Introductory Essay

• Tantra Without Context
• The Diversity of Tantra
• Historical Development of Tantra
• Cultural Dispersion of Tantra
• A Contextualized Approach to Understanding Tantra
  
  

Origins

• Texts
• Archaelogy, Art History
  
  

History, Philosophy and Practice

• Hindu Tantrism
• Tantric (Esoteric) Buddhism

Tantra in the West: Gurus in the News

• General
• Aleister Crowley
• Paschal B. Randolph
• Omnipotent Oom
• Tibetan Lamas in America
• Swami Muktananda and Siddha Yoga
• Rajneesh/Osho

New Age Neo-Tantra

• Sexual Instruction
• New Age Tantric Studies
• Sex Magic
• Gay Tantra

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

History is merely a list of surprises.
It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.
KURT VONNEGUT

Tantra Without Context


I created this bibliography in early 2004, to begin to understand Tantra in a broader historical-cultural context. I was introduced to Tantric practice through attending workshops with Margo Anand and Charles and Caroline Muir, the best-known teachers of Tantra in the United States. I found the training in these workshops to be personally and professionally useful, and I have incorporated some of the philosophy and practices of Tantra into my sex therapy practice.

I am troubled, however, by the hype and entrepreneurism surrounding Tantra. Last year, the musician Sting was interviewed on afternoon television as he described long sessions of Tantric lovemaking with his wife. Author David Ramsdale demonstrated a “sexual energy orgasm” live on a cable channel.

A cursory Internet search finds many tantric workshops and trainings offered, mostly on the East and West coasts, as well as Hawaii. “Dakinis” and “goddesses” advertise sexual services in most major U.S. cities.

Hugh B. Urban, an academic historian of religion, has written a persuasive article (“The Cult of Ecstasy, Tantrism, the New Age, and the Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism,” History of Religions, 2000, 40, 268-304) suggesting that Tantra is an ideal “religion” for our age where ecstasy has become commoditized and individualism and instant gratification are prized.

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The Diversity of Tantra


The process of assembling this bibliography revealed a bewildering array of literature available on Tantra, much of which is inconsistent and contradictory. Tantra is variously described as the royal road to sexual ecstasy (David Ramsdale, Sexual Energy Ecstasy); the fast path to enlightenment (Miranda Shaw, Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism); a method of deepening intimacy in a couple relationship (Margo Anand, The Art of Sexual Ecstasy); an esoteric religion (Reginald Ray, Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet); a metaphysical and magical practice (Hyatt and Duquette, Sex Magic, Tantra, and Tarot); a form of meditation (Osho, The Book of Secrets: The Science of Meditation); an element of mystical practice used for multiple public/private purposes, often to enhance the power of the guru (Jeffrey Kripal, Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna); and much more.

This bibliography thus represents a reconnoitering of the Tantri terrain. It may be viewed as an initial sorting, into large categories, of the extant material on Tantra. Within each category, particularly the two large divisions of Hindu Tantra and Tantric Buddhism, there is tremendous variability. Much of this diversity can be understood by looking at the historical unfolding of Tantric practice and philosophy over time, within the particular social and cultural contexts in which it existed. Two recent books provide useful overviews of this historical development, and the different cultural purposes which Tantra has served.

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Historical Development of Tantra


David Gordon White described the historical development of Hindu Tantrism from its earliest discernible origins before the first millennium of the current era down to the present day in his book Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex” in its South Asian Contexts (2003). White disapproves of the New Age embrace of Tantra and insists that Tantra be used to describe a religion congruent with its roots in Asian culture. He points out that Tantra was not primarily focused on sex, but rather on providing rituals and practices for villagers to manage the terrifying natural forces which surrounded them (weather, natural catastrophes, disease). A number of these early Tantric rituals did involve mystical-erotic sexual practices.

Hugh Urban’s book, Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religion (2003), takes a more politicized view of the historical development of Tantra, In it he traces the ways in which Tantra and Tantric practices were used and interpreted by different groups in different eras for different purposes. The early roots of Tantra in the first millennium of the current era, predating the first written sources, may reflect efforts by marginalized people of the lower castes in India to subvert the organized religions of their day.

