“To be ourselves causes us to be exiled by many others, and yet to comply with what others want causes us to be exiled from ourselves.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“So I’m thinking of writing an article called ‘The Whore Next Door’,” I mused to my partner as he was falling asleep.
“Oh, really?” he said, eyes flying open. “Couldn’t you use a different word? Sounds like an uncomfortable trigger.”
“I don’t want to dilute things,” I replied, but wondered if he was right.
What does the word “whore” bring up for you?
It’s not a trigger for me, and I use it liberally when writing erotica. Having been raised in the Catholic faith, I was indoctrinated into the concept of “whoredom” as it were, through the impactful story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Even back then, with no remembrance of my past lives, Pagan roots, or Witch’s skills, I had a knowing that this whole whore complex had deep connections to the Divine Feminine…although I could not articulate it as such. It breathed within me as a reverence for flow, surrender, and receptivity. I experienced it via nature and the fairy tales I adored.
Later in life, when I realized that fairy tales were holographs of our inner world (psyche) and embodied emotional archetypes, I revisited what I had been taught about the whore.
The rest here darlings…
This is one reason why I think you are changing the genre, or at least for me, I view your work as a novel, and not erotica. Before reading this trilogy, let me just set a little back story. I, too, grew up in a catholic home, and my parents are very traditional. Intimacy, to them, seemed to be something for procreation, at least in my eyes. Discussions about sex were never had. As a young man growing up, I often had severe self image questions. I have cerebral palsy, a minor form, walk with a slight limp, and so, in a way, I have always had trouble romantically with women. In a way, I have always tied success and happiness in my heart and life, with if I were able to marry.
Having dreams and desires, and wanting to explore those desires, I always found them as unsettling because it wasn’t “missionary” or traditional and just for procreation.
Deciding to go on a self discovery journey and self love journey, I have never been more free and at ease with my wants and desires as I am when reading your work.
Such beauty and authenticity. It is because of you as a human being and friend that I have been able to progress to where I am now, and still growing.
I never viewed your use of whore as bad. Embracing desires and something you want is not bad. And anyone who reads your books, it is a beautiful love story, and I always believed the only way to be truly happy is being authentic.
Everything about your being is beautiful. Keep being you, dear friend