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	Planet Waves \| Sacred Whore - Context by Eric Francis
		Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession, so we may guess that there is a bit of confusion about its early history.
		The ongoing emergence of the sacred whore is part of a long process of reclaiming of gender, sex and sexuality that has taken many forms in the past century, from women's suffrage (the struggle to have the vote) to the sexual revolution to gay rights.
		Sacred prostitution would be any form of allowing the ritual practice of sex to exist within the temple, that is, as part of spiritual worship or any form of healing.
	www.ericfrancis.com /issues/0211/context.html (1284 words)

	Holy "Hookers" To Stride Out?
		Like many theoreticians of the sacred sex movement, she has a university education- yet she fails to recall that a movement that she promotes is not so modern.
		Surviving societies that still maintain some traditions of sacred prostitution - such as that of India - are certainly not beacons for feminine freedom, favourable treatment of women, or their marital or economic prosperity.
		The mysterious location of the Star of prostitution- goddess Ishtar in the city of Winnipeg at the centre of Canada seems to provide a focus for sexual sin, as that city is now ranks as Canadian number one in the area of sexual assaults.
	www.worthynews.com /news-features/holy-hookers.html (1928 words)

	Religious prostitution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Religious prostitution is the practice of having sexual intercourse (with a person other than one's spouse) for a religious purpose.
		A woman engaged in such practices is sometimes called a temple prostitute or hierodule, though modern connotations of the term prostitute cause interpretations of these phrases to be highly misleading.
		In the 1970s and early 1980s some religious groups were discovered practicing sacred prostitution as an instrument to recruit new converts.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Religious_prostitution (681 words)

	MetaHistory - Sacred Nature
		The certainty that Nature is sacred is the point of departure for all forms of human spirituality, and so it represents the founding stone of the arch of metahistory.
		The Goddess equated with Sacred Nature was embodied in a myriad forms and worshipped in her manifest guises, such as trees.
		It is interchangeable with indigenous.) In many families the mother is still a matriarch and held to be the mysterious source of life that sustains the whole family, even though her role and influence may be crippling to the psychological growth of individual family members.
	www.metahistory.org /themes_sacrednature.php (2104 words)

	Abstracts (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		There are, to date, only two instances in the classical repertoire where it appears that an individual refers to sacred prostitution occurring in his or her own society and lifetime.
		This paper is an analysis of the fragment and the inscriptions, both individually and within the context of the study of sacred prostitution in the wider context.
		In the end, I argue, sacred prostitution must be seen not as an historical reality, but as a literary construct, a means by which one society (classical, Christian) establishes the parameters of the “Other” and, in so doing, reaffirms its own social identity.
	classics.lss.wisc.edu /prostitution/budin.html (350 words)

	Prostitution
		Later myths rationalized the perpetual “virginity” of lascivious fertility-goddesses by periodic hymen-renewing ceremonies such as sea baptism, annual bathing in sacred springs, etc. The virginity of Great Mother Hera was annually restored by a dip in the spring of Canathos at Nauplia.
		Prostitution was appreciated, rather than deplored, by medieval minnesingers who worshipped the Goddess under her new name of Minne, “Love.” They objected to commercialized prostitution as a degradation of their deity.
		Prostitution enabled man to look upon promiscuous women as depraved, though their equally promiscuous clients were seen as helpless victims of compulsion.
	mysite.verizon.net /resp7mpe/beliefs/id13.html (1409 words)

	Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006.05.40
		The study of prostitution in antiquity has gained great momentum in the last decade, and this book examines the surviving ancient data in a variety of genres and from an impressive number of theoretical perspectives.
		At the same time, the few individual prostitutes often reverse cultural expectations; Bird notes that the two quarreling potential mothers in the famous judgment of Solomon (1 Kings 3:16-28) are in fact prostitutes, which explains their lack of husbands or any clear familial structure.
		Catherine Keesling's chapter on monuments to prostitutes in Greek sanctuaries focuses on the literary descriptions of the monuments erected by the famous hetairai Rhodopis and Phryne.
	ccat.sas.upenn.edu /bmcr/2006/2006-05-40.html (2341 words)