By the medieval period (early second millennium A.D.), Tantra had been co-opted by ruling elites, who built elaborate temples and subsidized priests and scholars who produced the documents called Tantras. In the Colonial period, Tantric philosophy was turned to ideological purposes, providing encouragement and a vision of a powerful, Indian-ruled subcontinent to the underground Bengali movements attempting to overthrow British rule. By Victorian times native Brahmin reinterpreters of Tantra were finding ways to spiritualize the sometimes troubling sexual teachings of the early texts (much as the Christian Church has found metaphorical meaning in the Song of Solomon, noted for its erotic passages).

For Urban, the current New Age embrace of Tantra and the admixture of different cultural traditions (Native American, Sufi, Taoist, Humanistic Psychology, etc.) to produce new iterations of Tantra is just the most recent step in a centuries-long process of cultural interpretation and reinterpretation, and the diffusion and intermixing of cultural beliefs and practices. He finds it no accident that the sexual elements of ancient Tantric practice are seized upon and given central importance at this particular historical-cultural nexus in the personally alienated, sexually obsessed West.

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Cultural Dispersion of Tantra


The collection of ritual practices now known as Tantra apparently grew out of folk rituals which formed the substrate of early Hinduism (Katherine Harper, The Roots of Tantra, 2002). These practices long predated the written manuscripts, the earliest of which were not composed until the medieval period. Yet this body of cultural wisdom, ritual practice and beliefs about the nature of man in the universe was widely dispersed through the ancient world.

The cultural influence of Tantric thought and practice, centered in the Indus River valley and the foothills of the Himalayas, stretched as far west as ancient Greece. Plato’s teachings made reference to Tantric beliefs about the clarifying power of moving sexual fluids through secret channels in the body, giving rise to “seminal thoughts” – and also finding concrete representation in the caduceus, the symbol of Western medicine, two serpents entwined around a central shaft. Tantric influence spread as far east as Japan: Kobo Daishi, the monk who brought Buddhism to Japan in 806 A.D., received Tantric training and initiation in China.

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A Contextualized Approach to Understanding Tantra


Understanding historical context is crucial to making informed choices. It provides a useful reminder of the reality of cultural relativity and the mutability of institutions and cultural practices. It is a common tactic to speak of revealing secrets – particularly potent language for the sexually repressed West. We are hungry for secret knowledge.

Many present-day Tantric teachers preface their workshop brochures or books with subtitles like “ancient secrets revealed” – actually an old strategy which has served well the Masons, the Mormons, the Rosicrucians and many other cults and religious groups. This strategy serves entrepreunial and coercive purposes, seeking to empower the teacher in the mind of the student, endowing him or her with ancient knowledge which has been kept secret.

Jeffrey Kripal in his book Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna (1995) speaks of the power of invoking “the secret” in gaining disciples in his provocative study of Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali mystic. It is psychologically compelling to hear a secret hinted at, particularly when the teacher possesses charisma and charm. Is a secret which is talked about a secret, or a device?

Many scholars have observed the contrast between “secret” Tantric teachings, and how openly the secrets are talked about. Urban, for one, maintains that it is a myth that little is known in the West about Tantra. Rather, he says, Tantra is one of the most studied and written-about of all ancient ritual systems.

Tantra and Tantric practices continue to evolve. Old cultural and ritual elements are reformulated and repackaged to serve new contexts. I invite you to use this bibliography as an aid to your exploration of Tantra.

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HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE

Hindu Tantrism

Sures Chandra Banerji, Tantra in Bengal: a Study in its Origin, Development and Influence, New Delhi: Manohar Publications, 1992.

Sures Chandra Banerji, A Brief History of Tantra Literature, Calcutta: Naya Prokash, 1988.

Agehananda Bharati, The Tantric Tradition, Garden City: Anchor Books, 1970.

Brajamadhava Bhattacharya, The World of Tantra, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1988.

Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya, History of Indian Erotic Literature, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1975.

Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya, History of the Tantric Religion: a Historical, Ritualistic and Philosophical Study, New Delhi: Manohar, 1999.

