Sacred Erotic Love
Imagery of transcendental pleasure potency
“Let us first return to the
apparently healthy continent of tantric eroticism. It is
through love and in view of love that the world unfolds;
through love it rediscovers its original unity and its
eternal non-separation. Here too, the union of the male
and female principles is a constant topic. Our phenomenal
world is considered to be the field of action of these two
basic forces. They are manifest as polarities in nature
just as in the spheres of the spirit. Each alone appears
as just one half of the truth. Only in their fusion can
they perform the transformation of all contradictions into
harmony. When a human couple remember their metaphysical
unity they can become one spirit and one flesh. Only
through an act of love can man and woman return to their
divine origin in the continuity of all being. The tantric
refers to this mystic event as yuganaddha, which literally
means ‘united as a couple’. Both the bodies of
the lovers and the opposing metaphysical principles are
united. Thus, in Tantrism there is no contradiction
between erotic and religious love, or sexuality and
mysticism. Because it repeats the love-play between a
masculine and a feminine pole, the whole universe dances.
Yin and yang, or yab and yum in Tibetan, stand at the
beginning of an endless chain of polarities, which proves
to be just as colourful and complex as life
itself.” The Shadow of the Dali Lama.
“The age when a girl’s breasts begin
to sprout, when her eyes become a little restless, she
smiles mildly, and the sentiment of amorous love begins to
manifest within her, is called the beginnings of youth.
‘Your breasts are now a little raised, your words a little
crooked, your eyes a little restless, your hips a little
firm, and your waist a little slender. The romavali line
of hairs between your navel and breasts is now becoming a
little manifest. O beautiful-faced girl, your fresh
youthfulness is now perfectly suitable to engage in the
service of he who loves you.’” Sri
Ujjvala-Nilamani
“The sexual principle is a
misunderstood symbol of Reality. It can no more be
banished from our consciousness than consciousness itself.
The male and female forms are also not the sole and
distinctive possessions of this world. There is Reality
behind them as well. The soul has a body which is
symbolised by the female form and which is absolutely free
from any unwholesome material association. The
ascetic’s repugnance to the female form prevents an
unprejudiced examination of the female sex that is a
necessary factor of our conception of amorous love. This
amorous love is the highest subject of human poetry and
the most powerful factor in all human activities. Its
worthlessness is not established by refusing to recognise
it as a part of our nature. It would be much more to the
purpose to try to understand what it really
is.” Jayadeva Gosvami
“I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” Song of Songs
“Metaphors for the body and sensory
images are fused within the mystic’s soul. The
mouth, the tongue, the throat, limbs, womb, breasts,
hands, feet, eyes, ears, hairs, the perfected body of
the soul’s are all manifestly present in intimate
moments with the divine godhead.” Rosemary
Hale.
“I dress myself in his presence, and
he shows me that his love supplies me with raiment. The
night coming on and everyone going to rest, I find rest
only in the arms of divine Love. I sleep leaning on his
holy breast, like a child on his mother’s bosom... I
say I go to sleep, but I continue to think of the love and
praises of my God till I fall asleep. And then, many times
in the night, this love rouses up all my senses, so that I
cannot sleep the greatest part of the night. Instead, I
spend the night in the embrace of the lovely grace of God,
who never forsakes me, but preserves me, and takes special
care of me.” The Good Armelle 1671
“I felt in my soul an unction which,
as a salutary balsam, healed in a moment all my wounds. I
slept not that whole night, because Thy love, O my God,
flowed in me like a delicious oil, and burned as a fire
which was going to devour all that was left of self. I was
suddenly so altered that I was hardly to be known either
by myself or others. I found no longer those troublesome
faults or reluctances. They disappeared, being consumed
like chaff in a great fire.” Madame Guyon
“When God means to enrapture this
soul, it loses its power of breathing, with the result
that, although its other senses sometimes remain active a
little longer, it cannot possibly speak. At other times it
loses all its powers at once, and the hands and the body
grow so cold that the body seems no longer to have a soul
- sometimes it even seems doubtful if there is any breath
in the body. This lasts only for a short time because,
when this profound suspension lifts a little, the body
seems to come partly to itself again, and draws breath,
though only to die once more, and, in doing so, to give
fuller life to the soul. Complete ecstasy, therefore, does
not last long. But, although relief comes, the ecstasy has
the effect of leaving the will so completely absorbed and
the understanding so completely transported - for as long
as a day, or even for several days - that the soul seems
incapable of grasping anything that does not awaken the
will to love; to this it is fully
awake.” Teresa of Avilla
“The spiritual fire is directly
linked to the sexual, (i.e. principle and most basic
creative forces) in humanity. Here, the relationship
between ‘bliss’, ‘ecstasy’ and the erotic
impulse can be clearly seen and experienced. The
development of a host of ‘sexual
yogas’ and ‘sex magic’ practices bear this
out to some degree. However, it is the sexual desire in
humanity that acts as its basic drive and evolutionary
force. It is also suggests that the ability and need for
mystical experiences is biologically rooted. Only by
ignoring the most basic of pleasures, sex, can we ignore
the drive to ecstatic union on some level.