	"Cult Prostitution In New Testament Ephesus: A Reappraisal" by S. M. Baugh
		In such cases, the prostitute had semi-official status as a cult functionary, either on a permanent or temporary basis, and the sexual union is usually interpreted to have been part of a fertility ritual.
		Now the sacred rites of the Persians, one and all, are held in honour by both the Medes and the Armenians; but those of Anaïtis are held in exceptional honour by the Armenians, who have built temples in her honour in different places, and especially in Acilisene.
		To interpret these girls as cult prostitutes is analogous with confusing the daughter of an old and wealthy Boston family with a poor stripper in a seedy waterfront bar.
	www.biblicalstudies.org.uk /article_ephesus_baugh.html (8556 words)

	page3.html
		Thus the lack of paternity that resulted from being born to a prostitute was worthy of the harshest criticism.
		Prostitutes, defined as women who offer sexual favors for pay, may be a characteristic of an urban patriarchal society (Bird, 121).
		Prostitution arises from the unequal distribution of status and power between the two sexes, observed in the “asymmetry of sexual roles, obligations, and expectations.” It is a means by which men could “maintain exclusive control of his wife’s sexuality while providing opportunities for sexual relations with other women without violating another man’s rights” (Wom, 955).
	instruct1.cit.cornell.edu /Courses/nes263/spring04/yt64/page3_html.html (749 words)

	The Biblical Source of Western Sexual Morality
		Fertility Cults and Sacred Prostitution In many ancient societies, sex was a part of worship, a fact most clearly evident in the institution of cult prostitutes.
		Sacred prostitution did not, however, vanish with the disappearance of these ancient civilizations.
		In New Testament times, there were cult prostitutes in Athens and Corinth,[16] and as late as the fourth century AD, homosexual and heterosexual sacred prostitution was still practiced.[17] As the Bible itself suggests, cult prostitution was widespread in the ancient world.
	www.lectlaw.com /files/sex01.htm (3534 words)

	Corinth
		Sacred prostitution took place upon the high point of the fortress.
		It is curious why the prostitutes would set up shop on the top of a mountain (then make their customers walk all the way up there).
		What made these particular prostitutes sacred in comparison to other ones is questionable.
	www.monm.edu /barlow/5corinthfortress.htm (293 words)

	[No title]
		Although prostitution was illegal in Western Christendom, it was still actively engaged in--with brothel houses sometimes being close in proximity to churches.
		Prostitutes were among the sinners that Jesus reportedly preached to during his ministry.
		Thus, prostitution was tolerated by Catholics (although prostitutes were excluded from the Church as long as they continued in their profession).
	www.entheology.org /library/winters/SEX2.TXT (3077 words)

	Roman Goddesses Realm
		Cybele was involved with sacred prostitution, sacrifice in the form of castration and fertility rituals focusing on Attis, one of the many vegetation-gods.
		On March 27 the silver statue of the goddess, with the sacred stone set in its head, was borne in procession and bathed in the Almo, a tributary of the Tiber River.
		A semi-divine prostitute, she passed into Roman mythology as a benefactress of the lower classes and as the she-wolf foster-mother of Remus and Romulus, the mythical founders of Rome.
	inanna.virtualave.net /roman.html (3392 words)

	Spero News \| Claims Islamic headscarf derives from sex rites (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Cig makes mention that the priestesses who wore the veil were not engaged in prostitution, separating it from sacred prostitution, which was common in the ancient Near East and continued in Tralles in Lydia up until the 2nd century AD (according to James Frazer in the Golden Bough).
		The custom of sacred prostitution stems from the older cultures of the fertile crescent, and in Sumer, it ran parallel to the rites of the sacred marriage.
		Prostitutes and slaves were forbidden to wear it, on pain of mutilation," states Damian Thompson in a Telegraph article.
	www.speroforum.com /site/article.asp?idarticle=6361 (1581 words)