Douglas Renfrew Brooks, The Secret of the Three Cities: an Introduction To Hindu Sakta Tantrism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Douglas Renfrew Brooks, Auspicious Wisdom: The Texts and Traditions of Srividya Sakta Tantrism in South India, Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.

Douglas Renfrew Brooks, “Esoteric Knowledge and the Tradition of the Preceptors”, In Donald S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Religions of India in Practice, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

Sarah Caldwell, Oh Terrifying Mother: Sexuality, Violence and Worship Of the Goddess Kali, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Sarah Caldwell, “The Heart of the Secret: A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga”, in The Unknown, Remembered Gate: Religious Experience and Hermeneutical Reflection, Elliot Wolfson and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds., New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2004.

E. C. Dimock, The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava Sahajiya Cult of Bengal, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966.

Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, The Canon of the Saivagama and the Kubjika Tantras of The Western Kaula Tradition, Albany: SUNY Press, 1987.

Georg Feuerstein, Tantra: the Path of Ecstasy, Boston: Shambhala, 1998.

Sanjukta Gupta, et.al., Hindu Tantrism, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979.

Katherine Anne Harper, et.al., ed., The Roots of Tantra, Albany: SUNY Press, 2002.

Sudhir Kakar, “Tantra and Tantric Healing” in Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and its Healing Traditions, Chicago: University Of Chicago Press 1991.

David Kinsley, Tantric Visions of the Feminine: the Ten Mahavidyas, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Jeffrey J. Kripal, Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings Of Ramakrishna, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Jeffrey J. Kripal, Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism and
Reflexivity in The Study of Mysticism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

Jeffrey J. Kripal, “Secret Talk: Sexual Identity and the Politics of the Study of Hindu Tantrism”, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Winter 2001.

Jeffrey J. Kripal, et.al., eds., Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Jeffrey J. Kripal, “On the Fearful Art of Writing Left-Handed: Some Personal and Theoretical Reflections on Translating the Kathamrta into American English”, in In the Flesh: Eros, Secrecy, and Power in the Vernacular Tantric Traditions Of India, ed. Hugh B. Urban et.al., Albany: SUNY Press, in press.

Paul Eduardo Muller-Ortega, The Triadic Heart of Siva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-Dual Shaivism of Kashmir, Albany: SUNY Press, 1989.

Andre Padoux, “Hindu Tantric Literature”, in Encyclopedia of Religions, ed. Mircea
Eliade, New York: Macmillan, 1987, 6, 365-367.

Andre Padoux, “Tantrism”, in Encyclopedia of Religions, ed. Mircea Eliade, New York: Macmillan, 1987, 14, 272-280.

Alexis Sanderson, “Saivism and the Tantric Tradition”, in The World’s Religions, ed. S. Sutherland et.al., London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988.

Prem Saran, Tantra: Hedonism in Indian Culture, New Delhi: DK Printworld, 1998.

Lillian Silburn, Kundalini: the Energy of the Depths, Albany: SUNY Press, 1988.

Kathleen Taylor, Sir John Woodroffe, Tantra, and Bengal: “An Indian Soul in a
European Body”?, Richmond, England: Curzon Press, 2001.

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Tantra Unveiled: Seducing the Forces of Matter and Spirit, Honesdale, PA: Himalayan Institute Press, 1999.

Hugh. B. Urban, “The Extreme Orient: The Construction of ‘Tantrism’ as a Category In the Orientalist Imagination”, Religion, 1999, 29, 123-146.

Hugh B. Urban, The Economics of Ecstasy: Tantra, Secrecy and Power in Colonial Bengal, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Hugh B. Urban, Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religion, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Hugh B. Urban, et.al., eds., In the Flesh: Eros, Secrecy, and Power in the
Vernacular Tantric Traditions of India, Albany: SUNY Press, in press.

David Gordon White, The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

David Gordon White, “Transformations in the Art of Love: Kamakala Practices in Hindu Tantric and Kaula Traditions”, History of Religions, 1998, 38, 172-98.

David Gordon White, “Tantric Sects and Tantric Sex: The Flow of Secret Tantric Gnosis”, in Elliot Wolfson, ed., Rending the Veil: Concealment and Secrecy In the History of Religions, New York: Seven Bridges Press, 1999.

