Eastern alchemy
Eastern schools often have texts that seem to reveal everything but don’t necessarily do so. Their writings may use the symbolic language of alchemy (yes, Tantras are often described as alchemical). One must know how to read this type of text. Certain keys can unlock these writings. Key 1: They often talk about sex without mentioning it explicitly. Big surprise.
Only certain texts from specific schools are written straightforwardly, without alchemical allegories. Others are often deliberately confusing, with authors having various valid reasons for encrypting advanced keys. Many modern academics and researchers, some of whom tend to favor literal interpretations, often produce single-layered translations that overlook the intentional ambiguity of these texts, which were designed to safeguard deeper esoteric meanings.
Examples of encryption? Some Tantras suggest practices of literally mixing sperm and menstrual blood and drinking it as the nectar of the gods, the celestial ambrosia, “Amrita” in Sanskrit(!). Some think this should be taken literally. This doesn’t mean people haven’t actually practised this, having fallen into the trap of these texts.
This detail (among many others) has been misunderstood for centuries. Some groups (like the Kaula sect) may have literally done this, but only in specific rituals and mainly to perform transgressive acts in order to internally detach from ideas of ‘pure’ versus ‘impure’. Such acts, while significant in transgressive rites, are not a means to awaken kundalini or to achieve any great spiritual end, as some would like to believe. It was more a symbolic act representing what to do with the polarised energies inside these substances.
So, it wasn’t about physical substances but prana, or jing (in Chinese Taoist sexual alchemy). That is, the essence of life’s fire, not the secretions themselves. In pranayama, do we make sperm or menstrual blood rise through the Ida and Pingala channels? No, it’s prana, vitality. In which direction do we send prana? Outward to empty ourselves? No, we raise it rather inward and upward. All of this is very significant.
One must have read extensively, been exposed to many other schools, and especially practised well to have a more complete view of the puzzle. Only then can one grasp what is really being said rather than jumping to hasty or superficial conclusions.
Western alchemy
The same interpretation problems are found in Western alchemy. Alchemists wrote about sexual fire with sometimes comical allegories. This allegorical approach was used to confuse those seeking to make only physical gold from lead with physical fire. And/or to avoid being thrown in prison or burned at the stake by the puritanical authorities of the time.
Here’s an absolutely delightful excerpt from The Secret Book of the great alchemist Artephius (dating from 1150). He describes the fire to be used in alchemical work (which is sexual fire, without climax, ennobled by love):
But let us speak of fires. Our fire […] does not evaporate unless it is too excited. […] It is also humid, vaporous, nourishing, altering, penetrating, subtle, aerial, non-violent, doesn’t burn, surrounding and encompassing, containing, unique. It is the fountain of living water that surrounds and contains the place where the King and Queen bathe. Throughout the work this humid fire here suffices you, at the beginning, middle, and end. For in it consists all the art. It is a natural fire, against nature, unnatural and without burning. To conclude, this fire is hot, dry, humid and cold. Think on this and work rightly, not taking foreign natures. If you do not understand these fires, listen well to this, for I give you the most complex and occult key of the ancient Philosophers, which has never yet been written in books until now.
Haha! What beauty and what a tongue stuck out at the “alchemical puffers” (those who take everything literally). I imagine their puzzled faces not grasping that it’s talking about loving sex and trying to conceive of an external physical fire “without burning” that could be “hot, dry, humid and cold,” (various possible states of sexual organs) that would be both “penetrating and surrounding” (masculine, feminine), “natural and unnatural”, etc. Artephius provided a description that is actually a charade for those who know how to read between the lines, while the Catholic Inquisition could see only fire (pun intended).
And yes, no doubt many “alchemical puffers” have endeavoured to recreate a physical fire with these qualities, lost in false literal interpretations of these texts…
As Artephius says later in his book: “And you, fool, you take the words literally?” Here’s how he expresses it:
And you fool, do you believe that we clearly teach the secrets of secrets? And do you take the words according to the sound of the words? […] Anyone who takes the words of the Philosophers according to the vulgar meaning, of ordinary words, has in fact lost Ariadne’s thread, and wanders greatly astray among the twists and turns of the labyrinth.
Western esoteric schools have also used symbolic language for students beginning their courses. They do reveal their secrets one day, but only after years of preparation (in the majority of these schools).
Reconciling apparent ambiguity
It is therefore interesting to reread the symbolic passages of various sacred texts in light of 1) the few ancient Eastern texts written straightforwardly and 2) knowledge that sex was more present in these texts than one would expect, and 3) the advanced knowledge of Western schools. Particularly interesting are those schools that are from the lineage of the very ancient Brotherhood of Light order (which included Éliphas Lévi, Papus, Krumm-Heller, Aun Weor and many others).
Revisiting symbolic passages with a broader perspective allows for a deeper reconciliation of apparent contradictions.
