We're Tantrists, Are You?

We’re sorry we’ve been gone for so long, but for 4 months we’ve had computer issues. Tegwedd has a new computer, which she doesn’t let Stephen near, because he kills computers. He’s killed 5 so far. Even the computers in the library went bonkers on him, and the library is closed until September 26 for remodeling. Stephen now has a go-phone that goes on the Internet. He tried to join a sex group on Facebook, but couldn’t because it costs money.

Stephen wants to tell you what happened to the original Abbott’s Inn’s Fine Art of Passion Magick group on IMVU, which he calls IMFU (guess what the F stands for). “We wound up with about 150 members, then IMFU killed it, claiming we broke their rules.” Stephen followed the 2 rules that it was adults only, and and by invitation only. IMVU claimed he didn’t. He’s still very angry about it. Since it’s been 3 years, he’s going to try again. It’s going to be labeled “Adults Only, By Invite Only, No General Access need apply.”

Tantra is a system of sex magick and sacred sexuality found not just in India or Tibet, but all over the world. The Wikipedia article quoted at the end of this discussion says it dates only from the early centuries CE, but we’re sure that’s just when it was written down, that it was passed down for millennia, and came west when the Indo-Europeans took over Europe 3500 years ago. According to Tegwedd’s ex-husband, the Mayans and Aztecs, probably also the legendary Toltecs and Olmecs, had systems of sacred sexuality and sex magick. The secret supporters of Tantra are in the high echelons of government and finance. Many high ranking members of the American government are trying to pressure President Obama to mount a special mission to free Tibet from the oppressive Chinese. Tantra is seeing a renaissance as many books on it have been published recently. You can find many of these books at Llewellyn Worldwide. Subscribe to New Worlds.

Stephen recommends that you Google “Tantra”, “Sex Magick”, and “Sexual Occultism.” There are many writers on the topic we recommend: Dr. John Mumford, Donald Michael Kraig, Louis T. Culling, Frater U:.D:., Denning & Phillips, Nik Douglas, and Penny Slinger. There are also Tantric Tarot decks published by Llewellyn. It wasn’t published by Llewellyn, but you might look on Amazon.com for the Secret Dakini Oracle, created by Penny Slinger. Tegwedd has a copy, whose box is well worn, which illustrates the amount of use it’s seen over the years. It’s great for both meditation and divination. It’s one of Tegwedd’s favorite oracles. It has 64 cards, so it’s not a Tarot deck. The art is by means of photographic collages. One of Tegwedd’s favorite cards for meditation is “Maya--How She Spins!”. She has been striving to control the illusion that is life for decades, it seems.

One of the most famous Tantric techniques is retention of the orgasm, which goes along with the masculine retention of the seed. You hold off on the orgasm for as long as you can to increase both the energy and pleasure of the experience for both you and your partner. Another Tantric technique used in both ritual magick and Wicca is assumption of the godform. This is what’s known in Neo-Pagan circle as aspecting. It’s a form of light voluntary possession by the Mighty One of your choice. Taking on the godform means that you do mudras and asanas (gestures and body positions), mantras (syllables, phrases, and short chants), and pranayama (breath control), and sexual poses. There are many different poses. They can be found in the many different books on Tantra and sex magick. You can check Mind-n-Magick .com, or Sacred-Magick.com, or Wikipedia. There is a bibliography at the end of the article on Tantra, so you can check its sources. Speaking of Wkipedia, last night Tegwedd looked up Tantra in it, and learned quite a bit. Tantra isn’t just about sex magick. It’s a whole system of rituals and practices with a particular world view that she agrees with, so she guesses that she is a Tantrist, even though she’s presently celibate. It’s an entire sudra of Hinduism and Buddhism that runs parallel to the Vedas.

