"There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the Light that shines in our heart."

  Chandogya Upanishad (circa 7 th to 8 th century B.C.E.) Sacred philosophical Hindu literature.

THE MEANING OF TANTRIC SEX

Sexual arousal may induce an altered state of consciousness that is available to anyone willing to explore it. But, as with meditation and shamanic journeying, the non-ordinary conscious state generated in sustained sexual arousal constitutes an opportunity one must learn to use.

Dr. John Ryan Haule

Honorable Sexuality: An Interview With Wilbert Alix Author : Sydney L. Murray: Editor, Vision Magazine / San Diego, CA

"Passion is really our life energy, it is what propels us, or compels us, to act on something. Therefore, in a culture that suppresses their sexuality, or in other words, makes it very unconscious, all you have to do is attach sexuality to anything and we notice it. We sell everything with it. There is a schizophrenia in our culture about it. 
About 5,000 years ago, there was this movement in the West, mostly in Europe, to contemporize spirit in order to control the lives of people by controlling their access to spirit. This is religion. Religion is probably the biggest business on the planet. Essentially what they had to do was convince human beings that something was wrong with them and that they needed to be redeemed. The churchís business is redemption. One way they did this was to demonize sex. Well then, youíre demonizing the energy that created you. You are demonizing the energy that propels you daily. When people bought into this, they really started feeling bad. They needed to get help, they needed to be saved and the church was saying, weíll do it for you, if not in this lifetime at least in the next. They got people to totally surrender their energy, and the ones that suffered the most were women. A womanís entire body is erotic, a manís entire body is not erotic. So when a woman suppresses her sexuality, her entire body suffers. She needs something to convince her that this suffering is worthwhile. 
For thousands of years prior to this sex was considered to be a legitimate path to healing and enlightenment. Most of the healers at this time were women or were dominantly a feminine energy. In the Native American tradition, for example, whenever a male child was born who demonstrated feminine characteristics, they would snatch him up and train him to be a shaman, because he had a healerís perspective. He didnít have a warriorís perspective, he had a healerís perspective."

Tantra sex
by Ashley Thirleby:

Tantric Sex is the ancient key to sexual pleasure and psychic power, attained through a set of rituals practiced by the "Hindu Cult of Ecstasy."
It is kind of "sexual magic" which brings pleasure, power, energy, and control.
Through the rituals have existed for thousands of years, they have been virtually unknown in the Western World.
They can enable you to reach new heights of sexual pleasure and at the same time tap your sexual energy for creative use in other areas of your life.
It has taken many years for modern psychology to discover what the Tantric Masters have known all along - that all animals, including man, are in their most intense state of conscious and subconscious concentration during sexual involvement.
Through its rituals, Tantra teaches ways to carry this intense focus of concentration into all areas of life.
The rituals make it possible to enjoy sex more often, for longer periods of greater pleasure than you have ever known before. And the more frequently you have sex, the more quickly and powerfully your sexual energy will regenerate itself.
Tantra is the Sanskrit word meaning "the essence." It is derived from the verb tantori, "to weave"; hence the derivation Tantra, "the warp or essence of that which is woven."
From the beginning, Tantric teachings passed from one generation to the next in the unwritten form of the rituals themselves, then later through writings known simply as "Tantras." The Tantras were written in Sanskrit and are composed of dialogues between Shiva, and Shakti. In these most basic texts, Shiva discourses on the Tantric origins (female) of the universe, the rituals themselves, and the esoteric doctrines which view the changing, visible world and universe as a "creative pleasure" of the Divine Mother, Kali; and the need for ritualistic discipline to lead the practitioner to the realization of the essential oneness of the self, the visible world, and the godhead.
Basically Tantra seeks to move you back to your own origins – to help you reach your own roots of identity. Tantra would have you "experience the truth that is yourself" by following specific rituals which enable you to know yourself in a manner you have never experienced before. You do this through intense effort: physical, intellectual, emotional, and sexual.
In uncovering certain truths about yourself, you learn the truths of the world, the universe, and the psychic forces of enlightenment.
But this will happen only through the experience of Tantra, not through reading about it. To be understood, the secrets and psychic knowledge of Tantra must be experienced through practicing the rituals.
They cannot be comprehended solely on an intellectual level.
Tantra teaches you to use to your advantage the energy and power that most humans use solely in the pursuit of pleasure.
Pleasure, unlike any you have known before, will not be an end unto itself. It will raise your enjoyment to its highest levels, then use that immense energy to increase all your powers.
The fundamental concepts of Tantra are found in the Story of Creation, as recorded in the earliest Tantric writings:
"Before the universe, beyond time, there was but a single dot of creative power. That power was female, and from that single center the Goddess of Time brought forth the whole of the universe. And when she stood at the center and saw all she had created, her creative power was spent, for she had created much. But her creative powers quickly regenerated, and she desired to create more, for in creating she derived great pleasure. So she brought forth the seas, and the lakes, and lush forests, and all the animals to dwell therein. And when she had brought into existence all things, she set about to balance them, one unto the other, so that they would procreate and multiply equally..
"After she had completed creation of the universe and the earth within it, she felt great pleasure, but her energy could not be depleted and she desired even further pleasure.
"So she conceived the human female form and took it unto herself. And she named herself Kali, and divided herself into two, entities. And one of the entities she made male and named Mahakala. And she taught Mahakala the Tantric pleasures she created for them, and the rituals of regeneration of his own creative powers.
"Together these deities of Tantra brought forth the first humans and passed on to them the rituals of Tantra, that they too might know the joys of complete pleasure and total power over the universe."
This concept of creation underlies all Tantric Rituals.
It sees Male and Female as a single unit, united so closely and joined so deeply that they cannot be aware of any differences between them. Male and Female are one in the eyes of Tantra. And Male and Female must strive to attain the transcendental enlightenment that will be theirs when they can once again experience the "wholeness" that makes them one. For, says the Tantra, "in that one-ness lies supreme truth -- total enlightenment."
On an earthly level, Male and Female join sexually through Tantric Rituals and thereby develop the power to move upward spiritually toward the cosmic whole, the one-ness that will bring them back to the total power of cosmic enlightenment which was theirs when they were but one Male-Female, joined beyond all time.
Tantra makes it possible for the practitioner to experience this transcendental sexual union through the ritualistic approach set forth in this book.
This is not merely a "sex manual" or a "how-to-book." It will initiate you into a discipline which will put you in touch with the power of your sensuality and sexual energy. It will bring you new heights of sexual pleasure. It will free you of self-consciousness and inhibitions. It will teach you to channel your immense sexual energy into all areas of your life.
Tantra knows no sexual frustration or inhibitions.
Tantra integrates sexuality with the whole persona. It enables the body, mind, and emotions to work together to give you power and control over your life and spiritual growth.
Tantra is free of the hypocrisy that pervades those Western and Eastern religious orders that seek enlightenment and truth through asceticism (primarily self-denial in sex). Tantra believes the path to enlightenment is through increased sexual activity.
Tantra teaches that the ascetic road to wholeness and truth is self-defeating, a senseless and useless struggle.
In Tantra, all faculties – physical, mental, emotional – are stimulated as strongly as possible, then controlled, to bring ever-higher pleasure.
A parable from one of the earliest Tantric texts, tells of the hermit pilgrim who turned his back on all pleasure in search of Parasamvit, the "Supreme Truth." But no matter how far he traveled, nor how long he meditated and fasted, no matter how total his abstinence, or how intense his self-inflicted pain, he was never able to reach that point of spiritual development where his powers of concentration were sufficient to enable him to focus his total energy into the climb upward to the Supreme Truth.
Disillusioned, frustrated by years of unrewarded effort, he rested late one afternoon by the side of a stream. To that stream came a female Tantric Master, to bathe and anoint her body for the night of pleasure ahead. She talked to the pilgrim and, after hearing his story, she seduced him "carrying his senses through Tantric pleasures to the state of extremest arousal, wherein he found the center of power he sought, awaiting him in what he had so long denied himself."
Through the Awareness Rituals you will learn how to bring forth that sexual energy and retain it on a high plane, for your use at all times. Through the Control Rituals you will learn how to use your sensuality and sexual energy to bring forth sexual pleasure more intense that you have ever known.
Through the Channeling Rituals you will learn how to direct this immense sexual energy to control your everyday activities; to control your mind, emotions, and body. You will be able to tap the source of your creative energy and use that creativity to resolve problems or bring forth new ideas.
Tantra has evolved a series of specific mental and physical rituals which follow a deliberate psychological pattern designed to increase sexual concentration. And from that increased concentration, come more complex sexual rituals and techniques, leading to more prolonged enjoyment and satisfaction.
Then the Tantra goes further. Its rituals develop a totally sexual approach to living.
During my earliest involvement in Tantric research, I was skeptical of the value of the process of "reacquainting" myself with my body. True, the Awareness Rituals were pleasantly exciting, but I doubted that they would teach me anything new. After all, I knew my body very well. But the approach to awareness through the basic rituals soon convinced me that I was experiencing different sensations. It was the same body I had always known, but now I was finding out new things about my senses, and consequently about my sensuality and my emotions. Sexual sensations I’d never before felt became a part of daily pleasure. And through the Tantric Rituals, I was able to harness my sexual energy and let it spill over to add vitality and enjoyment to everyday living.
Through the self-regenerating Tantric Rituals, the very essence of my being was filled with self-confidence and inner peace.


