Priestesses are welcome to participate in any manner that they feel comfortable
with. Priestesses will be given training so they may safely and knowledgably
participate.
Text of discussion on the Temple of Ishtar
> Greetings,
> I'm a senior at Arizona State University, and this semester
> I'm taking a class called "The Divine Feminine". The Goddess
> that I'm writing my final paper about is Ishtar. My focus is on the revival
of devotion to
> Ishtar in the contemporary pagan community. I came across your
> website, and I wondered if anyone in your organization would be willing
to
> discuss in more detail than is offered on your excellent website the relgious
> proactices and experiences of the members of the Temple of Ishtar.
> Sincerly,
> Katie Lewis
Thanks for your note, Katie. As you might gather from our website, we are
trying to organize an incarnation of the Temple at Burning Man this summer.
Right now there is no "organization", but rather a somewhat unorganized
collection of interested people. Fortunately many of us have experience
in sacred sexuality (primarily from the tantric community or the pagan community)
and are enthusiastic.
This kind of thing has been done before - with varying degrees of success,
as you might imagine. So I can get whatever questions you have answered,
either about what we intend to do, or what we know others have done in the
past. There are certainly lots of differing opinions about all this and
that diversity is both a challenge and a stimulus. My opinion is that "devotion
to Ishtar" is practiced by being/becoming Ishtar yourself (ie. the Goddess
is within everyone). Ishtar is a symbol for the earth or the universe and
the principles on which it operates. It is apparent that ancient views of
the divine are primarily feminine. I feel this makes sense. Sacred sexuality
is a way to connect on a deep level with Ishtar, and thereby the divine.
We chose Ishtar (from among many Goddesses) because she is very ancient
(perhaps Inanna might be another older choice) and there is a reasonable
amount of written information about her and the society that revered her.
We think there are things relevant to the present to be learned from the
past. There is much more to be learned though.
> What have been problems with past attempts. And what has made past
> attempts succesful?
Legal problems, leadership squabbles (men trying to run the thing???) having
to keep it a secret, etc. I can get more details if you wish, this is what
I have heard from various people. We are networking and trying to get more
info from people who have done things like this before.
> What exactly _do_ you intend to do. I know what the obvious answer
> is :), but will non-sexual worship take place, is everyone involved with
the
> temple expected to serve as a temple prostitute? Basically, what
> is the range of activity. Also, as Burning Man does not allow money how
will the
> "prostitution" part of sacred prostitution be handled?
We have not exactly determined how it will operate. There are two main
goals:
1. Create a space at Burning Man where "anyone" may experience sacred sexuality.
2. Educate people about sacred sexuality.
Info on sacred sexuality: http://members.tripod.com/~maenad/sensual.html
Sacred sexuality books: on
Amazon.com
We view the acts themselves of sacred sexuality as "worship". To worship,
you act the part of the god/goddess (since you are a part of nature, by
definition you are a part of the Goddess - so act accordingly) No one is
"expected" to do anything, except not to interfere with or harm others or
cause a commotion or generally act like a jerk.
The temple will be operated by women who have extensive experience with
sacred sexuality (e.g. tantrikas, ex-prostitutes, sex workers, etc.) These
women will educate anyone who wishes to participate in the temple activities
(both men and women.) Women who wish to serve as priestesses will be initiated
through an education process that will give them a common understanding
of what the history and purpose is, what is to occur, and how to deal with
it. Each priestess has the ultimate choice (at every moment) as to "how
far she wants to go" and with whom.
Male worshipers will be indoctrinated, initiated/tested and cleansed before
they may enter the temple. Some of this education will be conducted as ritual,
since ritual was originally a method of teaching or passing down the culture.
Other rituals may be performed for the opening of the temple, sunrise, etc.
It has not yet been determined if there will be male priests and what role
they might play. So the range of activity will include:
1. Priestesses creating a sacred space in the temple through ritual.
2. Priestesses training women from the "public" at Burning Man who wish
to serve as priestesses in the temple.
3. Priestesses training and testing men from the "public" at Burning Man
about the purpose and activities of the temple.
4. Priestesses managing the process of men and women having sacred sex in
the worship of [Ishtar].
