Deconditioning the Doppelganger in the mirror

The Magician possesses a crucial trait: the capability to continually shed conditioned patterns. After all, how can we expect to mould change according to our desires?

Per the Oxford Dictionary, Conditioning refers to the act of instructing or habituating an individual or creature to exhibit a specific mannerism or tolerate particular situations.

From the moment we enter the world, we are socialized to conform to a particular mindset and behaviour. This can be seen in various aspects of our lives, including patriotism, schooling, employment, hobbies, media trends, faith and spiritual practices, and familial dynamics.

The influence of outside factors on our actions and beliefs as we navigate life is a thought-provoking concept. Our family and community upbringing, along with our experiences in the workplace and broader society, all contribute to shaping who we are.

Social conditioning is the training individuals undergo to adhere to societal norms and expectations inherited from both larger society and smaller peer groups. It goes beyond socialisation, encompassing the transmission of customs, ideologies, and behaviours.

One’s cultural background heavily shapes the impact of social conditioning. Deviating from the group’s expectations can result in being ostracized and rejected out of fear. This fear drives both members and leaders to adhere to the group’s traditions. Similarly, individuals within their own circles are taught to conform, even if it goes against their personal beliefs. When supported by others in the group, an individual’s emotional and cognitive tendencies become reinforced. As a result, many find it difficult to resist the influence of group conditioning.

Individuals, whether they identify as Witches, Magicians or simply desire change and transformation, should aim to liberate themselves from these influences and foster independent thought. However, it is essential to recognize them, while also striving for increased autonomy and individual empowerment.

Through her book Doppelganger, Naomi Klein takes readers on a thrilling journey through various cases and narratives of social conditioning, while also sharing her personal story.

The doppelganger in the mirror

As I listened to the free audiobook on Spotify for 14 hours and 47 minutes, I couldn’t help but see myself in the mirror, influenced by societal and personal norms. At times, I was frustrated, bothered, and enraged. Something Naomi said even made me cringe and boil with anger. Her narration added a personal touch, almost as if she was speaking directly to me. Although I agree with most of the discussions in Doppelganger, there were moments when the reflection of my conditioned self staring back at me from the mirror felt all too real and unsettling. My automatic reaction was to turn off the Bluetooth or lower Naomi’s voice so that I didn’t have to hear her. I even considered switching to a different audiobook altogether, but the sight of my conditioned self in the mirror motivated me to persevere and continue listening.

Over the past 6 months, I have noticed a recurring pattern of being drawn into societal norms and pressures that we are all encouraged to conform to. It almost seemed as though the entire world was on the verge of succumbing to these harmful beliefs and behaviours. Then I came across Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger, which resonated with me during a time when I felt lost amid broken systems. Her words challenged me to reexamine my own social conditioning and consider how to break free from it.

Deconditioning the doppelganger in the mirror

Occasionally, a book will come into your life and prompt you to take action, but it is a special few that inspire you to follow through. Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger is one of those rare reads that ignite powerful moments of change and transformation.

 

 

Set, Maat and Origins of Evil

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Set, Maat and Origins of Evil

“The gods of Egypt can be terrifying, dangerous and unpredictable, but they cannot be evil. Originally this was true even of Seth, the murderer of Osiris. Battle, constant confrontation, confusion, and questioning of the established order, in all of which Seth engages as a sort of ‘trickster’; are all necessary features of the existent world and of the limited disorder that is essential to a living order. But the gods and people must ensure that disorder does not come to overpower justice and order; this is the meaning of their common obligation towards Maat.” (Hornung 1982 : 213)

“Originally this was said, even of Seth” … says Hornung, acknowledging that only in the late period was Seth demonized and sometimes viewed as the equivalent of Apophis. 

There are three main contexts said to be evidence of Seth’s evil nature. There are far more examples, outside of these, including medicine, where Seth is upholding order against decay but the three we must consider are:  

  1. The Murder of Osiris
  2. His Sexuality, principally his Homosexual side.
  3. The idea that evil came into existence with his birth, bursting forth from the womb of his mother Nwt.

Disposing of points two and three first. It is debatable whether even in ancient times, homosexuality was seen as an evil practice that threatened the cosmic order of things. In our own times, such a view is entirely untenable.

