A Brief History of Religious Sex

Goddesses of Pagan myth

resources:

The religion of the Goddess,

wherever it was practiced
throughout history, has always
been sex positive. The most
famous of the ancient rituals is
the Hieros Gamos, or Sacred
marriage ritual. Records of this
ceremony have been dated as
far back as early Sumerian,
about 5500 years ago. In this
ritual the high priestess acting
as avatar of The Goddess had
sex with the ruler of the country
to show the Goddess's
acceptance him as ruler and
caretaker of her people. Here is
part of the ceremony as
translated from an ancient
Sumerian poem.
The High Priestess, acting for
Inanna, is speaking to Dumuzi
the new king.
My vulva, the horn,
The boat of Heaven,
Is full of eagerness like the
young moon.
My untilled land lies fallow.
As for me, Inanna,
Who will plow my vulva?
Who will plow my high field?
Who will plow my wet
ground?
As for me, the young woman,
Who will plow my vulva?
Who will station the ox there?
Who will plow my vulva?
The symbolism is, I hope,
obvious to you. If you've ever
looked at an anatomical
picture of the female
reproductive system, you
may have noticed that the
vagina is shaped like a horn,
it curves upward and narrows
towards the back.
On the male side, an old time
plow (not the modern day
tractor type) had a long, hard
projection that pushed into
the ground.
Dumuzi, the king replies:
Great Lady, the king will plow
your vulva,
I, Dumuzi the King, will plow
your vulva Inanna accepts
him saying:
Then plow my vulva, man of
my heart
Plow my vulva.
Then follows more details of
the happenings
My eager impetuous caresser
of the navel,
My caresser of the soft thighs;
He is the one my womb loves
best,
My high priest is ready for the
holy loins.
My lord Dumuzi is ready for
the holy loins.
The plants and herbs in his
field are ripe.
O Dumuzi, Your fullness is my
delight.
The high priestess then
directs things to be readied
Inanna called for the bed.
Let the bed that rejoices the
heart be prepared
Let the bed that sweetens the
loins be prepared
Let the bed of kingship be
prepared!
Let the bed of queenship be
prepared!
Let the royal bed be
prepared!
This bed was set up in front of
the entire congregation. The
people watched the entire
ritual including the sexual
part.
He shaped my loins with his
fair hands,
The shepherd Dumuzi filled
my lap with cream and milk.
He stroked my pubic hair.
He watered my womb.
He laid his hands on my holy
vulva,
He smoothed my black boat
with cream,
He quickened my narrow boat
with milk.
He caressed me on the bed.
The King went with lifted
head to the holy loins.
He went with lifted head to
the loins of Inanna
He went to the queen with
lifted head.
He opened wide his arms to
the holy priestess of heaven.
We rejoiced together.
He took his pleasure of me.
He laid me down on the
fragrant honey-bed
My sweet love, lying by my
heart,
Tongue-playing, one by one,
My fair Dumuzi did so fifty
times.
Now, my sweet love is sated.
At the climax of the ceremony
(or should I say, climaxes,
fifty times, wow!) the
populous would cheer and
shout their approval and
appreciation. This ritual
brought prosperity to the
people and to the land, so
they were very happy to
witness its successful
completion.
A lot has been written since
women's liberation about the
performance anxiety men feel
in our modern times.
Performing sex in front of
other people was not the
stressful thing in ancient days
as it is now. Sex was often
done in religious ceremonies
in groups--Orgies.
Nowadays the word orgy
connotes something
depraved and degenerate.
That was not the original
meaning for the word. The
word "orgy" comes from the
Greek word "orgia" meaning
"secret worship". Since most
secret worship involved
sexual rituals, and Christians
were opposed to anything
sexual the word orgy came to
have the debased meaning it
has today, rather than the
noble, spiritual meaning of
the original word.
Many words that are used to
describe extreme religious
fervor are also used to
describe great sex, such as
passion, bliss, and ecstasy.
There were many orgies
throughout the year as
celebrations in the religion of
the Goddess. Many of these
celebrations have been taken
over by the Christians who
removed their sexual nature.
The best known is
undoubtedly Christmas taken
from the pagan festival of
Saturnalia.
Saturn, from whom we get
the word for the day of the
week, Saturday, was the
Roman name for the Greek
God, Cronus and the
Babylonian God, Ninip.
Sometimes called the Lord of
Death, he was represented by
the sun at its lowest aspect at
the winter solstice. That's
when the earth is cold, and
most plants are dead, and it
was believed that the sun was
approaching death. Today
that's around December 21,
but because of calendar
changes, it was originally
December 25th. Saturnalia
celebrated the sun
overcoming the power of
winter, with hope of spring
when life would be renewed.
In Roman times, Bacchus, the
god of wine, became the lord
of these festivals. During the
Bacchanalian festivals the
everyday rules were turned
topsy turvy. The masters
waited on the servants. All
sexual prohibitions were
lifted. It was a time of true
good will towards all men.
