How to Overcome Masturbation

​The best science we have is the knowledge of chastity and transmutation, given by the greatest human beings in history. That science is objective and profound, but has been hidden from the public because we cannot be trusted with power. To access genuine Gnosis, you have to work sincerely and patiently, usually in silence, because the public—being uneducated in this science—will do everything it can to dissuade you from it, since we have a collective mind, not individual mind, and do not like anything that contradicts our habits and desires. As we all believe, if everyone else says it is right, it must be ok!

This is also part of why you will not find any support for chastity and sexual transmutation in "modern science." No scientist or doctor is willing to go against "the industry." Those who do are ridiculed, expelled.

Although the vast majority of doctors and researchers repeat the claims they learned in medical school that orgasm and masturbation are healthy, the science they depend upon is entirely one-sided and lacks a serious control group, i.e. a group that practices scientific chastity or sexual transmutation. As such, the modern medical community has scarcely researched the chastity recommended in the sacred doctrine of all religions.

Proof of this science is found through living it. By living it, you need no documentation, public support, or so-called authorities. You will know because you experience it.

Can you really base your spiritual future on the opinions of others? Is it not better to rely on proven sources of guidance?
 
Christ offered a parable in the Gospels regarding the Christic teachings of chastity. To truly understand this wisdom, one must practice it. It requires a transformation of one’s deeply-ingrained attitudes, beliefs, and concepts about sexuality. However, mentioning the role of chastity in the spiritual path sparks heated debate, defensiveness, and controversy. This is because:

Gods and demons live in eternal struggle. The Gods defend the doctrine of chastity. The demons hate chastity.  In sex, the root of the conflict between Gods and demons is found. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony, “The Great Battle”

The reality is that if lust is truly acceptable before divinity, then humanity would be in a very different state. Instead, individuals defend their desires at all cost, while failing to recognize the consequences for their behaviors. This is why Christ said that to truly enter the spiritual path, one must revolutionize one’s mind:

No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better.” ―​Luke 5:36-39 

​Lust and Sexual Energy

Lust is a psychological phenomenon that stimulates physical reactions. Therefore, the appearance of lust is not dependent upon external circumstances: being married or not, etc., but by the quality of our psychological environment. Lust is like a weed that will grow in any garden: a single life, married life, within children or adults, etc., so we need to be vigilant and uproot it as soon as it appears.

Lust is not the same as the sexual power. The sexual power is part of life. Sexuality is normal and necessary for life to exist. Sexuality exists in all levels of creatures, from the lowest to the highest. However, when that power becomes trapped in psychological addictions to sexual sensations, lust emerges. In other words, in us, our sexual power has been corrupted, infected with illusion. This psychological problem is the basis of all religions, and the basis of why we suffer.

​What Constitutes Masturbation?

In the process of conserving, transforming, and elevating one’s sexual energies, there should be no straining or exertion upon the sexual organs. Vices like masturbation, which involve the hands touching one's sexual organs, is strictly prohibited within ancient religions and Gnosticism. The hands do not belong on the sexual organs, whether for men or women, and that type of self-stimulation, which leads to tension and stress on our generative organs, has adverse psychological and physical effects.
 
Degeneration is the opposite of generation: the flow, transference, and conscious utilization of the creative energies with the Essence. To degenerate is to break down, decay, and no longer generate the spiritual principles of the Being, the Innermost, which Samael Aun Weor speaks about so abundantly in his writings. A masturbator does not generate life, but through self-copulation takes the seed potential for spiritual awakening and expels it, degenerating the very life source that can give them being.
 
Masturbation is self-stimulation to feed desire, referred to as black vajroli within esotericism. This is considered 100% black magic within schools of White Tantra.

Masturbation: From the Latin words manstuprare, from manus "hand" (as in manual) + stuprare "defile" (oneself), from stuprum "defilement, dishonor," related to stupere "to be stunned, stupefied" (as in stupid). ―​Gnostic Glossary: Glorian Publishing

Masturbation is dishonorable before divinity and degenerates the mind, eventually leading to psychological imbalances. It engenders many mental illnesses and detrimental forms of behavior that are well documented within the pornography and sex slave industries. Masturbation is the source of emotional imbalances and many problems that afflict our humanity: individually, socially, and globally.

What is Semen?

Semen is not the exclusive physiological property of the male sex. Semen is the generative fluids, waters, or energies of both men and women. As indicated by the Hebrew word for "oil," שמן Shemen or semen is the raw matter or substance through which the Gnostic practitioner generates light, consciousness, and positive awakenings. If there is no oil in the lamp, one cannot achieve spiritual illumination. The same with the sexual force.

Both men and women can lose their seminal matter, generative fluids, and energy through masturbation or orgasm.

Unfortunately, women, like men, lose the divine forces when they commit the error of reaching that which is called "orgasm" or "spasm" in organic biology. ―​Samael Aun Weor, “Woman’s Saintly Predestination”

When semen or seminal energy is ejaculated, the lamp of the consciousness is snuffed out and desire is awakened.

Religions on Masturbation and Sexual Transmutation

In the heart of all genuine mystical traditions and mystery schools, masturbation is forbidden, because those self-stimulating "movements" are identification with sensation and the fortification of desire through the wrong use of the sexual energy.
 
All religions teach that there is no spiritual benefit to masturbation, since it involves defiling one’s body and soul, whether alone or in sexual union:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
 
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
 
And if thy right eye [that looks at pornographic images] offend thee, pluck it out [eradicate your desire], and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. ―Matthew 5:27-29

And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him [or the woman’s as well] then he shall wash all his flesh in water [of transmutation], and be unclean until the even [the death of the ego in the meditation]. ―Leviticus 15:16

The sacred texts assert that orgasm is the root of uncleanliness (ego), whether physical or psychological, and must be renounced to enter the path.
 
According to the ancient mystery schools, a true human being, a Hum (Sanskrit: spirit) united with Man (Sanskrit manas: mind) utilizes all their energies for divinity, never for lust or procreation (animal generation).
 
The orgasm is an act of animal procreation and desire. If one wants to remain an animal, one is free to do so. However, one’s consciousness, experience, life, and spirituality will remain at the animal level.
 
