Queerying Chaos
The presentation Patricia MacCormack and I gave at Treadwells Bookshop recently – Queer(y)ing Chaos Magick was very well received. Patricia and I have been discussing for some time doing some collaborative writing. It hasn’t come about yet, but keep your fingers crossed. This time, I only touched on political action magic briefly – much of what I covered in the last time we gave this presentation (back in February) has gone into my self-published book, Acts of Magical Resistance. It is available from Amazon in both print and digital editions. My other new book, Queer(y)ing Occultures is also available from Amazon or direct from Original Falcon Press. Patricia has written a lovely foreword to the book.
On Kenneth Grant’s Typhonian Tantra – IV
At last, here is the first part of my observations on the Kalas.
In the glossary of Beyond the Mauve Zone, Grant defines the term ‘Kala’ as follows.
“Kala (S). Time, period, section or part. The substance that reifies and sets limits. The process of conceptualization. There are fifteen kalas in the lunar cycle which culminate in Sodashi, the sixteenth and ‘secret’ secretion. There is a further and seventeenth kala that pertains to the Aeon of Zain. It is inexpressible in verbal form.”
Below, in the glossary, Grant defines Kalas, Uttara as “The seventeenth kala is the first of the cosmic (uttara=beyond) kalas, or kalas from ‘Outside’.”
First then, let’s clear up a possible source of confusion. Grant appears to have conflated two uses of the term kala. There is Kalā, and also Kāla. The root for both these terms is kal – ‘to measure, to create, to drive’ (depending on context).
The Tattvas
Before getting to those two terms, I want to digress and say a little bit about the wider philosophical concept in which these two terms are embedded. In the idealistic monism of the nondual Śaiva tantric traditions, the entire universe is identical with Śiva (consciousness). The emanation, or expansion of this singular entity into the diverse and multiplicious universe is accounted for through the system of 36 tattvas. All this occurs from Śiva’s playfulness (krīḍā).
Twenty-five of these tattvas were borrowed by the Śaivas from the dualist Sāṃkhyas, and they added a further eleven to rework the schema into their monistic vision. Let’s start at the top. Firstly, there is Supreme Śiva – Paramaśīva. Paramaśīva is pure consciousness, the essence of everything; simultaneously transcendent and immanent. Paramaśīva is not a tattva, but out of pulsation from this ultimate source, there emerge the first two tattvas – Śiva and Śakti. They are not separate from each other at this point. The Śiva tattva has the powers of consciousness (cit) and light (prakāśa) and the Śakti tattva, delight (ānanda) and reflective awareness (vimarśa). Next comes Sadāśiva, the divine will (icchā); Īśvara, divine knowledge (jñāna), and Śuddhavidyā, divine or unimpeded action (kriya).
The sixth principle is māyā-tattva. It is at this point that consciousness becomes differentiated and limited. Out of māyā-tattva emerge the five tattvas known as the kañcukas (‘coats of armour’) that cover the self, preventing the bound soul from realizing its essential nature. The kañcukas are, in order of emergence: kalā (limited action), vidyā (limited knowledge, i.e. discursive thought), rāga (passion, attachment), kāla (time) and niyati (causal restriction). All the other tattvas emerge from the kañcukas. As much as the kañcukas give rise to the limited individual, they are also means by which Śivahood may be attained. I’m not going to go through the rest of the tattva sequence. If you want to know more, there are several rambling posts on my blog - Tattvas in Samkhya, then Tantric Tattvas, and Tripura Tattvas, which examines Lakṣmīdhara’s take on the Tattvas.
How ancient is this scheme? This is difficult to determine exactly, but this view of the kañcukas does feature in several early Śaiva Siddhānta scriptures, such as the Parākhyatantra (possibly 8th-9th century).
Kāla – as the embodiment of Time is presented as a deity of death (particularly in the Epics) and an epithet of Yama or Bhairava. The earliest reference to Kāla as primordial time is in the Artha Veda.
The Lunar Kalās
Kalā also denotes one-16th of the moon's diameter - the additional portion it takes on each day of the fortnight, the entirety of them forming the full moon.
