Ever since D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916), moviemakers have known that the best excuse for filling can after can of nitrate with lustfully undulating flesh has been to show the evil sexual rituals of pagan Babylon, the naked sabbats of Inquisition-era witches, or modern-day Satanists who meet up in clandestine lodges to have wild, unbridled orgies under inverted pentagrams after they toss off their black, hooded robes and put on their goat-head masks.
As an initiate of a modern-day Magickal order that teaches the "secrets" of sexual magick (Aleister Crowley's O.T.O./Ordo Templi Orientis to be exact), I can say with authority, at least from my personal experience, that these Hollywood depictions are so far off-base they're ridiculous. In reality, "sex magick" is an Eastern tantric practice, meant to bring about altered states of consciousness and heightened states of ecstasy. Pretty boring stuff to many would-be initiates of "the occult" once they find out how much meditation and yoga and WORK is involved and how little time these students of the "mysteries" spend in frenzied orgies to Satan.
But don't get me wrong--I know plenty of magickians who like throwing and attending orgies. I've been to masses (which I wouldn't call "black", just ... dogmatically altered) that feature a naked woman on an altar, although they're nothing at all like the "black mass" portrayed in Midnight Mass (2002). I've participated in rituals devoted to the Greek god Pan, the randy goat of the woods, though they sure as Hades never turn out like the last twenty minutes of The Beast (1975).
I've had conversations with magickal folks who claim to have actually had sex with discarnate entities such as incubi and succubi, though the entities didn't show up in the flesh like succubus Kaitlin Hopkins (Picture: 1 - 2) does in Spirits (1990). I've never had a demon-sex experience myself, but that doesn't mean the idea, on a fantasy level, doesn't appeal to me. Actually the thought of having sex with the devil gets me pretty hot. Father, forgive me--it's probably just a weird side effect of growing up Southern Baptist in the heart of the Bible Belt.
Barbara Hershey (Picture: 1 - 2) gets smacked around over and over by an invisible booby grabber in The Entity (1981), you can't help but cheer on ol' mister see-through for his great taste in women. Barbara's bush gets burned over and over by the spook, who shakes her up pretty good at first ... but before long she starts seeing right through him (har!) and figures she might as well cooperate with him.
Cooperation normally is key in real magick, even if the devil doesn't show up on his own. True seekers wouldn't brew up a soma-style potion to knock someone out so they can get knocked up by Satan, like what happens to poor Mia Farrow (Picture: 1 - 2) in Rosemary's Baby (1968). But without all those sinister elements the plot would be pretty boring. Satan wouldn't be nearly as big and bad if he asked his baby's mama kindly for permission ahead of time, now would he? Nor would mama Mia's perky little meat-balloons stand to attention quite as well if not startled into submission by the Prince of Darkness and his minions.
Real-life "devil worshipers" (a distinctly different sort from magickians) tend to lean toward the mundane and criminal ... if they really could get all kind of power by brewing up herbs and sacrificing babies, they wouldn't spend so much time trimming their mullets and torching churches. Or maybe those are just examples of the failure cases. Perhaps the "Satanists" who are doing it right really are in charge.
That's the consensus among people who believe that some Skull and Bones-style secret society (i.e., the Illuminati) is running the world behind the scenes. Those under the sway of these "dark forces"--who allegedly gain their power by swearing blood oaths to Satan and show their thanks by worshipping him through sex rituals--have been popping up in all kinds of flicks as of late.
Sex magick and its connection to the Illuminati and the Antichrist is the center of the little-seen British film Revelation (2001), which features a borderline blasphemous (well, to orthodox Christians) sex scene that takes place on a Star of David embedded in the floor of a chapel devoted to Mary Magdalene (the "prostitute" of the Bible). Natasha Wightman strips down to nothing as she seduces the soon-to-be-father of the new messiah, who apparently won't be born of a virgin this time around.
Shadowy, hooded figures who hang about in secret, clandestine lodges and have wild, weird sex also show up in The Ninth Gate (1999). This movie suggests that if Satan likes you, he'll make a point to provide you with plentiful, primo poontang. Johnny Depp, Lucifer's golden boy, not only gets it on with Emmanuelle Seigner (Picture: 1) (his personal guardian angel/demon lover) in front of a burning building but also manages to lock horns with Lena Olin (Picture: 1), the member of an "evil" occult lodge, who shows us her end (well, at least her body double does) before she meets her own.
Leave it to a couple of Scientologists, then, to titillate us with quasi-cult-like orgy action in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Nicole Kidman (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3) is naked pretty much through this whole thing , which is great enough in and of itself, but what's even better is seeing all the "cult"-member girls at the orgy letting their black cloaks fall to the floor, leaving their faces covered by masks and their bushes on display (Picture: 1 - 2). Though not explicitly "occult", the idea remains the same--kinky sex and bountiful nudity is to be found by people into odd religions who wear black, hooded robes.
And speaking of orgies and people in robes, this stuff's been a hellishly hot topic even since 1922, when a bunch of Swedes decided to make the witchcraft "documentary" H?n: Witchcraft Through the Ages. This controversial silent was banned outside its native land for many years and usually popped up heavily censored when it did resurface.
Like the "sex hygiene" films of the '50s and '60s, H?n was just an excuse to pack a movie full of naked flesh under the guise of "morality". Based largely on the fevered imaginations of medieval woodcut artists and the authors of The Malleus Maleficarum, H?n presents a hidden world where Satan leads his followers in nightly orgies of masturbation, fornication, and human sacrifice.
Lust-maddened witches dance blasphemous jigs on crosses, kiss Satan's backside, and bear his demonic children. Horny old hags lead monks astray with magical love potions, while Old Nick himself lures naked wives away from their sleeping husbands into outdoor groves of debauchery. Of course, the movie blames Satan for every problem in society, while simultaneously giving viewers plenty of ideas for their own unholy sabbats ... which is why it ought to be required viewing for anyone with an unholy imagination or thinks the "occult revival" just got off the ground during the Age of Aquarius.
See you in Hell!
