A flower's fragrance declares to all the world that it is fertile,
available, and desirable, its love organs oozing with nectar.
Its smell reminds us in vestigial ways of fertility, vigor, life-force,
all the optimism, expectancy, and passionate bloom of youth.
We inhale its ardent aroma and, no matter what our ages,
we feel young and nubile in a world aflame with desire.
- Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses, 1990, p.
BB, Ani 
This post was modified from its original form on 13 Feb, 10:58
when you come to yourself, to the love you are, no greater sacred union exists..you are.
bb, ani
did precisely what it was supposed to do Kerri! 
onward to more communion, union..
...from Jiddu Krishnamurti on kundalini and self-communion, awakening.
K: Sir, first of all, if you really want to discuss, have a dialogue about kundalini, would you forget everything you have heard about it? Would you? We are entering into a subject which is very serious. Are you willing to forget everything you have heard about it, what your gurus have told you about it, or your attempts to awaken it? Can you start with a completely empty state?
Then you have to enquire, really not knowing anything about kundalini. You know what is happening now in America, in Europe. Kundalini centres have been opened by people who say they have had the experience of the awakening of kundalini. Scientists are interested in it today. They feel that by doing certain forms of exercise, breathing, they will awaken the kundalini. It has all become a moneymaking concern, and it is being given to people who are terribly mischievous.
Q: We just want to know whether there is an energy that can wipe out conditioning.
K: So long as self-centred activity exists, you cannot touch it. That is why I object to any discussion on kundalini or whatever that energy is, because we have not done the spade work. We don’t lead a life of correctness and we want to add something new to it and so carry on our mischief.
VA: Even after awakening kundalini, self-centred activity continues.
K: I question whether the kundalini is awakened. I don’t know what you mean by it.
VA: Sir, we really want to understand this, because it is an actuality sometimes.
P: Do you know of an energy when self-centred activity ends? We assume that this is the source of this endless energy. It may not be.
K: Are you saying the ending of this movement from the centre to the circumference and from the circumference to the centre, the end of that …
P: Momentary ending of it …
K: No, the ending of it, the complete ending of it – is the release of that energy which is limitless?
P: I don’t say that.
K: I am saying that.
P: Which is a very different thing to me saying it.
K: Can we put kundalini energy in its right place? A number of people have the experience of what they call kundalini, which I question. I question whether it is an actual reality or some kind of physiological activity which is attributed to kundalini. You live an immoral life in the sense of a life of vanity, sex, etc. and then you say that your kundalini is awakened. But your daily life, which is a self-centred life, continues.
P: Sir, if we are going to examine it, let us see how it operates in one. The awakening of kundalini is linked to certain psychic centres located at certain physical parts of the body. That is what is said. The first question I would like to ask is whether that is so? Has the release of this energy, which as no end, anything to do with the psychic centres in the physical parts of the body?
A: Before we go into that, sir, is it not essential to enquire whether the person who acquires that energy is incapable of doing harm.
K: No, sir. Do be careful. How can we say somebody is incapable of doing harm? They say many Indian gurus have done tremendous harm misleading people.
A: That is what I say, sir. I feel that unless the person’s heart is cleansed of hate, and his thirst to do harm is completely transmuted, unless that has happened, then this energy can do nothing but more mischief.
K: Achyutji, what Pupulji is asking about is the standard acceptance of the power of this energy going through various centres and the releasing of energy and so on.
A: I say, sir, that before we ask that question, there is in the Indian tradition a word which I think is very valuable. That word is ‘adhikar’. Adhikar means that the person must cleanse himself sufficiently before he can pose this question to himself. It is a question of cleansing.
K: Are you saying that unless there is a stoppage of this movement from the centre to the circumference and from the circumference to the centre, that Pupulji’s question is not valid?
A: I think so. I will use another word, the Buddhist word is ‘sheela’. It is really the same. The word ‘adhikar’ used by the Hindus and the word ‘sheela’ used by the Buddhist really mean the same thing.
P: I take it that when one asks the question, there is a depth of self-knowing with which one asks. It is not possible to investigate the self which also releases energy, if one’s life has not gone through a degree of inner balance, otherwise what K says has no meaning. When one listens to Krishnaji, one receives at the depth to which one has exposed oneself, and therefore I think it is right to ask the question. Why is this question more dangerous than any other question? Why is it more dangerous than inquiring into what is thought, what is meditation, what is this, what is that? To the mind which will comprehend, it will comprehend this and that. To the mind which will not comprehend, it will comprehend neither. To the mind which wants to misuse, it will misuse anything.
K: Unless your life, your daily life is a completely nonself-centred way of living, the other cannot possibly come in.
VA: There is arising of energy – there is delight at first, then fear.
S: We would like to know why that energy creates fear.
VA: Fear comes later. One experiences death and everything vanishes. You are alive again and you are surprised that you are alive again. You find the world again, and your thoughts, and your possessions and desires and the whol
VA: Fear comes later. One experiences death and everything vanishes. You are alive again and you are surprised that you are alive again. You find the world again, and your thoughts, and your possessions and desires and the whole world slowly come back.
K: Would you call that, sir, the awakening of kundalini?
VA: I don’t know, sir.
K: But why do you label it as the awakening of kundalini?
VA: For a few days after that, for a period of a month, the whole life changes. Sex vanishes, desires vanish.
