View source for Left-hand path and right-hand path

{{short description|Dichotomy between two opposing approaches to magic}}
{{about|the concept in Western esotericism|the concept in Hinduism|Vamachara|and|Dakṣiṇācāra}}
{{Redirect|Left-Hand Path}}
{{use British English|date=March 2023}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=May 2023}}

[[File:Baphomet by Éliphas Lévi.jpg|thumb|The figure of [[Baphomet]], as depicted by [[Éliphas Lévi]] in ''[[Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie]]'' (1856), has been adopted as a symbol by adherents of left-hand path [[life stance|belief systems]]]]

In [[Western esotericism]], '''left-hand path''' and '''right-hand path''' are two opposing approaches to [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]]. Various groups engaged with the [[occult]] and [[ceremonial magic]] use the terminology to establish a dichotomy, broadly simplified as (malicious) [[black magic]] on the left and (benevolent) [[white magic]] on the right.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=152}} Others approach the left/right paths as different kinds of workings, without connotations of [[Good and evil|good or bad]] magical actions.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=176}} Still others treat the paths as fundamental schemes, connected with external divinities on the right, contrasted with [[self-deification]] on the left.

The terms have their origins in [[tantra]]: the right-hand path (RHP, or ''[[dakṣiṇācāra]]'') applied to magical groups that follow specific ethical codes and adopt [[Convention (norm)|social convention]], while the left-hand path (LHP, or ''[[vāmācāra]]'') adopts the opposite attitude, breaking [[taboo]]s and abandoning set [[morality]]. Contemporary occultists such as [[Peter J. Carroll]] have stressed that both paths can be followed by a magical practitioner, as essentially they have the same goals.{{sfnp|Carroll|1987|p={{pn|date=May 2023}}}}

The godhood self sought by left-hand path followers is represented by the ''[[qliphah]]'' [[Thaumiel]] in the [[Tree of the knowledge of good and evil|Tree of Knowledge]].<ref>{{harvp|Karlsson|2019|p={{page needed|date=November 2022}}}}.</ref>

== Terminology ==

=== Right-hand path ===
The right-hand path is commonly thought to refer to magical or religious groups which adhere to a certain set of characteristics:
* They divide the concepts of [[mind]], [[Human body|body]] and spirit into three separate, albeit interrelated, entities.<ref name="Hine, Phil 2007 Page 204">Hine, Phil, quoted in {{harvp|Evans|2007|p=204}}.</ref>
* They adhere to a specific moral code and a belief in some form of judgement, such as [[karma]] or the [[Threefold Law]].<ref name="Hine, Phil 2007 Page 204"/>

The occultist [[Dion Fortune]] considered [[Abrahamic religions]] to be RHP.{{sfnp|Gray|2004|p={{pn|date=May 2023}}}}

=== Left-hand path ===
Historian Dave Evans studied self-professed followers of the left-hand path in the early 21st century, making several observations about their practices:
*They often reject societal convention and the [[status quo]], which some suggest is in a search for spiritual freedom. As a part of this, LHP followers embrace magical techniques that would traditionally be viewed as [[taboo]], for instance using [[sex magic]] or embracing [[Satanism|Satanic]] imagery.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=197}} As Mogg Morgan wrote, the "breaking of taboos makes magic more potent and can lead to reintegration and liberation, [for example] the eating of meat in a vegetarian community can have the same liberating effect as anal intercourse in a sexually inhibited society."<ref>{{harvp|Shual|2012|p=31}}.</ref>
* They often question religious or moral [[dogma]], instead adhering to forms of personal [[anarchism]].{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=198}}
* They often embrace [[Human sexuality|sexuality]] and incorporate it into magical ritual.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=205}}

== History of the terms ==

=== Tantra and Madame Blavatsky ===
''[[Vāmācāra]]'' is a [[Sanskrit]] term meaning "left-handed attainment". The converse term is ''[[dakshinachara]]''.<ref>{{harvp|Bhattacharyya|1999|pp=81, 447}}.</ref> The [[Western world|Western]] use of the terms ''left-hand path'' and ''right-hand path'' originated with [[Madame Blavatsky]], a 19th-century occultist who founded the [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophical Society]]. She had travelled across parts of [[South Asia|southern Asia]] and gave accounts of having met with many mystics and magical practitioners in [[India]] and [[Tibet]]. She developed the term ''left-hand path'' as a translation of the term ''vamachara'', an Indian [[Tantra|Tantric]] practice that emphasised the breaking of Hindu societal taboos by having [[sexual intercourse]] in ritual, drinking [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]], eating [[meat]] and assembling in graveyards, as a part of the spiritual practice. The term ''vamachara'' literally meant "the left-hand way" in [[Sanskrit]], and it was from this that Blavatsky first coined the term.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=178}}

Returning to Europe, Blavatsky began using the term. It was relatively easy for her to associate ''left'' with [[evil]] in many European countries, where it already has had an association with evil and bad luck since the Classical Latin era.  As the historian Dave Evans noted, [[homosexuals]] were referred to as "left-handed", while in [[Protestant]] nations [[Roman Catholics]] were called "left-footers".{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=177}}

=== Adoption into the western esoteric tradition ===
In New York, Madame Blavatsky founded the [[Theosophical Society]] with several other people in 1875. She set about writing several books, including ''[[Isis Unveiled]]'' (1877) in which she introduced the terms ''left-hand path'' and ''right-hand path'', firmly stating that she herself followed the RHP, and that followers of the LHP were practitioners of black magic who were a threat to society. The occult community soon picked up on her newly introduced duality, which, according to historian Dave Evans, "had not been known before" in the Western Esoteric Tradition.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=181–182}} For instance, [[Dion Fortune]], founder of the magical group the [[Society of the Inner Light]], also took the side of the RHP, making the claim that followers of the LHP were [[homosexuals]] and that Indian servants might use malicious magical rites devoted to the goddess [[Kali]] against their European masters.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=183–184}}

