Lilith, the first wife of Adam?

Image of a Sumerian terracotta relief called the ‘Burney relief’ or ‘Queen of the Night Relief’ (now in the British museum), with her bird-feet and owls suggest to a connection with Lilitu (Lilith in the Bible, and identified as the first wife of Adam in extra-Biblical Jewish folklore).

The Alphabet of Ben Sira is considered to be the oldest story of Lilith as Adam's first wife. The concept of Eve having a predecessor is not exclusive or new to the Alphabet, as it can be found in Genesis Rabbah.

Lilith is believed to have originated as a female Mesopotamian storm demon associated with wind. The figure of Lilith first appeared in a class of wind and storm demons or spirits as Lilitu in Sumer around 4000 BC. The phonetic name Lilith is believed to have originated in ancient Israel before 700 BC.

Although references to Lilith in the Talmud are sparse, some passages provide an insight into the demoness yet seen in Judaic literature. The Talmudic allusions to Lilith illustrate her characteristic wings and long hair, dating back to her earliest extant mention in Gilgamesh: "Rab Judah citing Samuel ruled: If an abortion had the likeness of Lilith its mother is unclean by reason of the birth, for it is a child but it has wings" (Niddah 24b), and, "In a Baraitha it was taught: She grows long hair like Lilith, sits when making water like a beast, and serves as a bolster for her husband” ('Erubin 100b).

The idea that Adam had a wife prior to Eve might have come from an interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creation accounts. While Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from Adam's rib, an earlier passage 1:27 indicates that a woman had been made, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them". The Alphabet text places Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18, "It is not good for man to be alone". In this text God creates Lilith out of the clay from which he made Adam but she and Adam bicker. Lilith claims that since she and Adam were created in the same way they were equal and she refuses to submit to him:

“After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.”

“Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to bring her back.”

“Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.’”

“'Leave me!' she said.’I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.’”

“When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: 'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child recovers.”

In folk traditions of the early middle ages, Lilith became identified with Asmodeus, King of Demons, as his queen. The second myth on Lilith included legends about existence of another world. Asmodeus and Lilith were believed to procreate demonic offspring endlessly, spreading chaos. Many disasters were blamed on them, such as causing wine turning into vinegar, men becoming impotent, women unable to give birth, and death of infants.

There are two main characteristics in these legends about Lilith: Lilith as the incarnation of lust, causing men to be led astray, and Lilith as a child-killing witch. The aspect of the witch-like role that Lilith plays broadens her archetype of the destructive side of witchcraft.

Lilith (1892), oil painting by British artist John Collier, located in Southport Atkinson Art Gallery

The Kabbalah mysticism attempted to establish a more exact relationship between Lilith and the Deity. Her origin has many versions. One mentions her creation as being before Adam's, on the fifth day, because the ‘living creatures’ with whose swarms God filled the waters included none other than Lilith. Another version recounts how Lilith was created with the same substance as Adam was, shortly before. A third version states that God originally created Adam and Lilith in a manner that the female creature was contained in the male. Lilith's soul was lodged in the depths of the Great Abyss. When God called her, she joined Adam. After Adam's body was created a thousand souls from the Left (evil) side attempted to attach themselves to him. However, God drove the evils off. Adam was left lying as a body without a soul. Then a cloud descended and God commanded the earth to produce a living soul. This God breathed into Adam, who began to spring to life and his female was attached to his side. God separated the female from Adam's side. The female side was Lilith, whereupon she flew to the Cities of the Sea and attacked humankind. Yet another version claims that Lilith was not created by God, but emerged as a divine entity that was born spontaneously, either out of the Great Supernal Abyss or out of the power of an aspect of God (the Gevurah of Din). This aspect of God, one of his ten attributes (Sefirot), at its lowest manifestation, has an affinity with the realm of evil and it is out of this that Lilith merged with Samael. According to The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, Lilith was Adam's first wife.

Another legend of the Kabbalah faith links Lilith with the creation of luminaries. The ‘first light’, which is the light of Mercy (one of the Sefirot), appeared on the first day of creation when God said, “Let there be light”. This light became hidden and the Holiness became surrounded by a husk of evil. “A husk (klippa) was created around the brain” and this husk spread and brought out another husk which was Lilith.

