#Sacred Sexuality

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

[dream-in-seoul]

As long as I can remember I was obsessed with the idea of religious sex. Being fucked on an altar as an offering to a God. Being a high priestess, getting her pussy eaten to symbolise devotion to ancient gods. Praying naked, but with a veil over my hair. Getting wet in church.

[themotherofrevelation]

Loveless sex is for the sociopath.

[sunlit-arrow]

About Artemis Parthenia

In my short time learning about Lady Artemis, I have encountered a lot of discussion and reiteration regarding Her virginal aspect. Since Her cult revolved significantly around this commitment to chastity, it is a topic that must be addressed by anyone interested in an in-depth worship of Her. Still, I have made my own reflections and would like to share these here.

(Please note that I am in no way an expert—just a single worshiper writing down her personal perspective on a vast topic.)

It is a lot to unpack since it is one of the main things that distinguish Her as a deity, so I'll go through the following points:

Virginity and Maidenhood

Artemis as Protector of Girls and Women

Artemis and Childbirth

Patriarchal Views on Chastity

1. Virginity and Maidenhood

Homer describes Artemis as "one of the three" who cannot be swayed by Aphrodite's power. This is how we learn that Artemis has no romantic or sexual interest. (While I acknowledge that many of Her myths and their possible reinterpretations can be read through a sapphic lens, that is not the focus of this discussion.)

What is particularly interesting about Artemis’s detachment from romantic love is that She not only rejects marriage but also actively chooses not to marry. From an idealistic, romantic, and modern perspective, we might imagine Lady Artemis declaring that love will never keep Her from the wild and that no man will ever take that from Her. However, we still get to read myths that describe the moment in which Her father, King Zeus, grants Her the wish to stay an eternal Maiden.

Virginity, in this context, does not mean actual chastity but rather a rejection of marriage to a man.

In contrast to other married goddesses, one can only imagine how offensive it would have been to lust after a maiden goddess—something reflected in the many myths where Artemis punishes those who violate Her privacy. Thus, "virgin" or "maiden" became a title that imposed limits on how men perceived girls and women.

This leads me to my second point.

2. Artemis Soteira, Hêmerasia, Philomeirax & Paidotrophos.

When we look at other virginal goddesses like Hestia and Athene, we could go through their cults and analyse why their aspects as maidens are relevant to their domains, but what about Artemis?

Lady Artemis is not only, along with Lord Apollon, the protector of Lady Leto (their mother, who was abandoned in Her time of need); She is also the protector of girls—their untamed nature, their growth through puberty, and their well-being once they are married off and considered women.

Artemis, as the protector of girls and women, remains a maiden because She transcends the control that men have over girls. Her independence and fierceness as the Lady of Beasts is a power no man can overcome, and for that reason, She is a threat to those who would seek to violate what She most fiercely protects: the innocence and autonomy of young girls.

Artemis must be depicted as a maiden not because She must be pure and chaste but because She is an adult, powerful goddess who represents the right of little girls to choose their own futures.

Taking my own perspective, I can imagine Lady Artemis choosing not to marry because of Her love for the freedom found in the wild. As if She wants to share the gift of choice with all, She calls women to Her sanctuaries, offering them a refuge from forced marriages.

"Come with me and be free."

3. Artemis Orsilokhia

So, how can a virgin goddess also be the protector of mothers?

Just imagine being married to a man your father chose for you, being forced into sexual intercourse because it is your duty to bear an heir, and suddenly, you have this little baby—yours to carry, yours to nurture, yours to bring into a world that has wronged you.

Artemis understands the love of a mother, whether it comes from choice or coercion. She knows this because Her own mother suffered while bringing the godly twins into the world. One could say that She held Leto’s hand as Apollon was born.

Here is where I could go on and on into an in-depth analysis of the myth of Kallisto—since, in my opinion, Lady Artemis would never kill a pregnant woman out of rage—but I will save that for another post.

All I want to say, since this post is already long, is that if we examine how earlier civilizations viewed sex, we see that it was often directly tied to procreation. Sex frequently meant childbirth. In this sense, one could argue that Artemis is also a goddess of sex—not as an act of pleasure but as a force of nature. She is a protector against rape and sexual violence, a judge of those who mistreat their partners in intimacy, and a caretaker of those who bear the fruits of fertility.

Once again, Lady Artemis is not against sex or pregnancy. She is a goddess of freedom, and because of that, She is a goddess of choice—of the ability to decide whether to be a mother, a wife, or neither.

4. Chastity Culture and Artemis’s Priestesses

What I dislike most about the modern interpretation of Artemis as a virgin goddess is how it has been used as an excuse to police the sexual behavior of women.

Yes, Artemis’s priestesses were once required to be virgins. Yes, a vow of chastity was demanded. But based on everything I have discussed so far, doesn’t it make more sense for Her priestesses to be free with their bodies as they choose? Why do I still see people asking Artemis’s priestesses if they have taken a vow of chastity? Why does it matter?

