Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Left-Hand Path (disambiguation) and LHP

(disambiguation).

The Baphomet, from Eliphas Levi's "Dogme et Rituel de la Haute

Magie", 1854, adopted symbol of some "Left-Hand Path"belief
systems.
The terms Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path are
a dichotomy between two opposing philosophies found in the Western
Esoteric Tradition, which itself covers various groups involved in
the occult and ceremonial magic. In some definitions, the Left-Hand
Path is equated with malicious Black Magic and the Right-Hand
Path with beneficial White Magic.[1] Other occultists have criticised
this definition, believing that the Left-Right dichotomy refers merely to
different kinds of working, and does not necessarily connote good or
bad magical actions.[2]
In more recent definitions, which base themselves on the terms'
origins amongst Indian Tantra, the Right-Hand Path, or RHP, is seen
as a definition for those magical groups which follow specific ethical
codes and adopt social convention, whilst the Left-Hand Path adopts the opposite attitude, espousing the
breaking of taboo and the abandoning of set morality. Some contemporary occultists have stressed that both
paths can be followed by a magical practitioner, as essentially they have the same goals.

[edit]Terminology
There is no set accepted definition of what comprises the Left-Hand Path and what comprises the Right. Early
proponents of the terms, such as Madame Blavatsky, believed that they were essentially conflatable with Black
Magic and White, although this has been criticised by later occultists as being overly simplistic.
[edit]The Right-Hand Path
The Right-Hand Path is commonly thought to refer to magical or religious groups which adhere to a certain set of
characteristics:
• They adhere to social conventions and avoid taboos.
• They divide the concepts of mind, body and spirit into three separate, albeit interrelated entities.[3]
• They adhere to a specific moral code and a belief in some form of judgement, such as karma or
the Threefold Law.[3]
Esoteric groups that could be considered to be RHP include Hermeticism, Theosophy, the New Age
movement as well as various Neopagan religions such as Druidry, Wicca, Kemetism,Celtic Neopaganism, Slavic
Neopaganism, Germanic Neopaganism, and certain traditions of Thelema such as the Ordo Templi Orientis and
the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, or the Gnostic Catholic Church. Right-Hand
Path Tantra (Sanskrit: Dakshinachara) is also included. Some esotericists[who?]also consider the non-
magical Abrahamic religions such asChristianity and Islam to be RHP, although the terms are rarely used outside
of magical groups[citation needed].
[edit]The Left-Hand Path
The historian Dave Evans studied self-professed followers of the Left-Hand Path in the early 21st century,
making several observations about their practices:
 • They often reject societal convention and the status quo, which some suggest is in a search for spiritual
freedom. As a part of this, LHP followers embrace magical techniques that would traditionally be viewed
as taboo, for instance using sex magic or embracing Satanic imagery.[4] As Mogg Morgan wrote, the
"breaking of taboos makes magick more potent and can lead to reintegration and liberation, [for
example] the eating of meat in a vegetarian community can have the same liberating effect as anal
intercourse in a sexually inhibited straight society."[5]
• They often question religious or moral dogma, instead adhering to forms of personal anarchism.[6]
• They often embrace sexuality and incorporate it into magical ritual.[7]
Under these definitions, various esoteric groups, often with widely differing beliefs, could be considered to be
followers of the LHP. These include various forms of Satanism, such asLaVeyan Satanism (which is organised
through both the Church of Satan and the rival First Satanic Church) as well as Theistic Satanism. Other
Western LHP philosophies includeLuciferianism, Setianism, the Typhonian Order, Chaos Magic, Feri, and
magicians who deal in demonology, as well as groups like the Dragon Rouge and the Order of Nine Angles.
Several eastern philosophies could also be viewed as adhering to the LHP, including Taoism forms
of Hinduism such as Aghoris and Vamachara, forms of Buddhism like Dugpas andPantheism.
[edit]Criticism
Criticism of both terms has come from various different occultists. The Magistar of the Cultus Sabbati, Andrew
Chumbley, stated that they were simply "theoretical constructs" that were "without definitive objectivity", and that
nonetheless, both forms could be employed by the magician - he used the analogy of a person having two
hands, a right and a left, both of which served the same master.[8] Similar sentiments were expressed by
the Wiccan High Priest John Belham-Payne, who stated that "For me, magic is magic."[9]
[edit]History of the terms
[edit]Vamachara
Main article: Vamachara
Vāmācāra (pronounced: vāmāchāra) is a Sanskrit term meaning "left-handed attainment" and is synonymous
with "Left-Hand Path" or "Left-path" (Sanskrit: Vāmamārga).[10][11][12] It is used to describe a particular mode
of worship or 'spiritual practice' (Sanskrit: sadhana) that are not only 'heterodox' (Sanskrit: Nāstika) to
