Broadcasting Sexual Energy (Pt. 1)

by Abdul Hamid, © 2002

Have you ever felt someone undress you with "bedroom eyes"? Have you ever felt a thrill or chill as someone accidentally brushed past you? Have you ever felt inexplicably flushed, aroused, or engorged? Not one of these phenomena was your imagination -- you have experienced tangible sexual energy being communicated by someone else on an invisible but very real wavelength. Indeed, as Deepak Chopra notes: "Any time you feel inspired, excited, passionate, enthusiastic -- that's an experience of sexual energy."

The state of feeling sexually aroused is typically called horniness. Some scholars trace the word horny back to the "Stag King," an antlered Celtic god of the sacred hunt whose horns represent divine potency.

William Shakespeare celebrated horniness in As You Like It: "The horn, the horn, the lusty horn / Is not a thing to laugh to scorn." Anyone who has ever felt horny knows that a person can be taken hold by something that goes beyond the mind and body. It goes beyond the mind because intellect has nothing to do with it, meaning that horniness can bring about actions that are totally illogical. It goes beyond the body because horniness is not always satisfied by a physical orgasm. That something that takes hold of us is energy -- sexual energy.

Sexual energy is a powerful force that propels us to merge with or melt into another person in ecstatic communion. This energy usually involves the genitals, but not necessarily. Frank Moore, founder of the method of energy work called Eroplay, explains in States of Tanpan: "The 'sexual' organs are no more or no less sexual than any of the other energy centers in the body."

For now, suffice it to say that sexual energy is transmitted and received all over one's body. Feelings of affection, for example, send electrical charges of energy from the heart through the arms, which typically leads to a friendly touch, a hug, or heavy petting. That's why it feels so nice to hold hands with a lover -- you are creating an energy circuit which directly connects your two hearts.

Strip-tease artists and other sexual exhibitionists thrive on the energy emitted by the eyes of their admirers. As French philosopher Gaston Bachelard once wrote, "The eye is the projector of a human force....There is nothing in the world that shines more than a look." Your sexual energy can even be fired up when no one else is looking, as most nude sunbathers have discovered. In their case, it's because the energy from the sun interacts with the energy of their bodies, illuminating certain pockets of energy that manifest as sexual arousal. Similarly, a moonlit night can spark romance between lovers, since the moon reflects sunlight.

One interesting example of sexual energy was discovered by psychophysiologist Cleve Backster (whose research is detailed in The Secret Life of Your Cells by Robert B. Stone, Ph.D.,). Backster used polygraphy technology to establish that ejaculated sperms respond measurably to the presence of their donor. In other words, the sperm cells swim around more excitedly when they are touching the man who spilled them. Why? They are reacting to the man's energy field -- resonating with its familiar wavelength.

The ancient sciences of Taoism and Tantra explore sexual energy in great detail, but primarily as an internal force that is channeled within one's own body. However, sexual energy is also an external force. Just as the energy of one angry person can fill and upset an entire room, or the energy of one joyous person can get everyone laughing, we broadcast our sexual energies when we are horny. We send out different kinds of signals that generally correspond to different locations on our bodies, like lights on an illuminated message board. Some of these lights glow, while others sparkle, blaze, or whirl. Still others shine like spotlights, stretch out like laser beams, or shoot off like lightning. Our sexual and emotional energies have a wide range of wavelengths or frequencies, as do other electromagnetic energies.

People's energetic eruptions are popularly referred to as "auras" or electrostatic fields. Some people believe that the auras of the ancient spiritual masters extended outward from their bodies for several miles, which would explain how they could draw such large numbers of followers wherever they traveled. Saints, prophets, and other holy people have traditionally been depicted with halos -- glowing emanations of light around their heads, so bright that they could be seen by the average person. The shimmering crowns historically worn by royalty are symbolic of the halo and represent power and enlightened leadership.

Auric fields have been extensively witnessed and documented throughout history. In the 1890s, Nicola Tesla (the electrical engineer and physicist who invented among other things X-rays, neon lights, radar, and the induction motor) produced the first aura photograph by immersing his body in 50, 000 volts of electricity and then recording the results on photographic plates.

