Cupid's Poisoned Arrow

FireShadow

Jedi Master
Awhile back I started a thread - "No Longer Interested in Sex" (http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=20621.0). Approaching Infinity offered a link to this website _http://www.reuniting.info/ and I followed it. Aside from the website, the author Marnia Robinson also has written a book - "Cupid's Poisoned Arrow". Although much of the information found in the book was also posted on the website, I ordered the book. Wow! It was revelatory for me on both a personal level and on a broader societal level.

Side note: Two other threads were recently started that relate to the information found in this book (in case anyone is interested):
"The hidden factor in relationship disharmony" (http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=20835.0) and
"Can I Graduate to 4th density through Total Celibacy?" (http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=12067.0).

The author cites scientific studies on neurochemistry and draws from references in various religious disciplines (categorized as "wisdom"). I liked the way she presented the information in the book, it was methodical and thorough. She alternated chapters on the science with chapters on the "wisdom". She also offers much anecdotal evidence from her own experience and that of others as well.

The focus of the book is on creating greater harmony in relationships...

But, I definitely recommend this book whether or not you have issues with harmony in relationships. I think there are larger implications as well. It seems to describe one of the mechanism for keeping so many so firmly entrenched in STS mode.

Simplistically (the book goes into much greater detail), , She describes two biological programs we have:

The Mating Program - designed to make sure we spread our genes as widely as possible.
The Bonding Program - designed to nurture and care for children. She talks of how we can use this program to bypass the Mating Program to create harmony in our relationships.

She goes on to talk about two kinds of sex:

Orgasm/fertility based sex - In a nutshell, this type of sex sets up a cycle of spiking then crashing dopamine levels. At the top, orgasm spikes dopamine and creates the "high" in the reward center of the brain. At the bottom, when dopamine levels are low, one feels scarcity, separateness, craving, need and greed. This drives one to repeat the cycle to get that "high" to feel good again.

Bonding based sex - focused only on giving, not on getting (an orgasm or gratification). It is relaxed, not urgent. This type of sex balances ocytocin (the cuddle hormone) and dopamine (so that is it stable not spiking/crashing). Reportedly, this leads to feelings of wholeness, abundance, healing, etc.

Interestingly, she reports that making sex "taboo" only intensifies the effect of orgasm-based sex as the "forbidden" is far more exciting and gives an even greater "high" and subsequently a lower crash. So, it seems that all the sexuality in advertising, the push for greater sexual gratification (with medications to help you) and the wide availability of porn together with the attempts of various groups to make sex taboo all combine to create a vicious cycle. Hmmmm...

She also talks about how orgasm/fertility-based sex produces physical children, but bonding-based sex may produce "spiritual" children. (matter vs spirit?)

Although she does not speak of ponerization, she does give examples of how knowledge of bonding-based sex has often been twisted. For example, Early Taoists writers spoke of equality between the sexes, but later talked of men using women by stealing the woman's energy to use for their own "enlightenment". If accurate, it seems that whenever this knowledge gets out and a group begins to use it, they are either twisted/ponerized or destroyed as with the Cathars (she postulates that this was something the Cathars practiced).

I was reminded of this segment from "The Wave" - Chapter III
Dorothy and The Frog Prince Meet Flight 19 in Oz or, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"
http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/wave_iii.htm



Q: So, they were traumatized; they may have had bits and pieces of ideas and memories, but they may also have lost a great deal altogether. There may have even been a sort of "coma" state of mankind for many millennia. But, after they woke up, with the bits and pieces floating around in their heads, they may have begun to attempt to piece it all together. So, they started putting it all back together. What was the first thing they put together regarding the cosmos around them?

A: Sex.

Q: What did they decide about sex? I mean, sex was there. They were having sex. Is that it? Or, did they understand the cosmos as sex?

A: More like the former. After all, that is what got you guys in this mess in the first place! Just imagine the sales job if you can: "Look how much fun this is! Want to try it?!? Oops, sorry, we forgot to tell you, you cannot go back!"

