Leila Waddell, Violinist, Magician and Muse

Leila Waddell is one of the most fascinating figures of the early 20th century occult circles. She was associated with Aleister Crowley, The Golden Dawn and other related groups. She was a very talented musician, as well an accomplished writer, magician, and a founding member of the original company of the Rites of Eleusis.

A powerful woman, versed in the sacred arts.

Leila Waddell (1880-1932) was a country girl from Bathurst, NSW, who entered the world stage as an acclaimed violinist - and left it having influenced magical practice into the 21st century.

Her early life focused on music. She studied violin and joined the Sydney music scene, teaching genteel girls at some of Sydney’s most prestigious schools. Her concert performances earned her a devoted following. She favoured composers such as Wieniawskiand Vieuxtemps, and soon gained a reputation as one of Australia’s leading violinists.

Waddell left Australia as part of a touring orchestra in 1908, and found herself in London. Here she was introduced to New Zealand author (and cellist) Katherine Mansfield at a concert. They became firm friends, and regulars in a Bohemian society centred around the Cafe Royal. 

As well as musicians, poets and artists, the cafe attracted members of London’s magical orders. It was likely here that Wadell first met the magician Aleister Crowley, who liked to distribute samples of the hallucinogenic drug peyote at parties. The meeting opened the door into another world.

Within a short time Waddell and Crowley became lovers. Waddell began studying magic as part of Crowley’s order, the A .‘.A .’. (Astrum Argentum), in which she was known as Sister Agatha. Crowley, however, called her Laylah, his Scarlet Woman. 

Waddell is often relegated to a character in Crowley’s life. But if we assess her life on its own terms, we see a brilliant musician, a philosopher of magic, and a rebel who was unafraid to take risks and be true to herself.

Crowley was experimenting with using sex in rituals. He was interested in how heightened emotions could be harnessed for magical outcomes, such as achieving transcendental states or summoning otherworldly beings.

The moment of orgasm, he believed, focused the magician’s will and increased their power. As a poet and playwright, Crowley was also exploring rituals as theatrical performances, where the audience were co-practitioners. 

Crowley was entranced by Waddell’s musical prowess. Together, they began devising magical rituals which combined music, poetry and dance.

The idea came about during a weekend at the house of Crowley’s disciple Guy Marston (who believed that married English women could be induced to masturbate by the sound of tom-tom drums).

Waddell’s extensive experience as a performer was a key part of bringing this idea to fruition. The result was the Rites of Eleusis: musical theatre redefining magic for the new era of modernism.

The Rites had seven parts, each associated with a planet or celestial body. Waddell composed original music for them, as well as drawing on her favorite composers. The purpose was to enable the audience to attain spiritual ecstasy.

The first performances were tested before small groups, enhanced by drug-laced “libations”. A journalist, describing Waddell’s playing, wrote:

Once again the figure took the violin, and played […] so beautifully, so gracefully, and with such intense feeling, that in very deed most of us experienced that Ecstasy which Crowley so earnestly seeks.

In October 1910, the Rites were ready for the public. The venue was Caxton Hall in London. The audience was encouraged to dress in the appropriate colour for each Rite, such as violet for Jupiter, russet for Mars. 

Waddell played her violin, Crowley’s disciple Victor Neuburg danced, and Crowley intoned his turgid paeans to the god Pan. The hall was in semi-darkness. The performances were filled with sexual symbolism, but no sex magic took place on stage.

The critics were not very kind to the public Rites of Eleusis, but most agreed Waddell’s virtuosity was a highlight.

After the Rites of Eleusis, Crowley embarked on writing a book which many consider his most significant work. Magick: Liber ABA, Book 4 was a collaborative effort between Crowley, A.‘.A.’. member Mary Desti, and Waddell. In Part III, they reflected on the lessons learnt from the Rites of Eleusis. 

They concluded that an audience of initiates would more effectively channel magical power than the general public. As for the music, it should be composed specifically for the ritual - indicating that Waddell’s own compositions had hit the mark. The book was published in The Equinox in 1912.

Waddell booked a concert tour to the US. She had planned to buy her passage on the ill-fated Titanic, but just missed out on a ticket. Her narrow escape was widely reported in Australian newspapers. After completing this engagement, she returned to Europe to tour with the Ragged Ragtime Girls, a violin group managed by Crowley. She continued her magical studies in the Ordo Templi Orientis, an order with a strong focus on sex magic.

The First World War interrupted the idyll of sex, magic and music. Ireland was under British rule, and many Irish nationalists saw the war as an opportunity to fight for independence. As the daughter of Irish famine refugees, Waddell was sympathetic. In New York she joined a secret revolutionary group under the name of “L. Bathurst”. 

Crowley arrived in New York in 1914, purportedly on a mission to discredit Germany by spreading absurd propaganda. This was the impetus for an extraordinary stunt.

At dawn on the morning of 3 July 1915, Waddell, Crowley and a party of Irish revolutionaries sailed down the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty, with the intention of declaring Irish independence and war on England.

But the guards wouldn’t let them land. Crowley made an impassioned speech, which no-one could hear from the prow of the boat, then tore up his passport and threw it in the river. Waddell played the rebel anthem The Wearing of the Green to accompany the Declaration of Independence.

The following year the Easter Rising, an armed rebellion which aimed to overthrow English rule in Ireland, was brutally suppressed in Dublin.

Crowley left New York for the West Coast, while Waddell continued to tour, write and socialise. She was friends with writers like Rebecca West and Theodore Dreiser, and regularly attended salons held by Frank Harris, who had not yet attained notoriety as the author of the sexually explicit My Life and Loves.

While touring US cities, she played lunch time concerts in factories, organised by the YMCA. The venues were barns, sheds, and gardens, and the audiences were mostly male migrant workers. The men sang along with the arias and would give her wildflower posies. She loved this experience and considered it the greatest work of her career.

