Note: Here is Kirsti Melto’s article on the Taurus New Moon at her Planet Waves blog called Sphinx.
Friends, Readers, 6D Eronauts:
Yesterday I got lost in the Memorial Student Union at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This was five minutes after I had photographed a kid giving an old-fashioned Midwestern hellfire and brimstone sermon to students eating lunch on the student union’s terrace. Appropriately enough, I ended up wandering into the campus LGBT Center, where I camped out for a few minutes to rearrange the lenses and picture cards on my cameras. We had an interesting conversation there. I got some giggles when I proposed that they add an M onto the end of LGBT, and I left a stack of Book of Blue postcards on the literature table and was given a handful of awesome sexpositive buttons. (Wearing buttons is not enough.)
Then I found out that Tristan Taormino would be speaking as part of some kind of awareness week festivities here, sponsored by the student organization Sex Out Loud.
Tristan, creator of Pucker Up magazine, is something of a self-publishing genius. She then wrote the Anal Adviser column in the Village Voice for nine years. Her first book, a guide to anal sex for women, was made into a film, then she found her calling as a director.
She does the kind of books and videos that make you want to try what she’s teaching you about. In other words, she is the quintessential sexpositive feminist, who has dispensed with political correctness and is doing the work of the Goddess on the planet. I was already spending the day with the hottest date in the city, who was happy to go. I called my friend Jeff Patterson, a medical professor at UW who is a scholar and presenter on the history of sexuality, and said you have to see this woman speak.
We arrived in the lecture hall, in the riot-proof Humanities Building. I needed to get permission to tape the presentation and take photos, so I was presented to Ms. Taormino to get that consent, where I had one of the honors of my career. I introduced myself, hoping she remembered an email I wrote to her in 2001, and she said: “Oh, that’s funny, just yesterday I was reading my Planet Waves Taurus horoscope…”
I was suddenly [once again] fulfilling my dream career, or one of them — to be the astrologer to every feminist porn director and actor in the business. (I also love reading the charts of sexworkers, and if anyone is interested I can tell some of my stories from doing that in Europe. The rest of my fantasy career in progress, probably the big half, is to get out the mirrors and photograph them.)
So here we were, bumping into one another in Madison right at the Taurus New Moon, all because I got lost in the student union, and found my way into the Queer center.
Tristan was the funniest, cleverest, most down-to-heart (oops, I meant to type down to Earth but I didn’t realize that ‘heart’ was an anagram of ‘Earth’ till right now!), straight-up queer sex educator I’ve ever seen do her thing.
After getting rejected from 12 law schools and waitlisted then finally accepted at the one she really didn’t want to go to, she discovered that her life calling was to teach people about anal sex. And that is what she did, and what she does. Her path as an author and film director led her to that lecture hall, where she explained to about 60 baby-faced Wisconsin kids about the importance of masturbation, consent, communication, taking health precautions and giving yourself permission to get what you want. She gave a few good plugs for anal experimentation, which, if you have not tried it, might just open up your hidden erotic universe and help you unravel that secret part of your psyche that has been waiting for your attention.
This being said, she won my heart when she gave one of the most authentic, compelling, jury-swaying pitches for the utmost importance of masturbation as the very core of our sexual reality; the centerpoint of a fulfilling sex life; that I have ever heard. I just sat there thinking, this is amazing, I cannot believe I am sitting here listening to this, not at a conference where we are preaching to the converted, but rather in a university lecture hall.
So, that was my experience of the Taurus New Moon, which was exact late last night in USA time zones and overnight in Europe. In actual fact the New Moon was conjunct my 11th house Venus in Taurus for this whole experience. Astrology — sometimes it’s just funny. [I taped Tristan’s talk on my Zoom H2 digital recorder; I trust that it came out and Tristan said we could post it for Planet Waves readers. That will be in a few days.]
This New Moon was and remains quite a chart, with Venus and Mars on the Aries Point. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know. The charts recently have been all about a new cycle of sexual renewal. I am not talking about relationships or romance here, I am talking about sex, but as far as I am concerned, good sex was never bad for a relationship. The first line I ever wrote in a horoscope, ever, was “More than love is in the air…” and that is what I have to say now.
Love, trust and communication need to be what motivates us, but the missing piece…the crime of the millennium and for that matter millennia…is that sex has been stolen from us and it’s time to steal it back. I am not sure the extent that this is happening…a lot of bad stuff is happening with sexual rights these days, and plenty of people are still clinging to their antiquated sexual values, their fear and their precious jealousy. But there is a revolution brewing. I know this because I hear people tell me every day. And I can tell you this: they problem we all seem to have is we cannot figure out how an expanded model of sexuality can fit in our current model of relationships.
