The Sacred Symbolism Of Sex
by Lorena Loo
by Lorena Loo
Synopsis of Theme of Talk:
Sex. Said to be a primal urge, it has a neurological foundation in our brains. But its enshrinement as a sacred symbol throughout time from the Cro-Magnons to the Druids to Tantric Yoga suggests it is more than the preservation and propagation of our species. So what is really behind sexual symbolism in spirituality? It has always been misunderstood as sexual intercourse. But in this talk we shall see it is really about the deepest levels of consciousness which underlie all of reality.
Presented at: Whole Life Expo in Toronto, November 26, 2005
I like to warn people before beginning that my talks are structured like stories. So some of what you will hear may not make sense in terms of the subject matter, but as the story unfolds, what seem like disparate elements weave together into the fabric of the whole.
So, sexuality and spirituality…hardly seem like appropriate let alone compatible bedfellows and yet, many of the world's great religions are infused with strong sexual imagery and symbolism. If you are like me, you scratch your head and ask: Is this not a conflict of flesh and spirit? Even such a religious icon such as St. Augustine of Hippo, who by his own admission had been a libertine, waffled on his path to Christianity precisely because he would have to surrender the pleasures of the flesh. Before his full monte conversion to the Christian faith, he joined an order called the Manichaeans who were known to have a lax moral code. Or as St. Augustine explained his choice to God in his Confessions, "Lord give me chastity and temperance….but just not now."
Perhaps nowhere is there more blatant sexual imagery than in Hindu tantra. Images of naked couples in various sexo-yogic postures and clearly engaging in sexual intercourse proliferate. Hindu tantra speaks of the blending or the polarities in sexual union as being that which is present throughout all phenomena of nature. It is the natural law that the blending of the genetic codes of two members of the same species is but the union of sperm and egg out of which comes the offspring, the one that comes from two. On another level, it is about getting out of the rational mind and achieving an existential awareness of unity like the symbol of the circle or the ouroboros.
Sex. Said to be a primal urge, it has a neurological foundation in our brains. But its enshrinement as a sacred symbol throughout time from the Cro-Magnons to the Druids to Tantric Yoga suggests it is more than the preservation and propagation of our species. So what is really behind sexual symbolism in spirituality? It has always been misunderstood as sexual intercourse. But in this talk we shall see it is really about the deepest levels of consciousness which underlie all of reality.
Presented at: Whole Life Expo in Toronto, November 26, 2005
I like to warn people before beginning that my talks are structured like stories. So some of what you will hear may not make sense in terms of the subject matter, but as the story unfolds, what seem like disparate elements weave together into the fabric of the whole.
So, sexuality and spirituality…hardly seem like appropriate let alone compatible bedfellows and yet, many of the world's great religions are infused with strong sexual imagery and symbolism. If you are like me, you scratch your head and ask: Is this not a conflict of flesh and spirit? Even such a religious icon such as St. Augustine of Hippo, who by his own admission had been a libertine, waffled on his path to Christianity precisely because he would have to surrender the pleasures of the flesh. Before his full monte conversion to the Christian faith, he joined an order called the Manichaeans who were known to have a lax moral code. Or as St. Augustine explained his choice to God in his Confessions, "Lord give me chastity and temperance….but just not now."
Perhaps nowhere is there more blatant sexual imagery than in Hindu tantra. Images of naked couples in various sexo-yogic postures and clearly engaging in sexual intercourse proliferate. Hindu tantra speaks of the blending or the polarities in sexual union as being that which is present throughout all phenomena of nature. It is the natural law that the blending of the genetic codes of two members of the same species is but the union of sperm and egg out of which comes the offspring, the one that comes from two. On another level, it is about getting out of the rational mind and achieving an existential awareness of unity like the symbol of the circle or the ouroboros.
© Copyright Lorena Loo
So-called vulva rocks and petroglyphs dating back thousands to tens of thousands of years ago are found throughout the world: Africa, Australia, China, the Americas, Europe, Thailand and Indonesia. And no less than 564 to date have been found on the tiny Easter Island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, apparently remnants from an ancient civilization. These are vulva images that are painted onto rock surfaces and carved or deeply engraved into rocks. You can see an example of them in Figure 3 (image below) on page 2 of your handout. What is remarkable is that at least some of these vulva formations are aligned in such a way that the sun's rays at the winter or summer solstice hits or penetrates them. The symbolism is unmistakeable. Father Sun and Mother Earth in a cosmic act of sexual intercourse. In fact, there is even a way you can view Stonehenge as but a symbolic vulva and that would then account for why it is aligned with the solstices because the rays of the sun at sunrise at summer solstice and sunset at winter solstice would then penetrate right through to what would represent the birth canal in the geometries of Stonehenge. A death and rebirth of the sun.
One of the symbolic images of this union is the interpenetration of the yoni (vulva) and lingam (phallus). Another symbolic representation is that of the hexagram, the interpenetration of two opposite pointing (equilateral) triangles that looks like the image to the left. The upward pointing triangle is the masculine principle (shiva) and the downward pointing one is the feminine principle or shakti. Shakti or Kali-Shakti was the bride of Shiva who devoured him and gave him eternal cyclic rebirth. The theme of rebirth is intimately tied to sexuality and spirituality as we shall see.
The hexagram was used in a medieval Cabala practice (originated in Spain where it was borrowed from Eastern tantric practices) wherein a picture of a man and woman in intimate embrace and perpetual intercourse was placed in the ark of the covenant alongside the table of laws, so it is said. The picture was in the form of a hexagram. This was a system of sex worship based on the concept that a man and woman were earthly images of Gods and Goddesses. The sexual union of these earthly incarnations then encouraged its like union in the heavenly (supernatural) realm.