Even dresses were exchanged
with men dressing as women.
Erotic dances were performed
with a large erect phallus
being carried around in the
dancing processionals.
The custom of exchanging
clothes during Saturnalia and
Bacchanalia was an activity
frowned upon by the Jews and
Christians as it is prohibited
by the Bible, Deuteronomy
22;5 "The woman shall not
wear that which pertaineth
unto a man, neither shall a
man put on a woman's
garment; for all that do so are
abomination unto the Lord
thy god" So much for Biblical
transvestites.
However, the god Hermes in
order to become a god of
magic went into the temple of
his consort Aphrodite where
he wore a woman's robes and
artificial breasts. In the
temple he learned all the
secrets of the Goddess
Aphrodite which were
exclusively taught to her
female priestesses. The
priests of the very masculine
Greek hunk, Hercules, always
wore female dress, probably
in memory of Hercules
service in female dress to the
Queen Omphale. Zeus had
sent Hercules to be a slave to
the Queen for having killed a
young man, Eurytus, after his
father had insulted Hercules.
One of the most famous
prophets and seers of ancient
time, Teiresias, was a man
who was changed into a
woman and served in the
temples as a priestess for
seven years to gain the
feminine powers of insight
and divination. During this
time as a woman he gave
birth to a daughter before
being turned back into a man.
It was Teiresias who gave us
the "scale of one to ten."
Myth has it that Zeus and
Hera once argued who had
the most pleasure in sex.
Zeus said it was the woman,
while Hera asserted it was the
man. They agreed that
Teiresias should judge who
was right. He did not hesitate
to tell the God and Goddess,
"Measured on the scale of
pleasure, in the act of sex
man has one measure to
woman's nine." Hera became
incensed by this, stating that
judges, like referees in
sporting events are all blind,
and made Teiresias blind.
Anciently men's transvestism
had its roots in the desire to
attain female magic and
powers and was common
among the Pagan priests up
to the time of St. Augustine
who denounced the custom,
saying that men who wore
women's garments could
never attain salvation, even if
they were otherwise good
Christians. So the good
Catholics simply made the
women's gowns into Priests
robes. They looked the same,
had the same function, but a
"robe by any other name,
does not a transvestite
make."
Another favorite converted
Pagan holiday is Valentines
Day taken from the Lupricalia.
The festivals of Lupricalia
were noted for their wild,
sensual dances in which
sausages played a very
important part. So important
in fact that both dancing and
sausages were outlawed by
the Christian Emperors of the
4th and 5th century.
And, of course, May Day used
to have great sexual frolics
around that giant phallic
symbol, the May pole. The
May pole represented the
Gods phallus in Mother Earth.
People decorated it and
danced around it. Kids still do
today, even though they have
no idea of its original
meaning. The Christian
church opposed May festivals
because of its association
with pagan gods. A 16th
century English Puritan writer
Philip Stubes, railed against
May pole dancing. He said,
"What clipping, what culling,
what kissing and bussing,
what smooching and
slobbering one of another,
what filthy groping and
unclean handling is not
practiced in the dances."
Stubes estimated, though
how he got his statistics is
unknown, probably from
peeping through bushes, that
not one girl in three retained
her virginity after taking part
in May pole rituals. After
dancing around the Maypole
celebrants would retire to the
open fields where they would
have sex with anyone and
everyone in the plowed fields
in order to insure the fertility
of the land and prosperous
yield of crops. May was a
month of sexual freedom
throughout rural Europe up to
the 16th century. Marriage
bonds were suspended for the
month of May, commenced
again in June - hence, June
weddings.
All of these ancient rituals,
these orgia, involved group
sex and nudity. The hang ups
and inhibitions that most
people have about having sex
in groups or in front of other
people are largely the result
of Biblical attitudes. Sex, was
something to be done only in
private behind locked doors,
and only for procreation.
Those restrictive ideas come
to us from the Bible, in which
nudity is condemned as soon
as Adam and Eve ate the
apple (or technically, the Fruit
of Knowledge of Good and
Evil).
Also in Genesis we read the
story of Noah getting drunk
and lying around naked in his
tent. His son Ham, the father
of Canaan, came in and saw
him and went out and told his
two brothers about it. They
came in and, walking
backwards, covered him.
When Noah woke up he knew
what Ham had done and he
said,
"Cursed be Canaan; a servant
of servants shall he be unto
his brethren" So the father
curses his son and his
descendants--who are
according to some biblical
interpretations, especially
those of Whitehead and many
Mormon, and some
nineteenth century christian
writers, the blacks--to be
servants to his white brothers
just because Ham saw him
naked. A little extreme, I'd
say. And it doesn't matter that
some interpret this
differently, as one of the
justifications for American
slavery of blacks was this
interpretation of the Bible.