Let me put it this way: as the Lady of the Wild and the Mistress of Beasts, how can we even begin to imagine the untamed forces of life without sex?

This may be a controversial opinion, and I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but continuing to demand chastity vows from women as a condition to validate their devotion to a goddess who protects girls and women is an insult to much of what She stands for.

Do not let chastity culture corrupt Her worship. Teach children how to say "no." Teach them to recognize manipulation, grooming, and abuse. Teach teenagers how to have safe sex, how to ask for and give consent. Teach people to respect their bodies and that "No" is a complete sentence. Discuss sexual violence in relationships, peer pressure, and healthy understandings of sex and love.

Worship Lady Artemis by giving people all the tools they need to choose for themselves. And if their choice is to have sex, let it be in the healthiest way possible.

[thatwhichdoesnotsuffer]

"We males are fascinated by a beautiful painting, or are enchanted by a beautiful sunset, or are captivated when observing an eclipse through an observatory. But the woman immediately provokes in us the craving of possessing her, the urge of becoming one with her, the drive of integrating with her, in order to participate in the plentitude of the universe. Nevertheless, we must not, in any way, look at love or at women in morbid manner, we must remember that love in itself is pure, holy, and noble. When a male defiles a woman with his perverse gaze, indubitably he marches on the path of degeneration.  We must learn to see woman purely, in all of her natural beauty.  For us males, the woman, born for a holy destiny, is the only being that can liberate us from the chain of pain. For women the male is something similar; she sees in the man all hope, all protection, she wants to be completed by the man, she sees in him precisely the masculine eternal principle, the force that has put into activity all that is, everything that has been, and all that will be.  Indeed, man and woman are truly the two pillars of the temple. These two columns must not be overly close nor exorbitantly away from each other, there must be a space so that the light can pass between them." —Samael Aun Weor, Sexology

[embodiedawakeningacademy]

Sex Magic: Aligning Passion with Purpose

The combination of sexual energy and intention to materialize desires is known as sex magic. It becomes a potent tool for transformation that goes beyond sensual enjoyment. Through balancing their passion and purpose, practitioners connect to the primordial energy of creation. It's about channelling the natural power within you to achieve particular objectives. Sex Magic combines pleasure and intention, whether it's for improving intimacy, reaching professional goals, or promoting spiritual development. Though rituals differ, breathwork, mindfulness, and visualization are essential components. It's a highly private practice that calls for vulnerability and trust. Through it, people embrace a holistic approach to fulfilment and discover deep connections with the universe, their partners, and themselves.

[buildingrelationshipsinanarchy]

Meditation

Sex as ritual act, in the old sense. Sex as in opportunity to merge consciousness and physicality with one another. Sex as opportunity to learn how to play with you. Sex as knowledge of how to please, maybe even love, you. Sex as blades that become sharper through our dance. Sex as chance to wage orgasms instead of dominance, humiliation, seperation. Sex as shared laughter, sex as past horrors, sex as forgiveness, sex as growing and nurturing transformative change. Sex as purification. Sex as learning to become anew through knowing you. You teach me of Gods. I feel the roaring of stars inside my skin. Divinity in forms anew through you.

Fuck, I fucking love you.

[frankiecartier]

[ihearhercalling]

To make love is literally to generate the energy of love, which is powerful and transformative. It is one of the secrets of the sacred Yoni, that women know instinctually when we make love and whose potency increases as we get older. In our society we pay lip service to the power of sex by denigrating and exploiting women and men’s bodies and sexuality for material gain. Its spiritual purpose is denied and feared since it lead to the loss of personality control and the necessary death of the ego.

- Spinning the Wheel of Ana by Kathy Jones

[chicagognosis]

Inspiration, Aspiration, Expiration, Respiration: The Power of Breath and Sacred Sexuality

Every New Year brings about its impending challenges, conflicts, ordeals, and sufferings. Likewise, there is hope for rejuvenation and a revitalization of purpose despite the debts and psychological baggage of the past. For meditators, every effort to empower our spirituality promises the blossoming of divine potential and the hope for a spiritual renaissance in our daily lives. One such essential practice for this is pranayama: the conscious harnessing of vital breath to conserve, redirect, and amplify creative energy. Discover the principles and praxis for energizing our most virtuous qualities and overcoming the impurities of the psyche. By controlling breath, one can harness the most powerful force of the universe, which resides precisely in our sexual glands. Initially a raw, brute, and dynamic potential that can produce physical life, the creative energy can also engender the possibilities of inspiration, insight, intuition, and mystical revelation when fully mastered within ourselves.

https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/inspiration-aspiration-expiration-respiration

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

[forerotica]

Marveling at the sensual that we take for granted.

