The wandering witch: The ultimate magickal transformation
What if I told you that there is a shortcut from all the vagueness and a clearly describable path to transformation that can permanently improve the synchronicity, magick and wonder in your life?
Travel is the ultimate transformation "technique" for a practicing witch or sorcerer. It can transform you and your life and the magick that passes through it in ways unimaginable.
No, the travel doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, in all likelihood, the type of travel that will teach you the most is going to be cheap.
The important part to remember about travel is that people always romanticize far away distant lands by looking at edited pictures of those places advertised online.
Little do they consider the things they have to go through to get to the place in the first place and experience the pain and difficulty navigating in this new, distant land. This is especially true if you head to a place as a backpacker/hitchhiker.
Going through this IS the whole point of travel. That was the whole point of "pilgrimage", even before the advent of the first religions.
The mystics, the shamans, the sorcerers and the witches of the old, all embarked on pilgrimages to expand their consciousness. Traveling down to a place in a private jet and having your assistants take you everywhere you want will not transform you in anyway.
The best kind of travel to have is not to visit famous vistas and places, staying at pre-booked hotels like every other tourist, but to temporarily BECOME a local in the new place, walk down the streets, explore the small shops, make friends with locals and get invited to their homes. This is the best way to self destruct your stagnant ego and expand your mind, hands down.
All throughout my life until my 20s, I have been exploring the world of occult - - mainly by reading texts and performing rituals.
But nothing transformed me more than my lone travels and pilgrimages all over the Indian subcontinent.
Let me tell some of the experiences that I had, and what I went through, in the hopes of enlightening you in the process. They are experiences that I had during my lone travels that radically altered me during my mystical trips in ways I couldn't fathom until the transformations were actually made.
The first synchronous, cosmic pat on the back
After graduating in chemistry, I wasn't sure what to do with my life. Though in my mind, there was always an incredible itch to explore the secrets of the spirit, the itch was strongest at this point in my life.
This is when I decided to disappear and venture out alone, abruptly. My family and friends were not informed of my sudden disappearance, of course.
I had no definite plans as to where I was headed and decided to let my instinct and intuition take over the direction.
They lead me to a remote village near Satyamangalam in Erode District, Tamil Nadu, India. (Mind you, this was in the 1980s and the place was even more remote and disconnected back then.)
One had to pass through a forest to get there. In the village, there was a Kali and Bhairava (the fearsome aspect of Lord Shiva) temple and I decided to go there and invoke their essences within me.
After a long ritual and prayers at dusk , I decided to venture ahead to my next destination.
However, being that late into the night, there were no buses. There were no hotels or lodges either, because of the location's remote nature.
After inquiring with a local tea shop owner, (thankfully one such shop was still open!) I was informed that the highway can only be reached by treading through the forest for 15 kilometers. At this point, I really did not know what to do.
Mustering all the courage I could, I decided to walk through the forest anyway. On the way, I spotted a teenager on a bicycle approaching from the opposite direction.
He stopped when he reached me and asked me where I was headed. After telling him what is up, he insisted on helping me get to the highway and asked me to hop on the back of the bicycle.
However, he was a frail teenager and my conscience wouldn't let him carry my weight through the rough patches of the forest. I asked him to hop on the back of the bicycle while I cycle instead, and he agreed.
The forest was dark and scary and the deeper we tread, the darker and scarier it got. I could not help but wonder why this little teenager was passing through it. For some reason, I did not bother to ask. A bigger question in my mind was how did he manage it at all?!
Forty five minutes later, we finally reached the highway. I was very ecstatic at this point because I hadn't experienced anything like this in my entire life and I had a deep sense of accomplishment. I also couldn't wait to thank the teenager for coming to my rescue at the right time.
I got down the cycle, grabbed my bags from the cycle, clipped the buckles on and turned around to bid the boy farewell.
Much to my surprise, both the cycle and the boy were nowhere to be seen! He appeared to have had vanished into thin air in a second - - there was no other explanation. But that was too farfetched, no? No that was not possible.
Was I hallucinating then? Did my mind somehow "imagine" an external being to aid me through the forest while in actuality, I was just walking all this while?
That was even more implausible - - How did I get to the highway that fast then? I don't know the answer even today, but nevertheless, the entire experience really shook me and I was now sure more than ever and could feel it in the very core of my being that the universe was with me on my mystical venture.
The strange alchemist transmutation
This is something that happened when I was traveling with a very senior Tantric from Hyderabad to Bangalore, 30 years ago.
I used to call him Thatha, meaning grandfather. We took a morning bus from Hyderabad and had planned to reach. Bangalore by the evening. (It was a 10 hour trip). About quarter of the way, at Kurnool, our bus stopped at a petrol stand for refueling.
Here, a very shabby looking person entered the bus and approached Thatha hastily as if he wanted to say something. The bus was about to leave, so before he could say anything, the conductor quickly expelled him yelling at him for even trying to get on. I remember the bus accelerating really fast, leaving this person behind.