Continence, chastity, is the method to create spiritual life, as Jesus indicated:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [seminal matter] and of the Spirit [the creative energy], he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
 
That which is born of the flesh [through orgasm] is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit [through chastity] is spirit. —John 3:5-6
​
Furthermore, if in these instants [sexual union] the woman teaches the man the necessity of being "continent," if instead of reaching the final consummation of immense passion she has the valor to restrain the animal impulse, to avoid that which in organic physiology, or biology, is termed "orgasm" or "spasm,” he could retain those mystical forces of the Third Logos, of Mahachoan, of the Hindustani Shiva. With such subtle forces, she will be able to create within herself something different. She will be able to convert herself into a victor. She will pass to an extraordinary level of Being. She will never again have misery or pain, for her there will be no suffering. Many faculties will emerge in all of her organism; she will be completely different. A woman thus transformed by her own creative energies would be able to transform man and transform the world, because woman has a unique power: to form beings in her own womb. —Samael Aun Weor, “Woman’s Saintly Predestination”

Schools of White Tantra also state that the conservation and transformation of semen into energy is the foundation of spiritual development.

I [Shiva] am the semen, Sakti [the Goddess] is the generative fluid; when they are [perfectly] combined in the body [through this practice], then the body of the Yogi becomes divine [immortal].
 
Ejaculation of semen [orgasm] brings death, preserving it within brings life. Therefore, one should make sure to retain the semen within. ―Siva Samhita: “Preserve the Semen”

Masturbation exhausts the creative potential to awaken spiritual intelligence, thereby resulting in the successive degeneration of one’s creative faculties.
 
Within the Zohar and kabbalistic traditions, masturbation is the doctrine of Lilith, a demon who relates to the inverted sephirah of Binah upon the Tree of Life.

Binah is intelligence, but when inverted in hell is “subtle stupidity.”

Demons or black magicians, while possessing sparkling intellects, are really devoid of spiritual wisdom, intelligence, and understanding, because they engage with many fascinating philosophical subtleties justifying masturbation while ignoring the tremendous sufferings caused by their desires.
 
Rather than sexually stimulate oneself, it is better to transmute one’s creative energies through pranayama, runes, alchemy, and sacred rites of rejuvenation.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. ―1 Thessalonians 3:3-5

Therefore, control your body through transmutation and do not dishonor yourself through your own hands.

And if thy right hand [used in masturbation] offend thee, cut it off [abandon your lusts], and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members [your ego] should perish, and not that thy whole body [soul] should be cast into hell. ―​Matthew 5:30

​Masturbation without Orgasm

While the orgasm is forbidden by the White Lodge, sexual self-stimulation without orgasm, while using imagination to feed desire, is also renounced in White Tantra.
 
Let us recall that there are three types of Mercury or sexual energy, as documented in the alchemical traditions and the Hebraic Kabbalah:
 

• Nephesh / Brute Mercury: physical entity of the sperm
• Ruach / Electronic essence: metallic soul of the sperm
• Neshamah / Mercury fecundated by Fire: Kundalini

 
Although you may not ejaculate your physical semen, fornication may occur on more subtle levels, such as through sexual fantasy and inner desires. Many people think that even if you do not physically orgasm, it is "OK” to stimulate oneself through masturbation or by watching pornographic films.
 
Whether one ejaculates one's semen or retains it during masturbation, the act of copulating and arousing oneself in such a lustful way destroys the soul. Although the Brute Mercury (entity of semen) may not be lost, the other two types of Mercury, known as the electronic essence of the sperm and the Mercury fecundated by fire (Kundalini), are wasted through masturbation.

Identification with self-copulation, induced through pornographic images or self-generated arousal with lustful intentions, wastes the superior two types of Mercury or sexual energy. 

Without energy control your sexual activity is fornication... ―Yeshe Tsogyal

Fornication is more than just ejaculating semen: it is how one wastes energy through lust. If people arouse themselves with lust, even without ejaculating their semen, they are committing fornication. They do not control their animal desires, but ignite their sexual fires for the sake of pleasure.

This is 100% against the teachings of the White Lodge, since a student will lose energy by how he or she identifies with desire.

Wherever we direct attention, we expend creative energy. ―​Samael Aun Weor, Fundamentals of Gnostic Education

Therefore, even if we are physically chaste, our mind can take us into suffering if it is not controlled. Remember that Jesus said a man commits adultery simply by looking at a woman out of lust (and of course, the same principle applies to women). Therefore, what is essential is ethical discipline and mindfulness of how we expend creative energy with our consciousness.

​Sexual Fantasy and Impotence

Sexual fantasy is the expression of animal, lustful desires, the pluralized self or ego.

Sexual fantasy is the origin of a lot of suffering and pain for humanity. Sexual desire, rather than going away when fed, becomes stronger and more demanding. This is why people who masturbate become more insatiable in their appetites, indulging in more extreme forms of pornography.
 
By artificially stimulating the sexual energy through masturbation—whether there is spilling or not—students damage their brain, nervous systems, emotional center, and sexual organs. Moreover, they will only strengthen those desires (lust), thereby making their craving for sexual sensations more intense. Instead of doing that, they should learn to practice pranayama.
 
Masturbation and sexual fantasy also creates impotence, for by investing one’s sexual energies into desire and lustful imagination, the creative potential is squandered, leaving men incapable of arousal or erection.

Sexual fantasy produces impotence of a psychosexual type. People with that kind of illness have normal erections; they are apparently normal men, but in the moment in which they try to connect the penis and the vulva, the erection abates making the phallus fall, leaving the man in the most horrible state of desperation. They have lived in sexual fantasy and when they really find themselves facing the crude sexual reality which has nothing to do with fantasy, they become confused and are unable to properly respond to reality. ―​Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

While this TED Talk is not about masturbation, but recent research on pornography, it is applicable to almost any addiction, especially of a sexual nature. Such research determines how fornication, masturbation, and pornography addiction affects the brain and body, leading to impotence and sterility. It also details how some people are successfully changing such habits for the better.