K: Yes, sir, I understand. But you do come back to it again.
VA: One comes back to it because one doesn’t understand.
K: That is what I am saying, sir. When there is a coming back to something, I question whether you have had that energy.
P: Why has this question awakened so many ripples? Most people go through a great deal of psychic experiences in the process of self-knowing. One also understands, at least one has understood because one has listened to Krishnaji, that all psychic experience when they arise, have to be put aside.
K: Is that understood? Psychic experiences must be totally put aside.
A: We put them aside, not only give no importance to them.
VA: Some new passages do get opened in the body, and the energy keeps rising in those passages whenever it is required.
K: Sir, why do you call it something extraordinary? Why do we attribute something extraordinary to this? I am just suggesting, it may be that you have become very sensitive. That is all. Very acutely sensitive.
VA: I have more energy.
K: Sensitivity has more energy. But why do you call it extraordinary, kundalini this, that or the other?
P: The real problem is to what extent is your life totally changed. I mean the only meaning of awakening is if there is a totally new way of looking, a new way of living, a new way of relationship.
K: I live a life of torture, misery, confusion. That is my basic feeling and can that end? There is no motive.
Can that whole process end? Only then can I answer the other questions, which have tremendous significance.
P: What is the nature of the soil of the human mind which has to be cultivated to receive the other? You tell me that is also a wrong question. You say I am in conflict, I am suffering and I see that a life of conflict and suffering has no end.
K: That is all. If it cannot end, then the other enquiry and investigation, and the wanting to awaken the other in order to wipe this out is a wrong process.
P: Obviously.
K: It is asking an outside agency to come and clear up your house. I say in the process of clearing the house, this house, there are a great many things that are going to happen. You will have clairvoyance, the so-called ‘siddhis’ and all the rest of it. They will all happen. But if you are caught in them, you cannot proceed further. If you are not caught in them, the heavens are open to you. You are asking, Pupul, is there a soil that has to be prepared, not in order to receive that, but the soil has to be prepared? Prepare, work at that, clean the house so completely that there isn’t the shadow of escape. Then, we can ask, what is the state we are all talking about. If you are doing that, preparing, working at the ending of sorrow, not letting go, if you are working at that and you come along and say is there something known as kundalini power, then I am willing to listen.
A: Sir, the reason why I objected is that in the Hatha yoga Pradipika text we make a statement that this investigation into kundalini is in order to strengthen you in your search.
K: For God’s sake, Achyutji, are you working at clearing up the house?
A: Definitely.
K: Now, what is the question? Is there an energy which is non-mechanistic, which is endless, renewing itself? I say there is. Most definitely. But it is not what you call kundalini. The body must be sensitive. If you are working, clearing up the house, the body becomes very sensitive. The body then has its own intelligence, not the intelligence which the mind dictates to the body. Therefore, the body becomes extraordinarily sensitive, not sensitive to its desires, or sensitive to wanting something, but it becomes sensitive per se. Right? Then, what happens? If you really want me to go into it, I’ll do so. The people who speak of the awakening of kundalini, I question. They have not worked at the other, but say they have awakened kundalini. Therefore, I question their ability, their truth. I am not antagonistic, but I am questioning it. A man who eats meat, wants publicity, wants this and that and says his kundalini is awakened, I say it is nonsense. There must be a cleansing of this house all the time. Then Pupul says, ‘Can we talk about an energy which I feel must exist?’, not theoretically but of which she has had a glimpse, the feeling of it, an energy that is endless; and K comes along and says ‘yes’, there is such a thing. There is an energy which is renewing itself all the time, which is not mechanistic, which has no cause, which has no beginning and therefore no ending. It is an eternal movement. I say there is. What value has it to the listener? I say ‘yes’ and you listen to me. I say to myself what value has that to you? Will you go off into that and not clear up the house?
P: That means, sir, that to the person who enquires, it is the cultivation of the soil which is the ending of suffering, which is essential.
K: The only job. Nothing else. It is the most sacred thing, therefore you can’t invite it. And you are all inviting it.
Clearing up the house demands tremendous discipline, not the discipline of control, suppression and obedience, you follow? In itself it demands tremendous attention. When you give your complete attention, then you will see a totally different kind of thing taking place, an energy in which there is no repetition, an ener
Clearing up the house demands tremendous discipline, not the discipline of control, suppression and obedience, you follow? In itself it demands tremendous attention. When you give your complete attention, then you will see a totally different kind of thing taking place, an energy in which there is no repetition, an energy that isn’t coming and going. It is not as though I have it one day and a month later I don’t have it. It implies, keeping the mind completely empty. Can you do that?
VA: For a while.
K: No, no. I have asked: Can the mind keep itself empty? Then, there is that energy. You don’t even have to ask for it. When there is space, it is empty and therefore full of energy. So, in cleansing, in ending the things of the house, of sorrow, can the mind be completely empty, without any motive, without any desire? When you are working at this, keeping the house clean, other things come naturally. It isn’t you who are preparing the soil for that. That is meditation.
P: And the nature of that is the transformation of the human mind.
K: You see as Apa Saheb was saying, we are programmed to centuries of conditioning. When there is the stopping of it, there is an ending of it. If you pull the plug out of the computer, it can’t function any more. Now, the question is: Can that centre, which is selfishness, end? And not keep on and on? Can that centre end? When that ends, there is no movement of time. That is all. When the movement of the mind from the centre to the periphery stops, time stops. When there is no movement of selfishness, there is a totally different kind of movement.