Already a seasoned writer, Waddell came to wider notice with her memoir of Katherine Mansfield, who died in 1923. Details are murky, but it seems this led to contracts for a novel and a book of short stories with a London publisher. 

Leila Waddells relationship with Crowley disintegrated as a consequence of his infidelities.

In 1924 Waddell returned to Australia as her father was very ill. The prodigal violinist was greeted enthusiastically, and quickly became immersed in concerts, touring, and radio appearances. She resumed her earlier career teaching violin to affluent schoolgirls. If Sydney society remembered her association with Crowley, dubbed “the wickedest man in the world” by the press, it did not dim their eagerness for her music.

However, soon she became ill herself from uterine cancer. Her books were never finished. She died in 1932 and was buried next to her parents in Sydney.

The Rites of Eleusis are still performed today by Crowleyites across the world, including the Ordo Templi Orientis in Australia. In 2015, Wadell was celebrated as one of Bathurst’s favourite daughters at the town’s 200th anniversary. From country to city to world and other-world, her life was truly a magical journey.

STARLIGHT

Behold! I have lived many years, and I have travelled in

every land that is under the dominion of the

Sun, and I have sailed the seas from pole to pole.

Now do I lift up my voice and testify that all is

vanity on earth, except the love of a good woman, and

that good woman LAYLAH. And I testify

that in heaven all is vanity (for I have journeyed

oft, and sojourned oft, in every heaven), except the

love of OUR LADY BABALON. And I testify

that beyond heaven and earth is the love of OUR

LADY NUIT.

And seeing that I am old and well stricken in years,

and that my natural forces fail, therefore do I rise

up i my throne and call upon THE END.

For I am youth eternal and force infinite.

And at THE END is SHE that was LAYLAH, and

BABALON, and NUIT, being…

(Aleister Crowley)

Energy Transmutation and the Way of the Tao

In the Taoist Tradition sexuality and spirituality are bound together, as the Taoists focus on harmonizing mind, body and spirit.  Spiritual development requires a balance of physical health and mental clarity, and our sexuality plays an important role in that.

Sex is natural and we are sexual beings – women, born with hundreds of eggs, they have the capacity to generate hundreds of lives! (And man with a single ejaculation could repopulate North America!).  The Taoist believes that if we were not to use this energy to create life itself, we can use it to enhance our own life. 

In this light sexuality is beyond sex, being the most powerful energy of creation, the expression of our creativity, that can be used for pleasure, healing, to cultivate health, rejuvenation, longevity; to attain goals, to realise dreams, and ultimately, to connect with the Divine, the universal source or ‘Re-Union with the Tao.’ In other words, by using the sexual energy for spiritual development, we come by ‘the short path to enlightenment’.

Taoism is the foundation of Chinese philosophy and medicine. It is a comprehensive physical and spiritual system that helps individuals to reach their highest potentials. It is perhaps best known in this country as the basis for traditional Chinese medicine, which includes acupuncture, herbal therapy, nutrition, massage, the energetic meditation called Chi Kung, and the martial art called Tai Chi Chuan. The Universal Tao system was developed by Mantak Chia to teach Taoist meditative and exercise techniques to balance the body and increase and refine one's vital energy, or chi. The sexual practice, or Healing Love, is an essential part of this system.

"Chi," the Chinese word for life energy, is the force within our bodies and within the universe that engenders life. The word itself has many translations, such as energy, air, breath, wind, or vital essence. There are 49 cultures around the world that understand the concept of chi in one form or another; examples include Ki (Japanese), Prana (Sanskrit), Lung (Tibetan), Neyatoneyah (Lakota Sioux), Num (Kalahari Kung), and Ruach (Hebrew).

"Western culture" and allopathic medicine, often called Western or conventional medicine, is one of the few cultures that does not have a similar concept, although it recognizes the role of energy at the molecular level. Western medicine is extremely effective for treating acute disease and traumatic injuries. However, some believe that it is, in part, the absence of this concept of "life force" that limits its effectiveness in treating chronic illnesses. Western medicine is just beginning to recognize what the Taoists have known for more than 2,000 years, that directing the flow of our life force, our chi can improve our health and vitality.

You can learn to use your concentration and your breath to activate and move your energy; this practice is called Chi Kung. It involves both concentration exercises and simple movements to facilitate the flow of chi. Used throughout China and now widely practiced in the United States, Chi Kung is an ancient and effective practice for many health issues. 

Once you become aware of your chi, you'll find that it's rather easy to notice and feel it. Try this simple exercise. Briskly rub your palms together until you produce heat. Now slowly separate your palms until they are about an inch apart. You should feel a "cushion" of air between them that may feel like pressure, heat, or tingling. This sensation is the chi passing between your hands.

In all traditions meditative practices calm and focus the mind. The Healing Tao meditative practices do this by focusing on the movement of chi. The basic practice is based on circulating chi through a body circuit called the Microcosmic Orbit, which is like an energy superhighway in the body. The Microcosmic Orbit runs from your tailbone up your spine to your brain (the Back Channel) and then returns down the front of your body in the midline (the Front Channel). By using the focus of your mind, you can direct the chi up the spine as you breathe in and let it "fall" down the Front Channel to your abdomen as you breathe out.

The Taoist masters advocate for men not to ejaculate. Now, for all those men groaning out there, this doesn’t mean the end of your sex life, in fact your sex life can be greatly improved. There is no end to lovemaking when the sperm is not expelled, and you can become multi-orgasmic. This practice also ensures a blissful experience for your partner. 

This sexual kung fu takes time and practice to learn, but has a tremendous impact on your health, sexual expression and life force. 

