Sex: A Spiritual Affair

Gabby’s “Spirit Junkie” is now out in paperback!

This post has been borrowed from my spirituality blog Follow the Signs Like Alice, which also went up at HerFuture.com today. 

Recently, I started a publicity course with the wonderful Gabrielle Bernstein.  Entitled God is my Publicist, this powerful set of three podcasts is for those who want to get their spiritual message out into the world.

And what is my own spiritual mission?  Sex, sex, sex.

For those who are new to my work, I am a sex writer and activist who is passionate about spiritual sexuality.  Now this doesn’t mean that I only believe in romantic, vanilla sex — I believe that sex in which everyone is joyfully consenting — be it with roses, whips, French maid’s costumes or a room full of Chippendales — is spiritual sex.  Why?  Because when we are sexually happy and abundant, in our own unique ways, I know that we are more capable of love in this world.  In fact, my ardent belief that we would achieve world peace far more easily if we were each sexually joyful and unashamed, is what brought both myself and my partner Angela to start our sex-positive erotic business, Go Deeper Press.  (In fact, if you are a sex-positive writer, why not submit your work to us?  We’d love to read your writing, even if you are new to the genre).

Well, during our first session of God is my Publicist, Gabby led us through a free-flow writing exercise in which we discovered our desire statement. As spiritual people, our desire statement is spiritually aware/driven, and here is what I came up with when writing about Go Deeper Press:

Sexuality is the place where so many of us believe we first sinned, when truly, our sexual core helps us to connect with the world, while shame – the opposite of our sexual core – pushes us to disconnect.  Once we learn to understand and accept our sexuality — including our sexual fantasies, our sexual identities, and our sexual abundance — then we can finally work out how to be at peace with one another and love without fear.

I used to think my spiritual side and my sex activism were simply influenced by one another, but then I wrote a book proposal for the Pearl Diver’s Guide (which is currently being circulated by my new agent, Katharine Sands) and I realized that sexuality was a huge part of my spirituality…and vice versa too. In fact, understanding the spiritual importance of joyful sex and sexuality is my mission in this world.  This mission makes sense of the abuse I suffered as a child, and the shame I was taught to bear.  It makes sense of the sexual problems I learned to heal with the help of loving partners and my found family, especially my partner Angela.  And most of all, sexuality is the area in which I have felt most burdened and, therefore, most liberated.

I am a queer, British woman living in Boston who was sexually abused as a child and is now sexually and spiritually powerful.  But I know that my sex-positive mission has little to do with me.  This mission isn’t mine. It comes from the Divine Light, the universe.

So thank you, dear readers, for helping us to further it.