​Incubi and Succubi

Lust has a definitive, concrete effect on the psychological, physiological and spiritual life of masturbators. Not only do men become impotent and women sterile, but it is well documented within spiritual literature how masturbation produces living entities within the astral plane, which have a singular purpose: to extract the life-essence, sexual energy, or seminal matter from their progenitors.
 
Masturbation or self-copulation with one’s sexual organs engenders egos of homosexuality or lesbianism, as well as incubi and succubi, because one is sexually relating to their own gender and feeding fantasy.
 
These entities become a serious obstacle in the Gnostic work. As Gnostics, we are deeply concerned with conserving our creative sexual energy, because without it one cannot enter and complete the spiritual path.
 
As stated by Paracelsus:

Incubi and succubi are formed from the sperm of those who perform the imaginative anti-natural act of masturbation (in thoughts or desires).

And because it comes only from the imagination, it is not genuine sperm (material) but corrupt salt.

Only semen that comes from an organ selected by Nature for its development can germinate in a body.

When sperm does not come from appropriate matter (nutritious substratum) it will not produce anything good, but will generate something useless.

For this reason, incubi and succubi that originate from corrupt semen are harmful and useless in accordance with the natural order of things.

These germs which are formed in the imagination are born of Amore Heress, which signifies the type of love whereby a man imagines a woman, or vice-versa, in order to copulate with the image created within the sphere of his mind.

The expulsion of a useless, ethereal fluid results from this act, incapable of producing offspring but instead bringing larvae into existence.

Imagination used in this way gives birth to an exuberant shamelessness which, if pursued, can make a man impotent and a woman sterile, because during the frequent practice of any such unhealthy visualization, much real creative energy is lost.

The larvae-egos of lasciviousness are real, thinking, autonomous entities within which a good percentage of consciousness is imprisoned. ―Paracelsus, cited in The Mystery of the Golden Flower by Samael Aun Weor

The larvae to which Paracelsus refers are none other than those cultivated forms of thought that owe their energy and existence solely to unnatural imagination. ―​Samael Aun Weor, The Mystery of the Golden Flower

​Sexual Attacks in the Astral Plane

Succubi and incubi are terribly lustful egos created through masturbation and fornication, yet we can be attacked by sorceresses and sorcerers whose internal lust is very fat, who thereby seek to lead us into temptation.

To know the difference between an external and internal demon, continue to conjure, meditate, and pray. Discrimination is a quality of conscious perception that is strengthened through conjurations and self-reflection. Intuition is also born in us as we empower our psyche with positive forces (through transmutation) and by dispelling negativity through prayers.

Conjurations can work well not only against black magicians outside of us, but our own inner demons as well. When using such prayers against our own mind, these invocations to Christ can temporarily dispel or keep the hounds at bay, but in order to be permanently free of them, we must meditate and destroy them through comprehension and prayer to the Divine Mother.
 
Thus, to restore the natural function of the sexual energy, one must stop the unnatural use of imagination: sexual fantasy.

Pornographic Media

Another serious danger for students is pornographic media. Images from lustful magazines, websites, online dating platforms, and other media strike the mind and consciousness of the observer. Such images enter the psyche and crystallize in the form of incubi and succubi, tempting elements that the spiritual aspirant now has to fight against within their own consciousness.

Sexual fantasy corrupts the mind, heart, and body. It likewise has far-reaching consequences and effects that many refuse to recognize or acknowledge.

Intellectual criminology is found in books, magazines, bull fighting arenas, movie theaters, pamphlets, etc.

There are pornographic magazines that prostitute the minds of male and female youngsters in different countries.

When a pornographic representation reaches the mind, the unconsciousness traps that representation and elaborates its conceptual content. The conceptual content elaborated by the unconsciousness is the exact outcome of the quality of the representation. The psychological “I” traps that representation within the depths of the mind’s unconsciousness and elaborates its conceptual content with it. The conceptual content is translated as semi-conscious images within the world of the cosmic mind. These are the effigies of the mental world. The psychological “I” fornicates and commits adultery with those images within the plane of the cosmic mind. This is what the prostitution of the mind is. Nocturnal pollutions (wet dreams) are the morbid outcome of the prostitution of the mind.

There are also magazines [now matchmaking websites] for failures. In the magazines for the failures, women announce themselves. They solicit for a husband who is short, fat, skinny, with money, etc. Many young ladies are following that ultramodern example. This is mental prostitution. The outcome of this mental prostitution is critical. The interchange of writing begins. They start falling in love with someone they do not know and they start projecting plans. Yet, in the end, on the day when the couple meets, failure is the inevitable outcome.

Ladies who have never been prostitutes—honorable and distinguished young ladies—allow themselves to be cheated by modernism and fall into the crime of mental prostitution.

If a clairvoyant were to study in the mental plane the announcements of love of all of those magazines [matchmaking websites], one will see houses of prostitution. Each announcement of love corresponds in the mental world to a horrible mental bedroom of a whorehouse. Every clairvoyant is astonished when seeing those whorehouses of the mental plane.

Within each bedroom of those horrible dens a prostitute is found lying there. Men enter and leave from those bedrooms. Each announcement of the magazine corresponds to one of those bedrooms. The woman who placed the announcement is lying down in her bedroom. This is what the prostitution of the mental plane is.

True love has nothing to do with those whorehouses of the mental plane.

Thousands of young and distinguished ladies are perverting themselves with those types of magazines [and websites].

True love begins always with a flash of delectable affinity. It is substantiated with the force of tenderness, and it is synthesized in infinite, supreme adoration. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology

Spiritual progress is based upon psychological and physical purity. If we wish to avoid the prostitution of our mind, heart, and energies, it is important to renounce addictions and behaviors that perpetuate suffering.

The Struggle against Masturbation

Many students write to our Gnostic instructors that they seriously strive to practice these teachings, but arrive to a very serious obstacle: masturbation. Despite the provided instructions on transmutation and chastity, many students struggle to overcome this habit. In response to students' inquiries, we have stated:
 
You are the only one responsible for your actions. If you beat yourself up, that is your choice. If you want to be happy, that is your choice. If you vacillate between doing what is necessary for the benefit of your soul and your egotistical desires, you will continue to suffer. The truth is that you have the power to change yourself and renounce bad habits. But in order for you to change, you have to want to.

