25 May Bernd-Christian Otto
Bernd-Christian Otto
LECTURE
To come or not to come: comparing two types of ‘sacred sexuality’
The paper explores techniques, interpretations and some of my personal experiences of ‘sacred sexuality’ in two distinct new religious movements: the so-called Sweet Medicine Sundance Path, a neo-shamanic movement in which I have done fieldwork from 2018-2023; and the Ardharatra Kaula, a private tantric community of a guru whose disciple I became in 2020. As a practitioner-scholar, I explored these movements and their use of sexual techniques both from an observer as well as practitioner perspective. What struck me was their very different, if not contradictory, interpretation of the function of (male) ejaculation in the attempt to control and direct sexual energies. While ejaculation is a key moment in the neo-shamanic movement, it is withheld on principle in the tantric kaula – yet both claim that this is precisely how the sexual energy is ‘transferred’ onto its ritual goal. After outlining the main techniques used in both groups, the paper presents some personal experiences and reflections on the effects of both types of practices.
Bio
Dr. Bernd-Christian Otto is one of the founding members of the Center for Advanced Studies ‘Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective’ at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (www.cas-e.de) and currently works as a permanent fellow at the Center. Trained in religious studies, Otto’s research focuses on magic and esotericism, where he combines different methodologies such as conceptual history, discourse analysis, qualitative interviews, participant observation and practitioner-scholarship. Otto is also co-founder and scientific director of the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices (www.rensep.org), a charitable association that builds bridges between scholars and practitioners and funds cutting-edge research in the study of esoteric practices. His book publications include Defining Magic: A Reader (Routledge 2003), Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe: The Clandestine Trade in Illegal Book Collections (Palgrave MacMillan 2017), Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration and the Power of Imagination (Brill 2021), and Comparing Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective: Experiments on Collaborative Authorship (Brill 2025).
