Spiritual Cowgirl

Did you know Venus is in Retrograde? I didn’t know about this funky phenomenon till a few days ago when I received the news from fab astrologer, Robert O’Hotto. Now that I know this planet of love, relationships, Goddess, sexuality, and femininity appears to be moving backwards (instead of it’s usual forward motion), I have celestial justification for some wacky incidents in regards to my intimate life. Venus turns retrograde about every 18 months, but this particular retrograde is also rubbing noses with some sort of strict Saturn astrological phenomenon and this means for us lay women that issues, fears, and powerful lessons concerning our intimate life are in the spotlight – consciously or unconsciously. Here area a few things from the article that got my Venusian attention.

“As the Goddess of love, she (Aphrodite who was also known as Venus) was not interested in loving others through a victim or savior mentality. She wasn’t interested in mothering or rescuing anyone, rather she was most desirous of partners who allowed her to experience her own pleasure and beauty through them”. Right on!

And btw, you can all breathe a sigh of relief because true Venusian energy is in red line with the Church because you can embody this deliciously sensual feminine energy while still remaining a virgin. Forever. After all, according to some Greek translations that are way older than the Church, “virgin” actually means “one unto her self”. O’Hotto’s article grinds us into the hips of this titillating idea:

“We find that its original context and usage was to denote women who could not be possessed by a man through marriage because they were in allegiance to and owned by the divine through which they gave service (which sometimes was sexual!). Quite simply, virgins were originally priestesses and harlots of temples. Thus being a virgin had nothing to do with chastity, rather it implied that a woman could not be owned by a man; she was off limits and solely possessed herself to allow the Divine to flow through her unimpeded, in a pure way.”

Hmmm. I wonder what my 5th grade teacher Sister Mary Margaret would say about this new interpretation of the Virgin Mary? I wonder what would happen if modern women embraced this energy in the bedroom, the boardroom, the White House? I wonder if we should redefine “community service”?

O’Hotto’s article rang particularly red for me because I just started reading Jungian analyst, Nancy Qualls-Corbett’s book, The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine. That archetype has licked my Id for years and I’m all about freeing her from out-dated belief systems, subservience to the status quo, fear-mongers, US Weekly, and the unconscious. Might take a while, but I’ve got 3 red books coming forth, a red film, and utter faith that the Goddess is here to shake the virgin awake in all of us.

So I bid Venus a big wet spot in the sky and leave you with this powerful, albeit slightly cryptic chunk from the Nag Hammadi Library (“heretical” Christian texts that had to be hidden from early the Church fathers)

“For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am (the mother) and the daughter.
I am the members of my mother…
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remebrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
And the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name”

I dare you to recite that to your lover or your mirror tonight. Naked.

Just when I thought I’ve heard it all from the power holders that be, I read that China, which invaded Tibet in 1949 and systematically killed and destroyed a frightening large amount of the Tibetan Buddhist population and culture (saving just enough of both to make Tibet a lucrative tourist spot), is now making Tibetan Buddhists obtain “permission” from China’s atheist leaders in order to reincarnate. In their words:

“The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid”.

I think the Buddha just snorted out his yak butter tea. I think the universe just slapped her starry head and prayed for a new dimension. I think the Chinese officials who created this ridiculous rule will be reincarnated as Buddha’s yak butter tea.

Of course we all know why these Chinese leaders made this celestial prank call: the Dalai Lama. He’s one super scary enemy of the state with all his non-stop talk of peace and non-violence and freedom and the undying respect he has from countries around this globe. Just a reminder that the most loving and authentic beings are always the most dangerous and threatening to the power holders.

If you take into account how China kidnapped the 6 year old reincarnated 11th Panchen Lama (the second most powerful Tibetan spiritual leader after the Dalai Lama) in 1995 and replaced him with a “puppet lama,” this new ruling could have a devastating affect on the next Dalai Lama, which is what these particular Chinese leaders are hopping. Thankfully, the Karmapa lama, the third most powerful spiritual leader in Tibet, escaped from China a few years ago.

Let’s just pray to all the Tibetan deities than the Dalai Lama decides to reincarnate in the best possible place and in a way that serves the greatest good. My vote is San Francisco, as a sexy enlightened woman who wears thongs and dakini tattoos under her robes.

