From Msgr. Rossetti’s blog at Catholicexorcism.org:
I recently received this query (used with permission): Many years ago when I was doing massage therapy, I used to touch peoples’ feet and I could see demons leaving their body. I was working in the New Age world and even worked as a psychic back then. I closed everything down a couple years ago and returned to the Catholic faith. I know I still have these abilities and I’m feeling called to return to healing work with people. I want to do this work now with Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph & the Holy Spirit guiding me.
This woman believes she has a healing charism with special “abilities” from God and feels called to use them to help people. She said she would now do it with “Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph and the Holy Spirit” guiding her. Good idea? Certainly her intentions are good, which one should applaud. However, many an evil has been perpetrated in this world with people intending to do good, such as so-called “good witches.” Regardless of one’s intentions, there is no good witchcraft.
The Bible is filled with moments where God addresses His people with powerful words of correction and truth. One such passage is Ezekiel 13:17–23, a striking call to accountability for those who misuse spiritual practices to ensnare people into the occult for their own gain. Though spoken thousands of years ago, this scripture resonates today, challenging us to examine our own hearts and the influences we allow into our lives.
The Context: False Prophets Among the People
Ezekiel was a prophet sent by God to the people of Israel during their exile in Babylon. His mission was to deliver messages of both warning and hope. In this passage, God speaks against the women of Israel who were engaging in deceitful practices such as using magical charms and veils of obscuration to manipulate and ensnare others. These women falsely claimed divine authority, profiting from their lies while leading people away from God.
Scripture Text
“Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who play the prophet from their own imagination. Prophesy against them. You shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to those who sew bands for everyone’s wrists and make veils for every size of head to snare lives! You ensnare the lives of my people, even as you preserve your own lives.” (Ezekiel 13:17–18)
This passage illustrates the gravity of misleading others in the name of spirituality. These individuals exploited their influence, creating spiritual traps for the vulnerable while securing their own comfort and safety.
A Deeper Look at the Message
1. The Deception of False Practices
The women condemned here were not simply offering false prophecies, they were actively leading people astray. They used symbolic objects like bands and veils to create an illusion of spiritual power. They traded lies for material gain, profaning God’s name in the process.
This serves as a timeless warning about the dangers of spiritual manipulation. In today’s world, we see similar patterns: leaders or influencers using false religions or occult spirituality to exploit others for power, money, or prestige.
2. God’s Judgment
“Therefore thus says the Lord God: See! I am coming against your bands in which you snare lives like birds; I will tear them from your arms and set free the lives that you have snared like birds.” (Ezekiel 13:20)
God’s response is clear and decisive. He vows to tear down the instruments of deception and free those who have been ensnared. This imagery reminds us of God’s justice and His mandate for liberation. He is not indifferent to the plight of those oppressed by falsehood. He acts to bring freedom.
3. The Importance of Truth
You have discouraged the righteous with your lies, when I had done them no harm, and you have encouraged the wicked, so that they do not turn from their evil ways and save their lives.” (Ezekiel 13:22)
This verse shows how destructive falsehood can be. Lies weigh down those who are trying to live faithfully, making them feel condemned when God has not condemned them. At the same time, lies give false comfort to the wicked, letting them continue on in sin without repentance, even though their lives are at stake.
God’s will is the opposite: He desires the righteous to be strengthened by truth and the wicked to be confronted by it, so they might turn back and live. Truth restores, encourages, and saves, deception only tears down.
Lessons to Take Away
Ezekiel 13:17–23 is not just a historical account but a wake-up call for all generations. Here are key takeaways for modern believers:
Test the Spirits Not all who claim to speak for God are truly guided by Him. 1 John 4:1 reminds us to “test the spirits” to discern whether they are from God. We must remain vigilant against teachings or practices that contradict the Word of God.
Avoid Spiritual Exploitation God condemns using spirituality as a means of manipulation or personal gain. As followers of Christ, we are called to live with integrity and humility, pointing others to God, not using Him as a tool for our own benefit.