Mantak Chia is a master practitioner, and was taught the sacred ancient Tantric practices by a Taoist Master. According to Mantak Chia, the primary purpose of conducting sexual practices is to save and transform sexual energy into more refined energy (transmuting Jing into Chi).  In the genuine Taoist thought, however, this is only possible if the sexual essence is spiritually guided and purified by the heart, only then can its virtue transform into Chi. That’s why the Taoists who want to achieve true inner cultivation only practice sexual methods with utmost care, love and respect towards their sexual partner. If you’re playing solo, you can also cultivate your sexual awareness and energy. 

The Taoist sexual practices help rejuvenate the body by managing the seed essences of sperm and the ovaries that control hormone and blood quality. this reduces loss or waste of sexual energy.

 

Also read:

• The Three Treasures and Sexual Energy Cultivation
• Hatha, the Union of Sun & Moon 
• The Sacred Power of Menstrual Blood
• Taoist sexual practices and sexual vampirism in ancient China

Ancient Goddesses Cult Worship

The Goddesses path to enlightenment is still strong throughout the world and it’s practiced among Shamans, Gnostics, Yogis, Wiccans, Mystics, Kabbalists, and Pagans.

The Goddess tradition is also known as the Teachings of the Rose. The rose is a symbol of the Goddess, as well as for alchemy and gnosis, which are branches of the ancient goddess spiritual tradition. The rose was used as a symbol for Mary, as it was also used as an ancient symbol of Venus.

One of the titles of the Templars was Knights of the Rose Cross. When the secret societies of Europe acquired the Gnostic and alchemical wisdom of the Knight Templars, many also adopted Mary as their patroness and the rose as their symbol. An example of another popular alchemical sect that shares the symbol of the Rose are the Rosicrucians, meaning ‘those of the rose cross’. These various hidden societies became collectively known as sub-Rosa. That is to say, they existed under the symbol of the rose.

Although it is widely held belief that these secretive groups were exclusively created to protect Mary’s sacred bloodline, which may also be true, it was the secret alchemical tradition that she was a patroness of which was actually being so closely guarded for so many centuries. That is not to say there is not such bloodline in existence, but merely that this was not the singular or primary concern, in this author’s humble opinion, of the Templars efforts.

In the Holy land, the Templars learned many of the mysteries from the Sufis, who in tern learned from earlier Goddess cults of the Babylonian Ishtar, and still earlier Sumerian Inanna.

In pre-Islamic times, Mecca was founded to be a shrine to the Goddess. The Black Stone of Kaaba in Mecca, towards which Muslims still pray in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca today, is set in large solid silver mountings which on whole resembles the vulva of the Goddess.

The Kaaba is accurately aligned on two heavenly phenomena: the cycles of the moon and the rising of Canopus, the brightest star after Sirius. Pre-Islamic worship of the Goddess seems to be primarily associated with AI’Lat, which simply means ‘goddess’. She is a triple goddess, similar to the Greek lunar deity Kore/Demeter/Hecate. Each aspect of this trinity corresponds to the phase of the moon. Islamic traditions continue to recognize these three, but labels them ‘daughters of Allah’.

Deities of other cultures known to have been associated with black stones included Aphrodite at Paphos, Cybele at Pessinus and later Rome, Astarte at Byblos and the famous Artemis/Diana of Ephesus.

The sacred Black Stone that now enshrines in the Kaaba was the feminine symbol, marked by the sign of the yoni (vagina), and covered like the ancient Mother by a veil. The Black Stone rests in the Haram, “sanctuary”, cognate of “harem”, which used to mean a Temple of Women, in Babylon, a shrine of the Goddess Har, mother of harlots. Hereditary guardians of the Haram were the Koreshites, “children of Kore”, Mohammed’s own tribe. The holy office was originally held by women, before it was taken over by male priests calling themselves eni Shayban (Sons of the Old Woman”).

Various Classical writers describe the sexual rituals which went on the honor of the ancient Goddess - which included he practice which is now known by the disdainful term of ‘sacred prostitution’. Knowledge of ancient rites, as well as the transmutation of sexual energy, was retained through the ages and not completely eradicated by the arrival of Patriarchal religions.

The Sufis taught the Knights Templars that the goal of internal alchemy was to awaken the divine power of the goddess within the human body.

From the Sufis, the Templars also learned that the eight pointed star, or cross, is both a symbol of the goddess as well as an ancient symbols for alchemy. The Templars also venerated many others symbols of the goddess, such as the doves, roses, and five pointed stars. In fact the controversial horned goat of Mendes, a symbol which the Templars made androgynous and adopted, which they also referred to as Baphomet, is actually a translation of Sophia the goddess.

From the Johannites, which emerged out of the Gnostic sect called the Essenes, the Templars were initiated into the Goddess rites and teachings brought to the Middle East from the Far East. It is the same Essene sect that Jesus was said to have been born into. Because of the influence of the Sufi, and the Johannites, the Templars game to know of the Holy Spirit as the power of the Goddess. It was this goddess power that the Knight Templars attempted to transmit into their sacred ceremonies, and the same goddess power that they acknowledged to be the Holy Grail itself.

Extracts from the book Occult Secrets of Vril (chapter 8: Sophia) by Robert Sepehr.

Also read:

• Taoist sexual practices and sexual vampirism in ancient China
• Origins of the Magicians 
• The Aryan Solar God, and the Age of Aries 
• Subterranean Worlds of Inner Earth
• 1666 Redemption Through Sin

The Sacred Power of Menstrual Blood

Documentation of many lineages of Tantra and Tao mention the deliberate cessation of the menstruation for women as a way to conserve energy. 

It is often compared to the loss of energy that a man experiences after ejaculation, and thus a woman is encouraged to strive to end her bleeding, just as a man learns to prevent ejaculation. In the Tao lineage this practice is referred to “slaying the red dragon”.

There are lots of practices in Tantra and Taoism that assist in diminishing menstruation, also there are lists of foods to avoid. With this knowledge some advanced tantric yoginis even manage to stop their menstruation, so as not to lose their ojas or power.