Exploration into Insight, Bombay, 18th januari, 1977, p. 83- 92 (CD-Rom code EP79EI-07)
bb, ani
/>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 "oBlissed be, Ani
Awesome posts Ani! 
"Love is the key to God and sexuality a firm part of God-made
expression of love on physical level to assist the learning and practicing of love."
Ally ABSOLUTELY! It is the way of "full embodiment" something we women, because of our inherent DNA expression, are more comfortable with. Our natural integration of mind/body/soul is not the same for men, at least not in the past 3500 years, since patriarchy assumed power over women and their possessions, including their children.
If we review the works of almost all major Masters, in nearly every respected and followed tradition, religion, etc., the men of these traditions have severely punished themselves for the path of physical love - Buddha, Gandhi and Jesus, if you would like to believe that nonsense - all apparently struggled with the denial of the natural, tantric way to BEING, and thus, probably made more dificult the easier path to LOVE.
BB, Ani
"Both religion and yoga have the same true innermost purpose - to re-link, to re-unite mankind with God. For a true yogi as much as for any religious person it is of utmost importance to truly understand the meaning and purpose of sexuality as a most direct and most efficient expression of love between two God made partners of opposite gender.
Dissolving spiritual blockages in your sexual behavior thus is one of the greatest steps forward on your spiritual path and may give you the greatest push and uplift. It's all about love and nothing but divine love in God's entire creation. And nothing that is made of love and nothing that is made for love can ever be wrong or bad !!!
All that serves to make happy - to love and to uplift with your love is made by the divine to give joy of life and a true divine eternal meaning and purpose to life for ever. Love is the single most important content of eternal life. Love is the single most important purpose of eternal life - Love is the ONLY purpose for eternal life !!!
The divine plan relating to sexuality can be recognized already by looking at the rotation of chakras in male and female bodies. all chakras in a female body rotate the opposite way from same chakras in a male body. if one particular chakra "turns" clockwise in a man - then it "turns" counterclockwise in a woman !"
http://www.kriyayoga.com/english/on_your_wings/sexuality.htmawesome posts everyone....thank you so much...let's keep it going...if we can only get everyone to make love instead of war - WOW...because when divinely done, it is "instant" enlightenment!
although i have many favorites in this field of inquiry and exploration, my favorite by far is David Deida. His book "Finding God Through Sex" so described my former (kind of still) relationship, gratefulness for his presence, his vision and his incredible ability to write well (), overcame me.
Here's what a few other notable folks had to say about one book:
"In the area of sacred intimacy, David Deida is holding a lightening bolt. He sheds astonishing light." - Marianne Williamson
"The openness, the love! What lively new language DD finds for the unsayable." - Coleman Barks
"Finding God Through Sex is the deepest, most alive, insightful book I have ever read on the wonders and subtleties of sexuality as a spiritual path. It inspires us to the knowing of total openness to who we are ad the lover and the beloved...until we disappear into love." - Gabriel Cousens, MD
Favorites: Finding God Through Sex, Dear Lover, Blue Truth, Wild NIghts.
BB, Ani
by Meena Iyer
In the entire existence there is vast non-dual oneness and there are many manifestations of dual and many forms of creation are rooted in duality of nature. Many of the manifestations have resulted in life. Due to this duality there is a leela (game). Duality is light and darkness, life and death, male and female. What was one has manifested into two. Due to this conflict of duality the conscious being seeks union to become one. The union is two opposites making an attempt to become one.
The longing to become one, forms expression in many forms of union. Our natural state of mind always seeks union unconsciously. When intelligence is overtaken over by hormones and emotions we constantly seek union in form of physical sex and physical love and feel the pleasure or orgasms which are momentarily, but the union or bliss with the divine is not experienced. When the body, intelligence, emotions and energy are transformed and aligned with the divine we seek union in form of Yoga.
Sexual desire is a biological process and the physical sexual act is a necessity for procreation and survival of the species. The sexual desire is driven mainly by our bodily sex hormones. The method of physical sexual union is hopeless without experiencing the union with divine. Divinity exists everywhere. For the divine to manifest in one self, one has to learn to transcend the struggle of duality beyond the physical limitations and experience the union in higher dimensions and this method of union is what we call Yoga or Spirituality. Two physical bodies cannot become one. They are always two and will always remain two. What can become one is the conscious being or what we call self.
In pre-Vedic times in India Yoga and Tantra were synonymous and extensively practiced. Men and women had equal rights and there was no discrimination and women were into spirituality and practiced everything that man practiced. Vedic literature or Shruthi underwent lot of changes after the invasion of Mongolians from China and Middle East. Tantra practice was stopped, women were suppressed and Manu Smritis were changed to down play women. Kama sutra was the gift to the world and this was possible only when society was more mature, tolerant and civilized. Brahmachari, Sages or Aesthetic saints who are not in Grahasthi abstained from sex as they feel the bliss anyway through yoga and these sages consider even body as an external object and associate sex energies with the body and use their inner energies prana to work and attain with the divine. India was also been blessed with the science of astrology and nowhere in the world has astrology been so much explored as it has been done in India.