Trust in God’s Deliverance For those who feel trapped or misled, this passage is a reminder that God is a deliverer. He sees your struggles and is committed to setting you free from any form of spiritual bondage.
The Closing Promise
“I will deliver my people from your hand. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 13:23)
This is the ultimate hope, that God’s truth prevails, His justice is served, and His people are set free. Whether you’re facing deception, spiritual confusion, or oppression, God’s power and love are more than enough to bring restoration.
Begin your prayer with a declaration of trust and surrender:
“Rest assured, the Lord is with me. He is my strength, and he will fight for me. I abandon myself to Him.”
Psalm Meditations
Slowly read and meditate on each Psalm and Scripture verse, letting the words penetrate deeply:
Psalm 23
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Reflect on the Lord’s care, protection, and companionship.
Psalm 54
“Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.
For strangers have risen against me;
ruthless men seek my life;
they do not set God before themselves.
Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will return the evil to my enemies;
in your faithfulness put an end to them.
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.”
Offer any fears, anxieties, or needs to God, trusting in His power and justice.
Psalm 140:8
“Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted.”
Pray for protection from any harmful influence or opposition, asking God to thwart any ill intent directed towards you.
Isaiah 41:10-15
“Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.’
Fear not, you worm of Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff.”
Reflect on God’s strength and His assurance that He is with you, offering victory over any challenge.
Surrender to the Lord
“Lord, I ask You to take possession of me, my mind, heart, soul, and spirit. I surrender my entire being to Your guidance and will.”
Renunciation of Evil
“In the name of Jesus Christ, I renounce any influence or hold that any evil may have over me. I reject the power of darkness and refuse to allow any space for fear, doubt, or oppression in my life. Jesus, You alone are my protector and redeemer.”
Declaration of Faith in Jesus as Savior
“Jesus, I accept You as my personal Lord and Savior. I place my trust in You and You alone. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and let my life be a reflection of Your love and peace. Guide me each day to walk in Your light.”
Closing Affirmation
“Thank You, Lord, for being my strength, my defender, and my source of hope. I walk confidently in Your presence, knowing that You are always with me. Amen.”
I read Msgr. Rossetti’s most recent blog post with great interest. He understands the demonic phenomena very well. A large part of my suffering from demonic possession has had to do with a loss of control over my subterranean thoughts. Is that the right term for those thoughts that live below the surface and manifest when one is resting or sleeping? They often appear in the hypnogogic state between wakefulness and dream. In those unguarded moments, the demons will take over and inject thoughts and images that I know are not coming from me or from my habitual subconscious. It is as if they have hijacked it and are using it to harm and torment me. Why am I so sure of this? It is because when that annihilation ritual was performed on me, the subsequent physical and mental torture were like night and day to what I had known before. I went from being in apparent control of my mind and body, to suddenly losing control to my gurus and their demons. The first year was the worst. The second was marginally better. I would be thinking about something and suddenly a thought would be hijacked in mid-stream and turned into something violent or terrifying. Images were pounded into my mind again and again, like bombs in an air raid. In the early days, I had no way to fight it. They had complete control over my body and my sleep was riddled with horrific supernatural attacks. There was no peace until I turned to Christ. Gradually, I learned to separate my thoughts from theirs. It felt like disentangling a fledgling from a net. Being possessed by the guru and demon is like having the massive talons of an eagle stuck deep in my body. The pain, the pressure, the squeezing, is always there. They love to torment and abuse, both physically and mentally. They are essentially sociopaths. Even though they may pretend to be compassionate buddhas, their hatred and cruelty is always close to the surface, eager for a victim.