Nudity is frowned on by the
Judaeo-Christian god, but
Greek Gods are usually
depicted as nude in
magnificently detailed
statues. The god of the Bible
is always portrayed with
plenty of flowing robes on.
What does he have to be
ashamed of? Did they cut too
much off when he was
circumcised?
In pagan religion rituals, men
and women had sex with their
friends and neighbors. The
Bible forbids such activities in
no uncertain terms, Leviticus
20:10,
"And the man that
committeth adultery with
another man's wife even he
that committeth adultery with
his neighbor's wife, the
adulterer and the adulteress
shall surely be put to death."
Even today some states still
cling to archaic Judaeo-
Christian religious laws
making adultery a crime.
In ancient times a priestess
could be married or
unmarried. She performed
sexual purification rituals with
all worthy men regardless of
her marital status. In some
cultures all women were
required to serve in the
temple. Herodotus, the father
of history, writing about the
Babylonians states,
"Babylonian custom compels
every woman of the land
once in her life to sit in the
temple of love and have
intercourse with some
stranger. The men pass and
make their choice. It matters
not what be the sum of
money; the woman will never
refuse, for that were a sin, the
money being by this act
made sacred. After their
intercourse she has made
herself holy in the sight of the
Goddess and goes away to
her home." That is unless she
decided to continue as a full
time priestess. The man was
not paying for sex, but rather
making an offering to the
Goddess for allowing him to
participate in the sacred
ritual.
One hundred and fifty years
later, Quintus Curtius, the
historian who accompanied
Alexander the Great on his
conquests, reported:
"There is none other more
corrupt than this people, or
none other more learned in
the art of pleasure and
voluptuaries. Fathers and
mothers suffered their
daughters to prostitute
themselves to their guests for
silver and husbands were not
less indulgent with respect to
their wives. The Babylonians
plunged into drunkenness and
all the disorders which follow
it. The women appeared at
the banquets with modesty at
first, but they ended by
abandoning their robes, then
the rest of their garments one
after another, disrobing
themselves little by little of
modesty until they were
entirely naked. And these
were not public women who
abandoned themselves so;
they were the most
respectable matrons and their
daughters."
In some cultures, as in Egypt,
the upper class women were
priestesses. Almost all of the
Egyptian queens were High
Priestesses of the Goddess,
up until Cleopatra. She was
the 369th in a line of which I
am 537th High Priestess.
Egyptologists who know how
sexual the high priestesses
were, just cannot believe that
a queen would have sex with
anyone other than her
husband-- like the good
Jewish Queens of the Bible.
They seem to think that
Cleopatra, who had sex with
100 Roman noblemen in one
night was unusual. The fact
is, all priestesses, queens or
otherwise had sex with
thousands of men.
In ancient cultures with
matriarch religions, sex was
considered something
ennobling and uplifting. Sex
could take you closer to the
Gods rather than alienate you
from god.
An example of this come from
one of the oldest stories in
existence, the Gilgamesh
Epic. Some place the Epic by
tradition around 5,000 years
before the current era. The
story tells of many heroic
adventures of Gilgamesh who
is part human and part god.
One particular story tells that
the gods placed a wild man,
Enkidu, in the wilderness area
and required Gilgamesh to
capture and tame him.
Gilgamesh is told of this wild
man by a shepherd who has
seen him. Rather than run out
with spears, arrows and nets,
Gilgamesh sends a priestess
of the Goddess to the
watering place of the wild
man. She takes off her
clothes, exposing her charms.
The wild man, finding her
much more appealing than
his animal friends, has sex
with her for 6 days and 7
nights and is won from his
wild life. He is calmly led by
the priestess back to the city,
to civilization.
This story dramatizes the
ennobling, civilizing benefits
of sex. Sex is portrayed as a
force for good. Contrast that
with the Biblical version of the
first sex activities. Adam and
Eve were living in Paradise
without sex. They disobeyed
their god's order not to eat
fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. It
is only after they eat of the
fruit of knowledge that they
become aware of their
genitals and sex. As a result
they are caste out of
paradise, out of the presence
of their god, into a cold, cruel,
uncultivated world--where sex
is evil.
In the Goddess religion sex
brings one to civilization and
the goddess, in the Judaeo-
Christian religion sex drives
one into the wilderness away
from their god.
In Judaism, the sins of the
individual are put on some
animal which is ritualistically
killed by the a priest, or sent
as a scapegoat into the
wilderness. In Christianity, the
sins are put on the dead god
Jesus, whom they believe
died for all men's sins, past,
present and future. (So since
your sins are already all taken
care of, why not enjoy
yourself?) In the religion of
the Goddess, the priestess
takes upon herself the sins
and transgressions of the
man in the ritual of negation.
In the Egyptian language the
word, Negation, pronounced
negation but obviously
spelled differently in
hieroglyphics, meant Semen
or the essence of man. The
word modernly means to
cancel or wipe out, to make
negative. You may wonder
how it got from one language
to the next with such a
drastic change in meaning.