The ‘little death’ or petite morte, is a
forerunner of the big death as we let go and
experience divine oblivion.” Mark Stavish
“In his hands I saw a long golden spear and at the end of the iron tip I seemed to see a point of fire. With this he seemed to pierce my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he drew it out, I thought he was drawing them out with it and he left me completely afire with a great love for God. The pain was so sharp that it made me utter several moans; and so excessive was the sweetness caused me by this intense pain that one can never wish to lose it, nor will one’s soul be content with anything less than God.” Teresa of Avilla
“Then were the eyes of my soul
opened and I beheld love advancing gently toward me, and I
beheld the beginning but not the end. Unto me there seemed
only a continuation and eternity thereof, so that I can
describe neither likeness nor colour, but immediately that
this love reached me, I did behold all these things more
clearly with the eyes of the soul than I could do with the
eyes of the body. This love came towards me after the
manner of a sickle. Not that there was any actual and
measurable likeness, but when first it appeared unto me it
did not give itself unto me in such abundance as I
expected, but part of it was withdrawn. Therefore do I
say, after the manner of a sickle. Then was I filled with
love and in estimable satiety; but although it did well
satisfy me, it did generate within me so great a hunger
that all my members were loosened and my soul fainted with
longing to attain unto the remainder. Then did I refuse
either to see or to hearken unto any creature; I spake
not, but my soul spake within me, crying out and
beseeching that love would not make it thus to faint for
Love’s sake, because it held life to be but
death.” Angela Foligno 1536
“My precious life shall cleave for
ever to your love,
For fortune, life itself, spring only from your
love.
I labour and murmur for your love,
And I am brought into bondage for your love,
And I have left my pleasures for your love,
And rendered you my all: beloved, think on this!”
A Goodly Orison to Our Lady. 13th Century
“O girl with very beautiful teeth, You now wear a pearl-necklace of scratchmarks, and Your lotus flower garland now lies scattered throughout these forest groves. O doe-eyed Radharani, how were You able to bind with a glance the handsome lion of hari, who is like an ocean of chivalrous power, and lead Him into the cage of Your breasts. In this stage, a girl’s hips become broad, her waist slender, her breasts large, and her thighs like the trunks of plantain trees. All her limbs are very lustrous and beautiful. Your two eyes check the waves of beauty emanating from the playful saphara fish, the beauty of your abdomen eclipses the charming sweetness of the moon, and your completely sprouted breasts bewilder the beholder into thinking them actually large waterpots. O Lilavati, your youthful beauty is quite unprecedented.” Sri Ujjvala-Nilamani
“Into this our blessed gum which dissolves itself and is named the sperm of the philosophers. Now he makes haste to bind and betroth himself to the virgin bride, and to get her with child. But the virgin will not become pregnant at once unless she be kissed in repeated embraces. Then she conceives in her body, and thus is begotten the child of good omen.” Melchior Cibensus 1602
Practice of Raganuga Bhakti: “The raganuga-sadhaka
should meditate on his own form to be that of a
beautiful youthful kisori-gopi, who is most attractive
to the mind of
Practice of Yogini Tantra: “Let him concentrate on the
face of the Devi, and on her breasts, and below that on
the womb. Think of three points above Kala
(manifestation), and then that from these a young woman
springs forth, shining with the light of a million suns,
illuminating every quarter of the firmament. Think of
Her body from crown to throat as springing from the
upper point, and that her body from throat to middle,
with its two breasts and three belly lines of beauty
arise from the two lower points. Then imagine the rest
of her body from genitals to feet is born from
The spirit comes clothed in femaleness, the form by which the male is possessed. Her descent is erotic, wide-eyed in sensuality and sensual in her spiritual make-up, her spiritual manoeuvrings draw the potent male into the waters of his own creation.
It is in the image of woman that man
sees himself as God. To his creation he is God. His
spiritual sister is the divine love of his life. Nature’s
springing copulation is all the sexual animal requires to
perform his ultimate act of selfishness. If he thinks
himself God, then creation is all he needs.
“He becomes filled with God, fed upon God, intoxicated
with God. Little by little, his body will become
purified by the internal lustration of God; day by day
his mortal frame, shedding its earthly elements, will
become in very truth the
“If there is leakage of sexual energy, the Buddha Unchanging Light is slain. Therefore, with the power of retraction, drawing up ‘˜love’ with the base energy of life-force, I held it in the pot of my belly, and maintaining the recollection of pleasure uncontaminated by lust, divesting myself of mind-created Samadhi, yet not slipping into an instant of torpor, I experienced the ascent of Awareness.” Lady Yeshe Tsogyel
Process of Taoist internal alchemy:
produce a feeling of sexual pleasure, draw this feeling
from the sexual organs into the abdomen, continue to
increase it with mindfulness, and at the same time lead
the feeling of meditative bliss from the head into the
abdomen. Energy flow then follows the feelings. In the
abdomen, the heavenly or male energy from the head centres
interacts or copulates with the female earth energy of the
sexual and base centres. The ultimate goal of Taoist
energy cultivation is the formation of an immortal body.
This is not a physical body but a higher energy body, a
light body. In the same way as in esoteric Buddhist
practice, this is achieved by combining male and female
sexual energies so that the practitioner becomes
androgynic.
“The Lord is so merciful that He Himself descends to
take the fallen souls back home to the
The manipulation of sexual energy is control over life
and death. When life is He and death is she, then death
is never more becoming. Vampiric death in body beautiful
is euphoria, an indescribable joy at coming death. One
dies of a love attack: “I am dying of Love” is carved in
flesh. This exercise in dying is not to be confused with
sexual flirtations with death, the creation of the
libidinous energy-body is concerned with ecstatic
knowledge at the time of many mystical ‘˜deaths’ and not
sexual excitement at a moment of intense life.
“Ah, Lord, love me passionately, love me often, and love
me long. For the more passionately you love me, the
purer I shall become. The more often you love me, the
more beautiful I shall become. The longer you love me,
the holier I shall become. I would willingly die of
love, if it could happen to me.” Mechthild of