It’s going to take courage and self-knowledge to find those new models. Venus and Mars are square Pluto, the god of sex, death and transformation. The square is a character-building aspect, and it’s a trip inside: an inner confrontation with who and what we are. Venus and Mars in this setup are reconciled with the deeper biological, transformative realities of Pluto.
I think that the reason that most people do not break out of the relationship models that are not working for them mainly involves lacking the courage and the utterly necessary passion that is required to grow; lacking, or not quite dialing it in; or getting caught in the fear of what might happen. This is a long conversation but I do think that it involves the ‘fear of being alone’ which translates loosely to the ‘fear of dying alone’ and the ‘fear of being abandoned’ and I can tell you that we need to look at this whole picture at once. Because our fears are not going to save us.
More than anything, I think we need to put our imaginations to work here…remembering some of what we learned about the 6D connection yesterday. We can imagine a place for ourselves, a space of mind, an inner space, physical locations and ways of interaction that create the erotic and relationship experiences that we want and need. Everyone deserves this. You do, I do, our partners do, the people we love do, and the many, many lonely people in the world ALL do.
Tristan — THANK YOU for your life affirming reality, and for taking this message to students. And thank you for saying out loud that without Betty Dodson, none of us would be here right now.
Two last things. Please read this article out of New Scientist about an influenza that is brewing down in Mexico. I have some solid medical sources to help me track and develop this story, so please check here to verify news reports that you see in the mainstream media. I will also dig out our coverage of homeopathy and influenza. Look for that post later. Finally, please check out this report by our resident civil rights attorney, Steve Bergstein, on how school authorites abused the rights of a 13-year old girl under the color of law.
For Saturday this is
in Madision
E, this is the first I’ve heard of Tristan. In fact I’m always encountering first’s on PlanetWaves. (This is good). As far as the enlightenment, some cats, like Osho guy, or any number of cats on this site, have a mental, physical, spiritual awareness that knows freedom, honesty, openness, and responsibility. I do understand that society still hasn’t evolved it’s consciousness beyond the fifth house, and I do understand that is what folks such as Tristan and yourself are consciously working at. I’ve done some serious waking up over the past several years, and I still feel the pangs (frustration) of the sleepies sometimes. What I’m trying to do these days, is learn how to communicate that awareness to others, I’m still in that school (saturn’s kickin’ it in my third, it’s really quite cool). AND, I do understand that it’s my responsibility to be someone who can effectively, openly, and cooly allow a safe space around me for others to engage their evolutions.
Maybe I’ll start working on the manual for “How to work through psychological issues that prevent dude’s from entertaining even the idea of anal sex”. Although, I imagine that’s kinda why we’re all here, maybe not the dude/anal sex thing, but the psychological issues part and healing, as well as picking up material to take and share on our journeys.
Again, thanks for doing what you do. (I think my comment was more on the vent side, it can be frustrating to not have the communication skills to allow people to open their minds, and I take serious issue with our collective sexual repression, not to mention hateful bigotry. I’ll keep working on it!)
Jere
In Washington, DC, we have a new sex-positive center opening, hopefully, this summer – WholeDC (www.wholedc.com). Tristan was a guest speaker at one of their events and I was travelling so I missed it but would have loved to have heard her talk.
I recently attended a Cuddle Party, an event hosted by WholeDC, that was facilitated by one of the founders of the concept, Marcia Baczynski – it was pretty moving for me. It was not very well publicized so we had a small gathering of six women and what I loved most about it, and what I realized I’ve missed so very much, was and is intimate physical contact with others that is just what it is, just touch and warmth and skin and stroking and breath, with no expectations.
Giving away my presence to someone else in however they ask; offering my presence to someone else in however I ask; accepting someone else’s presence in the manner that they ask to give; and asking for someone else’s presence in the manner in which I want.
These four scenarios played out – two giving and two receiving but four different approaches.
It was wonderful to experience – I highly recommend it!
(their website it a little behind the times as they’ve been overwhelmed with how fast and far their concept of a sex-positive center has taken off! facebook offers a little more up to date info at the moment)
Still an issue? Within what current state of enlightenment?
