A term borrowed into western occult jargon from Indian Tantrism, this phrase originally referred to those Tantric systems that maintain the rules of behavior standard in Indian yoga traditions, including celibacy, vegetarianism, and abstention from alcohol and intoxicating drugs. The schools of the left-hand path, by contrast, permit their students to engage in sexual intercourse and in the consumption of meat, alcohol, and drugs, often using these things as tools for attaining higher awareness. See left-hand path.
These terms came into use in western occultism by way of the Theosophical Society but underwent a change in meaning. In late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century occultism, as a result, the phrase “right-hand path” meant roughly the same thing as “white magic” – a magical system that was, or at least claimed to be, morally good. In the same way, “left-hand path” simply became a synonym for “black” or morally evil magic. Ironically, since most western magicians then and now have sex, eat meat, and indulge in the occasional alcoholic beverage (or other intoxicant), the vast majority of self-described occultists of the right-hand path would be considered practitioners of the left-hand path in India. See black magic; Theosophical Society; white magic.
SOURCE:
The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies : the ultimate a-z of ancient mysteries, lost civilizations and forgotten wisdom written by John Michael Greer – © John Michael Greer 2006