Spirituality and work honour Venusian soul

Julie Register summarizes Thomas Moore’s session for spa professionals, "The Spirituality of Venus" in her report about the 2008 ISPA Conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada last November. She includes,

"Thomas Moore uses the word archetypal about the notion of the Venusian/Aphroditic as part of life, our sensuality, and our care for things like our hair. In the tradition of Aphrodite and Venus, hair is a wonderful thing. Taking care of our hair is a good and virtuous thing to do. It's a way to be religious or spiritual in the realm of Venus. Taking care of our hair and our body is something we are called to do and we need to do. Materials we use like shampoos, lotions, and anything else we use to care for our body are holy objects in the realm of Venus. They are used in service for this type of spirituality.

Americans do act out some of these things, but we do it with guilt. Or we don't see how our concern for our body and the time we spend in front of a mirror or in the bath is part of our spiritual practice. It goes against the Puritan spirituality (which didn't get that at all). We need to understand that the care of our bodies, the pleasure of our bodies and the taking time for our bodies is part of our spiritual practice. Many depictions of Venus show her at the bath and for her, the bath is a holy thing to do. You take a bath for your body and for your soul as well.

We find the Venus/Aphrodite nature within us in the bath, in front of a mirror, applying ointments and lotions and oils to our body and taking care of our physical life, including sexuality. Our souls need this attention to sensuality and sexuality. If we could be more sensual in life, many of our emotional issues would be helped. If you don't take care of the realm of Venus, you become aggressive and depressed."

Moore’s ISPA talk is available on two CDs for $12 from Mobiletape. Scroll down the linked page to order:
08ISPA-SS01 Working for Body and Soul with Thomas Moore.

For another description of Moore's presentation in Las Vegas, read an earlier Barque post.