Our experience with students who break chastity has shown us that such students are usually unclear about what they want from these studies. If you do not comprehend what you want from Gnosis, you will continue to retrogress. Knowledge is intellectual, but comprehension is of the heart. One may know intellectually that masturbation, fornication, or drugs are harmful. An alcoholic or drug addict knows what they are doing is wrong. Yet they continue to indulge in these destructive habits because they do not comprehend their actions or the harm their behavior causes.

The sole reason students continue to fornicate in these studies is a lack of comprehension. Reading how lust is harmful will not do anything. Only comprehending karma and the effects of bad behavior will lead to change. If you comprehend how lust destroys your soul, you will never dare engage in such activities again. Comprehension transcends intellectual knowledge and guides our heart. If you do not follow the hidden inclinations of the heart, then you will continue to allow yourself to suffer.

Laziness is not only an ego, but the sleep of our psyche. One can be very engaged with work and daily routines, have established tremendous discipline in time management, and yet be totally asleep as a consciousness. Therefore, in this manner we continue to feed all our defects and desires.

If one longs to advance on this path, one must completely renounce degenerated behaviors. Do not vacillate. If you want to be serious, destroy all of your pornography and abandon lust. Comprehend in yourself how lust destroys the mind. If you do not meditate on how lust destroys the soul, you will never comprehend how such behaviors produce tremendous suffering. Without comprehension, students continue to indulge in masturbation and remain where they are, in the mud and filth of affliction. It is very easy for the intellect to rationalize how masturbation is harmful, but comprehending how desire produces suffering is something else. An alcoholic may know that consuming liquor will destroy him, yet he continues to do so anyway. The same with the masturbator. However, if an alcoholic comprehends how alcohol is demonic, he will never allow himself to be tempted. The same with masturbation. Knowledge is of the mind, comprehension is of the heart. Only the heart can comprehend and overcome all problems, not the mind!

​Techniques to Overcome Masturbation

Habits, especially those that have been programmed into our minds over the course of many years, are difficult to break. However, it is possible to overcome them, and many people do.

Our first piece of advice to you would be to set up a daily practice of transmutation, such as pranayama. We have many such practices in our tradition. Samael gives a very simple one here:
 

• Ham-Sah: Sexual Transmutation

If the energy is not flowing in our organism in the proper way (facilitated by transmutation), then it will try to act in ways that are detrimental to our growth.

Second, seek to understand the aspects of your psychology that are connected to this habit, and free the parts of your consciousness that are trapped within those egos. Masturbation isn't usually something that happens spontaneously. It is usually the end result of a chain of events. What were those events? Meditate and reflect on what led you to that state, and cut off the chain before you reach the end. Get out of the environment you are in and pray to your Inner God (a powerful prayer, such as the Pater Noster) for help. Go do something else to change your state of mind.

Further on this topic, don't just seek to remove yourself from external phenomena, but look into the internal drivers of those phenomena. For instance, if we find ourselves looking lustfully at women, this is because the consciousness is trapped in an ego that believes it can acquire happiness through beauty (Nahemah). This is a false conception, and a wrong perception. Meditate on this. Understand that beauty and ugliness are just two poles of the same thing. What today is beautiful will in the future be ugly, because all things with form will deteriorate and pass away.

Finally, don't give up hope. Masturbation carries a heavy karma, but God is merciful, and will help you if you reach out to Him. Many people have overcome that vice.

​The first step of chastity is to retain the sexual energy, but the second step is to transmute it. Many people miss the second step.

At a minimum, this means learning how to perform pranayama and sexual transmutation. Without pranayama, you will likely always lose your sexual energy. Concentrate on doing pranayama and meditation. Every Gnostic must transmute the sexual energy, and if one is single, this means pranayama. Other practices that will help are vocalizations (mantras), sacred rites for rejuvenation, and runic exercises.

The seven runic vowels, including the Rune Dorn, are excellent for creating a strong spiritual will to overcome addictions.

Even with a dedicated practice, perfect chastity comes through a lengthy and emotionally painful processes. Once physical chastity is won, chastity must be fought for in the deeper sub-, un-, and infra-consciousness layers of the mind. The drama of the Nativity of Christ show us that the King Herod (the ego) kills many firstborns in the process. These are the failures, the humiliations, that the aspirant must go through. We have a lot of karma from previous lives, not only this one, and while we cry at our painful experiences, sometimes the Gods await until the moment we have paid our lot until we are allowed to progress.

Chastity is won though the comprehension of lust. The comprehension of lust occurs through the practice of meditation, and work with the Divine Mother. The elimination of lust, or any psychological defect, occurs when we have comprehended the reasons and causes behind it. The dreams that accompany nocturnal emissions must be meditated upon, explored, comprehended, and the aggregates then eliminated. If you cannot remember the dreams, then you must begin working to awaken your consciousness using Dream Yoga techniques.
 
You need to understand that your own actions are creating this suffering. You also need to understand that superior actions (chastity) bring new, different effects (happiness, inner contentment, etc.).

Meditate on that action and its inevitable results. Meditate on the pain and how it was made, what led to it... Study the chain of actions! Only in this way, by becoming convinced of how your experiences are determined by your actions, can you develop genuine understanding. And it is only understanding that leads to freedom from temptation. When you deeply know that an act leads to pain, you will flee from that act, you will not feel tempted at all. So: meditate.

In the meantime, when temptation arises, use The Prayer of the Lord, and flee from the temptation! Go outside, go someplace else... then reflect on the temptation, and understand it.

To receive inner strength, work with the Eucharist to receive spiritual strength every day. Whenever you feel lust seeking to push you to masturbate, take the time to commune and pray to your Innermost God to bless and help you overcome this addiction.

