How do you manage the stigmatization war between RHP and LHP

[TheCoil]

Question is simple. Coming from a background of hippie visionary who had fear and psychological problems, finding out about certain LHP aspects of occult such as demology led me to discover myself and integrate my shadow in a more wholesome way and they actually yielded better results in my life.. Therefore, I still carry on with the practice. However, i take issue with the fact that the sources or people I formerly followed on social media who do RHP still do RHP and specifically I stumbled upon a video of a certain person whom I used to love following (an Islamically religious magician/sorcress?) who said things about demonology that I now kinda wanna unhear because it shook my logic about the LHP-RHP conformity. Driectly quoting her words, "Do you think that the Satan who refused to prostrate to Adam is going to pimp out your wishes?" she says...I've seen similiar things from a Catholic magician's entry in this forum about placing 12 swords on the altar while evoking a demon so that it doesn't penetrate into your reality in a negative manner but will only stay put to make the contract but this is pretty mild compared the other one. I mean, It sounded bad when I heard this because I've known Chaos, I have known RHP; but LHP is only a very recent thing for me and I have already seen results whether correlated or not. On the other hand, yes, RHP has given me a good basis for magical practice. Force opening some of the barriers I had between myself and Ahe All has removed by its merit and developed my imagination to the degree necessary in the practices I now practice but to be very exact, it has not achieved me somne of the physical wishes I had while on the other hand, with the momentum I have on LHP it seems very unlikely that I will leave an overwhelming majority of these desires unfulfilled soon. Thusly, the question becomes, is there a fault in my understanding of RHP-LHP schism? How do you answer the quote I shared above? and most importantly why should I keep up with demonology if I should keep up with it?

 

[Yazata]

There's not really a "war" other than the occasional zealot on either side.

And for the love of God and Satan use paragraphs.

 

[Mars]

Sorry but this is actual brainrot. Must be an American posting this since only they have that 1v1 thinking because of their weird politics.

Both are Literally the same side of the coin. Actually there is more paths than this but it already got dumbed down to 2 and now people bring their American Kulturkampf into this

 

[Faria]

A pretty good test of legitimacy in magic is to look at how hard someone leans on the whole LHP or RHP thing. If those specific designations are super-important and come with a pack of invisible beings, there's a huuuuuuge chance that person is just totally full of crap.

 

[Morell]

My answer? I don't care. None from the other people waks in my shoes. Besides, if you have results, and you do, why to bother about them disagreeing with you? They do not walk in your shoes.

Usually when people speak against practice of tohers like this, it means that they don't really practice and fear it. Some rpactice it that way and it works for them. Well then it is their own way. You do you, they do them...

 

[MorganBlack]

Stay away from occult and religious influences on the internet and social media, and try to read primary sources of Western Magic and philosophy.

There are deep and and shallow ends to everything. The shallow end is there only to create and monetize factions to herd you for clicks through fear, anger, tribalism, blackpill doomerism, and negative engagement.

Another lens. I can only speak to New World practices but many of the Catholic saints have "Left Hand" manifestations . Right-Hand Paul holds the Keys to Heaven, and the more spooky red-skinned and demonic looking Left Hand Paul holds the Keys of Hell.

Here, the Left-Hand manifestations are not about your feeling and social identity per se, but are about the various manifestations of force, power, aggression, control, or violence - be it social, spiritual, economic, emotional, or physical as aspects of the world. Tigers exist. Sharks exist. We might think of them as 'LH' animals, and like fire they must be constrained and put to use.They are not "evil" per se, but they are aslo not 'nice'.

Just like a loaded guns they are not made "central" to the community or family , should not be left on the dining room table. - one, weird and survivalist, and, two, someone might get hurt - they are put away off to the side until required. In Vodou they are seen as imporant parts of reality, but not something to bring to the center of your family life, or have your loved ones be around all the time. You need to "come back" after engaging with them.

This is a different at of looking at them rather than through the more ubiquitous Neo-Thosophical LHP / RHP lens.

 

[AlfrunGrima]

I don't really see a war between RHP and LHP. Yes, I see few who were digging trenches and are rude to the other on another path, but you will find that everywhere in the world where there are humans. That is more a human than a magians thing.

Practitioners who actually (almost) don't do magic, don't are experienced or skilled are the most prone to that. On social media and youtube you will find more of those people and they get the most attention because of screaming loud. They just want attention....

The most highly advanced magicians respect every path without feeling offended or scared because of other paths. They don't tell others that their path is the only right thing to follow. They don't try to make other people scared about certain paths. They don't try to dismiss the spirits, Gods, Angels or Demons from other paths as dangerous, as even not existing or as fake lore. Magicians who don't respect other paths are often frauds. So the advice to you is quite simple: gain more knowledge and experience and one day you will see that the things once scared you don't make you anxious anymore.

