Hi all,
Wondering why people ended up on their path in LH/darker arts. How do we know that it isn’t our minds creating delusions? How can we trust spirits? They can manipulate anything, including us. Do we go in blind faith/trust? How can we be sure this is a good thing?
I ask as someone who never before considered the left hand path and just want to understand, to get my head around this whole thing.
I have so many more questions though. I guess I shouldn’t make the post too long though.
Lords of the Left Hand Path by Flowers is a great book. There’s a lot of philosophy and explanations given. Highly recommended.
Al.
Cool, thanks Uncle-Al. 
The mind is everything. Consciousness is the only reality It is the carnal mind, an infinitesimally small and limited aspect of the Divine Mind, that is the delusion.
You experience entities according to your state of mind. If your consciousness is fearful and suspicious, yes, it will appear as if the entity manipulated you.
Your surety depends on your habitual consciousness, not the entity. FEELING IS THE SECRET and that is the best indicator of anything. You do need self-knowledge. You do need to realise that all things exist but you can only experience what you believe is true or, at least, open your consciousness to.
Why LHP/Dark/Black Magic? Because some of us don’t like restrictions. God cannot be restricted. To most of us, “dark” and “black” means applying consciousness in ways that are not socially accepted yet. It doesn’t necessarily mean unpleasant intent.
Okay, so darker can mean unrestricted. You make a good point that darker doesn’t necessarily mean unpleasant. I think I know what you mean about feeling but you also have to learn what is programmed initially (from our environments, upbringing, etc) to what is real? Do you think?
Not really. You usually have to “unlearn” this via self-knowledge.
What you “learn” is actually just something you get attached to or grow accustomed to. Knowledge changes according to consciousness.
I think less and less these days. I spend more time as awareness or the observer. The ego or limited mind is always “thinking” and most often thinks it knows a lot. I just let it be.
Ah, do you mean learning to be more detached and less judgemental of what is going on around you or happening to you? Fair enough. That is something to definitely aspire to, regardless of your spiritual beliefs and practices, IMHO.
Yes, not holding attachments to any finite state but letting it flow without restriction. I think self-knowledge is the only worthy instruction in all of existence.
So, would you say working with “demons” helps to attain this? Or is that just part of the “fun” of the path?
There are some people who believe the spirits are just in our heads. Personally I don’t believe that, but provided we get consistent results, what’s it matter. If what you’re doing is working, might as well keep doing it.
We don’t. Sometimes a spirit will screw you over, but that’s the case with anyone you interact with. Some people are nice, others want to exploit you. Just have to learn to spot who’s who.
We perform rituals as then manifest the results we want. You’ve got to decide whether the ability to control the world around you is worth the potential costs of opening yourself to the spirit world.
Okay, you make a point that makes sense in regards to spirits, that they are basically like people in some ways. I am not really sure, however, what it is I want out of this sort of direction other than understanding it better. Maybe in understanding it better I will learn it is the way to go? I’m not sure and have so many preconceived ideas that I need to unlearn. That is going to be the hardest thing I think.
It’s all you really. Angels, demons, Gods, other people, things, seen/unseen, known/unknown etc.
There is only Self. Know Thyself.
Well, fun or not, self-knowledge is self-knowledge. It can feel like fun at times and if you’re not emotionally balanced ( relatively calm ) it can feel like shit.
Spooky you should say that, I had that response from using my spirit board. When I access my spirit board, sometimes I get some really deep stuff. One of, “The more you call upon different spirits, the more you get to know yourself.” I sort of understood it but I guess I have to feel it on a deeper level than just knowing it cerebrally.
Think of conditions, whether “normal” or the spirit board, as a mirror that reflects the face of your consciousness. You experience your state of mind–period.
Not spooky: it is exactly what you’re supposed to experience. As within, so without.
What’s spooky is that we’re often more comfy with thinking the other way around and thus living significantly less empowered lives.
That’s a good stance to have. You won’t know what you want out of magic until you get I to it. You may want to address some aspect of your life, make more money, improve personal flaws or just learn about spirituality etc. It’ll become clearer as you practice.
Ah, that makes sense. You get back what you expect or put out there.
I guess at this stage I am undecided. Sometimes I think, no way, I can’t do this, then I change my mind and have to know more. I sort of swing with this at the moment. I also think though, once something is set in motion, it might just take its natural course anyway and you might just end up where you least expected.
Sorta. There is no real out there: it’s all one consciousness. Reality is a unified and infinite field of consciousness. You simply experience the nature of the consciousness you hold. Change that and you’ll experience something else. Think of it more like a dream where conditions are fluid arrangements of consciousness in constant flux.
Ooh, I like the dream analogy. I taught myself to lucid dream from about the age of 8 or 9 and since then I have found myself building dreamscapes that I return to - at least 6 recurring dreams, and each time there is something new to learn in the dream, discover or more to the story. Freaky…
Reality is no different but our tendency to get attached to the state is what makes it appear viscerally physical. It’s not: it’s a type of consciousness. The less attached we are the more we see that it is a dream. We got tune in to who we are. Take you away and you take 100% of your experience away: it must be to ourselves that we must look first.