Essays From The Master

Ku Sorcery
 

In China there are from ancient times many schools of occultism just as there are of martial arts. The I Ching gave birth to many schools of thought both mystical and martial as it did with more practical, some would say darker, schools of occultism or sorcery. The lore in the article below stems from a sect based around the energies of the 18^th hexagram known as Ku or Kuo. In Chinese mythology the Ku is a spirit born of corruption and decay and as it is composed of the Earth trigram over that of air we get the idea of stagnation or suffocation being implied. Some Ku spirits are said to be link imps or trolls while others are said to be like Succubi or Incubi. Ku sorcery then is the conjuration and control of these beings to bring about some desired result. As this is a form of Sorcery the ends of such operations are usually wealth, authority, sexual submission, defeat of a foe or immortality in keeping with the basis of the five elements. These operations are the private or “in house” specialties of the Ku School. There public works include divination via the I Ching, potions, exorcism, amulets and charms and finally astrology.

 

It is not unreasonable to assume that the Ku sect as many sects did and still do today have a system of martial arts based on the principals of the I Ching which served as the basis of many martial arts or Kung Fu systems. Given the nature of the work of the Ku sect it is not a leap to think that sleight of both hand and mind played a role in the group’s public rites and martial arts.    

 

Basic concepts:
 

Ku in Japanese is a symbol for the microcosm of the self composed of the mind and the body; it represents the mundane or rational world. In Chinese Ku is a symbol of the power and image spectrum of reality that exist outside the self, it is a symbol of black magick or sorcery. Ku is also the 18^th hexagram of the I Ching which represents the vessel of corruption or the vessel that corrupts. Based on this hexagram a form of sorcery evolved that uses a female of an overtly sexual nature as a vessel for the powers the sorcerer evokes through chanting and sexual stimulation while the vessel is entranced. In the Cult of the Ku, the Ku is seen as a serpent or dragon goddess/spirit that in form embodies the sexual desires of those who evoke her into existence. Ku adepts may keep an actual mistress to serve as Ku or they may build up the atavism of the Ku in the astral. Most adepts do both.

 

Wu in Japanese is a symbol for the macrocosm outside the self composed of occult power and iconic images; it represents both the unconscious and the true Unseen realm. Wu is also the symbol for the number five and the five elements of the visible world. In Chinese Wu is seen as the antidote to Ku, it is white magick to the black magick of the Ku. Wu is true occult power as apposed to the shadow form which is drawn from the ego enflamed by lust. The true adept uses his Ku as a lure and vessel for the Wu. Thus while the dragon lady may appear as a whore she is an incarnation of the empress of heaven. In China the empress of heaven is called the phoenix or in Chinese Feng Hu Ang. Given this bit of lore a secret becomes clear: the “Dragon goddess” is in fact the goddess of the dragon i.e. the emperor or adept of the Ku symbolized by a dragon as she is by the phoenix.

The Ku Vessel: The sorcerer’s or Wu-Jen’s bowl
 

The primary and only permanent tool of Ku sorcery is a bowl or urn that is said to contain the Ku of the sorcerer. This bowl is the home of the evoked or created succubae that the sorcerer uses, it is also the focus during ritual in terms of energy and by placing things in the bowl the sorcerer is actually casting his spells. The hexagram Ku suggests a closed vessel or urn, the earth trigram over that of air. There is a cross cultural theme of spirits being bound in or to objects. This idea suggests the artificial or evoked nature of the Ku spirit. The process of creating a Ku and the preparation of the Ku vessel are the same, the vessel providing the Ku with a sort of esoteric biosphere. One prepares the Ku Vessel in an area set aside for ritual. This ritual area may be permanent as in a kwoon or temple, the Chinese equivalent to the Japanese dojo. The preparation of the kwoon is based on the particular tradition of the Wujen or sorcerer, the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese Mahozukai.

 

The Ku vessel is prepared in three phases, one Yin, one Yang, and one for the Tao or the Path. The Yin phase of the process is this: the sorcerer spends time meditation allowing his lusts to develop a form for the Ku. The form includes appearance, personality and behavior of the Ku avatar. Next is the Yang phase and in it the sorcerer must design his Ku and allow his lusts to form it. Once the Ku is conjured mentally, the sorcerer must use the Ku to excite his flesh and force his release into the bowl. Next the sorcerer must add fresh water and ash from joss or incense that has been offered in ritual. The bowl is then left in the ritual area for a week. After a week fresh water and dried herbs are placed in the bowl. For as long as it takes for the content of the bowl to dry the sorcerer spends time with the vessel mentally calling his Ku and stimulating his body close but not to orgasm. Once all is dried up in the bowl the sorcerer moves on to the Tao phase: the sorcerer must excite his body without any acts but those of mind and will and thus conjure his Ku. Once his Ku is called the sorcerer must make a fire in the bowl of its content. When the flame is at its peak, the sorcerer must allow himself release and thus birth the Ku.

 

Many steps of the above process point on a symbolic level to the artificial creation of life, what is symbolic on Earth or ceremonial are literal on the etheric plane. Does this not point to a primitive knowledge of so-called “test tube” babies? Is not this Asian practice the same as the western alchemical working of the homunculus in intent? Once the Ku is active it operates as a Familiar and is controlled with the will and mudra. With the Ku active the sorcerer smashes the vessel and creates a symbolic bowl filled with sweet herbs. This symbolic or ceremonial Ku vessel serves as a nest or home for the Ku, but destroying this bowl once the Ku has been birthed does not effect the Ku its self. Ku are sometimes bound or kept in small animals such as toads or snakes though at times the animal was only represented in a carving kept in the ceremonial vessel. If an animal is attached to the Ku of a Wujen, than that Ku will have animal traits as well as sexual traits. It must be kept in mind that the Ku spirit used by the Wujen is a projection of a primal atavism given a degree of awareness by the Wujen in order to affect his will by remote means.  

 

Once the Ku is active the creature can be controlled through a mixture of meditation and scripted auto-eroticism. Often these scripts do not involve the intent of the sorcerer; the intents of the adept are tattooed on the image of the Ku. The scripts should both build and distract the ego. In a sense the scripts are ritualistic pornography; stories can be of any length as can poetry. Such scripts are sorcerer’s sutra in a sense and often use verse of many kinds as well as stories. Due to the particularization of this technique most Ku adepts are also adepts of other arts. Ku sorcery was one of the elements that went into the formulation of the Kobudera arts of the Komuso Ryu. In the Komuso Ryu we have the “Bowl of the World,” in most cases the sexual or Tantric elements are not taught in most dojos.

 

To create the Ku and use it as intended is an example of practical sorcery, however this act of the will has an transcendental aspect. To create the Ku the Wujen must willfully call forth his most primal desire, acknowledge it and grant it the credit of reality within its range. To be able to do this one must be honest as to one’s desires on all levels and embrace them as aspects of one’s self, in doing so the Wujen acknowledges all that he is and so doing conquers himself which is the first and last step in having any power over all that which is not the self. The Ku as an incarnation of desire in many cases once its been birthed has already filled the void it was intended to fill simply by the Wujen doing what had to be to create it.

 

On the other hand since this type of Ku is a created or evoked entity it can be used without many of the dangers associated with working with the spirits or Gods. The Ku has its own dangers as what had been ritualistic use of fantasy and sexuality can become a masturbatory obsession and thus instead of embodying the desire as a vessel for the power of the Wujen the Ku robs the sorcerer of both leaving him an empty shell deluded into seeing himself as master of all when in fact he is nothing but the shadow of a memory of himself.