That is because in the ritual
of negation, a man ejaculates,
or leaves his negation, his
semen inside the twat of the
priestess, as a symbol that he
is willing to give up his all in
order to have his sins wiped
out. The term negation came
to be applied to the whole
ritual or wiping out ceremony.
Gradually through the
centuries, the semen, and
religious connection got lost
and only the wiping out part
remained. The priestess
literally takes upon herself
the transgressions of the
man, she intercedes on man's
behalf with the Goddess, so
that he can be purified. She is
his guide in this life to bring
him to the hereafter.
There have been some
Christian sects through the
centuries that have
selectively interpreted
passages of the Bible to allow
them to indulge in sexual
activity typically forbidden by
their god. The Aegopy had
open, free love when
christianity first began. Other
"heretical" sects in early
Christianity, such as the
Brothers and Sisters of the
Free Spirit, were killed off by
good christians about 600
years ago. A heresy is
anything which the Catholic
Church does not agree with.
America has had several
religious groups which
practiced open sex. The
Oneida Company of New York,
which makes beautiful silver
work was originally run by
one such religious group. John
Humphrey Noyes preached
what became known as his
"perfectionist" doctrine which
required its members to lover
one another--and make love
to one another.
Another sect which was
established about the same
time was the Brotherhood of
the New Life. It was started
by Tom Harris who taught that
people had a duty to love
each other, not just spiritual
brotherly love, but also
physical love with many
partners.
Most people know the
Mormons practiced polygamy
in the 1800's. But the
Mormons also had secret
sexual practices in which
women were shared among
the inner circle of male
leaders in the early days of
the church. John Law, one of
the ruling three men of the
Mormon Church, second only
to Joseph Smith, had his
printing press destroyed by
angry church leaders when he
threatened to publish
accounts of the men who had
had sex with his wife. This is
emphatically denied today by
Mormon leaders, but
Mormons leaders also denied
that they were practicing
polygamy until polygamy
became the "New and
Everlasting Covenant of
Celestial Marriage". Sex with
several women became the
"order" as long as you were
married to them; and there
appears to have be no limit
put on the number of wives.
The Mormons correctly
pointed out that this practice
was common among
patriarchs of the Bible--
Abraham, Israel, King David
and Solomon, to name a few.
Unfortunately Mormon
women were never given the
same freedom of having sex
with other men as were the
priestess wives of David and
Solomon, and other patriarch.
This right of the priestess, to
have sex with any man she
desired, appears to have
been originally taught by the
founder of Mormonism,
Joseph Smith, but was
rejected by his wife, Emma,
who also rejected polygamy.
Why bother to twist and
select passages from the
Bible to allow sex in religion
when there already exists the
religion of the Goddess with
its emphasis on spiritual sex?
Each of these modern
religions gave up their
attempt at spiritual sexuality,
due to pressure from Judaeo-
Christian religions. Sex is no
longer just a religious issue, it
is a political issue. From the
mayors and councilmen of
cities, legislators and
governor, to the President,
the politics of sex demands
an outward profession of the
Judaeo-Christian ethics. A
politician is required to
parade his wife, children,
church attendance and sexual
fidelity before the public as a
sign of his character. In this
land of the free where there is
supposedly freedom of
religion, we are slaves to
Judaeo/Christian traditions
which promote a male
patriarchal order as "family
values".
The sexuality of the Goddess
has been feared by men from
their beginning and Her
sexuality is feared today.
Christian fundamentalists are
in dread of a sex-positive
religion which will have a
greater appeal then their sex-
negative, ascetic doctrines.
Christians fear the haunting
shadows of their forgotten
ancestors--those ancients
who worshipped the pagan
goddess and the Goddess in
Her temples and groves--who
still bring up images of hidden
memories of her priestesses
in their subconscious who
speak a truth which Christians
openly deny. Christians fear
the obvious, that after 2000
years their dead god has not
returned and the twilight of
christianity has arrived--that
long awaited time when the
"Lady of the New Dawn"
would arrive.
 I have arrived.
Tantra
An Academic View
by Swami Nostradamus
ViratoTantra in Buddhist and
Hindu traditions was a method
to activate and utilize Kundalini
energy (bio-energy) for the
expressed purpose of spiritual
advancement. The word is a
composite of tapestry, web and
enlightenment. While some have
dubbed Tantra a religion, that is
for convenience sake. Tantra in
essence defies all the tenants of
a religion, while maintaining a
spiritual core. And while there
are indeed rituals, the rituals are
for reference.
The origins and philosophy of
the Tantric lifestyle can be
traced to Tantric elements in
both Hinduism and Buddhism,
and predate Taoist philosophy.
Buddhist Tantra, and Taoism are
outgrowths of the original form
of Tantra which began in ancient
India.
