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Guru Ravidas was notable as one of the most radical teachers ever to appear in India. He was a forerunner of justice, though his name is certainly not forgotten, his acclaim deserves more mention. Not a political revolutionary but a mystic poet, Ravidas brought together a Tantric vision of living spiritually within the heartless confines and structures of life.

Let us investigate the Vision of Ravidas with a question or two in our Heart – “Has Ravidas’s vision become manifest in the world?” Maybe the more important question is – ”What vision do we hold as we wander through our lives?”

Perhaps in a country like India, where 20 percent own 80 percent of the wealth and influence his teaching, the figure of Ravidas is not popularly or widely presented by those in power. Regardless of this, his influence still exerts itself in spiritual and social fields. Tantrics hold him in high esteem as one of the true wisdom teachers who addressed equally the balance between spiritual and social life.

Figures like him rock the boat of established order and are forerunners of spiritual and social revolutionary maneuvers. Reactions such as discriminatory assassinations, religious unrest  have risen as reactionary measures against his vision of unity. But equally have sectarian obliterations of modern oppressive social/religious structures grown from the seeds he planted in the unified Heart.

In his life and in his wake Ravidas left a profound legacy that stood for both inner and outer spirituality. He is revered by Tantrics for his no bullshit vision that exposed and continues to expose spiritual hypocrisy. 

His vision was that 
the outer structures are a reflection 
of our inner constructs. 
Like an architect of the soul 
he shows that sometimes 
a pause is needed 
to review the framework 
and its reflection.

He was a cobbler, fixing and making shoes, considered a low-class and second-class being in the elite view of the spiritual society in which he lived. He continues to be a profound influence even unto this day and age. Organizations that support his teachings have stood up greatly in recent years against religious and class discrimination.

Though his poetry still exists, much was destroyed by forces that opposed his vision equality and favored their elitist structures to stay in place. The life of Ravidas was a testament to the vision of undying truth within all beings – a truth that lies oppressed beneath the man-made separative constructs that are rampant in organised societies. That vision of truth that Ravi Das saw is known as the inner Guru Tatva – that is the element of the true power and weight of the spirit.

The highly discriminatory caste system and organised religion in India was something that was held in lowest regard  by him. He saw it as something that caused nothing but sickness of repression. Some states in the modern day  India to this day, still do not allow so-called lower-classes to own land or start businesses. He did stare right through the high caste oppression of the priestly classes, both in terms of its class discriminatory measures, its oppression of women and religious elitism.

In today India things have not changed greatly since his times. There are still temples that are out of bounds to lower classes. There are still religio/political systems that carry out cultural oppression and strategic genocides of lower classes. Ravi Das recognised that the patriarchal dominance was so ingrained in the systems of India, it was so established that it seemed to be the norm.

If anything can be said of Ravidas, it is that he had the vision of the Teacher of Wisdom, who saw through the sick structures that prevail in society. His followers are marked by his vision of seeing beneath the surfaces and carry his trait of exposing injustice, left right and center. 

Ravidas is perhaps best known for his mystical poetry, his verses have found their way into several prominent scriptures of India. Ravidas was a romantic poet who spent his time seeking out and spending time with mystics, babas and and Sufi mystics, following the ways of magical vision and composing mystical verse. His verses enumerate upon romantically spiritual themes, revealing that love and grief go hand in hand. Grief as a refining sobering force of awakening, is sprinkled throughout his poetry.

Ravidas rejected
all spiritual definitions,
he saw beyond forms and techniques
and followed the way of the heart.

There have been numerous speculations whether he was Sanguna or Nirguna. Sanguna means to worship and celebrate the forms that Shakti takes, Nirguna means to only focus upon the supreme reality with no reference to manifest or visible form.

To Ravidas both views were correct, both views were equally important and irrelevant at the same time. Indeed he stood firm to see the enduring truth beyond dogmatic forms and accepted ideologies.

Many of the so called central cities of religion and Yoga in India today are still headed by the higher priestly classes. These cities are regarded by outside Westerners who don’t know about the codes and history of religious oppression in India as the holy cities – in the unified vision of Ravidas, little could be further from the truth. Within India there are temples where lower classes and women are not allowed. Westerners and Women are readily admitted but natives risk violence, persecution,  livelihood and even their lives if they would try to enter. 

As long as the oppression of the caste system and socioeconomic inequalities across the world still occur, Ravidas will always be relevant.

Ravidas
was a true mystic
who spat in the blind eyes
of ideology.