Yesterday, filmmaker Velcrow Ripper and I had the honor of interviewing Joanna Macy – eco philosopher, scholar of Buddhism, deep ecology, and systems theory for Velcrow’s documentary film FierceLight (coming to theaters Fall 2008). Filming Joanna amidst fiery pink bouganvilla next to a beautiful stone icon of the Buddhist goddess Kwan Yin, we definitely felt Gaia’s breath. Joanna spoke with such elegance, simplicity and passion about our need to become active and reconnect with the planet, each other, and life.

Joanna began by describing how our civilization, the industrial growth society, is beginning to unravel - financially, environmentally, politically, psychologically. She said that most people are reacting to this destruction out of fear and obedience or by going numb, but she believes the spiritual challenge is to be present, to truly take in and see what is happening to our world, allow ourselves to open up and feel the pain, mourn the dishonor and destruction and loss, so we are then better able to take action based on the natural compassion that arises in us when we tap into our humanity and connection to the earth. She calls this time period, The Great Turning.

There are 3 Dimensions of The Great Turning:
1. Actions to slow down the destruction being wrought by industrial growth society. These actions are what we generally think of as “activism”. This is a call to protect life and to save as much as you can, but this alone, is not enough.
2. Planting the seeds for new structures after the old ones fall away, such as alternative fuel, alternative ways of growing and distributing food, alternative health, alternative currency. But, this is also not enough.
3. A revolutionary shift in consciousness is needed. A sense of awe, gratitude, wonder and devotion to this planet, life, and each other needs to arise from the heart.

Joanna told us there were 3 revolutions in human history:
1. Agricultural Revolution
2. Industrial Revolution
3. This one. While the first two did not require an immense amount of consciousness and had the luxury of time, this Third revolution must be conscious and is happening fast. (btw, the Redvolution is one of millions of current revolutions that support, point to, and illuminate this Third one. Wake up, turn red, and serve babee! Alright, back to the mystic ecologist.)

In this new consciousness, there is no room for fear or self-criticism. Joanna commented on how we’ve internalized the idea that we’re somehow lacking or not good enough, that we need to buy more, look better, work harder to compete with life. It’s a distraction and false. And yes, sometimes, when we do begin to wake up, we get so overwhelmed by the negative state of the world and how we’ve dishonored this planet and each other that we want to run back to Bloomingdales, our mac and cheese, and Desperate Housewives.

But Joanna says to just give up and feel powerless about the current planetary situation is an easy out and a form of self-pity and shows disrespect for the gift of life given to you. “If you have air to breathe, there’s something you can do. You’re not powerless - you’re sad, you’re appalled, you’re scared”. She also made an interesting point that our grieving and depression that we might think is our personal stuff, our own private unique craziness, is also coming from this awareness of what is happening to the oceans, the lands, the animals, the humans. When we can admit this, feel this, we are capable of seeing our responses as forms of compassion. And we realize that we’re not alone nor completely nutz.

Joanna reminds us that the power holders want us to feel alone and isolated and numb, but a pain-free life is a kind of death. Feeling brings us back to life and teaches us how to truly see each other and this planet again. Joanna cautions us not to act alone. We need to reach out to others. Get involved on our block, in our city, make sure we create or find community. After all, we’re relational beings. Then Joanna quoted the poem Rilke (oh yeah, along with changing the world and making a mean ice tea, she also translates Rilke poems)

“We come towards each other to meet and be met and to make each other real” - Rilke

Joanna truly believes that now is one of the greatest times to be alive. It’s exciting, challenging, and has the potential for utter greatness. There is a possibility that those 7 generations after us will call this time period something special, like “The Great Turning”, or “the time humans finally woke up, got off their asses, and started to act like the beings they really are already”. That would be my name for it…perhaps it would sound better as an acronym.

Joanna said the true meaning of apocalypse is not just disaster, but revelation disclosed. There is something being revealed now about life being lived and breathed through us. There are such great things life can do if we let it pour through us, with gratitude. In fact, she said gratitude is like oxygen. At one point during the interview Joanna uttered “I never thought it could get this bad, and I never thought it could be this good”. She asks us to dance the paradox – to see both the promise of a new tomorrow and the possibility of no tomorrow.