standard Vedic injunction, but extreme in comparison to the status quo. These practices are often generally
considered to be Tantric in orientation. The converse term to Vamacara is Dakshinachara (Sanskrit) (glossed
'Right-Hand Path') which is used to refer not only to 'orthodox' (Sanskrit: Āstika) sects but to modes of spirituality
that engage in spiritual practices that not only accord with Vedic injunction but are generally agreeable to
the status quo. That said, left-handed and right-handed modes of practice may be evident in both orthodox and
heterodox schools of Dharmic Traditions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism and is a matter of
taste, culture, proclivity, initiation, sadhana and Dharmic 'lineage' (Sanskrit: parampara).
[edit]Tantra and Madame Blavatsky
The occidental use of the terms Left-Hand Path and Right Hand-Path originated with Madame Blavatsky, a 19th
century occultist who founded Theosophy. She had travelled across parts of southern Asia and claimed to have
met with many mystics and magical practitioners in India and Tibet. She developed the term Left-Hand Path as a
translation of the term Vama-marga, an Indian Tantric practice that emphasised the breaking of Hindu societal
taboos by having sexual intercourse in ritual, drinking alcohol, eating meat and assembling in graveyards, as a
part of the spiritual practice. The term Vama-marga literally meant "the left-hand way" in Sanskrit, and it was
from this that Blavatsky first coined the term.[13]
Returning to Europe, Blavatsky began using the term. It was relatively easy for her to associate left with evil in
many European countries, where it already had an association with many negative things; as the historian Dave
Evans noted, homosexuals were referred to as "left-handed" whilst in Protestant nations, Roman Catholics were
called "left-footers".[14] This association with negative aspects of society can be traced back to the Bible, in
which it states:
And he shall separate them one from another,
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right,
but the goats on his left.
— Matthew 25: 32-33
[edit]Adoption into the Western Esoteric Tradition
In New York Madame Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society with several other people in 1875. She set
about writing several books, including Isis Unveiled (1877) in which she introduced the terms Left-Hand
Path and Right-Hand Path, firmly stating that she herself followed the RHP, and that followers of the LHP were
practitioners of Black Magic who were a threat to society. Soon, certain other occultists soon picked up on her
newly introduced duality, which, according to historian Dave Evans, "had not been known before" in the Western
Esoteric Tradition.[15] For instance, Dion Fortune, the founder of the esoteric magical group, the Society of the
Inner Light also took the side of the RHP, making the claim that "black magicians", or followers of the LHP,
were homosexuals and that Indian servants might use malicious magical rites devoted to the
goddess Kali against their European masters.[16]
Aleister Crowley further altered and popularized the term in certain occult circles, referring to a "Brother of the
Left-Hand Path," or a "Black Brother," as one who failed to attain the grade of Magister Templi in Crowley's
system of ceremonial magic.[17] Crowley also referred to the Left-Hand Path when describing the point at which
the Adeptus Exemptus (such as his old Christian mentor, Macgregor Mathers) chooses to cross the Abyss,
which is the location of Choronzon and the illusory eleventh Sephira, which is Da'ath or Knowledge. In this
example, the adept must surrender all, including the guidance of his Holy Guardian Angel, and leap into the
Abyss. If his accumulated Karma is sufficient, and if he has been utterly thorough in his own self-destruction, he
becomes a "babe of the abyss," arising as a Star in the Crowleyan system. On the other hand, if he retains some
fragment of ego, or if he fears to cross, he then becomes encysted. The layers of his self, which he could have
shed in the Abyss, ossify around him. He is then titled a "Brother of the Left-Hand Path," who will eventually be
broken up and disintegrated against his will, since he failed to choose voluntary disintegration.[17] Crowley
associated all this with "Mary, a blasphemy against BABALON," and with the celibacy of Christian clergy.[17]
Another of those figures that Fortune considered to be a follower of the LHP was Arthur Edward Waite, who did
not recognise these terms, and acknowledged that they were newly introduced and that in any case he believed
the terms LHP and RHP to be distinct from Black and White Magic.[18] However, despite Waite's attempts to
distinguish the two, the equation of the LHP with Black Magic was propagated more widely in the fiction
of Dennis Wheatley, Wheatley also conflated the two with Satanism and also the political ideology
ofcommunism, which he viewed as a threat to traditional British society.[19] In one of his novels, Strange
Conflict (1941), he stated that:
The Order of the Left-Hand Path...
has its adepts... the Way of
Darkness is perpetuated in the
horrible Voodoo cult which had its
origins in Madagascar and has
heldAfrica, the Dark Continent, in
its grip for centuries.[20]