How to Counter Lustful Obsessions

Many students relate how their efforts to end masturbation often make them obsessed and afflicted. Obsessions to end lust often exacerbate the issue. In trying to perfect one's sexual life, one can often feel like a victim to oneself, always in pursuit of an impossible standard. Practitioners become frustrated when their goal eludes their most sincere efforts. Such feelings are often followed by discouragement, self-incrimination, and self-disparagement, the thoughts of "I will never be chaste! I cannot do this work! It is impossible for me."

Rather than beat oneself up as a failure, it's necessary to remember that lasting change does not come overnight, but through consistent efforts and comprehension. Negative thoughts and emotions are an obstacle. Likewise, obsessing over the problem will distract and confuse your mind.

If you are overwhelmed by desire, you should occupy yourself and direct your energy towards creative endeavors: hiking, painting, sculpting, writing, exercise, playing moderate sports, reading sacred scriptures, serving humanity, etc.

It is not enough to practice pranayama, although this is the foundation for change. Once you have transmuted your sexual energy, take the time to engage in healthy activities. Saving energy is not enough. One must transmute and direct it towards positive action, being a serviceable and compassionate person, sacrificing for one's family, community, or partner, etc.

If you just obsess over your lust and try to meditate, your mind will already be frazzled. If you surround yourself with temptations and have no constructive activities to replace them with, then you will seek out trouble.

Learn to find psychological equilibrium, balance your activities, and engage your consciousness in superior acts. In this way you will gain enough stability to actually root out the ego and comprehend it deeply in meditation.

​How to Cleanse Oneself and Home

Also, burn sage and smudge yourself with its smoke while reciting the Conjurations of the Four and Seven. This will help reduce obsessive thoughts and behaviors.

​Maintaining one’s chastity also involves keeping one’s home clean from negative forces, energies, or astral parasites. Through frequent cleanses with incense and prayer, we generate better influences in our home environment that aid our spiritual practices, deepen our connection with the Being, and preserve our chastity or creative energies.
 
Learn how to protect and cleanse your Home and Altar with high quality incense and prayers.

​Masturbation and Mental Health

Masturbation exacerbates mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bi-polar, depression, and make one more sick, physically and mentally.
 
The reason why many people experience mental illness is due to masturbation at an early age:

Unfortunately, although it is pitiful to realize it, nowadays many children of twelve and thirteen years of age are already copulating. Moreover, those who are not yet copulating commit the crime of masturbation [and sodomy]. They eliminate their hormones, degenerate their brains and atrophy their pineal gland through masturbation. This is how they become sure candidates for a mental home.

It is well known that after coitus, the phallus continues with certain peristaltic movements conducive to receiving vital energies from the feminine uterus in an attempt to replace its wasted creative principles.

However, when masturbation [and sodomy] exists, instead of assimilating vital feminine energies with such peristaltic movements, useful principles for existence, the masturbator [or sodomite] absorbs cold air [or flatulences from the bodily fecal matter derived from ingested food and the secretions of the intestines], which passes directly to the brain. The outcome of this is idiocy, mental degeneration or insanity [devolution].

The vice of [sodomy and] masturbation is, unfortunately, also very popular among the feminine sex. Obviously, with such a vice, many women that could have been genial or good wives have prematurely become degenerated, have aged quickly, have lost their sexual potential, and have become true victims of life.

Therefore, it is important to know all these aspects of sex; it is important to know what sex is.

For adolescents to have sex is absurd, because they are mere seeds which have not yet completed their development. ―​Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology

​Healing the Damages of Masturbation

Masturbation destroys the mind and exacerbates illnesses like manic depressive disorder, schizophrenia, etc. When a person ejaculates their semen, the sexual organs perform peristaltic movements in order to reabsorb lost forces. However, through masturbation, cold air is absorbed into the sexual organs which eventually reach the brain and cause dementia.
 
Damages caused through fornication and masturbation can be healed with patient transmutation of the sexual energy, meditation on the death of lust, desire, and egotism, and diligent, daily practice with the sacred rites of rejuvenation.

There are numerous methods to cure the damages caused by masturbation, such as runes, sacred rites (including the vajroli mudra), and sexual magic.
 
The mantras: Om Masi Padme Hum is also effective for healing the damages of masturbation.

​Curing Impotence

Impotence is another common consequence of masturbation, yet it can be cured with the following remedy:

The aloe is a great panacea for the healing of impotence.

The procedure is as follows: put into a casserole dish, pan, or pot one white panela (hard sugarcane commonly found in Colombia) so it can be melted by the fire. This casserole dish must not contain water.

Once the panela is liquefied, you must add the gel of a complete aloe plant, then add ten grams of iron. While it is on the fire, stir this very well with a handmill. When everything is very well stirred, then take the casserole dish from the fire and bottle up this substance, adding a little bit of sodium benzoate so that it cannot ferment. Label it, and take one spoonful of the remedy every hour. Impotence is cured with this marvelous formulae. ―​Samael Aun Weor, Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic

​Another Remedy for Virility

You can also consume dishes of bull or goat testicles for virility.
 
The goat has traditionally symbolized the force of Lucifer, which in synthesis constitutes the creative sexual energy.
 
Samael Aun Weor explained in a lecture:

Listen: Lucifer represents the sexual potency. Who could deny that a male goat possesses a great sexual potency?
 
Sexually impotence is due to weakness. There exist different types of sexual impotence: i.e. sexual impotence because a damage to the nervous system, or because a damage to the creative organs. However, when the sexual impotence is totally due to weakness in the physical organs, this can be cured with the sexual hormones of that animal.
 
The testicles of the male goat must be boiled in milk and thereafter sweetened with sugar or honey. This milk charged with testosterone must be drank by the sexually impotent one. This will cure his impotence, because the sexual hormones of the male goat have the power to cure those who suffer sexual impotence. —Samael Aun a Weor, “Moses, the Great Kabbalist and Alchemist Magi”

The concoction for goat's testicles and milk is for impotence, when men lack sexual strength. This remedy is taken for as long as needed until the man's sexual strength returns and a normal erection can be produced for the rite of alchemy. 

​Can Supplements Heal Damages from Masturbation?

Most supplements are chemically derived and thus introduce more problems than they solve.

Your body is an alchemical laboratory that acquires everything it needs from nature and from divinity.

