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The archetypal Tantric couple, Shiva and Shakti. Shiva is depicted with snakes and a garland of skulls and his body is white as ashes. Shakti is shown as sensuous, with red cosmetics and ornaments dominating. Dramatization of sentiments aids ritual love-making by stirring up the emotions. From a Basohli miniature painting, Punjab Hills, circa 1690.

Tantric makeup, showing the Third Eye of awakened consciousness. From a contemporary sculpture, Crafts Museum, New Delhi.

Egyptian ladies with elaborate cosmetics and ornaments. They wear head-pieces of fragrant perfumes and flowers. From an Egyptian painting.

Painting the hands of women with henna or red dye is common to many Oriental cultures. It is particularly associated with marriage rites and ritual love-making. From a contemporary photograph.

Many different designs have evolved from basic floral patterns. From a contemporary photograph of an Indian marriage ceremony.

The feet of women are colored with henna or red dye. Patterns are drawn with great care and are considered an essential part of bridal ceremonies in India. From a contemporary photograph.

symbols. Other parts of the body,

the degree of concentration necessary to successfully apply body makeup will assist in gaining ascendancy over the ever-wandering

mind.

For Tantric rites of high magic, the body is bathed and lightly oiled, and then dusted all over with ashes. Wood ash contains valuable trace minerals in a finely divided state, easily absorbed through the skin. Pure ash from selected hardwoods (for example, oak) has an invigorating and insulating effect on the body, protecting it against psychic disturbances. Once the wood ash is applied, exact marks (usually groups of three parallel lines) are made on the lower legs, thighs, forearms, upper arms, between the sexual region and the navel, across the navel, the middle of the chest, the throat and the forehead—usually with a powder or ointment made from crushed sandalwood, herbs, cereal grains, or intoxicating ingredients. Then the Third Eye, or another symbolic mark, is painted right in the middle of the forehead, rising upward to the middle parting of the hair. The female partner may also have these marks applied, together with the ashes, but the most common custom is for the man to look terrific (with ash and marks) and the woman to look seductive and sensual (face makeup, with parts of the body such as the forehead, throat, nipples, navel, Yoni, hands, and feet colored red). The po - tential inherent in the union of male aggression and female receptivity is activated by the careful and dramatic use of makeup, prior to and during ritual love-making.

The color red is known to effectively stimulate the male sex center. This explains the predominance of red in female facial cosmetics. The Chinese and Japanese, among other evolved cultures, saw in the natural

contrast between the skin's pallor (often itself accentuated by white makeup) and the rosy tinge of cheeks and lips, a reminder of the symbolic interplay of red and white ma- teriality-producing forces and accentuated this in their theatrical masks.

Eye shadow also originally had a purpose that has been largely forgotten. Besides accentuating the eyes' natural brightness, shape, and beauty, dark colors absorb reflected light. Kohl, an Eastern product used for this purpose, if properly prepared, has a cooling and therapeutic effect on the eyes. The correct preparation is made from the soot of precious medicinal substances, such as camphor. Recent pharmacological research suggests that camphor stimulates the respiration, heart, and cerebral cortex, and has a powerful effect on activating memory. Furthermore, scientific tests show that special preparations of camphor can increase clairvoyance. Tantric texts include special formulas for preparing extra-potent kohl by burning camphor with other volatile substances, sublimating the smoke on the outside of a metal pot filled with cold water. The Tantric kohl is scraped off the pot and used on the eyes, forehead, and other regions of the body.

Tantric Yogini with body ornaments symbolic of the Five Elements (space, air, fire, water, and earth). From a Pala stone sculpture of the ninth century, Hirapur Yogini Temple, Orissa.

Tantric evocations of god and goddess archetypes often make dramatic and aesthetic use of makeup. In Nepal, for instance, there is an annual Festival of the Living Goddess, celebrated by decorating and parading a selected virgin girl to whom offerings are made. Her face is exquisitely made up, with marks of red, white, yellow, and black. Tantra teaches that every woman has her virginity restored after the completion of her menstrual period. Some rituals specify celebrating this by preparing the female partner as the embodiment of the Living Goddess, using makeup, essential oils, fine clothes, and jewelry.

Moles or mouches are presently out of fashion, but no doubt changing trends will bring them back in once again. In the past, women commonly created these beauty marks on their faces and bodies by application of black makeup. In Eastern cultures, the beauty marks subtly communicated by their shape, size, and placement the suitability and status of a woman as an initiatress into the secrets of love.