Now this post is going to be controversial to some, maybe even unpopular. And I think I’ve already lost at least one good friend by adhering to it. But since I know it in my bones to be true, I will state it here clearly: the only way out of the occult is through the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other powerful antidote or saving grace, no way to wiggle out or escape the torment of possession or severe oppression than through the blood of Christ. And this means a total renunciation of everything occult and a total conversion to the religion given to the world by Jesus Christ. Every breath I take, every instance of happiness ransomed from my tormentors, every grace I feel, every decent night’s sleep I get, and every sense of freedom and well-being I experience is solely due to having turned 100% to Jesus Christ. This means I had to repent of all of my sins, and especially the sin of having forsaken the Christian values of my youth for the occult values of the pagan religion I ascribed to for 35 years. I had to fight the tendency to doubt, to find Christianity too simple, to be consumed by fear, to listen to the voices telling me I was doomed forever, and I had to get down on my knees and cry out to the one true Lord and beg for mercy, grace, and redemption. And then I had to put on the armor of God, and walk in his sanctifying grace and truly believe that my soul was safe and that the spirits possessing and harassing me were living on borrowed time. I realized that instead of beating myself up and being consumed by regret, I should be grateful that I saw the light eventually. Severe scrupulosity and brutal self-chastisement are Satan’s tricks, after all.
I experienced tremendous remorse when I realized I had wasted my life worshipping these entities who I thought were Buddhas and Bodhisattvas only to be devastated when I realized it was a lie, when my guru turned out to be a sociopath and my meditational deity turned out to be a red-eyed demon. This was all shown to me clearly at the very end of my Tibetan Buddhist path. As the truth began to dawn, they became my great accusers, excoriating me for my smallest faults, and proclaiming that I had to die and be tortured for eternity because I had dared to question them. When they performed an annihilation ritual against me using an effigy and started torturing me, no matter how much I begged and pleaded, they showed no mercy. Forgiveness was not a word in their lexicon. I heard the voice of my guru night after night, and watched with horror as he appeared in my room in his astral body with a rope, a razor sharp blade, and various other horrors commanding me to end it all so he could drag me to the pit of hell. Where was the Buddha then? Where did he go? We were taught that the head of our lineage was a living Buddha who held the happiness and freedom of all sentient beings above all else. I found him to be a very petty, ugly, and vengeful man who couldn’t admit his own mistakes and took pleasure in harming others–a true sociopath.
Indeed, the only escape from such evil is by taking Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior. Remember this! He has already redeemed us with his blood. It was done over two thousand years ago. Don’t believe the demons when they tell you there is no way out. I want to point out that I learned the hard way that there are only two supernatural realms: there is the kingdom of God and the realm of Satan. There is no third kingdom where Buddhas abide waiting to bless you. And there is no way out when you realize you were deceived other than crying out to your maker like a lost and frightened child.
If you don’t believe me, then go on Youtube and listen to all the first person accounts and testimonies of people who escaped from possession and oppression (I have shared some of them on the Video Clips page). They fell into these states of torment by practicing the occult in whatever form. Some people practiced yoga, some dabbled in the New Age, some read Tarot, some got deeply into Witchcraft. I believe most people are good souls who don’t seek out the occult to harm others. The New Age, Tibetan Buddhism, yoga: these occult practices are examples of Satan appearing as the angel of light. And unsuspecting people are drawn to them in order to try to exert some form of control over their otherwise chaotic lives. Let’s face it, life can be scary because so much is out of our control. This is why I got sucked into Tibetan Buddhism. It seemed to offer concrete explanations for why we suffer and definite methods for transcending it. The fact that there were methods to become free and the possibility of making order out of chaos was comforting to me. I believe this is why most people go into occult practices. I saw Tarot, astrology, Feng Shui, and certain healing modalities as tools for achieving a happier, healthier, and more ordered life. In reality, I never imagined that those “tools” were from Satan’s realm.
Sadly, many people get into the occult this way, only to find out that all of those modalities, whatever temporary benefits they offer, are ultimately portals to demons. Thank God that I was born in a Christian country and exposed to the truth as a child. I can’t imagine what happens to those poor souls who practice the occult in countries where the Word of our Lord has not spread. I pray for all who become seduced into the false promises of the occult.