[edit]Later 20th and 21st centuries

In the latter half of the 20th century various groups arose that self-professedly described themselves as LHP, but
did not consider themselves as following Black Magic. In 1975, Cults of the Shadow was published, in which the
books' author, Kenneth Grant, a student of Aleister Crowley's, explained how he and his group, the Typhonian
OTO, practiced the LHP. Grant took the term back to its roots amongst eastern Tantra, stating that it was about
challenging taboos, but that it should be used in conjunction with the RHP to achieve balance.[21]
When Anton Szandor LaVey was developing his form of LaVeyan Satanism during the 1960s, he emphasised
the rejection of traditional Christian morality and as such labelled his new philosophy to be a form of the Left-
Hand Path. In his The Satanic Bible, he wrote that "Satanism is not a white light religion; it is a religion of the
flesh, the mundane, the carnal - all of which are ruled by Satan, the personification of the Left Hand Path".[22]
[edit]Usage in Tantra
Tantra is a set of esoteric Indian traditions with roots in Hinduism and later Buddhism (which is a
separate Dharma). Tantra is often divided by its practitioners into two different
paths:dakshinachara and vamachara, translated as Right-Hand Path and Left-Hand Path respectively.
Dakshinachara consists of traditional Hindu practices such as asceticism andmeditation, while vamachara also
includes ritual practices that conflict with mainstream Hinduism, such as sexual rituals, consumption
of alcohol and other intoxicants, animal sacrifice, and flesh-eating. The two paths are viewed by Tantrists as
equally valid approaches to enlightenment. Vamachara, however, is considered to be the faster and more
dangerous of the two paths, and is not suitable for all practitioners. This usage of the terms Left-Hand Path and
Right-Hand Path is still current in modern Tantra.
The difference between the right hand path and the left hand path is eloquently explained by Julius Evola in the
book The Yoga of Power:
"There is a significant difference between the two Tantric paths, that of the right hand and that of the
left hand (which both are under Shiva's aegis). In the former, the adept always experiences
'someone above him', even at the highest level of realization. In the latter, 'he becomes the ultimate
Sovereign' (chakravartin = worldruler)." [23]