David Gordon White, ed., Tantra in Practice, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

David Gordon White, Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex” in its South Asian Contexts, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Elliot Wolfson and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds., The Unknown, Remembered Gate: Religious Experience and Hermeneutical Reflection, New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2004.

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Tantric Buddhism

Gedun Chopel et.al., Tibetan Arts of Love, Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1992.

Daniel Cozort, Highest Yoga Tantra, Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1986.

Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: a Social History of the Tantric
Movement, New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Ronald M. Davidson, Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture and the Rise of Sakya, New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.

Keith Dowman, Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel, Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1996.

Bernard Faure, The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.

David N. Gellner, Monk, Householder and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and its Hierarchy of Ritual, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Herbert V. Guenther, The Tantric View of Life, Berkeley, CA: Shambhala, 1972.

Herbert V. Guenther and Chogyam Trungpa, The Dawn of Tantra, Berkeley, CA: Shambhala, 1975.

Peter D. Hershock, Liberating Intimacy: Enlightenment and Social Virtuosity in
Ch’an Buddhism, Albany: SUNY Press, 1996.

Jeffrey Hopkins, The Tantric Distinction: An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism,
London: Wisdom Publications, 1984.

Jeffrey Hopkins, Sex, Orgasm and the Mind of Clear Light: The Sixty-Four Arts of Gay Male Love, Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1998.

Jeffrey Hopkins, Tantra in Tibet, Diederichs GmbH and Co., KG, Verlag Eugen, 1999.

Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Reginald A. Ray, Secret of the Vajra World: the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet, Boston: Shambhala, 2002.

Khetsun Sangpo, Tantric Practice in Nying-Ma, Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1982.

Miranda Shaw, Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.

David L. Snellgrove, “Tibetan Buddhism” in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade, ed., New York: Macmillan, 1987, 2, 493-498.

David L. Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors, Boston: Shambhala, 1987.

John Stevens, Lust for Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex, Boston: Shambhala, 1990.

Chogyam Trungpa, Journey Without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha, Boston: Shambhala, 1985.

Chogyam Trungpa, Crazy Wisdom, Boston: Shambhala, 1991.

Chogyam Trungpa, The Lion’s Roar: An Introduction to Tantra, Boston: Shambhala, 1992.

Yeshe Tsogyal, Dakini Teachings, Boston: Shambhala, 1990.

Vesna A. Wallace, The Inner Kalacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Alex Wayman, Buddhist Tantra: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism, New York: Samuel Weiser, 1973.

Alex Wayman, “Esoteric Buddhism”, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade, New York: Macmillan, 1987, 2, 472-482.

Lama Yeshe, Introduction to Tantra: the Transformation of Desire, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1987.

Chou Yi-Liang, “Tantrism in China”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 1945, 8, 241-332.

Serinity Young, Courtesans and Tantric Consorts: Sexualities in Buddhist Narrative, Iconography and Ritual, Oxford, 2005.

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TANTRA IN THE WEST: GURUS IN THE NEWS

General

Daniel Copper, Guru Devotion and the American Buddhist Experience, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002.

Georg Feuerstein, Holy Madness: The Shock Tactics and Radical Teachings of Crazy-Wise Adepts, Holy Fools and Rascal Gurus, New York: Penguin USA, 1992.

Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad, The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power, Berkeley: Frog, Ltd., 1993.

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, The Book of Lies, Which is Also Falsely Called, Breaks, London: Wieland, 1913.

Aleister Crowley, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, New York: Hill and Wang, 1970.

Aleister Crowley, The Vision and the Voice, London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1911.

Frances King, The Magical World of Aleister Crowley, New York: Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan, 1978.

A.R. Naylor, ed., Theodor Reuss and Aleister Crowley, O.T.O. Rituals and Sex-Magick, Thames, England: Essex House, 1999.

Lawrence Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

Hugh B. Urban, “The Beast with Two Backs: Aleister Crowley, Sex Magick and the Exhaustion of Modernity,” Nova Religio, 2004, 7, 7-25.