From Ephesians 6:10-18 from the King James Version (KJV):
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
When Tenzin Lahkpa is fifteen years old, his parents give him over to a local temple in Tibet as an offering. Unable to change his fate, he wholeheartedly embraces his life as a monk and begins a quest for full enlightenment through the teachings of Buddhism. From his local monastery to the famed Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, he learns deep mysteries of Tibetan Buddhism. Yearning to study with the current Dalai Lama, he eventually escapes from China by means of an excruciating, two-thousand-mile, secret trek over the Himalayas—barefoot, with no extra gear, changes of clothing, or money. His dream is realized when he finally sits under the Dalai Lama himself. But his desire to go deeper only grows, leading him to unexpected conclusions…. Follow the fascinating, never-before-told, true story of what causes a highly dedicated Tibetan Buddhist monk to make the radical decision to walk away from the teachings of Buddha and leave his monastery to follow Jesus Christ. Discover the reasons other monks want him dead before he can share his story with others. Leaving Buddha dares to expose the mysterious world of Tibetan Buddhism, with its layered teachings, intricate practices, and troubling secrets. Ultimately, it tells a moving story about the search for truth, the path of enlightenment, and how no one is beyond the reach of a loving God. This gripping narrative will resonate with people from all backgrounds and nations.
“I had learned about the night cries earlier that day. Several of us monks-in-training had gone down to a nearby stream to bathe and swim. One of the boys whom I knew well and who was much younger than I took off his robe. I was shocked when I noticed marks across his back that looked like scars from being whipped by a leather strap. “What happened to him?” I asked in general. Gyatso looked in the direction where I was looking to see who I was referring to. Then, he looked at me and said, “Oh, that is Gantdo Lama.” I didn’t need to ask another question. I knew exactly what had happened. Gyatso was not saying that the boy’s name was Gantdo Lama; he was saying that what had happened to him had been done by Gantdo Lama.
Gantdo Lama was one of the meanest and most violent monks in the monastery. Everyone was afraid of him. He beat his disciples on a regular basis, and he was always yelling and screaming at others. One time, he damaged part of an altar when he got into a fight with one of the worshippers who had come into the monastery, accidentally gotten in his way, and not shown him the proper respect. “Poor guy,” Gyatso said about the boy. “He tried to escape but was caught and beaten by Gantdo Lama.” “Why did he try to escape?” I asked. “Shhhhh…keep it down,” Gyatso said as he looked around to see if anyone else was listening. “You don’t know?” I shook my head no. “You really do not know?” he asked again in a lower but more incredulous voice. “Because he is Gantdo’s new dakini.”
A dakini is often the term for someone who is used for sexual pleasure by Tibetan lamas. I had heard my brothers use the word before, but I hadn’t heard many people use it since I had been living at the temple. “You know, you should count yourself lucky that you have never had to deal with Gantdo Lama. That guy turns all of his disciples into dakinis during their first year of service.” Many of the lamas at our temple had secret wives that they would sneak out to meet, while others had dakinis, but I had never imagined they would use the boy monks for this. We both looked over again at the wounds on the back of the young boy. They were hard to look at. “Man, these lamas,” Gyatso said. “They think they can do whatever they want and get away with it. They walk around like they are so holy and enlightened, but so many of them are child rapists.”
Gyatso was not wrong.The lamas are powerful individuals, and their power goes largely unchecked because they answer to no one outside of ecclesiastical authority. The Tibetan temples deal with sexual fantasies as they see fit and answer to no one on the outside about their practices. “The teachings here really blur the lines, you know? I mean, the first thing that they do is tell you that there is no such thing as good and evil. They remove the boundaries between what you think is good and what you think is bad. After a while, everything is relative. From day one, we are taught that pain is the result of desire, and enlightenment is giving yourself over to where boundaries no longer exist. Oh yeah, they love that. That way, when you feel the pain of them raping you, it is your problem—not theirs!” I couldn’t tell because of the sunlight glistening on the water, but it almost looked as if tears were welling up in Gyatso’s eyes. I stayed silent. I was listening, but I waded into the water and slowly swished it a little with my hands. I thought that by pretending not to fully notice his tears and painful words, it might lessen his pain.
