Jane Meredith - Aphrodites Magic: Celebrate And Heal Your Sexuality

: Quote from Donald Russells translation of Plutarchs Advice to the Bride and Groom. Published in Plutarchs Advice to the Bride and Groom and A Consolation to his Wife: English Translations, commentary, Interpretive Essays, and Bibliography, edited: Sarah B. Pomeroy. Published: Oxford University Press US, 1999.

: Quote from Eve Einslers The Vagina Monologues. Villard, 2007

Jane Merediths website is: www.janemeredith.com

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Aphrodites Magic is a magical spell.

Aphrodite, Goddess of love and sexuality was known in ancient times for her beauty, sensuality and sexual freedom. She owned a magical girdle a belt worn low about the hips which was forged from precious metals and gave powers of irresistible sexual attraction to whoever wore it.

We have lost our understanding of the essential power and beauty of womens sexuality. Most women do not believe they are beautiful. Many women have a sexual history of pain, abuse, and broken hearts and we have not been taught to heal our personal suffering. We do not know how to celebrate our sexuality. Being a woman carries a whole cultures restrictions of the feminine and very few women revel in their body as a manifestation of the Goddess. We live in a place without Temples.

This book will take you into the Temple. Aphrodites Magic will support you to discover your inherent beauty and your enormous potential to change and heal. You will learn to embody the celebration of your sexuality; through dancing, journalling and ritual. If you wish, you can make your own Aphrodites Girdle.

Aphrodites Magic came to life as I was sitting on a bench in Glastonbury High Street. I was searching for a way women could relate to their sexuality; not through their relationships with their lovers, partners or children or lack of them but within themselves. The story of Aphrodites magical girdle tempted me. I could sense the movement of it, swirling about her hips. I saw a Temple building itself around her dance. I heard faint music, whispered chants. I had spent many years dedicated to the Dark Goddess but, in my own life, sexuality had been a strong theme. The bright colors and movement of Aphrodite beckoned me.

I ran my first Aphrodite workshop at the Glastonbury Goddess Conference in 2001 with twenty women. We made Aphrodite Girdles by weaving together seven cords, each one linked to a process of healing and celebrating our sexuality. Women wore their girdles to the Conference Ball, they wore them to rituals, they wore them in the High Street and they wore them home.

Ive run the workshop many times since then; so I dont know how many girdles exist in the world. But I know there arent enough. Aphrodites own girdle represented her intrinsic qualities of self-defined sexuality, radiant beauty and sensual freedom. The girdles made in Aphrodites Magic symbolize each womans reclaiming of those essential qualities. One by one, we are weaving Aphrodites Magic.

When I sat down to write this book I was supported by the comments of fourteen women who had completed the workshop and filled in an extensive questionnaire. Their comments appear throughout Aphrodites Magic. They write about their girdles, the processes they went though and the changes they have undergone as a result of this work. Their voices are individual, moving, contentious, personal. They are heterosexual and lesbian and celibate. They are grandmothers, mothers and women who have never borne a child. They range in age from their twenties to their sixties. They live in Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe and five of them have a language other than English as their first language.

Your own journey into Aphrodites Magic begins when you invoke a Temple and continues through seven aspects of your sexuality. These are linked to the chakras, seven central energy centers of the body that are acknowledged in many cultures and healing traditions. Aphrodites Magic begins with the crown chakra, representing your connection to the divine and descends through the body to finish with the root chakra, grounding you into your body, the earth and this physical existence.

In the spell of Aphrodites Magic you gather one cord for your own girdle at each of the seven levels. Each cord is infused with your intention, ritual and personal magic and when you weave them together into a girdle, your magical spell is complete. The girdle can be worn for dance or ritual and is also a beautiful object to decorate your Altar or bedroom.

If you dont feel ready to take on the whole Aphrodites Magic spell just yet, you may choose to enjoy some of the rituals and processes or simply to read the book. You can use the different chapters to learn about aspects of your sexuality, your relationship to your body and your intrinsic magic. At any stage you can begin the spell that will result in your own magical girdle.

In Aphrodites Temple it doesnt matter what age you are, what your sexual orientation is or what your life experience has been. But it does matter that you choose to embrace your feminine self and undertake the journey of discovering your sexuality. It matters that you decide these things are worthy of your time and attention. Your commitment to celebrating and healing aspects of yourself and your sexuality as they arise is the essence of this spell.

If you have particular issues around sexuality they might include a history of sexual abuse or incest; fear of intimacy; a poor body image; infertility; aging; an unconventional sexual orientation or lifestyle; illness; a broken heart or any number of others these issues will arise along the way, perhaps a number of times. This is where your healing begins.