[[Aleister Crowley]] further altered and popularized the term in certain occult circles, referring to a "brother of the left-hand path", or a "black brother", as one who failed to attain the grade of [[A∴A∴#Magister Templi|Magister Templi]] in Crowley's system of ceremonial magic.<ref name="payattention">{{harvp|Crowley|1991|loc=ch. 12}}.</ref> Crowley also referred to the left-hand path when describing the point at which the [[A∴A∴#Adeptus Exemptus|Adeptus Exemptus]] chooses to cross the Abyss, which is the location of [[Choronzon]] and the illusory eleventh [[Sephirot|Sephira]], which is [[Da'at (Kabbalah)|Da'ath]] or Knowledge. In this example, the adept must surrender all, including the guidance of his [[Holy Guardian Angel]], and leap into the Abyss. If his accumulated [[karma]] is sufficient, and if he has been utterly thorough in his own self-destruction, he becomes a "babe of the abyss", arising as a Star in the Crowleyan system. On the other hand, if he retains some fragment of ego, or if he fears to cross, he then becomes encysted. The layers of his self, which he could have shed in the Abyss, ossify around him. He is then titled a "brother of the left-hand path", who will eventually be broken up and disintegrated against his will, since he failed to choose voluntary disintegration.<ref name="payattention" /> Crowley associated all this with "Mary, a blasphemy against [[Babalon]]", and with the celibacy of Christian clergy.<ref name="payattention" />

A figure Fortune considered to be a follower of the LHP was [[Arthur Edward Waite]], who did not recognise these terms, and acknowledged that they were newly introduced and that in any case he believed the terms LHP and RHP to be distinct from black and white magic.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|pp=182–183}} However, despite Waite's attempts to distinguish the two, the equation of the LHP with black magic was propagated more widely in the fiction of [[Dennis Wheatley]]; Wheatley also conflated the two with [[Satanism]] and also the political ideology of [[communism]], which he viewed as a threat to traditional British society.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=189–190}}

===Later 20th and 21st centuries===
In the latter half of the 20th century various groups arose that self-professedly described themselves as LHP but did not consider themselves as practicing black magic. In 1975, [[Kenneth Grant]], a student of Aleister Crowley, explained in ''Cults of the Shadow'' that he and his group, the [[Typhonian Order]], practiced the LHP. Grant's usage takes meaning from its roots in eastern Tantra; Grant states that it is about challenging taboos, but that it should be used in conjunction with the RHP to achieve balance.{{sfnp|Evans|2007|p=193}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Religion}}
*{{annotated link|Aghori}}
*{{annotated link|Charnel ground}}
*{{annotated link|Chöd}}
*{{annotated link|Kapalika}}
*{{annotated link|Kaula (Hinduism)|Kaula}}
*{{annotated link|Sorcery (goetia)|Sorcery}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
*{{cite book |last=Bhattacharyya |first=N. N. |title=History of the Tantric Religion |edition=2nd rev. |publisher=Manohar Publications |place=Delhi |year=1999 |isbn=81-7304-025-7}}
*{{cite book |title=Liber Null & Psychonaut |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |author-link=Peter J. Carroll |publisher=Weiser Books |year=1987 |isbn=978-1609255299}}
*{{cite book |first=Aleister |last=Crowley |author-link=Aleister Crowley| year=1991 |title=Magick Without Tears |publisher=New Falcon Publications |isbn=978-1-56184-018-2}}
*{{Cite book|last=Evans|first=Dave |title=The History of British Magick after Crowley |publisher=Hidden Publishing|year=2007}}
*{{cite book |first=William |last=Gray |author-link=William G. Gray |title=Exorcising the Tree of Evil: How to Use the Symbolism of the Qabalistic Tree of Life to Recognise and Reverse Negative Energy |date=2004 |publisher=Kima Global Publishers |isbn=978-0-9584493-1-1}}
*{{cite book |last=Karlsson |first=Thomas |year=2019 |title=Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic |publisher=AJNA |isbn=978-0972182065}}
*{{cite book |last=Shual |first=Katon |year=2012 |title=Sexual Magick: Secrets of Sexual Gnosis in Western Magick |place=Oxford |publisher=[[Mandrake of Oxford]] |isbn=978-1906958480}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | first=Richard J. | last=Sutcliffe | year= 1996 | chapter=Left-Hand Path Ritual Magick: An Historical and Philosophical Overview |editor=G. Harvey |editor2=C. Hardman |title=Paganism Today |pages=109–37  | publisher=Thorsons/HarperCollins | location=London | isbn= 978-0-7225-3233-1 }}
* {{cite book | first=Robert E. | last=Svoboda | year=1986 | title=Aghora: At the Left Hand of God | publisher=Brotherhood of Life | isbn=978-0-914732-21-1 }}
* {{cite book | first=Don | last=Webb | author-link=Don Webb (writer) |author2=Stephen E. Flowers | year=1999 | title=Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to the Left Hand Path | publisher=Runa Raven Pr | isbn=978-1-885972-10-1 }}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Left-Hand Path}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Left-Hand Path And Right-Hand Path}}
[[Category:Left-Hand Path| ]]
[[Category:Dichotomies]]