“If a victim is in pain, it is the result of their lack of desire to serve,” he continued. “A monk must serve his master.” Gyatso’s words were angry. There was nothing I could say or do to help him, so I continued to pretend not to be too invested. “My parents never would have left me here if they had known that this was going on,” he said. “I should never have taken the oath of that stupid samaya!” I froze. Samaya is the most sacred bond between a disciple and teacher and can never be broken. When I entered into the agreement with Tashi Lama, it was a sacred moment in which I promised to give him my speech, mind, and body. Once you enter into the samaya, you can never leave unless you want to experience eternal torment. There are fourteen ways that the samaya can be broken and all of them are very serious. According to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, a few of the ways to break the samaya are disrespecting your master, disobeying the words of the Buddhas, or criticizing the teachings of the Buddhas. The worst is revealing the secrets of Buddhism to those who are unworthy. But not taking the secret oath of the samaya was blasphemous, and breaking the oath would earn a monk the most torturous part of hell. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are eighteen different levels of hell. Level eighteen is the most painful and excruciating—and it is reserved for people who break the samaya.That night, as I lay on my mat and heard the cries of the young boy, I could not help but think about Gyatso’s words. Surely his parents would never have brought him to the temple to live the life of a monk if they had known what happened to many of the young boys after dark. I am certain that my parents did not know. The last thing we thought anyone would see at the monastery was sex. It never crossed our minds. According to the teachings of Tashi Lama, I was not to engage in any sexual activities. This was one of the first teachings I received, and it was pounded into my head over and over again. Having sex of any kind was a serious monastic transgression that was ranked among theft, murder, and lying. Even masturbation was considered to be an offense that would get a monk kicked out of the monastery. The prohibition had seemed pretty clear to me at the time, but it was not so clear anymore. The very thing that I had been told was wrong was being practiced by one of the senior teachers, and there was nothing I could do about it.Tashi Lama’s teachings were not as insightful as they had been when I first arrived—they were getting more and more predictable—but at least he wasn’t abusive. Lying there in the night and listening to the cries of Gantdo’s disciple, I realized that this was one of the secrets that I would never be able to share with those outside of the temple. Sharing the secrets was a damning offense that would send me to level eighteen of hell.”
Lahkpa, Tenzin; Bach, Eugene. Leaving Buddha . Whitaker House. Kindle Edition. Available on Amazon.
This week’s blog post from Msgr. Rossetti, the first Catholic priest I turned to when my Tibetan gurus started attacking me:
“I must always be a follower of Jesus. I must love my enemies, forgive those who persecute us. I must be humble and bless all, never cursing. Sometime ago, I wrote ‘The Heart of an Exorcist.’ I am reading it again today and reminding me of who I should be:”
Another text from demons last night. Typical demonic rant. The demons were tormenting an afflicted person and her father with a flood of ugly and mocking texts. At one point I texted back the well-known St. Michael prayer. Then, the demonic texts stopped, for a moment. They started up again and a second time I texted the St. Michael prayer and added, “May the Powers of Heaven surround them, protect them, and cast out the demons.” This time, the demonic bravado and filth stopped.
The demons signed off with a threat: “It’s been a pleasure Stephen. Maybe tonight, you’ll feel my presence surround you as you sleep in what you think is a serenity, safe guarded home.” Apparently, the St. Michael prayer was effective against this pack of demons and I made a mental note to use it again. The demons did, in fact, “visit” me during the night, but a quick deliverance prayer cast them out.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the gurus punishing me are seeking total revenge. All the devotion and service I showed to them for many years means nothing to them. Every night for almost 3 years they have demonstrated how they will torture me for eternity. This makes me believe more than ever that tantra is Satanic at its core. I am sharing a post from Msgr. Rossetti’s blog (catholicexorcism.org). He publishes a new post every week and I’ve learned a lot about the enemy from his writings:
I have been astounded at the tenacity and commitment to vengeance by a particular witch. She was in a relationship with a male who eventually broke it off. She was hurt by the rejection and she turned to revenge.
