The Royal Path of Shakti

The Royal Path of Shakti by Daniel Odier is the first step-by-step guide to the techniques of Kaula Tantra, the practical yogini path to enlightenment.

This book details the erotic and magical practices of Kaula Tantra, as well as the arcane principles that activate each technique. It includes a complete translation of the Kaulajnananirnaya Tantra from Sanskrit and explores Kaula techniques for acquiring siddhis—magical powers—as well as sacred protection and black magic practices.

The Kaulajnananirnaya Tantra, written in the 8th century by sage Matsyendranatha, records the secret erotic and magical practices of the Yogini Kaula tradition. This tradition focuses on practical methods for attaining enlightenment. Although the text contains roughly 60 practices, it employs a "twilight language" that obscures the secret principles necessary for the techniques to work. It falls upon a master to awaken the initiate to the esoteric meaning of the practices within the text.

With permission from his Himalayan tantric yogini master, Lalita Devi, Daniel Odier reveals the practices and secret principles of Kaula Tantra. He explains each erotic and magical technique of Kaula in depth, providing a complete translation of the Kaulajnananirnaya Tantra from Sanskrit. Odier connects each practice to Matsyendranatha's text and offers vivid stories of his initiation into the practices. He explores techniques from the complete mystical method transmitted by the yoginis for millennia, such as opening the nadis, the body’s energy channels.

Odier details Kaula techniques for acquiring siddhis—magical powers such as the ability to hear faraway things or appear in several places at once—as well as sacred protection and black magic practices.

The author explains the relationship between the Kaula practices and the 8 Red Goddesses, each representing a different aspect of the Royal Path of Shakti within the 8 chakras. He shares a system of illuminating visualisations to integrate the body of the practitioner with vibration (spanda) and consciousness, until there is no difference between the inner world and the cosmos.

Presenting the first step-by-step guide to the techniques of Kaula Tantra, Odier outlines the practical yogini path to enlightenment and offers a direct transmission through the liberating power of the written word.