Secondly then is this famous birth of Seth on the third of the epagomenal or liminal day in the Egyptian calendar. Five gods were born in this order, Osiris, Horus, Seth (all male) followed by Isis and Nephthys. If the birth of Seth on day three is disruptive then why not equally so Osiris who starts the process on the first day? Although Plutarch is responsible for this interpretation it is not really sanctified by Egyptian magical texts themselves. Eg Seth birthday is said

“ third: the birth of seth. words to be said on it:

oh, seth, Son of Nwt, great of strength, save me from bad and evil things and  from any slaughter, protection is in thy, the hands of thy holiness. I am the offspring of your offspring. 

the name of the day : It is powerful of heart. ” 

These words, which round off an almanac of lucky and unlucky days is similar in tone to that for his five siblings, and doesn’t mention anything other than Seth’s protection against the bad vibe of all these liminal days. 

So that brings us to the main issue of his murder of Osiris. Noting that in some sources it is Shu rather than Seth, who kills Osiris and brings him back to life. But even here we might argue that Seth’s role as challenger of Osiris is a necessary, realistic and inevitable part of the ruthless nature the “race for power”. 

“… one may venture in seeing Seth as someone who challenges the authority of the establishment, the status quo, social conventions, etc. He may represent a principle through which society keeps itself open to criticism and challenges, so as to amend or prune itself, and also enables itself to integrate or tolerate a certain level of disorder; and this is not a bad thing. He may also represent a reason why … the establishment have to undergo a continual process of self-legitimization, purification and reinvention. … to quote Te Velde ‘the pharaoh is a Horus reconciled to Seth or a gentleman in whom the spirit of disorder has been integrated’ “  (Kembole 2010 : 244)

For all these reasons, Seth does uphold Maat, and so do his companions. 

 

(From imaginal constitution of Companions of Seth Mystical Society)

 

Shu – “The Breath of Life”

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I learn how this is a central concept in the old Egyptian Magical religion – proto Tantra.

There’s a thing called the Shu theology- Atum the creator, but then two children, Shu & Tefnut who do all the life giving stuff – like an ancient Shiva-Shakti. And think prana, the breath in Tantra. 

Shu, Tefnut & Amarna religion
“The Shu theology of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, as far as it can be reconstructed from the Coffin Text spells (75-80), distinguished between cosmology and biogony, creator god and life god. Atum was the creator of the world and life according to this theology, but the task of life-giving and developing both fell to his two children Shu and Tefnut. In this capacity Shu received the name Ankh “life” and was called “endless time” , while Tefnut was called Maat “truth /justice/order” and dt “invariable permanence”. Life, truth and time were the energies that perpetuated the world created by Atum. Akhenaten must have known about this theology. It offers the only example of a triad with the structure, 1:2 (father/two children) – so in Amarna, Akhenaten and Nefertiti assume roles of Shu and Tefnut.” #tankhem #prana 

Amduat & the mysteries of the self

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Last night listened to Diana Kreikamp’s presentation on The Amduat: the Great Awakening, for the Magical Woman’s Summer Salon. which is also the title of her book. See link below for recording.
Amduat Salon7 Recording

I learned how this important ancient text brings together two important threads of Egyptian magical religion – the cult of sun god Ra & cult of underworld deity Osiris. At the midnight hour of Sun’s journey, when he makes the transition and begins his regenerations. Here he meets with Osiris, and the two cults merge.

Later, when the existential threat comes in the form of personification of “evil”, the snake Apophis. The still frail sungod needs strong protections, which he gets from Goddess Isis and also her companion, the “Elder Magician” who use their magick to ward off the threats.

Then, as now, different people were supporters of the cults of different deities, all of whom are part of the drama in some way. The ancient Sethians, viewed the “Elder Magician” as an avatar of Seth.

Members of mystery cults identified with these underworld myths, looking for their true selves in the unconscious. Is there really the basis to the idea of an ancient mystery cult of the living, made up of priests and scribes? The archaeological evidence indicates this to be the case.
I also explored this phenomenon as background to “Isis goddess of Egypt & India”

Such ancient mystery cults in temples are mentioned in Great Hymn to Osiris as well as in other places.

“Praise to thee, Osiris! Thou Lord of eternity, king of gods! Those with many names and lordly of being! With mysterious ceremonies in the temples” Great Hymn of Osiris / Hymn of Amenmose

These were the precursors to the famous mystery cults of the classical world, a lively account of one dedicated to Isis & Osiris is found in Apuleius’s novel “The Golden Ass”.