Initially unknown to him, she is a proficient witch and she has taken to cursing him daily. The effects of her “magic” and curses are very real as it invokes the power of demons. She is daily tormenting him.
What is astounding is her unwavering commitment to revenge. The breakup happened over three years ago and she is daily still hounding him with dozens of texts and multiple curses. The focus of her life is revenge and she is daily spending hours intent on destroying his life. She swears she will never stop.
This is yet another sign that she is a minion of the Evil One. Satan’s entire existence seeks revenge against God whom he believes victimized him. He is spending every ounce of his dark energy forever lashing out against all that is holy. But his undying revenge is only destroying himself, as is the undying revenge of this witch.
It reminds me yet again of the importance of forgiveness and Jesus teaching us to forgive those who hurt us (Luke 6:27-29). We need to release others from any spiritual debts or wounds related to us. And we ourselves need to be freed as well. It does not mean that we have not been hurt or that those who have hurt us are in the right. Rather, it means that we will not be defined and enslaved by such actions and their wounds. We acknowledge the wound, and give it to Jesus the healer of souls.
I feel bad for the man who is being tormented. I also feel bad for the witch who is consumed by revenge. The afflicted person and I pray for forgiveness, to lift the curses, and for healing. We also pray together for the woman (which surprises her!). May she, too, forgive and find peace.
Tantra, as a spiritual path, is often misconstrued as simply a sexual practice in the West. It is, however, a far more complex, ancient Eastern tradition that incorporates yoga, meditation, ritual, and cosmology. This path is not for most, and can be extremely dangerous, even if undertaken with proper guidance. The dangers and challenges of engaging in Tantra are palpably clear in the fears of the local Indian people towards yoginis and their temples, as noted by Vidya Dehejia, an American academic and the Barbara Stoler Miller Professor Emerita of Indian and South Asian Art at Columbia University. In a lecture she gave two years ago for the British Museum, she said, “some of the ancient texts speak of people becoming food for the yoginis if they divulge the secrets of their cult.” The warnings given by Tibetan Buddhist master Chogyam Trungpa in some his early books are harrowing in a different way and should also be taken into account.
Dehejia revealed a fascinating aspect of Tantric mysticism in her lectures about yoginis, the female practitioners of Tantra, and their temples. Her studies unveiled a cultural fear of these powerful women that has persisted for centuries. She found that the locals harbor a sense of dread, an awe rooted in fear. The fear is primarily driven by the idea of the “curse of the yoginis.” The public perceives a multitude of ways one could trigger this curse. For example, mere proximity to the yogini temples, or revealing the secrets of their cults, were believed to be enough to summon the curse. This fear is deeply entrenched and is supported by the ancient tantric texts.
This pervasive fear, Dehejia found, made her research quite challenging. A tangible example of this fear can be seen in the history of the Hirapor temple, near the capital of Odisha, Bhubaneshwar. Despite its proximity to a major city, the temple remained hidden until 1953. The locals undoubtedly knew about it but chose to keep their knowledge secret to avoid invoking the yoginis’ curse. This fear inhibited Dehejia’s research as no one was willing to guide her to any of the temples.
But the dangers of Tantra are not merely mythological or culturally driven. Chogyam Trungpa, a well-respected Tibetan Buddhist teacher, issued several warnings about the potential hazards of Tantra. He spent years preparing his students before he ever taught them Tantra. He cautioned that Tantra should not be approached lightly or without proper guidance and emphasized that it was extremely dangerous and that without a mature understanding and respect for its philosophy and practices, Tantra could lead to severe psychological and spiritual difficulties.
For a comprehensive understanding of Chögyam Trungpa’s views on tantra, see his books, particularly Journey Without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha and The Lion’s Roar: An Introduction to Tantra. While these works offer valuable insights, I advise extreme caution with tantric practice and, ultimately, recommend avoiding it altogether.
Both Dehejia’s account of the locals’ fear of yoginīs and their temples, and Trungpa’s own teachings, underscore the profound seriousness of tantra. Together, they serve as a sober warning to anyone considering crossing the threshold into tantric practices.