In these modern times, we are too much identified with the physical body. Sex in the body is beautiful and when it comes to mind it becomes perversion. Sexuality is a measure of physical attributes and spirituality is a measure of our inner nature or attributes of the conscious being. Today’s modern era virginity is condemned and laughed about and the value, sacredness and power of being virgin and the experience of the bliss of virgin sex is only felt and reaped when one is attuned in the state of union or yoga. That is why our forefathers have been telling us that we remain virgin and wait for the union and the method of union has slowly changed over centuries in form of marriage by reading scriptures mantra and rites rather than means of union or yoga. Marriage is considered union of two individuals who take oath of commitment for being together in union for lifetime. In the current era even astrology has been misused and folks are misguided and horoscope match making has become superstitious and obsolete. A good astrologer can verify the horoscopes and check the compatibility factor of two people who are seeking union in form of marriage and only in awareness we understand the value of Indian Astrology.
When one is in a union with the divine by suppressing sex, one is not using the sex energy to attain union. Sex energy has also to be carefully used and misusing the sex energies without Yoga will result in depression and sadness and one will not be able to attain the Liberation or Nirvana. So when two persons are in yoga or union, sex will be fruitful and bliss of oneness can be easily achieved. So it is very much encouraged that teenagers learn yoga from a renowned guru so that they can become less spontaneous to physical aspects of sex and can plan their sexual quest with experiencing the divine or in a union. Pre-marital sex has been the trend today as it has been accepted as long as we practice safe sex by means of using a condom as the method of contraception as it prevents both pregnancy and contact of any sexual diseases. By means of pre-marital sex we have less control of our sex hormones and the sexual act has become more a physical need rather than a desire for union. Married couples and other folks who tend not to trust the partner indulge in sex using condoms which are in many way safe form of sex due to scare of aids and other sex related diseases, but the use of condom comes as a hindrance and takes away the bliss of making the tantric contact when one is in a state of union or yoga. The whole method of sexual union has become a hopeless method in the present times.
When one is in a union with the divine by suppressing sex, one is not using the sex energy to attain union. Sex energy has also to be carefully used and misusing the sex energies without Yoga will result in depression and sadness and one will not be able to attain the Liberation or Nirvana. So when two persons are in yoga or union, sex will be fruitful and bliss of oneness can be easily achieved. So it is very much encouraged that teenagers learn yoga from a renowned guru so that they can become less spontaneous to physical aspects of sex and can plan their sexual quest with experiencing the divine or in a union. Pre-marital sex has been the trend today as it has been accepted as long as we practice safe sex by means of using a condom as the method of contraception as it prevents both pregnancy and contact of any sexual diseases. By means of pre-marital sex we have less control of our sex hormones and the sexual act has become more a physical need rather than a desire for union. Married couples and other folks who tend not to trust the partner indulge in sex using condoms which are in many way safe form of sex due to scare of aids and other sex related diseases, but the use of condom comes as a hindrance and takes away the bliss of making the tantric contact when one is in a state of union or yoga. The whole method of sexual union has become a hopeless method in the present times.
In Yoga there are only four realities by which we can attain higher states of union. We use by means of our body (Karma yoga) our love, devotion, emotions (Bhakthi Yoga), our intelligence, mind (Jnana Yoga) and by transforming our energies (Kriya Yoga) to attain higher states of Union. In Yoga we use the kundalani energies to move upward from base root chakra to top chakra to attain the union and in Tantric practice of sex we use our body as a Yantra to experience the union of two conscious being. Tantra literally means to weave and is synonymous with Yoga. In tantric sex, the sex energies (hormones) along with the kundalani energies are transformed to connect two conscious being. Tantra practice in a way is a big foreplay. In Tantra one learns to prolong the act of making love and to channel, rather than dissipate the potent orgasmic energies moving through you, thereby raising the level of your consciousness. These practices were intended to awaken the powerful psychic energies. Tantric practitioners make the necessary preparation and it might be even weeks and months of tantric practice before they take time to release themselves in to orgasm or ejaculation and achieve the results of union or bliss. So with means of Yoga and Tantra practice from a realized Guru one can learn the art and experience the bliss and divinity of the sexual union.
BB, Ani
What is Kundalini?
The Kundalini energy is universal to the human species, but most of the information that has survived has come down from India. In my experience the Kundalini is the tool that allows us to transcend the illusions of our physical selves and which allows us to develop the skills to evolve into the person that we came to this life to become. It’s as if we have a small, secret box which, when opened, will lead us through the various clues and lessons that we need to become fully awakened.
Every human has this ability, and you aren’t meant to need a teacher or a guru or a guide to learn to use it, however, the concepts and attitudes that would allow one to easily and intuitively handle their own transformation have been steadily and purposefully leached out of common society to the point where the average individual isn’t even aware that they have the power to transform themselves.
In fact, many of the major religions teach exactly the opposite, that we don’t have the ability to self transcend and that therefore we must look to an external deity for the power/permission.
In my observations of history and various religious and philosophical paths I’d have to say that the information for unlocking the secrets of the Kundalini has been universal, but I also have to point out that the purges and book burnings of the last 2,000 years has left us with a lack of information about how the ancients actually did it.