The Lion Goddess serenades Min, the ithyphallic god in the morning

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A hymn for god Amun-Min on the final day of his lunar month. When Repyt, ancient lion goddess of Athribis,
hymns the god from the eastern gateway of her temple, greets him as he rises in the morning in his house on
the eastern side of the river at the “Horizon of Min” (Akhmin)

“May you be satisfied,
May you awaken in peace,
may you be awake,
the lord of the sanctuary,
who with great power of destruction against his enemies … now rise in peace

“May you be content,
may you awaken in peace,
awaken,
You who gives life to your father Osiris,
awaken in peace, wake up and be content.

“May you be satisfied,
may you awaken in peace,
awaken,
Awake leader awaken
The great Horus in Akhmin,
the nemesis for those who will suffer at your hand,
You who now sleep in peace.

“May you be content,
may you awaken in peace,
awaken with transfigured body
But awaken in peace.

May you be happy,
Your majesty awakened,
the living one who gives the air
to the one whose throat is constricted.
Awaken in peace,
To keep the one who is within him/her healthy, and in peace.

“May you be satisfied,
May you awaken in peace,
may you be awake,
lord of the sanctuary,
one with great power of destruction against his enemies .. . now rise in peace

“You who loves the beautiful day,
for whose soul the gods are in peace.
in whose hand is life and death, rise in peace.

Victories for you over all the of the rulers of the nine bows,
to you the gods bow, in peace.

You are called Lord by the kings of upper and lower Egypt,
the Lords of the two lands,
the chosen ones of ptah,
who moved by the image of Min-Re,
The sun god
And by Horus, the Lord of letopolis,
And all their names,
You are their truth

I offer you Myrrh and wine,
and all good things,
treating you like a king.
I see your morning glory
As on the first golden day
when our souls were united,
And we are are transfigured at the gate
forever, as gods

This land shall flame and glow …
You shall be the satisfied as one who is in the seat of the Bastet,
Where those of earth also sit,
Man, woman,
Enjoying the fiery warmth of Sekhmet,
the mistress of heaven …
The one whose cheeks glow red at a feast,
As she eats raw meat
To whom the gods pray when they see it,
Because the gateways are open
The heart melted by the mistress of the flame
Rejoice, for the mistress, clothed in red linen,
Loves her lover
Our destiny

Composed, based on translated fragments by Mogg Morgan for Diti

Amduat: The Great Awakening

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By guest Blogger Diana Kreikamp

The ancient Egyptian Amduat is an important funeral text with twelve illustrations from Egyptian antiquity that describes the journey after life.

The Amduat tells the story of the Sungod Râ as he travels through the twelve hours of the night. At the end of the day the sun has lost his power to shine. Aged and exhausted Râ sinks beneath the horizon of the West. The sun has died and the world becomes shrouded in darkness. Then, twelve hours later, the sun arises again from the horizon of the East. Râ is reborn and his renewed appearance returns the light to the world. Thus, Râ has transformed death into a new life.

The extraordinary thing about the Amduat is the fact that the transformation process of the death and subsequent rebirth of Râ, has been described and depicted in twelve phases, or hours. The Amduat sends a clear message that death isn’t the end. Death is simply a transition from the old into a new phase; a new life. This grants men insight and trust in the mysteries surrounding death. It is clear that the Amduat is so much more than a simple mythical story telling the nightly voyage of the sun.

The Duat

The word Amduat means; “Book of the Hidden Chambre”. The word can also be translated as “What is in the Duat”. When a person dies, their soul goes to an area known as the Duat. After sundown, the Sungod Râ disappears in the Duat to start his journey through the First Hour of the night. The Sungod sails on a river through this nightly landscape on his boat. There are various Gods and animals standing on both sides of this river to support Râ during his journey. However, there also are creatures there intending to destroy Râ.

Every hour is inhabited by different beings and has a different landscape. For example, one such hour is dominated by a dry dessert whereas another one contains an abundance of water. The twelve hour journey proves to be full of challenges. Râ has to brave many counteracting forces to eventually become reborn at the end of the Twelfth Hour in the Eastern horizon.

Universal journey

To understand the ancient symbolical language of the Amduat, I completed many years of research and translated various old hieroglyphic texts anew to properly understand the underlying message. During ten years I meditated daily using the texts and images of the Amduat. The Egyptian heritage centers on spirituality and goes far beyond the layer of rational thinking. Back then, life was about making contact with the Divine through worship and servitude of the Gods in the many temples.

Meditation exceeds rational thinking and allows you to descend into the dimension beyond the visible and tangible earthly life. You connect with a different layer of knowledge that lies deep within the sub consciousness. In doing so, I discovered that the nightly voyage of the Sungod is a symbolical reference to the universal journey of mankind.