From a neurological perspective, sexuality and spirituality are both hardwired into our brains, literally. The structures of our brain that are involved are the temporal lobes which are associated with sound and the limbic system which is the very emotional core of our nervous system. These are the regions of the brain that generate intense emotions as well as spiritual and religious beliefs. Also within our limbic brains are structures responsible for our feeling both religious ecstasy and sexual ecstasy and even are involved in the assumption of sexual postures. To thicken the plot, there are also what are called feature detectors along the surface of the lower most portion of the temporal lobe and also within a structure called the amygdala in our limbic brain (and we have one in each cerebral hemisphere). These feature detectors fire off selectively to visual images of faces, hands, eyes and geometric shapes. But since they do not fire off in response to just any types of these images, it seems there exists a pre-coded database within our limbic brains of specific visual images we automatically recognize and respond to and that includes sacred geometric shapes such as a cross. And remember, we are talking about the same regions of the brain involved in generating religious and sexual ecstasy and religious and spiritual beliefs. It is little wonder then that many symbols used in both a religious and sexual context are geometric in form.
Prehistoric species of man such as the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon also had well developed inferior temporal lobes and limbic systems. The very self same structures within our brains responsible for both religious and sexual ecstasy were in their brain as well. So it shouldn't be surprising that there was paleolithic erotica. Yup, cave people had pornography and since it was found in shrines, temples and burial sites, it was in a religious context.
From a neurological perspective, sexuality and spirituality are both hardwired into our brains, literally. The structures of our brain that are involved are the temporal lobes which are associated with sound and the limbic system which is the very emotional core of our nervous system. These are the regions of the brain that generate intense emotions as well as spiritual and religious beliefs. Also within our limbic brains are structures responsible for our feeling both religious ecstasy and sexual ecstasy and even are involved in the assumption of sexual postures. To thicken the plot, there are also what are called feature detectors along the surface of the lower most portion of the temporal lobe and also within a structure called the amygdala in our limbic brain (and we have one in each cerebral hemisphere). These feature detectors fire off selectively to visual images of faces, hands, eyes and geometric shapes. But since they do not fire off in response to just any types of these images, it seems there exists a pre-coded database within our limbic brains of specific visual images we automatically recognize and respond to and that includes sacred geometric shapes such as a cross. And remember, we are talking about the same regions of the brain involved in generating religious and sexual ecstasy and religious and spiritual beliefs. It is little wonder then that many symbols used in both a religious and sexual context are geometric in form.
Prehistoric species of man such as the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon also had well developed inferior temporal lobes and limbic systems. The very self same structures within our brains responsible for both religious and sexual ecstasy were in their brain as well. So it shouldn't be surprising that there was paleolithic erotica. Yup, cave people had pornography and since it was found in shrines, temples and burial sites, it was in a religious context.
If you refer to Figure 2 in your handout (image below), you can see an example of a Venus figurine, the one found in Monpazier, France and dating back to 30,000 years ago. It has a pronounced "pregnant" belly under which was carved a huge, wide-open and very deep vulva, a closeup of which is seen in the image on the right side. Such figurines have been found throughout Europe but have even cropped up in China and for the most part, have clearly delineated vulvas. Now the vulva is an image and symbol of the portal through which the fetal infant in the distended stomach would emerge. Its resemblance to a sacred geometric form called the vesica piscis is no coincidence. This almond shaped configuration formed from the overlapping of two circles of equal size such that the circumference of each passes through the center of the other was frequently used to frame the image of both Christ and the Virgin Mary and is a symbol of rebirth.
Feminine genital symbols and phalli were prominent among the artifacts found in paleolithic caves. The pubic triangle was clearly displayed in female figures either carved out of bone, stone or mammoth ivory or painted onto cave walls such in the Chauvet Cave in southeastern France (Figure 1 to right). And everybody is probably familiar with the renown Venus of Willendorf figurine. It was found near the Danube River in Austria and dates back some 25,000 years. About 4 inches in height, it is a nude figure of a woman with large breasts, loins, and ample belly as though pregnant. This figurine also has a very clearly and well defined vulva.
Figure 1 Chauvet Cave drawing
Figure 2
Monpazier (France) Venus Figurine (30,000 years ago) with closeup of vulva
Monpazier (France) Venus Figurine (30,000 years ago) with closeup of vulva
Archaeologists have noticed that ancient cultures placed far more emphasize on celebrating the female sexual parts and form than the male. They labelled this celebration of the feminine energy in a religious context as goddess worship or a fertility or fecundity worship. But it is more about a metaphysical or spiritual principle that was known and understood by all ancient cultures and still embraced by many of what we call primitive cultures today. Hindu tantra speaks of Reality, ultimate Reality as but one undifferentiated whole of the feminine-masculine principles. They call it Shiva-Shakti or Purusha-Prakriti which are inseparable. They are only seen as separate in the lower planes where there exists dualism. Shakti, the feminine principle, is regarded as the kinetic energy or active principle out of which the world is born and into which it is dissolved. That's the reference to Shakti or Kali-Shakti in Hindu mythology as the bride of Shiva who devoured him and gave him eternal rebirth so she was also his mother. If you refer to Figure 4 on page 2 of your handout (image below), you will see a similar concept from Egyptian mythology. Geb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess are spouses. It is their separation that causes the cycles of creation. Nut is the matrix of creation and Geb the fecunding principle. As the phallus of Geb is not penetrating the vulva but directed toward the umblical cord which means the bride of Geb also gives birth to him. His bride is also his mother.
Figure 4: Geb & Nut from Egyptian Mythology
(Click on image to enlarge)
(Click on image to enlarge)
Figure 3: Engraved vulva symbols in Chalfond, California