His vision was that Love is the truth that is constrained and strangled by social and spiritual segregations. He had the vision or Tadaruup – that is the vision that there is only one collective Heart together and no separate hearts. He was profoundly compassionate and felt the suffering of the oppressed heart, but rather than wallowing in pity he stood up and spoke things that were so reactionary that they had never been spoken.

He engaged a whole new courageous movement of equality within spiritual and social contexts – influencing many poets and mystics down the line. The Sikh religion has its origins with Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak was said to be a friend of Ravidas and came under Ravidas’s influence to compose the verses of spiritual poetry, the poems of both mystics share similar qualities of devotion and revolt against the bigotry of the time. Without Ravidas it is quite possible the Sikh tradition would never have come into being as Ravidas put out his influence upon Nanak.

This has a sad irony to it because the Sikh religion itself as it gained status became a grand modus of oppression of lower classes itself. Itself withholding the rights of land, and commerce and creating religious segregation, or allowing lower classes inside its temples. The Sikh religion as it developed became a pinnacle of patriarchy and abolished the Goddess while looking down upon the ancient pagan practices and rituals as lesser superstitious. The writings and developments of Sikhism can be seen to develop along the passage of time into even more constrictive patriarchal forms, becoming even military. It can’t be refuted that the Sikh military has been a profound source of power for saving India from invasions and upholding justice. The source of its teaching must be acknowledged and its injustices must be exposed if we are to really look with the humanitarian vision of Ravidas. Ravidas in his romantic verse speaks time and again of the need to humble and crumble the structures of the constructed separative self in order to unveil the one heart.

In his poetry there are consistent references to the insanity of societal, religious and gender segregations.  His poems are devotional and mystical, they embrace feelings of mystical longing and sorrow upon the path. But they are more than mere mystic sentimentality.

Ravidas brought together the mystical and the mundane structures and how they interrelate and even cancel each other out. His radical approach in the rampant sectarian society in which he roamed created an aura of freedom in him that inspired everyone he met in his wanderings.

Ravidas’s style of mystical poetry was so influential that he was emulated by other Indian poets after his lifetime, many of the disciples of his poetry were so devotional to him that out of respect they would assign their writings to Ravidas.

The best known disciple was the mystical princess poet Meerabhai. She composed some of the most beautiful verses of mystic poetry to ever grace the Earth. Many of her verses have found their way into contemporary song. 

The princess Meerabhai wrote deeply about the longing for the true vision of the unified heart. Though the message in her writings is hidden under romantic symbols, her message was the same as that of her inspiration and Teacher – the great Guru Ravidas – the message of love and the one vision of unity, both within and without. Ravidas was a true Tantric, he saw the absurdity of so called elevated spiritual ideals being proclaimed – but not being mirrored into outer life. He saw through the empty agenda of the high class power hungry religious elites.

Kings and princesses sought the company of Ravidas, this was a radical maneuver in itself. As Ravidas was labeled within the so called lower classes. The higher classes were deeply troubled by the fact that a spiritual teacher could be of lower class. This might sound like it is of little matter to our ears these days but it is something quite profound. Even to this day the elite classes in the majority still believe that a so-called person of lower caste can not be a spiritual teacher, women are equally considered lower class and barred from the elite patriarchal orders of the priests.

The role of priest and guru is reserved to higher classes. Things may have changed somewhat, but in the times of Ravidas it was unacceptable that a cobbler was a spiritual teacher. Scriptures and rituals were hoarded by the higher strictly, wisdom that had power was  not shared but kept within elite circles that oppressed lower classes.

Ravidas’s message showed his vision that if such wisdom is exclusive, then another and more inclusive and cause for social oppression, then another way of wisdom was needed. He rejected the codes and forms along with their corruption for the vision of Tadaruup, that is: there may be many beats, but there is only one Heart.

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KHODIYAR MAA
Womb & Fertility

When looking at the Goddesses in Tantra, we notice that their stories point to energetic principles. A Goddess is a whole world of energetic principle made manifest. The work of a Tantric practitioner is to condense and concentrate their forces into a focussed point and to align with the world of the Goddess behind her archetypal representation.

When we align to a Goddess, we bring vast movements to our lives. It takes work and focus and is no flimsy affair of wishful thinking and good intention. The Vajra is the concentration of electrical force. In any branch in life the focus of force is a law for creation. This law holds true in Tantra as it does in any other field.

Tantra is a practical subject that magically accesses the Goddess energies through concentrated techniques and ritual applications. The techniques are not random, but work with a scientifically detailed system of aligning to astral and lunar currents. 

Mudra and Mantra become a doorway that links our lives to the energies of the Goddess. By opening doorways, we can bring much healing and flow into our lives. Just as there is a herb for every ailment – there is a Goddess principle for all our human trials and tribulations.

