This rule set began life as an exasperated put-on. A discussion group member who had hosted for some 'interesting' members of the community wrote a piece in which, in part, he collected everything that had gone wrong whenever he or somebody he knew had hosted for Pagan acquaintances, and created a semifictitious group in which ALL of these things had happened - and a set of rules in response.

As it so happened though, these met our needs, and in a sense, fiction became reality, now that there really is (or at least, really will be) a Shrine. So, here they are.

As one might expect, out of a group practicing a partially Hellenic religion, we seek a middle path, one of moderation, between total sexual license and the grotesquerie it tends to inspire, and puritanism, which so thoughtlessly discards so many harmless pleasures. In this article, one possible outlook behind such a middle path, neither prudish nor licentious, is discussed.

While we're on the subject of sex ... when we mention that we worship Aphrodite, there are those who will ask if we have temple prostitutes, or just assume that we do. No, we don't, and what a horrible idea. A group that views a healthy and loving passion as one of the highest goods (that which makes it possible to establish the loving bonds that lead to family, and the social cohesion made possible by the existence of the extended family) can not endorse, or be accepting of an institution that makes us repulsive in each other's eyes, and gives passion a sickly cast. Also, this is very far from being a victimless institution, and for this reason, it is one that we badly want to see ended. (*).

We are all in favor of freedom. But a simpleminded anarchy will not bring us freedom. It will merely bring us tragedies and hardships that we will have conditioned ourselves to believe that we shouldn't think about, because of the illusion that the choices being made are free ones.

Note, added Jan. 2003 : The Old Shrine has come and gone, and its set of rules has done likewise. What are the new rules? As I have indicated, in general, pretty much what one would expect in an open-minded, non-Politically Correct, non-Pagan setting, in which people were expected to be nice to each other and themselves. If the gathering consist of just me, my friends, and some people they really vouch for, then there are no formal rules, or anything like them, because these are people whose good sense I can count on. Failing that, though ... we'll have to talk about that.

As for the Lupercalia, of which we had little positive to say when we spoke of it in the past (1 2), as we've pondered its symbolism, we've seen a rough beauty in it which escaped our gaze before, enough to warrant the sort of commermorative observation which we've been discussing.

Let's return to our discussion of the Lupercalia, unless you came here from "... and sometimes we stumble".

(*) The point that some seem to miss, as they talk about legalization of this institution being an affirmation of a woman's right to do with her body as she wishes, is that in many cases the choice made to enter this "profession" is not a free one, but one that economic circumstances have forced on the woman. By removing the criminal sanctions against those who patronize a prostitute, one leaves a positive incentive in place to manufacture that sort of desperation. For example, if one is a sexually undesirable 50 year old personnel manager, aspiring to have sex with a string of beautiful, intelligent 20 year old women, normally, one is bound to be disappointed. However, suppose that the job market is artificially cut off, say by refusing to hire ANYONE without 2 - 5 years of experience, and the only alternative left for the woman to prostitution is death by hypothermia or starvation. Then satisfaction for our personnel manager may be as close as his copy of the yellow pages.

So, while the laws against prostitution may restrict the freedom of some who wish to take part, by reducing the incentive to make use of this sort of unequal economic power, they serve to protect the freedom of others to not take part in this industry.

Coercion is coercion, whether it is economic or more bluntly physical, and to coerce another into sex, is rape. If anything, the willingness to disguise it (and pretend that the one who has been cornered acts freely) makes the act even more despicable.