If you truly want healing, then eliminate the cause of the illness, i.e. if the cause is lust, the sufferings will disappear when the cause (the ego of lust) is dead. Therefore: meditate on the lust until you eliminate it completely. Any other attempt at a solution will fail.
 
Meditation is the only way to fully comprehend lust, the animal ego.

Therefore, to overcome any obstacle, learn to meditate on the causes of suffering so that your Divine Mother can aid you.

The Meditation Essentials course will provide you the foundations for this seminal practice.

​Wet Dreams

Many students also write that, due to many years of masturbation and fornication, they experience involuntary seminal emissions, wet dreams or nocturnal pollutions when practicing chastity.
 
There are methods for healing such an illness, specifically through the Melon Seed Remedy.

However, radical healing will only occur once the egos of pollutions are comprehended and eliminated in meditation. Samael Aun Weor addressed this issue in one of his lectures:

Question: Would it be good to apply the technique of meditation on the death of the ego to the defects that we have in our dreams?

Samael Aun Weor: Many letters have been sent to me from people that have nocturnal pollutions. Almost all of them demand from me a recipe in order to be healed from that frightful sickness and I always answer them that as long as the egos of pollutions continue to exist, the pollutions will continue to exist.

Let us suppose that this person has a morbid dream, thus as a consequence he has a nocturnal pollution. What to do? In the precise moment of awakening physically, this person has to intensively work upon that ego that produced such a pollution. And he must appeal to the Divine Mother Kundalini Shakti so that she can disintegrate it and he must continue during the future periods of time working upon that ego. But if during another day another nocturnal pollution emerges, it is because another lustful ego produced it. Thus, the work must be repeated again until one day all of those types of egos related with pollutions will be terminated. That is the only way in order to be healed. ―​Samael Aun Weor, “Questions About the Elimination of the Ego”

How many years or even lifetimes have you trained your body to ejaculate? You cannot expect to train it to stop in one night or even one month.

Furthermore, you cannot change anything fundamentally, fully, unless you comprehend the causes in meditation. No amount of supplements or practices can ever match the power of conscious comprehension. Instead of wasting time online, students should develop meditation skills.

​Massage During Vajroli Mudra

In the final exercise of the sacred rites of rejuvenation, Samael Aun Weor explains that one must massage their genitals with a soft, medium, or hard pressure, so as to turn the Christic force into energy, sending it to the brain.

Regarding the massages over the prostate/uterus area and the sexual organs, there are three types: 
​
a) Gentle massage upon the prostate [lower abdomen] and creative organs.
b) Moderate massage upon the prostate/uterus [lower abdomen] and creative organs.
c) Strong massage upon the prostate [lower abdomen] and creative organs.

It is obvious that for men a strong massage on the prostate {lower belly] and sexual organs produces the erection of the phallus, this is clear, this is how it is; this is why the third type of massage is advisable for bachelors. Thus, when the phallus is erected, the transmutation of the semen into energy is produced, which one raises to the brain.

Regarding married men, the first or second types of massages are convenient for them, nothing else; rather, the first type is more than enough since they have a wife and of course they bring the phallus to a complete erection by means of the Sahaja Maithuna. ―​Samael Aun Weor, Sacred Rites for Rejuvenation

Some have asked whether or not this is masturbation. In reality, a massage simply activates the sexual energy; the degree to which it is activated depends on the volatility of the person's energy.

The critical thing is to not allow the mind to drift into impurity, nor to let the rite degenerate into "self-stimulation" or masturbation.

If one successfully activates the energy and maintains psychological purity, then the energy can be transmuted.

​White and Black Vajroli Mudra

The Vajroli Mudra is not masturbation, because one does not massage the sexual organs for prolonged periods of time out of lustful desire.

One must not massage one’s sexual organs more than three times, according to the sixth rite. And during that very short period of time, one is deep in prayer and meditation to the Divine Mother.

Masturbation stimulates the sexual organs to feed animality, prolonged through consistent copulation with oneself.

The Vajroli Mudra takes a few seconds for each massage, not twenty minutes.
 
White Vajroli, the sixth rite in the sacred rites for rejuvenation, should not stimulate you so much that you approach orgasm. That is Black Vajroli.

You should not be stimulating yourself during pranayama. That is masturbation and constitutes 100% black magic.

White Vajroli does not require so much stimulation that you provoke lust. It requires stronger massage for a few seconds, not minutes, since when you perform the sixth rite, you only massage your sexual organs when your breath is completely exhaled, and when you rise up to take in air, cease the massage and direct the stimulated sexual energy to the mind. This process should be repeated, at most, only three times.

​Finding an Alchemical Partner

Many Gnostic students, after reading The Perfect Matrimony by Samael Aun Weor, long to find a spouse for the alchemical work. Unfortunately, many people still continue to masturbate, precisely because they contain so much sexual drive and fire that is not being sublimated. If a person with a lot of virility does not transmute their sexual energies consciously, then those forces are utilized by lust to act in detrimental ways.

If disciples want to find a partner in the Gnostic work, he or she needs to practice chastity first, to learn how to transmute their sexual energy through pranayama, runes, sacred rites of rejuvenation, Ham-Sah, etc.

One must acquire balance and psychological equilibrium first, since it will be very difficult to learn transmutation in the sexual act if one has never accustomed his or her body, mind, and energy, to practice sublimation on their own.

In synthesis, like attracts like. Our level of being attracts your circumstances. If we want a Gnostic, chaste partner, we must become chaste ourselves.

Impure women are for impure men, and impure men for impure women, and pure women are for pure men, and pure men are for pure women: these are not affected by what people say [who are scandalized and offended by chastity]: for them there is forgiveness, and a provision honorable. ―Qur’an 24:26

​What to Do When Breaking One’s Chastity?

One leaves the path when, having maintained chastity, decided to return to the orgasm. Those who have not been in chastity have not entered the path yet.
 
Karma is cause and effect.

If you wish to follow a superior law (chastity), then you must chose to enact the causes and conditions for its fruition.

Fornication is a choice. So is chastity.

