Messages from the Quodoushka Tradition of Turtle Island

Whether frequently enjoyed or often avoided, sex is undeniably the most powerful energy of existence. According to the shamanic teachings of Quodoushka, originating from the Twisted Hairs tradition of Turtle Island (including ancient cultures from North, South and Central, Americas, as well as the lands now known as Australia and New Zealand), sexual energy is the original, boundless life-force that everything in existence is created through and from.

If misused or abused, it has the power to cripple our growth, place trauma in our bodies, or keep us confused and longing for intimate connection our entire lives. If well understood and used in beauty, our sexual life-force energy can become a pathway of healing and ultimately a means for our spiritual transcendence.

For some, placing sex and blissful union together with spirituality may seem a strange or even blasphemous notion. For numerous ancient native cultures however, sex was considered as essential to human life as breathing or eating. Just as one may reach high states of open bliss and awareness by simply breathing, so can one experience sexual union as a bridge to profound feelings of spiritual oneness and bliss. 

In cultures free from generations of guilt, blame and shame about sex, children were taught from a young age that their sexuality was beautiful, natural and good. Without such guidance however, countless men and women suffer today from sexual doubts, fears and all sorts of misconceptions. Caught in either over indulgence, or long periods of denial, many are seeking more conscious and clear teachings about the meaning and purpose of sex in their lives.

Message from Quodoushka

The Two Sacred Laws from this tradition say much about an ancient spiritual approach to sexuality:

Everything is Born of the Feminine and Sparked by the Masculine.
Do Nothing to Harm the Children.

The first Law teaches that everything in existence is here due to the coming together of feminine and masculine energy. Remembering that each of us is born from an act of sexual union teaches us to honor and respect both the feminine and masculine energies of eternal creation. The second Law teaches above all else of the sanctity and holiness of all life. If the children are harmed how can life continue?

While many of us may have been harmed by a forgetting of these two Sacred Laws, Quodoushka teaches that healing old wounds is always possible. When held with sincerity and perseverance, guiding the ways we come together sexually, these Sacred Laws generate a naturally respectful attitude about sex. Imagine if our children were taught that Everything is born of female energy, Sparked by Male energy, and that nothing must be done to harm the children of earth.

A Balance of Energy
In the Quodoushka tradition it is said there are five ways to heal, five ways to come back into balance when we lose our way.

To Give with Tenderness
All emotional imbalance stems from a lack of giving with tenderness. We experience anger, fear, jealousy, possessiveness or greed because we are holding, hording, and not giving. Whenever we get off balance emotionally, the message from Quodoushka is simple: Give to yourself, to life and to others with tenderness and the pain in your heart will cease.

To Hold and Transform with Intimacy
Physical imbalance, loss of libido and exhaustion comes from a lack of intimate listening to the needs of the body. For example, habitually ignoring the bodies’ need for sexual expression ultimately leads to sickness, aging and early death. Ancient teachers have said, what brings health and balance in the body is intimately listening to our real needs for rest, food and physical love. 

To Receive with Caring
To receive with caring means being highly sensitive to minute sensations of our own pleasure and to become keenly open to the needs of our lover. Quodoushka teaches that it is mostly our projections of judgments and expectations that interfere with our ability to give and receive sexual pleasure. 

 To Determine with Spirit
Whenever we go against our innermost desires our spirit weakens and it becomes difficult to be sexually open. To regain hope and strengthen our spirit it is said that we must determine just what are those innermost hopes and desires.

To use Open heart to Heart Communication
This is why the elders of the Quodoushka share that the way for us to enjoy what are called the’ five huquais’ of health, hope, happiness, harmony and humor is to learn to heal, teach, share and care for another with open heart to heart communication. For it is with the sincerity and honesty of our hearts where the journey of sexual healing begins.

Amara Keeps the Fire
A Spiritual Sexuality Instructor, author and poet, Amara has been referred to as ‘a gifted mystical teacher’. She's held workshops throughout the United States, Asia, Australia and New Zealand and is the author of Sexual Agreements: A Guide to Reawakening Sexual Passion.  Trained in both the Shamanic Quodoushka and White Tigress Taoist traditions, Amara has been practicing and teaching since 1987. The Australian Quodoushka 1&2 workshops are being held  April…-… and ….. in New Zealand.  Please contact www.ozsacredsexuality  or www.nourishingarts.com for more information.