It could be exhausting for the western thoughts to reconcile that the phrases sacred and prostitute could also be linked, for the Judeo-Christian custom holds sexuality to be profane, the antithesis of spirit. But within the instances of the Nice Goddess worship, sexuality was revered and held sacred. We discover proof of sacred prostitution all through the traditional world, as early because the Gilgamesh Epic of 7000 B.C.E. Herodotus, a Greek historian from the third century B.C.E., wrote:
“… girls of the land… sit within the temple of affection and have intercourse with some stranger… the boys cross and make their selection. It issues not what be the sum of cash; the ladies won’t ever refuse, for that had been a sin, the cash being by this act made sacred. After their intercourse she has made herself holy within the sight of the goddess… ” 1
Sacred prostitution occurred within the early civilizations of Sumer, Babylonia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Rome, and is talked about within the code of Hammurabi. It additionally appears to have been frequent in Europe and the Center East previous to the rise of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In reality, sacred prostitutes not solely existed, they flourished and had been held to be vital members of society:
“… the sacred prostitutes had been many in quantity. In keeping with Strabo, on the temples of Aphrodite in Eryx and Corinth there have been above a thousand, whereas at every of the 2 Comanas about six thousand had been in residence. They had been accorded social standing and had been educated. In some instances, they remained politically and legally equal to males.” 2
The Golden Age of goddess worship, through which sacred prostitution was widespread, was the Age of Taurus, whose polarity is Scorpio, the 2 indicators mostly related to sexuality. Venus is the ruler of Taurus, and Venus as a goddess is bodily stunning and sexually interesting. She is the goddess of earthly love, sexual and sensual. The Nice Goddess was the bringer of all that’s alive, answerable for the fruitfulness of the earth. Via her got here new life, and sexuality was one of many mysteries of creation. Sexuality was revered and worshipped in a manner we discover exhausting to fathom right this moment. Within the goddess temples, the sacred prostitutes had been her priestesses. Their our bodies had been obtainable to share the blessings of the goddess with strangers, hungry for love and connection. On this manner, sexual love was proven to be divine, of the goddess, not separate from it. Hesiod, an eighth century B.C.E. poet, wrote:
“… the sensual magic of the sacred whores ‘mellowed the habits of males.’… She is the bringer of sexual pleasure and the vessel by which the uncooked natural instincts are remodeled into love and love-making.” 2
These girls had been recognized in historic languages because the nu-gig, or “the undefiled,” “the pure or spotless.” 3 This appears significantly to be of the character of Virgo, {that a} lady recognized for her magnificence and sexuality could be thought-about pure. The priestess felt herself to be an incarnation of the holy spirit as she made love with the boys who got here to pay homage to the goddess. She was a instructor of the mysteries, of the therapeutic and restorative energy of sexual vitality.
2) M. Esther Harding, Lady’s Mysteries: Historical and Fashionable, New York, NY: Harper Colophon Books, 1971
1) Nancy Qualls-Corbett, The Sacred Prostitute: Everlasting Facet of the Female, Toronto, Canada: Interior Metropolis Books,1988
© 2010 Catherine Auman
