Venus and Her Lover

by Becca Tzigany

  Right then a breeze shook the frangipani tree, and lustrous white flowers rained down upon us. As the wave of ecstasy passed, a vibration of utter peace reverberated within me. Slowly I opened my eyes. I felt as all-encompassing as the One. Gazing into my lover’s sea-blue eyes that I knew so well, I was shocked to see the One looking back at me.

  In blissful gratitude, we beheld the Beloved.

  EPILOGUE

  When James and I returned from India, we ended up caretaking a villa on the cliffs above the beach in southern Mexico. The dolphins bestowed it upon us with characteristic chance meetings and synchronicities. While living in this comfortable house with a pool and stained glass windows of dolphins, located on Calle de los Delfines, I was out one night attending a birth.

  Just before getting in bed, James heard a noise in the atrium and went out to greet me. Instead, he literally bumped into a thief in the dark. The invader slashed at James’ neck with a knife. James blocked the attack, grabbed the knife, and then began yelling at top volume, “Get out! Get the hell out of my house!” He used his voice as a weapon. The terrified man fled in panic.

  Later that night, when I was home and telling a glowing story about the entry of new life into the world, James described how he had almost lost his. “And ya know what, Becca? That was my test. I could have stabbed that man. But I didn’t want to hurt him, I just wanted him to leave. The warrior has really laid down the sword.”

  This, for James, was the authentic triumph of Mars in a new world.

  And Venus?

  It has been a process for me to accept the dark side of Venus as I work to heal the abuses of love and sex during humanity’s history of predators and victims. That final vision, depicted in the Climax painting, of Venus standing fully in her power guides me. I have let go of fear and claim the power of Love to be the author of the new myth of my life.

  It is my desire – and desire is the engine that drives our destinies – that you also become the sovereign author of your life story. Together we reweave the planetary myth and create an evolutionary playground worthy of the fully activated human.

  The Sacred Palm Grove still stands. Whales still make love and birth their young in that sea. In 2004, the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas was established, through the efforts of Surfrider Foundation, Sea Grant, and local activists. It is Puerto Rico island’s first marine preserve, legally protecting the coral reef, fish, dolphins, whales, and waters of Steps Beach. I continue to hold the Sacred Palm Grove alive in my meditations.

  Rincón has become a major Caribbean tourist destination, and the mayor who was, as I said, “selling it out to the highest bidder” was convicted on 38 counts of corruption in 2007.

  Isabel and I lost contact for years until finding one another on Facebook, and from what I can see, she and her husband are living happily ever after.

  Nassim has brought his theories of spin, black holes, the polarized geometric structured vacuum, and the holofractographic universe out to wider and wider audiences. His work has been repudiated by mainstream scientists and praised by those seeking to unify consciousness and science. He founded The Resonance Project on the island of Kauai (Hawai’i), where he is director of research.

  Rocco continues to weave his magic at Mago Merlino Teahouse. The mayor of Florence decided to “clean up” Via Calzaiuoli of its itinerant peddlers and artists, so after 22 years, Rocco no longer sits under the statue of St. Peter reading Tarot. Now you must seek his mystical advisements at Mago Merlino, where he also reads the Pillow Deck cards. Of the Pillow Deck, he wrote to me recently, “It works. If consulted seriously it hits always the center of the question. It is also a therapeutic deck because it gives me the possibility to go beyond hypocrisy and to speak freely about the pleasures of sex and rock ‘n roll. You know how difficult it is, even today, to talk about sex and eros.”

  Suntina died in 2012 at the age of 95. Now “la presidenta” Renata, at 91 years of age, places flowers on her grave, as well as the graves of her husband, daughter, and son. As Crone, Renata fords Life’s stream toward Death’s shores.

  Diana and Sileno had another child. Even though they split up, they still work together on the perfumery they founded, AquaFlor Firenze, developing their alchemical talents a stone’s throw from Basilica di Santa Croce in downtown Florence.

  My mother never recovered from my father’s death. Her grief served to push her further into dementia and Alzheimer’s. The disease took her away from us, piece by piece, until her death eleven years later.

  Dolphin swimming has become more popular in Hawai’i, with many companies now offering dolphin tours. Kayaks have been banned in Kealakekua Bay, with tighter federal regulation of human-cetacean interaction on the horizon. The health and pod size of dolphins are in decline due to many factors, including ocean pollution (especially plastic and nets), the US Navy’s use of deadly sonar, and spinner dolphins’ resting patterns being interrupted by humans pursuing them in the bays. The meltdown of the nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, has dumped radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean since then. While there is little official data as to the effect on sea life in Hawai’i, independent news sources have reported Cesium-137, Tellurium, and Uranium-234 (the latter with a half-life of 245,500 years) in the drinking water and milk179 (the milk being 2,033% above Federal drinking water safety limits)180 in Hawai’i.