Another version that was also current among Kabbalah circles in the middle ages establishes Lilith as the first of Samael's four wives: Lilith, Naamah, Igrath, and Mahalath, each of them being mothers of demons. The marriage of archangel Samael and Lilith was arranged by the ‘Blind Dragon’, who is the counterpart of ‘the dragon that is in the sea’.

The Blind Dragon acts as an intermediary between Lilith and Samael: Blind Dragon rides Lilith the Sinful. And Blind Dragon causes the union between Samael and Lilith. Just as the Dragon that is in the sea (Isa. 27:1) has no eyes, likewise Blind Dragon that is above is without eyes, that is to say, without colors (Patai81:458). Samael is called the Slant Serpent, and Lilith is called the Tortuous Serpent.

The marriage of Samael and Lilith is known as the ‘Angel Satan’ or the ‘Other God’. To prevent Lilith and Samael's demonic children Lilin from filling the world, God castrated Samael. In many 17th century Kabbalah books, this concept is based on the identification of ‘Leviathan the Slant Serpent and Leviathan the Torturous Serpent’ and a reinterpretation of an old Talmudic myth. After Samael became castrated and Lilith was unable to fornicate with him, she left him to couple with men who experience nocturnal emissions. A 15th or 16th century Kabbalah text states that God has ‘cooled’ the female Leviathan, meaning that he has made Lilith infertile and she is a mere fornication.

Another passage charges Lilith as being a tempting serpent of Eve's: “And the Serpent, the Woman of Harlotry, incited and seduced Eve through the husks of Light which in itself is holiness. And the Serpent seduced Holy Eve, and enough said for him who understands. And all this ruination came about because Adam the first man coupled with Eve while she was in her menstrual impurity - this is the filth and the impure seed of the Serpent who mounted Eve before Adam mounted her. Behold, here it is before you: because of the sins of Adam the first man all the things mentioned came into being. For Evil Lilith, when she saw the greatness of his corruption, became strong in her husks, and came to Adam against his will, and became hot from him and bore him many demons and spirits and Lilin (Patai81:455f).

Lilith is listed as one of the Qliphoth, corresponding to the Sephirah Malkuth in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The demon Lilith is described as a beautiful woman, who transforms into a blue, butterfly-like demon, and it is associated with the power of seduction.

Another similar monster was the Greek Lamia, who likewise governed a set of child-stealing Lamia demons. She has different origins and is described as having a human upper body from the waist up and a serpentine body from the waist down. Lamia had a vicious sexual appetite that matched her cannibalistic appetite for children. The Empusae were a class of supernatural demons that Lamia was said to have birthed.

In Arabic lore, Karina is considered Lilith’s equivalent, mentioned as a child-killing witch. Karina plays the role of a ‘shadow’ of a woman and a corresponding male demon, Karin, is the ‘shadow’ of a man. Should a woman marry, her Karina marries the man’s Karin. When the woman becomes pregnant, Karina will cause her chaos. She will try to drive the woman out and take her place, cause a miscarriage by striking the woman and if the woman succeeds in having children then her Karina will have the same number of children she does. Karina will continuously try to create discord between the woman and her husband. Karina plays the role of disrupter of marital relations, akin to one of Lilith's roles in Jewish tradition.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (around 1848), was greatly influenced by Goethe's work on the theme of Lilith. In 1863, Dante Gabriel Rossetti of the Brotherhood began painting what was his first rendition of ‘Lady Lilith’. Symbols appearing in the painting allude to the ‘femme fatale’ reputation of the Romantic Lilith: poppies (death and cold) and white roses (sterile passion).

Some Magical Orders dedicated to Lilith, featuring initiations specifically related to the arcana of the ‘first mother’ exist. Two organizations that use initiations and Magic associated with Lilith are the Ordo Antichristianus Illuminati and the Order of Phosphorus. A 2006 ‘creative occultist’ work by ceremonial magickian Donald Tyson, titled Liber Lilith, details the ‘secret cosmology’ for the 'Mother of Harlots' and spawn of all night breed monsters, Lilith.

