Month: May 2014

Persephone speaks: The underworld is my temple; it is my sensual, tactile engagement with all that is above and below, without and within; the sanctuary of my impassioned meeting with the depths of my lover’s embraces. I understand the complexities of wild cravings, the decisions made from passionate abandon. I am no one’s victim or concubine. I am sovereign, clear, the one who chose to eat those pomegranate seeds. Do not underestimate the fierce power of a maiden’s desires. I wished to become queen of the underworld, the vessel between the realms, ascending the stairway between light and dark, the only place I am unaccompanied. I own the depths of my existence— can you say the same for yourself?

Melissa Weiss Steele, Oracle of Initiation: Rainbows in the Dark (via rabbitinthemoon)

So it looks like if you want to find my ass during GenCon, check the Erie room in Union Station. That’s where they put all my events. Which is cool. I like playing in Roderick’s house.

Yab-yum (Tibetan literally, “father-mother”) is a common symbol in the Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet representing the male deity in sexual union with his female consort. Often the male deity is sitting in lotus position while his consort is sitting in his lap.

The symbolism is associated with Anuttarayoga tantra and, while there are various interpretations of the symbolism in the twilight language, the male figure is usually linked to compassion (karuṇā) and skillful means (upāya-kauśalya), while the female partner to ‘insight’ (prajñā). The union is realised by the practitioner as a mystical experience within one’s own body.

…Every pagan pantheon embodies a psychology; or at least a role-set of behaviours and drives characteristic of a spectrum of human motivations, fears and desires. The more developed pantheons have elaborate myths and legends which reveal much about what humans can do or what they should do, and why they choose to do it or not.

Thus the study of Classics equips us to understand ourselves and our fellows at least as well, if not better, than any passing fashion in any number of incomplete modern psychological theories. Rather oddly, we actually lost a lot of our psychological knowledge during the period of dominance of monotheist religion, and recent attempts to recover it using the techniques of scientific reductionism have produced rather unsubtle and frequently useless ideas that only work on rats or people confronted with questionnaires.

Peter J. Carroll, Epoch (via tectusregis)

rosalarian:

I think porn serves a purpose. I think it’ll always serve a purpose. You can find examples of erotic art spanning all of human history, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon, so women need to be part of the process of making it. We need to be represented, not as objects or props, but as active participants, producers, and consumers worth creating for. We need to take charge and express our own desires.

Any time you go long enough without input from women, you’re creating a climate for misogyny to thrive. Very little porn is made with women in mind. A lot of porn is incredibly misogynistic, but porn is not inherently misogynistic. Porn can be incredibly feminist. It’s the same as any other form of media. Superhero comics have been criticized for misogyny, and are often created with men as the target audience, but that doesn’t mean comics are inherently bad or only for men. The comics industry gets better the closer we get to balancing the gender ratio of the people creating it. The porn industry has a long way to go, but it can get better just like anything else.

The success of women-driven projects like Smut Peddler and Filthy Figments attest to this, that women are interested in smut. We’re eager consumers who aren’t often catered to, we’re talented creators with a lot to say. Let’s lose the guilt and shame and silence. Long live ladyporn!