Western Tantric Group, The A.m.k.o.o.s Options

Bumped into a book of theirs while out and about in London for the day, energies tied up in the grade for the day and lacking inspiration I took a trip to covent garden to look for something magick and found it titled, "Tantra Magick" a study guide by the Amkoos. Didn't buy it. Realized that I don't have a copy of the occult philosophy and bought that instead but a quick glance through it was enough to make me wish I did. Basically Eastern tantra fused with symbolism in a more cerimonial,'here's how now get on with it', kind of style... cerimonial tantra, grades and all from what I recall.

Anyway... is anyone here a follower? Linked to the International Nath society, found a bit about them and thought to make it a topic... here's a web page, don't let the large font fool you, its informative....

http://www.cix.co.uk/~mandrake/naths.htm

Peace
.M.

antriks study and practice magick and thus they find a great deal of common ground with western magical adepts

hmmm sound interesting what do you think the lay out is like is it a practical guide or just theory.
this may be one of those books that really leads you somewhere. I have to research some more/ If its anything like hatha yoga. than it makes a big difference to all my magickal practices.

I am a devout adherent to a very nontraditional private tantrik path, which could be regarded as vaguely similar to Kaula tantra.

I looked at your link, it looks like good information to me! I'm pleasantly surprised by that, since in the west, many who claim to be into 'tantra' are really just into the idea of ritual sex and don't comprehend tantra as a religion and enlightenment path.

I think that a focus on tantrik ritual is... well it can have drawbacks. Much of the content of tantrik ritual practice is what I would call "culturally dependent". In order to really understand what you're doing, you'd need to have a very deep grasp of the cultural background where the rituals originated, as well as the other vedas, from which tantra emerges as a sort of counterpoint. Many tantrik rituals reflect the other vedas with key differences thrown in (which have significant meaning), or reflect hindu-centric cultural beliefs & sensibilities, neither of which will be obvious or understood by a western neophyte. Everything in tantra has meaning and purpose. In my opinion there is nothing which is like a western spell or ritual "recipe". Every element of practice in tantra is intended not to be 'mysterious' but instead be 'revealing'.

I'm not sure I see the close connection between tantra and western esoteria. That seems like a bit of a stretch to me. Its not impossible to form a synthesis out of pretty much any two bodies of thought, but I don't see any inherent similarities between those two that stand out to me. Paganism seems like an easier fit with tantra, since all but the very most modern western esoteric traditions have their roots deep in western monotheism. Which to me seems like it would present a significant ideological challenge in forming a synthesis with tantra.

Personally, I feel that the ritual practices of tantra should be constantly updated and changed to fit cultural drift. The underlying principals never change, but how a person accesses the intended understanding & enlightenment will vary with culture and time period. For example, in a hostess cupcake eating society, the depth of meaning in ritually eating a decadent food, is very much lost.

Anyway, I don't mean to sound discouraging. If you've an interest in tantra, and you find a school or book or resource which understands it as an enlightenment path (instead of a hedonist path), then by all means delve into it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

This post has been edited by Kath: Oct 22 2009, 03:42 PM

Hi kath, glad to see you here. Used to hang around on O.F.com before it went down. Guess a few have migrated on here and round abouts by now .lol.

The groups aim, from what I remember, is to make tantra, "western friendly" putting it more in line with a cerimonial styled practice lifting it from the cultural tendrils of india and placing each on a ley line heading west toward magick...part of one ritual was elemental styled, tools resembling each that could be swapped for CM elemental tools... well... at least that was my thinking.

Will post up more on the book tomorrow, seems difficult to find online.

Bought the book, was under no illusion in its description. Its tantra enfused with cerimonial, "Golden Dawn" style magick... three grades are given in the book, group seems elusive, there is no group, for the most part, just texts to study... so yeah, it has the pentagram ritual, the elemental triangles, Enneagram and correspondances of the GD but matched with tantra, lots of Goddess stuff. Its outlined in an akward fasion, bounces around from page to page and seems simple, deceptively so as its very condenced. Never been of the "complex = smart" school anyway. Things can be simple and effective to the point of confusion, complex seems to denote efficiancy and hence effectivity but its not always true, complex can be pointless just as simple can be mundane, urgh, here I am getting philosophical and contradicting myself.

Book requires a cat... .lol. Wiccany cerimonial tantra.

Intresting stuff. If people are intrested I'll see if there's anyplace more info can be found... the book is out of print and highly sought after **quotes the shopkeeper while boasting**

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)