On the other hand, many goddess-based lineages focus deeply on the menstruation, referring to it as a woman’s moon time. Stories of women gathering together at this time in a “red tent” to enter the mysteries of the feminine invoke images of a time in which to bleed was to enter a time of wisdom and intuition.

Some speak of how women have an opportunity once a month to awaken, through entering the collective female pain body that is accessible to them prior to and during their bleeding days.

Some shamanic paths suggest that women have an opportunity men do not have, to enter the mysteries of the underworld each month as they bleed. Men, they suggests, can only access these realms by partaking of the poison path, herbs and plants that induce deep altered states. A woman does not require such substances if she knows how to use her moon time wisely.

In tribes women were asked to report their dreams during their moon time to medicine people, because it was considered that women have increased psycic abilities during this time.

It’s very powerful to perform a ritual during menstruation.

So, with such contrasting points of view, how is a woman to view her moon time?

Also read:

• The Three Treasures and Sexual Energy Cultivation
• Taoist sexual practices and sexual vampirism in ancient China
• The Swimming Dragon: Qigong exercise for beauty, health, and high energy

Taoist sexual practices and sexual vampirism in ancient China

Some Taoist sects during the Han dynasty performed sexual intercourse as a spiritual practice, called "Héqì" ("Joining Energy"). The first sexual texts that survive today are those found at the Mawangdui. While Taoism had not yet fully evolved as a philosophy at this time, these texts shared some remarkable similarities with later Tang dynasty texts, such as the Ishinpō. 

The sexual arts arguably reached their climax between the end of the Han dynasty and the end of the Tang dynasty. After 1000 CE, Confucian restraining attitudes towards sexuality became stronger, so that by the beginning of the Qing dynasty in 1644, sex was a taboo topic in public life. These Confucians alleged that the separation of genders in most social activities existed 2,000 years ago, and suppressed the sexual arts. Because of the taboo surrounding sex, there was much censoring done during the Qing in literature, and the sexual arts disappeared in public life. As a result, some of the texts survived only in Japan, and most scholars had no idea that such a different concept of sex existed in early China.

The basis of all Taoist thinking is that qi is part of everything in existence. Qi is related to another energetic substance contained in the human body known as jing, and once all this has been expended the body dies. Jing can be lost in many ways, but most notably through the loss of body fluids. Taoists may use practices to stimulate/increase and conserve their bodily fluids to great extents. The fluid believed to contain the most Jing is semen. Therefore, Taoists believe in decreasing the frequency of, or totally avoiding, ejaculation in order to conserve life essence.

Male control of ejaculation

Statue of an Immortal

Many Taoist practitioners link the loss of ejaculatory fluids to the loss of vital life force: where excessive fluid loss results in premature aging, disease, and general fatigue. While some Taoists contend that one should never ejaculate, others provide a specific formula to determine the maximum amount of regular ejaculations in order to maintain health.

The general idea is to limit the loss of fluids as much as possible to the level of your desired practice. As these sexual practices were passed down over the centuries, some practitioners have given less importance to the limiting of ejaculation. Nevertheless, the "retention of the semen" is one of the foundational tenets of Taoist sexual practice.

There are different methods to control ejaculation prescribed by the Taoists. While, if done incorrectly can cause a retrograde ejaculation, the Taoists believed that the jing traveled up into the head and "nourished the brain."

Proponents of the bedchamber techniques theorized that if one could suck up the genital fluids of one's partner during sexual intercourse without releasing any fluids of one's own, one would emerge from the encounter with an increased store of qi — at the direct expense, of course, of the partner, who would eventually waste away and die if the technique were performed on her repeatedly.

Some Ming dynasty Taoist sects believed that one way for men to achieve longevity or 'towards immortality' is by having intercourse with virgins just under 14 years of age and women older than 18 should be avoided.

One danger for some weak men is that they might activate an endless outpouring of jing that never seems to stop, which can actually kill them, so in the old days the women would wear a needle in their hair and then take it out and punch the man’s buttocks with it — like acupuncture –to stop the leakage of jing to prevent him from fainting. They actually stabbed the man in the buttocks if this deadly scenario happened.

Women

In the early days of Taoism, men were running the show and they were writing the rules on sexual practices. As you might guess, the practices they came up with, largely favored male advancement and illumination. The female was getting screwed, literally.

Queen Mother of the West

Women were often given a position of inferiority in sexual practice. Many of the texts discuss sex from a male point of view, and avoid discussing how sex could benefit women.

While the man had to please the woman sexually, she was still just an object. At numerous points during the Ishinpō, the woman is referred to as the "enemy"; this was because the woman could cause him to spill semen and lose vitality. In later sexual texts from the Ming, women had lost all semblance of being human and were referred to as the "other," "crucible", or "stove" from which to cultivate vitality. The importance of pleasing the woman was also diminished in later texts. The practice was known as Caibu, as a man enters many women without ejaculation.

Women were also considered to be a means for men to extend men's lives. Many of the ancient texts were dedicated explanation of how a man could use sex to extend his own life. But, his life was extended only through the absorption of the woman's vital energies (jing and qi). Some Taoists called the act of sex “The battle of stealing and strengthening.”

So a group of Taoist women came up with their own practices, which favored the female or at least offered equal favor for their own advancement and illumination.

These women conducted their work in secrecy and were rumored to be illuminated master of sexuality, eternal youth and healing. A woman of this lineage was known as a White Tigress.

The unique aspect of the White Tigress is their claim that women have their own unique process for acquiring the physical and spiritual goals of Taoism, namely restoring youthfulness and ultimately achieving immortality through a disciplined use of sexuality. Tigresses viewed their sexuality as a spiritual gift, and they knew how to use it well to stay healthy and young.

