Of Marriage, Henry VIII and Sexual Prayer

We trace the beginnings of the English speaking version of the sexual prayer to the sixteenth century. Secret Benedictine envoys of Henry VIII took notes as the ancient Rabbins, expelled from Spain, explained the qabalistic secrets of sexual magick. Those secrets involved meditations of the body, mind and spirit which allowed a married couple to achieve success in the 400 worlds of Sepher Yetzirah.
Just like marriage customs and rituals, marriage laws vary considerably from one culture to another. Every past or present society has had its own concept of marriage, and many have created marriage laws that reflect their particular conceptions. Ancient Roman law recognized three forms of marriage. Confarreatio was marked by a highly solemnized ceremony involving numerous witnesses and animal sacrifice. It was usually reserved for patrician families. Coemptio, used by many plebeians, was effectively marriage by purchase, while usus, the most informal variety, was marriage simply by mutual consent and evidence of extended cohabitation. Roman law generally placed the woman in the “power” of her husband and on the same footing as children.
The Alchemical Marriage is, perhaps, the most interesting. This refers to the union of extremes - the Lamb shall lie down with the Lion. This will remind the Palladist of the Strong Medicine of the New Flesh.
Another form of marriage in shown in the picture. The chance meeting of the seeker with the object which is sought. This is the true union of opposites, one of the main themes of Maria de Naglowska.