … They can further insure that he is duly tried and tested …"70
Reincarnation is another belief, originally a tenet of Hinduism and Buddhism, that is shared by Tantrics and Thelemites. Catharine Burroughs who leads the Nyingmapa Buddhist Center in America has been recognized as Genyenma Ahkon Lhama, a 17th century yogini.71 Crowley declared himself to be the reincarnation
of Eliphas Levi. Much Tantric practice, especially in the Buddhist tradition, aims at liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. In conclusion, Aleister Crowley was certainly familiar with ideas and methods found in Tantric tradition. He possibly received instruction from Tantric masters while journeying in the Orient. Just as obviously he incorporated Tantric elements when he devised the religion of Thelema. Perhaps, one of Crowley's teachers in the Golden Dawn, Allan Bennett, should serve as an appropriate epilogue because he eventually gave up the practice of western ceremonial magick and became a Buddhist monk.72
Endnotes:
1. Sandy Robertson, The Aleister Crowley Scrapbook (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1988): 15-16 2. Catherine Yronwode, A Short Definition of Sacred Sex, 1995-2000 <http://www.luckymojo.com/ tktantradefinition.html> 3. Ibid. 4. Marija Gimbutas, The Living Goddesses (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999) 5. Riane Tennenhaus Eisler, Sacred Pleasure (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995) 6. Miranda Shaw, Tantric Buddhism in India, November 25, 2001 <http://www.tantra.com> 7. Ibid.
8. Catherine Yronwode, A Short Definition of Sacred Sex, 1995-2000 <http://www.luckymojo.com/ tktantradefinition.html> 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid. 11. Catharine Yronwode, Buddhism and Tantra Yoga, 1995, <http://www.sexuality.org/1/tantra/tibet. html> 12. Ibid. 13. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. Miranda Shaw, Tantric Buddhism in India, November 25, 2001 <http://www.tantra.com> 18. Mike Magee, Shiva Shakti Mandalam: Tantrik Home Page, 1996 <http://www.hubcom.com/tantric/ > 19. Jahnava Nitai Das, IndiaDivine, <http://www.indiadivine.com/mystical-secrets-tantra-keralal-y.html> 20. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997
<http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 21. Ibid. 22. Ibid. 23. Robert E. Svoboda, Aghora - At The Left Hand Of God , 1986 <http://www.kundalini-info.org/tantra. html> 24. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 25. Robert E. Svoboda, Aghora - At The Left Hand Of God , 1986 <http://www.kundalini-info.org/ tantra. html> 25. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 26. Ibid. 27. Ibid. 28. Ibid. 29. jomahali, Worship of the Lingam and Sex Rites <http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/4480/ lingamworship.htm> 30. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 31. Ibid. 32. Ibid. 33. Catherine Yronwode, A Short Definition of Sacred Sex, 1995-2000 <http://www.luckymojo.com/ tktantradefinition.html> 34. Jahnava Nitai Das, IndiaDivine, <http://www.indiadivine.com/mystical-secrets-tantra-keralal-y.html> 35. Aleister Crowley, "One Star in Sight," Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1996): 19 36. Ibid.: 13 37. Ibid. 38. Ibid.: 14 39. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 40. Janice D. Willis "Tibetan Buddhist Women Practitioners, Past and Present," Buddhist Women
Across Cultures (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999): 150-151 41. Aleister Crowley, Lon Milo Duquette and Christopher S. Hyatt, Enochian World of Aleister Crowley (Phoenix, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 1991): 104 42. Ibid.: 107 43. Aleister Crowley, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography (London: Penguin Books, 1969) 44. Aleister Crowley, "Liber Al vel Legis," The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1983): 107 45. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 46. Ibid. 47. Aleister Crowley, "The Voice of the Silence," Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1996): 229 48. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 49. Ibid. 50. Robert E. Svoboda, Aghora - At The Left Hand Of God , 1986 <http://www.kundalini-info.org/ tantra. html> 51. Aleister Crowley, "One Star in Sight," Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc,
1996): 16-17 52. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 53. Ibid. 54. Aleister Crowley, "Liber B vel Magi," The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1983): 3 55. Aleister Crowley, "Liber Al vel Legis," The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1983): 116 56. Louis Umfraville Wilkinson, "Introduction," The Law is for All (Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 1996): 17 57. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 58. Jahnava Nitai Das, IndiaDivine, <http://www.indiadivine.com/mystical-secrets-tantra-keralal-y.html> 59. Ibid. 60. Aleister Crowley, Lon Milo Duquette and Christopher S. Hyatt, Enochian World of Aleister Crowley (Phoenix, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 1991): 105-106 61. Ibid.: 108 62. Aleister Crowley, "One Star in Sight," Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1996): 16 63. Louis Umfraville Wilkinson, "Introduction," The Law is for All (Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 1996): 64. Dinu Roman, Spiritweb, December 23, 1997 <http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/tantra-roman.html> 65. Aleister Crowley, "Liber Al vel Legis," The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1983): 196 66. Aleister Crowley, "One Star in Sight," Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1996): 8 67. Aleister Crowley, "One Star in Sight," Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers (York
Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1996): 17 68. Aleister Crowley, Lon Milo Duquette and Christopher S. Hyatt, Enochian World of Aleister Crowley (Phoenix, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 1991): 21 69. Aleister Crowley, "Liber LXI vel Causae," The Holy Books of Thelema (York Beach, Maine: Samulel Weiser, Inc, 1983): xxxix 70. Janice D. Willis "Tibetan Buddhist Women Practitioners, Past and Present," Buddhist Women Across Cultures (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999): 151 71. Aleister Crowley, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography (London: Penguin Books, 1969)