5. Priestesses conducting any private or public rituals deemed appropriate.
(eg. sunrise ritual, party, dance, whatever)
The original meaning of "prostitute" was: "to stand in behalf of", that
is to represent the power of the goddess. It is not necessary to collect
money to represent the goddess. However an idea has arisen that incorporates
the historic inclusion of money in the ritual. The idea is to distribute
"coin tokens" to ALL the women at Burning Man. These coins would come in
a packet that explained what the coin represents and what it could be used
for. If a man wished to visit the temple, the first thing he would have
to do is somehow obtain one of these coins from a woman. She could require
him to pass some kind of test (that she may devise) to get the coin. The
coin would then be shown in order to gain entrance to the temple an then
given by the man to a priestess at the temple before consorting with her.
>> My opinion is that "devotion to Ishtar" is practiced by being/becoming
Ishtar yourself (ie. the Goddess is within everyone).
> How does one get into this state of being Ishtar? What is it?
We think you are already Ishtar, by virtue of being alive and a part of
nature, or the universe. Ishtar is a symbol of what is divine in nature.
You go to her temple to become more clearly aware of this.
>> Sacred sexuality is a way to connect on a deep level with Ishtar, and
thereby the divine.
> How do men fit into this? Will there be male kadishtum in the Temple
> at Burning Man? Will they enage in sexual activity with men, women, or both.
This has not yet been determined in terms of how the Temple will operate
at Burning Man. I have answered your questions in terms of the conventional
way things operate. However in general in sacred sexuality, men or women
may engage in sexual activity with whatever gender and in whatever role
they feel is effective for them in their pursuit of the divine connection.
It is likely that there will be provision for this gender and role choice
in the temple. So this supports heterosexual, homosexual and transgender
worship in the temple.
> Which leads me to another series of questions. What do you see
> as the place for non-reproductive sex in all this. By this I mean both the
place of
> same-sex sexual activity as well as sex where contraception is involved.
> Can infertile people (ie post-menapousal women) be temple prostitutes?
Well, since most sex is non-reproductive (meaning that the number of births
is very low when compared to the number of copulations) -- and let's not
leave out non-intercourse sex as well... It seems reasonable that non-reproductive
sex is the norm. While the basic reason for sex is reproduction, it is certainly
not the only purpose. I'd say sacred sexuality is not primarily related
to the issue of reproduction.
Theoretically anyone may become a temple priestess. I guess the point is
that the essence of sexuality seems to lie in the feminine and how you manifest
that is up to you. Women do hold the ultimate power in sex and men have
worked very dilligently to try to control that - with varying degrees of
success (and harm)...
A well known pagan writing is The Charge of the Goddess. It contains the
following words: "All acts of love and pleasure are her rituals". It seems
to me that as long as you understand what you are doing sexually and have
the intention that it be sacred and that all participants consent, then
you are on the right path. The more you know, the more you understand how
sacred and divine it can be. Here's a link to a more complete text (actually
two versions) of the Charge http://www.witchs-brew.com/shadows/charge.html
>> We chose Ishtar (from among many Goddesses) because she is very ancient
(perhaps Inanna might be another older choice)
> This intrest me, as one of the other things that I want to
> look at in my paper is the way that contemporary pagans view the connection
(if any)
> between Ishtar and Inanna. Could you elaborate?
I'm not sure how many pagans know the names Ishtar or Innana. Pagans worship
lots of goddesses (Greek, Roman, etc.) and some don't use any name except
something like: "The Goddess". I personally think that all the goddesses
are symbols (idols?) for essentially the same thing or a part of the same
thing.
>>Katie, your questions and my answers would be useful on our website.
May I post them there? I will leave out your name and affiliation, unless
you wish me to credit you.
>Go right ahead and post them. I would appriciate it if you credited
>me, and mentioned that I am looking for information on Ishtar (the more people
>that I get to help me out on this the better.
> There is one really obvious question I forgot to ask. What inspired
> the idea of constructing a Temple of Ishtar at Burning Man?
Not really sure - the idea just popped into my head after I attended Burning
Man last year and was in discussions of how to promote sacred sexuality.
>> I can get more details if you wish, this is what
>> I have heard from various people.
> I would be very interested in details of past Temples. Also, if you
> would be willing to put me in contact with people who have done
> this sort of thing in the past, I would really appriciate it.
The only people I know the contact info are the "Society of Ishtar" http://members.aol.com/socishtar/
I am expecting email from others.
>> It has not yet been determined if there will be male priests and what
role they might play.
> Has there been any discussion. If so what has come up?
The only discussion has been: This is an issue and we want to figure out
how to handle it.
>> will be provision for this gender and role choice in the temple. So this
>> supports heterosexual, homosexual and transgender worship in the temple.