Today, Tantra has re-emerged in
western culture as an
alternative, self-help,
sexual/spiritual phenomenon,
and to some degree as been
usurped, even if in name only,
with aggressive, non-loving
sexual perversion, from
pornography to prostitution. It is
sad, but it is what it is. This is
not genuine Tantra. If this be any
definition at all, Tantra taps into
a wider dimension of
consciousness, and embraces
love. It is indeed a doorway to
enlightenment.
The History of Sex in India
While the essence of Tantric
concepts can be traced to many
parts of the world including the
Native American tribe of
Cherokee, who practiced
Quodoushka, as well as in
Polynesia, and elsewhere, one
history of ritual sex can be
traced back to the Harrapan
tribe of the Indus Valley (4000
BCE --2000 BCE). They were
agrarians who worshipped the
power of the feminine, which
they associated with fertility and
birth. Their deity was the
goddess, idolized in the form of
the yoni (vulva). The Harrapan's
culture was altered by the war-
like nomadic Aryans who
replaced the existing female
deities with their male gods--
often represented by the phallic
lingam symbol (penis). Female
deities were then relegated
more to being consorts to the
male gods.
Sexual intercourse was seen as
a way to combine the male and
female energies, which were
seen as originating from the
Cosmos. The manifestation of
this duality are the deities Shiva
(male) and Shakti (female).
Hinduism accepted an open
attitude towards sex as an art
and spiritual practice. The most
famous pieces of Indian
literature on sex is the
Kamasutra. This collection of
explicit sexual writings, both
spiritual and practical, covers
most aspects of human
courtship and sexual
intercourse. It was put together
in this form by the sage
Vatsyayana from a 150 chapter
manuscript that had itself been
distilled from 300 chapters that
had in turn come from a
compilation of some 100,000
chapters of text. The Kamasutra
is thought to have been written
in its final form sometime
between the third and fifth
century CE .
Over time, in the history of the
evolution of Hinduism, almost
every sexual technique
conceivable was practiced and
venerated in one sect or
another. Fellatio, cunnilingus,
prostitution, masturbation (with
an impressive array of aids),
anal sex, bestiality and even
necrophilia were discussed,
tolerated or encouraged. Against
this historic backdrop, it is not
surprising that Tantrism, a sect
that utilized sex as a means to
spiritual evolvement, would
flourish.
The Birth of Tantrism
Although its true origins are
unknown, there is speculation
that Tantrism, like many other
philosophical movements before
and after, was a response to the
prevailing social and political
environment. At the time, only
Brahmans, the highest caste,
were allowed to perform Tantric
rites. Many of its practices were
deliberately aimed at breaking
the caste system, while others
flouted convention in lesser
ways by using drugs, magic, and
sexual intercourse as part of
religious ritual.
Tantrism can also be seen as a
backlash against the ideal of an
ascetic lifestyle. An equally
convincing argument can be
made that Tantrism was a
natural philosophical-theological
spin-off of a religion and culture
that was steeped in sexual
myth.
The ancient Tantric movement
peaked between 700--1200 CE.
Tantrism is so called because the
practitioners adopted the
teachings in the Tantra
scriptures thought to have been
written around 300 CE. Tantrism
is considered by some as a part
of the group of Hindu sect, the
Shaktis, who venerate the
feminine. This is in contrast to
the Lingayatis who primarily
worship male deities.
While there is little information
as to the precise number of
followers that Tantrism was able
to attract, speculation is that its
appeal was widespread
throughout Indian society some
three thousand years ago.
Although it is thought that
originally Tantrism drew its
following from the middle and
lower castes, it would eventually
be the Brahmans that would
practice the most elite form of
the belief.
Later, Tantric aficionados
carried their philosophy and
lifestyle to China (around 1000
CE). In the 14th century, while
the Mongols ruled China, yet
another stream of Tantric
"missionaries" from Tibet
revitalized the movement in a
variation that held little of the
Taoist elements of the original.
The literature indicates the
continued practice of Tantrism in
India and China but provides
little detail on the number of
practitioners and depth of their
practice. Specific reference is
made of a Tantric sect in Bengal
as recently as 1980.
I should also point out, that
while scripture did indeed
abound, most who lived the
lifestyle had little to do with
doctrine or dogma. It was, and
is, far from a belief system.
Tantric Theology
The basic statement of Tantrism
was that if the world was a
reflection of the cosmic order,
then people should seek
enlightenment through
experiencing it. Rather than
pursuing asceticism, which was
seen as a repudiation of the
tactile, Tantrikas believed that a
higher spiritual awareness could
be achieved through indulgent
(but controlled) sensory
experience. The thought was
that, if the world was an
expression of divinity, then all in
it must be divine, worthy to be
worshipped rather than
renounced. It was an apparently
hedonistic creed, and its appeal
must have been immense.
