The crow is a sacred magical creature that reveals the secrets of the unseen, many cultures upon earth have honoured the crow as a guardian of thresholds. He is the grand Guru of the unseen, unknown and unknowable. When we approach the Crow, we do not seek to make the unknown known, but to approach it as it is. The unknowable is the wellspring of magic. It is the heartbeat of the left-hand path of Tantra. Without diving into the unknown and unknowable the roots of the tree of life die and the fruit of magic cannot ripen. Shuni Kah, as he is known to the Tantrics, brings us the gift of Magic.
On this ritual night we well perch beneath the crow’s wings and further work with the Chaya Karana (Shadow) practices of this yogic line of Tantra. We will work with the Bhar Chaya (outer shadow) mudras. We will investigate The Gupt (secret or hidden) mudras of working with the Shadow.
Yogis have long since known that working with one’s shadow is a powerful doorway into the spiritual realm. Tantric techniques work with the shadow in a whole range of ways. Our Shadow is a teacher when it is approached and studied in a focussed way.
The Shadow is a doorway to healing the structures of the rational mind, working with one’s actual Shadow softens the hard edges of one’s soul and brings an awareness to the balance between day and night forces.
By giving our attention to this unknown friend, who never leaves our side, we come to the wisdom of that which we have forgotten.
Those who have an interest in opening portals to forgotten dimensions of themselves and the spirit world are welcomed to this ritual of Crow.
The ritual will be upon the day of Saturn, which is Saturday. This will be the half descending Moon, where the moon will once again balance before its descent back into dark retreat. And one again, in the eternal celestial cycle of lunar, we will meet on the other side of the Moon. Descending again with nature back to the dark phase that the Moon will be carrying us towards, that is, towards the depth of Saturns secrets.
Saturn is the black planet who comes of age on the half lunar descent. He is most potent at the dark moon. From this vantage point of the Dark Moon in sight, he sees his potency before him, on a downhill celestial introverting lunar slide. Secrets are to be exposed, but they are also to be empowered again in the dark. The movements of the Moon are a reminder of nature’s cycles of wisdom. This night will be Bhairav Astami.
Bhairav is the emissary of Saturn. On this night of Bhairav, we will work with the Saturnian crow and initiate practices that involve our shadow. A candle before you will be required for this ritual, it should be set up in such a way as to cast your shadow behind you. This practice is known as Chaya Karana. Which literally means Working with the Shadow. The Shadow is a doorway to many secrets.
Chaya means shadow, but it is also the name of the Mother of Saturn. His Mother is the Shadow Woman. We will go into the teaching story of the shadow woman on this nights ritual, and more importantly, we shall face her, as we face the portal of our own shadow on the wall behind us.
NOTE: For this ritual one will require a darkened room and a candle in-front that casts a shadow. Those in different time zones where it is daylight may receive a recording of the ritual to practice at dusk when the shadows come to life.
KIM is an Eco-Activist turned Yogi and the founder of Healing in the Willows, the retreat company hosting Working with the Shadow, which he developed in 2014 in collaboration with Boonath, who he assists with the teaching. Kim discovered Yoga in 2005, following a burn-out at work that brought him onto the path of ‘Yog’. Kim had spent over 10 years coordinating international environmental campaigns in Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin for major environmental NGOs, including Greenpeace, WWF, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid, and many others.