A few hours later, about three quarters of the way, somewhere in a remote place near Anatapur, the bus stopped for a tea break. Here, when we got down, the same shabby person was waiting for us! We were flabbergasted. How did he even get there so quickly?!
This time, we approached him and Thaatha asked him what he wanted to say. The man had no words and just smiled. He squatted down, picked up some mud from underneath his feet, put it in a paper bag and handed it over to him.
While we were too busy looking at each other perplexed and at the mud he handed over to Thaatha, the man had walked to go around a tree which was right beside us.
There was nothing else but empty land around us, other than this tree. We followed the man, but there was nobody there! Where did he go? Who was he?
The bus was about to leave, and so I signaled Thatha to dispose of the mud and to follow me back. However, he just stood there silently, holding the pack of mud and told me that he will not dispose of it.
A few hours into our journey, we caught the smell of sandalwood and saffron emanating from the pack of mud.
There was an immediate recognition in Thatha's eyes and on his facial expressions. Since his specialty was in Tantric healing, he could readily tell that what we had in the pack was not mud, but material with healing properties.
He also explained that the shabby person who handed it to him was most likely an "Avadutha", who are essentially non dual entities from dimensions beyond our comprehension or humans who have achieved this state.
In either case, he explained how they are beings capable of taking on human form, appearing and disappearing to and from wherever and whenever they want to. Truly, they are very alien to the average human being.
During this experience, not only did the mud transform into something fragrant, but also did my own sense of self. There was a strange, inexplicable transmutation that happened to me inside.
These are but two of the many, many different experiences I have had along my travels. If I had to write about every single experience that I've had, It would probably form into a book that spans several hundred pages, even if I prune the excess details.
Mind you, not all of my travel experiences were radical and involved having strange occult experiences. Nevertheless, they all had an impact on making me the who I am today and that directly translates to the magic and synchronicity that surrounds my life today.
If you agree to the notion that life can be defined a series of experiences, then you come to the conclusion that the richest person is one who has had many different experiences.
Sure, books can have content and knowledge to teach you more than any other medium (considering they are generally a condensed form of experiences of others).
However, traveling transforms you in ways that are not describable very easily. Subjective experiences are not quantifiable after all, and the same goes for the metamorphosis that comes with experiences that shake you, most notably traveling.
Are you ready to transform?
Being almost 57 now, I can no longer travel as much as I used to. However, I still feel excited when I meet people from all over the world who visit my place.
I especially love those who avoid the traditional tourist route and instead join in with me as a local and extract the essence of the place and exchange their philosophical ideas with me.
(Images: Cochin backwaters)
This is the manner in which I feel my traveling has transcended today. Instead of traveling, I now serve as a catalyst in others' transformation.
If you are reading this and want to visit Cochin, India sometime in the near future and undergo Tantric magickal initiation, explore the lost connections between the magickal traditions of the west and east and the ways of Shri Vidya Tantric Mantras, Rituals, Naga (serpent) worship and visit the very many ancient shrines of mother Kali in the near future, then I could be your personal guide and would be delighted to spend time with you and exchange ideas with you.
Here is what I can do for you:
Day 1: Explore the ancient occult traditions
Explore the lost connections of the occult and magickal traditions of the east and west. See how it all lead to where we were here now, first hand.
This day will visiting ancient local vistas and sites and learning about the various occult traditions of India, their origins and how they are connected to other traditions all over the world.
Day 2: Basic Initiation
On day 2, you will go through a basic Tantric initiation ritual, worship Ganesha to remove obstacles from your path and undergo liberation from ancestral bonds, earlier preconceptions and paradigms.
This day will also involve visiting the temples (including the famous Kallil Temple) and shrines where the original Advaita Vedanta originated.
Day 3: Rejuvenation and meditation
Learn meditation techniques, Pranayama and have Ayurvedic cleansing and massage to heal the body from toxins and parasitic elements.
By the end of this day, you will have preparatory cleansing of the Tattvas and Chakra points in your body. This is required to perform the rituals that follows, in Day 4.
Day 4: Tantra, mantra and rituals
Learn the basics of tantra and how to perform Tantric rituals and mantra recitation – This will include tapping into the ultimate feminine energy or Kali, serpent (Naga) rituals and midnight ritual of the dark energies.
Visiting ancient temples and shrines dating back to over thousands of years will also be involved
Day 5: Initiation Test, Reading and personal Q & A Session
This day will involve and Initiatory test and personalized divination for the future.
Your magickal potential and gifts will be assessed and you will have an in-depth Q & A session with the masters for personal reading and guidance for spiritual ascension.
Day 6: Recollection
The final day, the day before you depart will be reserved for recollecting and working through the experience that you gathered during the last 5 days.
It is also time relaxation, visiting local vistas and shopping, if need be.
Yours Truly,
Tantric Manoj Sreeram