Maggie Tapert

Maggie Tapert was born and raised in the USA and has lived and worked in Europe for more than thirty years. She is the mother of two grown children and lives together with her partner in Zurich Switzerland, where she has a therapeutic practice. In 1994, she received her Master of Healing degree from Dr. Robert Jaffe's School of Energy Mastery in Sedona, Arizona.

In 1994, Maggie began blending her healing skills with her understanding of sexuality by taking on the role of "Sacred Prostitute". Embodying this powerful archetype for several years in workshops, provided a first-hand understanding of the deep need for sexual healing carried by most men and women.

WINGS OF JOY

Maggie has gone on to create numerous workshops and programs around the theme of sacred sexuality and today she is an experienced and internationally known seminar leader. 

With her own writing and in interviews, Maggie has been featured in numerous publications (Cosmopolitan, Spuren, Sein-Berlin, Connection, Online Today) and her award-winning Internet website attracts visitors from around the globe.

Humor, joy and a deep respect for the development of the individual human soul are characteristics of her work. 

Maggie's current program WINGS OF JOY® is an advanced spiritual training for women. Healing the separation between the sacred and the sexual continues to be a profound focus of her work with men and women both in Europe and North America.

The tension in the room was claustrophobic. We had been together for several days, preparing for this moment when we would welcome the stranger. A circle of women, together learning, growing, refining and evolving into a powerful calling for the woman of today: Priestess. 

Our program of study was a grand revolution - at once a release from narrow definitions that had bound women for centuries and a leap-of-faith into the NOW of a magical new mythology of sacred sisterhood. We were remembering lost aspects of our collective female soul and unearthing pristine treasures of feminine beauty and creativity - we were taking an honorable but little-known path into authentic female power.

In keeping with tradition, we had lovingly prepared the room for our ritual, removing the furnishings and all unnecessary junk that might distract us from the focus of our intention and design. We then carefully swept the room dispersing dust, dirt and all energetic negativity. We had lit the room with hundreds of tall red tapers in brass candelabras strategically placed around the room. 

The altar was strewn with velvety red rose petals, the incense was burning and the mats were arranged in a large circle in the middle of the room, covered loosely with cloths in sensual shades of red, orange and gold. The sun was setting and evening just coming on. The room darkened steadily as daylight gave way seamlessly to the magical glow of candlelight.

The women held hands in a circle, their elaborately decorated masks in place and their capes draped artfully over their bare shoulders. They looked beautiful to me, my priestesses-in-training, eyes radiating a shiny excitement through their masks. I felt proud of them, each stepping into authority as she took her place in the larger circle of life, accepting her leadership role as spiritually awakened women. 

I waited by the entrance to the room for my assistant to lead the men into our ritual circle. "Breathe!" I reminded the women and a soft giggle rose from the group, acknowledging the anxious anticipation that caused them to hold their breath. 

Marianne was a virgin at 56. She had devoted her life professionally to the care of the elderly, the sick and the dying - washing them, feeding and nursing them, looking after their every need and then finally when the time came, helping them cross over into death. Her caretaker role had defined her life and she accepted this but she seemed oddly out of sync with the playful, at times ecstatic energy that I perceived in the other women who were training with me. I greatly admired and respected the qualities that she exhibited as "Priestess of Death" but over time, I noticed an emotional mask that she wore concealing something that was missing, unfinished or incomplete in her.

Periodically she put on external signs of femininity: ropes of clanking cockle shells around her neck combined with large dangling flashy-colored earrings, bright red lipstick and black fishnet stockings in painful contrast to shapeless homely housedresses that hung from her narrow shoulders. She seemed to long for some expression of femininity but the outward appearance that she created at such moments was more weird than flattering. Her short cropped hair and her pale body denied the maturity of her years. Her inner softness and vulnerability were disguised by a voice that was disconnected and often too loud.

We felt the electricity in the room increase as they approached the threshold - three men dressed in black, their faces hidden behind elegant black leather masks. These were the best from my team of sacred whores, selected over the years because of their self-assured physical grace and their devotion and love of women. They came to the Temple not to please themselves but to serve and honor the Goddess and to dance with her priestesses. 

Each man strong in his individual style and expression but united in their intention to bring this powerful and sacred masculine archetype into the reality of time and space. The priestesses had never seen them before and they would leave again at the close of the evening without speaking a word or revealing their identity.

As they crossed into the magical space of the Temple, each man silently bowed to me and took up his place at the end of the room, outside the circle of priestesses. "All praise to the Goddess Aphrodite," I began my invocation standing between the men and the priestesses with my arms raised to heaven, "in whose holy Temple we are joined. May we ever honor and uphold the beauty and joy that fall from Her sacred hands. Beloved brothers, my priestesses welcome you to this holy place, this Temple of love, created and upheld by women as a sign of our power and authority here on Earth.

Behold our circle and the sister we bring before you. She is virgin and desires to know man. Honor her and her womanhood here in our presence before the altar of the Goddess Aphrodite. Allow our sister to experience the beauty of your masculine essence. Be that which you are in power and glory and may the Goddess guide you, hand and heart. Let the dance of love begin!"

The priestesses sat down at the outer edge of the mat in a large circle with Marianne still standing in the middle in her white mask and robe. One by one, I took the men by the hand and led them into the circle so that they formed a very close inner ring around the virgin. They stood very still for a few moments, simply radiating to her their phallic presence.

Then one man opened her robe and slipped it gently from her shoulders, placing it beside her on the mat. She stood in their midst, unsure and excited at once. One man lay her down and then they began to gently stroke and caress her. Awkward and insecure in these first moments, she tried to reciprocate, to give something back to the men. I leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Do nothing, only receive." Looking up at me, she let out a sigh of relief and began to relax. She lay back in blissful acceptance and started to enjoy the loving hands that touched her and what they were revealing and opening in her body.

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The men embraced her, held her, stroked her, touching her gently in every possible...