The goddess we shall be working with is Khodiyar Maa. Though she is not a vastly known Goddess, she is highly honoured by Tantrics. Having a wider appearance in Gujarat and Rajasthan which lay over 7000 Km apart from each other .

Khodiyar Maa is worshipped by Tantrics on her Jayanti, the half rising Moon, which this year falls on the 20th of February.

KHODIYAR MAA RITUAL

Khodiyar Maa is linked to the womb and to childbirth, and the marriage between the base and sexual Chakras. She is a Goddess who shows us how to unite the energies of Earth and Water – first and second Chakra themes are her speciality.

Working with her ritualistically, can help those wishing to conceive a child. Khodiyar Maa is a powerful Matriarch to those who have interest to work with the sexual energy and its healing.

Khodiyar Maa is a Goddess who addresses physical handicaps and impediments. Indeed her name means ‘the Goddess who hobbles and limps from an injury’, as she herself has an injury that causes her to limp.

She is a fearless Goddess 
who will ride deep 
into the bowels of the underworld 
to bring about healing.

She addresses emergencies and is a profoundly helpful force that will stop at nothing to address the problems of life and living.

HER STORY & ITS MEANING

There exist a few variations of her story, some assign her to an actual historical figure. The outer variations of the story in the inner essence are the same. It is a Tantric teaching story that embraces pivotal themes of love, sex and birth.

Here follows an account into the birth of Khodiyar Maa…

Once upon a time there was an unhappy Man and his wife. They were unhappy because they were Baanjh (childless). They engaged in much ritual, and sexual Tantric practices to call upon Shakti and Shiva for help.  Though they were devoted and focussed in their rituals, it seemed that nothing happened. They grew so desperate and thought that offering their lives was the only option left, they were so stricken by their barren plight that they came to the very edge.   

As they reached the very pit of despair, Shiva appeared before them and said: “let’s travel down to the deepest and most beautiful world – where the most precious jewels are to be found”. Deep into the bowels of the earth they journeyed for 7 days and 7 nights, until they came to Naaga Lokh, the deepest 7th subterranean portion of the Patala (underworld ) – the place where the seed and origins of things are to be found.

Shiva introduced them to Naagaraja – the King of the Snakes.

The couple related their childless situation as the King of Snakes listened on. The youngest daughter of the king of snakes was moved by their tears and laments and slithered in to help. Taking charge of the situation, she hatched a plan along with her 7 siblings.

Whispering in snakey tones they reassured the couple that all would be well.

The snake princess told the couple to return to their world and prepare their lives as if they were expecting 8 babies.

The couple climbed back up to the Earthly plane and went about preparing all the necessities for 8 babies. Clothes were sewn, little cribs were made and all the supplies that are required for babies were brought into their home.

And on one 5th Lunar night, when the moon is in the snake constellation of Ashlesha Nakshatra… a miracle happened.

Eight shakes crawled into the baby cribs and grew unto the half moon, until they took the human form of little human babies. Cries were heard through the fulfilled home and now the wife and man wept once more; this time though with tears of joy.

The eight children of the Snake God had been so moved by the sincerity of the previously childless couple that they saw the opportunity to enter into earthly incarnation.

The babies grew up with a great underworld power, 7 daughters and a single son. They dressed in jewels and wore only black as a testament to their underworld heritage. They were magnetic and had mesmerising eyes that saw into the depths of things.

Naaga Lokh is the place of deepest black. That is the place where the most brilliant jewels can shine.

Seven daughters and one son brought life to the home, each daughter wore a jewel reflecting the colour of each Chakra. They doted on their brother, day and night, but one day, destiny had it that the brother was to meet with a great misfortune. He was bitten by a snake and his life hung in peril.

Khodiyar Maa was the most ruthless of all the sisters, she wore the jewel of the second chakra that in Tantra is known as Shaktistan. The place of the Goddess.

Instinctively, she knew exactly what to do: she dove into the waters of the nearest lake and swam deep down into the underworld to obtain the life giving elixir from the Naaga world. 

Upon swimming back-up to the surface to reach her brother – who would be dead by midnight, if she did not succeed – another misfortune ensued, as she met with a vicious undercurrent that dashed her on the rocks.

She sustained a serious injury to her foot and could no longer swim. As the life of her brother and herself flashed before her, she helplessly began to surrender to an inevitable death. A Makara (crocodile) watched on and quickly swam her to safety. Upon the riverbank she emerged, limping homeward. 