Most of what has survived relatively intact has come down from India, but even most of these teachings have been dogmatized, trivialized and traumatized over the years. Today we are rebuilding the body of knowledge that will allow those who come after us to easily understand and control their own transformations, as well as avoid many of the pitfalls and indoctrinations that block it.
- Robert Morgen, "Kundalini Awakening Magazine" Editor and Care2 Group Kundalini Awakening Owner
BB, Ani
BB, Ani
lovely site to find more information about sacred sexuality...
www.sacred-texts.com/sex/index.htm
bb, ani
Acknowledged as one of the most insightful and provocative spiritual teachers of our time, best-selling author David Deida continues to revolutionize the way that men and women grow spiritually and sexually. His teaching and writing on a radically practical spirituality for our time have been hailed as among the most original and authentic contributions to personal and spiritual growth currently available
"In the area of sacred intimacy, David Deida is holding a lightening bolt. He sheds an astonishing light."
—Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love
"David Deida is the one western teacher of tantra whose books I read and whom I send students to learn from. The results of true practice, in any tradition, are unmistakable; David Deida demonstrates them."
—Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within
“We all taste God, taste Goddess, taste pure Spirit in those moments of sexual rapture, and wise men and women have always used that rapture to reveal Spirit’s innermost secrets. David Deida is such a wise one.”
—Ken Wilber, author of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality
BB, Ani
one does not need the body to enjoy & participate in Sacred Sexual Unions...
the 'other' does not even have to be in the same room, country, nor even the same continent,
heck... I can even 'go there' with my Twin who is 'off-planet'... though to a lesser degree of 'feeling', for that matter!
Sex and Soul
http://www.theinstitute.org/sex.shtml
To define sacred sexuality, it is important to rediscover what sex means to us. Paramount for growth in this area is to break out of preconceived thinking. To help us step out of the cultural box I use the word sex as an acronym, S.E.X. stands for Soul Energy eXchange, or as my partner sometimes likes to refer to it: Soul Energy eXtravaganza! Couple that with SOUL, a Systemic Organization of Universal Love, as defined in the book, The Living Energy Universe, by Gary Schwartz and Linda Russek. And you have Soulful Sex.
"Sex is the outward visible sign of an inward spiritual grace bringing about love. " -Alan Watts
This new perspective is not strictly about performance or procreation, or even about orgasm, though that can be a wonderful benefit. S.E.X. is about sharing and exchanging energies that originate more from our souls than just our heads or our genitals. It is about uniting our longing for wholeness and connection, yearnings that are naturally sacred and spiritual. It is about pleasuring and being pleasured in whatever consensual form that takes.
As author, Brandy Williams, writes:
"Sex is the most engrossing human act. Intimate touch involves all the senses. At the moment of pleasure, of shivering contact with a partner or a stolen moment of self-love, all our normal duties, tasks, fears, failures, all things we do drop away. This is life at its simplest, a time simply to be - to watch, listen, smell. taste, touch and feel, to focus on being a physical creature and experience the body's capacity for pleasure.
When our bodies feel healthy and our hearts clear, when we can give and accept pleasure freely and with sincerity, when we bring to intimate touch an awareness of the Divine, sex becomes sacred. We blossom into a fully human consciousness, caught up in the passionate embrace of life...We become...supple, flexible, centered, alive in the moment. "
Sacred Sexuality
Sacred Sexuality is the desire to discover and explore both our conditioning and our limitations in exchanging four personal and distinct energies with another, or exploring them alone. We open our "new eyes and ears" and listen to our bodies through the felt senses. Becoming familiar with the body's felt senses adds great fluidity to the process. (See the Authentic Process Healing section on this website). And by expanding our sharing skills, however gradual, the experience of sacredness seeps into the bones and marrow of the lover. What more beautiful way could human beings embody the sacred than by challenging themselves to bring the four primary soulful energies together (see below). When we do this, when we consciously give and receive these four energies, we experience ecstasy, transcendence and a new sphere of personal growth, empowerment, and understanding.
The Four Primary Energies
There are four primary soulful energies in Soul Energy Exchange (S.E.X.). These are: love and pleasure, lingum and yoni. The third and fourth energies are Hindu Sanskrit terms used by Tantra workshop leaders Charles and Caroline Muir and understanding them assists us in breaking out of traditional, cultural thinking patterns. The third expression, lingum energy, represents the masculine drive, penis, aggression and personal power, the giving of complex energies, and glory. While lingum energy is often male identified, in reality this energy is found in all human beings. And our fourth soulful expression is yoni energy, which represents the feminine, the vagina or any part of the body that exudes surrender and desire to receive energy. Yes, men too have yoni energy.
We are all more or less conditioned and limited in our expression of yoni or lingum energies, not to mention love and pleasure. In truth we have all suffered traumas to our lingum and yoni energies, as well as love and pleasure. Unlocking traumatic and toxic shame, and thawing frozen energies are our path to the sacred. Experimenting, without judgment, along the felt sense boundaries of these energies is a direct route to god energy, the earth, our ancient memories, and the universe. All four of these soulful energies are the creator's way of expressing itself through us.
As the river gives into the ocean,
what is inside me moves inside you...
-Robert Bly
The Kabir Book
agreed...sacred sexuality is our very birthright.
"Tantra loves, and loves unconditionally. It never says no to anything whatsoever, because everything is part of the whole, and everything has its own place in the whole, and the whole cannot exist with anything missing from it."
