support freedom of religion !!!

Freedom of religion is what our great nation was supposedly founded on, correct?

For those of you that haven’t been following the case of the recent shut down of an Arizona Tantric temple check out this article

No, a tantric temple where someone can donate for rituals that comprise of sexual encounters is not much different than a brothel even though its under a spiritual pretext, however I believe that religion been a business of some sort for a while and as long as mormons, scientologists, catholics and jews get to practice their beliefs openly and accept donations for their temples, so should we.

Read the following letter and follow this link to support.

Dear Tantra/Goddess/Sexual Shamanism/Tribe,

As you know I am embroiled in a legal precedent setting case where in our religious practices around anointing, chakra balancing and sacred sexuality teachings are being challenged by the state of Arizona. Our entire Temple family is under extreme duress and we need your help with prayers and letters.

Many of you have attended lectures or trainings given by me and others at the temples in Seattle, Sedona, Scottsdale and Phoenix. Many of you have chosen not to do hands on (one-on-one) healing practices out of fear of this very scenario. What is needed (besides a patron with an activist nature and money to contribute) is letters testifying to the sincerity and traditional authenticity of our religious practices. These initial letters have to do with our religion, the sincerity of my/our practices to alleviate the common suffering around the root chakra/sex energy.

If you feel so called you may also comment on my integrity as a Temple Found-Her, teaching and leading minister in our national movement.

Most of you have not had private ritual sessions with me and so you need not comment on that. We are looking for character witnesses who can attest to my long-term commitment, past, present and future, to bringing these ancient practices to light in the 21^stcentury.

Our religions of Tantra, Goddess Worship and Sexual Shamanism are under grave attack. Twenty letters from peers are needed at this time as “20″ is the number of awakening.

Send your letters via email to my attorney, John Vigileos ASAP and include the length of time you have seen my/our ministries in action, any “normal” church activities, ministries and temple trainings that you have observed. Comment on the temple facility(s) and how our group was doing in your eyes at “holding sacred space” for practitioners, seekers and teachers.

It is essential that your letters arrive via email immediately. We are attempting to show my ministerial character to plea a lower bail bond (mine is set at $1,000,000, equivalent to pre-meditated murder and armed robbery). If you have also any knowledge of me living with my “vow of poverty” and can testify that money was not, in your eyes, viewed as my primary motive; that would help too.

I remain (incarcerated) In Her Service,
Goddess Bless,
Tracy Elise

For those writing letters please email john@vigilaw.com

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Bill

September 25th, 2011 at 4:18 pm · Reply

The thing is, if you set a price for “rituals,” it becomes payment for services. There’s a quid pro quo. Which is different than churches, where the donating isn’t prescribed — you can give a penny, or thousands of dollars, or nothing; and your attendance isn’t required — there’s no quid pro quo, no services exchanged. For those of us who want sexwork legalized, a situation like this doesn’t help — once someone says “Offerings of Support: $204 1 hr, $303 90 mins”, it’s not a contribution to a church, it’s payment for service. Which is surely something I wish that could happen legally in this country… but it’s not a donation to a church, one given freely with no expectation of something in return.

To set prices completely undercuts the religious aspect of the practice. Once you do that, you become a business in the US, subject to laws and taxation.

Houston

September 27th, 2011 at 1:57 pm · Reply

Yeah, have to agree with Bill. Legally the temple can’t charge for services.

While it should be legal it unfortunately is not.

Jean-Paul

September 30th, 2011 at 8:41 pm · Reply

Christian churches charge for services all the time. When I was a kid, my parents paid for me to receive special bible study tutorship, they paid for vacation bible school, they paid for their own bible study classes, they paid for a variety of church activities (like the church softball league) and on and on and on. And while giving a tithe is technically voluntary, good luck sitting in those pews long-term without getting harassed by some church employee if you don’t cough up some cash on a regular basis. The standard is usually that all church members give 10 percent of their income. It’s hard to become a member of any church without them wanting to know how much you make, and then demanding ten percent of it one way or another (on top of all the a la carte stuff you want).

Charging for a Tantra service (which is supposed to help you experience the religion on a deeper level) is no different than charging for bible study or spiritual revivals — they are charging for services inherent to the religion. The difference between them is obvious: Christianity is mainstream and Tantra is not, so the law conveniently ensares Tantra people and not Christian people. Well.

I hope she fights this crap and wins.

Houston

October 14th, 2011 at 9:13 am · Reply

I agree with you in principle, but legally there is a slight difference. Officially selling anything deemed “sexual services,” is considered a crime (All be it there is a big gray area and the law is fuzzy and riddled with holes) selling say a bible or asking for tuition for a bible study is not considered criminal because the thing being offered is…

A) Not illegal.

B) Part of the religion

Tantra only fulfills the first part of that. Personally I hope they win as well, just because I feel Tantra is as valid a faith as any other (considering its ancient roots, I’d say it deserves a spot in our society). Legally they are at a disadvantage, though I know a few lawyers and have enough grasp of the legal system and the courts to say, she might get off. Though she is definitely going to need an all star defense as the prosecutor is going to beat her pretty heavily to score points with the more conservative crowd.

ted

October 3rd, 2011 at 11:15 pm · Reply

I agree with all three of your comments and I believe that this is a First Amendment issue. Whether a court will see it that way remains to be seen. The state in this case will of course argue that this is prostitution pure and simple and depending on how they present their case they may well prove this to a jury. Miss Elise’s lawyer(s) will have to prove that sex and or sexual healing is a part of her religous practices in order to have any chance of winning this case. Even if she is able to prove this a jury may still not agree with it.

Houston

October 14th, 2011 at 9:16 am · Reply

If Miss Elise’s lawyer is a competent lawyer he will know that jury selection is going to be of the paramount importance for this. The prosecution is going to want the most conservative of juries and one for whom a tantric religion would offend such cultural sensibilities. Hopefully Miss Elise’s lawyer can pull it off because it would be an interesting precedent, especially if it goes to the higher courts.

Red

January 31st, 2012 at 5:33 pm · Reply

If they set them selves up as a church and non-profit like scientolgie (miss spelled on purpose)then they would be able to “tith” as they do. It also seems to me that the county government has taken it upon them selves to deceide what is religion and what is not.
They should also look into the Universal Life Church (ULC)verdict which spells out that the government can not say what is a church and what is not.