Her siblings who had been waiting eagerly for her to return rejoiced as they saw her – ‘Khodiyar Maa’  they chanted in unison (Khodi means ‘injured foot’, and the girl was given this name thereafter).

‘Praise to the limping healing Mother with the Amrit, (elixir of life) they sang, ‘Here she comes limping’.

The elixir was given to her brother just in time and all was well.

MAKARA | CROCODILE POWER

In the month of Makar – the month of the crocodile – also called Magh, depending upon region, the Jayanti of Khodiyar Maa is celebrated.

The sun has moved only recently into the constellation of the 10th zodiacal house of Capricorn. This is the Crocodile constellation of Makara, that the Tantrics work with upon this ritual day and night.

Khodiyar Maa’s Jayanti is on the half ascending Moon, just as in the story when she emerges from the water unto the earth.

The two halves are mirrored in her annual Lunar day. The halves are apparent also in the symbol of the crocodile constellation that is the transition between water and earth and the dark and light poles of the year  (see also the blog dedicated to the pagan festival of Lohri )

Khodiyar Maa has temples that are often located next to rivers.

In some parts, legend has it that a real crocodile emerges from the waters to give Darshan (vision). The crocodile is an amphibious creature that moves between Water and earth.

It is the Vahaan of Khodiyar Maa. The base Chakra is linked to the earth element and the water element rules the second Chakra. The symbolism of the story shows how Khodiyar Maa transitions between these two elements with the healing elixir.

KUNDALINI

Khodiyar Maa grounds the sexual power into the base so that the Kundalini serpent can ascend from a rooted foundation. The Kundalini power must have a base, if it is to not be dashed upon the rocks of the spiritual waters of life in which we spin.

The story is a deep inner allegory with many layers of meaning.

In Tantric practice one meditates upon such stories which reveal their secrets as insight and focus develop. The seven sisters are the manifest Shakti powers of the Chakras who focus on.

The one brother that they have represents Shiva, the raw unmanifest unto which the Kundalini of the Tantric is focussed in devotion to the great mystery. Just as the story reveals, Shakti is needed to animate him into life and into our lives.

The Tantric is just like Khodiyar Maa – diving deep and fearlessly, despite dangers and fears – unto the quest of the elixir of life. 

The story shows that her motivation was Love and not power. When the motivation is raw and pure then the ally appears, just as the crocodile did in the nick of time.

Hara Ring

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The great nourishing Goddess.

Her name translates as the bringer of vegetation. She is twilight blue in colour and she brings the gift of herbs, fruits and vegetables to the earth.She is the revealer of nourishment and growth.She is the great mother of nurture who brings magical growth to the garden of our souls. 

The first rising half Moon of the year, 20th of January, signals the beginning of Shakambhari Navaratri, the nine nights of Shakambhari. For Tantrics, these 9 nights are a time of studying deeply the order and disorder of our inner garden. 

Shakambhari is depicted with a thousand eyes from which she waters the garden of our soul, reaching even into the most dry cracks and corners. She brings the latent seeds of our secret innermost life into flower.

Shakambhari’s powers culminate on the 9th night, upon the Full Moon of the 28th, when she is in her full power, on the day known to Tantrics as Shakambhari Jayanti. At this time, celestial forces are conspiring to begin awakening nature after her yearly sleep. Being ourselves part of nature, these forces act upon us and afford us an opportunity to tend our spiritual garden.

LAW OF EXCHANGE

The story of Shakambhari 
tells of the law of exchange, 
of the psychic & physical draught 
that befalls us 
when the reciprocal 
laws of exchange 
are not honoured.

Tantric cosmology tells of how the world of spiritual forces, intersects with the physical plane by a law of reciprocity. The spirits depend upon us for sustenance as we depend upon them.

If we dissociate ourselves from the spirits then we fall into psychic and physical famine as the story points out.

Shakambhari is also revered as the keeper of the secrets of herbs and their medicinal use, precisely because she mediates between the spiritual and physical world by means of the law of reciprocity. She reveals the science of healing by showing how a herb and a food has a different effect upon the system according to which Moon phase it is imbibed upon.

Shakambhari is the great balancer and nourisher, she balances dryness and moisture. The balance of dryness and fluidity in the human mechanism is of utmost importance to Tantrics. Tantra has a whole science of practices connected to working with dryness and moisture, by honouring the fluidic movements of the Moon.

When the psychic and physical nerves become dry there is not the capacity for the human organism to contain Shakti. 

Some substances and practices are extremely heating and create dryness, this is to be balanced by working with the Moon and especially working with the 3 fluids that comprise Soma, that is Milk, Blood and Water. Soma balances dryness and brings softness and the feminine into our orbit.

