In my last post I explored Tantric separation magic, called Vidvesana Karma. This traditional form of magic creates division between individuals or groups. As I explored, the urge to distinguish or forcefully distance yourself from some person, thing, or idea (embracing a type of “hatred”) has a protective & constructive side. Embracing the desire for separation means we can become more individualistic. On the other hand, our individuality is eroded the more time we spend embracing the “cluster” and clumping of undifferentiated links with many others. Struggling into separation and embracing some level of hating and being hated can make you unique & independent, while being “accepted” by and accumulating links and bindings with many others will tend to leave you feeling constrained or paranoid, with a frozen tongue or mind. Like passively consuming social media constantly (making mental connections with hundreds of people), it often unconsciously erodes away your differences from the mind-clump you are tethering yourself to. It’s important to then also consider the spiritual undercurrent here, the danger in magical links and ties, the opposite of separation magic.
One of the largest branches of magic across cultures deals with the tying of knots. Stambhana Karma is another achievement amongst the Tantric magical acts, and it is the ritual work to create binds, and with these same binds to bring about the freezing or immobilization of a group, a force of nature, or a target’s mind, tongue/speech, or body. This magical “capturing & paralyzing” is ruled over by the Goddess Bagalamukhi, who uses the HLIM Saturn shakti bija to carry it out. In his book “Sinister Yogis”, David Gordon White expands on the misconception that Westerners have about the word “Yogi”. Instead, he writes that it was something more negative and fear-inducing in folklore. Yoga means “to yoke”. That is to say: to unite or marry something together. A Yogi is someone who has mastered the art of uniting things together willingly or even unwillingly. This, by extension, makes a traditional Yogi a master of “links”. This is actually a large part of yoga itself, with both internal “locks" as well as positioning of the body in various forms of postures and contortions. Yogis are masters of Stambhana, these magical acts involving tying, binding, and immobilizing. The untrustworthy, controlling aspect to Yogis is even show in classic stories like Vikram Betal, where the Yogi is luring the King so that he can sacrifice him to the Goddess Durga. The traditional view of the Yogi was more akin to how those in the modern West view serial killers or, even more so, what people call “elite” individuals like Bill Gates, Harvey Weinstein, Hilary Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein, George Soros, Klaus Schwab, Nancy Pelosi, (and even Carole Baskin) to name just a few— implying dangerous, hidden levels of control or obscured manipulation. [I explored this at the end of my video "Purva Bhadrapada Nakshatra in the Modern World"]. Why when Saturn reaches its height in all of these listed individuals’ shared primary-placement nakshatra, Uttara Bhadrapada, does it incite such high levels of suspicion and unease in the masses? Saturnians, akin to the stories of “sinister” Yogis, have strong natural, cold inner Stambhana. The level of cold control can feel uncanny or inhuman, with a bewildering sense of deliberateness & scheming. Like the folklore, many can’t help but sense that those amongst the masses without control over their own mind can fall into the lobotomizing bindings and chains of Saturn’s mind or speech paralyzation, expressing through in its natives in power. Stories of “sinister” Yogis abducting young men & women into their caves seem strikingly similar to the modern world’s conception of things like Epstein Island or the abducting & strangulation acts of John Wayne Gacy (Uttara Bhadrapada Moon).
It is a premise common to many legends, where the princess is captured by a wealth-hoarding dragon, a large reptilian creature that calls to mind Uttara Bhadrapada’s deity, the Serpent of the Deep.
The controlling power of these unseen connections between individuals is elucidated across cultures, in that it has been said that in order to perform magic, one must have a link with their target. This was usually an article of clothing, a part of the body (like hair or nails), or an object they owned or touched. In the modern age of the internet, however, links can be created through something as simple as a comment— anything that the target sees and mentally interacts with. There have also been stories of men or women performing Stambhana on a woman they want as a bride or sexual slave, working for high levels of control or ownership through this invisible astral link, like a form of spiritual “foot binding” that limits movement. All forms of magic are fulfilled through their ability to control the astral light, ruled by the astrological 12th house, correlated to the feet, with which we walk & run. This house also rules when one is kept in chains or as a prisoner (becoming a victim of Stambhana/immobilization). Saturn, the emblem of control, teaches that not controlling or knowing yourself can mean falling under manipulation or control of outside forces of some kind, socially, energetically, or otherwise. It is the wildly liberating & freeing Goddess Kali, who heals/controls Saturn, who is often called upon for “release” from the bindings formed through these Saturnian Stambhana workings.
The hazard of being immobilized, having your individuality or free will weighed down through astral knots (formed magically, sexually, emotionally, or socially), is why the importance of understanding Vidvesana, the science of separation, becomes emphasized for individuation. Yoking is inherently sexual and a this kind of energetic marriage between two things is something that must be only allowed under one's will & love under will. The choice of who/what you “merge” with must be aligned with your desires for your own alchemical transformation, otherwise it is a like a painfully caustic chemical reaction, only reducing or disabling you. Links when used to fortify love, such as how Bagalamukhi’s substance, Turmeric, is used in wedding ceremonies to create tighter bonds, can lead to energy-unions that grant power, protection, & growth for both individuals. Links with controlling individuals who overpower you on an energetic level with paralyzing heaviness & stillness can instead make you, while seemingly free, a mind-captive under someone else.