THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.pagan.magick,alt.magick.tantra...
From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (xiwangmu)
Subject: Crowleyan Sex Magick (Culling; was de Arte Magica)
Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2000 02:59:26 GMT

50000902 Vom

...'magick' is a
kind of mysticism (Crowleyan) and 'black magick'
is a mistaken spelling of 'black magic', which does
not have the intent of engaging the Great Work, the
Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian
Angel, etc.

re "De Arte Magica" and its mention of homosexual magic:
>>other than mentioning that the "Gluten" of women
>>('Eagles' generally) does not contain magical
>>substance (something for which Grant will later
>>make up through his obsession with it as a magical
>>substance; perhap also see Bertiaux).

Kenneth Grant attempts to tie in "Tantric" techniques
(apparently unrelated to those proclaimed by Crowley
and others of Reuss or Kellner) in which the women's
vaginal fluids during sexual excitement and menstruation
are supposed to hold great power. Bertiaux makes a
veritable cult out of the consumption of these fluids,
if memory serves (I've only perused some of his books
and had those who were taken by his text describe him).


...Crowley occasionally addresses 
(through his edited dictation in "Book Four" and through 
many of his letters in "Magick Without Tears", also online)
very specific techniques and mystical disciplines for
the beginner in quite clear terms. his recommendation
for initial study material ("One Star in Sight") and for
discipline (his version of yoga in "Book Four" and in
"Eight Lectures on Yoga", also online, "Liber Jugorum", 
and various specific rites published online and off) 
provide the aspirant with a very specific practical
direction without any familiarity with the rest of his
text. 

in fact, after studying his work and the cult that has 
flourished in his wake, I'm becoming convinced that most 
of his text is flotsam for the religion of Crowleyanity, 
and when understanding him 'requires taking his writings
as a whole', then I suggest that it may not be worth the
time or effort (because it is an extreme and not truly
necessary to magic at all, pertaining ONLY to magicK, 
which is a special case of the former).


[the fact that "De Arte Magica" may be the best that
Crowley can muster to describe sex magicK] makes his 
text inferior for the purpose of study, and I wouldn't 
recommend Crowley as a reference on sex magic of any 
type other than the particular Hermetic variety of 
which he was fond. if one wishes to come to understand 
Crowley's sex magicK then one could do better by 
referring to books such as that by Culling.

I'll quote extensively from his text below so as to
illustrate my point. much of what I've read in this
book coincides with what I was told and what I 
experienced in my early contacts with the 'Thelemic'
community, hazarded whispers about the secrets which
were supposedly guarded by the (c)OTO's upper initiates,
stray intimations during sexual encounters with members
of this community, etc.:

Culling divides sex magick into three catagories 
or "degrees", which he labels 'Alphaism' 
("magickal" chastity, or restricted imagination 
surrounding sex), 'Dianism' (nonejaculatory 
conjugation with the intent of developing what Culling
calls at various places the Holy Guardian Angel, the 
Magickal Child, the Daemon, the Familiar, the Divine 
Ego, the Divine Genius, the Immortal Self, the 
All-Knower, the One that Goes, the True Inner Guidance, 
the Heavenly Bridegroom, the Magickal Offspring, the
Psychic Offspring, the Psychic Force, the Autonomous
Intelligence or Force, Demi-Angel, Elemental, Jinni,
and the 'Bud-Will Intelligence'), and 'Quodosch' (use 
of post-ejaculatory conjugal juices for magical and 
mystical purposes, but especially for the purpose 
previously stated for Dianism).

these sex magick techniques can quite clearly be seen
to reflect what is written in "De Arte Magica", and
Culling defines the linguistic key to the terms 
contained within that text very plainly on page 57. 
here are the practical directions I could find in 
Culling's text which pertain to each 'degree':

ON ALPHAISM:

	Magickal [sic throughout] chastity is the 
	objective of the First Degree.

	...

	Magickal chastity is a practice where the 
	magician has no emotions about sex between the
	occasions of sexual congrex [sic throughout,
	rather than 'congress']. He (and his partner, 
	if possible) do not allow the mind or feelings 
	to dwell upon sex at any time between their 
	congrex magical practices. Particularly, the 
	imagination must not be allowed to have 
	fantasies upon the subject. ... More important,
	[sic], the imagination has no been stultified
	by erotic pictures.