[edit]See also

• Aghori
• Charnel ground
• Kapalika
• Kaula
[edit]References
1. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 152.
2. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 176.
3. ^ a b Hine, Phil, quoted in Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden
Publishing. Page 204.
4. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 197.
5. ^ Shual. Sexual Magick. Page 31.
6. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 198.
7. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page 205.
8. ^ Chumbley, Andrew, quoted in Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden
Publishing. Page 212-213.
9. ^ Chumbley, Andrew, quoted in Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden
Publishing. Page 214.
10. ^ Bhattacharya, N. N. History of the Tantric Religion pp. 81, 447. (1999) ISBN 81-7304-025-7
11. ^ Kaal Ugranand Saraswati differentiating “traditional Vamamarga” from conceptions of the word
“vamamarga”
12. ^ Tantra, Vamamarga (The Left Handed Path: Kaula sadhana)
13. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page
178.
14. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page
177.
15. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page
181-182.
16. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page
183-184.
17. ^ a b c Magick Without Tears
18. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page
182-183.
19. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page
189-190.
20. ^ Wheatley, Dennis (1941). Strange Conflict.
21. ^ Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. Page
193.
22. ^ LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. The Book of Lucifer 3: paragraph 30.
 23. ^ Barone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola. The Yoga of Power: Tantra, Shakti, and the Secret Way
(1949)
[edit]Bibliography

• Crowley, Aleister (1991). Magick Without Tears. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-018-1.
• Flowers, Stephen (1997). Lords of the Left Hand Path: A History of Spiritual Dissent. Runa Raven
Press. ISBN 1-885972-08-3.
• Sutcliffe, Richard J. (1996). "Left-Hand Path Ritual Magick: An Historical and Philosophical Overview," in
G. Harvey & C. Hardman (eds.), Paganism Today, pp.109-37. London: Thorsons/HarperCollins. ISBN 0-
7225-3233-4.
• Svoboda, Robert E. (1986). AGHORA, At the Left Hand of God. Brotherhood of Life. ISBN 0-914732-21-
8.
• Webb, Don; Stephen E. Flowers (1999). Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to the Left Hand Path. Runa
Raven Pr. ISBN 1885972105.