~Osho
BB, Ani
"Let there be such oneness between us, that when one cries, the other tastes salt." - Anon
BB, Ani
This post was modified from its original form on 12 Mar, 9:36
Tantra is the practice of awakening to our essential nature and recognizing that we are enlightened beings. That each of us has the seed of the enlightened mind within us and all we need to do is to remember it. Tantra is the path to expanding our consciousness of so we can experience life with more joy, presence and connection.
The word Tantra is a Sanskrit word that means: to weave or transform. Tantra is the weaving of the chaotic forces of our lives into a harmonious fabric that connects us to all that is. Through Tantra we learn how to accept every moment as part of our growth and expansion process. By accepting ourselves and what is arising in each moment, without judgment, we become more compassionate towards ourselves and others. We let go of our fear and need to be in control and experience the universe as supporting us.
SkyDancing Tantra has a spiritual lineage that goes back over 1000 years to the time of Buddha Padmasambhava, the second Buddha of our age. He brought Tantric Buddhism from India to Tibet. There he met Yeshe Tsogyal and she became his consort and she was called the "Great Sky Dancer."
To be a SkyDancer is to be on a path where men and women as equal spiritual partners integrate ecstatic states into their daily lives. Together we surrender into each moment and feel the love and freedom that is in every breath we take.
If you would like to explore your own awakening I invite you to attend a special Easter weekend workshop in Sedona, AZ, called Awakening the Ecstatic Body: A Weekend of Bliss.
You will learn how to create sacred space, welcome intimacy, share your desires, transform fears, open your inner flute, and expand your ecstatic energy by connecting heart, sex and breath. In a circle of love and respect we will celebrate the embodiment of the divine in each other. This weekend will give you tools for living a more joyful, pleasure-filled and vibrant life.
The workshop is open to individuals and couples at all levels of experience. The cost is $250-$300 sliding scale per person. There is a 10% discount if you mention the SkyDancing Institute.
BB, Ani
great work Annie, finally someone has got to the core of the truth that men and women are equal, I truly believe in the superiorty of women in all disciplines and as proven by the Rani of Jhansi , Indira Gandhi and others ...even in war!
balance, in all forms of being, would be a very nice contrast to that which we've experienced in out his/herstory for more than 5000 years i would say.
male/female are equally needed, IMO. & if we are reaching true consciousness, then this is a very natural process, that can only evolve as we do.
blissings, ani
Blissings, Ani
For The God/dess In You: What is tantric sex?
By SheKnows Editors
Tantric sexuality is a sacred expression of romantic love that comes out of the ancient Hindu tradition, which honors the divine feminine and divine male. It teaches that divine love can be attained through a loving partnership between a man and woman. Because Tantra treats the loving exploration of sexual pleasures as a sacred act, it can unite partners and inspire intimacy on all levels.
Click here for the whole article.
WOW Ani, Ally and all, where have I been while this whole thread has been in its compilation?
Fantastic information here... and yes, the sacred union aka conjunctio... expressed with or without sexual union is the fusion of spirit and matter....nothing more holier I feel, at least in this present part of my journey.
Thanks E....
We're really simply trying to articulate, I think, right Ally, the ability to weave in and out of "The Matrix," reverring the union of one with all, one with another - body to body, soul to soul, mind to mind, being to being, any being.
We may well be riding the wave of bliss. Smile.
Blissings, Ani
& the union with self!
Oh absolutely Elizabeth! The energetic experience between the to spirit to spirit is above and beyond the physical, though the physical is the treat of the deal being in physical manifestation/form.
When the energy shared is connected in certain a way the experience can become physically felt even if there is no actual contact, then the fun really begins. *giggles and blushes* I fell against the wall in my shower the yesterday after my knee buckled with this type of experience, it was amazing! lol
This looks interesting.....
Beltane: The Wisdom of the Celts
The Sacred Union: The Divine Masculine and Feminine
Living Earth Energy Currents
www.allonenow.org/BeltaneHamish.html
A LOVE LETTER - Elizabeth A Feisst
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. ~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Thank you Jaylena...
Blissings, Ani
E...wonderful contributions as always...how many gold stars can I possible gift you? Smile.
Blissings, Ani
Oh yes Elizabeth... Beltane/Beltaine is getting close!
I love this time of year when you can start to smell the fresh growing flowers.
May 1st or May Day is also known as the 'Night of the Witches' and is a festival of passion, of fertility, of sexuality... the night when the young lovers would go out into the forests after the traditional leaping over the healing bonfires. It's Pagan significance is second only to Samhain. The Maypole is an ancient symbol of the Great Rite, the sexual union between God and Goddess.
Very interesting and nice to see three men leading this offered conference.
And thanks for sharing your Love Letter here, it's beautiful!
And I want to say thanks to Ani and Jaylena, you two just wow me with your posts/quotes and pics!
Hugs to All,
Ally
ps I've just tried posting this for the last 2+ hours, Firefox (and something else) just updated and so the advanced Editor is not working, I guess it's got some temporary glitches.
Ally, I am looking forward to Spring. It is finally here in Ohio. So for all you garden lovers of flowers this pic is for you. Love and hugs, Jaylena 
This post was modified from its original form on 18 Apr, 8:04
I thank everyone for this incredible wealth of information.
Thank you Eleanor, we appreciate your gratitude!