	...

	The imagination is not to be used until the practice
	of the Second Degree, and then it should bloom
	forth with all the ecstatic imagination possible.

	...

	From now on, every sexual union is to be an act of
	Sex Magick, and the intervening periods are to be
	for building up all of one's forces, as it would be
	for any other thing.
	---------------------------------------------------
	 "Sex Magick", Louis T. Culling, Llewellyn
	 Publications, 1971; pp. 17-19; all comments
	 in [brackets] are by xiwangmu unless quite
	 specifically designated as quotes by others.
	________________________________________________


ON DIANISM:

	The outstanding thing about the Second Degree is
	that the sexual congrex does not culminate in a climax. 

	...

	...a complete account of the sixteen month training
	curriculum of a high Tantric Master given to his
	disciples [is here provided as a comparison between
        Western sex magic techniques and "the far Eastern
	Tantric Sex practices" -- Culling claims that the
	difference is that the Tantric objective is the
	"attainment of magical powers as an end in themselves",
	so we may presume that they are otherwise the same].

	...

	Within six months [after four months of yogic asanas
	held as long as possible and visual meditation upon
	geometric designs] the group was practicing the 
	classical position for the sexual congrex. The man 
	sits cross-legged on the floor and the woman sits 
	straddled on his lap, facing him. The woman has been 
	practicing the technic of manipulating the interior 
	of the vagina in a contracting, pulsating motion.

	As the woman sits on the man's lap facing him, the
	*Lingham* [sic, s/b *Lingam*, implying penis] is 
	inserted in the *Yoni* [implying vagina]. They now 
	hold this position, absollutely motionless, with 
	the exception of the interior massaging action of 
	the Yoni. They stare directly and steadily into each
	other's eyes. The rule is, no climax.... ...as [the
	woman] becomes more proficient [at the vaginal 
	movement], the man will, on occasion, ask for a stop 
	rest. This is done by uttering a word of many 
	syllables which contains the sound of *T* and *S*, 
	in repetition [note that later he suggests that 
	other signals may be used, such as a pinch -- see
	below].

	Staring into each other's eyes, as they become more
	practiced, induces a sort of quasi-hypnotic trance.
	
	...at the end of twelve months.... The man must go
	from one to two hours without a climax (no rest), all
	the while staring into the eyes of the woman. If he
	reaches a climax the woman reports it [to whom?] and
	the man must go through another two months of various
	practices.

	...

	...allow the ecstasy to be aroused to a high pitch,
	but instead of indulging in and being obsessed by
	the sensation, make it the fire of one's energized
	enthusiasm to attain to the consciousness of the
	presence of one's own higher self, which is in one
	sense, one's Divine Lover.

	...

	...*After practicing perhaps six congrexes by 
	this technic, the two performing magicians may be 
	almost totally concentrated in attaining to a
	different aim or objective, yet this transcendental
	technic goes on automatically to bring about the
	desired spiritual growth and union. Thus there are 
	two objectives working at the same time while 
	concentrating on only one of them.*

	...

	...the physical sexual sensation [must] feed the
	fire of imagination and veneration -- the aspiration
	to unite the soul in ecstasy -- and naturally
	producing the resulting inspiration of being under
	the presence and benediction of the soul.

	...

	...*The participants should not attempt to delay,
	quell, or suppress the sexual sensation and pleasure.*

	...*There should be no hasty movements or anticipations,
	but instead all should be calm and easy.*

	...*One should not be hoping for the sexual ecstasy to 
	soon arise. It comes soon enough.*

	...*One must be neither engrossed in nor obsessed by
	the sexual ecstasy, though it should be a joyous
	stimulation.*

	...*The sexual ecstasy is to be transmuted into the
	magickal fire which feeds the ecstasy of being united 
	with soul, and is to stimulate the magickal 
	imagination that one is in the arms of the manifestation
	of one's own Divine Lover -- the Guardian Angel, the
	directing and protecting Daemon, sometimes called the
	heavenly Bridegroom.*

	...*It is well advised that the magicians practice as
	often as desired and possible.*