THE GREAT SPIRITUAL DROUGHT

Once upon a time a great draught was upon the whole of creation. The draught was so severe that it traversed the 3 worlds: conscious, unconscious and earthly. The Draught came into being because the people of the earth plane had stopped to give honour to the spirits and fallen into dryness. The fluid of Soma did no longer flow and in utter dryness Shakti did not have a place, for she lives in the place where fluid and dryness is balanced.

The sacred ways had been forgotten and the spirits who depend upon human interaction for their sustenance were drying out for lack of prayers and offerings. The dryness of the spiritual world was reflected upon the earth plane. All around things withered. As the spirit world grew dry, so did the earth, right down to the very underworld, the great famine enveloped.

The earthly plane is nourished by the milk (Kamakhya) the fluid of desire.
The underworld is nourished by blood (Kali, the fluid of time)
The upper world is nourished by water (Kala) the lord of death who takes us Northward.
Together these sacred fluids equal Soma.
The heaviest of the 3 sacred fluids is Blood, then milk, and then water.
The heaviest sinks South, whereas the lightest rises North, and in the middle is the milk of life.

The story tells of how there were few people remaining upon the earth who still knew of the importance of giving honour to the upper and underworld spirits. These last few adherents to the laws of nature and magic were the original Tantrics. Legend has it that together they formed a circle and prayed with their united concentrated spirits. They believed that Soma could still flow and heal all worlds. And so, upon the first rising half Moon of the uprising year, they gathered together in concentrated ritual and prayed to the Goddess for help.
The Goddess was nourished by their Love and longing and she took form as Shakambhari. She nourished them in return, for this is the Law of Exchange that is central in Tantra. 

Shakti (in the form of Shakambhari) found an entrance back to the earth plane through the middle line of the half Moon. Rituals of the half Moon are rituals of balance. 

The dividing line 
between the two halves 
of dark and light 
becomes a meeting place 
of polarities 
& a place where spiritual forces 
can be invoked.

Shakambhari appears on the half ascending Moon of Shakambhari Navaratri (20th of January) in response to prayer, and she comes into her full power on the Purnima (full Moon, 28 January).

Compassion & Nurishment

The story of Shakambhari tells of the importance of compassion and nourishment. She appeared with a body covered in a 1000 eyes and, as she saw the dried out plight of the creation, she began to weep tears of compassion for the suffering of the world. Her many eyes wept for nine nights, in which she poured Soma into the three spiritually barren worlds and restored full moisture by the Full Moon.

She brought fruit, vegetables and herbs, she restored the rivers and the seas and sprinkled the earth with flowers.

Shakambhari Puja is a ritual of finding that for which we hunger and thirst for, her ritual goes even further to look into the reason for the inner hunger,

Shakambhari can teach us the laws of nourishment and fortification. She brings healing to our relationship with nutrition on inner as well as outer levels. Shakambhari reveals to us the laws or reciprocity, that in order for the garden to grow, we have to water it.

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Welcoming Back the Light

Amvasya | Dark Moon
Wednesday, 13th January 2021

Loh means light and gives its name to this festival day of welcoming back the light. This is an ancient Indian pagan festival that is celebrated in the North of India. It has echoes in South Indian festivals that occur at the same time. On the other side of India, 1000s of kilometres away in the south on the same day, Bhogi festivals are celebrated, which have identical elements. All these festivals are centred around the lighting of sacred fires.

To befriend, 
& become befriended, by Nature 

Tantrics have aligned to these rituals as a way to both befriend and be befriended by nature. Such so-called pagan celebrations of the rhythms of nature have been dismissed by orthodoxly as primitive and based on superstition. 

Tantra 
is a pagan tradition 
of honouring 
the forces of nature. 

Some of the traditions and festivals became assimilated into the widespread arena of religion while others remain more obscure or only regionally acknowledged.

What may not be apparent to Westerners is that orthodox religion in India is highly organized and deeply discriminatory within a class system that itself strives to keep in place such discriminations.

There are temples in India where only higher classes are admitted, this seems to have gotten even more corrupt with the passage of time. The higher caste priestly orders, have their fingers in politics and economics more than might be known.

Tantra, on the other hand, especially within this Left Hand Path, has been horizontally organised outside of formal institutions and widely inclusive, both of class and gender differences. 

Western Views 
& the excessive fire of modernity

Until recent times, 
Yoga in India was a male-only tradition.
Western women were allowed
to join practices
because of their money
& their status.