We need to give ourselves totally to the shift, without knowing how it will turn out. After all, if we knew all things were going to be fine and dandy with a cherry on top, we might not work so hard. If we knew things were just gonna blow, we’d probably give up and dive into a bottle of Gin. Giving ourselves totally without knowing is a fundamental “spiritual” way to live life. It’s this time, more than any other in history, that has the potential to break us open and into our authentic divine natures. If we choose to become conscious. If we choose to become free. And if we learn to have a good time doing so.

Tallyho!

If you could make love, have sweaty sublime sex, get down and dirty with any past spiritual teacher, deity, angel, god or goddess, in the entire universe, who would it be and why?

Now before you roll your third eye or cross yourself or finger your prayer beads, know that this slightly provocative idea is nothing close to being new. Truth be told, the divine has been getting it on since time immemorial. For example, the Babylonian goddess Ishtar seduced a mortal man, Gilgamesh. In Canaan, the chief god El has sex with the goddess Asherah. In Egyptian religions, the god Osiris has sex with his sister, the great goddess Isis. The Hindu god Krishna had sex with countless women, often at the same time, as he just multiplied himself (hey, he’s a god. Why have one orgasm, when you can have thousands simultaneously?), but more commonly with his true love, the mortal woman Radha. And don’t get me started with all the libidinous fun the Greek God Zeus had way back in the classical day. And celestial intercourse was experienced, often quite graphically, by many mystics round this world such as St. Theresa, Rumi, Hafiz, and Mirabai, just to name a few.

Now you might be thinking, all well and good for those deities or “special” mortals who managed to attract such illuminated lust, but what about little ol’ ordinary career-climbing, coffee-drinking, occasionally meditative me? To which I’ll say this: Divine booty calls did not just happen in the ancient past. They’re happening right now. All you have to do is wink back. That said, it’s always wise to screen your divine dates, use your intuition, and be sure to check out their history. A few brief examples to get your loins levitating and your mind lubricated:

Jesus Christ: This spiritual teacher is definitely at the top of my “to do” list. With his long hair, tan skin, healing touch, rebel yell, ability to resurrect (wink) himself, and “love your neighbor as yourself” attitude, I’m convinced he’s one helluva Lover. Mary Magdalene concurs. Risks: he gets in trouble with the law (all laws really – socio-cultural, political, religious), hangs extra tight with his male buddies, and might mysteriously disappear for 10 years at a time.

Kali: Um hello, this Hindu goddess has 4 arms and a looong tongue, and she likes to dance naked. Need I say more? Ok, I do. If you can get over the human skulls circling her neck and the human appendages hanging off her waist and her preference for late-night cemetery romps, I’d say you’re good to go, but always with her on top. Risks: your life being destroyed and losing your head (thus your ego). Hint: Watch for the sword.

Buddha: Calm yet awake, mindful, free of dukka, zzzzzzzz. Whoops, sorry, I sort of dozed off there. I mean, could you really imagine him throwing you across his lap for a good spank while he’s in lotus position? Let’s be honest, despite the undeniable enlightenment this glorious being has provided to the planet, he has seriously low sex appeal, not to mention, quite a large belly.

White Buffalo Calf Woman: A beautiful and wise native warrior. She’s what you might call “outdoorsy” and she likes to see you sweat (after all, she introduced sweat lodges to native ceremony). Risks: She smokes, and will ask you to do so too, but this is an honor. Also, please don’t think bad thoughts around her, let her approach you first, and hang on to your flesh (read her myth before you wink).

Dionysus: Graeco-Roman god also known as Bacchus. This intoxicating deity loves to dance, take ecstasy, and party all night long. Risks: He might drive you mad, turn you into an alcoholic, or make you hump trees.

Kwan Yin: She’s compassionate, elegant, serene, and a Buddhist bodhisattva – she’s vowed never to rest until all beings in the entire universe are enlightened. As my friend Marc says, she gives and gives and gives, yet no one gives to her. He knows exactly what he wants to give her in order to make her smile even wider. Risks: there’s really no risk with this lovely goddess, only the risk of not loving her enough. Sigh.

Shiva: Matty-haired Hindu god who knows a thing or five billion about Tantra. Let’s just say he knows how to handle his snake. Risks: He sometimes turns ascetic, likes to cover his body with ashes, and shoot fire out of his third eye.