Q: I really fail to understand - and I know it is a big issue that has been hinted at and alluded to in many so-called mystery teachings, and outright claims have been made regarding sex in all religions and mythologies - but I fail to understand the mechanics of how this can be the engineering of a 'fall.' What, precisely, are the mechanics of it? What energy is generated? How is it generated? What is the concept of the misuse of this energy, or the use of the energy?

A: It is simply the introduction of the concept of self-gratification of a physical sort.

Q: On many occasions you have said that the ideal thing is to have perfect balance of physicality and ethereality. This has been said on a number of occasions. Now, I don't understand how it can be that gratification of a physical body can be the mechanics by which one is entrapped? Is it not gratifying to look at something beautiful? Is it wrong, sinful, or a form of a fall, to look at beauty, to hear something beautiful such as music, or to touch something that is sensually delightful such as a piece of silk or the skin of a loved one? These various things that the human being derives pleasure from very often elevate them to a spiritual state.

A: Possession is the key. In STS, you possess. If you move through the beautiful flowers, the silk, the skin of another, but do not seek to possess...

Q: It seems to me that it is possible to experience all of these things, including sex, without the need or desire to possess; only to give. In which case, I still don't understand how it can be a mechanism for a 'fall.'

A: If it is desired, then the mechanism is not to give. Do you eat a piece of chocolate cake because it is good to give to the stomach? In STS, which is your realm do not forget, one gives because of the pleasant sensation which results.

Q: Could it not be said that, if everything that exists is part of God, including the flesh, that if one gives to the flesh, without being attached to the giving, that it could be considered a giving to the 'All?'

A: Explain the process.

Q: For example: there are some people who like to suffer, because they believe that the flesh is sinful. That is a big thing that the Lizzies have instituted. For centuries they have wanted people to suffer, and they have made this big deal about sex and anything that might be considered pleasant or desirable should be denied, and that a person should suffer, and revel in their suffering. And, actually, making a person...

A: If one seeks to suffer, they do so in expectation of future reward. They desire to possess something in the end.
 
Thanks for the review, FireShadow! I've got the book, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Sounds like this one, combined with Cleckley's "Caricature of Love" make for good reading and breaking down illusions about sex and relationships!
 
Sounds like I need to read "Caricature of Love". I just put it on my wish list but it may be awhile before I can afford more books. I will check if library has it - if it is in the Texas library system, I can request it.
 
There is a 5 part video presentation by the author that, I think, gives a pretty efficient summary of the book's hypothesis. It was posted on Facebook not long ago by someone in the group, (can't remember who).

Here's the first episode:

http://www.youtube.com/user/healingrelationships#p/u/8/QtMC43vmxuY

It's really fascinating stuff!
 
Hi FireShadow,

I'll PM you a link to download a PDF copy of the book courtesy of Approaching Infinity. :)


Edit=Disable link in public forum.
 
dugdeep said:
There is a 5 part video presentation by the author that, I think, gives a pretty efficient summary of the book's hypothesis. It was posted on Facebook not long ago by someone in the group, (can't remember who).

Here's the first episode:

http://www.youtube.com/user/healingrelationships#p/u/8/QtMC43vmxuY

It's really fascinating stuff!

Yes, that is one of the links I posted ("The hidden factor in relationship disharmony") at the start of this thread...and yes that presentation is pretty good, especially as an introduction to the concepts. The book however goes much deeper in terms of the specifics of the science and the historical/religious references and gives, I think, a deeper understanding.

Also, I was reviewing the thread "No Longer Interested in Sex" and found reference to this thread "Relationships/"Peace Between the Sheets" begun by D Rusak. (http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8786.0) Seems she put it in "Family Life" but stated it could also go here in "Books" and I agree. Do we need to perhaps merge these threads or is it enough to just post the links?
 
Vulcan59 said:
Hi FireShadow,

I'll PM you a link to download a PDF copy of the book courtesy of Approaching Infinity. :)

Thank you! It did look hard to find (Amazon only had 2 copies available for $47.00) and my quick search produced similar results at other venues.
 
FireShadow said:
Yes, that is one of the links I posted ("The hidden factor in relationship disharmony") at the start of this thread...and yes that presentation is pretty good, especially as an introduction to the concepts. The book however goes much deeper in terms of the specifics of the science and the historical/religious references and gives, I think, a deeper understanding.