What was common of all the
other different systems of the
Hindu religion was that they
were all ways to achieve
freedom from perpetual
reincarnation. The different
systems accomplished this in
different ways but all, with the
exception of Tantrism, shared a
philosophy of rejection. Among
these were Nyaya, which
advocated logic and clarity of
thought, and Yoga, as well as
Vedanta whose practitioners
raised their spirituality through
meditation.
Tantrism turned all of this on its
head. It offered its practitioners
freedom in one lifetime, not
through study or meditation (at
least in the lower stages), but
rather through indulgence, and
experiencing all that religions
denied.
Acquiring Female Energy
The way to accomplish union
with the divine according to
Tantrism, was to become one
with the "World Soul" itself.
Since Tantrism was a sect of the
feminine it envisioned the
"World Soul" as being
encapsulated in the image of the
goddess (Shakti). Another
source depicts the most
venerated Tantric deity as being
a Shiva-like figure with both
male and female parts. This
manner of being was known as
an ardhanari (hermaphroditism).
In this situation Shakti is seen as
the female component of Shiva
and is often viewed as being in
perpetual coupling with him. But
even in this scenario, it is the
female energy of the god that is
coveted because it is this that
will augment the male energy of
the Tantric practitioner and
hence enhance his spirituality.
Back in the mundane earthly
world, there existed a
microcosm of the cosmic order.
The sought-after female energy
could be found in earthly
women. Although all men and
women had both male and
female energies in them, women
naturally possessed more of the
female force (this is what made
them women). The way to
appropriate some of this energy
was through sexual intercourse.
"The essence of Tantra is this
union of male and female
energy, a union that is both
mental and physical. Due
adoration cannot be paid to the
mother goddess unless a man
has sexual intercourse with a
woman, as representing the
Shakti, or female energy." The
perceived necessity of acquiring
this balance between male and
female energies led some sects
to require periodic sexual
liaisons between monks and
nuns.
This process was deemed so
crucial to spiritual advancement
that temples were built for this
purpose. The most famous was
built in 1565 CE in Guahati,
Assam and dedicated to the
goddess of love Kamakhya or
simply Kama. As legend has it, it
is on this site that a distraught
Shiva dropped the genitals of a
dismembered Shakti after her
death, in fond remembrance of
their long love-making sessions.
The inner sanctum of the temple
is a cleft that represents Shakti's
yoni and is kept moist by a
natural spring. "Kamakhya was
worshipped not only by sexual
intercourse, but also in human
sacrifice. Under British rule the
human sacrifice was replaced by
sacrificial goats."
Rituals and Practices
As in other Hindu sects, Tantric
worship for some became very
codified ritual. In this instance it
took the form of the repetition of
mantras and supervised
religious ceremony. The more
devoted practitioners meditated
often and participated in more
intricate ceremonies. While
Tantra abounds with coloration
and ritual, at the same time it is
totally unattached to all
methods. To some this is
paradoxical. Indeed Tantra
cannot be experienced with the
mind.
Mantras
A mantra is a phrase or
collection of syllables said
deliberately and repeatedly, like
a fugue in music. It can be
voiced or silent. Mantrum is
used as a form of meditation or
brain entrainment. Their
purpose is to concentrate and
direct spiritual energy, by
removing or quieting mind. The
most commonly used and most
popular Tantric mantra is "Om
Mani Padme Aum" which literally
translates to "the jewel is in the
lotus" or is another way of
saying "the lingam is in the
yoni." While most mantras have
a spiritual focus, any repetition
of any sounds or words may be
used. In some the events I
conduct, I sometimes user
repetition of CO-KA-CO-LA as a
meditation Tantra is also playful.
Circle Worship
Chakrapuja which translates to
"circle worship," was the basic
ceremony for most Tantric
practitioners. A small group of
people would gather in the
presence of their guru. It was
the duty of the guru to supervise
the proceedings and to make
sure that the evening did not
stray from it's holy purpose and
deteriorate into an orgy. The
male members of the group are
referred to as vira ("heroes"),
the female, as Shakti
("potencies").
The evening started with a mind
heightening soma (such as wine
or hashish), after which the
couples proceeded to the other
"four of the five enjoyments."
These were: meat, grain, fruit
and sexual intercourse. It is
hypothesized that all five
represented mild breaking of
taboos of orthodoxy while
connecting to the earth. The
evening culminated in sexual
intercourse, and it is this aspect
of their worship that was most
developed and which also
deserves further analysis. Here
is my description of the
Maithuna ritual as an example of
preparation.
Coitus Reservatus and Coitus
Obstructus
From the perspective of the
male practitioners, sexual
intercourse in these
circumstances was very
purposeful. There were strict
guidelines to follow. The goal
was to increase the
concentration of female energy
in the male body. This was
accomplished through extreme
discipline and by following a
prescribed methodology.