	Mystery Babylon the Great
		Temple prostitutes donated their earnings from prostitution to the temples of the gods, but Israelites were prohibited from donating the "wages of a prostitute or the money of a dog" to the Tabernacle, or Temple, of God.
		A "temple prostitute" was a priestess sacred to Astarte, the Canaanite goddess of fertility.
		The influence of the Prostitute of Babylon on Israel was portrayed by Ezekiel in the allegory of Oholah and Oholibah.
	www.biblenews1.com /babylon/babylon3.html (7703 words)

	The Ten Commandments: The Seventh Commandment
		The transition from sacred to secular prostitution was so imperceptible that it is hardly possible to determine when the former ended and the latter began.
		Religious prostitutes were called "servants of God," and even as late as the second century sacred prostitution was still an honorable practice for women of good birth who felt the "call" to live the "divine life under the influence of divine inspiration." [*45]
		Radadopis, who led the life of a prostitute in Egypt, became one of the leading citizens of her time, acquired wealth, and is even reputed to have had sufficient money and intelligence to build a pyramid.
	www.positiveatheism.org /hist/lewis/lewten72.htm (6902 words)

	The Sacred Prostitute
		After two years of filming and editing, the filmmaker Sarah Sher and I completed THE SACRED PROSTITUTE, a 90-minute, in-depth documentary on women and men who have stepped outside of oppressive religious dogmas and are teaching others a new/ancient paradigm of sex and spirit.
		Known today sometimes by such names as “sacred intimate,” “tantrika,” “daka/dakini,” “sexual healer,” “sacred whore,” “tantra teacher,” or “sexual shaman,” women and men in contemporary versions of the sacred prostitute present their lives and their evolution into a role that would have been revered in many ancient and not-so-ancient cultures.
		The contemporary sacred prostitute no longer has a public temple where she or he can share the ceremonies openly.
	www.thesacredprostitute.com /home.html (349 words)

	Golden Bough Chapter 31. Adonis in Cyprus.
		Again, the goddess Ma was served by a multitude of sacred harlots at Comana in Pontus, and crowds of men and women flocked to her sanctuary from the neighbouring cities and country to attend the biennial festivals or to pay their vows to the goddess.
		At Paphos the custom of religious prostitution is said to have been instituted by King Cinyras, and to have been practised by his daughters, the sisters of Adonis, who, having incurred the wrath of Aphrodite, mated with strangers and ended their days in Egypt.
		In this manner Paphos, and perhaps all sanctuaries of the great Asiatic goddess where sacred prostitution was practised, might be well stocked with human deities, the offspring of the divine king by his wives, concubines, and temple harlots.
	www.sacred-texts.com /pag/frazer/gb03100.htm (2463 words)

	CROSS + WORD Christian Resource - Promise Keepers:
		In many cities, sacred prostitutes "served" at the temples in order to be the mediatrix between the gods and humans.
		As the embodiment of the goddess in the mystical union of the sacred marriage, the sacred prostitute aroused the male and was the receptabcle for his passion.
		Sacred young women of perfect proportions would then take strangers into their inner love sanctuaries and kneel before the image of Venus of another goddess of passion and love.
	www.intotruth.org /pk/pkmm2.html (6666 words)

	Bookreporter.com - SECRETS OF MARY MAGDALENE by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer
		Feminine spirituality is derived from the pairing of the carnal with the sacred, argues Nancy Qualls-Corbett, a Jungian analyst and authority on the relationship between sexuality and spirituality.
		This sacred sexual act was considered a ritual of hieros gamos or the sacred marriage as it represented the spiritual union of the divine with the mortal.
		The king, representing the god, and a chosen sacred prostitute, representing the goddess, were led to the ziggurat whereby their mating insured fertility of the land.
	www.bookreporter.com /reviews2/1593152051-excerpt.asp (5876 words)

