Eroto-comatose lucidity

Eroto-comatose lucidity is a technique of sex magic known best by its formulation by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1912, but which has several variations and is used in a number of ways by different spiritual communities. A common form of the ritual uses repeated sexual stimulation (but not to physical orgasm) to place the individual in a state between full sleep and full wakefulness as well as exhaustion, allowing the practitioner to commune with their god.

Crowley first described the rite in a tract titled Eroto-Comatose Lucidity. The ritual as described by Crowley involves one "ritualist-seer" and several aides.Donald Michael Kraig advises that the more sexually experienced the aides are, the better the ritual works, and that the aides be members of the opposite sex. Religious scholar Hugh B. Urban, however, concludes that, for Crowley, aides of the same gender as the ritualist (e.g., homosexual activity) was the highest stage of practice of this ritual.

In the first part of the ritual, the aides seek repeatedly both to arouse the ritualist sexually as well as to exhaust him. The ritualist is generally passive in this regard. There is disagreement over whether sexual arousal is enough, or sexual orgasm must be eventually accomplished. Crowley and others argue that orgasm must be avoided. Although later practitioners conclude that orgasm does not need to be avoided, that was how Crowley originally formulated the ritual. Most practitioners agree with Crowley that every means of arousal may be used, such as physical stimulation, genital stimulation, psychological stimulation, devices (such as sex toys), or drugs (an entheogen like hashish, marijuana, or other aphrodisiacs). There should be enough aides so that if one aide tires another may take his or her place. Eventually, the ritualist will tend to sink into sleep due to exhaustion.

In the second part of the ritual, the aides seek to come close to awakening the ritualist through sexual stimulation alone. The goal is not to fully awaken her or him, but rather to bring them to the brink of wakefulness. Not all authors agree that the ritualist seer will be in a state between sleep and wakefulness, instead noting that exhaustion will lead to a trance, or "sleep of lucidity". The ritualist should be neither too tired or uncomfortable to aid in the trance-like state. Once the ritualist reaches a near-waking state, sexual stimulation must stop. The ritualist-seer is then permitted to sink back toward (but not into) sleep. This step is repeated indefinitely until the ritualist reaches a state between sleep and wakefulness in which communing with a higher power may occur. Some say a goal during this time is to not become "lost" in the trance-like state, but to remain open without directing an outcome. The ritualist may also conduct spiritual work while in this state, or witness mystical events. Exhaustion may not be necessary for the ritualist who is "bodily pure," Crowley writes.

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