> It is very interesting to hear this, as some of the other
> information I have encountered regarding contemporary sexual Ishtar worship
> has focused soley on heterosexual activity. What prompted the decision to
provide
> for same-sex sexual activity?
It would be unacceptable in our community to discriminate (this is San
Francisco after all). People who have read the Society of Ishtar website
immediately remarked that the Society's limitation to heterosexual activity
was not consistent with sacred sexuality as our community understands it.
> Also, I notice that the idea is
> that women get tokens and then they give them to men. Would a woman be able
to use her
> token herself? Or to put it another way, would a woman be able to come to
the
> Temple as a worshipper rahter than as a kadishtu?
Yes, she would be able to come as a worshiper. Presumably the Priestesses
would have some process for fulfulling her needs, either with a priest/priestess
or fellow worshiper or ? No one has mentioned any necessity to use a mechanism
like the tokens to control the access to the temple by women. This seems
kind of obvious, but upon reflection, perhaps it should be more carefully
thought through.
>> reproduction, it is certainly not the only purpose. I'd say sacred sexuality
>> is not primarily related to the issue of reproduction.
> What about the relationship of sacred sexuality to fertillity? Is
> there then no connection, or are you making a distinction between
> fertillity and reproduction.
I have never heard of any discussion of the issue of fertility in the context
of modern sacred sexuality. It is obviously of importance historically.
I guess people deal with fertility issues medically nowadays?
>>Women do hold the ultimate power in sex
> This is a very intriguing statement, could you explain further?
The woman always makes the final choice as to whom she lets have intercourse
with her. (with the exception of cases involving force) Only she actually
knows who the father of her children is. This became important to men only
when property and inheritance became issues and when society moved from
a matriarchal to patriarchal structure. It is thought that men created monogamy
so they could know who their heirs were and why women were severely punished
for adultery, but men were not. Interestingly this transition seems to have
happened around the time of Innana/Ishtar - over a long period, of course.
I can't seem to find a reference covering the power women have in sex -
one of my partners, Cinnamon, responds that it is a common pagan understanding.
Here's some articles by another member of our intimate community that cover
some of the patriarchy issues. (She's not involved in the Temple as yet.)
http://www.lovewithoutlimits.com/women_want.html
http://www.lovewithoutlimits.com/vision.html
http://www.lovewithoutlimits.com/marriage_game.html
>>I personally think that all the goddesses are symbols (idols?) for essentially
the same thing or a part of the same thing.
> And what is that same thing?
The universe, the cosmos, the laws of nature, mother nature, etc. Some
people assign strict attributes to a particular goddess. To me all the goddesses
symbolize the whole, but that the particular myths and attributes of each
goddess are created because a personification is the most powerful way to
communicate culture and knowledge - A Story is always more effective when
the audience can identify with a character (e.g. theater, ritual, and TV...,
etc.)
>> Yes, she would be able to come as a worshiper. Presumably the Priestesses
>> would have some process for fulfulling her needs, either with a
>> priest/priestess or fellow worshiper or ? No one has mentioned any necessity
>> to use a mechanism like the tokens to control the access to the temple
by
>> women. This seems kind of obvious, but upon reflection, perhaps it should
be
>> more carefully thought through.
> That was something I meant to ask about last time. There
> seems to be a mechanism for processing and educating male worshippers but
it
> did not seem to include female worshippers. I was curious about whether
the
> assumption was that women would not come as worshippers or if the assumption
> was that women could behave themselves.
There is definitely a mechanism for educating females, but the assumption
was that they would be indoctinated as priestesses. In a way all the participants
are worshippers, but the temple will be run by women, so they have the opportunity
to be in a position of power and have the title "priestess". I think that
if a woman wished to be a worshipper, but not a priestess, she could go
through the same process as a male. In any case the purpose of the education
is to promote understanding of what is going on (as well as provide a code
of ettiquette). Presumably men need behavioral guidelines more than women,
but it is important for everyone to have a common understanding of the ground
rules and purpose.
> Why was there assumption that women would choose to be priestesses
> rather than worshippers, and the assumption that men would not want to be
> priests?
Simply because that is the common understanding/assumption of how a temple
of Ishtar worked historically - it was a female operated temple (as far
as I can tell from reading). Your questions brought up the issue that women
might want to worship. That deserves consideration. I'm sure men would want
to be priests, but I'm not sure the priestesses want priests in their temple.
It is up to them to decide.
> I ask because this opens up a very interesting angle on the social
> dymanics related to sacred sexuality and especially to sacred prostitution.
Yes it is interesting and somewhat confusing. Do you have any ideas on
this?