Bright Blissings to You!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35pe56-NObs
Holly holy eyes
Dream of only you
Where I am, what I am
What I believe in
Holly holy
Holly holy dream
Wanting only you
And she comes
And I run just like the wind will
Holly holy
Sing a song
Sing a song of songs
Sing it out
Sing it strong
Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the suns gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who cant walk upright
And the lame man, hes gonna fly
And I fly
And I fly
Holly holy love
Take the lonely child
And the seed
Let it be filled with tomorrow
Holly holy
Sing a song
Sing a song of songs
Sing it out
Sing it strong
Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the suns gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who cant walk upright
And the lame man, hes gonna fly
And I fly
And I fly
Holly holy dream
Dream of only you
Holly holy love
Holly holy love
- Neil Diamond
This song was written for his wife Holly when she became pregnant with his first child. To me it is SACRED UNION sung. Recall Neil was a cantor for many years and came from a very long line of jewish cantors.
Everyone, how can I possibly thank you appropriately for your beautiful contributions to this group? THANK YOU.
Blissings, Ani
Ally:
I attended a woman's college, Wells College, where we EVERY May 1st, danced around the Maypole. & did all kinds of GODDESS stuff, more than 20 odd years ago. It's also more than 120 years old - so this has been TRADITION for many generations of CONSERVATIVE WOMEN. Smile.
When you have a moment, please direct to the best "witch" book possible because I know I've been living it, but not practicing. I may already have them. Smile.
Immeasurable love to all,
Ani
E.....you're beyond words - you do know that!
The leading authority in the US, perhaps in world, in terms of reach, of "sacred sexuality" is David Deida - also a man. Smile.
Hugs, Ani
Sakhi:
TY so much 4 that video....how true, how moving. I hope everyone views it...smile.
Blissings, Ani
Great videos everyone, very much the essences of Sacred Union, Twin Soul/Soulmate Bliss!
The way I have come to understand the whole Twin Flame/Soul Soulmate concept is that our Twin Flame is the connection, the light that we have within, to All That Is/God/dess, without this bond we would not experience states of bliss, maybe states of euphoria but not true bliss. This is our connection, our direct source to Love.
And simply, Twin Souls are our 'perfect' match, Soulmates are our near perfects, though if we are not ready the unions will not be what we are looking for. Sacred Unions may also be found outside of these relationships as well.
I'm a huge U2 fan and I think a part of why I like the music so much is that it makes me think and sometimes it challenges me but what I find so fascinating is that their songs are deep and meaningful and it's always about the Heart and Soul.
This song to me is about Sacred Unions also.
About a good book on Wicca basically anything that is printed by Llewellyn is a good bet, they produce the Magical Almanac annually. Anything that is inspired or written by Silver RavenWolf is also very good.
I have a great little book, it's called 'Simple Wicca' and it is written by Michelle Morgan, in 2000, for a series by Conari Press called A Simple Wisdom Book.
From the back cover:
What is Wicca?
A positive, Earth-based spiritual practice, Wicca has nothing to do with black magic and everything to do with ancient wisdom, herbal healing, energy management, and buliding community. Simple Wicca is the perfect primer for the curious beginner or handbook for the advanced practioner, offering not only practical guidance in the Craft but also an emotional and spirtiual understanding of the practice.
"The only abnormality is the incapacity to love."
- Anais Nin
Blissings, Ani
Love will find a way.... and a place.
You don't have to go looking for love when it's where you come from. ~Werner Erhard
"Sacred union with the self is love." -APK
Blissings, Ani
There often seems to be, with many, a confusion or unease about God OR Goddess. About whether the DIVINE is female OR male. Yet within the Great MOTHER is ALL. Just as a physical Mother contains a child, male or female within her womb, so too does the Goddess Consciousness contain both God and (God)dess within Her cosmic being.
It is easily seen in the words we use.
GOD completely leaves out the feminine.
But (GOD)DESS contains, embraces, holds
inside of HE(R) the masculine. HE is male alone.
Yet (S)HE is both female AND male.
(S)HE includes HE.
So Goddess Consciousness is the meeting of the two polarities. The union of masculine and feminine in ONE. Within HE(R) is HE, the male INSIDE the female, joined in a sacred union where they are ONE being, ONE light, ONE LOVE, ONE consciousness.
This post was modified from its original form on 02 May, 8:39
Beautiful 
Lauren..well stated..thank you..Jaylenna
Beautifully stated, I totally agree!
I have one more for you.... the word wo/man.
Thanks Lauren! I'm very happy you've joined us!
Yes Ally, (wo)man is a great example. Not only does the word (wo)man cantain man, but in a more literal sense (wo)man actually does, in the physical and emotional realms, contain man.
Man is created inside, nurtured by and born of (wo)man, feeds from he(r) as a child, looks to
he(r) for guidance and nurturing. As a teen and an adult he seeks to rejoin he(r) and be again in union with he(r). He seeks to 'complete' or unify himself by merging once again with he(r).
Yummy ladies...if only my ex-beau had understood his role in our unending dance. Smile.
"When he comes along, the man I love..."