The female practitioner of the White Tigress Teachings practices oral sexual union with as many men as she desires. During these sexual unions she is absorbing the jing energy from the male's penis and then focusing it into her body to revitalize herself. When a male partner or Green Dragon ejaculates usually on her face or body the semen is looked upon as a badge of honor. She will rub it into her body since it is one of the most powerful skin rejuvenation creams known to ancient man. This is where the concept of the White Tigress and the stripes come from and why Geisha girls had white faces in Japan.

"A Green Dragon serves no other purpose than to be a provider of semen and sexual energy, and he does so in most cases unknowingly. A Green Dragon is led to believe that he is being seduced by the White Tigress purely for sexual pleasure... After a White Tigress had sexual interplay with a Green Dragon and she depleted him of all his sexual essences and energy, he would be symbolically considered a "Fallen Dragon".  -Sexual Teachings of the Jade Dragon

The process was totally in favor of the woman. The man got nothing really other than gratification. With sexual intercourse the female creates a material child. With oral sex, her past childlike affinities are re-created.

Master Ch’ung Ho said: “It’s not only male sexual energy that can be cultivated, the female can cultivate hers as well. Western Royal Mother is a female who obtained immortality by replenishing her yin forces with the yang. Every time she engaged in sex with a man, he fell ill, but her own face would be so smooth and glowing that she had no use for facial powders or rouge."

In China, where the preservation of the male lineage has dominated religious and political laws for centuries, little importance was given to women maintaining their youth or health. The truth is White Tigresses were imprisoned in China for their practices and those that survived went underground for many reasons.

Lao Tzu himself states, “The mysterious female is inexhaustible.” How the Yellow Emperor achieved immortality and how Western Royal Mother achieved immortality cannot be compared. Each has its own path, each seeks the other's essence to become complete.

How does Qi transfer from one partner to the other, during sex? 

First, its easy to tranfer qi from one person to another. If you look at systems like Reiki, energy easily passes from one person to another - with or without touching - no sex involved.

The same is true during sex - energy can easily pass from person to person. But here we are not speaking about simple energy, its about Jing. Jing is a special form of qi, and for the vast majority of people you have a finite amount of jing - the amount you are born with.

No one can be obligated to give energy to another. Unfortunately, there is a rich tradition of sexual ‘vampirism’ associated with the sexual practices. And there was abundant misogyny in Ancient China.

Bai Mudan is a character from Chinese mythology. It is said that one day, the immortal Lü Dongbin took a walk in Luoyang spotted Bai Mudan, and was heavily attracted by her beauty. Lü Dongbin slept with her many times. However, she became very weak since Lu practiced "cai yin bu yang" on her. Meaning he absorbed her yin essence, without losing his own yang essence. Mudan was taught by other immortals how to make him ejaculate and to absorbe his Yang essence. Later she cultivated herself and became immortal as well.

I’d like to point out that there are many many Taoist lineages in which sexual contact is not required or is strictly forbidden - a sexual partner or their energy is not needed to ‘become one with the Tao.’ There are many paths to the Tao, only a few involve sex.

You can exchange energy voluntarily 

This does not require male ejaculation. The male can ‘release’ his jing without ejaculating.

During sexual intercourse, at an agreed moment, the female ‘pours herself’ into the male as the male ‘inhales and pulls his energy (and hers) inward and upward along his du mai to the bai hui’. Then the male exhales, and pours all of that energy (his and hers) down his ren mai into the female as the female inhales and pulls her energy (and his) up her du mai to her bai hui. When she exhales, she let the energy run back down her ren mai, and they run the energy back and forth between them - up his du mai, down his ren mai, up her du mai down her ren mai - with the energy crossing between bodies at the genitals - in a pattern called ‘figure eights’ - until they have equalized and balanced the energy between them. This is called ‘dual cultivation.’

The same can be done between two skilled practitioners without any physical contact.

You can absorb sexual energy from nature

Man and woman are not the only sources of yin and yang but small reservoirs of these energies which stream through creation.

Heaven is male and earth is female. Thus the man who needs yin energy but prefers not to receive it from its human container will absorb it from the earth; and woman will draw in the male potency from its source, the heavens.

For the man to draw in the yin energy, he lies belly down, embracing the earth. One leg is straight and one bent at the knee. He will pull in the energy from the earth. He must try to have no sexual thoughts. The genitals should not touch the ground, but hang a little above it. Relax and gather your concentration by breathing deeply in and out through the nose. Think the power from the earth slowly into the penis. This basic practice applies to man: think the power up through your breathing.
As you inhale, draw the power up as if you were absorbing up fluid in a Straw: the fluid is the power and the straw is the penis. From the penis draw it past the hui yin, chang-chiang, and up the back to the head. Store the yin power in the head. In due course it will overflow the crown and move down the front of the body and return to the hui yin. When this point is reached, you may bring it up the front of the body to the navel and work the centers navel, solar plexus and heart, respectively, in the manner described in the Yin-Yang Exchange. Put away all obsessive erotic thoughts or it will cause the power to drain out.

How to absorb sexual energy from the sun

This method of absorbing the solar power into the penis is regarded as top secret and rarely revealed.
Practice: Morning sun from 7 to 11 is much preferred or 3 to 6 in the afternoon. If the sun is not too strong we can gradually absorb its power into the glans (head) of the penis much easier.

To expose to the sun, hold stem of the penis with one hand and use it to rub the glans until penis is erect. Put it down facing towards the sun and imagine the power coming into the glans, absorbing it, so that it fills the organ with warm power. It will fill the entire organ with energy if your thought is properly concentrated. When your penis softens, do the whole procedure again. Do this exercise three to four times.

Also read:

• White Tigress Sexual Teachings
• The Three Treasures and Sexual Energy Cultivation
• Jing –Your original life force, and how to nourish it

The strange life of Austin Osman Spare, Chaos Magician

By Jason Louv

Austin Osman Spare, a British outsider artist who died in the 1950s, was also the grandfather of Chaos Magick. Here’s more about his bizarre and often disturbing life.