Oops, I missed that. Sorry for the noise :-[
 
dugdeep said:
FireShadow said:
Yes, that is one of the links I posted ("The hidden factor in relationship disharmony") at the start of this thread...and yes that presentation is pretty good, especially as an introduction to the concepts. The book however goes much deeper in terms of the specifics of the science and the historical/religious references and gives, I think, a deeper understanding.

Oops, I missed that. Sorry for the noise :-[

Not a problem, I think. Your link was straight to a youtube video and mine was for the thread (with a link to the presentation on the author's website). Since everyone has different computer capabilities, they may not be able to view the presentation on one of the links, so the other is an alternative format for them.
 
Does anyone know how this book is different than her former title, "Peace Between the Sheets"? From her website all I can tell is that it's "updated", not really sure what this means. Hoping to get this soon from the library when it is returned (yay, library that has this and other awesome books! I've found a few books about Gurdjieff that I hope to read soon there and many other cool things).

The first version of the book was fascinating to me, as I've mentioned before in a few threads. I never had the chance to test out the partner exercises at the end of the book since I don't have one, but even tracking on a calendar for the last couple of years when I felt more "horny" or not, or when I had orgasm (whether through masturbation or in a dream) made me come to some scary conclusions that reinforced that I don't want to seek this self-serving behavior, if I can prevent it. I too also found that these peaks in sexual "need" seemed to happen around key points in the menstrual cycle (near ovulation, and again two weeks later just before menstruation). For guys it seems to be a two week cycle as well, I guess one could call it a "hangover" period. The after effects of this cycle- detoxing, if you will- really seem similar to when one goes off of a bad food and has to detox afterward. It really reminds me what chemical machines we are, although there is hope that we can change things with due vigilance.

PS- I'm not sure where you are ordering from, but here in the US at least I see the book available for $9.99 (Kindle edition) - $12.89 (paperback) on Amazon, $14.07 at Barnes and Noble, and $18.95 at Borders, Powell's and some other places. Shipping would be extra (on Amazon the paperback does qualify for the free super saver shipping). FWIW, hope this helps.
 
D Rusak said:
Does anyone know how this book is different than her former title, "Peace Between the Sheets"? From her website all I can tell is that it's "updated", not really sure what this means. Hoping to get this soon from the library when it is returned (yay, library that has this and other awesome books! I've found a few books about Gurdjieff that I hope to read soon there and many other cool things)...

...PS- I'm not sure where you are ordering from, but here in the US at least I see the book available for $9.99 (Kindle edition) - $12.89 (paperback) on Amazon, $14.07 at Barnes and Noble, and $18.95 at Borders, Powell's and some other places. Shipping would be extra (on Amazon the paperback does qualify for the free super saver shipping). FWIW, hope this helps.

Sorry I did not reply sooner. I am not sure how it is different as I have not read the first version - you will be far more qualified to tell us this difference once you have read the new version!

I ordered mine from Amazon and I thought $12.89 was a very reasonable price considering how the quality and quantity of information contained within.
 
I have been re-reading The Wave as it has been a couple of years since I first read it. I thought I remembered Laura writing more on the sex issue and indeed I found it:

From The Wave, Volume III, Chapter 25, The Bacchantes Meet Apollo at Stonehenge and Play the Third Man Theme
http://www.cassiopaea.org/2010/05/18/the-wave-chapter-25-the-bacchantes-meet-apollo-at-stonehenge-and-play-the-third-man-theme/ (I think it is well worth reading the entire chapter - I had trouble trimming for the purpose of posting quotes here!)

Now, I want to make some little observations and conjectures. Most of the creation myths speak about some sort of ritual fault that occurred to bring about humankind’s Fall from Grace. These myths mostly attribute this fault to something having to do with sex. We have already talked about the symbology of this in relation to the hemispheres of the brain, but we still have to deal with the out and out sex issue! When it is talked about, it’s always rather vague and mysterious and has seldom made much sense, so I am going to try to sort it out here.