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Paschal B. Randolph

J. P. Deveny, Paschal B. Randolph: Nineteenth Century Sex Magician, Albany: SUNY Press, 1997.

Omnipotent Oom

Hugh B. Urban, “The Omnipotent Oom: Tantra and Its Impact on Modern Western Esotericism”, Esoterica: The Journal of Esoteric Studies, 2001, 3, 218-259.

Tibetan Lamas

Stephen Butterfield, The Double Mirror: a Skeptical Journey Into Buddhist Tantra, Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1994.

June Campbell, Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan
Buddhism, New York: George Braziller, 1996.

June Campbell, “The Emperor’s Tantric Robes,” Tricycle, 1996, 6, 38-46.

Swami Muktananda and Siddha Yoga

Sarah Caldwell, “The Heart of the Secret: A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga”, in The Unknown, Remembered Gate: Religious Experience and Hermeneutical Reflection, Elliot Wolfson and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds., New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2004.

Lis Harris, “Oh Guru, Guru, Guru,” The New Yorker Magazine, November 14, 1994.

William Rodarmor, “The Secret Life of Swami Muktananda,” CoEvolution Quarterly, 1983, 104-111.

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Rajneesh/Osho

Lewis Carter, Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram: the Role of Shared Values in the Creation of a Community, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

James Gordon, The Golden Guru: The Strange Journey of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, New York: Viking Press, 1987.

Bob Mullan, Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Boston: Routledge, 1983.

Osho, Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

Osho, The Book of Secrets: the Science of Meditation, New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1974.

Osho, Tantra, Spain: Editorial Edaf, 2003.

Osho, Tantric Transformation, Shaftesbury, England: Element Books, 1978.

Susan J. Palmer and Arvind Sharma, eds., The Rajneesh Papers: Studies In a New Religious Movement, New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1993.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Tantra, Spirituality and Sex, Rajneeshpuram, OR: Rajneesh Foundation International, 1983.

Kate Strelley, The Ultimate Game: The Rise and Fall of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987.

Hugh B. Urban, “Zorba the Buddha: Capitalism, Charisma, and the Cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh”, Religion, 1996, 26, 161-182.

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NEW AGE NEO-TANTRA

Sexual Instruction

Margot Anand, The Art of Sexual Ecstasy: The Path of Sacred Sexuality for Western Lovers, New York: J.P. Tarcher, 1989.

Margot Anand, The Art of Everyday Ecstasy, New York: Broadway Books, 1998.

Margot Anand, Multi-Orgasmic Response Ecstasy Training For Women and Multi-Orgasmic Response Ecstasy Training For Men, Tantra.com: Higher Love Video Series, 1999.

Bodhi Avinasha, The Ipsalu Formula: A Method for Tantra Bliss, Valley Village, CA: Ipsalu Publishing, 2003.

Alan P. Brauer, M.D. and Donna Brauer, ESO: How You and Your Lover Can Give Each Other Hours of Extended Sexual Orgasm, New York: Warner Books, 2001.

Barbara Carellas, Urban Tantra: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Out-of-this-World Sex, San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2005.

Pala Copeland, Soul Sex: Tantra for Two, Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2003.

Nik Douglas and Penny Slinger, Sexual Secrets: The Alchemy of Ecstasy, Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1979.

Jonathan and Andi Goldman, Tantra of Sound: How to Enhance Intimacy with Sound, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2005.

Julie Henderson, Lover Within: Opening to Energy in Sexual Practice, Midpoint Trade Books, 1987.

Christopher S. Hyatt, Secrets of Western Tantra: The Sexuality of the Middle Path, Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 1996.

Christopher S. Hyatt and S. Jason Black, Tantra Without Tears, Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 2000.

Jwala, with Robb Smith, Sacred Sex: Ecstatic Techniques for Empowering Relationships, San Rafael, CA: Mandala, 1993.

Francis King, Tantra: The Way of Action, Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1990.

Judy Kuriansky, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tantric Sex, Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002.

Vimala McClure, A Woman’s Guide to Tantra Yoga, Novato, CA: New World Library, 1997.

Charles and Caroline Muir, Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving, San Francisco: Mercury, 1989.

