This article examines the worship of the snake goddess Manasā in Assam, with special attention to the dynamics of gender, identity, and spirit possession. Specifically, the article focuses on two different forms of possession performance in honor of the goddess: the more ecstatic and bloody performance by male dancers at Kāmākhyā temple and the more folklorized and domesticated performance by...
Although the forces of Eros and Magic have long been linked in western esoteric traditions, it is really not until the nineteenth century that we see the emergence of a large and sophisticated body of literature on the art of sexual magic. This article examines the rise of sexual magic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, placing it in the context of the larger discourse...
Abstract A series of select translations is presented from the Bhāver Gīta, the main song text of the Kartābhajās, a Bengali sect devoted to Tantra in colonial Calcutta, Bengal. The author has chosen the songs that he considers most significant and organized them under thematic headings: Company songs, Songs of the marketplace, Songs of mystical belief and esoteric practice, Songs of lust and...