This morning

I held my hardness

That’s all

No joy

No play

Just contemplation

And noticing

Steadfastness

Rigid

But gentle

Solidity

Strength

Alertness

Make joy

Give joy

Marveled at the anatomical

Miracle of erection

Thanked the universe

Then went quiet

And started the day

Fueled by alert solidity.

[themotherofrevelation]

“Sex positivity” is misogyny on corticosteroids. Sex is spiritual marriage; soul contracts live on in the auric widow web.

[thesagittarianmind]

[parafrazerofhistory]

Sex in Service of the Goddess

“In Cyprus it appears that before marriage all women were formerly obliged by custom to prostitute themselves to strangers at the sanctuary of the goddess... Similar customs prevailed in many parts of Western Asia. Whatever its motive, the practice was clearly regarded, not as an orgy of lust, but as a solemn religious duty performed in the service of that great Mother Goddess of Western Asia whose name varied, while her type remained constant, from place to place....

Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos (now Kouklia, Cyprus).

(Source: Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“...at Babylon every woman, whether rich or poor, had once in her life to submit to the embraces of a stranger at the temple of Mylitta, that is, of Ishtar or Astarte, and to dedicate to the goddess the wages earned by this sanctified harlotry. The sacred precinct was crowded with women waiting to observe the custom. Some of them had to wait there for years. 

An engraving of the goddess Mylitta, by Daniël met de Penningen (1690).

(Source: Rijksmuseum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“At Heliopolis or Baalbec in Syria [i.e., Lebanon], famous for the imposing grandeur of its ruined temples, the custom of the country required that every maiden should prostitute herself to a stranger at the temple of Astarte, and matrons as well as maids testified their devotion to the goddess in the same manner. The emperor Constantine abolished the custom, destroyed the temple, and built a church in its stead.

Panoramic shot of a Baalbek temple complex in modern-day Lebanon.

(Source: © Guillaume Piolle / CC BY 3.0 / Wikimedia)

“In Phoenician temples women prostituted themselves for hire in the service of religion, believing that by this conduct they propitiated the goddess and won her favour. ‘It was a law of the Amorites, that she who was about to marry should sit in fornication seven days by the gate.’ 

An Amorite penitent.

(Source: Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“At Byblus the people shaved their heads in the annual mourning for Adonis. Women who refused to sacrifice their hair had to give themselves up to strangers on a certain day of the festival, and the money which they thus earned was devoted to the goddess….

A Roman-era Astarte statuette from Byblos.

(Source: taller romano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

“We are told that in Lydia all girls were obliged to prostitute themselves in order to earn a dowry; but we may suspect that the real motive of the custom was devotion rather than economy. The suspicion is confirmed by a Greek inscription found at Tralles in Lydia, which proves that the practice of religious prostitution survived in that country as late as the second century of our era. It records of a certain woman, Aurelia Aemilia by name, not only that she herself served the god in the capacity of a harlot at his express command, but that her mother and other female ancestors had done the same before her; and the publicity of the record, engraved on a marble column which supported a votive offering, shows that no stain attached to such a life and such a parentage. 

Greek inscription found in Tralles, Lydia (part of modern-day Republic of Türkiye), telling of Aurelia Aemilia's life as a hierodule.

(Source: W. M. Ramsay, "Unedited Inscriptions of Asia Minor," Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, vii. [1883] p. 276.)

“In Armenia the noblest families dedicated their daughters to the service of the goddess Anaitis in her temple at Acilisena, where the damsels acted as prostitutes for a long time before they were given in marriage. Nobody scrupled to take one of these girls to wife when her period of service was over. 

Modern-day depiction of the goddess Anahit (Anaitis), sculpted by Hagop Ishkanian (1964).

(Source: Hagop Ishkanian, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“Again, the goddess Ma was served by a multitude of sacred harlots at Comana in Pontus, and crowds of men and women flocked to her sanctuary from the neighbouring cities and country to attend the biennial festivals or to pay their vows to the goddess."

A dedication to the goddess Ma, imprinted by one of the faithful, c. 1st cent. BCE.

(Source: National Museum in Warsaw, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

—J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, part 1 (The Golden Bough, vol. V, 1914, pp. 36-39)

[embodiedawakeningacademy]

Explore the Depths of Connection: Tantric Workshop

In a tantric workshop, delve deeply into the essence of intimacy as we explore the depths of connection. Through the use of age-old tantric techniques, this life-changing encounter will help you strengthen your physical and emotional bonds with both your partner and yourself. Learn how to create stronger ties and increase awareness through the use of energy exchange, mindful touch, and breathing exercises. Regardless of your level of experience with tantra, this workshop provides a secure and encouraging space for you to deepen your exploration and broaden your boundaries. Come along and experience a journey of profound tantric teachings that will awaken your senses and improve your relationships with others.