Eros and the Mysteries of Love

Description

A comprehensive work on the metaphysical aspects of sexuality. Julius Evola sheds new light on the mystical and spiritual expression of sexual love. This in-depth study explores the sexual rites of sacred traditions, and shows how religion, mysticism, folklore, and mythology all contain erotic forms in which the deep potentialities of human beings are recognized. Introduction Sex in the World Today Chapter 1. Eros and Sexual Love The Evolutionary Prejudice Love and Sex Eros and the Instinct for Reproduction The Myth of the Genius of the Species Eros and the Tendency toward Pleasure Sensual Pleasure The Magnetic Theory of Love The Degrees of Sexual Development Physical Sex and Inner Sex Conditional Nature and Forms of Erotic Attraction Chapter 2. The Metaphysics of Sex The Myth of the Hermaphrodite Eros and the Various Degrees of Intoxication with It The Biological Treatment and Fall of Eros Aphrodite Urania; Eros and Beauty Lust and the Myth of Poros and Penia Appendix; Homosexuality Chapter 3. Phenomena of Transcendency in Profane Love Sex and Human Values “Everlasting Love,” Jealousy, and Sexual Pride Phenomena of Transcendency in Puberty Love, the Heart, Dreams, and Death The Love-Pain-Death Complex Sensual Pleasure and Suffering: The Masochist-Sadist Complex Erotic Ecstasy and Mystic Ecstasy The Experience of Coitus The Metaphysics of Modesty The Meaning of the Orgy Appendix; Marquis de Sade and the “Way of the Left Hand Rasputin and the Sect of the Khlysti Chapter 4. Gods and Goddesses, Men and Women Mythology, Ontology, and Psychology The Metaphysical Dyad Demeter Archetypes and Aphrodite Archetypes, the Virgin, and Ultimate Nakedness Typical Differentiations of Manhood in Myth Male and Female in Manifestation On the Daemonic in the Feminine and the Symbolism of the Inverted Coitus The Phallus and Menstruation Male and Female Psychology Woman as Mother and Woman as Lover Pity, Sexuality, and Cruelty in Woman The Fascination of Woman and Activity and Passivity in Sexual Love The Ethics of the Sexes Chapter 5. Sacred Ceremonies and Evocations Wedlock as “Mystery ” in the World of Tradition Christianity and Sexuality Sacred Prostitution and Holy Marriages Incubus and Succubus; Fetishism and Evocatory Processes Evocation Processes in the Chivalrous Love of the Middle Ages The Initiatory Experiences of the Worshippers of Love Appendix; The Meaning of the Sabbat and the Black Mass The Doctrine of the Hermaphrodite in Christian Mysticism Chapter 6. Sex in the Realm of Initiations and Magic Transmutations and the Commandment of Chastity The Techniques of Endogenous Transmutation in Kundalini-Yoga and Taoism Sex in the Kabbala and Eleusinian Mysteries Tantric Sexual Practices Tantric Sexual Practices and Their Dangers Secret Sexual Practices in Chinese Taoism Arab Sexual Practices and Hermetic Symbology The Myriam and the “Fire Magic” The “Light of Sex” and the “Law of Telema” The Presuppositions of Operative Sexual Magic Conclusion Endnotes