	...*There should be no words spoken during the 
	congrex. If one is getting too close to the crest 
	of the wave, there should be a simple prearranged 
	signal to "be still," such as a gentle pinch. 
	Signals for other things can also be
	arranged.*

	...*Never forget to quell the awareness that one is
	conjoined with a certain known personality. Let the
	partner lose all identity, for the coming visualization
	is that the partner is an objective vehicle of one's
	own soul -- one's Angel.*

	...In the beginning, the ritualists should stop when
	they are getting tired or when there is a feeling
	that the magickal force has been exhausted. After 
	each congrex practice the duration of time will be 
	extended.

	...

	When [the sexual ecstasy is welcomed but not indulged, 
	directed toward the development of the Heavenly Lover,
	and this is] practiced and repeated with increasing
	force for five to ten times, then there should result
	a complex ["a system of ideas and/or memories which,
	in disguised form, exerts a dominant influence upon
	the personality, even to the point of being autonomous 
	in action", "born when a person has an idea or ideas 
	and particularly feelings and emotions of a strong, 
	intense nature, which are strengthened by many 
	repetitions of the same until finally this force
	becomes autonomous i.e., [sic in all uses] the force 
	persists without any willed intention of the 
	subject." -- p. 7] called the *Bud-Will* or *Magickal 
	Offspring*. ...the number of required repetitions 
	depends upon the intensity of the magickal imagination 
	and the concomitant intensity of the desire and 
	aspiration, and even upon the resulting inspiration.

	...

	*The Attitude*

	...The required attitude and willed imagination of
	the man is to lose all possible awareness of the
	woman partner as a certain person; he must be as
	impersonal as possible toward her personality.

	...The man should regard the woman partner (imagined
	and visualized) as a tangible manifestation of his
	own Daemon, his Divine Lover, transmuting her.

	...

	*The Sexual Ecstasy*

	...The man should welcome the ecstasy but not indulge
	in it; rather he should imagine and will that the
	sexual ecstasy is immediately the continuing fire which
	feeds the magickal visualization and imagination of 
	being in union with his Soul Lover, his Daemon, and
	other specific objectives of the rite. When well done,
	this represses the desire for the climax.

	...

	*The Climax*

	...the man must not have a climax.... 

	...never lust for the result of climax. To welcome
	sexual ecstasy without striving. [sic] 

	...

	*The Magickal Child*

	...To create what is variously called the
	magickal complex, the magickal intelligence, 
	the Magickal Child, and the Bud-Will, which 
	continue [sic] in time autonomously.


	The outstanding difference between the Second Degree
	and the Third Degree is that there is to be no
	climax in the Second Degree congrex. This is
	especially applicable to the male. If the woman
	partner cannot forego the climax for a long period
	of time, she does not make a good partner except
	under one condition, that she can continue with
	sexual enthusiasm even after having a climax. There
	are some, however, who are amenable to conforming
	to your explanations and desires. The woman who is
	sexually aggressive is, in most cases, almost
	impossible. She diverts the purpose of the man and
	also makes it too difficult for him to concentrate
	upon the magickal imagination.

	...

	If the woman is also an initiate in the
	magickal congrex, it is obvious that all rules 
	apply to her as well. Even a half-hour before the 
	actual union, let the man begin to erase, as much 
	as possiible, his awareness of the woman as a 
	definitely know [sic] personality. The reason for 
	this is that, to begin with, he should regard her 
	as no less than a goddess -- for a few minutes. 
	The next step is to imagine her to be a 
	visualized, tangible manifestation of his own 
	Daemon, his Divine Lover.

	...

	Both of you should lose your identity: you must
	become something else -- high ritualists of
	another world. All of this requires the use of
	the magickal imagination [which is "a willed and 
	directed visualization carried on with such 
	intensity and persistence that in producing such 
	a strong subjective reality, it contains the germ 
	and seed of some objective reality." -- p. 35].

	...

	The trance in Dianism is a technic in which the 
	congrex lasts from two to four hours, depending 
	on the conditions. The objective of this method 
	is to achieve the Borderland State of 
	Consciousness. This is very much the same as
	the borderland state where one is neither completely
	awake nor completely asleep. Dreams occur when one
	is about 75 per cent asleep and 25 per cent awake.
	In the trance congrex it is about 50-50. To move 
	into this state, the body motions slow down at 
	the same time that the conscious awareness lessens.

