Tantric

"Sex on the mind amounts to neither fornication, nor depravation, nor lust but is the halmark of human destiny. Our species is destined for eroticism,...."
From "Tantra, the cult of the Feminine" by Mr. Andre Van Lysebeth

I must admit, that whenever I hear about 'the supression of women by the "Patriarchal" system' I turn 'off'.

I just don't see it.

But then I have nothing in context of a "Matriarchal" system to compare, as the "Feminine" is described in juxtapotion to the "Patriarchal" system.

There was my growing up home. Dominated by my Mother, and her Mother before her. They handled the finances, the raising of the kids. Dad brought home the check, if he was there at all.
"How can it be "Patriachal" when it is obvious to me as a child that MOM controled the world?"

This is a Micro View and not a Macro View.

Just as a mother tries to "protect her boy" when he faces a problem, say at school, while the father let's the boy "tough it out". This is the Paternal vs Maternal that the author highlights.
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It has rained
everyday
in the Brazilian Rain Forest
for the last 4,000 plus years.

There is
No Spring,
No Fall,
No Winter.
No Change.

Yesterday looks like today looks like tomorrow.
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It struck me as I was reading the impact this world view has for us.

What do I mean?

World religions as they were influenced and moulded by the natural environment in which they sprang. And the peoples who created them.

Jewish/Christian/Muslim coming from the Middle East, being Masculine.

Wicca/Tantra(not a religion, but a philosophy)/ancient India being Femine.
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Christianity, a Jewish off shoot, has as it's main principal,
Life after Death. One must die.
It originated in an area of the world where there are seasons.
Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. An obvious cycle of Birth, Life, Procreation, Decline, and untimately, Death.

The peoples of the area decended from the hunters who in time domesticated the wild beasts in order to gain stability.
Hunters kill as a means to life. This must be balanced in the psyche or the mind will be destroyed. (ie. Traumatic Stress Disorder in soldiers who snap under combat. This the reason for rituals and initiation rights of passage for boys to become men in 'primitive' societies. They recognize they are a part of a larger whole and come to understand death as a part of life.)
Men are the predominant hunters as the women (typically) stayed home to care for the children and homes.
As grazing land was needed to sustain this life style, they were constantly on the go.
And their hunting skills came in handy when someone was already living there.
This is described as the "Masculine".
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In the American West, there are stories of the Range Wars where Farmers came into conflict with Cattlemen.
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Farmers are stationary. They only expand as the population does.
Hunting is not a required skill, but patience and observation are.
In the death of the plant, the *dead* seed is gathered, returned to Mother Earth and is Reborn.
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I remember as a child looking through a book of Dad's on Witch Craft and seeing a photo of a Warlock, in a circle of Witches, having cerimonial sex with one of the coven.

Sex, was worship.
Tantra, although not a Religion, focuses on the Creative Powers of the Woman. Refered to as a Goddess.
All Women having the ability to create life from their bodies, are the source of eternity.
Tantra as described in the book, focuses on Recognizing that Creative Power in the Woman.
We all start out in life as female. We are a part of the Mother as we grow. Our bodies are female until the mother washes us in testosterone and we "convert" *tee hee*. And thus, men have useless nipples, (which, are great for sex.)

In ancient times, sex was not understood to cause babys. And thus, Women where worshiped and revered ("to regard with deep respect, love, and awe; venerate" Webster's New World) as the bringers of life. And sex was a past time with no morality associated with it. (Jean Auel, "The Mamoth Hunters" is a great example)
And then those sheep herders discovered one day that 40 ewes would bring no babys. But add just ONE ram... and Wham, baby sheep!!
The tables turned...Men got control. "I AM important!"
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Even so, one male can impregnate multiple females.
We guys are "expendible" so to speak... *Ouch*.
(And thus my own predisposition to "tune out" femine rhetoric, call it "self preservation" if you will.)
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Hinduism has no Death required to reach Heaven, or to have Eternal Life.
Judiasm "lost" the tree, Christianity gets nailed to it, thus completing the cycle.
While the Buddha sits under the Tree of Life, he never left in the first place, he didn't have to die to get there. (Joseph Campbell, "Myths to Live By")
India, like the Amazon, has one season. Summer.
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My striking thought???

The "Feminine" doesn't focus on "one up manship".
It focuses on the Creative act, Reproduction, Sexual Union.
Life.

The "Masculine" in order to be "viable" in the face of the Goddess, must supress this knowledge, this fact. (ie. the Madonna *Creative Goddess* and *male* child, ("see, he's IT, not me"))
A woman doesn't die in Christianity to save your soul. It's the Death of the Male that brings salvation.
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Sex is NOT ALLOWED in the Masculine, because as a man, I can't prove the child is Mine, unless I control Her sex.
She on the other hand, has witnesses...
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I didn't have sex till 37 due to honoring my Mother's wishes in the Religion in which she was raised. Wait till marriage.

My point...??

Ladies,
it's not only Women who are supressed by the "Partiachal System"