It's incredible to me the poverty of libraries of techniques and practices for these transformations. There are plenty of spaces (monasteries, universities, academies, etc.) and communities (cults, churches, etc.) but there are very few legible comparisons of techniques and their thrust (from sutra to tantra for example).
I'm curious if you have a working list of clear techniques and lessons that serve as anchors for Hierophant practice?
This is a great question and an interesting conundrum.
The first thing to point out is that lists and libraries lean sutric, which risks reducing tantic practice to something taught in rote, i. e. a more sutric form. In the East, though, the Tantric Buddhists work with greener adherents in person, through training and dialogue. Sure, there are books to sell to Westerners. But the process is more like a torch passing, particularly because tantric energies that can be so unwieldy.
With that in mind, hierophant means *he who reveals the sacred.* So, imagine what would have been revealed in Eleusis and by whom. Then imagine HOW. There is trances and meditation, but there is kykion. As an aspiring Hierophant, I see myself in that sutric role you suggest above, which means first to be a scribe. But I'm also imagining a future in which some of us ascend in this manner. Our (future hierophants') job is eventually to reveal the sacred to our followers in the adyton, not in the agora or the library.
That being said, you're right to ask what can serve as anchors for Hierophant practice. As a lowly scribe, I'm working away at that task. Later, I'll have to find others with which to fulfill the promises of aspiration. For now, this vision of the Hierophant sits in space between fiction and reality. Moving into tantra will require subordinating myself to the mentorship of masters from other traditions, given that Grey Robes is still such a nascent order--a work in progress.
In any case, Shadow Rebbe, I'm keen to read more of your thoughts.
It's incredible to me the poverty of libraries of techniques and practices for these transformations. There are plenty of spaces (monasteries, universities, academies, etc.) and communities (cults, churches, etc.) but there are very few legible comparisons of techniques and their thrust (from sutra to tantra for example).
I'm curious if you have a working list of clear techniques and lessons that serve as anchors for Hierophant practice?
This is a great question and an interesting conundrum.
The first thing to point out is that lists and libraries lean sutric, which risks reducing tantic practice to something taught in rote, i. e. a more sutric form. In the East, though, the Tantric Buddhists work with greener adherents in person, through training and dialogue. Sure, there are books to sell to Westerners. But the process is more like a torch passing, particularly because tantric energies that can be so unwieldy.
With that in mind, hierophant means *he who reveals the sacred.* So, imagine what would have been revealed in Eleusis and by whom. Then imagine HOW. There is trances and meditation, but there is kykion. As an aspiring Hierophant, I see myself in that sutric role you suggest above, which means first to be a scribe. But I'm also imagining a future in which some of us ascend in this manner. Our (future hierophants') job is eventually to reveal the sacred to our followers in the adyton, not in the agora or the library.
That being said, you're right to ask what can serve as anchors for Hierophant practice. As a lowly scribe, I'm working away at that task. Later, I'll have to find others with which to fulfill the promises of aspiration. For now, this vision of the Hierophant sits in space between fiction and reality. Moving into tantra will require subordinating myself to the mentorship of masters from other traditions, given that Grey Robes is still such a nascent order--a work in progress.
In any case, Shadow Rebbe, I'm keen to read more of your thoughts.