MY NAME IS ODILE

Teacher of Tantra, Mystery Rites & Ritual Drama

I impart personal male initiation rituals to artists for liberation, self-realisation and sensual fulfilment at an elegant retreat in historic Bath, near travel links to London and overseas. My rituals emulate the ecstatic rites of ancient tantra and the archaic mysteries – an erotic-mystic experience of sacred sensual adoration, expressed through ritual drama, the reenactment of myth.

Such rites were led by the yoginī or serpent priestess who would invoke kundalini, the primordial Great Goddess, to take possession of her, whilst a male initiate representing the virile hero, Her mortal younger lover, valiantly encountered the otherworldly seductress. For the one initiate who remained steadfast and proved himself worthy, she would grant him passage to the supreme ritual where, in their embrace, he would become King, the immortal sacred masculine.

Antiquarian, Sensualist & Nemophilist

I am drawn to the ancient mysteries of pre-history and the great civilisations of antiquity, their knowledge of astronomy, sacred sexuality and ritualistic use of entheogens and aphrodisiacs, such as during the time of the megalithic and Celtic tribes, the fertility cults of Sumer, Minoan Crete and Anatolia, the secret devotees of left-hand-path tantra, and the hedonist Hellenic cults of Aphrodite, Adonis, Demeter and Dionysus.

I have an admiration for the aesthetic art, music and literature from La Belle Époque, the French Golden Age, and the Art Nouveau jewellery, ornaments, architecture and intricate interiors inspired by nature and the infamous artists’ muses of the era.

Equally at home in a retreat in the forest, gazing into a roaring fire or in a boutique vintage hotel, appreciating breakfast on a balcony overlooking the city rooftops, I enjoy the pursuit of beauty and pleasure in all its forms; some of my favourite experiences include:

Bathing in hot springs or relaxing in a hammam, visiting an exhibition or gallery, savouring cardamom coffee with dates and assorted baklava, perusing antiques markets or souks, visiting the Acropolis museum at night when the crowds have departed, walking the candlelit Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in the late autumn, watching a ballet performance at a grand opera house, intimate afternoons in bed with a lover escaping the heat or the cold of the day, a full-course dinner of exotic cuisine with many dishes of distinct flavours, swimming among the ocean bioluminescence after a night dive, and dancing wildly under the moonlight until sunrise.