In addition to the Fall from the Edenic state, there is also the Flood of Noah and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is blamed on sexual excess. In the Sumerian myths, it is said that humans copulating all over the place kept the gods awake and they could get no rest, so they resolved to destroy the whole kit and caboodle.

Putting this ancient mythology together with some of the things the Cassiopaeans have said has caused me no end of exhausting mental gymnastics. On the one hand, they are agreeing that a sex-based event was definitely involved in the Fall, but then they have also said the whole sexual thing was part of the Control System’s inducement of increased physicality because the fourth density STS beings “feed” on orgasmic energy as part of their nourishment:

Perhaps, there is indeed two kinds of sex as theorized in "Cupid's Poisoned Arrow". If accurate, it would explain some things! - Fertilization/orgasm-based sex keeps one firmly in physicality and bonding-based sex (Karezza) facilitates transcendence, spirituality, etc.

...Now, let’s have a look at the Cassiopaean remarks about sex in general:

Q: (L) What happens psychically at the moment of orgasm?

A: For whom?

Q: (L) For anybody. In just a general way. Does anything happen to a person psychically when they have sexual climax?

A: Open.

Q: (L) Is it different for each individual?

A: Close.

Q: (L) Is it different for males from females?

A: Usually.

Q: (L) The reason I ask is because a man named Wayne Cook did some work with dowsing and he found out that the human body, after sexual climax, dowses the same pattern as a dead body. Why is this? (T) Draining of energy.

A: Yes.


Q: (L) Okay, where does the energy drain?

A: To the ether.

Q: (L) Does the energy go to one or the other partner?

A: Maybe.

Q: (L) Is it possible, during this activity, for Lizzies or other beings to be hanging around and be drawing this energy?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) Is that, in a general sense, what often happens?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) Is this one of the reasons that sex has been promoted and promulgated in our society to such an extent…

A: Yes, yes, yes.


So, on the one hand we have sex bringing us under the control of the alleged Reptoids who supposedly want us to get out there and have sex so they can feed on the orgasmic energy, and on the other hand, we have these stories that tell us that the reptilian gods decided to do away with the whole mess of humanity because they couldn’t get any rest with all the sex going on! What’s the deal here?

Is it possible that there is a kind of sex that is beneficial that might be related to spiritual unification, which would enable them to free themselves from the domination of the Control System?

From the clues above, it seems to me there was something going on prior to the time of the destruction of Atlantis that was dangerous to the Controllers. Not only that, it seems some of the survivors retained this information and were planning on employing it in the Tower of Babel project, the destruction of which has always been presented as an “example” that we should not aspire to be like the gods.

We also recall that the cities of Sodom and Gomorra were presented as being extremely depraved and that they concentrated on sexual excess, which also brought about their destruction.

Well, if it is true that all this sexual stuff is “food of the gods”, so to speak, then what can there be about sex that they don’t want us to know? Why the big whitewash? And why the big push to take over the whole world with the anti-sex monotheistic religions that made it a sin to make love unless the only objective was to reproduce? If you think about it, such an attitude would naturally tend to make a person finish having sex as quickly as possible with a mental left-brain image at the fore.

(Or, perhaps to intensify the experience/orgasm because of the "taboo" factor, thereby intensifying the "addiction" response, keeping everyone locked into the cycle?)

On the other hand, if Diodorus’ description is fairly accurate regarding the dedication of the temple to Apollo alone, it is likely that this was a later inversion of the Celestial worship. Apollo, being a twin to Artemis/Diana, is part of the Divine Twins archetype, which leads us again, to the Third Man.

The divinity in the old religion was not a female or a male figure, but was both male and female. This does not mean that the ancient peoples were hermaphrodites, but rather it symbolized the balanced right- and left-brain function state prior to the Fall.

The fact that women were on an equal footing with men, in terms of honor and respect, makes it seem to the modern patriarchal mind that it was a female dominated society. But these were not peoples who were ruled by women. They were cultures in which men and women were in harmony and in which the brain functions were balanced so that they were enabled to “transduce” the cosmic energies into their reality for the purpose of active creation.

