Sacred Sex – The Oldest Path to Spirit

Sex as a path to the sacred

by guest author Pamm Larry of My Secret Spiritual Dance

What happened?

All of the Earth-based, earliest traditions that I’ve ever heard of involved not only holding the energies of the earth as Sacred, but also sex.

How did we get from there to where we are today, when the two are so diametrically opposed in so many of today’s religious traditions?

To possibly consider that sex could be spiritual raises eyebrows.

More…Oh… sex might be considered sanctioned “by God”(of whatever name or particular Path) in the course of marriage, or to produce a child. But what happened to the notion that one cannot be spiritual and sexual at the same time?

When I was a radical feminist, I heard it attributed to the rise of The Patriarch -, that slow shift mankind went from being grounded in Goddess-based spirituality to male centered.

In the end, after studying the long and steady process, from before the Stoics, to the Gnostics, to Christianity and the rise of the Devil, to Islam, I came to understand that we can never really know how or why it happened.

The only thing we can surmise from the archaeological data and studying cultures that are more traditional is that it is the case that sex was considered an expression of divine life force and that it isn’t now.

Want to get a rise out of someone? Tell them you’ve been to a ritual that included the Hieros Gamos, or Sacred Marriage Union Ceremony. You’ll be sure to feel buttons being pushed, even in New Agey circles.

I think it‚Äôs important, however, to keep in mind that just because something is just accepted as “true” doesn’t mean it is. Just because most of the major religions, believe sex is “profane,” doesn’t mean they are “right.” All it means is that for now, that is the dominant paradigm.

But many of us are challenging that paradigm. We’re saying things like:

• How can something that incorporates creative life force as its ultimate expression NOT be sacred?
• Why is it that something that is one of the ultimate expressions of the deepest intimacy that humans can experience not be sacred?
• Why would it be a part of us if it wasn’t sacred?
• Doesn’t the fact that it can be the cause of so much debate, the locus of so much of our attention and energy in and of itself point to its sacred nature?

It could be that we separate Sex from Spirituality because of our definitions of spirituality. If, we consider Spiritual to be defined as Webster does as:

1. of the spirit or the soul as distinguished from the body or material matters
2. of or consisting of spirit, not corporeal

….then sex would have to fall into the category of “not spiritual” as it’s the ultimate corporeal expression. It’s also the vehicle that gets us into corporeal form.

But if we go further and consider the Wikipedia definitions of:

Meaning ‚ significance of life; making sense of situations; deriving purpose.
Values ‚ beliefs, standards and ethics that one cherishes.
Transcendence ‚ experience, awareness, and appreciation of a “transcendent dimension” to life beyond self.
Connecting ‚ increased awareness of a connection with self, others, God/Spirit/Divinity, and nature/Nature.
Becoming ‚ an unfolding of life that calls for reflection and experience; including a sense of who one “is” and how one knows.

…then I know of no other topic or activity, that holds more potential to remind us that spirituality is all around us and in everything we do.

If we choose to look, Sex provides us with an incredibly fertile playground to discover who we are.

It encompasses opportunity for ecstasy, joy, pain, shame, anger, hate, love and much more.

We get to come up against our fears, our judgments, and our most tender, vulnerable spaces.

It’s the place where we can have huge disconnect from ourselves and others or can have some of the most profound experiences of deep intimacy and connection possible.

Many people have experienced altered states, strong Kundalini experiences, feeling mystical oneness with all of Life during sex.

Others have committed suicide over sexual shame.

Our experiences with it, our reactions to it, relationship and partnering provide a unique opportunity for us to experience Life in all its aspects.

Some of us are excited about the potential healing ground here and there are rumblings of change in the ethers. Increasingly, new paradigms of thought and healing are slowly making their way to the mainstream. Part of that change is that a new class of healers is emerging, called “Sacred Intimates.”

Training for certification is even being offered and I’m told it‚Äôs excellent. Surrogate Sex Partnering, begun in the 70′s is becoming popular again. I’ve worked as a surrogate partner after taking the training from The International Professional Surrogate Association.

IPSA trained surrogates encourage clients to learn yoga, pranayama, guided meditation, plus teaches people to reconnect to their bodies and their sexuality in different, holistic ways.

Men and women are bringing their Spiritual practice to sex in all sorts of ways.

Nine women in various aspects of sex work are featured in a book first published in 1994 called ‘Women Of The Light: the New Sacred Prostitute,’ edited by Ray Stubbs. Each of the interviews sheds light on the ways that we can invite healing into our sexuality in a conscious way, even in places where we would not necessarily think to look for them.

The Mystic sees everything as one, everything as Sacred – Sex is not an exception in this world view.

I invite those that want to take the journey to use it as they would any other aspect of their experience.

When I see something that gives me an internal tweak of judgment about sex, I explore it, find out what that judgment is trying to tell me. Does my resistance come from a gentle “this isn’t for me”….or does it come from a place of pushing against, and fear?

If the latter, I remember that when I have an emotional tweak/judgment, one finger pointing out means three pointing back at me. I look to find the information there for me.

I’ve found that when I do that looking, see the gifts it brings me, not only do things in my sexual life shift, but all my life changes. We are whole humans and when we cut ourselves off from one aspect of ourselves, pushing it down from fear, every part of us is affected.

Sex isn’t the demon, isn’t what keeps us from being spiritual.

It’s our fear of its power that does.

This article has been included in Journey Inward Productions Carnival of Inner Wisdom Project.

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