Fertility Cults and the Making of Sexual Magic

Throughout the course of human existence, mankind has sought nature's highly ordered patterns of operation to account for similar patterns found within. Nature's predictable cycling of birth, thriving, yielding forth seed, and dying closely mimics the human cycles of birth, growth, procreation, and death. For some, this connection to nature's fertility often functions as a reference point for understanding the origins of our own need for order. However, for others, this connection takes on a deeper significance complete with a plethora of new responsibilities. This latter group of individuals understands the connections we share to be proof of an interdependence with nature that invites us to ensure the continuance of nature's fertility by initiating our own. This paper will explore the mystical process of earth regeneration through human copulation: a process driven by the sexual rituals of fertility cults.

Fertility Cults
Fertility cults are magical, "religious cults devoted to the enhancement of the fertility of persons, plants, or animals by means of rituals" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 1997, p.504). Members of fertility cults acknowledge the obvious parallels between man and earth and attempt to invoke the systemic reproduction of the vegetation cycle by engaging in their own reproductive acts. These cults were most common among ancient agricultural societies who depended on the fertility of the earth for their livelihoods (J. Chance, personal communication, Fall 2006). Cult members, who consider themselves to be integral parts of the natural system, are responsible for encouraging the continued momentum of nature's processes by "playing their roles." Because these sexual rituals are done to secure a bountiful harvest or to ensure the successful rotation of the seasons, failure honor them could result in terrible consequences like famine or unending seasons. Today, these old fertility rituals still rely upon the connections between human sexuality and nature to induce earthly fertility.