The other post that got me thinking over the last week wasn’t actually about experimentation… or even about the things that actually caught my eye.[*]
The first thing I want to talk about is something I had never even heard of before: Godslavery. Now, aside from what’s in the post, I was only able to find one link from a primary source—that is, someone who actually practices it. I have to admit that my first thought was “Oh, look: someone hasn’t deconstructed their monotheism.” … but even the cursory research I’ve been able to do has made clear that this isn’t the Biblical “marriage” to God, or the “slavery” to Allah I’ve heard some Muslims talk about. And while I’m finding ever more evidence to support my theory that sex-with-gods is not a new idea in mysticism, this doesn’t seem to fit into any of the patterns I’ve seen so far.
Which leads us to the question: is this something that some gods have always demanded of certain people? Are there records? Or … is this something new? Do the gods, themselves, experiment? Do they demand different things from different people out of scientiffic inquiry or (slightly more frightening to contemplate) idle curiosity?
If you stop for a moment to recognize the mechanisms of social control implicit in the religious idea that the divine is unchanging as well as immortal … suddenly the answer to that question seems very likely to be “of course!” This line of reasoning puts a certain spin on the reality of people’s conflicting UPGs.
Lacking sufficient information, of course, I’m not actually drawing any conclusions about anything. But it’s interesting to think about.
The other thing that got me thinking was this:
“I also remain ambivalent and unhappy about many discussions on sex – including “Sacred Sex,” which I’m honestly not sure what people mean when they discuss. Is it sacredly charged sex? Ritualistic sex? A way of living in tune with one’s sexuality that is also in tune with one’s spirituality? Depending on the author, it could go any which way. And where is the distinction between sacred sex, and sex magick?”
Which is actually a pretty fair complaint. I’ve probably read some of the same books, articles, and blogs, because I’ve definitely come away with the same opinion more than once. Hell, my own limited discussions on the issue are possibly part of the problem.
Solution? Write more, write more clearly. For the past week I have been working on a Personal Manifesto of Sacred Sexuality. It, obviously, won’t actually speak for anyone but myself. But hopefully it will inspire others to speak. And I can always revise it as I go through life.
[*] It was actually one of those posts we all have to write sometimes, where we realize we’ve totally failed to comprehend where someone else was coming from and had to apologize publicly. There’s also a couple good links, and if you’re not reading Jack Faust already, you should be.