Austin Osman Spare (1886—1956) was an English artist—and practicing occultist. He was also the inventor of many of the techniques that would later be dubbed chaos magick.

Born in the Elephant & Castle area of South London to a policeman, Spare spent his early years next to an open-air meat market; the constant exposure to the banality of death deeply colored his development as an artist. Spare’s early work was similar to Aubrey Beardsley, then in vogue as England’s “decadent” years drew to a close, and it was on the strength of his Beardsley-esque line drawings that Spare won an art school scholarship, a real chance to improve his life and lift himself up out of the poverty and squalor he had been born into.

At art school, Spare worked constantly, and also studied deeply in the nascent field of psychoanalysis and, fashionably, into the occult, delving into books by Madame Blavatsky and Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, a foundational text on Western magick. Spare would claim that as a pre-pubescent he had been sexually initiated into a hereditary occult lineage by “Mrs. Patterson,” an octogenarian witch that almost certainly never existed outside of Spare’s imagination.

Spare’s hard work paid off, and by his early twenties he was on his way to meteoric success in the art world, and was declared a wunderkind by the press. Unfortunately, his timing was off: he made a name for himself just as England was losing its fascination with all things Victorian. The Beardsleyeque, decadent aesthetic quickly became as unfashionable as bellbottoms and long hair were in the 1980s, and Spare was tossed out by the changing of the guard.

Spare would return to South London, inhabiting a basement and continuing to paint unceasingly—a true outsider both to the art world and, indeed, to English society itself. Magick and the occult, explored through the medium of painting, would now become his singular pursuit. But Spare would go his own way even in the already socially-divergent world of the occult. An early member of Aleister Crowley’s A.’.A.’. (one of his illustrations is reproduced in the second issue of Crowley’s monumental occult journal The Equinox), Spare quickly became disillusioned with the formal approach to magick that had been codified by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its alumni.

“Others praise ceremonial Magic,” he famously quipped in The Book of Pleasure, “and are supposed to suffer much Ecstasy! Our asylums are over-crowded, the stage is over-run! Is it by symbolizing we become the symbolized? Were I to crown myself King, should I be King? Rather should I be an object of disgust or pity. These Magicians, whose insincerity is their safety, are but the unemployed dandies of the Brothels.”

Crowley, however, remembered Spare fondly—the two were likely lovers for a time, as memorialized by Crowley in his poem “The Twins,” in which he compares himself and Spare to the incestuous gods Horus and Set, respectively:

"See, how subtly I writhe!

Strange runes and unknown sigils

I trace in the trance that thrills us.

Death ! how lithe, how blithe

Are these male incestuous vigils!

Ah! this is the spasm that kills us!

Wherefore I solemnly affirm

This twofold Oneness at the term.

Asar on Asi did beget

Horus twin brother unto Set.

Now Set and Horus kiss, to call

The Soul of the Unnatural

Forth from the dusk; then nature slain

Lets the Beyond be born again."

After their split, however, Crowley would have different words for Austin Osman Spare, dubbing him a “Black Brother,” Crowley’s term for a magician who refuses to surrender their ego at the peak of their development, and thereafter becomes corrupted by it.

The rest of Spare’s life was spent in abject poverty, collecting cats that he usually spent his money feeding instead of himself, and drawing portraits of South Londoners in pubs for beer money. It was during this time that he would develop his deeply personal and unique system of magick, revolving around the use of “sigils” to unlock the buried abilities of the unconscious mind, and communion with otherworldly forces through the trance medium of painting itself. Spare also claimed to regularly seek to shock his unconscious mind into trances of occult power by engaging in sex with exceedingly ugly or aged women (possibly another Spare exaggeration).

Spare likely would have been completely forgotten were it not for Kenneth Grant, an over-enthusiastic young man who had grown up on H. P. Lovecraft books, who never shook the conviction that Lovecraft was writing codified non-fiction, and who soon undertook a lifelong pursuit of Magick. Like Israel Regardie before him, Grant came into Crowley’s orbit, becoming his secretary in the final years of his life; Crowley obliged the young man by demonstrating occult processes like ether-assisted astral travel.

(Letters preserved by Grant from the time, touchingly, show that the Old Beast was largely concerned with trying to assure that Grant properly looked after himself, dressed well and comported himself as a gentleman, so that Grant could get by and get a job in post-war London. He even wrote to Grant’s father pleading him to talk sense into the young man, as the “monstrous” Aleister felt that Grant’s obsession with him and Magick might well distract Grant from actually building a life and career for himself.)

After Crowley’s death, Grant floundered, convinced his occult training had been cut short; it was almost a decade later, through the Atlantis Bookshop, that Grant was introduced to Spare; Grant felt he had met the true guru that would complete his education. The aged Spare quickly became friendly with Kenneth Grant and his wife Steffi, who adored him, and Grant would work unceasingly to draw out and record Spare’s theories, including the sigil technique, which became the foundation of chaos magick in the 1970s (it is not coincidental, perhaps, that the last three letters of Chaos—AOS—are Spare’s initials and monogram).

While Grant did preserve Austin Osman Spare’s work and place in history, he also, unfortunately, mixed-up and confused Spare’s work with ideas and terms extrapolated from both Crowley and Lovecraft—as Grant would later demonstrate in his books, he seemed to think all three men were transmitting from one source, and therefore could be studied interchangeably. Biographer Phil Baker’s recent book Austin Osman Spare: The Occult Life of London’s Legendary Artist shows how much of Spare’s writing that Grant “discovered” was, in fact, just written by Grant himself. (It seems likely that Spare thought Grant was making him appear more intellectual and mysterious than he felt himself to actually be.)