Western women have entered into the yoga arena only within the past century and because of the generous economic offerings they were making to Gurus and their ashrams. It is common in fact still today for higher class priests and teachers to admit Western women into their classes, but refuse Indian women.

A lot of the rituals 
that the male line carries out 
are paradoxically not suitable for women, 
though Western women 
might be the main followers
of the practices.

Fire rituals are most unsuitable for women, they can cause great imbalance to the female bodily chemistry, disturbing the reproductive faculties and menstruation. 

The female chemistry carries an excess of fire in accordance with menstrual rhythms. These rhythms can become agitated and disturbed when working with powerful and unsuitable rituals that involve fire. Rituals are to be understood as powerful harnessing of energies that produce powerful effects. That we live in a very solar oriented society, with excess of light in terms of electricity, already gives an excess of fire to the organism. 

Fire rituals came from a pre-electricity era, it must be remembered. 

Both the modern man and woman suffer from the imbalance of excessive fire and heat in the system. Cooling practices are more called for in this time to balance the solar and lunar forces in both the psychic and physical organism.

Many of the structures of the prevalent Vedic mantras do not include the feminine Matrikas (tones) and unbalance the female constitution, if overly worked with.

It is essential to see 
that the ritual practices 
of the Vedas 
were never meant for women.

They have indeed landed in the hands of organised patriarchy and carry forward great streaks of fascism in the way that the philosophy of the Vedas has been used and manipulated by the higher classes to subjugate and exploit people greatly under the pretexts of religious dictates.

Witches & Pagans
Wisdom of the un-Civilised

Not all Indians actually honour the orthodoxy and the higher priestly classes in the same manner that Westerners often do. Those who are not in the elite know by direct experience how the higher religious classes mix their powers with religion to subjugate and exploit what they – the higher classes – deem as the common and uneducated pagans.

The tribal, 
shamanic & Shakti traditions 
have often been outcast 
from the orthodoxy 
as lesser or uncivilised.

The Tantrics did not arise as a reactionary measure towards the orthodoxy as several popular Western scholars of Indian lore have assumed. The Tantric wisdom predates organised form, and is the natural essence that imbues and developed into organised form. 

Tantra 
is the uncivilised 
and pagan roots 
of all Orthodoxy.

It is like the folk wisdom of the Witches in the West, who were burned by the patriarchal inquisition and replaced their wisdom with codes and structures that go against nature and the laws of compassion.

Northern Talk

There is a saying in Punjab 
that if you see a priest 
first thing after leaving your house 
you should go back home 
and wash yourself of the filth of their presence.

Although Lohri is a festival that is confirmed today to some parts of Northern India, once upon a time this festival was embraced by the whole of the rural people of the North. 

Even Pakistan, when it was still part of India – in relatively recent times – and not a separate state as it is now – It was a place of Tantra that recognised festivals such as Lohri which are now commonly regarded as minor folk festivals that do not enter into the religious mainstream.

Tantra still thrives in an underground form in the North of India, where many of the ancient natural pagan rites are adhered to. In places such as the Punjab this can be seen. Both the external and the underground Tantric practices that are prevalent there, are more in the tradition of shamanism and Nath cults that are not always linked to some of the well known hierarchical Sampradaya orders, but have their own origins and lesser known and secret lineages.

Punjab is a northern region of India infamous for its raw disregard of upper class orthodox elitism. It is also a state in India where 5 rivers converge. The 5 rivers of Punjab correspond to the 5 nadis (energy lines) of the throat centre. Indeed the North Indians are highly vocal and known throughout India to produce the most legendary singers. This is why Lohri is a festival of song and festivity.

Rock your Baby

Lohri in the North is also understood to mean ‘to rock a baby’. Newborns are blessed upon this day. The first Lohri of newborns is a time of great celebration and the reception and giving of blessings. The Hisdray arrive to bless children on this celebratory day.

The Hisdray or Kusray – as they are called in the Northern states – bring blessings to Babies and Newlyweds

Hisdray
are an ancient & mysterious 
cult of eunuchs 
– transvestites, hermaphrodites 
& more recently transexuals –
who have the power of Vaak Siddhi:
the power of blessing or cursing
through speech.

They come to bless upon the day of Lohri to both babies at their first Lohri. The festivities  involve group prayers, games, song, dance and other festivities of Lohri, sweets are made, given and collected, fires are lit and games are played.

Honouring the Guest

What many people commonly do to celebrate the winter solstice is basically done on Lori. Fires are built at sunset and circumambulated. But why is Lohri not celebrated upon the Winter Solstice?

The Solstice is a solemn time of the year’s longest night, a time when the night forces are in full force and honoured by the Tantrics by immersing themselves fully in darkness. 