	...

	Identification with the Angel is as important in
	Quodosch as in Dianism, as is also the submergence
	of the identity of the personality of the partner,
	at least partially. The soul or Angel is not
	identiable as a personality as we conceive of
	personality.
	-----------------------------------------------------
	 Ibid., pp. 7, 21-3, 29, 30-33, 35, 39-40, 45-6, 48;
	  comments in [brackets] again by xiwangmu unless
	  otherwise cited.
	_____________________________________________________ 

ON QUODOSCH:

	...the essential difference between Quodosch and
	Dianism is the conjoined menstruum of the White
	Eagle ["the magick solvent of the female organ"]
	and the essence of the Red Lion ["the male 
	essence"], which under proper operation, has been
	transmuted to the quintessence which is preserved
	for a period in the Mother Eagle ["the mucous
	membranes, as in the female vulva and in the mouth
	of the Eagle and Lion" -- interpretations from
	Culling, page 57].

	...

	...the amount of time required in the Mother
	Eagle [is] fifteen minutes..., although many
	times much less time is required.

	...

	It is testified that, in special operations
	desired by the Lion and Eagle, there is unfailing
	great virtue and force in employing the Anointing
	Ritual, be it on a [postal] letter, a talisman,
	a magick sigil, a special object of desire, a
	symbol of aspiration, or upon living flesh.

	...

	It is the male Lion who is in command of the
	process of putting the quintessence into the
	care of the absorbing Mother Eagle i.e.,
	the various mucous membranes, and therefore
	the Lion should have a conscience about making
	an undue imposition upon the Eagle when the
	operation is entirely for the benefit of the
	Lion.

	...[what follows are] other workings of Sex
	Magick.

	First, the Zelator [practitioner] should be
	reminded that he or she now must have a double
	concentration [on both mystical (High magical)
	and black (Low) magical objectives)] and
	magickal imagination. The Zelator must perform 
	the congrex with all of the attitudes set 
	forth in the Second Degree. Besides this, it 
	is necessary to concentrate on the object 
	desired. Here are several suggested applications
	[note that numbers six and seven are a return 
	to the mystical, alchemical objective].

	(1) *The letter method.* ... [anointing a
	postal letter with 'the quintessence' or
	juices from magical sex while concentrating
	on the desired result, which is then mailed.]

	(2) *The money method.* ... [doing the same
	with money that is going to be spent.]

	(3) *For mental and emotional improvement.*
	...Whether the quintessence is preserved via
	the Mother Eagle of the man or by the Mother
	Eagle of the woman is a matter of judgement
	[sic] and decision. If the objective is	
	solely for the woman the virtue of the
	operation is enhanced by tracing an appropriate
	symbol upon her skin with some of the
	"medicine of metals" [same as quintessence].
	Again, it is well to repeat that the elexir
	[sic throughout] should remain in the cucurbit 
	["the Female organ, per se" from p. 57] for a 
	few minutes.

	(4) *Divination.* ... [anointing a symbol that
	one chooses to represent the divination method 
	one wishes to enhance, visualizing the symbol 
	during sex.] As in all of these magick workings,
	added strength and wisdom is attained by several
	repetitions of the magickal congrex working.

	(5) *Awareness.* ... [same technique as (4) above.]

	(6) *The attainment of the Knowledge and
	Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.* ...

	...

	The central aim of all Magick should be to attain
	the [K/C of the HGA], and prosper chance, finally
	actual union. This is the true definition of
	initiation -- to discover one's true identity and
	thereby fulfill the purpose of one's existence on
	this planet [which he describes as, variably,
	one's part in the Great Work and one's True Will].

	...

	The attitude of the magicians is described in the
	Second Degree. The partner is no longer a certain
	known person but rather has become a spiritaulized
	manifestation of the Divine Daemon. The whole
	congrex is as an enchanted spiritual feeling.

	...

	No sexual congrex should take place without this 
	rite; the physical, psychological, and spiritual
	benediction is too great to be neglected.

