What is the TerraFire Academy of Aphrodisiacal Living?

What is the TerraFire Academy of Aphrodisiacal Living?

TerraFire

Once, a long time ago when I was still in my twenties, I had to choose a magical name for myself. People were frequently uncomfortable with my level of directness and self-confidence. I joked that people were “Teri-fied” of me, (a play off my first name), Then I decided to adopt this as a name I used in pagan contexts but changed it to TerraFire so that it invoked an image used in grounding meditations; the fire at the center of the living earth. Several years later, I became a ceramic artist and used the name TerraFire Arts when I sold my work. So TerraFire is my Holy self-created name.

Academy

Frequently, as people are getting to know me, they comment on how much they learn by being in my presence. I believe this is due to the fact that I very consciously live outside the dictates of the mainstream culture. I have nicknamed this culture the “weenie white boy world”. I do my best to create an alternative living space, which I carry around in my own energy field. I have created my own system of ethics and morality to accompany the following identities which I embody: anarcho-feminist, polyamorous “bachelorette”, Wiccan, pagan, sexologist, performance poet, philosopher, queer, kinky, pansexual, hedonist, pleasure activist, sacred whore, temple priestess, practitioner of sex magick. The fact of my embodying all of these personas/perspectives, is what causes others to learn in my presence. I received repeated feedback that hanging out with me is educational. Thus, my life is a performance art that instructs, in short, an academy

Aphrodisiacal Living

My spiritual teacher and Wiccan Elder Pat Ray gave me the book “Pagan Meditations” by Ginette Paris in 1993. In this book Paris shares her concepts regarding the creation of an Aphrodisiacal culture and context. Aphrodisiacal being defined as: the sexual perspectives and desires of a mature sex-positive, self-loving woman who understands her own nature as inherently Divine. Paris juxtaposed this concept to the current polarized notions of sexual contexts being either Erotic or Pornographic. She explains that the archetype and sexual perspective of Eros is that of a teenage boy who runs about chaotically striking people with the arrows of love/lust, sitting back to laugh at the results. She explains that the etiology of the word pornography translates as “ the writing of prostitutes”. I wish to be clear that I do not personally have any negative associations with this word or the practitioners of this ancient profession. The dominant culture, however, continues to revile prostitution and to a large extent demand it remain a criminal “offense”.

Aphrodisiacal is specifically a visionary feminist concept and as such provides the context for profound transformational political and personal sexual experiences.

My concept of Aphrodisiacal Culture stands in ideological opposition to the patriarchal concepts and subcultures of: swinging, wife swapping, orgies, and sexual infidelity (this being non-consensual sexual acts outside of committed monogamous coupling agreements). The problem of translating this concept and co-creating a temporary subculture that enacts its ethics; remains a major struggle in my ongoing attempts to create Aphrodisiacal experiences with others.

In my opinion, being raised in the mainstream American culture provides social indoctrination that predisposes people to have experiences of oppression, exploitation, and sexual repression. Relationship role models are based on non-consensual domination and submission. This socialization combines with people’s lack of positive and wide ranging sexual experience, lack of sexual self-esteem and a failure to understand the concept of Immanence to create confusion about and misunderstanding of Aphrodisiacal events. Considering all of this it has been no small miracle that the majority of people who have attended my academy have reported positive experiences.

The best way to increase people’s ability to understand Aphrodisiacal subculture is to educate them about its origins and provide them with personal experiences within facilitated Aphrodisiacal contexts. My ongoing experiences and education as a counselor and sexologist continue to inform my understanding of and ability to create Aphrodisiacal culture. A few of the goals of the TerraFire Academy of Aphrodisiacal Living are a) providing sexual healing, b) creating contexts that help people experience the divine; in themselves and others, c) increasing peoples capacity for pleasure, d) increasing people’s sexual self-esteem and sexual etiquette skills and e) creating sex positive culture that is respectful and empowering for all people.