Crowley's sex magic

ZenMusic

"777 And Other Qabalistic Writings" of Aleister Crowley
(this is one book that incorporates 3 books in 1)
 

Alissa

catlin said:
I think sex magick has a lot to do with raising and using the Kundalini energy.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES~!!!!!!!!!!! You've got it, catlin!

If you can learn to command your own prana, you can later learn how to direct prana and merge it with another's. The energy of the opposites (male-female, yin-yang, any polarity) is the essential underlying concept of almost all forms of sacred sexuality that I've studied - however, the practice of prana exchange is most certainly not excluded to male-female couples only.

Glad others could answer on AC. :D
 

BrightEye

Alissa said:
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES~!!!!!!!!!!! You've got it, catlin!

If you can learn to command your own prana, you can later learn how to direct prana and merge it with another's. The energy of the opposites (male-female, yin-yang, any polarity) is the essential underlying concept of almost all forms of sacred sexuality that I've studied - however, the practice of prana exchange is most certainly not excluded to male-female couples only.

Glad others could answer on AC. :D
What is prana exchange and how does it work for same-sex couples?
 

Alissa

My spiritual background is primarily Hindu; pranayama is the study of prana ("life force"), using the vehicle of the breath as a means to raise one's kundalini. It can be used in conjunction with other Hindu yogic studies we are more accustomed to in the West (Hatha yoga, kundalini meditation) but is considered its own subject.

There is a lot of information out there on pranayama - for a wikipedia view:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama

Because energy is a universal, because every person has subtle energetic bodies as well as the physical sheath, the ability to exchange prana is not limited to opposite sex couples (caveat: this is Alissa's personal world view, and does not necessarily measure up to anyone else's).

The ability to exchange energy, prana, is something that the book Tantric Love also discusses - including exercises to guide you through your beginning visualizations. If one has not yet learned prana awareness, I highly recommend the book Kundalini Awakening by John Selby as a good resource on learning how to build a charge by using visualization and mindful breathing techniques.

I encourage all who are interested to read more on the subject... it is my "pet hope" that if this world could begin exchanging prana more, we would spend a whole lot less time trying to kill each other.

Just my hope.... :)
 

Aeon418

A good book that you might want to check out is Donald Michael Kraigs, "Modern Sex Magick". The stuff that he talks about is far closer to Crowley's concept of sex magick because it draws more on the western magical tradition rather than the eastern mystical tradition, which seems to be the way this thread has gone so far.

The book is fairly comprehensive and deals with sex magick from both a male and female perspective (there's also a section written by practicing female sex magicians). It also covers the main types of sex magick : solo / couples / group etc., etc. Along with the history and theories behind how it works.
 

Alissa

My apologies, I'm sorry that I cannot offer more information on Crowley, only on the topic itself. And my background is Hindu, which is my only way to approach the subject. Aeon is correct though, my viewpoint, jargon and entries are very eastern. Sorry....
 

BrightEye

Alissa, no need to apologize. I've read your posts with interest. I'm sure the various traditions meet somewhere. And Crowley himself was intersted in Eastern mysticism as far as I know. The Book of Thoth is full of references, although I think his ultimate frame of reference is Western.

Thanks, Aeon, for suggesting that book. Sounds intriguing.
 

Aeon418

Yeah, no need to apologise Alissa. :)
As BrightEye points out, Crowley's system, and not only the sexual part, is a blend of eastern mysticism and western magick. Crowley thought that a mixture of both was needed to avoid the pitfalls of both.

The eastern way tends to focus on transcendence and ignores the material world and regards it as illusion. But this can sometimes lead to delusion. The western way sees the material world as a useful tool in the quest for the spiritual. But the pitfall of the western occultist is that sometimes he/she can end up chasing "so called" magical powers at the expense of the spiritual.

Crowley's view was that energy could be raised for either purpose. And that both the spiritual and the material were important parts of the human condition.
 

AbstractConcept

Not to sound wanky or rude or anything, but doesn't the role of sexual alchemy sort of unveil itself the more you study and practice uncle Al's stuff? the first part of Liber ABA is dedicated to Pranayama and yoga exercises, which is all ablout raising energy, and further exercises and full blown rituals kindda bring the sexual element into focus.

I can't remember who said it, or where but ".. All magick is sexual in nature..." springs to mind.
 

ravenest

Yeah. surprised no one mentioned Book 4, Liber ABA (get the good revised modern Ed.) earlier, there is a bit scattered through there, also some good suggested reading lists.

Crowley travelled extensivly through the east and would have picked up a bit on eastern tantra. Also from his own experiments and experience. Then he had that meeting with Reuss who declared that AC knew the meaning of western tantra as Ac wrote about it in the Book of Lies.

Reuss was an inheriter of many Rites of obscure Masonry and others and when he travelled to the east and studied under vedantic and sufi tantrics, he related the obscure parts of those masonic systems to what his teachers revealed and beleived he had discovered the key to these systems.

There is an earlier tradition although through HP (PB?) Randolph, or Randolf, hermetic brotherhood of Light or Luxor (in their earlier forms), that great woman (who's name eludes me at the moment ... er, its all a long time ago now) who wrote about angel sex and spiritual tantra in USA and was locked up in a mental asylum ... Ida Craddock, that's her. and ...anyway, well a bit of an obscure western tradition. So as well as eastern tantra and his own system AC would have been influenced by the OTO take on it after he joined (at the 9* level!) and then I guess, Crowleys system became pretty much the OTO system, I am sure he added a lot and did a lot of research but it is still a living tradition and is being taught and practiced today.