	The Rite of Transubstantiation is naturally the
	summation of this ritual. In the Christian church
	the consecrated wine and wafer are declared to be
	the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The only
	difference in the herein described magickal rite 
	is that there is an actual vital spiritualized
	substance that is consecrated. This is a sufficient
	hint to the wise: to the troglodytes [i.e. those
	who are not 'Thelemites', not members of OTO, or
	are not illumined to the proper secrets as taught
	by Crowley; generally, those without illumination], 
	the whole subject of Magick must remain as an
	ignorance which even results in their anathema.

	...

	(7) *The Bud-Will Intelligence.* ... The secret of
	this operation was given only to the few who had
	been tried and proven, especially as to being
	greatly proficient in all phases of Dianism.

	It has been called the generation of the Magickal
	Offspring, of the Magickal Child....

	In the language of psychology, the manifestation is
	called a complex [defined above]....

	However, the general public is wrong in assuming
	that a complex is always subversive. Under certain
	conditions it can be quite the opposite.

	...

	... Take note that it functions autonomously i.e.,
	as an existing, functioning intelligence, apart 
	from one's own thinking state. When one creates or
	generates this functioning intelligence, it has 
	the actual subjective reality of being a Magickal 
	Offspring and it is both good psychology and good
	Magick to regard it as an autonomous intelligence
	apart and separate from oneself, albeit also an
	extracted and generated part of oneself.

	...

	When the Child is for only one of the partners in the
	congrex, then the same method is used as was given 
	for the oysters [p. 59; consuming six live oysters
	by chewing each for five minutes before swallowing,
	cf. the assertions of Dr. Fletcher in this regard].
	There are cases where both partners are in agreement
	in these magickal operations, albeit great results 
	have be been achieved even when one of the partners 
	was not even aware of the magickal intent.

	...

	...At the time of the sexual congrex the husband
	would concentrate on the nature of the child
	to be born [as recorded on the practices "among
	Semitic peoples"]. Then when the child reached
	puberty the father would pronounce his blessing
	upon the son. These blessings seemed to be
	predictions for the son, but in reality they
	were a repetition of what had been concentrated
	upon and willed at the time of the hoped 
	for [sic] conception.

	...In uninitiated practice any substance was
	consecrated [within "a special practice called
	by anthropologists 'the God Eater'] and declared
	to be a part of the body of God and it was then
	eaten with the idea of attaining godlike
	knowledge or power. However real initiates did
	not use just any substance. They used what has
	been decribed as "neither alive nor dead," i.e.,
	the orgasmic secretion, the semen or sperm which
	first was receiving the "gentle heat of the
	cucurbit," i.e. , inside the female vulva from
	which was recovered and consumed by both the
	male and female -- the Lion and the Eagle.

	There is much doubt that these ancient
	magicians knew anything about the technic of
	transmuting this effluvium into the elexir,
	or quintessence. However, eventually a few
	were bound to stumble upon the technic in an
	intuitive or instinctive way and finally it
	became a very secret practice. 
	----------------------------------------------	
	 Ibid., pp. 58, 59, 60-4, 66-8; comments in
	  [brackets] by xiwangmu unless otherwise
	  so cited.
	_____________________________________________

Culling claims in his chapter on 'The Magickal Child'
that "there are eight possible different evocations
and invocations and eight different willed 
manifestations" which produce different characters
of the Elixir. however, it is not evident to this
reader to which eight he refers, unless he has
buried them within his batch of 'case histories'
or means to imply that his appendices, which contain
"Sufi Philosophy" and a sexual divination method 
using I Ching hexagrams, somehow contains these.


...as with Culling, we're
principally dealing with heterosexual sex magicK,
even if one might be able to project methods from
this to autosexual and homosexual (or even sex
involving multiple species) magic (or magicK).

re the 'necessity' of combing Crowley's works
 in order to fully understand his comments:
it is not at all a necessity, as I see it, and
risks the trap of becoming a Crowleyite due to
the man's self-absorption and intent to create
a cult in his wake. this makes his works quite
DANGEROUS rather than helpful, and those whose
text elaborate his methods clearly and without
such a narcissistic quality are more valuable.

mu