Raising awareness

The sun, or the light, is the symbol of consciousness and of the higher aspect of oneself. On a more profound layer, the journey through the Duat is a voyage that makes one aware of his True Self. The Duat symbolises our inner world, or our sub consciousness. In order to become aware of it, we have to descend into our inner world. The knowledge we gain while there, can be brought up so we can reflect it to the knowledge in the world outside of ourselves. The reflection of two opposites gifts us a reference and allows our consciousness to expand, or our awareness to rise.

During our lives, we develop ourselves as a child into adulthood, which makes our consciousness grow naturally. Each time, old perspectives and convictions are let go to make place for a renewed vision and consciousness. This makes us grow and become more aware of who we are and our place in the world.

However, there lies the paradox since this natural process of becoming aware usually happens unconsciously. Most people live their lives without knowing exactly who they are. The connection with the true core, or their Higher Self, is on a subconscious level. Every human being has to follow their own path. When we are conscious of the higher aspect of ourselves, then our inner Sungod can take the lead. Then we can connect and identify ourselves with the hidden light within and use it as our inner power. The Knowledge of our Self reveals our unique talents that can subsequently be put to use in your daily lives to complete the tasks we are meant to do.

Spiritual system

The Amduat contains an ingenious system that we can use to become aware of who we truly are. It teaches us to connect with our True Self to awaken in a higher plane of consciousness. By following the sun through the twelve hours of the night, we are brought back to our core and make contact with our own inner Sungod, the Higher Self. On the way, inner blockades need to be cleared that otherwise impede the descent into our true core. Every time again a layer is scraped off in your inner being, similar to polishing a diamond in the rough.

This is an intense process for during this journey your True Self is revealed. Of course, this sounds fantastic. However, do be aware that the confrontation with this light aspect will have the same impact as the confrontations with the shadow part of yourself. We are inclined to deny both sides and to turn a blind eye to the truth.

Death and rebirth

The journey through the twelve hours of the night is an initiation during which a transition takes place. The old consciousness is dissolved and transformed in the rebirth and awakening of a new consciousness. This is why it is a journey of life and death. During our life, only our old consciousness dies to make place for the birth of a renewed self. We no longer are the child we once were, nor the same person we were yesterday. We have transformed ourselves again and again into a renewed version of ourselves.

When working with the Amduat, we simultaneously learn to die in a befitting manner at the end of our lives. That is the moment when we truly experience the journey to rebirth. Therefore, the voyage through the Duat is destined for both the deceased and any living soul on earth.

Meditation

Even though the Amduat is thousands of years old, the system is still applicable now. In my book I explain the voyage of the sun in great detail. Each hour is described from an academic as well as an esoteric perspective. By bridging the gap between rational and inner knowledge, you are able to gain a more profound understanding. Furthermore, every hour I explain the process of transformation that you will experience when you partake in the journey through meditation.

The Amduat contains many texts and hundreds of Deities to focus your meditation on. These Deities are gateways that open when you focus your attention on them. All of them are reflections of your inner being and set something in motion within you. The resulting inner images then take on a tangible form in real life as well. They subject you to trials and hold up a mirror to you. Each hour has its own energy and specific effect on you. Step by step, you learn to look beyond the outer layers and make contact with the true reality hidden underneath. That is how the Amduat provides a system to stimulate the process of raising awareness in a structured manner.

Diana Kreikamp

Reading the book

Do you want to dive into the heritage of the ancient Egyptians; the Amduat? Then read the book; Amduat: The Great Awakening. It contains the nightly voyage through the Duat in much detail as well as a wealth of information about the ancient Egyptian tradition.

Diana Kreikamp, “Amduat: The Great Awakening”.
(Released in May 2021)

Tantrik Trance ?

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Tanutari bhasilo amar
(The boat of my body is floating on the ocean of existence)

The boat of my body is floating on the ocean of existence.
My Mind, my good helmsman,
Row carefully. See That you
Don’t drown me at sea.
Our oarsman are the five senses and their objects –
But they’re paddling the boat in the wrong direction.
Please try to control them
.
Steer the rudder in Kali’s name,
Hoist the kundalini sail,
And let’s set off in a favourable wind.
Thwart the six
Lust and his band
With the great mantra
Lest they harass us on our way.
Take Kamalakanta. Let’s sing a boat song
In Kali’s name, and be happy
For we’re heading to the city
Of ceaseless bliss.

