In 1995 I envisioned, edited, and published WOMEN OF THE LIGHT: THE NEW SACRED PROSTITUTE, a book in which nine women in various contemporary sacred-sexuality roles share their life and work. Response to that book brought me in contact with many more people in similar roles. After two years of filming and editing, the filmmaker Sarah Sher and I completed The Sacred Prostitute, a 90-minute, in-depth documentary on women and men who have stepped outside of oppressive religious dogmas and are teaching others a new/ancient paradigm of sex and spirit. Mary Magdalene has become the "patron saint" of some of these visionaries. Now the documentary, a special section on Mary Magdalene, and challenging out takes are available in a special 2-DVD set entitled MAGDALENE UNVEILED.
I invite you to watch and read about these special people. Their lives are making an important difference.
Kenneth Ray Stubbs, Ph.D.
Producer, cowriter
Secret Garden Publishing
Presenters include
followers of Mary Magdalene
a Tibetan Buddhist lama
a rabbi
several Western Tantra and other sacred-sexuality teachers/practitioners
a Native American shaman
an African Nubian-Khamite priestess
a porn star
a sexworker rights activist
an Episcopal priest
Known today sometimes by such names as "sacred intimate," "tantrika," "daka/dakini," "sexual healer," "sacred whore," "tantra teacher," or "sexual shaman," women and men in contemporary versions of The Sacred Prostitute present their lives and their evolution into a role that would have been revered in many ancient and not-so-ancient cultures.
Topics include
Mary Magdalene and Jesus
Tantra and other expressions of sacred sexuality
Christianity and sexual oppression
Plato vs. Jesus
prostitution vs. sacred prostitution
the legality of sacred sexwork
heterosexual and homosexual sexuality
celibacy
orgasmic energy
The Sacred Prostitute documentary (90 minutes) takes us into the world of the ancient and modern sacred sexual teacher / healer / ceremonialist, a world where sexual energy is a catalyst rather than an obstacle in the spiritual quest - a world where "sexual" and "spiritual" are intrinsically the same.
The following is taken from the script of the special 2-DVD set entitled MAGDALENE UNVEILED, documentary film.
Hello, My name is Vasumitra, and I am a teacher of the sacred sexual arts. In the next few minutes, we will explore, unveiling Mary Magdalene, and other archetypal symbols, surrounding the ancient and modern role, of The Sacred Prostitute.
Who was Mary Magdalene? Was she a redeemed prostitute? Was she Jesus' favorite disciple? Was she the wife of Jesus and bore their child? Was she a high priestess, from a different religious tradition, embracing fertility rituals?
We will never know the actual historical facts for certain. But we do know for certain, that today Mary Magdalene is, a controversial archetypal symbol, that captures our imagination.
When we began filming the documentary, The Sacred Prostitute, we discovered a number of people saying, "Oh, a film about Mary Magdalene." So, we began to incorporate her, more into the documentary. But, the story of Mary Magdalene, really begins, over five thousand years ago, in the nearby culture of Sumer.
Vasumitra moves to painting.
This painting of Mary Magdalene, by Richard Stahd-Art, is based on a magdalene image,in the Cathedral of Mary Magdalene, in Jerusalem. In many depictions there and elsewhere, in her hand, she reveals an egg. Such an image, can easily be interpreted, as a fertility symbol. Also, our word "Easter", derives from the goddess Astarte's name. Also, Astarte was the goddess of spring, a time when eggs, were a part of celebrations honoring her.
Was Mary Magdalene, an Astarte high priestess, joined with Jesus, to reveal certain esoteric teachings?
We will never know for certain. But, the legend lives. Mary Magdalene, has become the symbol for The Sacred Prostitute in the West. In other parts of the world, other names signify this archetypal role.
- End of film script excerpt.
Known today sometimes by such names as "sacred intimate," "tantrika," "daka / dakini," "sexual healer," "sacred whore," "tantra teacher," or "sexual shaman," women and men in contemporary versions of The Sacred Prostitute present their lives and their evolution into a role that would have been revered in many ancient and not-so-ancient cultures. Not unlike the king / priest and queen / priestess who performed the hieros gamos ("sacred marriage") of ancient Sumer and other societies, the modern-day sacred prostitute facilitates individuals, couples, and whole cultures. Today the ceremonies and teachings are often a fusion of Hindu and Buddhist Tantra, Chinese Taoism, Native American shamanism, and pre-Christian European metaphysics along with practical techniques from contemporary psychological, somatic, and Western sexological methodologies.
Other topics include
Mary Magdalene and Jesus
Plato vs. Jesus
prostitution vs. sacred prostitution
the legality of sacred sexwork
heterosexual and homosexual sexuality
celibacy
Christianity and sexual oppression
The contemporary sacred prostitute no longer has a public temple where she or he can share the ceremonies openly. There is little or no lineage down through which the sacred mysteries can be revealed from high priest/ess to initiate. Legally, socially, religiously, The Sacred Prostitute has been out in the cold - until now!
Women of the night women of the light: The Sacred Prostitute,
the temple priestess,
the sexual healer,
the embodiment of the archetypal Goddess.
Who is she today?
Without a continuing lineage, without a temple, the contemporary sexual initiator/healer/teacher has many faces. Today she is
The Sex Surrogate
The Porn Star
The Tantra Meditation Teacher
The Visionary Artist
The Masseuse
The Group-Sex Hostess
The Call Girl
The Shaman
The Nurse
Nine women share their work, their lives, and their insights. Their personally written stories in this book bring us to a deeper understanding of our sexuality and our humanity.
"Surrogates and Prostitutes; Sexual Saints Or Sinners?"
An old friend of mine, Ken Ray Stubbs, PhD. has conceived and edited a remarkable book about the profoundly moving experiences of nine living women who are, as he calls them "the New Sacred Prostitutes." His 1994 book, "Women of the Light," (published by Secret Garden) is an extraordinary illumination of what motivates such women and of the services they provide.
Ray has aptly named them "sacred," for these women in telling their own stories create the feeling that not only would the lives of their clients have been diminished without them, so would the social heritage of all of us.
Ray is careful to point out the difference between the woman of the street, whose primary object is to earn as much money as they can, and those women who use their own bodies to enrich their client's concept of loving and being loved.
Along with the stories, Ray has given us a quick picture of how society over the centuries has treated its "women of the light." From the days of the temple priestesses, through the chilling murder of "witches," to today's highly trained, but barely tolerated, sex surrogates, it is a history that can make us shudder.
American Library Association's Booklist February 15, 1995
This is a truly radical book, one that documents living women bringing together spirituality and sexuality in surprising and moving ways. It will, unquestionably, disturb those who wish to believe that spirituality can be expressed only incorporeally, but those who do find embodiment a spiritual condition will be challenged and excited by the stories in it, such as that of a nurse who helped a quadriplegic man to transcend his paralysis and experience his firsthand only orgasm and later attended his death, leading him through a similar release. Others who tell their stories, a masseuse, a sex surrogate, a call girl, are, to the conventionally minded, hardly spiritual leaders, but they and the other storytellers consciously regard sexuality as metaphysical as well as physical. A possibly controversial book for some libraries, but good enough to risk a hubbub.
Whole Earth Review Winter 1995
The nine women who tell their stories recount numerous touching incidents (including that of a nurse who risks her career by helping a quadriplegic man to have an orgasm). Entering into temporary intimate encounters, while keeping the full humanity of themselves and their clients intact, these women embody the ancient role of The Sacred Prostitute, harking back to early Goddess worship, when sex was part of religious observance.
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