Demons of the Flesh - Nikolas Schreck

This groundbreaking, comprehensive, exhaustively researched, and well-written study goes much further than any other book I've ever read on this subject in providing accurate practical knowledge on the totally misunderstood area of Left Hand Path initiation and sex magick. Its promise to be the 'Complete Guide' to this area is more than fulfilled in its 400 pages of insightful text.

The Schrecks draw on decades of real life experience in making the mystery that surrounds this sinister subject clear. After an introductory 'Foreplay' that sets the Schreck's irreverent and iconoclastic tone, the book is divided into 3 sections. Book One, The Sinister Current in the East, explains how the Left Hand Path began in the tantric practices of India, revealing the most radical methods of erotic magic that are so commonly distorted by politically correct New Age forms of tantra in the West. The Schreck's 5 point explanation of the essential principles of the Left Hand Path is the most accurate and useful attempt at describing the basic defining methods of this kind of spirituality I've ever seen, admirably sticking to historical fact instead of the occult gameplaying you find so much of in magical books.

Book Two, The Sinister Current in the West, starts out with a practical glossary of magical terms, and gets into such previously ignored topics as the possibility that Jesus Christ was a Left Hand Path sex magician, the topic of sacred prostitution and the cult of Babylon. The Schrecks cover the Left Hand Path sexual teachings of such well-known magical teachers and groups ...

Book Three, The Sinister Current In Action, guides the reader through such topics as magical masturbation, sexual deprogramming, the selection of sex partners for magical purposes, homosexuality in the Left Hand Path, orgies, sadomasoschism, and even intercourse with incubi and succubi. The use of this section extends beyond sex magic alone and works as a practical primer for magical theory in general. This section moves far from the old traditions of occultism, citing ... eclectic sources ... and drawing on scientific sexology as well as more mystical resources.

The Schreck's lead us through the history, theory and practice of Left Hand Path sex magic with a refreshing sense of humor and a skeptical critique of the gullibility of occultism in general. What also makes this different than any other book on the topic I've read is the authors scholarly research and concentration on exploding the many myths and errors that previous books claiming to illuminate the Left Hand Path have helped to spread.

The book is enlivened by many rare illustrations, some of which I've never seen before. Highly recommended.

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