"The Painted Veil"
Blissings, Ani
Old fashion romance is never out dated...woman/man it is 2 souls that unite into 1 that share all
Sacred Union
by Selena Kitt
My Beloved, Yeshua,
These words fall on your tomb this night, my letter to the dead. My heart would burst without these vellums to contain it. I remain your faithful follower, your devoted 'ezar k'negdo. Your teachings breathe my belly, Rebbe. I am eternally your disciple. I would lie with you one last time under this full moon, the watchful eye of God, the distended belly of the
Mother, Great Ima. Long these hours of your passing, I have wailed my sorrow to Shekinah. Beside your apostles I have mourned, and with the woman you called mame. My vigil I have continued into the night long after all have departed. My robes I have torn, and rivers of tears I have shed into the soft valleys of my body, moisture collecting in the crevices and cracks below my belly, between my thighs, anointing the ground before your tomb with my grief.
Hear my lament this waning night: as woman, I am alone
amongst your disciples. Why must I feel the loss of my beloved as none other of your followers do? Did our Lord, Adonai, understand that if my heart, the heart of a woman, beat in your chest, you would not abandon me for the sake of the world's redemption? My head is bowed in prayer. How can I accept this cruel betrayal, this bloody act, this senseless sacrifice? You spoke of redemption. There is a part of me, like Tomas, who doubts. Is there no end to this suffering? I have not the strength to bear your burden. But, Yeshua, my own burden weighs heavy on my soul. It sinks me to my knees. I pray your name to heaven, second only to our Father, yet the heart of my body speaks only an unfulfilled yearning. Why must the fulfillment of the spirit leave this ache in my body? Where are you, my Yeshua? My yarah, I am your disciple, but I am also your wife, and my heart follows you to death and beyond.
I was your chosen one, and none who sat at your feet showed greater devotion than I. Even in the earliest hours after your death, I longed to share with our circle the sacred knowledge that was revealed through our holy union. Petra, your rock, in his lust to be favored, speaks now against me. To Barak he speaks his jealousies, that my sins are greater than the
mirsha'ath, she who you saved from stoning. Could this be so, my beloved, could you speak this in my eyes? I am no fallen woman, but I cannot deny that my love for you is beyond any, beyond the love of Yaacov or Yochanan. I am no rock, no stone, no blade. My heart soft, my body a vessel, I am a sacred chalice whose purpose is only to be filled. You have taught me this. You are teaching this now, even in your death.
For my very nature, shall I seek absolution? Could it be that I am a sin? Does your Petra speak the truth? Rebbe, all who have heard with their hearts have been awash in your wine, yet while man burns your spirits to the heavens, woman drinks them deeply into her body. Would you fault a wild dog for scavenging, a sheep for bleating, the Joshua tree for raising its
limbs to the heavens in prayer? How can they judge me for being what God made me? Where else would your gifts sleep in this earthly world but in my breast, my belly, my womb? No loyalty, no devotion was more fierce than mine. Never could I have denied you my deepest surrender, my body, my blood, my most yielding, secret self. In my heart of hearts I know it
is no sin, my hunger for your blessed hand upon my head, your unshorn hair upon my lips, the grace of your breath upon my ribs.
My only sin lies in denying it for fear of reprisal amongst your apostles. Petra and your men would speak of the union as now the Pharisees do in their betrayal of the truth, as a profanity and not as the sacred union of heaven and earth. My beloved, I have denied the great truth that sprang from our union. You are gone, I have no more net around my fishes, no shoreline to follow home, no Bethlehem's star to lead me back to your birth. I am lost. You must forgive me for betraying you, my Yeshua, you must forgive me for betraying my own heart.
I cannot forget those honeyed moments when I was your
woman, your bone, your flesh, when you pressed me to
the olive tree, and I tasted salt on your lips and begged for more. How could we not allow our bodies, also, to declare our oneness? Already, we were one in spirit, like twining limbs that grow together over time. I never felt separate from you. For me, you were the kingdom of which you spoke and I lived there every moment. My soul never went hungry. You were ever my bread and wine.
How could we be separate in the flesh if we were not meant to come together as one? Why else would Adonai breathe his life into the separate forms of man and woman? Is it not the same breath that gives life to both? Woman is no original sinner. I am no original sinner. Those words passed from your mouth to mine, your heart to mine. Shall I forgive your men, for they
know not what they do? What does not stir with the breath of the Father, who is not quickened with his life — man or woman, slave or free, Jew or Greek? I want you here, now, to speak these words from your lips to all that would hear. The comfort of the sound
this is awesome! Is it from abook? Is there more?
Teresa there is a bit more....
www.shadowsacrament.com/epiphanies_1.4.htm
Glad you enjoyed Teresa. Smile.
Blissings, Ani
Thanks Ani.
Just watched the DaVinci code a few days ago and it has brought quite a discussion to our household, my daughter and I. I have been interested in Mary Magdalene since about age 12. But only know so much and found this letter amazing and at the same time cried as i have some similar feelings about losing my most beloved too. Six months ago on monday.
Blissed you're sharing this important information with your daughter. & yes, I believe when love is bound with duty, you have grace. Your husband and you certainly, from my experience of the two of you, are bound in grace, still. He is never lost. You are never lost. Smile.
You may enjoy then reading "The Pistis Sophia." See www.pistissophia.org for more information.
Blissings, Ani
Here is a picture of a sweet couple. It really touchedmy heart. ..from days long ago..Jaylena
Blissings, Ani
www.sacredunion.com
Blissings, Ani