To explain what Tantric sex is and how it works, perhaps we should first describe what it is not!
Tantra is not a form of yoga, although certain Tantric ideas have been assimilated into some forms of yoga. There is even a yoga called "Tantric Yoga." But yoga usually tries to free the body and mind by separating them. Tantra seeks to unify them.
Ideas from Tantra have also made their way into many other teachings. The Kama Sutra is a prime example, as is "Tantric Buddhism" (Vajrayana), which is practiced primarily in Tibet. It incorporates various Tantric teachings, mythology, and practice into compatible aspects of Buddhism.
But this book concerns itself only with "pure Tantra."
Tantra is not totally "meditative." Although the Tantric yantra is a type of mental imagery, it is an active, aggressive concentrative form, which pursues a specific purpose: either to stimulate sexuality, or control it and channel its energy. It is far from passive "emptying of the mind." Yet, because the imagery of the yantra is accomplished with the eyes closed, in a state of deep concentration, it is often confused with meditation.
But, as you will see, it is a completely different form of mental focusing.
Tantra is not yoga, meditation, or religion. In modern psychological terms, the Tantra is a process which sexually reconditions the individual - freeing the mind, body, and emotions of all inhibition; developing total control over all facets of sexuality, enabling you to heighten sexual pleasure in its myriad forms; and channeling your sexual energy, to call upon it to assist you in all areas of living.
Without meditation, without yoga, and without the strict dogma of religion, you will be able to attain, through the Tantric Sexual Rituals, all that meditation, yoga (and many religions) promise but may not deliver. And you will have a much more enjoyable time in the process!
Through the use of the mental imagery of the yantra, the sound of the mantra, and the sexual rituals, Tantra will enable you to reach a transcendental sexual level, a cosmic inner orgasm; to experience pure male-female sexuality – a return to the essence of the universe; to Creation itself.
The power of sexuality is the heart of Tantra. All-pervasive, frequent and prolonged sex.
And because the female has the capacity for prolonged sexual activity and repeated orgasm, she has – as at the creation – always been the center of Tantric teaching.
In earliest Tantric texts, it was the woman who instructed in the rituals, initiating all others into it. All organized Tantric groups were led by women. Then, through the years, much of the Tantric literature was written by men, screened through the mind of learned Brahmins and others who attempted to reverse the roles.
But in its purest sense, Tantric Sex teaches that Female and Male are not only equal, they are one.
They may teach each other - or learn together.
There are many aspects of Tantra - enough to fill the several thousand books that have been written on the subject;.
There are books encompassing not only the original Tantric texts but also the influences of Tantra on yoga, Buddhism, and many religious orders; books filled with legends, history, philosophy, and doctrines that have evolved from and revolved around the Tantra.
But this book is concerned with only the simplest and purest forms of Tantric Sex: the basic physical, mental, emotional, psychic, and sexual rituals.
The rituals in this book have been gleaned from personal research, and experience in Tantric studies. They are interpreted in modern terms, with much of the language of Eastern mysticism stripped away.
These are separate sections for Female and Male rituals to be done alone. These may be the only portions of Tantra you wish to pursue. Within themselves, these rituals teach all the basic Awareness, Control, and Channeling necessary.
This book then proceeds to the section of Rituals for Couples, "The Seven Nights of the Tantra," which, while written for heterosexual couples, are equally intended for, and adaptable for, use by homosexual couples.
The rituals themselves are to be enjoyed. Each is intended to bring pleasure, for the Tantra is always positive in its approach.
You will find as much pleasure in the pursuit of the goals of Tantric Sex as in attaining them.
This ritualistic approach to sexual pleasure and fulfillment will bring to you an ever-increasing flow of sexual energy to fuel satisfaction of your every desire in life.
In the words of the Tantric Master:
"I bring you sensual awareness, sexual ecstasy, and power over all life itself.."

Ashley Thirleby,
London