"All Acts of Love & Pleasure..."

"All acts of love and pleasure are My rituals"--from Doreen Valiente's The Charge of the Goddess


I'm beginning this post with the quote that both partially inspires and completely fits the entire blog in question.

Because I am going to address a topic that needs serious attention. Not just within this post, but throughout all my posts. I've seen shifts in people's consciousness lately concerning what's considered "good" or "okay" or "acceptable" when it comes to experiencing things that could be considered...well...of a sensual and sexual nature.

But I don't want to talk just about the sex act itself, though that alone is pleasurable enough when you're in that blissful moment.

I want to talk about the stuff people would consider sensual--of the senses, quite literally, and of course any personal feelings or associations with sensuality, whether or not those things lead to people coupling up and having a good time.

I also want to share what it's like to be a Sensitive and live sensually--especially as it pertains to the mind-body-spirit connection. When you're a Sensitive, and you feel certain energies, you can end up being almost hyper-aware of what turns you on, sexually, at least in my experience. I've never talked with other Sensitives about this just because many still consider this kind of discussion off-limits because it *can* be seen or felt as invasive.

Of course, some religious groups still would have us humans deny our more body-centered urges, just because they believe that God and the human body should always be considered separate: God and Heaven are good. Earth and the human body are bad.

Sorry, but MY understanding of the Divine does not include this very limited way of thinking, so if you're one of those types, you are encouraged to stay and listen and learn something, perhaps shedding your religious inhibitions at the door and leaving them for good. Or you may leave for those pastures you think are so "righteous" and "pure." Whichever you choose is fine with me. I adhere too much to "live and let live" to get riled up about it.

But I do believe the uber-religious right-wing types still have a chokehold on how we view the connections between sensuality, spirituality and everything in between. Western culture is especially problematic in this realm, because the ones who have chosen to give up their power of choice and freedom of inquiry are the very ones who foist their values on others.

So, I am sure you are wondering a ton of things, since I mentioned sensuality and spirituality in the same post. 

Q: Are you an atheist?

Oh, honey, far from it. I am about as non-atheist as you can get.

Q: Are you a New Ager?

Eh, you can call me that, and I won't shrink from the term. But I am far from "flakey."

Q: Are you a Christian?

Erm, well...I honor Jesus and his teachings, and I think it's horrible how he got treated by the Jewish powers that be, but he is no greater or less than the Buddha, or Krishna, etc. In fact, here's something that will likely shock you, especially if you've never read "Conversations with God":  

"Christ" is just a title, a label, a consciousness, like the Buddha achieved...and his original name was Siddartha Gautama. And just as we all have Buddha-nature within us, we also have Christ-nature. It's a consciousness, rather than a name. You might hear of people talking about Krishna-consciousness. It's pretty much the same thing as Christ-consciousness--it just depends on what resonates with you. :-)

And the ultimate question, since I mentioned The Charge of the Goddess:

Q: Are you a Pagan?

Well, if you define Pagan to mean "Earth spirituality person," "Druidic," "ancestor-honoring," "animism," "polytheist/pantheist/panentheist," then my answer would have to be a resounding yes.

To be clear, I am more of a panentheist, meaning I believe the Divine is in everything--including us humans--yes, US!

But you won't find me going to church. I'm done with it.

So...my inner God/dess self is having me talk about sensuality here...because there's a conversation that needs to be had about sex, sensuality and how we humans have viewed such things with such skewed perceptions about "right," "wrong," "immoral," etc.

And yes, a lot is going to be mentioned about women and sexuality, especially since the "Fifty Shades" books took the literary world by storm--as have the various book series by other authors that have flooded the romance book market.

We need to have a serious second-chakra talk, people. And it's not just about the birds and the bees. It's about a whole ton of other stuff that we, as the human race, are only just now opening up to after so much repression and guilty feelings about our sensual and sexual natures as human beings.

Is it any wonder that one of the first boils of repression to be lanced concerns kinky sex and why kink exists? And that deserves a discussion all on its own, from as many angles as possible.

But then there are still some women out there that get all shy and virginal just about giving oral pleasure to the men they love. And that can easily deserve its own discussion, however long it takes.

Now...I am not saying we should take all the mystery and romance out of sex and sensuality, or take the romance out of romance itself.

Some people might say that having secret desires that can't be shared with anyone is part of the fun of having those primal feelings that can make us feel so incredibly passionate and in love with life itself, even. And I personally can't argue with that desire to have secret desires. ;-)

But to be so buttoned up about sex, or have such staunch notions about things like BDSM that it shouldn't even be discussed at all? Come on! Give me a break.

Hey, if E.L. James can write "Fifty Shades" and have it be a bestseller, even be optioned for a movie (which I *did* see), and countless other women can follow in her footsteps and be bold enough to have their sexy ideas put into print, then the time is now for all kinds of discussions to be had.

It's time to make like the Goddess Persephone descending into the Underworld, and dare to eat the pomegranate, swallowing the seeds. But ironically, it is uptight religious dogma, not Hades, that has held us prisoner concerning these matters.

It is the truth of the pomegranate seeds that sets us free, not human-made dogma. And if you've ever tasted actual pomegranates, or tasted pomegranate juice from those "Pom-Wonderful" bottles, then you know the utter deliciousness of which I speak. ;-) In fact, all fruit itself is sensual...juicy to the last bite. Just as life itself can be.

And I honestly can't think why a truly loving, benevolent Creator would ever deny us such pleasure.

Until Later,
Kat ^.^