Though the sigil technique has spread wide, the rest of Spare’s work remains inscrutable even within occult circles, where he is often name-dropped, but almost never directly engaged with, let alone understood. Spare was truly downwardly mobile—he holds far more in common with the aghoris, the graveyard-dwelling, filth-eating sadhus of India, than the romantic image of the imperious, glamorous, “all-powerful” Western magician. Additionally, his writing is oblique and his paintings are scarce (where’s the coffee table book?). That often makes Spare an unattractive and difficult subject of study at best. Nevertheless, his legendary status within the occult subculture—particularly in the United Kingdom, where he occupies a kind of “top dog” status in the English occult imagination—only grows as time goes on, and the reality of the man himself, perhaps, fades into history.

[ultraculture]


You can find his book The Book of Pleasure: The Psychology of Ecstasy, on the right side bar of our site.

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• Occultism, the study of hidden knowledge
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Sexual stimulation re-routes brain activity to reach an 'altered state of consciousness'

Northwestern University neuroscience professor Adam Safron has made the first comprehensive model of what orgasms do to brain activity. Sexual stimulation literally re-routes brain activity, creating a trance.

In a nutshell, sexual stimulation focuses our neurons in such a way that we are sent into a trance, blocking out everything else and concentrating solely, intensely on the sensation alone.

We lose our usual self-awareness and consciousness of other noises, feelings, and smells around us. 

No other natural stimulation could recreate this level of concentration.

'Sex is a source of pleasurable sensations and emotional connection, but beyond that, it's actually an altered state of consciousness,' Dr Safron explains.

To examine this unique trance, Dr Safron reviewed related studies and literature over many years to come up with a model in which rhythmic sexual activity likely influences brain rhythms.

His model showed stimulating particular nerves in a particular way at a particular speed over and over again focuses our neurons.

They begin to synchronize their activity. This focusing process is called neural entrainment.

Eventually, if stimulation continues long enough, this synchronization can spread throughout the brain making us more focused than ever.   

This may be crucial for allowing for a sufficient intensity of experience to trigger the mechanisms of climax.

Dr Safron's previous research has focused on the neural bases of sexual preferences. 

He said orgasm is related to this work because it is one of the most powerful rewards available, and therefore, may have an important role in shaping preferences.

'Before this paper, we knew what lit up in the brain when people had orgasms, and we knew a lot about the hormonal and neurochemical factors in non-human animals, but we didn't really know why sex and orgasm feel the way they do,' Dr Safron said. 

'This paper provides a level of mechanistic detail that was previously lacking.'

WHY RHYTHM IS SO IMPORTANT 

To Dr Safron's surprise, he found parallels between sexual climax, seizures, music and dance.

All four flood the brain's sensory channels with rhythmic inputs. 

'Synchronization is important for signal propagation in the brain, because neurons are more likely to fire if they are stimulated multiple times within a narrow window of time,' Dr Safron said. 

'Otherwise, the signals decay as part of a general resetting mechanism, rather than sum together. 

'This then caused me to hypothesize that rhythmic entrainment is the primary mechanism by which orgasmic thresholds are surpassed.' 

'The idea that sexual experiences can be like trance states is in some ways ancient. Turns out this idea is supported by modern understandings of neuroscience,' Dr Safron said. 

'In theory, this could change the way people view their sexuality.

Also read:

• The Three Treasures and Sexual Energy Cultivation
• Taoist sexual practices and sexual vampirism in ancient China
• The Sacred Power of Menstrual Blood
• People can draw energy from other people the same way plants do

The Three Treasures and Sexual Energy Cultivation

Taoists say: "Sex is the reason we are born and it is the reason we die." What they mean by this is that it was sexual energy that gave us life and it is the misuse of sexual energy that causes premature aging, illness, and eventually death.

To understand how to achieve immortality we must look closely at three energies that the Taoist call the Three Treasures. The Three Treasures are our essential life energies that create everything physical, mental, and spiritual.

The first treasure is "Ching" or "Jing". Ching is our sexual and physical energy and is related to P'o or Earth Spirit energy. It's physical manifestation is the sperm, the egg, as well as the whole body. Ching's primordial energy is to motivate us to procreate and be sexual. It is expressed in the blood and sexual fluids of both sexes. The emotional expression for Ching is sensuality and giving.

The second treasure is "Qi" or "Chi". This is our breath and vital energy. We could not live even a moment without Qi. Qi animates the physical body and activates the mental function. It also animates and attracts us to be sexual. The physical expression of Qi is through the orifices of the mouth and penis for men, and mouth and nipples for women. The emotional expression of Qi is passion and kindness.

The third treasure is "Shen", the mind and spirit energy. Shen relates to the Heavenly Spirit or Hun. It has to do with our spiritual existence and creates the consciousness of sexuality. Shen is expressed through the eyes, and this is where the saying "the eyes are the windows of the soul" comes from. Both compassion and wisdom are the emotional expressions of Shen.

A Taoist could not achieve immortality without fortifying these three treasures. Each treasure builds upon the next. Ching is needed to create Qi. Qi is needed to build Shen. In that order. But there is a limit to the amount of Qi (life energy) we have. We are born with a certain amount and when that Qi is used up the body can no longer exist and we die.

Fortunately, Ching (sexual energy) can be cultivated and made stronger. The Taoists found if they could increase their Ching they could restore and revitalize their Qi. When a person's Qi was strong enough it activated Shen (spirit) and illumination of the mind/spirit was attained. For this reason, the conserving and gathering of Ching was of utmost importance to a Taoist seeking longevity and spiritual enlightenment.

So how does a person increase their Ching?

Before we can begin to look at ways to increase sexual energy, we must first look at the ways we loose sexual energy. A woman loses Ching every time she has her period. A man loses his Ching every time he ejaculates. To conserve Ching, a man must decrease (not eliminate) the amount of times he ejaculates and a woman's needs to decrease (not eliminate) her menstrual flow. Some texts on Taoist sexology state that a woman needs to limit her orgasms to conserve her Ching. This perspective comes from a male centered philosophy that has mistakenly treated a woman’s restoration the same way as a man’s. Nothing could be further from the truth. Females Taoists know that orgasms do not deplete a woman's Ching. Rather, by using certain techniques, she can make full use of it's energy to benefit her health and well-being.

