By Sarane Alexandrian
Just in time for Valentine’s Day is the steamy new book The Great Work of the Flesh, by French surrealist and occultist Sarane Alexandrian. Readers interested in the history of sex magic and in all things esoteric will be delighted to find this attractive volume in their local bookstores.
Humanity has long used sexuality as a way to reach higher consciousness. Exploring sexual practices in folk magic, high magic, alchemy, and religion, the author begins with a complete overview of love magic in the Middle Ages, including accounts of the use of potions, powders, spells, and enchantments. He reviews the Taoist sexual alchemy practices of Eastern masters like Mantak Chia, the secret Tantric practices of the Tibetan Bons, and even sexual shiatsu. The book provides interesting details of the development of P. B. Randolph’s white sexual magic in the 1860s as well as the black sex magic of Aleister Crowley in England and Europe in the Roaring Twenties. Readers are also privy to texts by French occultists, translated into English for the first time.
The author reveals the scientific principles underlying sex magic and how successful results can be guaranteed by the influences of heavenly bodies and the radiant powers of color, number, scents, physical movements, and more. Alexandrian looks at the Tantric practice of Margot Anand, the sexual rituals of Wicca, and magical “sex aids,” including talismans and jewels. Most interestingly, Alexandrian shows how, through sex-magic practice, a couple can pull from the other what each is missing by way of virility and femininity and multiply their energies to merge the carnal and spiritual worlds, creating a transcendent spiritual experience. The Great Work of the Flesh is a fascinating read, certain to heat up the Valentine’s Day holiday for its readers.
—JACKIE CASSIDY