Kamalakanta Bhattacarya
From selection in “Tantra in Practice”

For some the idea that Tantra is all about trance states comes as a bit of a shock and is resisted. But seems like
a reasonable insight to me. Here’s something from academia, as many find this significant. Though has to be said, the idea is not common.

“Theravada meditation, places considerably emphasis on the development of Samadhi (concentration or trance),
perhaps better described as focussing of the mind-body” Samuel 2008: 219

The Witch of King’s Cross – Rosaleen Norton

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A story that needs to be told, this ground breaking documentary does the trick. Although at 1 hour 15minutes maybe a little overlong for the format and could be a bit faster. Even so it was great to see and hear her biographer, the late Nevill Drury contributing to the story he did so much to research over several editions of his book Pan’s Daughter : the magical world of Rosaleen Norton. I found the first half the most interesting, when she was younger and a rising star, before the grey men in the Australian patriarchy, and the catholic church brought her down and mostly extinguished her fire, sometimes literally in the fire, when the police were ordered by the courts to burn two of her paintings. Outrageous stuff that courts order burning of pictures, a real witchhunt.

The dirty tricks, the illegal raids on her home by the press are all there. And though she fought back and embraced and reclaimed her witch archetype, it was something of a pyric victory as she ended her days mostly as a recluse and died alone in a hospice run by nuns. Many of her former friends in the film seemed too untogether to be there for her at the end. 

She became something of a parody of herself, sometimes grotesque in the media game. I was so glad to see the pictures of her in her sister’s garden, her hair down and unbleached, no fringe and no crazy eyebrows – just the beautiful person she once was. 

So overall, despite a great body of work, she was well ahead of her time. But a wasted genius, and not through any fault of her own, other than being a woman and a witch.  Her astral magick, with which she connected with Gavin Greenlees and Eugene Goossens enabling them to connect across space and time, is experiencing something of a revival just now and the greater details in Nevill’s book will be useful for that. The patrician musician Goossens was an important occult influence though in the end, the career of this magical superstar was destroyed by a media conceived scandal. He died soon after but never blamed Roie for the any of it; despite her keeping a photographic record of their work, which was stolen from its hiding place in her flat by a hostile journalist and they then sealed her, and his fate. So let us remember her, and induct her into the company of gnostic and tantrik saints. A true original, whose magick and witchcraft did not come from the usual suspects of the time, but was a power of love, direct and from above. 

Honorable mention to the choreographer, actors and sound people for great soundtrack, though was odd that subtitles when pan danced musick subtitled as esoteric when Lilith danced is was dramatic, great track called “Dark Arts” by Brian De Mercia.  Everyone should see this film and support the makers by paying the modest fee to own it. 

Mandrake Newsletter has more information on the biography of Rosaleen Norton Pan’s Daughter and some words from its author Nevill Drury

 

 

 

 

 

Rap to Kali (based on Great Hymn to Kali)