You reap the results of your actions. If you continue with fornication, it’s because you have yet to comprehend how fornication destroys the soul.

When you comprehend how fornication is harmful, you will stop.

Intellectual understanding is not enough. This is why we need meditation.

Do what thou wilt, that shall be the whole of the law. But know that you must answer for all your deeds.
 
Once you stop masturbation, many temptations will arise, as well as changes in your physical body, chemistry, appetites, etc. Even though you might find it difficult to eat while remaining chaste, you should try to increase your appetite through engaging in exercise and other creative activities, such as walking, painting, sculpting, drawing, writing, etc. This is because when you save sexual energy, you need to use it consciously, creatively, with intelligence and purpose. As alchemists, and even while single for many years in these studies, we always find ways to channel transmuted sexual energy through exercise and creative endeavors. This guarantees the proper flow, function, and fortification of the Holy Ghost within oneself.
 
If you are determined to walk this path, then you must fulfill this commandment of chastity with all your heart, mind, body, strength, and soul, as Jesus taught us. To vacillate is to suffer unnecessarily.
 
No matter the circumstances, fornication causes damage. However, the consequences are worse for the one who knows the teaching but chooses to act harmfully anyway.

And just look at these men: their eye says it—they know nothing better on earth than to lie with a woman.
 
Mud is at the bottom of their souls; and woe! if their mud also has spirit! ―Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

As to the specifics of that case, when one willingly spills, any raised Kundalini descends in proportion with the act. Then, if one attempts to raise it again, it is much harder: the requirements increase. And of course, instead of filling oneself with joy and ecstasy through chastity, spilling immediately fortifies and stimulates many negative psychological qualities.

Whosoever spills his semen after having worked with the Kundalini inevitably fails, because the Kundalini then descends one or more vertebrae in accordance with the magnitude of the fall... The initiate falls when he spills the semen. The work to raise the serpent after having fallen is very difficult and arduous. The Lord of Perfection said, "The disciple must never let himself fall, because whosoever falls then has to struggle a great deal to regain that which was lost." ―​Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

Question: How can a man learn to control his lust that incites him to masturbate? What practices help with this? And, in the case that he falls, what can he immediately do to correct the mistake (pranayama, prayer, etc.)?
 
Answer: Your question about doing a practice right after masturbating truly reveals a lot psychologically. To want to practice after having fornicated, after having enjoyed the disgusting vice of masturbation, is very hypocritical. We don't prove our loyalty to divinity by practicing after the fact, but by restraining and killing desire before it takes over.

The Greeks symbolized this hypocritical tendency of innumerable devotees through the myth of Sisyphus. People who practice chastity for a time, raising the stone of Yesod up the mountain of the spiritual work, and who let themselves fail through fornication, are dropping the stone back into the mud and mire again. Afterward, the struggle to rise again is much more difficult. So? Why continue with the monotony of masturbation or Grey Tantra?

The moral of this story is that we have to be defined in these studies. If you chose to fornicate, that is your will. It is pointless to want to be spiritual if you keep masturbating, because trying to pump water from an empty vessel is pointless. One's genitalia are empty after masturbating and reaching the orgasm, so how can a person be truly healed and spiritual when such an individual intentionally takes the path of destruction?

If you choose to be chaste, do not destroy yourself and thereafter lie by trying to practice only after having enjoyed such a vice. Such a habit is really ludicrous, and to continue being "spiritual" while maintaining this vice is extremely dangerous. If you want to change, do so. Do not deceive yourself. So long as you do not firmly renounce masturbation, you will never enter the door that leads to true peace of the spirit.

The Reality of Sexual Falls

Any lapse into lustful behavior is a sign of a weak, dispersed will.

Just as a warrior in the ring must train for years to defeat a powerful enemy, you must strengthen your will over time to cultivate the willpower to end indulgence in lustful behaviors.

​Your lust is Goliath. Each time you struggle against it, you are strengthening the will to resist its power over you. Use all the methods, meditation, and suggestions you are aware of to increase the duration of time that you can remain in chastity. The longer you can go without physically indulging in lust, the stronger your willpower will become. Free, conscious willpower is fueled by the energies we cultivate through chaste transmutation. Never miss a single day's pranayama practice—not even once. Find at least 15-30 minutes daily for pranayama somewhere in your day.

Struggling to resist lust will strengthen you. Over time, the intervals between sexual falls will become longer if you are sincerely putting the teachings into practice. Eventually, these falls will become very rare, until your have finally cultivated the will to eliminate sexual falls entirely.

After the physical habits of lust have been conquered, you will continue into further conquering the psychological habits of lust at deeper levels.

You cannot expect from a weak man something that requires strength. One can make demands of a man only in accordance with the strength he has to fulfill them. —Gurdjieff

We do not want to diminish the severity of a sexual fall, because it is a serious crime against divinity and oneself. The best approach is always to completely renounce orgasm and to never return to it. However, if one is incapable of conquering his lust, what other option does he have but to struggle against himself over time until he can accomplish self-discipline? If the reality of your situation is that you continue to fall, you must work to develop the strength of will to master yourself over time. This is not a change to the teachings, but if you lack self-discipline, you must then acquire responsibility and accountability as your first task.

As long as a man does not separate himself from himself he can achieve nothing, and no one can help him. To govern oneself is a very difficult thing — it is a problem for the future; it requires much power and demands much work. But this first thing, to separate oneself from oneself, does not require much strength, it only needs desire, serious desire, the desire of a grown-up man. If a man cannot do it, it shows that he lacks the desire of a grown-up man. Consequently it proves that there is nothing for him here [in the esoteric school]. What we do here can only be a doing suitable for grown-up men. —Gurdjieff

If you fail, you start again and work again at developing chastity. That repeated effort will develop willpower, although, of course, each sexual fall is depleting your willpower. In order not to become a perpetual Sisyphus, you need to hold yourself accountable. Track the length of your time in chastity, and each day make a commitment to be chaste that day. Find alternative activities that allow you to be successful in overcoming a lustful sensation. Don't surround yourself with temptations. Learn to separate yourself from your own lust, so you can observe your lust without being controlled by it.

