The more a society represses sexuality and self-empowerment in Women - including their right to define who they Are, how they represent their Truth and the Freedom to express their Passion - the more detached it becomes from spirituality and the tighter the grip that the illusion of control has on individuals still struggling with the effects of mass consciousness. This is not to say that everyone in society needs to share the same Values and walk the same Path, but the goal must be Compassion before Judgment. From my Perspective, there are zero differences, none, in the eyes of the Universe among the extreme submissive, the sexual healers, the mother, the CEO, the soldier, the asexual ascetic or any of the other Chosen manifestations of the Feminine in any given lifetime.
If we accept as Truth that *all* the Choices we make serve us on some level, spiritually speaking, then the default position when engaging with all the other Souls you encounter is the question: “tell me about your Journey, and when I begin to understand who You Truly Are, *then* we will have something to celebrate.” THIS is the kind of religious rite I would enjoy seeing practiced more widely and with more Self-awareness.
An excerpt from link
While much conventional scholarship has designated [female tantrics] as low-caste “sluts” exploited for ritual purposes, religious scholar Miranda Shaw has unearthed a very different history. Her book Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism claims these women were no mere ‘consorts’ but powerful gurus once held “in awe, reverence and obeisance.” Her book is a biographic treasure trove of Tantric women teachers spanning the Pala Period of India (8th -13th centuries)….
Female Tantrics were called by many names, Dakinis (woman who flies) Vidyadharim (knowledge-holder) Vira (heroine) but the most common term was Yogini (keeper of the occult secrets). Their methods for heightening, channelling and offering bliss included meditation and visualization, esoteric dance and song, and a wide variety of yogic sex practices….
Tantric women were seen as a source of spiritual power. Because their kundalini was much easier to awaken they did not need male consorts to advance in Tantra. Male tantrics on the other hand were advised to seek yoginis out and court their erotic favours. By channeling divine energy to their consorts and devotees, these yoginis bestowed all “the spiritual attainments” through “gazing, kissing and touching.” Shaw reminds us that these Tantrikas did not see themselves as helpful attendees in the male enlightenment process, but as religious aspirants in their own right….
Shaw’s book is chock full of these independent Tantric women who came from all walks of life. Some were queens and princesses, some were wine-sellers and coconut vendors, and others were prostitutes and dancers. Often they had hundreds, sometimes thousands of disciples, and in some lineages were regarded as preferable gurus to men. Many were wandering teachers, others settled in a place where disciples could seek them out. But most often they assembled at a network of pilgrimage sites and Yogini Temples where they staged ecstatic religious rites and Tantric feasts.
Here they gathered to read their writing and dialogue with others, improvising songs and poems on their personal experiences and philosophies of enlightenment. And for the lucky male tantric considered deserving enough to join their circles, they shared their teachings on the use of mantras, meditation, esoteric dance, yoga and ritual sex.
Today we might view these ritual gatherings as a little orgiastic, but Shaw reminds us that in Tantra, sexual union was seen as a vehicle for spiritual transformation. The goal of ecstatic practices was not simple hedonism but to maintain a clear realization of emptiness (a term for the insubstantial and illusory nature of all phenomena) in the midst of passion.
Women’s role as dispenser of ‘spiritual attainments’ was undertaken not just for pleasure, but out of compassion for the world. One example of this is the story of King Dombia and low-caste female tantric Dombiyogini, who transformed themselves into Buddhas through their sacred union. Dombiyogini composed many songs of realization (vajra-songs). In one song she celebrates how communion between female and male Buddhas generated waves of harmony, nectar that satisfied “the spiritual hunger in the hearts of living beings everywhere.”
https://bodydivineyoga.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/tantric-sluts-yogas-dirtiest-secret/