1. Left Hand Path Practices in the West the best religion for all people and frequently claim they
are only a valid religion for some people. "Satanists are
"Satanism is not a white light religion; it is a
born, not made" Anton LaVey. Satanism and the LHP is
religion of the flesh, the mundane, the
carnal - all of which are ruled by Satan, the striking for the lack of missionizing. This is probably the
personification of the Left Hand Path" result of the admission that no religion, philosophy or
belief system is suitable for all people.
The Satanic Bible, Book Of Lucifer
3:paragraph 30 2. How this Terminology Entered the West
The Left Hand Path is solitary, individualistic, personal,
based The beginnings of the usage of the term in the West is
on self development, self analysis, self empowerment. unclear, but some theories are that it entered Western
Altruism is materialistically equated as long termthought from:
selfishness. I think all forms of Satanism are considered1. Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophists
Left Hand Path, even Devil Worship and inverse2. Tatar Invasions
Christian-Satanists are Left Hand Path, although they3. Christianity
are frequently considered deluded. Frequently called
"evil" and "dark" by non Satanic religions, the followers2.1. Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophists
of the left hand path often have had to remain in the "I would assume that the two terms entered
darkness or face severe persecution from the religions the West largely through Madame
that ironically call themselves "good". This is testimony Blavatsky and the Theosophists, to whom
enough that the image of the purely "good" icons is a twentieth century Western occultism owe
veneer; a non-truth. virtually the entirety of their heavily Hindu-
Features of LHP philosophies frequently include: and Buddhist- influenced beliefs and
practices, from the Golden Dawn to
• Emphasis on freethought, not dogma or strict Thelema to Wicca to the New Age
systems. movement. I don't have any actual data
• Highly individualistic concerning when the terms "RHP" and
• A distinct rejection of absolutes and moralism "LHP" were first used in the West,
• Personal, not universal. however."
Freethought, Individualism and moral relativism
Left Hand Path philosophies all have an emphasis on Jason Posey on alt.satanism
freethought; not dogma or strict systems. The "rules" in "The use of this term in Tantra certainly
LHP religions are frequently merely "guidelines". The predates its use in Satanism. However, the
same attitude it applied to all knowledge, including that term LHP is used in a different sense in this
of the knowledge of reality and morals. Subjectivism context. Tantra practitioner Dinu Roman
and relativism are almost universally assumed amongst writes, "Tantra is also called Vama Marga,
followers of the left hand path. i.e. The Left Hand Path, due to the fact that
women, who are of lunar influence,
Personal Belief, not Universal negative polarity or the left, play an
Left Hand Path philosophies do not claim that they are essential role in this Science."
 Wild believes that Helena Blavatsky, co-
founder of the Theosophical Society, was
influential in the promotion of the term. He
writes, "These self-denying paths are
labelled the Right Hand Paths - a term that
has its origins in the work of Blavatsky, who
labelled magical practices that she liked as
Right-Hand Path, and those she disliked as
"immoral" as Left-Hand Path. Occultists
after her picked up this habit,
especially Crowley, who helped the word
come into general 'occult subculture' use.
The term is probably derived from Indo-
European Tantric practices, which have
filtered into the modern Western folklore
survivals, an example is left as 'sinister' in
heraldry (and handwriting).""
John Smulo
2.2. Tatar Invasions
There is an alternative belief that has some following in
the various Satanic communities. That "it entered into
the west - where black/white magic started to be used -
due to the Shamanist Tatar invasions"[Anon.]
2.3. Christian mythology
I once thought that the association of the "left hand"
path had to do with Christian superstition and
mythology. However, that idea does not hold up to
closer inspection. The term "Left Hand Path" and "Right
Hand Path" have deeper meanings with a history that is
Eastern and not Western in nature (the association of
Satanism with the Left Hand did not appear in
Christianity until the middle ages). However, as we will
see at length in the next section the taboos, phobia and
malaise surrounding everything left-handed massively
predates Christianity.
3.1. The Righteous Right, and the Satanic Left:
The left has become
nearly universally
shunned. The right
has been associated
with all things good
and pure whilst the
left has been
shunned as unholy,
evil and relegated to
inferiority [Gregory
1987, Gooch 1984].
Although Gooch says that "the left is universally
unlucky in the classical world", Gregory in
the Oxford Companion to The Mind says that
"this symbolism has pervaded nearly all cultures
(except the Chinese)."
"Ancient Greeks and Romans regarded the left
side as inferior and profane, and in medieval
times use of the left hand was associated with
witchcraft" [Gregory 1987]. In New Zealand the
Maoris considered the right side to be godly,
representing life; the left side is dedicated to
demons and the devil, representing death.
Muslims believe good spirits speak into peoples'
right ears, but evil spirits speak into the left. In
medieval Europe the Devil is drawn with its left
hand outstretched. Amongst North American
Indians the right represents bravery and virility
but the left signifies death and burial. In China
you must eat with the right hand. The Nuer
people of Africa, the Dutch Indies local native
populations and many other old cultures bind the
left arm to put it out of use 'for long periods',
especially in the young and with left-handed
people. Throughout the African continent the right
is good and the left is evil. In some places wives
should never touch their husbands' face with their
left hand. The same patterns persist in South
America: The right is good, is life, is divine but the
left is female, bad, evil and morbid. Pythagoras
set out in his Table of Opposites that the right
hand side, male; lightness, was the opposite of
the left hand side that was female, and darkness.
Schools until recent decades used to "correct"
(meaning: 'with the right') left-handed pupils.
3.2. Christianity and Islam:
"In Judaism
and
Christianity
the right side
of the body
represents
the first stage of Creation, daytime,
consciousness, Adam, Man and active
power. The left represents the second
stage of Creation, Earth, matter, right, Eve,
Women and receptivity. In alchemy, the
right and left hands reflect conscious and
subconscious actions, the active and
passive. Right symbolizes solar and left
lunar."
"1000 Symbols" by Shepherd, Rowan &
Rupert
In the Koran and the Christian Bible the elect and
God's favourite sit on its right hand side, and the