	Aphrodite.html
		Her sacred herbs are cinnamon, marjoram, rose, rowan, poppy, mandrake, myrtle, quince, and orris root.
		All fish are sacred to her, especially cuttlefish, sturgeon, tunny, and the periwinkle, scallop, and sea urchin.
		Sacred prostitution was practiced at some of her temples.
	www.open-sesame.com /Aphrodite.html (597 words)

	Authentic Herstory of Prostitution
		Ancient cultures and civilizations practiced commercial and sacred prostitution, both necessary to the functioning and stability of patriarchal marriage (i.e., heterosexual monogamy) and of society itself.
		Sacred prostitution still carries on in a few pockets of the world (most notably in India).
		Even the patriarchal attempt to wipe out the Great Whore-Goddess by secularizing prostitution has been unsuccessful: the word "marriage" comes from the ancient phrase, "Mari's Age," once used to determine the age at which a woman (or a man) was ready to be sacrally bound to another.
	www.freedomusa.org /coyotela/history.html (6531 words)

	Tanit - A Scrapbook of Gods, Heroes, Monsters and other Creatures
		These were cared by priests and priestesses, it is said that sacrifices were performed in her honor and that servants practiced "sacred prostitution" for her benefit.
		Basing his theory on the Phoenician representations of Astarte as Isis Hathor, quoted by Clermont-Ganneau, E. Vassel interpreted the figure as a diagram of the conical stone of Astarte crowned, by assimilation with Hathor, with the solar disc between two cow's horns, frequently replaced by the horns of the "crescent moon".
		Nearby was the sacred enclosure of Tanit, the Canaanite goddess of fertility, who had assumed a greater significance in Carthage than in her native Levant.
	www.pantera-designs.com /huszra/tanit.htm (1602 words)

	Of Sacred or Secular? by Tom Weston
		Unleavened bread is Sacred, spiked rum cake is Sinful and a spreadable liverwurst is merely Secular.
		The Antioch Christian College A Cappella Choir is Sacred, the Dismembered Death Decrepits (punk rock group) is Sinful, and the Beach Boys are merely Secular...
		When taking a Sacred perspective of the world around us, we will understand that any activity called "Sacred" when it has "Official Church Function" stamped on it is activity that, when done by believers, is Sacred anyway.
	www.davekahle.com /sacred.htm (2431 words)

	"Sacred Prostitutes" by Johanna Stuckey
		She was drawing conclusions from the writings of predominantly male scholars who accepted without question the concept of "sacred, cult, or temple prostitutes." Female temple functionaries, they maintained, regularly engaged in sexual intercourse in return for a payment to their temples.
		According to one scholar, "Cultic prostitution is a practice involving the female and at times the male devotees of fertility deities, who presumably dedicated their earnings to their deity." The "Sacred Marriage" rite was one of "the motives of the practice, particularly in Mesopotamia," where the king had intercourse with "a temple prostitute" (Yamauchi 1973:213).
		Often understood as connected to the "Sacred Marriage" rite, with the woman seen as a "sacred prostitute." Dated to the third millennium BCE.
	www.matrifocus.com /SAM05/spotlight.htm (2583 words)

	Holy Whore - Prostitution as Sacred
		According to the wealth of lore surrounding her, during her long search for the body of her lover/brother Osiris, she was a prostitute in Tyre for ten years, perhaps a temple prostitute.
		Regarding Mary Magdalen as a repentant, redeemed prostitute does nothing to heal the split between spirituality and sexuality, for in that scenario she does not integrate her sexuality with her new found life of the spirit, she merely renounces it.
		Nickie Roberts, a former prostitute and prostitutes’ rights advocate writes in her book Whores in History: "To this day the whore stigma affects all women, whether or not we subscribe to the good girl/bad girl dichotomy which can be traced back to the beginning of patriarchal thought.
	www.magdalentrilogy.com /sacred.html (2073 words)

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