Bare Naked Fun: Discovering the Transformative Spiritual Power of a Bacchanalian Orgy

Ancient Greek Bacchanalian orgies celebrated sex, spirituality, and culture. Michael and Lissa hope to recreate the event in 2010 at a pagan-friendly site in French Lick, Indiana.

Lissa and Michael are on a mission to change the world, one orgy at a time. And their plan just might work. Michael is a modern day priest of Dionysus, the mythological Greek god of wine, who is most notorious as the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy. The ancient Romans called him Bacchus, and made him the patron deity of agriculture and the theater. He was also known as the Liberator – the god who helps free the human spirit through ecstasy, or wine. Of course that was back in the days when Jesus could turn water into wine without anyone suggesting that he should go to an AA meeting. Even today many Christians sip a bit of wine, portraying it as the symbolic blood of Christ. One can't help but think that the dynamic duo of Bacchus and Jesus might have been a lot of fun at parties. "Wine, women, and salvation" has a rather nice ring to it.

A lot has changed over the past 2000 years, but the human thirst for spiritual enlightenment and liberation is still a powerful force in all cultures of the world. And, as the internet and other forms of modern media prove on a daily basis, we still have an insatiable interest in sex. Wouldn't it be nice if our spiritual lives and our sexual lives could team up and provide a whole new meaning to the idea of a "church social"? Indeed, this is roughly the sort of vision that Michael, Lissa, and other Pagans wish to share with the world. Sex, they would say, is sacred and should be celebrated as an integral part of our social and spiritual lives. Read more