Becca Tzigany - Venus and Her Lover: Transforming Myth, Sexuality, and Ourselves

Venus and Her Lover: Transforming Myth, Sexuality, & Ourselves
by Becca Tzigany
www.venusandherlover.com

Copyright 2018 by Becca Tzigany

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the website below.

Except for the artwork of JG Bertrand and Becca Tzigany, all images are in the Public Domain and/or fall under the doctrine of Fair Use. To dispute the copyright of any of the reproduced images, please contact venusandherlover.com

Author photo credit: Peaceful

ISBN 13: 978-0-9743138-3-2 (paperback)
ISBN 13: 978-0-9743138-6-3 (hardcover)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018910917
Published by Yab/Yum Original Tantric Art
In association with Identity Publications

Table of Contents

PREFACE to Volume II

What is the second maxim of Tantra? I would say it is this:

Experience the Two as One.

From the moment we perceive polar opposites Masculine and Feminine, black and white, expansion and contraction and go on to experience the many and myriad phenomena of the world, there is an inner longing to find our way back to Unity, to the One.

In Volume I of this story, I describe the man-woman attraction I shared with my beloved, James, and how our calling as artists prodded us to resolve the twofoldness of life into the oneness of eternity. In a world of duality, we learn by contrast, so James and I learned further by facing the unloved and dastardly parts of ourselves and our world. Without diving into the Shadow, we cannot be whole. This is true for each of us individually, as well as for collective humanity.

Venus and Her Lover Transforming Myth, Sexuality, and Ourselves describes ten years of the globetrotting Tantric adventures of two artistic lovers James a painter, and me a writer as we careened our way toward an alluring center the essential nature of the Self, the Other, and the All That Is. While James created the erotic paintings and I wrote poetry to them, it was a journey of liberation for us both. We discovered secrets and clues to a much wider liberation, which I offer up to you through these tomes.

This is a true story. Herein I have written my experience of events that really happened, even though they may sound magical or multidimensional or downright unbelievable. Details of certain characters and situations have been changed, according to their wishes and the requirements of proper storytelling.

Recap of Key Concepts and Contexts from Volume I

James and I kept a happy household with son Alex, while living a Caribbean lifestyle on the beach in Puerto Rico. Upon embarking on a Tantric art project, we unconsciously invoked archetypes notably Venus, Goddess of Love, and Mars, God of War who lured us to uncover the seeds of conflict between Woman and Man throughout history. What started the War between the Sexes? was a question that dogged us. As we followed a trail of clues, we discerned dynamic as well as sinister patterns. Many of the messages we received came through the artistic process of creating paintings and poetry based on erotic encounters between us as lovers and with others.

What we learned up to this point in the story:

Most of the human race is organized under a Dominator System, with the elites at the top of a pyramid of power taking advantage of those below.

The dynamic of master-slave/predator-prey/perpetrator-victim even permeates the relationships between lovers.

For the past millennia, since men (with God at the top) have largely ruled over others, it has been called the Patriarchy. However, the Dominator System requires the compliance of both women and men. In an effort to attain more balance, recent times have seen the rise of the Divine Feminine, with focus on the Goddess.

These mythological characters (gods and goddesses) give a face to archetypal energies that are always at play in our reality, whether we recognize them or not. They are energies within us all. James and I gradually got wise to invoking them more consciously.

We are at a Change of an Age. The balance of power is shifting. Which ways it goes depends on our participation.

Tantra is a spiritual path that encourages practice at balancing and unifying the polarities. In the physical, we can practice Sacred Sexuality. While there are sexual techniques one can practice, it is principally an internal alchemy that anyone can pursue.

The sexual union of the Feminine and the Masculine creates a synergy that is so powerful, it stokes our potential for enormous transformation within ourselves and our society.

Such potential is a threat to the Dominator System, and has been suppressed through the ages by making Sacred Sexuality dirty, shameful, and dangerous. This campaign has been carried out principally through religion.

Driven by the enormity of our undertaking, James and I surrendered our personal ideas of how our lives should be. We left behind our Caribbean home when we responded to the call to move to Italy, the birthplace of the art projects protagonists, Venus and Mars.

After three years of producing art and enjoying an idyllic life in a mountaintop Tuscan village, we were lured to the other side of the world to the island of Hawaii. Our family pulled up roots again, to continue the adventure.

What started the War Between the Sexes? Why were we so obsessed with finding out? These questions and more would be answered for us in most personal ways, which I reveal here in Volume II of Venus and Her Lover Transforming Myth, Sexuality, and Ourselves.

Becca Tzigany

Vilcabamba

March 2018

HAWAII

Element
of FIRE

BETWEEN TRAPEZES ON PELES ISLAND

Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting.

~ Karl Wallenda

Few places have I been where an ancient goddess still holds court. In Mexico, perhaps, where the indigenous goddess blazes forth in a yonic halo in the form of the Christian la home. Countless tourists have picked up pieces of lava and taken them back with them, only to frantically return them to park rangers and hotel workers, recounting tales of bad luck and mishaps and pleading that they please return the rocks to their place of origin. The Hawaiian rangers and hoteliers comply, ceremonially replacing the rocks that routinely arrive in the mail.

One of my favorite experiences on Hawaii was coming upon makeshift altars on the beach, on a hiking trail, at a heiau (ancient temple site) coral and lava rocks arranged geometrically with a plumeria blossom in the middle, a lei of orchids with a bottle of gin, leaves stuck in the ground around an unusual stone. I understood and honored these shrines, and often built my own while chanting my personal prayers. These places would be considered strong in mana , which is a Pacific Islander concept of spiritual power. The authority of the kahunas (masters of their craft; in this case, spirituality and sorcery) is based on the mana they hold. Places, people, and animals can build up as well as lose! mana , which can be directed toward healing and manifestation. Interestingly, it was believed that the two main paths to acquiring mana were through the righteous and courageous actions of the Warrior, or the irresistible sexual actions of the Lover.