Let None Put Faith in the First Sown Fruit

“Let none put faith in the first sown fruit not yet his son too soon; whim rules the child, and weather the field, each is open to chance.” Havamal In the modern world we see the majority seek instant gratification, instant satisfaction, and instant success. We see individuals crying over being judged or being made…

Transmission: Even Hell Itself is a Dwelling Place

“Even Hell itself is a dwelling place.” ( Jigoku mo sumika) Japanese culture is rife with allusions to ghostly worlds and intimations of the Land of the Dead bleeding into the mundane world of “reality.” The tradition of Buddhism also seeps into almost every aspect of Japanese life, exoteric and esoteric. One of most interesting…

The Reward of Refusal – Ayurvedic Insights into Discrimination on the Path

The ancient Indian system of medicine Ayurveda has much to offer the modern world. Ayurvedic texts such as the Ashtanga Hridaya and the Charaka Samhita are filled with extensive commentary on human suffering, pathology and disease and are a veritable treasure house of healing wisdom which can assist in the transformation of outdated western allopathic…

Dhumavati, The Widow – Merciless Pathways | Names of the Dark Goddess

She is perhaps the least examined and most feared of all the Tantric Goddesses, She who has a taste for Blood, chews the corpses of Demons, is ugly, filthy and carries the horn of Yama, the God of Death, Dhumavati. Her worship if often forbidden and She is said to inhabit desolate deserted spaces. Unlike…

Chinnamasta, The Keys of This Blood – Merciless Pathways | Names of the Dark Goddess

Of all the Dark Wisdom Goddesses, perhaps none are more complex, disconcerting or gruesome as Chinnamasta. Self- decapitated , feeding Herself and Her devotees with her own blood, and dancing on a copulating couple, Her name literally means “a severed head.”  Each of these images carries a Gnostic message and functions as a doorway into…