New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
Magic circles, or mandala, are symbols that form part of the knowledge you need to access the magic of eroticism. According to Tantric philosophy, once upon a time, the gods found an unnamed energy that vibrated in a perfect way between the heavens and the earth. They called it mandala, which means circle or circuit in Hindu. The Tao mandala: Ying and Yang Reading and studying have allowed us to reveal the millenary secrets of sexual magic. All the mysteries have been interpreted and explained in a practical manner, as exercises to be carried out in a certain amount of time and in a simple way, with the aim of heightening our level of sexual and spiritual consciousness through the ...
According to what we think is the most reliable scholarly perspective, Tantra emerged as a distinct tradition in South Asia approximately 1,700 years ago, although its symbolism and philosophy partake of traditional beliefs that are far older and that are similar to a cosmology that existed in many other societies. In The Kiss of the Yogini, David Gordon White makes a compelling case that the earliest Tantric practitioners were focused on acquiring power through ritual, and specifically sexual ritual, and that this sets Tantra apart from other traditions. In White's account, as Tantra evolved over the next several hundred years, it became more "spiritual" in focus, absorbing and being ...
Most classical Tantric texts seem to have been written primarily with men in mind. For example, the Gheranda Samhita, a 16th-century Tantric/Yogic text advises: "By virtue of this Yoga, the Bindu-Siddhi (retention of seed) is obtained, and when that Siddhi is obtained what else can he not attain in this world."1 Similarly much of the popular mythology about Tantric sex focuses on prolonged lovemaking and concomitant male staying-power (retention of seed), as if that were the defining feature of the Tantric experience. In Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving, Charles and Caroline Muir contend that tantric practitioners believe that the age-related prolongation of the refractory period is a ...
In 1976, Dr. Jonn Mumford (Swami Anandakapila Saraswati) delivered a series of very important and influential lectures at Gnosticon 5, an extended conference sponsored by Llewellyn Publications that brought together experts from a variety of occult backgrounds and disciplines. A taped set of these lectures was available from Llewellyn for a number of years. Today, copies are virtually impossible to find, and Dr. Mumford was content to let the information languish because he had doubts about whether some of the more explicit material should ever appear in print. In 2004, my wife and teaching partner Patricia Johnson (Devi Veenanand) suggested that we approach Dr. Mumford about the ...