The Dark 
is deeply tuned into 
around Solstice 
by Tantrics.

When a long staying guest leaves our house. It takes time to acknowledge their absence and come back to a settled state without them there. This is how Tantrics consider Winter Solstice.

Lighting a fire 
on the Winter Solstice 
equals to rejoicing 
for the guest leaving 
while the guest 
is still in your home.

Tantric allow for the guest – darkness – to leave with dignity and mourn their departure. Perhaps the modern denial of the night forces is responsible for lighting fires even before the guest of half the year has departed. In the Tantric view it is ungraceful and ungrateful to see off the dark in such a way. For she has given so much. What she has given exactly is for one to discover for themselves.

The Tantric learns to honour the feminine forces of the dark and lingers and pays respect for a while, as she trails off into the shadows.

Some of the folk games played by children on Lohri reflect this. In one such play of children, the child is painted black and tied with a rope held by his friends, he asks for Lohri (sweets) in a sing sing type of way at the doors of his neighbors. If they do not respond sufficiently the rope that restrains him is loosened by his friends and he enters the house to break things therein!

The symbol 
of the game is explicit, 
the Dark is asking 
for a gift & blessing 
before it can depart 
knowing it has been appreciated, 
& honoured.

The dark gives her gift when she has been honoured. Just like the gift of a child that emerges from the dark womb after a 9 month stretch inside the Mother.

Interestingly, children and newborns are blessed on this day which is believed to carry a great blessing for rising strength.
At the other side of India, in the South, in the same day Bhogi Pandigai is celebrated. It is also a festival of blessing children and lighting fires.

The First Dark Moon

A rarity, 
Lohri occurs this year 
in its original 
Tantric place of power 
upon the Dark Moon.

The first Amvasya (dark Moon), following the winter solstice, sees the time to let go and say farewell to the dark season. It is a time to begin lighting fires for the new uprising guest of expanding days that is upon us as the Moon waxes for the first time in a full round after Solstice. As the Moon rises from the Amvasya she brings with her the season that reflects the sun.

Tantrics work with honour the fire on the ritual day of Lohri. Saying  farewell to the dark and welcoming the light. Nuts and seeds are thrown into the fire with prayers, as a way of releasing the old and welcoming the new.  In some regions, old garments and items that hold old energy are put to the flames of rebirth.

The next day after Lohri is marked as a Makar Sankranti or Maghi Sangrand – this is the beginning of the new calendar month, known as as Maghi in the North, and the month of Tai in the Tamil calendar.

Day of the Crocodile

Sankranti or Sangrand is the first day of the month. Makar or Maghi means crocodile. It represents a new astrological force coming into effect and raising the season to one of light and warmth, under the reflection of the first waxing moon of the light half of the year.

Makar Sankranti is a day that recognises that the coldest day has passed, and the heat is building by the growth of the first Moon-round post winter-solstice. Kites are flown, in many regions, this represents the rising new season. In Gujarat, this is a central custom in the festival which is there called Uttarayan. Kites abound in the skies at this time, though the custom still exists, it has declined in recent decades as the hand of modernity sweeps across ancient customs. In the South, Sankranti Makar corresponds to the festival of Surya or Tai Pongal, many of the ritualistic customs are similar to those of the North, even down to the dishes that are cooked. 

Pongal is widely celebrated by the Tamil people – the Southernmost state of India.

Makar Sankranti traditionally begins with a morning dip at sunrise in a river, even when the temperatures are freezing. This is a symbolic and magical gesture of cooling the body and spirit for the heat of Surya (sun) that is rising with the coming Month. The day of Makar Sankranti marks the beginning of Uttarayanna – this is when the sun enters the 10th zodiac house of Makara.

Makara 
corresponds to 
the western Capricorn sign,
& is symbolised 
by a Crocodile. 

Makar Sankranti indeed derives its name from Makara, the crocodile constellation. The dip in a river in the early Morning on this day that brings with it a new rising astrological cycle is a way of honouring the Crocodile energy. 

The Goddess Ganga (as in the river Ganges) rides upon the crocodile Makara, as does the God Varuna, the deity of the seas. The cooling blessings of the water element are sought as the moon raises the tide for the first time post-solstice at the beginning of the season of building heat. The energies of water and fire come together at this sacred festival time. 

The fire is lit at sunset on Lohri and burns till sunrise when the water dip is traditionally taken.

Tantra
Keeping the Spirit Alive 

As modernity has set in and altered the structures of living, the celebration has started to decline from a form of ritual worship into a public holiday even within rural communities over the last decades.