Unfortunately, the symbols and their meanings as well as the knowledge of their activation were degenerated into self-serving figments of the prurient imaginations of later redactors. The Matriarchal agriculture oriented societies alongside the Patriarchal Shepherd King societies were the results of the split. Neither of them accurately represented the pre-Fall society that is symbolized by the Androgyne. Mircea Eliade writes:

"The androgyne is understood by decadent writers simply as a hermaphrodite in whom both sexes exist anatomically and physiologically. They are concerned not with a wholeness resulting from the fusion of the sexes but with a superabundance of erotic possibilities. Their subject is not the appearance of a new type of humanity in which the fusion of the sexes produces a new unpolarized consciousness, but a self-styled sensual perfection, resulting from the active presence of both sexes in one… The decadent writers did not know that the hermaphrodite represented in antiquity an ideal condition which men endeavoured to achieve spiritually by means of imitative rites; but that if a child showed at birth any signs of hermaphroditism, it was killed by its own parents. In other words, the actual, anatomical hermaphrodite was considered an aberration of Nature or a sign of the gods’ anger and consequently destroyed out of hand. Only the ritual androgyne provided a model, because it implied not an augmentation of anatomical organs but, symbolically, the union of the magico-religious powers belonging to both sexes."(Eliade, 1965)...

...In addition to the elevated states of consciousness achieved in the spiral dances accompanied by music and singing (not drunkenness with wine), it is thought that preparation or charging for these ceremonies was accomplished via “mystical sexual union”. The redactors have corrupted this to wild orgies, naturally.

Many modern historians have ignorantly interpreted the accoutrements and later accounts of these rites as fertility rituals. They were supposed to have been performed with the intent of eliciting magical reproductive favoritism from nature. The ideas of gaining personal advantages, success, protection or anything else by practicing rites or rituals, spells, prayers, sacrifices and so forth are characteristic of left-brain function, not mystical union. (Yes, many meditators and “stupid saints” as well as practitioners of the Black Arts have in fact managed to access the gateway by “raping the maiden of the well”, but the price is high and very few who do it that way survive long in this world.)

In short, the Bacchanalian celebration was to directly experience an altered state of consciousness, which brought about unification with the Cosmos and Nature, and even had the potential for transcending time and space in a direct, material and experiential manner. In the sensual, physical unification with the Cosmos, we see the profound activation of the right hemisphere of the brain in direct experience of the world via the sensory perceptions as distinct from imagining the world according to supposedly authoritative measurement and description.

In a Bacchic culture, the mutual need and inseparability of the sexes was exemplified by the principles of androgyny and the hermaphrodite, or Apollo and Artemis, the twins. The Androgyne represented the idea that every woman and man have both a male and female aspect and the hermaphrodite represented the idea that each man or woman was merely half of a functioning unit in terms of polarity, or circuitry that could somehow be unified to accomplish creative functions. The hermaphrodite was a macrocosmic symbol of the male/female unified Cosmos, and the androgyne is a microcosmic symbol of the male/female unity that can occur within each individual...

...So, when it was said that the female energy consorted with the wrong side and lost knowledge and power thereby, we can now see that it was a rewiring of the thinking, by giving dominance to the part of the brain that literally inhibits creativity and access to universal energies that can be accessed by anyone.

Could fertilization/orgasm-based sex be part of the mechanism for consorting with the "wrong side"? And, I note that Cupid's Poisoned Arrow mentions Karezza as a path to unification of the sexes in the way of Divine Androgyne and some practitioners report transcending time.

...Now, what does all this have to do with sex? Well, actually, nothing, but it has everything to do with making love. You see, sex as sex, is left-brain. It is desire and goal oriented. It is loaded with anticipation. When one thinks about having sex, one has an image in the mind’s eye of the end result. Even if it is not a visual image, it is an abstract image or concept of orgasmic repletion. It is a focusing on a physical act without due consideration of the spiritual connections and implications.

Or perhaps more specifically, "orgasm/fertilization-based sex" is left-brain - desire and goal oriented?