  Taos’ famous deep blue sky is now rarely seen. Throughout the United States and most of the world, the skies above are milky white or streaked with chemtrails, due to a military program (purported geoengineering) that poisons the people and ecosystems below them. Ah, life in the Kali Yuga ain’t easy!

  James and I are still close with our beloveds of the Coterie. We talk and write and crack inside jokes.

  Dionysian Dudaka went to Central America, where he became passionate about organic farming. Now wherever he goes, instead of seeding dances, he seeds community gardens.

  Mysterious Molly was released from the Thai prison to welcome the New Year 2010 as a free woman. She returned to her children in Canada and settled into building a normal life for herself and her family. She is still guided by her Christian faith. We stay in touch, and we do not speak of the past.

  Sienna brought her Shadow work out in a bigger way by founding Rise Multiversity Online. There she hosts courses, webinars, and roundtable discussions on the personal as well as collective Shadow, as a step toward the liberation of a sovereign humanity.

  Son Alex graduated from Naropa University and headed into Central and South America to follow a shamanic path. He is developing a mystery school based on evolutionary shamanism that incorporates plant medicines (such as ayahuasca), meditation, Shadow work, breathwork, and Integral philosophy to help people realize and actualize their soul’s purpose.

  James and I are still in love, growing older and better together, and embracing the adventure of living through the Shift. Outside our door, we witness a worldwide shit storm of chaos and unknown outcomes. We make our offering of Venus and Her Lover to all, and thank son Alex for following his dreams, which are a fractal expression of the sustainable, loving world that is on its way and may arrive after we are gone from this Earthly plane.

  ETHEREAL EPILOGUE

  Months before the publication of this book, I faced surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. I plunged into a healing process and inescapably, another round of clearing and catharsis in my womb, the site of my original trauma on Earth. During a deep meditation, I found myself in a lucid dream.

  It is sunset or sunrise, and in the distance, I see a couple walking down a road toward the horizon. I see them in silhouette: a very tall, stout man holding hands with a shorter woman dressed in flowing robes and crowning headdress. As I zoom in on them, I see it is High Priestess Becca walking with her mate, the Reptilian leader. The energy between them is calm: there is no more distrust, nor animosity, nor fighting.

  Sto
pping, they face one another, looking into each other’s eyes. So familiar. They shake their heads and laugh at how much energy they expended in a crazy game in adversarial duality. “Why did we go to such great lengths?” she asks. “So much agony!”

  “And we convinced others to suffer, too. Inflicting pain,” he says. “I ravaged life, pushed its limits.”

  She lays her head onto his chest, feeling the comfort of his scaly skin. Both of them sink into a deep sigh, letting go of eons of torment. They are together again, in harmonious unity.

  In loving embrace, she hears a mantra that encircles them:

  “The war is over.”

  Each time it gets louder until it reverberates through worlds.

  “The war is over. The war is over.”

  APPENDICES

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Throughout its creative process, Venus and Her Lover has been a creature of collaboration. Literally hundreds of people have participated in the production and nurturing of our Tantric art project. There are the people who performed the photo shoots, the hosts of our art shows, old and new friends who offered us a place to stay while we were on the road, co-conspirators for a new world of beauty and pleasure, fellow artists, and patrons and benefactors. Those whose names appear in the story played starring roles in our lives. Thank you! ¡Gracias! Mahalo! Merci! धन्यवाद Dhanyavaad! ขอบคุณมาก Kòp kun mâak! Grazie!

  In addition, there are some people we wish to spotlight here:

  We acknowledge what a blessing it has been to feel the camaraderie and outright support of modern tribes of kindred spirits :

  * The Northern California Tantra community – in particular Shakti Shen, Deborah Taj Anapol, and Paul Ramanadas and Marilena Silbey – who actively opened doors and encouraged us.

  * The Maui Tantra community – especially Sasha and Janet Kira Lessin and Devaka.

  * The Sannyasins of Osho worldwide, notably Premi and Purana, Satyamo and Navyo, Nitamo Montecucco, and Amala Fantacci in Italy, and Satyam Vinaya and Pyasa Neko Siff in Ecuador.

  * The art scene of Northern New Mexico – we remember art activist Feeny Lipscomb and recognize fellow writers Mary Trainor-Brigham, Diana Rico, and Hannah Rappaport, and filmmakers Nancy Kenney and Robert Althouse.

  As long as society commercializes art, artists rely on patrons to buy art and provide assistance and encouragement. Outstanding for us have been Paul Flicker and Monica Shultz (especially for that little vacation to the Italian Alps), Jim Channon, Bennett Dorrance (in Hawai’i), Joy Hall (for letting us live in the Palacio de los Delfines in México), Foster Gamble, Gerald Needle, Jacqui Powers & Gene Humes (in California), and Barry Norris and his printmaking crew (in Taos, New Mexico). We thank everyone who has bought prints and The Pillow Deck, and the many contributors to our crowdfunding campaign.

