Tales from the Underworld
So a while ago I told you, my reading public, that I was writing a book. And I promised you that as I had parts finished I would publish them for you to have a sneek peak. Well I am proud to say that for the most part the rough draft of my book is finished, and I am now in the process of revising and editing. I think I have the Introduction to my liking and so here is you first teaser. The working title of this book is “Tales from the Underworld”; exotic dancing as the modern resurgence of the dark goddess archetype and it’s relevance in the face of global annihilation. I hope you enjoy, and by all means comment. I love feedback, of any kind:)
Introduction
Our lives begin as an act of congress between our parents. From the energy of their union we are born like tiny stars. We take our turn at the great wheel, and after our mortal flesh is spent, we return from whence we came. What is Death? Where do we come from and where do we go when we die? The modern mythologies fail to answer this question sufficiently. Maybe their answers are suitable for the simplistic, and those who would rather go through the motions and be rewarded with hollow promises for their mediocrity. If you the reader, are interested in simple happy answers, well then I suggest you put this book back where you found it, and go on your merry ignorant way. But if you are like I, whose has seen to much to be satisfied with Sunday school stories and dogma, I press you to read further.
We cannot escape our own death. Nobody wants to talk about it, certainly not face their own mortality, so it is a subject of taboo, that white robed priests fumble to describe and offer insight to at funerals, but it is precisely because we do not want to face it, that we do not understand it, and as a result fear it, and become victims of it, before our mortal flesh even perishes.
When death’s meaning is lost, we as a people, as a culture are stunted. We become more like animals, in our unmitigated instinctual fear of it. Stepping on others for our survival, and dying forever with the regret. What most people do not understand is that no matter how much we run from it or hide from it, She will find us. Even while we live, living death finds us; pain, despair, degredation, depression, and the more we try to avoid them, the more they tend to follow and rule us.
So what is the wisdom of our ultimate destruction? Why should we face the ultimate horror? Because there is a part of us that doesn’t die, if we should choose to honor it, and honor Her. The Death Goddess destroys because she has to. It is not because she is wicked. For 2000 years we have been told to cling to the light and the light will save us. But as we stand in a world polluted seemingly beyond repair, with people regularly destroying themselves on hard synthetic drugs, or killing others before turning the gun on themselves, in a world where the government is way out of line and needs to be put back in it’s place, where is the salvation the Solar Gods promised? We’re supposed to cling to a shred of hope that something better exists in the next life while we shamelessly trash the one we have? Is being given dominion over the all the creatures of the Earth license to destroy them? No, and it is high time the balance be restored.
Death takes the old, the worn out, the useless, the dangerous, the selfish, the greedy, the dishonest, and transforms it. The Sublime Lady of the Underworld takes all and grinds it down in her great mortar and pestle, to create the fertile ground for the new.
She is the Erinys of Greek Mythology, the avenging furies dealing out justice, and without pity delivering the ultimate punishment. She is Kali, cutting through egotistical pretentions with her mighty and bloody sword She is Sekhmet, the fearsome lioness protecting those who cannot protect themselves. But she is also Ma’at, the ultimate truth of existence, who is beautiful and terrible and the same time. She is Persephone, who’s return brings all the world to life again. And she is Isis, who with her sister is the archetypal land that bestows dominion, and all the treasures that go with it.
There are those who would say that the stories of these great ladies are nothing more than old fairytales, conjurings of a primitive people, that has long since been replaced with something better. An infantile worldview, that strips the individual of their power, and teaches them to fear the natural way of things is not better. A religion that teaches us that our most basic fundamental nature is evil, is the abomination Spirituality is supposed to help an individual to cope, and to live in peace and harmony. No, these ladies stories and wisdom are not fairytales. They are the only thing that will save us.
The Dark Goddess is within all of us, because she is part of the fundamental truth of existence. Death is rebirth and even though her wisdom may have been suppressed, or forgotten, she is still here. She still calls to us, she still rules us, because she is within us and she is the energy ground on which the entire universe rests. Carl Jung wrote of archetypes, psychological imprints that resurface no matter what, that can cause a person to do things without knowing it, and the individual may not be able to reconcile it for years, if ever. She is not dead. She has still called women to her priesthood, whether they know it or not. Exotic Dancing, and all that goes with it are her temples, the dancing girls and prostitutes her acolytes.
For years these girls have been acting out a story as old as time itself, one of ancient honor and holiness without even knowing it. The wild passionate instinctual opera that is stripping, is a modern resurgence of the ancient temples and rites of these Goddesses. The heirodule, the beautiful mysterious priestess, trained in the arts of seduction, dancing with wild abandon, offering solace for the world weary in her embrace, mediatrix of the mysteries of rebirth inherit in the act of lovemaking, free to anyone making an offering to the Goddess, finds her modern equivalent in the exotic dancer.
Unfortunately, with a shift in religious attitudes, and the resultant persecution of anyone who held a different opinion, this history of sexual alchemy, that is the foundation of civilization itself, was buried. And with it, so were her priestesses, cursed to a life of degradation and despoilation. It is the greatest tragedy in history, for love and pleasure were replaced with shame and immolation. A life of leisure, intoxication and bliss was exchanged for back-breaking work, disease and misery. And if you think I am only referring to the girls, you are sadly mistaken, for I speak of all of us. We have been sold short, left wallowing in slavery to ideals and institutions that care nothing of us. This book is to teach what has been lost, and to take back our birthright. May I expose to light what to long has been held in shadow.