> Also, what role do you see yourself playing in the Temple at Burning
Man.
I thought up the idea to do it. I talked to others who were enthusiastic.
I believe the temple should be run by women. About 30 women have volunteered
to be priestesses. I expect they will self organize to operate the temple.
I intend to promote the idea to get people involved, focus on logistics
and getting the temple actually built in the Nevada desert. I'll participate
in any activities to which I am invited.
> In your last email you mentioned that kadishtu would be
> allowed to set their own limits in regard to what they would do
> and with whom they would do it. I noticed that the Society of Ishtar
> explicitly does not allow the kaditshtu to set these limits, iirc because
it implies a lack of
> devotion to the Goddess. Would you care to coment on the reasons for this
differecne?
The Society of Ishtar position sounds like coercion to me. We don't think
that coercion has any place in sacred sexuality. Kadishtu will understand
their role and the opportunity and they are empowered to choose how they
will avail themselves of it.
> Which reminds me, if you know of anyone else who is involved in the
> planning for the Ishtar Temple at Burning Man who would be
> willing to 'talk" to me I would appriciate it.
I will forward your request to a couple of people.
--Glenn Meader
Hi Glenn,
I checked out your web site. It looks like you are doing a very ambitious
work. I am thinking of attending BM, however I'm not sure yet, and Bear
(our senior Priestess) doesn't seem to want to experience the apparent desert
hardships. Congratulation on your BM Temple. Way to Go!!!!
A couple of comments on the discussion page of your web site. Several questions
centered on Priestess worshiping too. In our meager two years of experience
it makes more sense if you flip that over and ask about Priestesses or Priests
being worshipped too. We also have been studying the male half for the past
two years and wondering if there were actually ancient temples where Priests
welcomed women. What I am led to conclude is that the men called "Priests
of Ba'al" were the male equivalent. Ba'al is mentioned several times in
the Jewish writings but never really explained, nor written about elsewhere.
We note that ancient Hebrew and Sanskrit didn't write the vowels, so Ba'al
and Bull and Bel and B' El are the same -- the Horned God represented by
the Sacred Bull. I have not found references to a temple of Ba'al, but his
image was on the gates of Babylon and on the doors to the Temple of Ishtar.
The Jewish texts mention sacred objects for Ba'al in the Hebrew Temples.
My current working theory is that the Priests of Ba'al served a similar
function to the Temple Prostitutes -- sacred sex. The Hebrew texts don't
describe what the Priests of Ba'al were doing specifically, however my theory
is that what everybody knows (knew) was not described. The Priests of Ba'al
were fucking the Hebrew women in sacred sex which would explain why the
Levites had them all killed and the worship of Ba'al driven out of Israel.
It is noted that Sin, father of Ishtar, was also represented as a Bull.
He was the Moon God and sacred Bull both, the horns of the moon represented
the horns of the Bull. Temples of Sin were likely also temples where men
represented the Horned God and gave their worship to women who came.
As far as "The Society of Ishtar position sounds like coercion to me" and
"The woman always makes the final choice as to whom she lets have intercourse
with her" we will have to disagree with both. We don't think it's coercion
and the women who have participated have chosen to do so. Secondly we don't
accept that women have any more final choice than do men -- we work very
hard at equality.
It has been our experience that the men in our community are no more willing
and no less scared to participate in the Temple than are women. Education
of men is as important as that of women. Establishing the sacred for men,
invocation of Baal or Sin or another God is as important as the representation
of Goddess for women. Our scale is smaller than you intend, and our community
is different than that at BM, but that has been our experience in two years
of doing this.
We do have some variation between our practice and yours. We are less supportive
of modern political agendas and myths such as the matriarchy/patriachry
myth. We are less sure how the multigendered, multisexual, mix that you
propose will work in practice. Our previous experiences have been that it
is difficult to mix those of various sexual desires together without someone
feeling like they are pressured to do sex in a manner that is not comfortable
for them or to end up feeling as if they are criticized for their sexual
choice. It has been our experience that straight people are frequently pressured
by gays or lesbians in such circumstances, and criticized for being straight.
As you mention on your web page, numerous people read our site and criticize
us for being straight. We think that is unfortunate and that everyone should
be able to be whatever sexual orientation, and practice what is right for
them without criticism. If that can happen in the temple you envision we
would love to know about it. Maybe I'll be able to come and experience it
for myself.
May Ishtar and Ba'al bless your sacred work
Zardoz Greybeard Society of Ishtar