 

[FireBorn]

Yeah there is a ton of stuff on the internet, some true, some not. Here is something that may help with this whole thing; Think in terms of holding 2 truths at once. We do it all the time in magick. Leave space for others to believe whatever they believe. You can still believe what you believe and nary the two shall cancel each other out. No one wins anything.

The problems start when we start pushing our beliefs on others, and demanding that our views are right and others are wrong. I hate that shit.

I have zero issue with others believing something I dont. This allows me to have friends whose paths are wildly different than mine, and we still respect each other. I have also learned a lot of cool stuff from others whose paths are different. Also something about separating the practice from the practitioner...

Last thing to consider, and its something I personally try to keep in mind; I may not resonate or believe 'such and such' today, but I leave room to either come back around to it later, or grow into it at some point. Its much easier to walk through doors I didnt previously torch with a closed mind and a loud opinion. (I didn't say I was great at this, but I am trying).

 

[Magus314]

There is no war. That supposed dichotomy is really only debated by absolute beginners and armchair practitioners. Once you actually start doing the work, it becomes obvious that you’re dealing with a spectrum of ethics and morality, not opposing camps. “Left” versus “right” is mostly a matter of subjective orientation and perspective, not some objective metaphysical truth. It’s useful for branding, selling books, and cultivating an aesthetic, but in terms of substance, there’s very little there in my opinion.

 

[BBBB]

It can be understood intellectually, but I simply got an epiphany a while ago, working with 5th Major Arcana, that LHP&RHP is a complete and total scam, so problem or polarity or dichotomy between them don't exists for me (or really). They are both lies, plain and simple. You may take them as polarities and integrate them like FireBorn says. Or recognise they are no more than marketing and social engineering tools. Ultimately they are misleading and if they were useful at some point, the context was lost long time ago.

 

[HoldAll]

To my mind, there has never been a distinct RHP to begin with. There was only magic and occultism more or less inspired by dominant monotheisms which provided the philosophical and ethical superstructure, and anyone who didn't conform to it or used questionable methods, was said to be practising black magic. It was only when LHP broke away from this mainstream as a semi-organized movement iniated by LaVey that the dichtomy emerged, making all other non-LHPers RHP by default. Then discordianism and chaos magic came along and muddied the waters once and for all so that the distinction has become totally obsolete now. Do what thou wilt. Whatever works, works. Free your mind and the rest will follow. It's one big spiritual supermarket out there, take from it what you like.

 

[Yazata]

It's one big spiritual supermarket out there, take from it what you like

Clean up in aisle 93. HoldAll spilled the tea

 

[Anziel_Merkaba]

The LHP is all about actualization through the idolation of the self, meanwhile the RHP is all about actualization through conforming to the world. One seeks to elevate the self and the other seeks to unify with all things. The end result is that one side without the other is unbalanced and will eventually hit a dead end. There is no "war between the LHP and RHP", just stupid people larping and a single coin with two sides.

Some people use the term "middle path" to describe taking a moderate route using both left and right hand practices, but really it is how one is supposed to practice. Denying one half of your path is no different than denying half of yourself. Embrace both the darker and lighter aspects of the self and try to attain actualization through conforming the world within the elevated self. To the LHP, what point is a god in a vacuum? And to the RHP what point is a world if you sacrifice yourself for it? The truth of the world is that we all die in the end anyways, so if one must stretch for something, it's to be a pseudo-god who walks the earth, and if not that you should just enjoy yourself while you're here.

 

[Kepler]

For me it's looking at the larger framework that define the terms when engaging with them.
It's polite to ask since I've adjusted the terms for myself as my personal philosophy adapts to learning and experience. However, I rarely use the terms in conversation due to escalation, and the effort involved in a hostile conversation to unpack use of them.

For my philosophy of gravitic, hyperdimensional, immanent hylozoism chirality through the weak force is one of the first truths of the universe echoed in the primordial to the formation of stars then to biological life.

Spiritually one chirality is true(secular) to the universe and leads to enlightened life; another isn't true to the universe and leads to ignorant death.
Natural selection.

 

[iseht]

Looking a bit beyond the somewhat arbitrary distinction between left hand and right hand, it has always struck me as profane to use a ritual as beautiful and as connected as something like the Rose Cross ritual for something mundane. Its not uncommon to see things like Angel magic or rituals invoking God-forms or whatever else offered as remedies for things as banal as job interview nerves or pleas for some minor material gain.

I'm not necessarily against the 'whatever works' ethos, but I do feel there is a healthy distinction to be made when looking at what we are trying to achieve and what we're using to accomplish it. I know some will probably disagree with me, but I think keeping certain things set aside specifically for introspective spiritual work is essential. We only dilute the power and sacredness of these things by applying our own base desires to them. If there is a line to be drawn, that is where I would draw it in separating the left from right.