Conservation of sexual energy is only one part of the equation. For full physical restoration and revitalization a person needs to do more than just conserve his/her Ching. One must also practice methods to build and cultivate it. The techniques for doing are different for men and women.

Sexually speaking, Taoist view men and women as equal partners. To restore youthfulness and vitality, each must capture in the other what is lacking in themselves. Men tend to be more yang in nature; their sexual energy tends to be more active and external. A woman is more yin in her nature and therefore her sexual energy leans towards receptivity and internal experience. One need only glance at male and female genitalia to find legitimacy in this theory. To restore his sexual vitality a man must seek out yin experiences. For a woman to restore her youthfulness and vitality she must seek out yang energy. It is by looking beyond our inherent natures we find methods and techniques that bring greater longevity and health.

[thejourneyofalotus]

Also read:

• Taoist sexual practices and sexual vampirism in ancient China
• Sexual stimulation re-routes brain activity to reach an 'altered state of consciousness'
• People can draw energy from other people the same way plants do

White Tigress Sexual Teachings

The origin of the White Tigress teachings appear to have been derived from instructions given to the Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti, circa 2500 B.C.E.) through three female attendants of the Western Royal Mother, who in Chinese mythical history is supposedly the matriarch of Chinese civilization. Her three female attendants—Plain Girl, Multihued Girl, and Mysterious Girl—each provided sexual instructions to the Yellow Emperor so that he might regain his health and attain immortality. The Western Royal Mother herself reportedly attained immortality through gathering and absorbing the sexual essences of twelve hundred males. From the White Tigress Manual there is the following descriptive quote of the Western Royal Mother as given by Mysterious Girl to the Yellow Emperor: 

Western Royal Mother obtained immortality through restoring her feminine energy. Her energy became so strong that when she lured a man’s Jade Stem [penis] near her mouth, with even one union he would fall exhausted, while her face glowed radiantly with his essence upon it. She no longer had need for any type of cosmetics. She could absorb the essence of a hundred men without causing herself any exhaustion, as her body was like that of a young girl full of vitality and stamina. Loving men the way they wished to be loved and knowing the secret of yin convergence [the secret of immortality] made her an immortals.

The White Tigress would orally seduce men of her choosing wherever and whenever possible in order to ensure her acquiring large quantities of semen, increase her production of saliva, make the oral activity more intense and passionate, and enhance her experiences for absorption of male sexual energy.

Within the White Tigress Manual, and in Japanese Geisha documents as well, it says:

With each act of intensely performing oral sex and congealing of semen she increases her life span by seven days. With those experiences where she enters deep contemplation of absorbing male sexual energy, she increases her life span by twenty-eight days. With each act of engaging in sexual intercourse her life span is decreased by seven days.

From the teachings of the Western Royal Mother there then developed numerous sexual arts that found their way into the culture of consorts, concubines, and Taoism. Many of these original teachings, however, came to just pay attention on the male achievement of immortality, per the instructions given to the Yellow Emperor. As China developed into a very patriarchal society, men attempted to shield the practices of the Western Royal Mother from falling into women’s hands.

Master Ch’ung Ho said: “It’s not only male sexual energy that can be cultivated, the female can cultivate hers as well. Western Royal Mother is a female who obtained immortality by replenishing her yin forces with the yang. Every time she engaged in sex with a man, he fell ill [the scare tactic], but her own face would be so smooth and glowing that she had no use for facial powders or rouge. She nourished herself on milk and played the five-stringed lute [allusions to semen and the five parts of the penis], and while she did so her heart was harmonious, her thoughts composed, and she was without extraneous desires. Western Royal Mother enjoyed having sex with men of all ages. Her secrets, however, must not be revealed, lest other women want to imitate her methods."

Because of this male perspective, the teachings of the Western Royal Mother were never popularly disseminated in China, especially during the Chou dynasty (1122 B.C.E—255 B.C.E)

There is a very well balanced protocol and demeanor within a White Tigress’s life. Great attention is paid not only to sexuality, but dietary, herbal usage, hygiene, exercise, appearance, and behavior. Outwardly, she may appear submissive, but inwardly she is focused and self- controlled. Interestingly enough, White Tigresses learned long ago to use their full femininity to empower themselves, rather than attempting to discard it. Curiously, it is odd that in such male dominated societies of China and Japan it was the consorts and geishas who held such incredible power and influence over men. Indeed, for men to even climb the social and power ladders of those societies they relied heavily upon the expert advice of these women, for they knew men better than men knew themselves.

As the moralist Confucians dominated social culture and philosophy. The teachings given to the Yellow Emperor from the Plain Girl were, however, widespread as they contained arts that enhanced a man’s health and progress toward immortality. The teachings that benefited women were maintained and transmitted primarily in secrecy through small clusters of consorts and female Taoists who maintained the sexual practices for purposes of achieving restoration of youthfulness and immortality.

The most popular Taoist sect that helped preserve the teachings of the White Tigress is credited to the Cheng-I Chen Jen (Right Unity of Realized Persons), formed (Yuan dynasty, circa 1200 C.E.) from the resurgence of the older Celestial Masters of Dragon and Tiger Mountain sect created by the earlier Han dynasty Taoist priest Chang Tao Ling (died 178 C.E., considered the first Taoist pope of sorts). From records within the White Tigress lineage, there appears to have been a great deal of support of their practices from the Cheng-I Chen Jen sect headquartered at the Heavenly Vault Monastery near Taihu Lake and Soochow Province, especially during the Ch’ing dynasty (1644 C.E. up to the time of Mao Tse Tung’s communist takeover of China).


Also read:

• The Three Treasures and Sexual Energy Cultivation