The Sacred Marriage - Part 1
By A.C. Fisher Aldag
Adults Only
Wiccans, neo-Pagans, Polytheists
Intermediate
“All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.” – Gerald Gardner’s “Charge of the Goddess” in the Gardnerian _Book of Shadows_.
This article is intended to be informative for all genders and expressions of sexuality; however, the rituals and exercises are primarily for heterosexual couples participating in plain, good ol’ fashioned vanilla sex.Which is one of my favorite subjects! No disrespect is intended for Gay or Lesbian magickal practitioners or anyone who enjoys other expressions of sexuality – I am writing from my own personal experience.Those readers with a different sexual perspective are requested to send in their own rites of sexuality which reflects their own orientation.
First, an overview and some history, before we get to the “good stuff”.
One of the most important religious rituals of Wiccans and neo-Pagans is the Sacred Marriage, the sexual union between the avatars or symbols of Goddess and God.Many of our ceremonies contain some form of the Great Rite, or other representations of the sexual sacrament, such as the May pole and handfasting rituals.The cornerstone of British Traditional Wicca is the holy sexual congress of man and woman, Priest and Priestess, portraying the God and Goddess.The original version of Wicca – Gerald Gardner’s – emphasizes sacred sexuality, fertility rites, and male / female polarity for the purpose of magick.
The Great Rite appears several times in Gerald Gardner’s _Book of Shadows_, in symbolic as well as actual form.The “Cakes and Wine” ritual contains the Great Rite using the ritual blade or athame, representing the male principle, thrust into the chalice, which symbolizes the female.The familiar words “As the Athame is the male, so the cup is the female, and conjoined they bring blessedness” are intoned at every sabbat and esbat.Gardner’s “May Eve Rite” includes the Great Rite being practiced symbolically or in actuality, the Priest and Priestess engaging in connubial bliss during a ritual circle.“The Summer Solstice Rite” utilizes a cauldron full of water and spear to represent the female and male.Both the “Fivefold Kiss” and “Drawing Down the Moon” reference the Sacred Marriage or holy sexuality.These ceremonies may be viewed at the “Sacred Texts” site online, which contains the Gardnerian _Book of Shadows_ in its entirety.
Gardner may have borrowed some of his liturgy from Aleister Crowley’s “Gnostic Mass” and images from Sir James George Frazer’s _The Golden Bough_.Crowley and other occult writers of his time made several references to the Heiros Gamos, the classical Greek “holy marriage”.This term originally meant the wedding of Zeus and Hera, yet it evolved to become any ritual act of sexuality performed between a male avatar of a God and a female avatar of a Goddess, for the purpose of raising energy, creating an alliance between humans and the divine, and for the fertility of people, animals, and crops.Heiros Gamos also refers to the marriage of Gods, or sky and land, or the divine and the material.Other sacred alliances in the Greek tradition include Demeter and Dionysus united with their respective mortal lovers, who may have been portrayed by clergy members or noble men and women.
_The Golden Bough_ by Sir James George Frazer contains an entire chapter entitled “Sacred Marriage”.This beloved author theorized that many surviving rituals in Britain were based on the concept of enhancing the fertility of the land through the sexual acts of a vegetation God united with a Goddess of woodlands or farmsteads.Although he operated on guesswork, rather than solid scholarship, Frazer found several examples of this theme in literature and rituals viewed in his native Britain and abroad, which he compared to “classical” Greco-Roman myths.Frazer states that “The aim of (the Gods’) union would be to promote the fruitfulness of the earth, of animals, and of mankind; and it might naturally be thought that this object would be more surely attained if the sacred nuptials were celebrated every year, the parts of the divine bride and bridegroom being played either by their images or by living persons.” Some instances of Gods and rituals that Frazer considered to be representative of the sacred marriage: the King of the Wood, called Nemi, which might be derived from the British word Nemiton, or grove, who became sexually involved with Diana, representing nature and animals. Another example is Sylvan, god of forest, also mating with Diana, both of whom were brought to the British Isles during the Roman incursions.Frazer made references to other sacred nuptials between divine figure such as Dionysus and his mortal consort, and wrote extensively about the May pole and other rites that he considered symbolic of divine sexuality.His observations may have been the model for Gardner’s “Great Rite”.