In Luciferianism, Lilith is considered a consort of Lucifer and is identified with the figure of Babalon. She is said to come from the mud and dust, and is known as the Queen of the Succubi. When she and Lucifer mate, they form an androgynous being called ‘Baphomet’ or the ‘Goat of Mendes’, also known in Luciferianism as the ‘God of Witches’.

Writings by Michael W. Ford, including The Foundations of the Luciferian Path, claim that Lilith is a part of the ‘Luciferian Trinity’ consisting of herself, Samael and Cain. Lilith is also said to have been Cain's actual mother, and not Eve. Lilith here is seen as a goddess of witches, the dark feminine principle, and is also known as the Goddess Hecate.

Early writers of modern day Wicca had special reverence for Lilith. Charles Leland associated Aradia with Lilith: Aradia, says Leland, is Herodias, who was regarded in Stregheria folklore as being associated with Diana as chief of the witches. Leland further notes that Herodias is a name that comes from West Asia, where it denoted an early form of Lilith.

According to one view, Lilith was originally a Sumerian, Babylonian or Hebrew mother goddess of childbirth, children, women and sexuality who later became demonized due to the rise of patriarchy. Other modern views hold that Lilith is a dark moon goddess on par with the Hindu Goddess Kali.

The Western Mystery Tradition associates Lilith with the Klipoth of kabbalah. Samael Aun Weor in The Pistis Sophia Unveiled claims that homosexuals are the ‘henchmen of Lilith’. Similarly, women who undergo willful abortion, and those who support such practice are ‘seen in the sphere of Lilith’. Dion Fortune writes, "The Virgin Mary is reflected in Lilith," and that Lilith is the source of ‘lustful dreams’. If one meditates on negative (or inverted) Binah, one readily finds Lilith; to worship Lilith is to use the power of the Holy Spirit for negative purposes.

In a paper on the subject of Feminist Theology, Deborah J Grenn, of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, argued that Lilith was a mother goddess whose demonization was designed to keep women alienated from their own 'original sources' of power and spiritual authority. It is argued for ‘a reinterpretation of the divine as embodied by the Semitic Goddess Lilith, she who has been represented and misrepresented in a variety of sacred texts’.

Tantra for experiencing mystic powers

Photo: Tantric goddess Kali at Dakshineswar, West Bengal, India along with her Yantra

Tantra (Tantram or anglicized as Tantricism or Tantrism) is a spiritual practice and ritual form of worship according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva. Tantra aims at liberation from ignorance and the cycle of death and birth. Tantra has been practiced in countries such as India, Nepal, China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia and Mongolia, and has influenced the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain religious traditions.

The Tantrika, or Tantric practitioner seeks to use the Prana (divine power) that flows through the universe, including one's own body, to attain spiritual goals, material goals, or both. The Tantric uses various tools, including yoga, to activate processes that connect the practitioner to the divine. Also important are visualizations of deities and chanting mantras for experiencing mystic powers within the individual, resulting in an ever increasing awareness of cosmic vibration.

Tantrism is also a quest for spiritual and magical powers, by achieving complete control of oneself, and control over all the forces of nature, in order to attain union with the cosmos and with the divine. Arduous training is required to master Tantric methods, into which pupils are initiated by an enlightened guru. Yoga, including breathing techniques and Yoga postures (asana), is employed to train the body to the control of the will. Mudras (gestures), Mantras (syllables, words and phrases), Mandalas and Yantras, which are symbolic diagrams of the forces at work in the universe, are all used as tools for meditation and for the achievement of spiritual, magic and supernatural powers.

During meditation, the follower of the Tantric guru identifies herself or himself with any of the gods or goddesses representing cosmic forces. The follower visualizes them and takes them into her or his mind so that she or he unites with them in a process akin to sexual courtship and consummation. Some Tantric monks (saints, babas, swamis, etc.) use female partners to represent goddesses. In left-handed Tantra (Vamachara), a ritual of sexual intercourse is practiced, not for pleasure as the Tantrics claim, but as a way of entering into the underlying processes and structure of the universe, as scientists deal with the big bang and black holes, etc.

