The Sacred Sensualist's Guide- Make.Love.Magick

By Nadirah Adeye, Shift Network’s Production Team - Goddess of all Goodness

I’ve been in the midst of a passionate love affair in recent months, taken over by everything rose. I have images of roses as my screensaver. I’ve been buying roses for myself as a treat to add to my home altar. I have a special rose-blend oil that I wear only in the company of my Beloved or when I want to remind myself of him. Just last month, I purchased a bottle of potable rose water to add to the water and beverages I drink throughout the day. I have so thoroughly infused myself that I have started to smell roses in dark and empty rooms. The spirit of the rose seems ever present in the space around me. All I have to do is close my eyes and she’s there- tangible, sensuous, needing only my focused awareness to appear.

This obsession with roses has become my gateway to an immersion in Love and Sensuality. As my senses have become used to leaning in, opening with a “yes” to the sight, scent and flavor of the rose, I’ve engaged that openness as a means of turning my attention toward the idea of Love. Focus on the rose, feel the openness, replace “rose” with “love”, gently return to that place of openness, then turn my consideration toward those I love- my partner, my son, my family, friends and community. I am striving, continually and always gently, to return to that feeling of openness while noticing - What are the sensations I feel in my body when I think of those that I “love?” What do those sensations say about my beliefs about love?

I am also appreciative of the perspective that love is a verb. It’s about the actions we take as opposed to our thoughts or feelings. That viewpoint says that love is most certainly not about chasing or analyzing sensations. Due to recent life events, I have become deeply familiar with the ways that I equate love with service, duty, and responsibility. To love is to do what needs to be done, making others and their well-being a priority in my life. Now, however, I am committed to deepening and expanding my entire experience of loving (both the feelings and the actions). How do I do more than just generate a whole lot of pleasure feelings in my body? And how do I remain connected to the feeling of love while taking action in service of others (executing the duties of love)? My practice at this time is to actively merge these two approaches by allowing the sensation of love to arise, to fill my senses and all the spaces in my body, and, with an awareness of my commitments to myself, to my family and to my communities great and small, I ask myself the question: “What is the most loving next action I can take?”

What arises will usually cause my heart to race. Moving forward on that is how I make.love.magick.

Nadirah Adeye is a member of the Shift Network Production Team - Goddess of all Goodness.  She is a Sacred Sensualist, a priestess, a mother, and a perpetual student of love and the Divine. She is deeply appreciative to Amy Jacobs for the introduction to the “most loving next action” inquiry. You can learn more about Nadirah at her site Sacred Sensual Living and by liking her Facebook page.