Aphrodite: The Greek goddess of beauty and love and all things sensual. This would surely be an epic encounter. Risks: She’s vain, moody, jealous, causes wars (Trojan – but at least we got some decent condom jokes from it) and although married to Hephaestus, is definitely polyamorous. You might want to avoid any golden apples she offers.

Rumi: There is nothing sexier than a love-drunk mystic with a holy hangover who dances and drinks wine and sings some of the most beautiful sensual ecstatic love poetry of all time. Count me in on that party. But of course I’d have to make room for Shams. Risks: Drama, tears, constant whirling, and he may not be into women. (btw, all sexual orientations are celebrated in the divine’s bedroom)

A word about Christian angels: Horny. Some of them at least. Well, enough of them that an entire “lost” book of the Bible was written about their lust for human women. So venture at your own risk, and always use protection or at least practice hip-stretching yoga asanas. The Book of Enoch tells us half angel, half human babies are quite large, giants really, and none too pretty. Which reminds me, also beware of devils masquerading as gods or angels – like any new lover, use discernment. When in doubt, say you have a headache and call it a night.

We’ve barely skimmed the divine’s little red book. There are thousands more tantalizing beings to explore. Eventually, with authentic practice, the myriad of divine forms you let into your pants, as well as into your heart, will meld and merge and transmute into one constant all-encompassing Divine Lover. A Lover that is not outside of you or separate from you, but is You. As many mystics know, the more you venture within, the more you play passionately with divinity, the more God/dess you will become. In all truth, a making of love. A constant cosmic orgasm. A modern-day mystico-erotic activist who’s equipped to create some major change on this all-too-often spiritually-frigid planet.

So.

You ready to start blowing the panties off angels and making some deities drool?

I thought so. Feel free to let me know your delectable deities of choice and why.

Last night I had the “red ladies” meet in my apartment to celebrate an upcoming wedding. As usual with this, uh, “spiritual group,” topics ranged from ayuasca and peyote journeys taken down in Peru - where my friend met her true self in one vision and gave birth to her self in another - to a doctoral dissertation about women who have a history of sexual abuse giving birth at home, to a recent diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and the choice to treat it through alternative methods and deep spiritual/emotional work, to a hugely archetypal dream where the name “Pele Leo” was offered, to MBT shoes, ionic foot baths, and anal sex. I think a redlight of the evening is when we passed around my bottle of Pink lubricant for comparisons with Astroglide and my parrot suddenly cawed “Nice Ass!”

Because it was a pre-wedding red ladies meeting, we decided to bring the bride something old (a nice bottle of red wine), something new (a red candle), something red (a red garter to wear under her wedding dress) and something true (a beautiful red journal). I lit the red candle and asked each red lady to hold it and infuse it with love and blessings and prayers for the bride’s new life so our dear friend can light it in the future whenever she wants to feel the love and support from her red ladies. The bride then asked each of us to wear a red ribbon around our wrist during her wedding ceremony.

I love these red gatherings. I adore them. My body-mind-soul soaks them up like red wine spilled onto a mattress. Over the years we’ve performed numerous rituals and healings, shared laughter and tears, massage therapists and how we got out of a speeding ticket through supplicating the Universe. But most of all we just spill it. Whatever the hell is going on with us, we lay it out, naked and raw and squirming like a slug under sea salt. When you share, someone might challenge you, someone might offer a healing touch, someone might comment on the blue energy they see radiating off your body, and without a doubt, everyone will offer insights that will slice through your reality and cause your eyebrows to rub your hair line. In other words, this isn’t Oprah’s Book Club. In fact, this group transgresses all labels I place on it whenever I try and explain what we do.

Over the years we’ve watched each other shift and heal and grow deeper into our truth. We know each other in a way that our families and lovers and future husbands and even close friends, might not ever. And we’re proud of our fluidity. Of our dedication to authentic personal growth and belly laughs and chocolate and personal lubricant choices. We’re proud to be a part of an age-old phenomenon, where women gather and magic happens sans any masculine interference. Not that we don’t love ze men, oh we do, we just happen to love our selves more.

So what special groups are you a part of? Ever thought of creating your own? If the red resonates, we’re more than willing to share the red lady vibe. After all, it’s older and wiser and naughtier than any of us.