  In the process of learning as well as substantiating what I would write in this memoir, I read over 400 books. I am indebted to the work of greats such as Joseph Campbell, Jean Houston, Carl Jung, Georg Feuerstein, Ken Wilber, and many others. Here I would like to thank the authors/researchers with whom I conversed more deeply and who took the time to share their insights personally with me: Deborah Taj Anapol, Sienna Lea, Riane Eisler, Kenneth Ray Stubbs, Penny Slinger, Caroline Muir, Deborah Sundahl, Mantak Chia, Ellen Goldberg, Sondra Ray, Amalia Camateros, Nassim Haramein, Jean-Claude Koven, Mary Trainor-Brigham, and Pyasa Neko Siff.

  I could never have balanced my writing life with my life as mother, activist, and breadwinner without the sustenance of my spiritual practices. I honor my yoga teachers (Ram, Lalita, Yvonne, and Lisl in Puerto Rico, Helen Noakes and Sue Pendleton in India, Sofia Agatón and Raksha/Caroline deLisser in México, Caroline Wilcock, Sarita, and Phil and Suzannah in Ecuador) and tai chi teachers (Kelly Heckman in México, and Abby Marchesani in Puerto Rico).

  Over the years I was happy to receive suggestions from friends who read the manuscript. Special recognition goes to the editors and proofreaders that gave me detailed feedback: Lula Mae Chapman, Premdaya Mathieu, Mary Trainor-Brigham, Sandra Ríos, Franco Magrini, Mary Renaghan, Ginna Grace, Annie Eagleton, Sienna Lea, Felix Nacson, Walter Moora, Susan Davis, Pyasa Neko Siff, David Smith, Evie Lorgen, Caroline DeLisser, Vicki Mitchell, Anna Johansson, Dusty Teton, Daniel Pugh, Rick Segreda, Zia Parker, Madeleine Mackenzie, Ken Voegele, and the editor always first in line: James Bertrand.

  Getting this book into print and out into the world enticed teams of specialists to pitch in to shape up the graphics and manuscript (Sarita Kate Wilson, Clair Dietrich, Susan Herron, Chantelle McLaughlin; Dana Talia Sarasvati of LuruJi Design in Ecuador; and Gregory V. Diehl at Identity Publications), to print (Ricci Warmkessel and the crew at LithExcel in Albuquerque), to produce video (Sylvi Sen, Gabriel Cucalón, Rob Althouse), and to provide website and marketing help (Miguel & Esme Brinlee, Pamela Stoyka Bishop).

  We bestow hugs and kisses to our stalwart cheerleaders: Sandra Ríos, Rocco Iacopini, Mary Renaghan, Ana Easter, Julie Solomon, and Joe Cardella (of Art/Life Magazine).

  Heaps of praise to the Creative Commons. As the manuscript took shape, I realized I wanted imagery to reinforce my message and balance all the words. As Leonard Shlain has pointed out, the image engages our right (“feminine”) brain – reigning in the culturally dominant left (“masculine”) brain. When I first investigated using images, the cost per image was prohibitive. While I wanted to emphasize original conceptions of archetypal figures, I saw that the rights to ancient sculpture and art were held by museums or other private institutions. Years passed, and the concept of Public Domain/the Creative Commons/Copyright Free came to the rescue! I relied heavily on Wikimedia Commons for licensed graphics, and I thank everyone who has made it possible.

  I also sought permission for images that were held under copyright, and I thank the artists who granted it to me. They are individually acknowledged underneath the graphics. If you should find a graphic you feel you own the rights to, please contact me.

  My lifelong gratitude goes to my partner James and son Alex, although no thanks are necessary. The three of us took upon the mission of Venus and Her Lover as our desired life adventure. Nonetheless, there were hardships that demanded they go beyond their limits, and they did, and I recognize that.

  Last but not seen are the guides and guardians of Venus and Her Lover. They endeavored to keep us true to the message. I thank them for their guidance from the aetheric, archetypal realms. With all humility, I submit this big book before the Goddess of Love, Venus – in her 10,000 names – with the hopes for the healing of her lineage and for the purity of love flowering on Earth.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  I wish to gratefully acknowledge the following sources of study and information for their influences on my work. I have also consulted what are considered the holy books of the world’s great spiritual traditions, particularly THE TAO TE CHING, THE KAMA SUTRA OF VATSYAYANA, THE BHAGAVAD GITA, THE KYBALION, THE SAYINGS OF CONFUCIUS, THE QUR’AN, and THE BIBLE. It would be impossible to do justice to the long line of painters, sculptors, musicians, poets, and writers who have inspired me, so they shall remain unnamed but not unappreciated.

  “If I have seen further, it is by standing

  on the shoulders of giants.”

  ~ Isaac Newton

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