Kreem, Kreem, Kreem
Huum, Huum
Hreem, Hreem,
Kali Svaha / Dakṣiṇe Kali
Kreem, Kreem, Kreem
1. O MOTHER and lover of the Destroyer of the three cities, beautiful with the beauty of the dark rain clouds. Those who recite, Your mantra, their speech, whether in poetry or prose, like that of those who have attained all powers, issues with ease from their mouths.
Huum, Huum
2. O MAHEŚI, You with great and formidable ear-rings of arrow form, who bears on Your head the crescent moon. If one, even of poor mind, at any time recites but once this doubled mantra of yours, they become all powerful, conquering the Lord of Speech and the Wealth-Giver, and charming countless beautiful people with lotus-like eyes.
Hreem, Hreem,
3. O KĀLIKĀ, O auspicious Kālikā with wild hair, from the corners of whose mouth two streams of blood trickle. Those who recite this double mantra of yours destroy all their enemies, and bring under their subjection the three worlds.
4. O Mother with gaping mouth, Destroyer of the sins of the three worlds, auspicious Kālikā, who in Your upper lotus-like left hand is a sword. and in the lower left hand a severed head; who with Your upper right hand makes the gesture which dispels fear, and with Your lower right hand that which grants boons; Those who recite your name, meditate upon the greatness of Your mantra, possess in the palm of their hands, all eight of your powers.
5. Kreem Kreem .
O MOTHER, they who recite Your charming Bīja, twice, and thereafter, O Smiling Face, O lover of the Destroyer of the Deva of Desire contemplating Thy true form, become themselves the Deva of Love whose eyes are as beautiful as the petals of the lotus which Lakṣmī holds in Her playful dance
6. O full breasted DEVĪ, whose throat is adorned with a garland of heads, They who meditating recite any secret and excelling mantras together with Your name, her moonlike face is ever before them, and as speech goddess she wanders, the lotus-like eyed Kamalā plays
7. O MOTHER, enjoying Mahākāla, even a fool becomes a poet who meditates upon you, naked, clothed in space, three-eyed Creatrix of the three worlds, whose waist is beautiful but from whose skirt hang dead men’s arms, and seat on the chest of a corpse, left in the cremation-ground.*
8. THOSE who meditates on you, the lover of the destroyer, seated in the cremation-ground, strewn with funeral pyres, corpses, skulls, and bones, and haunted by female jackals howling fearfully; youthful, in sexual union with your consort, will be revered by all and in all places.
9. WHAT, indeed, O Mother, can we of so dull a mind say of your True Being, which not even the gods know? Yet, despite our dullness and ignorance, our devotion makes us talk of Thee. Therefore, O Dark Devī, forgive us our folly. Do not be angry towards ignorant creatures such as we.
10. IF by night, I, your devotee, unclothed, recite your mantra, whilst meditating on you with dishevelled hair, when with my Śakti youthful, full-breasted, and heavy-hipped, such a one assumes all powers and dwells on the earth as a seer.
11. O lover of Shiva, as (a Sādhaka) I recite daily your mantra over the course of a year, meditating the while with knowledge of its meaning. My heart is fixed upon your union with the great Mahākāla, above whom your are, knowing every pleasure he gives upon the earth, holding all great powers in the fingers of his lotus-like hands.
12. O MOTHER, you give birth to and protect the world, and at the time of dissolution withdraw to yourself the earth and all things; therefore you are the supreme god Brahmā, and the Lord of the three worlds, the consort of Śrī, and Maheśa, and all other beings and things. Ah Me! how, then, shall I praise your greatness?
13. O MOTHER, people there are who worship many other Devas. They are greatly ignorant, and know nothing of the higher truth, (but I) desire Thee, the Primordial Power, who enjoys the great Bliss arising from union (with Śiva), and who are worshipped by Hari, Hara, Viriñci, and all other Devas.
14. O KĀLĪ, lover of the mountain god. You are Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. You are all. You are one and beneficent. What more can be said in praise of you, O Mother? Show favour towards me, helpless as I am. By Your grace may I never be reborn.
15. I, O Mahākālī with wild hair, shall in the cremation-ground, naked, intently meditate upon you, reciting your mantra, and with each recitation make an offering of a thousand Ākaṇda flowers with seed, thus shall I become, a sovereign of the earth.
16. O KĀLĪ, on Mars day at midnight, in the cremation-ground, having uttered your mantra, I make a devotion to the hair of the Śakti; then I become a great poet, a master of the earth, and mounted like an elephant.
17. I as devotee, am placed before you, meditating again and again upon your abode, strewn with flowers, a Deva with a bouquet of blossoms, reciting your Mantra, Ah! I shall become on earth the Lord of celestial musicians, and the ocean of the nectar will flow in my poetry. And when I die, I shall live in your supreme abode.
18. If at night, when in union with my lover and meditating with you with centred mind, O Mother with gently smiling face, who sits on the breast of the corpse-like Śiva, lying on a fifteen-angled yantra, deeply entwined in sweet amorous play with goddess Mahākāla, then I become the one who consumed the God of Love.
19. O DARK One, wondrous and excelling in every way, who becomes the accomplishment of all worshippers living in this world, those who freely make bloody sacrifices** to you, offering in worship, greatly satisfying flesh.
20. O MOTHER, whosoever, being a controller of their passions, eats ritual food, and, being proficient in meditation at your feet, rightly recites your mantra many times by day, and who, afterwards at night, naked, united with their lover, makes your great mantra many more times; they shall not die.
21. O MOTHER, this Hymn is the source of your mantra. It sings of your real self, and enjoins us to worship your two lotus Feet. Whoever reads it at midnight or at time of worship, even occasionally, receives the elixir of poesy.
22 May lovers with large eyes, like those of the antelope, impatient for love, ever follow me. Even the powerful do as I ask. I becomes like Jupiter. My enemy fears me as if I were a prison. Living in continuous bliss, this devotee is liberated when yet living, and is never again reborn.
(Sahajanath’s new rendition of the great Hymn to Kali, for Navaratri 2019)

* Bedroom
** Orgasm