Sacred Sexual Space

Title: Yoni: The Sacred Space
Author: Sediva Staff

The word "Yoni" , translated variously as, "Sacred Altar" and "Sacred Space"was first mentioned in the West in Sir Richard Burton's 1876 translation of the Kama Sutra. The term, "Sacred Yoni" as used in today's neo-tantra traditions, refers to the female's vagina (the term for the male penis in Burton's translation being, "Lingam" and/or "Linga".) Simply put, as an anatomical term, Yoni is easily understood. However, as a psycho/emotional/spiritual/energetic term, it is literally and figuratively a doorway to the Goddess aspect of the Infinite Divine.

Many jokes have been made throughout the centuries, such as the Yoni being the source of all life, humans enter the world through it and many spend their whole lives attempting to get back in, however, since ancient times in India, the Tantra texts ascribe such importance to Yoni puja (or worship) that in the Yoni Tantra (translated by Michael Magee) we read that , in"The Mahavidya, mantra and preperation of the mantra do not bestow siddhi (grace or power/effectiveness) without worship of the yoni." Also, "One should bow thrice before the yoni with a flower, Mahesvari, else the puja of a man is useless in 1000 lifetimes!"

The yoni is at the same time the indwelling of the Goddess as well as a symbol of the Divine Shakti-Kundalini energy.

An aspect of the Mother, a sacred symbol of female creative power, the yoni is at once a source of pleasure and symbolic worship of all that is Divine in Nature.

Many times Tantric Massage can move in the direction of "yoni puja" or "yoni worship", where the entire session can be set aside to pleasure the female with flowers, fruit, sacred incense, tantric massage oils, and sacred esoteric tantric techniques including cunnilingus, in an expression of one's relationship to the Divine Feminine as represented in one's tantra partner.

In closing, the Yoni Tantra instructs us that, "The mutual friction of Linga & Yoni is great sadhana(spiritual practice)!"