Most women feel an attachment to their ornaments and personal jewelry. These hold special significance, serving as reminders of a particularly potent experience and linking her to the person who either made or bought them. A woman should carefully choose ornaments for a special occasion, considering not only their aesthetic effect, but also their value as amulets. The amuletic view of jew - elry is of great significance in both ritual and daily Tantric lifestyle, acting on both conscious and unconscious levels of awareness. An amulet is imbued with emotional and magical qualities, and works through the powers of association and resonance.

Jewelry adds to the beauteous vision that a woman can create through a skillful blending of makeup, clothing, and ornaments.

When a man bites a woman, she should do the same with double force. Thus a Point should be returned with a Rosary of Points, and a Rosary of Points with a Broken Cloud, and if she feels chaffed, she should immediately begin a love quarrel with him. At such times she should take hold of her lover by the hair, bend his head down, kiss his lower lip, and then, in the intoxication of her love, she should shut her eyes and bite him in various places.

KAMA SUTRA

biting and scratching

Eastern treatises on the Art of Love always include a section on biting and scratching. As part of the Battle of Love, careful biting and scratching of the partner are a way of expressing ecstatic emotions. Sexual energy can be channeled into specific parts of the partner's body through lovesome biting and scratching. Teeth and nails can be consciously used to stimulate erogenous zones, pressure points and acu-meridians, helping to release and circulate energy. Stimulating the skin surface by lightly using the nails like feathers causes the hair to bristle and goose pimples to form. This acts as a potent energizer and mood changer, and can help awaken the Kundalini. Light nibbling of the ears is a stimulating part of foreplay; gentle biting of the nape of the neck, in the way that a tiger grasps a tigress, is also arousing. The fleshy Mount of Venus of the Yoni region, and the base of the spine, are both places where playful nibbling can evoke joyous experiences.

The kind of love-bite best known in the West is made by sucking or lightly nipping the partner's skin. It leaves a red mark resembling a small bruise. Such marks are po - tent reminders of a particularly ecstatic love experience long after the event. Especially during the early stages of a love affair, passionate love-marks can be of great significance to lovers.

The Kama Sutra states, "The places that can be bitten are the same as those that can be kissed, ex-

Tiger and tigress in love-play. From a contemporary photograph.

cept for the very sensitive areas such as the upper lip, the interior of the mouth, the eyes, and so on." Eight distinct love-bites are enumerated, classified according to the marks left on the skin. They are known as the Hidden Bite, when the skin becomes excessively red; the Swollen Bite, when the skin is pressed down on both sides; the Point Bite, when a small portion of the skin is bitten with only two teeth; the Rosary of Points, when small portions of the skin are bitten with all the teeth; the Coral and Jewels, produced from bringing together the teeth and lips (the lip is the coral, and the teeth are the jewels); the Rosary of Jewels, when biting is done with all the teeth; the Broken Cloud, produced from biting on the breasts with an open mouth; and the Boar's Bite, many broad rows of marks near to each other, with red intervals, impressed on the breasts or shoulders. The Kama Sutra adds that the lower lip is the best place on which to make the Hidden Bite, the Swollen Bite, and the Point Bite; the Rosary of Points and the Coral and Jewels are suited to the throat, armpit, and joints of the thighs; and the Swollen Bite and the Coral and Jewels are suited to the left cheek in particular. The left, in Tantra, is always associated with the intuition and the moon.

Hindu texts declare that biting should only be incorporated into love-making if it is pleasing to the woman. As a variation on the Battle of Love, the woman should "bite her partner in return, with double force." If biting is carefully woven into love-play, there is no need for any fear of excess.

The Art of Scratching is mentioned in both the Kama Sutra and the Ananga Ranga.

In ancient India, the nails were sometimes specially shaped to enable their precise use during love-bouts. The Kama Sutra states, "Those with intense passion should have their left-hand fingernails made like a small saw blade, with two or three points. People with middling passion should shape and paint their nails to resemble the beak of a parrot, while those with little passion should paint a crescent shape on their nails."

Eight different kinds of nail marks are described in the classical texts: Sounding (pressing, leaving only a slight indentation), Half-moon (a curved mark, made with one nail), Circle (when two Half-moon marks are impressed opposite each other), Line (a straight mark, made by drawing a fingernail across the skin), Tiger's Claw (a curved line),

Tantric love-posture, effective for prolonging ecstasy. From a Rajasthani miniature painting of the eighteenth century.