Re: Skull rituals?
Originally Posted by
Spiritualseeker
Namaste,
I am always asking weird questions, so why stop? My question is are there any Skull rituals in Shaivism? I know Aghoris use a human skull as a bowl to eat food and also to do other rituals with, but are there any other rituals with skulls? I cannot afford an actual human skulls (many are 1,500 to 2,000 dollars!), but I am thinking of setting up on a separate altar a skull to remind me of death and also to get intuned with those who have left this incarnation (mainly veneration of ancestors and saints). The skull I would use would be fake, but I think it still gives the same symbolic meaning.
Om Namah Shivaya
Aghoris of present day do tend to use skull bowls, but I have no idea where from they got this.
Use of skull and bones in rituals comes from kapalika sect of quite extremist shaivas-it is actually not clear to me if kapalika's were clearly shaivas at all. I have not heard of skull-bone rituals among other shaivas as such.
Kapalika seemed to have influenced the tantric buddhism to a large extent (some claims they are same!). Real & actual or *authentic* usage of skull & bone implements can be still be found within vajrayana practices. I don't how much they are done within lay followers where preference must be to use alternatives.
Last edited by sm78; 31 October 2011 at 02:06 AM.
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