Historically, ceremonies based on sexuality may have served as sympathetic magick, using the joyful union and fertility of a male and female to engender abundant crops, a plentiful hunt, and fecundity of animals on the farmstead.The anticipation was that like produces like, so if the conjugal rite of Priest and Priestess brought about fertility, it follows that the animals and plants would mimic the humans’ productivity.Most of these rituals were performed at the spring equinox, Beltane / May Day, or summer solstice, when fruitfulness of the land was of great importance to the ancient people.Sacred marriages were not just for the nobility in the British Isles.At Beltaine in the British Isles, songs and poetry encouraged “Wearing the Green Gown”, which meant making love outdoors, for enjoyment and to ensure the fertility of the land through bodily contact with the grass. “Lover’s bowers” were built of wicker and decorated with flowers as a place for young couples to share a night of ecstasy.It was believed that their love juices fertilized meadows for grazing and increased the yield of crops. A “Telltown marriage” was a trial matrimonial which begun on the Summer Solstice or at Lughnassadh and lasted for a year and a day.If a couple was infertile, they could always try again with other partners.Having babies was looked upon as a blessed occasion, and a necessity for survival.Before people settled in crowded cities, it was important to bear many children, to ensure that crops could be harvested and all the farm work completed with the help of several hands.There was no shame in unknown paternity.Several references are made in literature and historic documents to “Bucca’s child” meaning a baby fathered by the God, also known as a “woods colt”. A child conceived at Beltaine was believed to be especially lucky.
One of the most well-known fertility deities is Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, sexuality, fecundity and conversely, war.Her rites were performed on the spring equinox for over two thousand years.Sumerian kings played the role of Dumuzi, a shepherd who was ascended to Godhood while copulating with Inanna.A priestess or queen portrayed the Goddess.Poetry from Sumer circa 1900 C.E. describes the act in rich detail.Inanna’s breasts are likened to the earth, and her vulva is metaphoric for a field that must be plowed.The poem offers a rather graphic description, yet it is lyrical and beautiful, an act of love and pleasure told from the Goddess’s point of view.The female portraying Inanna represented the land, and the male symbolized the living spirit of grain and fruit.The goal was to impart fertility to the land, and regenerative powers to humans and animals.A similar ritual was enacted by women and men portraying Ishtar and Tammuz in Mesopotamia.A golden plate created in the 3rd century BCE depicts a lady and her lover lying naked in bed, ready to make love, who may represent the divine couple.
Besides the emphasis on fecundity, sacred sexual rites were – and are! – considered a great deal of fun.In most cultures, sexuality was not viewed as simply a “necessary evil” for the purpose of procreation; instead it was a cause for celebration.Statuary throughout Asia depicted couples engaged in sexual union in many varying postures, songs and poems with bawdy content were a favorite in Western Europe, tapestries and paintings worldwide portrayed nudity and sexuality without inhibitions.The God Pan was shown as a lusty faun or satyr, with the feet and horns of a goat, an animal known for rutting capacity.Pan arose (pun intended) in Greece, and his images quickly became widespread throughout the Mediterranean, northern Africa and the European continent.He was called Faunus by the Romans, a God of shepherds, woodlands and male fertility.May poles were erected (again, pun intended) in Scandinavia and the Germanic territories.Of course, the May pole represents the male principal of the phallus, buried deep in the ground, as a man sinks into a woman; perhaps metaphoric of uniting Earth and Sky. The ribbons adorning the shaft may be symbolic of phallus worship. The May pole dance was often a physical prelude to sexual activity. When we consider the “Venus” statues depicting abundant naked women, phallic wands, “Baubo” figurines, priapic ornaments and other sexually themed art, it’s apparent that our forebears placed a strong emphasis on sexual pleasure.
In what is now West Asia and East India, texts such as the _Kama Sutra_ inform lovers about sexual positions and the magickal use of sexual energy.The art of Tantra was originally a form of Buddhist worship which began in Tibet.The sexual ceremony Maithuna involves the male God form uniting with a mortal female, perhaps as a symbol for the land, but also for spiritual reasons.The male and female ecstatic principle is called Yab-yum, which literally means “Father -Mother”.Sexual union is believed to induce the qualities of wisdom, compassion, skill, and unity.The male partner represents the active force, while the female is passive.These qualities, when united, help to attain enlightenment.In the Hindu Tantric practice the opposite is true: The male is passive, while the feminine energy or Shakti is active.Male and female sexuality is equated with divine creation.The rite of love is called Kamamudra.One of the goals is to raise power, called the Kundalini throughout energy centers in the human body called chakras, which are loosely associated with hormonal glands.Tantric themes are found in folk art throughout India, Nepal, Tibet and parts of East Asia.
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