Enlightenment doesn’t count if you skip from the 5th house to the 9th house, which is what most of us try to do. We make it to the 5th house of taking risks, having fun and fun sex (the kind that gets people “unexpectedly pregnant”; and then we skip the 6th house of healing (except for job/work), and the 7th house of honest, on the level relationships, and the 8th house of solid agreements, sexuality death and letting go, and jump into the 9th house of spirituality and try to be gurus or seekers or both.
The 8th is the real encounter, the actual education, though we cannot get there without mastering some of the spiritual technology of the 6th, and without the trust and communication we build in the 7th. In the 7th you learn how to handle the people you love as well as the people with whom you have some enmity. Then once having arrived inthe 8th with those skills, it’s possible to face the sources of our fear. The 8th is the environment where we’re going to face the fears of letting go, of death, of abandonment and of commitment.
At this point we’re ready for the 9th house: this abstraction known as spirituality.
So, just as a side note,when do we get the “Expert Guide To Anal Sex” for MEN??
As one who has enjoyed anal play since long before pubescence, before the thrill of orgasm, when can we expect this newfangled enlightenment on “anal, and the dude”? I am laughing my ass off, “cause it’s all so silly.” Damned seriously silly!!! I’m still amazed that sexuality is an issue within our state of enlightenment?! Sometimes, I even go nuts about the fact that some cats are so ignorant as to be persuaded by the atmospheric opinions, of those of lesser BEING?!? I swear, laughter is my saving grace.
Yes, I know, you’re workin’ it out (just smiling and laughing), (it keeps me sane).
Keep pushin’ it through,
Jere
Eric Replies: Jere, I’m replying here for clarity. She covers a lot about men in her work, including prostate stuff. Everybody has a butt! They are not that different; the big difference is that in men the prostate is there and working with that comes with a diversity of skills. However, the most important one is psychological: the psychology of being penetrated. Sex is real, and sex is a metaphor. And I think that the thing that maleness is often missing is, depending on how you look at it, the ability to be penetrated, or contact with the side of one’s nature that wants and needs to be penetrated. I am not sure this can be covered too effectively in a ‘how to’ guide, but the how to can definitely be covered.
I follow this movement on this site. And I know I don’t really understand what the problem is. I can understand the persecution groups of individuals that are being defined by their sexual preferences and lifestyles are facing, but I guess I miss on the banning of sexual activity. I don’t know that sex was stolen from us. Who took it away?
I am only leery of “sexual rights” in any situation other than self gratification through self supplied means. An implication of the “right” to sex with a partner(s) means it is someone else’s duty to participate. I really don’t want to go back in history on that one. As jlo says, I get to decide.
Elsewise, I’ll be reading along and watching, and maybe deciphering.
Gelsemium was the genius epidemicus for the 1918 round. That is the remedy that is unique to the particular epidemic in question, and which in homeopathic medicine is said to work worldwide.
If a new flu takes root, it would take a number of cases for homeopaths to come up with such for the new one. Until then the remedy to keep on hand is influenznum. You would take it at the first sign of flu in your area.
At this point there are probably enough cases of this particular flu for homeopaths to establish the genius epidemicus.
I’m cracking up as I’m on computer at the public library just now and what a GREAT PIX to be displayed – especially when the people in the cube/s next to you can’t keep their eyes on their own fucking desktops. LOL!
Eric suggested a homeopathic remedy for flu a few years ago – might be in the article he just reposted. Not ironically, it’s the remedy for “stage fright” or anxiety. Works like a charm. Don’t suppose there’s any relationship between the street wars that’re going on down in Mexico and this outbreak duh?
Back to anal sex. What an AWESOME Taurus New Moon celebration.
Gettin’ out the plugs, won’t be back for awhile.
xoxoxoxo
Apparently it is resisant to Relenza but not Tamiflu …
Following the story – the update on the WHO page is very interesting ….
Thank you, Tristan, and Eric, for accepting the flow that is lent you from the Universe. Experimentation needs to get out in a personally aware and self-empowered way. Whatever means, or ways, it’s all about taking on the programming that has contributed to our states of mind, the space we hide too feel safe. That is where the light needs to shine, and awareness is the light. It’s not so much about doing “Something”, as it is about “Doing something that elevates your spirit”, (not your ego). One can feel “good” about anything at all (just look out into the world to see a bunch of jack-asses fucking the populations over in enumerate ways), but it’s the true trippers who give us openness and individual decency: enough to “Be open to make OUR OWN decisions”.
You guys kick ass!!
Love from the front line,
Jere