The Tantric tradition may run either parallel to or intertwined with the Vedic tradition, though some orthodox Brahmans who accept the authority of the Vedas reject the authority of Tantras. The source of written Tantric wisdom is the agama, which mainly consist of four parts; delineating metaphysical knowledge (Jnana), contemplative procedures (Yoga), ritual regulations (Kriya) and ethical and religious injunctions (Charya).

Though the paths of Tantra and Yoga are contradictory, they have some common philosophies and goals. During his discourse on ‘Vijnana Bhairava Tantra’, Osho tried to differentiate between these two paths thus, “Yoga is suppression with awareness; Tantra is indulgence with awareness.”

As Robert Svoboda summarizes the three major paths of the Vedic knowledge, “Because every embodied individual is composed of a body, a mind and a spirit, the ancient Rishis of India who developed the Science of Life organized their wisdom into three bodies of knowledge: Ayurveda, which deals mainly with the physical body; Yoga, which deals mainly with spirit; and Tantra, which is mainly concerned with the mind. The philosophy of all three is identical; their manifestations differ because of their differing emphases. Ayurveda is most concerned with the physical basis of life, concentrating on its harmony of mind and spirit. Yoga controls body and mind to enable them to harmonize with spirit, and Tantra seeks to use the mind to balance the demands of body and spirit.”

Tibetan Buddhist Tantric master Lama Thubten Yeshe said, “Each one of us is a union of all universal energy. Everything that we need in order to be complete is within us right at this very moment. It is simply a matter of being able to recognize it. This is the Tantric approach.”

According to Tantra, ‘being-consciousness-bliss’ or Satchidananda (Sat-chit-ananda meaning existence-consciousness-bliss) has the power of both self-evolution and self-involution. Prakriti or ‘Reality’ evolves into a multiplicity of creatures and things, yet at the same time always remains pure consciousness, pure being, and pure bliss. In this process of evolution, Maya (illusion) veils Reality and separates it into opposites, such as conscious and unconscious, pleasant and unpleasant, and so forth. If not recognized as Maya or illusion, these opposing forces can bind, limit and fetter the individual (jiva).

Evolution or the ‘outgoing current’ is only half of the function of Maya. Involution or the ‘return current’ takes the jiva back towards the root of Reality, revealing the infinite. Tantra teaches the method of changing the ‘outgoing current’ into the ‘return current’, transforming the fetters created by Maya into that which ‘releases’ or ‘liberates’. This view upholds two pillars of Tantra; ‘One must rise by that by which one falls,’ and ‘the very poison that kills becomes the elixir of life when used by the wise.’

The Tantric aim is to sublimate rather than to negate relative reality. This process of sublimation consists of three phases: purification, elevation and the ‘reaffirmation of identity on the plane of pure consciousness’. The methods employed for attaining this goal by Dakshinachara (right-hand path) and the Vamachara (left-hand path) of Tantra are different.

It is difficult to describe Tantric practices definitively, but they can be broadly classified as ‘Ordinary Rituals’ and the ‘Secret Rituals’. The Ordinary Ritual or pooja may include elements of Mantra and Yantra, which are instruments to invoke specific Hindu deities such as Shiva, Shakti, or Kali. Similarly, pooja may involve focusing on a Yantra or Mandala associated with a deity.

Tantra, as an offshoot of early Vedic thought, embraced Hindu gods and goddesses, especially Shiva and Shakti, along with the Advaita philosophy that each represents an aspect of the ultimate Param Shiva, or Brahman. The deities may be worshipped externally with flowers, incense and other offerings, such as singing and dancing. But these deities are engaged internally as attributes of Ishta Devata meditations. The practitioners either visualize themselves as the deity, or experience the Darshan (the vision) of the deity. These Tantric practices also are believed to be the foundation of the Ritual Temple Dance of the Devadasis.

