The Sincere Sinister

Did you know that the word "sinister" comes from the same root as the word for left-handed? It's true. "Sinistral". Which is a fucking metal-sounding word but it still carries an awfully heavy bag of negative vibes, doesn't it?

I am, on paper, a southpaw myself. Although, to be fair, I was ambidextrous as a child and, in many ways, I still am. I can draw reasonably well with my "right" hand if it's on a vertical surface such as a dry erase board.

Still, I'm enough of a leftie that I can feel some measure of umbrage for our people being forever associated with all things malicious and irredeemable.

So, it may be with that inborn bias that I am able to lend my attention to the Left Hand Path without the initial knee-jerk reaction that most "Lightworkers" and other white-magicky peeps would typically offer.

In the Right Hands, the Left Hand can be the Right Hand, as it were. While the Right Hand can be the Wrong Hand if you're just not wired that way to begin with.

The term "left hand path" was coined by notorious occultist Madame Blavatsky. She went on a trip to India and consulted with various gurus from various paths of Hindu. She was particularly intrigued with the Vamachara, which basically translates to "left hand". The Vamachara is considered an equally valid path to enlightenment from the other teachings in Hinduism. They do not discriminate when it comes to the spirit.

The actual etymology of the word is interesting because it implies South as opposed to Left. But then, we do refer to we left-handed as Southpaws. So there is obvious correlation.

(Note: I currently reside in Texas, as it happens; the South. Yeeeeee-haaaaw!)

So, Blavatsky came back to western civilization and spread this term throughout the occult world. While its original meaning was essentially that of a spiritual practice that was against the grain, taking an opposite approach to the same end, it has changed much over time...

Fast forward 150 years.

Many who claim to be Left Hand Path (or LHP for short) are no more than simple "devil-worshipers". The concept of the path being the antithesis to the norm was swiftly adopted into the Judea-Christian religious structure that we live within. While its origins in Hindu and Tantra had, obviously, nothing to do with the Holly Bibble, it's just really fucking hard for Westerners to give that shit up.

Nowadays, the LHP is synonymous with summoning dark entities such as Belial, Azazel, and even that old adversary, Satan himself. The hardcore folks will dress according to this aesthetic and do everything in their power to make sure the average person on the street percieves them as "scary", "bizarre", or "dangerous".

What those people don't get is that any true magician isn't going to invite that kind of negative reflection upon themselves. Summon the dark energies all you want, dawg, so long as you got a handle on that shit. But don't go around inviting fucked-up energy into your life. Because that is what you will receive and it will fuck with the things you're trying to do, I guarantee it.

I have a few thoughts on all this.

1.

Invoking/Evoking demonic entities is an acceptable parallel for practitioners of Western systems, when I think about it. These are people who grew up Christian, so it makes sense. So long as the spirit of the original system is held. This is not sacrificing your neighbor's cat. This is paying respect to the old god-goddess energies that were later demonized by Christianity.

Lilith, as an example. You know, the baby-strangling night demon who gets like one name-check in the bible? Who can forget her? She's also the first wife of Adam, in other circles. Or...an important Sumerian/Akkadian Goddess if we go further back. And, going further still, something even more ancient and divine to wandering nomadic tribes who's knowledge is all but lost.

Speaking from experience, Lilith is powerful and loving above all. She doesn't hate men. She is no screeching wind demon. She is a calm but forceful presence, the shadow of the moon.

And sure, if something is out of alignment and not the right fit, she will destroy it utterly. The primal forces are benevolent and terrible, depending on the need. And that is what she is - what most of these so-called "demons" are - Old Gods, later rolled into Saints or straight up demonized by the church for the sake of political maneuvering.

2.

We must consider that none of these things - angels, demons, gods, goddesses, are actual beings at all but rather, aspects of our individual and collective consciousness.

That's what Aleister Crowley believed. Considering he's been right about pretty much everything else, I'm willing to give my predecessor the benefit of the doubt.

In which case, it doesn't really matter what the fuck you summon, so long as you have control over the situation. If you comprehend these things to be manifestations of your own mind/spirit/greater consciousness, then you have nothing to fear. It becomes simply another method of gaining higher insight and another tool to creating the reality that you want to live in.

The problem, I think, is that most Left Handers don't have enough information to have come to these conclusions on their own. So if any of you super-metal, hail-satan types are reading this, I hope it's helped to give you some modicum of perspective.

Y'all dig the dark, cool. You love that feeling of power? That's fine. Just be aware that you are yet capable of so much more. Understand what it is that you connect with. More importantly, understand that you are the agent in control of...all of it. Everything. You can literally transform your world. You just have to find that place where you accept who and what you are, how that connects to the greater tapestry of existence, what that means for you and for these energies that you interact with, and how you are going to use it.

Hint: it's You. You're God. You're the universe. Left and Right mean nothing. Use whatever strikes you as tools. But ultimately, it's all part of the same thing. Nature maintains balance by use of opposing forces. The beauty is in the duality, which isn't duality at all but generation.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." - This is not division, it is cooperation...