This lunar simile is the origin of the 16 kalās of Śiva. The 16 vowels of the phonematic emanation of Śiva are called kalā - they are the parts into which he divides, the creative aspects of his dynamism. The 16th kalā is that which exists during the night of the new moon when the sun and moon live together, hence it is referred to as amāvāsya (night) and amākalā when the moon is invisible. The 16th lunar kalā is regarded as an immortal kalā that makes possible the reappearance of the moon. By the same token, the 16th kalā of Śiva is regarded as that point when both his solar and lunar natures coincide, allowing him to emit manifestation.
The 16th kalā is also the 16th phoneme, the visarga, following which the consonants and the entire manifestation are emitted. The adepts of the Trika tradition say that there is a 17th Kalā, the transcendent anuttara or amṛta kalā, the power of pure consciousness (citkalā), endowed with a determinative tendency containing the potential of all the other powers and the entire manifestation.
In addition to these 16-17 kalās, there are those of the consonants, making 50 in all, but it is also said that the kalās are innumerable; they are the infinite aspects of Śiva who divides in order to manifest the multiplicity of the universe.
Sixteen is also an important number in itself, and kalā’s meaning of one-sixteenth is also found in several passages of the Artha Veda. Prajāpati, the lord of creatures, is said to be of sixteen parts, and so is the Universe. So 16 has an ancient identification with the concept of totality. A connection is made between Prajāpati and the Moon in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Upaniṣad, where it is said that his nights have 15 parts, and the sixteenth part is his self. This idea, of a part that exceeds and encompasses a whole, is quite common in Indian thought. In the Mahābhārata (12,293) is a passage that states that whilst the fifteen phases of the moon appear and disappear in the night sky thousands of times, the real moon is the sixteenth kalā – it is both the source and place where all the others merge.
The Nityās
Nityā (‘eternal’) is an epithet of both Śiva and Durga. It can also be used to indicate regular or mandatory practice or regular prayer. In this essay on the early history of Śrīvidyā I mentioned a group of eleven Nityā goddesses. But there are several other groupings. The Yogakhaṇḍa section of the mammoth Manthānabhairavatantra (a work of the Kubjikā tradition, translated by Mark Dyczkowski) gives a list of nine Nityā goddesses who are guardians of the directions.
Nityās and Śrīvidyā
The Yoginīhṛdaya (mid-11th century) features various groups of Nityās. There is a group of sixteen, identified with the sixteen lunar tithis and the phonemes. They are described as “the reflected forms of her [Lalitā’s] flashing forth”. The text states that these aspects of the goddess are particularly suited to kāmya rites – i.e. those with a specific goal in mind. The Goddess is made up of the 15 syllables of her mantra and also the 15 days of the moon, to which is added their ensemble, making 16 in all. The Tantrarājatantra also lists sixteen Nityās – lunar emanations of Lalitā. See this article by Mike Magee and here for larger versions of their Yantras. Also this short summary by Mike on the topics covered in the Dakṣiṇāmūrti Saṃhita (another Śrīvidyā work) – including the seventeenth kalā.
The Kālī Nityās are covered in Mike Magee’s Kālī Magic, available from Amazon in both paperback and digital formats. More details here.
More Grant in a future newsletter with some thoughts on the guhyāmṛta – ‘secret nectars’ and fluid metaphors in tantric literature.
Brief Book Recommendations
Unquiet, by E. Saxey. Titan Books, 2023.
If you’re a fan of gothic fiction, then I’d highly recommend E. Saxey’s new novel, Unquiet. Haunting and delicately written, with hints at pagan survivals, folk magics, and brooding mysteries, it’s a fun read, ideal for curling up with to keep warm this winter.
Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars, by Finn Mackay. I.B. Tauris, 2021.
If like me, you are bemused, befuddled, or even downright terrified of the ‘gender wars’ raging across social media and the press, then Finn Mackay’s book will be a great help. Witty, passionate, and serious by turns, Finn Mackay lays out the theoretical and historical underpinnings of the gender war and calls for understanding and compassion.
Finally, Chaos Magician Dave Lee has just released a new book: Primordial Chaos: Writings and Rituals from Then and Now. It’s available direct from Amazon as a paperback. Expect a review soon.