Soul’s Code

An excerpt from the newly-released book, The Tao of Rejuvenation, by ANGELO DRUDA

In Traditional Chinese Medicine and Taoism, the male is understood to be the embodiment of the “yang” fire force to the female’s watery “yin”.  In the Tantric teachings of India, the male force is Shiva to the female’s Shakti.

In both systems — and there are many others that use a similar framework — conditional existence is seen as a great play of opposing forces: light and dark, hot and cold, pain and pleasure, birth and death.

It is a play of endless modifications.  Opposites attract each other, looking to find equanimity and resolution in each other.

The hot yang of the man seeks balance in the cool yin of the woman.

We may be one consciousness but Mary Roach’s Bonk details in naturalistic glory how we are also 6 billion runny noses and rumbling stomachs

GUEST COLUMN: AMY LEASK — I’m on my third book by Mary Roach and I’m riveted. It’s called Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, and it’s a very graphic account of the anatomy of sex.

Having taught gender studies, I’m not easily rattled, but I have to admit this makes me slightly queasy.

I keep looking over at my dearest love, imagining his reaction to such medical monstrosities (in one section, Roach apologizes to her male readers for the shock and revulsion they’ll likely feel).

Betting against Obama fatigue

By now it’s clear that former President Elect Barack Obama‘s image can sell just about anything, from puppy sweaters to phony commemorative coins. But he can also sell your cause — any cause — as discovered by Care2.com. On its “Yes You Can Challenge” petitions page — where you can create and circulate your own petition electronically — the site boasts a picture and an inspiring quote from the new prez. Piggy-backing an inspiring brand to inspire people is a natural strategy for self-help sites — as long as the brand lasts. Some were already claiming “Obama fatigue” before last year’s election.

Why it’s a wedge issue: Republicans believe that everyone ought to live a moral life — and Democrats believe that, in reality, many of us don’t

BY DAVID RICKEY — News that the unmarried, 17-year-old daughter of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is 5-months pregnant adds yet another dimension to her selection by Republican candidate John McCain. Immediately, we are reminded that even presidential candidates are, first and foremost, human beings facing the same life choices the rest of us face.We are told that Bristol will marry the father of the child, and that is intended to make it “all right.” And for the child’s sake, especially, we hope it does. The family announced:

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.”

We have 11 Moon Centers in our body, and we dwell in each one for 2 1/2 days. Every woman’s rotation pattern is unique, and stays with her for life

BEING THERE: EMMA — We have moon centers! This was news to me.

And it arrived at a workshop in Espanola, New Mexico at the Sadhana Solstice Retreat. The revelation: just how attuned our female bodies are to the rhythms of the moon.

I had always known our general sensitivity to the tides in terms of our menstrual cycles, but I didn’t have a full understanding of the beautiful pattern we move through physically and energetically every 27.5 days.

We have 11 Moon Centers in our body, and we dwell in each one for 2 1/2 days. Every woman’s rotation pattern is unique, and stays the same her entire life. This seems to be fairly basic and essential info about our Being. Yet what do we learn in school? Hardly anything about our own essence, it seems.

GUEST COLUMN: Beverley Wood

All of the guys I’ve ever been in love with have always said the same thing. I have one eye on the door even if it’s just out of the corner of the eye — like I’m waiting for someone who I know is coming, someday.

It disturbs me when guys point that out while we’re still at the intense romance stage. I don’t notice it myself until much later.

I believe in fate. I don’t know what it holds in store for me, but I believe in it.

The trouble with the door thing is the timing. When a significant other accuses me of staking out the door, I’m usually perfectly content. Until they point out this trait, I forget that I do it. And then I start wondering who it is that I’m waiting for. If I knew, I could take my eyes off the damn door . . . and get down to business.

GUEST POEM: HUNTER REYNOLDS

Hunter is an astrologer whose practice is based at the California spiritual retreat, Harbin Hot Springs

Here at this strip club,
where the seductive maidens of phenomena
undulate on the lap . . .

His Holiness says physical love spells “trouble.” A priest responds: in its highest form, sex spells “At-One-ness.”

DAVID RICKEY — Sex is a many splendored and often-splintered thing. The Dalai Lama, in a rare interview on the subject, focuses primarily on the splinters:

Naturally as a human being, some kind of desire for sex comes but then you use intelligence to make comprehension that those couples are always full of trouble. And in some cases . . . suicide, murder.

Speaking purely biologically, sex is the sine qua non for the survival of the species.

Preachers take care, the pulpit is not a place for railing against local businesses. Or at least that’s the message behind a lawsuit filed in Tasmania. The company that owns the Players Club franchise of strip clubs is suing the Anglican Church for the “continual harassment and media campaign” against the club and its business, according to a local newspaper.

A Hindu guru’s genital oiling scandal; Seduction Labs; Lauren Taylor is the daughter Sarah Palin wishes she had; What is ‘acousticophilia’?

Do Hindu religious leaders approve of genital oiling? I never thought to ask, but it’s on the mind of the folks at BarryPittard. The author is calling for an investigation into Sathya Sai Baba, a guru who has faced alligations of sexual impropriety.

Another question that I’ve at least considered before is “why do women tease?” The writers at Seduction Labs have this answer:

“Women don’t actually set out to tease men. It just happens that attracting many men without mating with them is a sexual strategy that women have evolved to help them make the best of their biology. This behaviour evolved because it is successful. The fact that it makes the unsuccessful suitors uncomfortable is biologically irrelevant.“

That’s Seduction Lab’s picture to the left. What makes sense: A fair amount of a man’s perception of teasing has to do with projections.

Lauren Taylor has a different perspective. She’s decided to remain a virgin until she’s married. She writes: “Therefor, until I say I do, my sexual satisfaction comes from little flirtations without words: The up and down glances from men. I only occasionally play the part.“

Flirtation is an important part of her burgeoning sex life. She describes it as a way for her to enjoy the mental aspects of physical attraction.

The Candles outlines a list of abnormal sexual practices including Sadism, Zoophilia, Acoustophilia and Frottage. Sex, the author says, is a sacred gift from God to be shared between a married man and woman.

The author writes: “This is very natural and normal when the married couples use this gift. But when it is used outside a marriage and in a strange manner it becomes unnatural and abnormal.“

He helpfully adds that Acousticophilia is a language fetish. Think of Jamie Lee Curtis’ love of Russian in the movie, A Fish Called Wanda.

Figleaf writes that sex is nothing more than a “…friction-induced nervous discharge can easily be self-administered.“

Everything else, he argues, is the product of “culture driven perceptions.” That piles a lot into the bucket-list.