damned on its left. In the Gospel of Matthew the
author has Jesus place God's followers (the
sheep) on its right and the goats (non-followers)
on its left hand side (Matthew 25:33). The
Catholic Church held for over a thousand years
that being left handed made you a servant of the
Devil and that anything left-handed was evil.
[Gooch, 1984] Muslims forbid the touching of any
holy scripture with the left hand. Jesus sits on the
right hand of God. In pictures of the Last
Judgement the Christian God shows his disciples
their new heavenly abode with his right hand, and
points with his left to hell. The Left Hand Path,
therefore, being the demonic, the diabolical and
the Earthly path to Hell.
3.3. Etymology:
The word 'left' in many languages is associated
with evil, trouble or the devil. In Latin 'left' comes
from 'sinister'. The same pattern repeats in many
cultures and societies.
Left is Bad: The Greek root "dexter" gives us the
word "dextrous" (skilful) means "on the right", and
occurs in Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Lithuanian,
Slavonic, Albanian, Germanic and "elsewhere".
"Left-handedness generates endless nicknames,
which right-handedness never acquires. [...] The
standard word for left also always means
something totally derogatory. 'Left' itself (from Old
English lyft) means 'weak, worthless, womanish'.
Italian mancino means 'dubious, dishonest',
French gauche means 'awkward', Latin sinister is
English 'sinister' [...] Among the Nyoro in Africa,
for example, 'left' means 'hated', and in Japan [it]
means 'crazy'" [Gooch, 1984]
Right is Good: "Right" apart from "dextrous"
variously means direct, erect, erection, correct,
regal, royal, regiment, rights, forthright, upright,
dignity, decent, decree, doctrine and so on.
3.4. Exceptions:
It is not completely universal that left has been
inferior to right. In Eastern symbolism, left (Yang)
is male and right (Yin) is female.
"When an Emperor faced South to receive
homage for his subjects, the sun was on
his left, which was therefore the superior
side. In Japanese Shintoism, the ropes
(Shimenaw) that demarcate a sacred place
 are twisted to the left because it is they are the very by-word of excellence, that is, they
considered to be the lucky side." are the oustanding individual in their particular fields, as
the following brief list of left-handers shows: Beethoven,
"1000 Symbols" by Shepherd, Rowan & Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Goethe, Nietzsche
Rupert [...]" [Gooch, 1984]
4.3. The Occult
4. Causes of Lefty Phobia
Stan Gooch points out that there is a high incidence of
Being Left Handed has, for some reason, becomethe left-handed amongst practitioners of many occult
associated with devilry and bad luck. Superstitions thatarts and proposes that part of the reason for the
differentiate between left and right always consider thehistorical dislike of left-handed people is that they are
left to be bad, unfortunate, cursed, poisonous andnoted for their uncanny skills and unnatural talents.
satanic and the right to be good and pure [Gregory,These provoke fear and distrust in more normal people,
1987]. Perhaps it is merely a form of xenophobia, a kindhence the motivation to ostracize them.
of fear based on occasional subconsciously perturbing
physical movements of those that are left handed.But, there is a potential misunderstanding here. It may
Prehistoric body language that has been lost but that be that the cause-and-effect is the other way around. In
was once important to early Humans. the same way that if society punished ginger-haired
people for being naturall anti-social, then those people
4.1. The Dirty Left Hand: would be made anti-social. It could easily be that
Part of the reason for the distaste of the left hand has tobecause everyone associates left-handedness with a
do with the sanitary habits of early man and of the Arab certain mystique and darkness that those people who
world. As the right hand is biologically our dominantare left-handed come to think of themselves in those
hand, the left hand was used to clean ourselves afterterms and therefore take greater interest in occult and
defecation. As such, food is not handled with the left supernatural matters, as a matter of self-fulfilling
hand, it is an offence to offer to shake someone's handprophecy.
with your left hand. In the Arab world when text
(representing God) was holy, it could not be touched5. The Biology of Left Handedness
with the left hand. It is not only Eastern thought that
contains these feelings towards the left. It appears to be "According to most experts, about 90
really quite universal, appearing in most religions and percent of the world's population is right-
cultures the world over. Early Native American mothers handed. Of the remaining 10 percent,
would tie their babies' left arms to make them about half are "strongly" left-handed. Which
righthanded, matching the customs of some Catholic is to say, in about 5 percent of people,
schools during the Dark Ages (and beyond). I do not the right hemisphere is dominant and
know if the sanitary methods of the Native Americans controls language.
also lend themselves as an explanation, if not, then the
search for the reasoning behind the Earth-attachment of Almost twice as many males as females
the Left goes on! But we see that there is a potential are left-handed. And according to British
basic biological/anthropological reason why the left psychologist Marian Annett, more than
hand is unclean, and this no doubt has been given twice as many artists, musicians,
religious interpretation from time to time. mathematicians, and engineers are left-
handed as would be expected by chance.
This ultimately primitive source of the avoidance of the
[...] About 10 percent of left-handers suffer
left hand has lent itself, over time, to a richer and more
from language disorders and reading
abstract symbol of anything taboo or bad symbolized by
disabilities, while only 1 percent of right-
a left hand path, taken by those who are naturally
handers do. And recent studies suggest
inclined (left handed), of a rebellious persuasion, or who
that left-handers are three times more likely
are foreign and strange. These three attribues have
to suffer severemigraine headaches and
suited rather a large number of non-mainstream
certain types of autoimmune diseases
thinkers, Satanists promote the label willingly. We are of
than are right-handed people.
the left hand path... luckily Western sanitation means
this is no longer an actual health risk!
According to Harvard neurologist Norman
4.2. Left Handed Excellence Geschwind, the cause for left-handedness
Left handed people are disproportionately gifted (as well may lie in testosterone, the male
as handicapped & insane), "one is struck by the quite hormone. Geschwind beleves testosterone
outstanding contributions of 'lefties', academically, slows the growth of the left hemisphere,
artistically and in all branches of sport. In many cases thus favoring greater development of the
 right. "Consequently, males end up right-
handed less often than females."

