NB this is about sacred prostitution (sexual rites as part of worship in Ancient Near Eastern religion).
WARNING: Sexual content.
In this moment
I am the Goddess,
and what we do is holy.
In this moment
we enact spring,
the eternal dance of life and death,
as you rain your seed
into my dry earth.
In this moment
our bodies are prayers;
I am a sacred vessel,
a sacrifice.
As you kiss these lips,
are you aware
you are kissing the lips of the Goddess?
When you touch my breasts,
do you know
you are touching the breasts of the Goddess?
In this moment
I incorporate her,
I am a sacred vessel,
I am a sacrifice.
Our bodies are prayers -
is this a prayer, to you,
as you kiss these lips,
as you touch these breasts?
What we do is holy,
the eternal dance of life and death.
Is this a prayer, to you?
Or are you
conquering, dominating,
taking
what you want as yours?
Is this a heavenly intimacy,
making love
so love may birth life and fertility?
Or is this
just another show of power and control?
As you kiss these lips,
are you aware
you are kissing the lips of the Goddess?
When you touch my breasts,
do you know
you are touching the breasts of the Goddess?
As you take and conquer me,
does it feel
like you have conquered the Goddess?
Is this prayer
lovemaking
or rape?
Maybe
the Goddess is as unfree as me.
________________________________________
[4. July 2017]
Sacred prostitution was a phenomenon in the Ancient Near East - one decried in the Bible. The Israelites were warned against taking part in the rites of neighbouring nations - including sexual rites.
I know more about ancient Chinese sexual rites than Ancient Near Eastern ones, but from some quick research I gathered they're pretty similar... basically the "temple prostitute" represents the goddess, the man sometimes representing the god. The rite is meant to be for fertility. You can read more here.
On the way through the desert, the Israelites got involved with Moabite idol worship and sacred prostitution (Num 25). Cozbi is a Midianite woman who most likely is this type of "sacred prostitute". Her story is pretty gruesome: she is killed together with the Israelite man who was together with her. It's a pretty problematic story, and I want to write a second poem about her violent end. But here I wanted to look a bit at the phenomenon of sacred prostitution.
To be honest the idea of sex as prayer is kind of beautiful, I think. Though the one of embodying a deity in this act is pretty freaky.
What inspired and influenced me a bit was reading a bit about the connection between sex and power in Margeret Farley's Just Love: A Framework of Christian Sexual Ethics. Towhat extent is "being the Goddess" liberating and powerful, to what extent is the Goddess herself being degraded and treated as an object here?
It made me think about prayer - how we pray to God. We don't do sexual rites; God clearly said no (which makes sense because I believe it would involve a lot of abuse). But where do our prayers become abusive? Where do we turn our prayers into take-take-take, instead of sharing intimacy with God?
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