Sacred days often can be lost and turned into commercial festivities where the aspect of ritual is removed from its central position. Alternatively religious or cultural dogma can pervade such festivities, until the essence and power of the ritual day is obscured.

Tantrics are those who keep the sacred rituals and their significance alive by imbuing them with life force and Tapasya (spiritual effort) 

If the sacred days are understood as portals, to be worked with and honoured in a ritualistic manner, then the chance of taking them for granted as mere customs, or dismissing them as superstitions is safeguarded.

In Defence of Magic

Lohri 
reveals how modernity 
can swallow magic 
and erode powerful 
necessary rights of passage, 
necessary if we are to align 
to the Wisdom of Nature.

The festival of Lohri has much to show us, if we reflect upon the light it sheds carefully (Lohri literally means enlightening).  Lohri reveals how powerful rituals and customs bring people together in communal prayer and blessing. This is the very essence of Tantric ritual.

Lohri reveals how the solar light-oriented face of civilisation does not give honour to the balance of nature’s two ever-present, mutually informing and empowering forces of dark & light.

Lohri reveals that the deepest wisdom, which is the Wisdom of Nature, can easily be glanced at sideways as primitive by the patriarchal eyes of orthodoxy.

And what Lohri perhaps most importantly can reveal to us is to align our currents to what nature is telling and showing us, and not push the guest out of the house before thanking them for the gift of their presence. For in doing so we banish magic from our lives.

If you would like to join the ritual,
CLICK HERE.

How We Waste our Lives Away

’But down in the underground
You’ll find someone true.
Down in the underground
a land serene,
a crystal moon.
Oh, It’s only forever.
Not long at all’’

Underground | D. Bowie

Kaal Astami is a time
in which to study
the deep dark layers of oneself,
shedding the outer layers
like a snake,
to reach the mysteries
beyond the threshold of time.

Time is indeed of the essence. It may contain the essence itself, but our time can be something devoid of magic. It then becomes something to waste away when it is barren of Moonlit Magic. Some of the modern rituals we repeat daily are worth our investigation. If something is repeatedly done with our concentration then it becomes a ritual.

Rituals
can both entrap
and liberate.

Kaal Bhairav ritual-worship has the potential to show us the most obvious – yet easily unseen – things of what we are doing with time. Or perhaps what time is doing with us…     When we align to the deep slow realm of Bhairav, he guides us into the invisible line between life and death, beyond the threshold of creation and destruction. Life and time, creation and death, all hold hands in the realm of a Kaal Bhairav.  

Kaal Bhairav
teaches the Wisdom of Death.
He shows us that
the creative spiritual impulse
is not free of Death,
for Creation without Death
is Stagnation.

Bhairav is a deep friend, liberator and protector, if he is approached in honour.
He holds the Danda, the stick of power. Dandapatti means the friend of ‘the stick’, or ‘the friend with the stick’.
It is the magic wand of the Wizard and broomstick of the Witch. It is the spine that flows with the dance of circuitry in the currents of life and death. It is the stick within grasp when we study the mysteries of Bhairav.

It is the stick
that carries the soul
across the portals
of life and death.

The stick is called Kankala Danda, literally the ‘skeleton stick’.
The stick of Bhairav gives the protection of courage to go under the surface of skin and flesh, right to the very bone of our lives. Bhairav asks us ‘are we here to live or are we here to die?’

THE RITUAL

YOUR STICK OF POWER

For this ritual you will require a stick of power. You may use a broom, or any stick you find. You may go out into nature on a magical quest and find one – or let it find you.
You might even be surprised and realise that you already possess one. Whether your stick is a broom, a wooden spoon or a crafted wand, have your Danda close to hand for this ritual.

On this ritual night, we will continue to work deeper with the Kankala Danda (skeleton stick mudras) which we begun in December to further explore the connection between life and death, and the ways in which we may be wasting our lives away.

The stick of power that Bhairav carries represents the measurement of time, it is topped by a skull that signifies the mystery beyond time.

The antar Kankala mudras
(inner skeleton practice)
are powerful in revealing
hidden magical realms.

Because Kaal Bhairav is obstinate, tenacious, terrifying and immovable by his laws, he helps reveal where we are obstinate, tenacious and immovable to his laws of Time and Death in our lives.

As well as teaching us
how to life,
Bhairav equally teaches us
how to die.

Many may be consumed with the issue of  ‘how to live’, but the tantric equally concerns themselves with ‘how to die’.

Bhairav can show us
the lessons we are not learning
and having to repeat
for lifetimes long.

  Hara Ring
To join the Ritual.

CLICK HERE