Charles and Caroline Muir, Secrets of Female Sexual Ecstasy, Paia, HI: Hawaiian Goddess Video, 1996.

John Mumford, Ecstasy Through Tantra, St. Paul, MN: Llewellen Publications, 1988.

Daniel Odier, Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love, Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1996.

Daniel Odier, Desire: the Tantric Path to Awakening, Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1999.

David and Ellen Ramsdale, Sexual Energy Ecstasy, New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

David Ramsdale and Cynthia Gentry, Red Hot Tantra, Gloucester, MA: Fair Winds Press, 2004.

Diana Richardson, Heart of Tantric Sex, Oakland, CA: O Books, 2003.

Diana Richardson, Tantric Orgasm for Women, Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2004.

Marnia Robinson, Peace Between the Sheets: Healing with Sexual Relationships, Berkeley, CA: Frog, Ltd., 2002.

Lee Sannella, M.D., The Kundalini Experience, Lower Lake, CA: Integral Publishing, 1987.

Sunyata Saraswati and Bodhi Avinasha, Jewel in the Lotus: the Tantric Path to Higher Consciousness, Loveland, OH: Tantrika International, 1996.

Ma Ananda Sarita and Swami Anand Geho, Ecstatic Sex: A Guide to the Pleasures of Tantra, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003.

Bernadette Vallely, Sacred Sex: Discover the Secrets of Sexual Ecstasy, London: Piatkus Books, 2005.

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New Age Tantric Studies

Barnaby Barratt, The Way of the BodyPrayerPath: Erotic Freedom and Spiritual Enlightenment, Xlibris Corporation, 2004.

Rufus C. Camphausen, The Yoni: Sacred Symbol of Female Creative Power, Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1996.

Nik Douglas, Spiritual Sex: Secrets of Tantra From the Ice Age to The New Millenium, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Georg Feuerstein, Sacred Sexuality: Living the Vision of the Erotic Spirit, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

David Frawley, Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddesses: Spiritual Secrets Of Ayurveda, Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, 2000.

Omar Garrison, Tantra: The Yoga of Sex, New York: Julian Press, 1964.

Johari Harish, Tools for Tantra, Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1984.

John Ryan Haule, Indecent Practices and Erotic Trance: Making Sense of Tantra, Unpublished manuscript, www.jrhaule.net/ipet.html, 1999.

C. G. Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1932, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Madhu Khanna, Yantra: The Tantric Symbol of Cosmic Unity, London: Thames and Hudson, 1979.

Ajit Mookerjee, Tantric Asana: A Way to Self-Realization, New York: George Wittenborn, 1971.

Ajit Mookerjee and Madhu Khanna, The Tantric Way: Art, Science, Ritual, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977.

Claudia Muller-Ebeling et.al., Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2002.

Philip Rawson, Tantra: the Indian Cult of Ecstasy, London: Thames and Hudson, 1973.

Indra Sinha, Tantra: The Cult of Ecstasy, London: Hamlyn, 1993.

Kenneth Ray Stubbs, Women of the Light: The New Sacred Prostitute, Access Publishers, 1994.

Hugh B. Urban, “The Cult of Ecstasy, Tantrism, the New Age, and the Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism,” History of Religions, 2000. 40, 268-304.

Andre Van Lysebeth, Tantra: The Cult of the Feminine, Boston: Samuel Weiser, 1995.

Howard Zitko, New Age Tantra Yoga: The Cybernetics of Sex and Love, Tucson: World University Press, 1974.

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Sex Magic

Margot Anand, The Art of Sexual Magic, New York: Putnam, 1995

Christopher S. Hyatt and Lon Milo Duquette, Sex Magic, Tantra, and Tarot: The Way of the Secret Lover, Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 1991.

Donald Michaell Kraig et.al., Modern Sex Magick: Secrets of Erotic Spirituality, St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1998.

Gay Tantra

Bruce Anderson, Tantra For Gay Men, Consortium, 2002.

Jeffrey Hopkins, Sex, Orgasm, and the Mind of Clear Light: The Sixty-Four Arts of Gay Male Love, Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1998.

William Schindler, Gay Tantra, New York: Xlibris Corporation, 2001

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