Our mind, our thinking, has nothing in common with us, with our essence—no connection, no dependence...

The mind is capable of functioning independently, but it also has the capacity of becoming identified with the essence, of becoming a function of the essence. In the majority of those present, the mind does not try to be independent but is merely a function...

At present we are not capable of controlling our states, and so it cannot be demanded of us. But when we acquire this capacity, corresponding demands will be made.

In order to understand better what I mean, I shall give you an example: now, in a calm state, not reacting to anything or anyone, I decide to set myself the task of establishing a good relationship with Mr. B., because I need him for business purposes and can do what I wish only with his help. But I dislike Mr. B. for he is a very disagreeable man. He understands nothing. He is a blockhead. He is vile, anything you like. I am so made that these traits affect me. Even if he merely looks at me, I become irritated. If he talks nonsense, I am beside myself. I am only a man, so I am weak and cannot persuade myself that I need not be annoyed—I shall go on being annoyed.

Yet I can control myself, depending on how serious my desire is to gain the end I wish to gain through him. If I keep to this purpose, to this desire, I shall be able to do so. No matter how annoyed I may be, this state of wishing will be in my mind. No matter how furious, how beside myself I am, in a corner of my mind I shall still remember the task I set myself. My mind is unable to restrain me from anything, unable to make me feel this or that toward him, but it is able to remember. I say to myself: “You need him, so don’t be cross or rude to him.” It could even happen that I would curse him, or hit him, but my mind would continue to pluck at me, reminding me that I should not do so. But the mind is powerless to do anything.

This is precisely what anyone who has a serious desire not to identify himself with his essence can do. This is what is meant by “separating the mind from the essence.”

And what happens when the mind becomes merely a function? If I am annoyed, if I lose my temper, I shall think, or rather “it” will think, in accordance with this annoyance, and I shall see everything in the light of the annoyance. To hell with it!

And so I say that with a serious man—a simple, ordinary man without any extraordinary powers, but a grown-up man—whatever he decides, whatever problem he has set himself, that problem will always remain in his head. Even if he cannot achieve it in practice, he will always keep it in his mind. Even if he is influenced by other considerations, his mind will not forget the problem he has set himself. He has a duty to perform and, if he is honest, he will strive to perform it, because he is a grown-up man.

No one can help him in this remembering, in this separation of oneself from oneself. A man must do it for himself. —Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World

​Repentance

We invite you to seriously reflect on the following regarding repentance:

According to the lexicons, tawbah (repentance) means "to return." Taba, aba, and anaba all have one meaning, which is "to return." Thaba is similar; people say, "The milk returned (thaba) to the udder." Outward repentance is the return from blameworthy actions to praiseworthy ones and from foul words to righteous ones. Inner repentance, with which the Sufi folk are concerned, is to turn away from all things and toward God, mighty and glorious. Repentance is not valid without three things: remorse for sin, abstention from it, and the resolution to not return to it. When one of these conditions is not met, repentance is not valid. This is the rule for repentance for sin between the servant and his Lord...

Ibn Mas'ud, may God be pleased with him, related that the Prophet, God bless and cherish him, said, "The one who turns from sin is like one who never sinned." ―A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah, The Principles of Sufism

If you want to stop masturbating, then stop. If you do not want to stop, then you will continue in bad behavior. It is a choice!

You have to want to stop and to not turn back to degeneration for your renunciation to be considered authentic before your Innermost.

Remember Lot's wife who turned back when leaving Sodom and was transformed into a pillar of salt: she entered devolution within the mineral kingdom and became a pillar of hell.

Repentance is nil if you turn back from your vows. It is sincere when you are steadfast in it.

Do not be like Sisyphus, throwing the stone when reaching the summit of the hill, only to begin the climb once more!

Vacillation will only cause you pain...

However, remember that God is the Beneficent, the Merciful, and will guide you if you are sincere and truly repent:

Satan frightens you of poverty and prompts you to [commit] indecent acts. But Allah promises you His forgiveness and grace, and Allah is all-bounteous, all-knowing. ―Al-Baqarah 268

O you who have faith! What is the matter with you that when you are told: "Go forth in the way of Allah," you sink heavily to the ground? Are you pleased with the life of this world instead of the Hereafter? But the wares of the life of this world compared with the Hereafter are but insignificant.

If you do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment, and replace you with another people, and you will not hurt Him in the least, and Allah has power over all things. ―​Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) 38-39

If the soul fails, the Innermost will gather a new people more worthy for the great work. However, God is merciful and wants to aid us out of compassion!

Comprehension, Self-Reflection, and Honesty

For those Gnostic students who wish to stop the vice of masturbation:

​You also have to really reflect on what it is you want. If you want to masturbate, then that is what you will do. If you want to know God, you have to really comprehend this purpose and what it entails, since if you do not know what you want, nor want to see beyond your current state of suffering, you will continue to allow yourself to wallow in suffering.

But if you are tired of suffering and the suffering that masturbation causes, then you will really comprehend what this means, without having any person tell you that "this is right" and "that is wrong." We knew one missionary who, before entering gnosis or even reading about anything in a book, abandoned the vice of masturbation and pornography simply because he comprehended, from his own insight, how masturbation was draining him of life and destroying his mind. He destroyed every pornographic file he had on his computer and removed every video he used to indulge in this vice. He never read a book by Samael Aun Weor or heard instruction from a teacher that masturbation was wrong; he simply knew from his experience that he was killing his soul. Therefore, he made the firm decision to renounce it, and never walked back.

It took him a year to eventually find the Gnostic teachings, but heaven rewarded him for following his heart, and thereby confirmed his efforts by giving him superior teachings.

You, on the other hand, have instructions telling you why it is wrong, but you continue to masturbate. What's missing in your case is that you do not comprehend why masturbation is wrong. If you comprehend why it is damaging, you will not dare to even touch yourself or think in such a horrible way. What you have is knowledge that masturbation is wrong, but not comprehension for why it is so.

Therefore, you have to know what you want. If you are unclear, you will continue to vacillate and deepen your pain. Decide now what it is you want, and follow through with your promises to God, if that is your will.