Skip to navigation | Skip to content

  1. Exhibition review – Tantra: enlightenment to revolution

    At the British Museum, 24 Sep 2020 – 24 Jan 2021

    The British Museum’s new exhibition Tantra enlightenment to revolution is a stunning tour through the influence of tantric culture across South Asia and beyond. Curated by Imma Ramos, the collection begins with the early influences of tantric iconography with some fine representations of Bhairava, through to Buddhist influences, and the rise of Tantric traditions in Tibet, Nepal, and Japan. There is a dizzying array of material artifacts, ranging from statues to ritual objects and artworks. Continue reading »

    October 1st 2020

    Posted by in Event reviews, Reviews, tantra

    Tags: , ,

    2 comments »

  2. The Kaula traditions – I

    Who, or what, are the Kaula traditions? It’s a question that has bedeviled me ever since I read the teasing footnote references to “Kaula comment” in Kenneth Grant’s Typhonian trilogies back in the early 1980s. In Cults of the Shadow (Frederick Muller, 1975) for example, Grant made several references to the “Kaula Cult of the Vama Marg”, its secret rites and esoteric sexual practices. It seemed to be all very secret, hush-hush, and confusing. Over the years, I’d occasionally find people throwing the term Kaula about in various forums, and would ask them what the “Kaula Cult” actually was. It was hard to get a straight answer, and I often came away with the impression that these folk didn’t really have much of a sense of what the Kaulas actually consisted of, much less be able to point to a particular historical tradition or scripture. Continue reading »

    September 14th 2020

    Posted by in History, Occult, tantra

    Tags: , , ,

    2 comments »

  3. On the dakṣiṇācāra and the vāmācāra – IV

    In the previous post in this series I took a quick look at the earliest form of the non-Saiddhāntika or vāmācāra traditions of the tantras – the Caturbhaginī or “Four Sisters” system. For this post I shall briefly examine two more early vāmācāra streams, the Mantrapīṭha and the Vidyāpīṭha. Continue reading »

    August 31st 2020

    Posted by in History, tantra

    Tags: ,

    Leave a comment »

  4. 21 Years On, Revisiting Ellwood’s The Politics of Myth

    I don’t mention this often, but technically my PhD is in Folklore AND Mythology. I don’t like to call attention to it because I feel like it makes a fluffy sounding degree sound even fluffier, and frankly, I am a shitty mythologist. Continue reading »

    August 13th 2020

    Posted by in History, Occult

    Tags:

    Leave a comment »

  5. On the dakṣiṇācāra and the vāmācāra – III

    In the previous post in this series I gave a brief overview of the “mainstream” or base of the Śaiva mantramārg – the Śaiva Siddhānta. I will now turn to an examination of the non-Saiddhāntika traditions that developed around it. These were a diverse array of traditions focused on the worship of the fierce ectype of Śiva – Bhairava – often seen as a “higher” form of Śiva, and various forms of the Goddess – Śiva’s power or Śākti. Continue reading »

    July 25th 2020

    Posted by in History, tantra

    Tags: ,

    Leave a comment »

  6. Book Review: The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick

    I have to thank David Southwell for sparking my interest in the Indian Rope Trick. In 2019, I was preparing a lecture on the relationship between Yoga and Magic for Treadwells Bookshop (see Yogis, Magic and Deception – I) and was reading an early draft to David. He pointed out, quite rightly, that of all the Yogic feats I had mentioned, I had omitted the most famous of them all – the Indian Rope Trick! Continue reading »

    July 19th 2020

    Posted by in Book reviews, History, Occult

    Tags: , ,

    Leave a comment »

  7. On the dakṣiṇācāra and the vāmācāra – II

    In the last post in this series I began my examination of the two streams of tantric discipline – the dakṣiṇācāra and the vāmācāra – or as they have become known, the Right-Hand and the Left-Hand Path. The key point I wanted to make was that the relationship between the two streams was not oppositional and exclusionary – as the two streams are represented in popular occulture. In this post, I will provide a brief overview of the Śaiva Siddhānta tradition. Continue reading »

    July 10th 2020

    Posted by in History, tantra

    Tags: , ,

    1 comment »

  8. On the dakṣiṇācāra and the vāmācāra – I

    Of late I have been revisiting some earlier work I did on the passage of the concept of the “Left-Hand Path” into Western Esotericism. A consistent theme throughout Western Esoteric discourse almost from its inception (in the work of Madame Blavatsky and later Theosophical works) is that the so-called “Right-Hand Path and Left-Hand Path are binary opposites, and to align with one is to exclude the other. Continue reading »

    July 7th 2020

    Posted by in Occult, tantra

    Tags: , ,

    Leave a comment »

  9. Announcement: Treadwells Subscriber Lectures

    Current circumstances have disrupted my lecture plans for 2020, but I have contributed a number of lectures to a new venture from Treadwells of London – their online subscriber lectures. Continue reading »

    June 30th 2020

    Posted by in Announcements, History, Lectures, tantra

    Tags: ,

    Leave a comment »

  10. Book Review: Aleister Crowley in India

    Anyone interested in the passage of South Asian esoteric traditions into Western occultism can’t really ignore the influence of Aleister Crowley. I recently had to re-acquaint myself with Crowley’s work as part of my research for my lecture at Treadwells last year on Yoga and Magic, and just after the lecture, picked up a copy of Tobias Churton’s new book Aleister Crowley in India: The Secret Influence of Eastern Mysticism on Magic and the Occult (Inner Traditions, 2019, Hdbk with dustjacket). Continue reading »

    May 10th 2020

    Posted by in Book reviews, Occult, Reviews, tantra

    Tags: , ,

    2 comments »