"Understanding Human Behavior" by

McConnel, James V, p39.
This underlying biology allows us to understand the way
in which left handedness has been treated in history.
Women have always been said to be more talented in
the supernatural; is this perhaps due to the genius and
artistry associated with left-handedness? Also, apart
from the occult significance, the increased incidence of
migraines and allergies (etc) would have also lend
themselves to interpretation, in our superstitious past,
as the afflictions of demons, and of the devil, on both
women and left-handed people.

6. Conclusion
Left-hand-path religions are concentrated on
individualism, freethought, intelligence and oustanding
abilities and gifts. The term "left hand path" may have
entered the West's vocabulary from the East via either
the teachings of Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophists
or from the shamanist Tatar invasions. The association
of the left with diabolism, devilry, outstanding talent,
psychic abilities and the right with goodness is so
ancient it defeats investigation, but perhaps has a basis
in some of the biology of left handedness. Christianity
and Islam and all other major religions and cultures
ostracize left-handers. It may result from the sanitary
habits of societies and peoples in pre-modern times
who used their left hand to clean themselves after
defecation because the right-hand is normally the
dominant hand, and it may also result from lefties being
better represented amongst the freaks, geniuses and
gifted people of the world. In either case it seems that
the phobia of strange left-handed people lives in our
language and culture.