Secret Tantric Rituals may include any or all of the elements of Ordinary Rituals, along with other sensate rites such as a feast (food, or sustenance), coitus (sex and procreation), the charnel grounds or cremation grounds (representing death and transition) and defecation, urination and vomiting (representing removal of waste, renewal and fecundity). It is this sensate nature that prompted the German thinker, Indologist and historian of South Asian art Heinrich Zimmer praise Tantra as, “In the Tantra, the manner of approach is not that of Nay but of Yea, the world attitude is affirmative, man must approach through and by means of nature, not by rejection of nature.”

Tantric Sexual Rites of Vamamarga may have emerged from early Hindu Tantra as a practical means of catalyzing biochemical transformations in the body to facilitate heightened states of awareness. These constitute vital offerings to Tantric deities. Sexual rites may have also evolved from clan initiation ceremonies involving transfer of sexual fluids, by which the male initiate is inseminated with the sexual emissions of the female consort, sometimes mixed with the semen of the guru. The Tantrika is thus transformed into a son of the clan (kulaputra) through the grace of his consort. The clan fluid (kuladravya) or clan nectar (kulamrita) is conceived as flowing naturally from her womb. Later developments in the Sexual Rites emphasize the primacy of bliss and divine union, which replace the more bodily connotations of earlier forms. Although popularly equated with Tantra in its entirety in the West, such sexual rites were historically practiced by a minority of sects and cults. For many lineages, these Maithuna practices (sexual union) progressed into psychological symbolism.

The Tantric sex rituals culminate in a sublime experience of infinite awareness for both the participants. Tantric texts specify that sex has three distinct purposes: procreation, pleasure, and liberation. Those seeking liberation avoid frictional orgasm for a higher form of ecstasy, as the couple participating in the ritual lock in a static embrace. Several types of sexual rituals are practiced by Tantrics, involving elaborate and meticulous preparatory and purifying rites. The sexual act itself balances energies coursing within the Pranic Ida and Pingala channels in the bodies of both the partners. The Sushumna nadi (spinal chord) is awakened and Kundalini (instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti that lies coiled at the base of the spine, often called the ‘serpent power') rises upwards within it. This eventually culminates in Samadhi, wherein the individual personalities and identities of the participants are completely dissolved in cosmic consciousness. The male and female participants in Tantric sex are conjoined physically and represent Shiva and Shakti. Beyond physical sex, a subtle fusion of Shiva and Shakti energies takes place, resulting in a unique energy field. On an individual level, each participant experiences a fusion of one's own Shiva and Shakti energies.

The first Western scholar to take the study of Tantra seriously was Sir John Woodroffe (1865-1936), who wrote about Tantra under the pen name Arthur Avalon, who is considered as the ‘founding father of Tantric studies’. Woodroffe was an ardent advocate for Tantra, defending Tantra against its many critics and presenting Tantra as an ethical philosophical system greatly in accord with the Vedas and Vedanta. Woodroffe himself practiced Tantra as he understood it and, while trying to maintain his scholastic objectivity, was considered a student of Hindu Tantra (in particular Shiva-Shakti) tradition.

Following Sir John Woodroffe, a number of scholars of comparative religion and Indology began to investigate Tantric teachings, including Agehananda Bharati, Mircea Eliade, Julius Evola, Carl Jung, Giuseppe Tucci and Heinrich Zimmer. According to Hugh Urban, Zimmer, Evola and Eliade viewed Tantra as "the culmination of all Indian thought: the most radical form of spirituality and the archaic heart of aboriginal India", and regarded it as the ideal religion of the modern era. All three saw Tantra as "the most transgressive and violent path to the sacred." Other popular authors such as Joseph Campbell brought Tantra into the imagination of the peoples of the West. Tantra came to be viewed by some as a ‘cult of ecstasy’, combining sexuality and spirituality in such a way as to act as a corrective force to Western repressive attitudes about sex.

For many modern thinkers, Tantra has become a synonym for ‘Spiritual Sex’ or ‘Sacred Sexuality’, a belief that sex in itself ought to be recognized as a sacred act which is capable of elevating its participants to a more sublime spiritual plane.