In 1911, Dr. Walter J. Kilner created aura-viewing glasses filled with dicyanin dye, and a few years later he took the first full body aura photograph. In the 1930s, Austrian psychoanalyst and biophysicist Wilhelm Reich dubbed the term "Orgone energy" during his pioneering research into the life force released during orgasm. High-frequency photographs from aura imaging devices (such as the infamous Kirlian camera, invented in 1939 by Russian scientists Semyon and Valentina Kirlian) are available in such books as C. E. Lindgren's Capturing the Aura: Integrating Science, Technology and Metaphysics (2000), and Brian Snellgrove's The Unseen Self: Kirlian Photography Explained (1996).

While gazing upon Kirlian photographs, we can take literally the following words of visionary poet William Blake: "My fingers Emit sparks of fire with Expectation of my future labors." Here is a typical description of person's hand as seen through an aura-imaging camera: "The hand itself looked like the Milky Way in a starry sky. Against a background of blue or gold, something was taking place in the hand that looked like a fireworks display. Multicoloured flares lit up, then sparks, twinkles, flashes. Some lights glowed steadily like Roman candles; others flashed out then dimmed. Still others sparked at intervals." (Andrew Laurance, The Other You: How to Develop Your Psychic Potential, 1986)

Aura imaging technology aside, every person has directly and personally experienced sexual energy being broadcast, if only from feeling one's own heart, genitals, or head becoming energized during erotic situations. The physical body's energetic frequency is what underlies our first impressions of other people. Whether we "hit it off" or are "turned off" depends upon how our two energy fields attract or repel one another. The energy emanations of the body include:

• light

• sonic waves

• thermal emissions

• magnetic fields

• electromagnetic fields

For a detailed exploration of these emanations, take a look at Ted Andrews' How to See and Read the Aura (1997).

Before, during, and after acts of physical lovemaking, the sexual energy that surrounds and interpenetrates our bodies is also acting and reacting, attracting and repelling. It comes as little surprise that a man's crotch sends out an intense ray that, like a searchlight, scans for sexual prey. (The Sanskrit word for penis, lingam, translates as "wand of light.") A man's penis does not have to be erect in order to send out this sexual searchlight, though the beam will be more powerful when he is very highly aroused. According to sexual energy expert Ingo Swann, anyone who crosses this beam will experience a sympathetic arousal of his or her sexual energy, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Nor is it surprising that the nipples emit beams of energy that reach out toward a potential mate, enfolding and drawing him closer. Anyone caught in that situation, Swann suggests, is likely to go for her breasts first thing, literally pulled in as if by a lasso. The nipples also emit a nourishing subtle energy, referred to as "white snow" in ancient Taoist texts. That and other subtle energies are beautifully described in Kenneth Cohen's The Way of Qigong. For a detailed exploration of horniness energy in general, take a look at Ingo Swann's Psychic Sexuality: The Bio-Psychic "Anatomy" of Sexual Energies (1999).

Our sexual energy emanations can be so powerful that we can have the full experience of coupling even without any sort of physical intimacy. Diarist Ryan Stevens describes such an experience with a new boyfriend:

"The first time I spent the night at his house was the most amazing night of my life. We didn't fuck; it wasn't sex at all. He was sharing his soul with me. It was like we had combined auras. I knew every inch of his body before he was naked and I knew the feel of every kiss before it happened. The touch of his lips translated the deepest emotions in my soul. Most of the night I just held him in my arms and felt the warmth of his body become one with mine. That is what I feel like every time I see him."

I'd like to end this introduction to sexual energy with a thought for you to contemplate: Every single sexual act forever changes us. The bioenergy released during orgasm leaves permanent traces, like an x-ray on film. Perhaps that's the source of people's gut instinct that promiscuity and infidelity are wrong -- ultimately it's not about commitment or honesty but rather about altering an energetic pattern. Lovemaking is not only about the vulnerability of our hearts; it is about taking responsibility for enlarging our spirits. I hope this introduction encourages you to witness how you broadcast your own sexual energy and how you are affected by others'. I'll continue the discussion next time.



Abdul Hamid is a regular contributor to Nightcharm. His column appears regularly in the Art and Spirit section of this site. He is also the creator of the popular website Abdul's Waking Dream You may email him here.

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