Intercourse could only take
place when the woman was
sexually excited, after which,
depending on the sect, the man
would not ejaculate at all or
would do so only after the
woman had at least one, or
preferably many orgasms. The
reasoning derived from the
Hindu belief that through
intercourse, semen -- both male
(bindu) and female (amrita),
could be concentrated in the
body. It was then preferable to
redirect the semen through the
body rather than outside it as
this then appropriated the
female energy to the benefit of
the male practitioner.
The practice of coitus reservatus
was referred to in Sanskrit as
askanda and was represented in
artwork of the time by images of
a flaccid lingam known
colloquially as "down penis" or
nicha medhra. The famous
statue of the Jain saint,
Gomatesvara, is depicted with
such a "pendulous" penis.
It would appear that the process
was not one of mutual sharing
but rather of one party gaining
power at the expense of the
other. Done improperly then, the
ritual could have the opposite
effect. Writings warn that the
male stood the chance that the
situation would be reversed and
the woman would gain his
energy and strength! Thus he
who knew the secret of sexual
intercourse turned the good
deeds of woman to himself but
he, who without knowing this,
practices sexual intercourse, his
good deeds woman turn into
themselves.
The idea of "cultivating" sexual
energy from the woman by
deferring or avoiding ejaculation
can be found in Taoism. Taoists
believed that women had much
larger sexual appetites and the
capacity for multiple orgasms
and hence had more sexual
energy. It was assumed that a
woman could experience
innumerable orgasms without
experiencing any physiological,
psychological, or sexual harm -
and still be 'enlightened',
whereas a man "once he
ejaculates falls into a deep
sleep, totally drained of all of his
strength." Therefore, a man
should strive to bring a woman
to many orgasms and delay his
own because he would then
benefit from her energy (her
yin). The longer that a man
could stay within the "jade
chamber," and the more
orgasms he could solicit from
the woman, the more yin energy
he could absorb.
Advice to the Male Practitioner
It is important to note that the
motivation for prolonged
intercourse and encouraging
sexual pleasure and orgasm in
women was a sly and selfish
male desire to gain female yin.
To attain this goal, men were
instructed to learn how to delay
their own orgasm for as long as
possible. They were advised to
use mental meditative powers,
self discipline and manual
intervention (coitus obstructus).
To avoid "premature ejaculation"
(by Tantric standards), Master
Tung-hsuan, a Chinese physician
in the seventh century, advised
that at the last moment, "the
man closes his eyes and
concentrates his thoughts: he
presses his tongue against the
roof of his mouth, bends his
back, and stretches his neck. He
opens his nostril wide and
squares his shoulders, closes his
mouth, and sucks in his breath.
Then he will not ejaculate and
the semen will ascend inward on
its own account."
As Tantrism spreads from India
into China (700 CE), there is
more evidence of advice to men
on this matter. From the book,
Important Matters of the Jade
Chamber, we get an account of
the technique for coitus
obstructus. "When, during the
sexual act, the man feels he is
about to ejaculate, he should
quickly and firmly, using the fore
and middle fingers of the left
hand, put pressure on the spot
between scrotum and anus
(called the "million dollar point"),
simultaneously inhaling deeply
and gnashing his teeth scores of
times, without holding his
breath. Then the semen will be
activated but not yet emitted, it
returns from the Jade Stalk and
enters the brain."
Once proficient in the ways of
reliably gaining female energy
(without the process backfiring),
the Tantric practitioner engaged
in regular ritual intercourse as a
way of getting constant
infusions of female energy. The
Tantric interpretation of events
was very similar to that of the
Taoists. During intercourse,
preferably in one of the
convoluted positions advocated,
a complex interaction between
the female energy and the male
navel chakra resulted in the
conversion of the vital but
previously constrained male
semen into a vital force (referred
to as bindu) which then, "...
whisked up through ... to the
chakra at the top of the head,
"the thousand-petalled lotus,"
which opened into the void, the
eternal bliss of nothingness.
Thus the true Tantric adept
became one with the dual-sexed
World Soul."
For the majority of practitioners,
this union would seem to have
been a fleeting thing. More
advanced Tantric practitioners
sought a more permanent
blissful state by employing a
more sophisticated strategy.
Interestingly, the prescribed
rituals were such that the (male)
practitioner would eventually be
free from dependence on
women.
Advanced Tantric Practices
For the dedicated Tantric
practitioner who wished to attain
the promise of bliss in a single
lifetime, the rituals were to
become increasingly solitary. At
first, the (male) practitioner
moved up the hierarchy through
an initiation ceremony that
involved having ritual
intercourse with specially
trained women known as a
dakinis. The man, now known as
a sadhaka, embarked on a
process of intense meditation
which included "liturgies, the
uttering of mantras, mental
visions, yogic postures, and
what one authority charmingly
describes as 'manipulation of
the conjoined male and female
energies.'"
The goal in this last practice was
to develop the male and female
energies that were now part of
the practitioners body by the
process of what could be
conceptualized as "intercourse
with oneself." The same result
that was achieved fleetingly
through sexual intercourse with
women, could now be reliably
reproduced within the male body
thus enabling him to reach union
with the divine.