According to Hugh Urban, “Since at least the time of Agehananda Bharati, most Western scholars have been severely critical of these new forms of pop Tantra,” and this ‘California Tantra’ as Georg Feuerstein calls it, is “based on a profound misunderstanding of the Tantric path”. “Their main error is to confuse Tantric bliss with ordinary orgasmic pleasure.” Urban said that he himself doesn't consider this ‘wrong’ or ‘false’ but rather ‘simply a different interpretation for a specific historical situation.’

Vamachara system of Tantra is considered to be on the fringes of extreme and associated with the pancha-makara or the ‘Five Ms’, also known as the pancha-tattva. Literally, they are Madya (wine), Mamsa (meat), Matsya (fish), Mudra (cereal), and Maithuna (sexual intercourse).

Vamachara Tantric traditions impose strict ritual limits on the use of these literal forms and warn against non-sanctioned use. If practiced without the guidance of a highly learned Tantric guru, the practitioner will end up committing sins or crimes. So, practitioners of Vamachara Tantric rituals may make symbolic substitutions for these actual things, which are not permitted in orthodox Hindu practice, and certain practices can be legally prohibited. Tantric practices can be done without involvement with the actual pancha-makara is emphasized by Swami Madhavananda, and by numerous other Tantrics.

The 'Charnel Ground Sadhana' (Shmashan Sadhana) practiced by Aghoris, identifies it as principally cutting through attachments and aversion. They are often viewed as uncultured and undomesticated. The gurus and disciples of Aghor believe their state to be primordial and universal. They believe that all human beings are naturally born Aghori. Hari Baba has said that human babies of all societies are without discrimination, they will play as much in their own filth as with the toys around them. Children become progressively discriminating as they grow older and learn the culturally specific attachments and aversions of their parents. Children become increasingly aware of their mortality as they bump their heads and fall to the ground. They start to fear their mortality and then palliate this fear by finding ways to deny it altogether. In this sense, Aghor Sadhana is a process of unlearning deeply internalized cultural models. When this Sadhana takes the form of Shmashan Sadhana, the Aghori faces death as a very young child, simultaneously meditating on the totality of life at its two extremes. This ideal example serves as a prototype for other Aghor practices, both left and right, in ritual and in daily life.

The symbolism of the Khatvanga that entered esoteric Buddhism was a direct borrowing from the Shaivite Kapalikas who frequented places of austerity such as cremation grounds as a form of 'left-handed path'. The form of the Buddhist Khatvanga derived from the emblematic staff of the early Indian Shaivite Yogins, known as Kapalikas or 'skull-bearers'. The original Kapalikas were criminals who had been sentenced to a twelve-year term of penance for the crime of inadvertently killing a Brahmin. The penitent was prescribed to dwell in a forest hut, at a desolate crossroads, in a charnel ground, or under a tree. They were also ordered to live by begging, wear a loin-cloth of hemp, dog, or donkey-skin. They also had to carry the emblems of a human skull as an alms-bowl, and the skull of the Brahmin they had slain mounted upon a wooden staff as a banner. These Kapalika ascetics soon evolved into an extreme outcaste sect of the 'left-hand' Tantric path (Vamamarg) of Shakti or goddess worship. The early Buddhist Tantric Yogins and Yoginis adopted the same goddess or dakini attributes of the Kapalikas.

And finally, here is an advisory!

The extreme types of Tantric practitioners are condemned by cultured and educated people because of their cannibalistic rituals, and rituals like sacrificing animals and even human beings in their secret practices. Many Tantric practices are banned by law in many countries for practices bordering on crime, forced sex, and similar practices. Also, some of the claimants of divine or supernatural powers are just practitioners of black magic or hypnotism, and it is very difficult to separate them from true masters. Their activities come to light only when they are exposed by their own people or by the victims who escape from them. So, if attracted by divine powers, make proper enquiries before joining them for any purpose. There are many reputed spiritual leaders and organizations that have helped people on their paths to meditation and bliss! So, be selective and don’t let your quest for eternal bliss end up in eternal suffering at the hands of fakes!