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I recently had a friend ask this question:

“You write about finding Eastern Jesus in Tantric and Esoteric Left Hand Path teachings. I am not familiar with Left Hand Path teachings — which resources would you recommend? A quick search left more questions on which are accurate sources to read/watch? Do you think you will be writing more about finding your way to these teachings? I’d like to better understand them.”

As she stated, a quick search will leave you with more questions than answers. It’s also good to note that everyone who uses the term “Left Hand Path” does not mean the same thing. I often don’t like using it, though in my initiatory experiences and training, I loved the distinction my teacher, Ernest Morrow, made between the left hand path and the right hand path. I found the descriptions we worked with helpful in learning to live in my Wholeness and Freedom more consistently. Here is my brief answer to the above question. She also asked about my use of the word Pussy in my work. I respond to that below as well.

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“Yes, looking up Left Hand Path is quite disturbing!! 

 Traditionally, it was an ancient spiritual path practiced by many cultures worldwide, handed down through high priestesses and goddess worship and womb cosmology. When things began shifting to a more male dominant view of the world and creation, these teachings became targeted and unsafe for people to follow. Many of these teachings were then taught in Mystery Schools, or in secret groups communing in hidden spaces or by the fireside or a kitchen table with a small cluster of women drinking tea. For an indepth history of this spirituality and cultural move away from it, my favorite books are Womb Awakening and Magdalene Mysteries by Seren and Dr. Azra Bertrand.
Tantric philosophy is a popular path to study that is most often Left Hand Path teachings. It is the way of Feminine Consciousness. All is welcome. But even within the Tantric teachings they are divided into the Red Path and the White Path . . . if you really go searching. If you’re only mildly interested, reading true tantric philosophy (as oppposed to neo-tantric teachings mostly found in the US centered only on sex) you will get a good idea of Left Hand Path.
The Left Hand Path is taught in Mystery Schools, through Feminine Arts Trainings, and other places but it’s always a good idea to find someone you fully trust before learning with them. The definition of Left Hand Path is broad.
These are the current definitions I’m working with at this point in my journey. I continue to study and learn with teachers that are safe for me so I know these definitions are a work in progress for me. In a nutshell, Right Hand Path teaching starts with the premise that something is broken or sinful or wrong and it needs to be fixed, saved, redeemed. It is a striving for something up and outside of self. We are broken and we need to find someone or something that can fix us. Most of our world is operating in Right Hand Path. BIG NOTE HERE: This is not wrong, bad, or less than the left hand path. They are simply different paths to follow.
Left Hand Path, at it’s core (which I believe is the true teaching of Jesus/Mary Magdalene) is that the Kingdom of Heaven is Within. We are whole at our center. Life is not a series of problems to be solved but a beautiful experience to be lived. It begins with the premise that I AM Divinity expressing itself AS ME. ME plus nothing is enough. My essence expressed as BEING ME in the world is point of my existence. Just as a tree is a tree. Being itself in the world as itself is point of that tree’s existence.
Left Hand Path, in my understanding, teaches that everything is the lesson that can bring you back to greater awareness of your True Self. The repressed energies we hold in our shadow, once liberated, is energy that can then be used to express and create from our True Self. This is a part of the teaching that gets a bad rap. It makes space for us to explore the darkest parts of ourselves for the purpose of setting that repressed energy free. It can look messy. 😉 It’s the deep, dark feminine that willingly enters into the death (think Inanna and Persephone, Lilith and Hekate) rather than the bright shiny ascended masculine.
There is so much freedom available to us in the Left Hand Path. It is not an easy path to walk and in my experience and study, it’s a path that is best walked in support of others who have walked the path before us (an initiated space), to be held and supported in walking into our individuated Sovereignty and magic and freedom.
Current teachers and authors of Left Hand Path thought that I love are:

*Seren and Azra Bertrand: Womb Awakening, Magdalene Mysteries, and Spirit Weaver. Biomancy University and Feminine Magic Salon www.serenbertrand.com and www.azrabertrand.com.
*Ernest Morrow at www.ernestmorrow.com
*Cynthia Bourgeault (if you’re looking for someone who sticks with writing about Jesus as a Tantric Master from the Christian Mystics perspective).
*Jeff Foster. His books on Deep Acceptance and The Way of Rest are fantastic. In my reading of him, he is not focused on liberating repressed energies and diving into shadow or taboo to find freedom but is more about being clearly in the truth of the present moment.
*Existential Kink is a fun one that is a little mind bendy if you are more traditional in your thoughts about Source. But this dives head first into liberating repressed energies within yourself. It’s a great book and has specific practices to lead you through.
*Tantra Illuminated by Wallis is a hefty work on pure Tantric philosophy.
*Tao Te Ching is Left Hand Path as well as many other Taoist philosophies and teachings.
*The Gospel of John.
*The Gospel of Thomas.
*The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
And then many of the Christian Desert Fathers and Mothers and Christian Mystics and Sufi teachings are very Left Hand Path oriented. Teresa of Avila, the Essenes, and the Gnostics, though as with all teachings, there were offshoots and different paths taken.
Rumi and Kahlil Gibran, Osho (as controversial as he is) and Eckhart Tolle (current day) are others.

And for the reclamation of the word Pussy . . . 

 It took me a minute to embrace it too. But after two years of being immersed in a certification program that was geared toward the reclamation of all things Pussy, I worked my way through it. It’s great shock value. hehehe
Gentle ways to move into that spaciousness are following sex coaches on IG if you’re on that social media platform. Also here’s a few books that help with the reclamation of our body, words typically used in derogatory ways, and identifying old belief systems around our sexuality and then gently (or not so gently) working toward rewriting your own story that works for you now. It’s quite the adventure!
Pussy: A Reclamation by Regena Thomashauer
Feminine Genius by Liyana Silver
Women’s Anatomy of Arousal by Sheri Winston
Vagina Obscursa by Rachel E Gross
Vagina by Naomi Wolf
Come as You Are by Emily Nagoski

Thank you for giving me the chance to brain dump. 😉 Ignore it all or take what you are drawn to.
Much love and deep gratitude for your love, curiosity and support,

Unapologetically,

EK