Conclusions
The mystique of Tantric
practices has fascinated the
world since the days of it's peak
in India. As the practices and
rituals became known by other
cultures, Tantrism was claimed
by the cultures that "discovered
it." This appropriation was often
in a "smorgasbord" fashion
where bits and pieces were
selectively claimed. The Chinese
codified the practices into
elaborate sexual manuals that
could be consulted by the
average citizen. Later in history,
the coitus obstructus technique,
was used by the Turks,
Armenians, and the islanders of
the Marquesas, and the North
American native Cherokees.
Tantra today has little to do with
these ancient text. It is
continually updated by the
various practitioners, teachers
and performers. That is indeed
the central point...Tantra is
dynamic and alive, and subject
to change at every moment. In
my events, I usually say that
Tantra invites you to "expect the
unexpected," and to become
one with the very experience.
Hence Tantra is not about
scholarly text, ritual and surely
not dogma.
In the late 1970's, sex
researchers, Masters and
Johnson rediscovered that it
was possible for men to be
trained to experience the
pleasure of orgasm (possibly
several times) without
ejaculation. When the western
world "rediscovered" the same
thing in very old eastern
"Tantric" tradition, a renewed
interest in the rituals and
practices of Tantrism was
sparked.
In studying history, religious or
otherwise, it is important to be
aware of three things (among
others); The perspective an d
filters of the writer, the reader's
own cultural biases in trying to
analyze the information
presented, and the context of
situation being studied. This
must be considered in trying to
understand Tantrism while
conditioned, to one degree or
another with a western point of
view.
Much of the analysis of Tantrism
has come from a "western" point
of view which can be subtly (or
overtly) tainted by the Judeo-
Christian sex-negative and
religious perspective. It is this
perspective that leads to the
interpretation of Tantrism as a
"depraved" phenomena and
conjures echoes of a Sodom and
Gomorrah. Like any other
philosophy or movement,
Tantrism had its share of
fanatics, but it was founded on
well established practices, and
served as a viable way for its
practitioners to achieve spiritual
enlightenment.
Regardless of the neutrality of
the source, the western reader is
also faced with a conceptual
hurdle in studying Tantrism.
There is something that will
strike most as "intuitively"
scandalous about "orgies" as
worship. The impression that is
left with most is that Tantrism
was an excuse for an over-sexed
society to practice its favorite
form of recreation. This was
precisely the response of the
British during the years that
they colonized India. Their
cloistered Protestant Christian
sensibilities were appalled by
the "debauchery" around them.
Indian scholars take pains to
point out that Tantrism is a
spiritual philosophy and not a
sexual movement.
As one scholar points out, Hindu
and Buddhist critics "have
constantly suggested that the
Tantrika uses religion as a
mantle for sexual desire and
debauchery; the Tantrikas have
constantly answered that the
complicated, elaborate, and
exceedingly difficult procedure
followed by them would not at
all be necessary to gratify sexual
desire, whose objects are much
easier to obtain without any
[such rigorous] trappings." In
other words, if having sex was
the goal, there were easier ways
to do it. Again, you should
recognize and respect Tantrism
for what it was, a valid effort to
achieve spiritual enlightenment.
What I have saved for last is
this. Tantra, at its core, is a
philosophy of love, and universal
adoration. This state of love
consciousness is thought my
many to be achieved only
through the process of
surrender, or letting go of all
attachments, and to fully
experience the joy and bliss of
existence. To smell the flowers,
taste the wine, and enjoy
beauty in al its myriad physical
and spiritual forms.
Once you have assured yourself
that, as much as possible, you
are free of your ethnocentric
blinders, you can then examine
the records of history in the
context of the time.
©1996 Swami Nostradamus
Virato. All rights reserved
Swami Nostradamus Virato has
been conducting Tantra events
in America and Russia for over
two decades. See Nepal
Institute. For information call
828-254-6620, or e-mail
virato@mindspring.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Glossary, Nepal Institute
Bibliography, Nepal Institute
Bullough, Vern L. Sexual
Variance in Society and History,
(University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, London, 1976)
Davis, Nigel. The Rampant God -
Eros Throughout the World,
(William Morrow and Co., Inc.,
New York, 1984)
Das, H. C. Tantricism: A Study
of the Yogini Cult, (India Sterling
Publishers)
Fisher, Mary Pat. Living
Religions, Second Edition,
(Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs,
NJ 1994)
Ide, Arthur Frederick. Sex
Woman & Religion, (Monument
Press, Dallas, TX 1984)
Rawson, PhilipTantra: The Indian
Cult of Ecstasy
Sharma, Arvind. ed., Women in
World Religions, (State
University of New York Press,
New York, 1987)
Sinha, Indira The Great Book of
Tantra
Tannahill, Reay Sex in History,
(Stein and Day, New York 1980)