And that is where the full power of the right-brain is short circuited and caused to release its creative potential to a momentary contraction to a void that is uncontrolled, undirected, and unusable. After such an act, one is indeed in a condition where frequency resonances can be used to chemically or physically alter the DNA, or “put out the eyes”. Going after sex in any of the above ways is a raping of the right-brain function. But, we will come back to this further on

(and/or to feed the Lizzies)

"Don Juan explained that sorcerers see infant human beings as strange, luminous balls of energy, covered from the top to the bottom with a glowing coat, something like a plastic cover that is adjusted tightly over their cocoon of energy. He said that that glowing coat of awareness was what the predators consumed, and that when a human being reached adulthood, all that was left of that glowing coat of awareness was a narrow fringe that went from the ground to the top of the toes. That fringe permitted mankind to continue living, but only barely. … To his knowledge, man was the only species that had the glowing coat of awareness outside that luminous cocoon. Therefore, man becomes easy prey for an awareness of a different order, such as the heavy awareness of the predator."...

...Don Juan said that discipline makes the glowing coat of awareness unpalatable to the flyer. The result is that the predators become bewildered. An inedible glowing coat of awareness is not part of their cognition. That is precisely what the Cassiopaeans have said when they termed it not being in sync. They echoed don Juan’s remark about “grabbing onto the vibrating force that holds us together,” i.e., frequency resonance. The end result is: via knowledge we can learn to use discipline, which then enables us to grow back the awareness. Don Juan said: “As awareness reaches levels higher than the toes, tremendous maneuvers of perception become a matter of course.”

In Cupid's Poisoned Arrow, it is mentioned that practicing Karezza (bonding-based sex) can generate this coating...hmmm, perhaps speeding up the process of growing it back?

Q: (T) In other words, if I get angry and realize that I am being more angry than I should be, and I change that to something positive, and feed that back to them while they have their amplifiers wide open, will that affect them? Sour their milk, so to speak?

A: Now you are “fighting fire with fire.”

Q: (T) Well, is that something that we are supposed to be doing?

A: Open. But what does phrase imply?

Q: (L) What they are saying is, I think, when you feel yourself getting angry, the only way to stop the whole thing is to stop being angry and be happy or at peace. When you are happy and at peace there is not in you the desire to send anything back.

A: Bingo...

"Cupid's Poisoned Arrow" contains many references (quotes from "wisdom" sources and anecdotal reports) that "bonding-based" sex facilitates/creates "transcendence" "feelings of unification" experiences of "being out of time" "divine androgony" "joy"... and more.

The author reports that Karezza can ease or even tame many addictive "hungers". She gives the story of her husband's experience as an example. She reports that when they were first together (unbeknownst to her) he had a drinking problem and that after practicing Karezza (bonding-based sex) for a time, he was freed of his "hunger" for alcohol. Seems to me that the Lizzies certainly would not want us to lose our "hungers"!
 
Hi,

I apologize if my comment before was not the most considerate- kind of dumb asking about comparisons to the old book, when the topic is on the new book and people's first read on it.

Anyhoo....

I finally got a chance to check it out. I think there are good things and bad things about it.

Good things- there is a much greater and clearer emphasis on the connection between karezza and esoteric development. Cool!
- there have been more scientific studies in the last few years related to the material, and references are included. This is really important. Like the author says, this idea of non-orgasmic sex is really just not researched or taken seriously at all, there is a lack of scientific evidence only because it has not been investigated much

Not as good things- the book I feel is a little bit out there for those with no idea of the esoteric. Sometimes it's almost a little "love and light" almost for my taste. There is something more exciting about the writing style in the first volume (Peace Between the Sheets) that is more friendly and engaging- almost, well, we don't know how it works exactly yet, but we're excited about it, here's lots of anecdotal evidence and whatever scientific and religious studies we can find to back it up. The version Cupid's Poisoned Arrow just was not as engaging for me. I'm not sure if it's because I was already familiar with much of the material, or if it was due to a noticeable change in writing style. Likely it was some combination of the two.

I feel as though I would recommend the first book to Average Joe, and the 2nd one (Cupid's Poisoned Arrow) to more friends with more "scientific" "or "literal" mindsets, and those with some knowledge of religions or the esoteric. I will take a read through again after a little time and see if I feel/think differently.
 
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