May not be safe for work, just a head's up. But this is an interesting look at Western Sexual Mysticism, for those interested in such things. Some thoughts below the excerpt.
Read the whole article.Western Sexual Mysticism
The hidden links between sexuality, spirituality, and nature
Few people know of the long-standing traditions of sexual mysticism in the West. These traditions, unlike Hindu and Buddhist forms of Tantra, which were often distorted, commodified, and trivialized upon transmission to the modern West, have remained largely untouched. This is because they were entirely unknown.
But the vast range of possibilities for hidden, erotic mysticism demand a closer look. They reveal a rich, profound range of perspectives, allowing us to see new dimensions of human sexuality. Consequently, history becomes more multidimensional. It is also possible that, as we uncover these secret erotic traditions of the West, they will in turn feed into new movements and generate new ways of understanding. Each era draws upon the past in its own way, and perhaps it is time for us—at least those who are interested and who feel some calling to do so—to reconsider the Western currents of erotic mysticism.
Though Western sexual mysticism has a long and fascinating history, it is only now being rediscovered. From antiquity on, there have been people who have held that spirituality and sexuality are not necessarily mortal enemies. Whatever we may think of these diverse figures (including adherents of the ancient Mystery religions, some of the ancient Gnostics and alchemists, and all the way up to present day authors such as Alan Watts), the fact is that they have important things to teach us about the hidden links between sexuality, spirituality, and nature.
Of course, we should begin by outlining what we mean by “sexual mysticism” in the first place. After all, the very term “mysticism” is an ambiguous one, for some even synonymous with “wooly-minded.” In actuality, however, “mystic” derives from the Greek word “mustein,” meaning “silent” or “closed-lips,” and shares its origins with the word “mystery.” Meanwhile, the words “mysticism” and “mystery” can both be traced back to the ancient Greek Mystery traditions of antiquity, which, as we shall see, certainly had sexual dimensions.
Taking a look back into Greek and Roman antiquity (approximately 800 B.C. – A.D. 600), we see that the Mystery traditions—be they Bacchic, Dionysiac, Eleusinian, or Orphic—were closely bound up with the cosmic cycles, and in particular with the cycles of agricultural and human fertility. In fact, the earlier forms of the Mystery traditions, including those occurring throughout the Hellenistic period (323-146 B.C.), were specific to the domain of women. Women celebrated the mysteries of fertility and sexuality. Only later were men allowed to be priests and participate in many of the traditions. What we are looking at, then, corresponds to something quite different from the modern stereotype of femininity as demure, coquettish, or passive. Today, the women described in the ancient Mystery traditions would come across as frenzied, wild, and dangerous. But it is this authentic wildness, expressing a dimension of nature itself, which we moderns often fail to recognize.
The article is brief and not very detailed, but it opens an interesting discussion.
Within the Catholic tradition, I know of at least one poet (William Everson) who saw the union of man and woman sexually -- in procreative, orgasmic transcendence -- as a direct experience of the Unity with God. He wrote about it, using incredible nature images of the North American continent, in River-Root: A Syzygy. Here is a relevant quote about the book-length poem:
During the mid-1950, Everson's literary output dropped considerably. The demands of monastic life were partly responsible, but a fuller explanation for this dry period lies in the conflict Everson was then experiencing between his poetic and religious vocations. He finally broke through his writer's block in 1957 with "River-Root," a thirty-page poem which, due to its explicit eroticism, was not published until 1976. Powell described the poem: "Bathing all nature in an aura of universal phallicism, 'River-Root' not only presents in close, loving and extensive physical detail the lengthy and inventive coupling of its properly married, Catholic, and procreatively minded central characters but also attempts to link their love-making on the one hand to a universal natural eroticism and, on the other, through the poem's depiction of sexual intercourse as a mode of contemplation, to God. . . . The poem . . . bespeaks the psychic trouble the requirement of celibacy would arouse in Everson throughout his monastic career."In a sense, this is the poet's experience of unitive consciousness filtered through the Blue meme of Spiral Dynamics, with its reliance on divine order and purposeful action within the context of a Higher Power's rules for living. Still, it's a moving poem, and it is a form of mysticism.
Other Western traditions, such as Aleister Crowley's sex magick, also looked to sexuality for spiritual experience, although in Crowley's case I would argue that the idea is corrupted by the quest for power. In this sense, his approach is the Orange meme of Spiral Dynamics, with its need for self-expression, but tainted by Red meme power needs.
From Wikipedia:
Sex magick is the use of the sex act — or the energies, passions or arousal states it evokes — as a point upon which to focus the will or magical desire for effects in the non-sexual world. In the view of Allen Greenfield,[55] Crowley was inspired by Paschal Beverly Randolph, an American Abolitionist, Spiritualist medium, and author of the mid-19th century who wrote (in Eulis!, 1874) of using the "nuptive moment" (orgasm) as the time to make a "prayer" for events to occur.Here is more on sex magick from Wikipedia:
These are distinctly western versions of sexual mysticism, though I feel that they pale -- for the most part -- in comparison to the true Eastern Tantric Sexuality (not the Westernized versions).Sex magic or sexual magic is a term for various types of sexual activity used in magical, theurgical, or otherwise religious and spiritual pursuits.
The fundamental premise of sex magic is the concept that the sexual energy, or libido, of the human organism is the most potent force it contains, and harnessing the unique states that arise through sexual activity provides a special experiential conduit for the transcendence of nominal reality.
Two fundamental applications of sexual magic concern the use of the orgasm. Some schools of thought base their use of sex upon the power that the orgasmic release of the sexual energy contains. An example of this type of sex magic is the Great Rite of Wicca, a ritual that involves either symbolic or actual sexual intercourse. This union between the High Priestess and the High Priest represents the union between the Maiden Goddess and the Lover God.
Alternatively, according to Samael Aun Weor, the orgasm is the antithesis of the pursuit of sexual sublimation of the sexual energy into higher forms of creative and spiritual energy rather than expelling it through orgasm.
It remains to be seen if the Western spiritual traditions can develop a truly mystic sexual tradition, though many are working in that direction. The reality is likely to be a more pure adaptation of Eastern tantric techniques within Western religious traditions, or what some might call an integral sexuality.
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