It seems like themes of sexuality and pleasure have taken on an increasingly important role in my life over the last year. A few years ago, I took a last-minute job teaching a course on the Anthropology of Sexuality, a topic in which I had grounding but did not consider myself an expert. In the intervening three years, I have increasingly been called on to teach similar courses and to speak on issues of sex, sexuality, sex education, and sexual empowerment. I have come to think of myself as a Sexuality Educator, rather than simply as someone who teaches courses that deal with the topic of sex. And I've become increasingly passionate about medically accurate, comprehensive sex education, as well as about sexual empowerment more generally. This past spring, I started my Internet radio show, All Acts of Love and Pleasure, which examines love, sex, sexuality, eroticism, and relationships in a Pagan context. I have become, in a very real way, passionate about pleasure.

Running alongside these themes has been the overarching theme of trying to find and live my passion. My career has been in flux, in various ways, for the last couple of years. I've been working to discover the passions that drive me, and to make my life and my living doing those things. This work has been some of the most difficult of my life, as it asks me to plumb my deepest depths and be unflinchingly honest with myself about my wants, my desires, my fears, and my expectations of myself -- as well as my Divine right to live a life that fills me up and feels good. I have been working to embrace the Divine Yes.

So I'm eager to work with Venus, the Queen of Pleasure, this week. Often we think of Venus only in relationship to sexual pleasure -- which is an important part of her realm. But Venus's message this week is to find what gives me pleasure, and to know that Love will bring me pleasure.

Venus. from The Goddess Tarot by Kris Waldherr

"Love Will Bring You Pleasure"

Some questions I'll be entertaining this week, and which I hope you'll ponder with me:

What does love mean to me?

What do I love?

How do I experience love?

What is pleasure to me?

How can I cultivate more pleasure in my life?

What is passion to me?

What am I passionate about?

How can I honor and cultivate my passions?

How can I cultivate more love in my life?

How do I express love?

How can I express love more, or more clearly?