Tantra: Loom or warp hence principle, system, doctrine from tanoti stretch, extend, expand and trayati liberation. “Radically positive world embracing vision of the whole of reality as an expression of a joyous Divine Consciousness (example as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva). Tantric spiritual practices and rituals aim to bring about an inner realization of this truth, bringing freedom from ignorance and rebirth in the process. Though not in the case with most Tantric practices, in some schools of ‘left-handed’ Tantra (vamachara) ritual sexual intercourse is employed as a way of entering into the underlying processes and structure of the universe.”

There are a number of different definitions of Tantra, that are not always mutually consistent. Robert Brown notes that the term tantrism is a construction of western scholarship, not a concept that comes from the system itself. That makes its independence questionable though it is generally recognized by Tantrics as different from Vedic tradition. David Gordon White suggested that its key principle is that the universe we experience is the concrete manifestation of the divine energy that creates and maintains it. Tantric practice seeks to contact and channel that energy within the human microcosm by means of ritual to achieve creativity and freedom.

The article says that Tantra originated in the early centuries CE and developed into a fully articulated tradition by the end of the Gupta period, whenever that is. Tegwedd’s grasp of indian history is sparse at best. Tantric movements led to the formation of many esoteric schools of Hinduism and Buddhism. It has influenced the Hindu, Sikh, Bon, Buddhist, and Jain religious traditions, and spread with Buddhism to East Asia and southeast Asia. Rather than being a single coherent system, Tantra is an accumulation of practices and ideas, characterized by ritual that seeks to access the supra-mundane through the mundane, identifying the microcosm with the macrocosm (in the West, we know this as “As above so below”). The practitioner seeks to use the prana; an energy which flows through the universe (including one’s own body) to attain goals that may be spiritual, material or both. Space and copyright law don’t permit us to to quote more of the article here. Look up Tantra yourself. But suffice it to say that it greatly resembles the Craft of the Wise in many respects. Tantra resembles the Craft so much that one wonders whether Uncle Gerry might not have picked up Tantra and brought many of its principles with him when he returned to the UK from India to form Wicca.

Soon we may be selling pendants of the lady and the tiger worked in silver. If you reading this are a silversmith please call our toll free number 1-888-611-7982, and we’ll do business. Tegwedd has started to crochet cellphone holsters of her own design. They are of acrylic yarn, in assorted colors. She is obsessed right now with making holsters for the Pagan Pride Harvest Festival, but she will make you one to order for a reasonable price. She has some right now in assorted colors for just $9.95. She is working with yarn she has on hand, so a custom one will cost more because she has to obtain the yarn to make yours.

We are offering a new service. For just $19.95, you can have spell-coaching. We will take you through the construction and performance of a spell. It’s very simple. If you want to perform a spell but you don’t think you know what you’re doing, hire us to coach you through it. The fee is payable to our PayPal accounts, to either abbotts_inn@yahoo.com or tezra.reitan@gmail.com .
We will coach you using strong ethics. Tegwedd has a couplet she will teach you which you can add to your spell that will ensure that it is ethical. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick is over 40 years old, having been founded in 1970 in Berkeley, CA. It went cybernetic almost 9 years ago. Lizet has been helping us put the school on a more commercial footing, and with her inspiration, Tegwedd has started packaging the classes into manageable packets. Ms. Freeman did a 3rd website for us almost a month ago at http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com. From there, by clicking on two of the graphics, you can go to either of the other two sites: http://abbottsinninternational.com/ and http://abbottsinn.com/ . You can also get to our network http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ . With her help, we also salvaged some things from his old website, including the mission statement: The Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick aims to provide a gentle nurturing environment that promotes education in both the atmosphere and the specific tools of magick. Our research arm is called the Magickal Research Institute or MRI, not to be confused with the medical MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Image, which Tegwedd had on her right ankle about 9 months ago. Stephen and Lizet came up with the name almost 9 years ago. The three of us have become a very effective working team. Stephen has his cell phone, and we are both enjoying learning how to use our cell phones. His cell phone number is 916-467-6393. He’ll have access to the Internet on that phone. He says “I’m not very good at texting because of my glaucoma, so please be gentle with me.” Don’t forget to call 888-611-7982 for all your divination, learning class, and research needs.