Yoni (Sanskrit: योनि yoni) is a Sanskrit word that means “source or origin of life”.
The ancient VEDAS contain the word YONI in various contexts. The original meaning of yoni was “Divine Passage”. A child was considered to be born from a yoni of stars – constellations that prevailed during the child birth.
The Aryans had identified some 50,000 astrological yonis that favour a child’s birth. The term yoni was also used in agricultural references by the Aryans. A ‘fertile yoni’ meant a good harvest of crops.
The Veda known as the Ayurveda, or Science of Life, was the record of the ancient medicinal art of the Aryans. The Ayurveda was the only Veda that described yoni as a part of the female anatomy. Here the term was meant as a designation of respect for women who gave birth, thus contributing to the continuation of the community.
The word also has a wider meaning in both profane and spiritual contexts, including “spring, fountain, place of rest, repository, receptacle, seat, abode, home, lair, nest, stable”. It is also etymologically derived from the root yuj—like yoga and yogini—meaning, “to join, unite, fasten, or harness.”
In South Asian cosmology, the yoni is a “representation of the female sexual organ and thereby the symbol of the goddess Sakti, consort of Siva.
The yoni is also considered to be symbolic of Shakti or Devi in Hindu Tantra.
In classical texts such as Kama Sutra, yoni refers to the vulva.
El feurdj (the slit ) – It has this name because it opens and shuts again when hotly yearning for coitus, like the one of a mare in heat at the approach of a stallion.
El kelmoune (the vulva ) – This word serves as the name of a young woman’s vulva in particular. Such a vulva is very plump and round in every direction, with long lips, grand slit, the edges well divided and symmetrical and rounded; it is soft, seductive, perfect throughout. It is the most pleasant and no doubt the best of all the different sorts. It is warm, tight, and dry; so much that one might expect to see fire burst forth from it. Its form is graceful, its odour pleasant; the whiteness of its outside sets off its carmine-red middle. There is no imperfection about it.
El kelmoune (the voluptuous ) – The name given to the vulva of a young virgin.
El ass (the primitive ) – This is a name applicable to every kind of vulva.
El zerzour (the starling ) – The vulva of a very young girl.
El cheukk (the chink ) – The vulva of a bony, lean woman. It is like a chink in the wall, with not a vestige of flesh.
Abou tertour (the crested one ) – It is the name given to a vulva furnished with a red comb, like that of a cock, which rises at the moment of enjoyment.
Abou khochime (the snub-nose ) – Is a vulva with thin lips and a small tongue.
El gueunfond (the hedgehog ) – The vulva of the old, decrepit woman, dried up with age and with bristly hair.
El sakouti ( the silent one ) – This name has been given to the vulva which is noiseless. The member may enter it a hundred times a day but it will not say a word, and will be content to look on without a murmur.
El deukkak (the crusher ) – So called from its crushing movements upon the member. It generally begins to push the member, directly it enters, to the right and to the left, and to grip it with the matrix, and would, if it could, absorb the two testicles.
El tseguil (the importunate ) – This is the vulva which is never tired of taking in the member. This latter might pass a hundred nights with it, and walk in a hundred times every night, still that vulva would not be sated — nay, it would want still more, and would not allow the member to come out again at all, if it was possible. With such a vulva the parts are exchanges; the vulva is the pursuer, the member is the pursued. It is only found in a small number of women, who are wild with passion, all on fire, and in flame.
El taleb (the yearning one ) – This vagina is met with in a few women only. With some it is natural; with others it becomes what it is through abstinence. It is burning for a member, and, having got one in its embrace, it refuses to part with it until its fire is completely diminished.
El hacene (the beautiful ) – This is the vulva which is white, plump, in form vaulted like a dome, firm, and without any deformity. You cannot take your eyes off it, and to look at it changes a feeble erection into a strong one.
El neuffakh (the swelling one ) – So called because a torpid member coming near it, and rubbing its head against it a few times, at once swells and stands upright. To the woman who has such a one it procures excessive pleasure, for, at the moment of the crisis, it opens and shuts convulsively, like the vulva of a mare.
Abou djebaha (one with a projection ) – Some women have this sort of vulva, which is very large, with a pubis prominent like a projecting, fleshy forehead.
El ouasa (the vast one ) – A vulva surrounded by a very large pubis. Women of that build are said to be of large vagina, because, although on the approach of the member it appears firm and impenetrable, as soon as it feels the friction of the glans it opens wide at once.
El aride (the large one ) – This is the vulva which is as wide as it is long, that is to say, fully developed all round, from side to side, and from the pubic to the perineum. It is the most beautiful to look upon. As the poet said,
It has the splendid whiteness of a forehead
In its dimensions it is like the moon,
The fire that radiates from it is like the sun’s,
And seems to burn the member which approaches
Unless first moistened with saliva the member cannot enter
The odour it emits is full of charms.
It is also said that this name applies to the vagina of women who are plump and fat. When such a one crosses her thighs over the other, the vulva stands out like the head of a calf. If she lays it bare it resembles a saa for corn placed between her thighs; and, if she walks, it is apparent under her clothes by its wavy movement at each step. It is of all the most pleasing, the most celebrated, the most wished for.
Abou belaoum (the glutton ) – The vulva with a vast capacity for swallowing. If such a vulva has not been able to get coitus for some time it fairly engulfs the member that then comes near it, without leaving any trace of it outside.
El mokaour (the bottomless ) – This is the vagina of indefinite length, having, in consequence, the matrix lying very far back. It requires a member of the largest dimensions; any other could not succeed in rousing its amorous sensibilities.
Abou cheufrine (the two-lipped ) – This name is given to the amply developed vagina of an excessively stout woman. Also to the vagina the lips of which having become flaccid, owing to weakness, are long and pendulous.
Abou aungra (the humpbacked ) – This vulva has the mount of Venus prominent and hard, standing out like the hump on the back of the camel, and reaching down between the thighs like the head of a calf.
El rorbal (the sieve ) – This vulva on receiving a member seems to sift it all over, below, right and left, fore and aft, until the moment of pleasure arrives.
El hezzaz (the restless ) – When this vagina has received the member it begins to move violently and without interruption until the member touches the matrix, and then knows no repose till it has hastened on the enjoyment and finished its work.
El lezzaz (the unionist ) – The vagina which, having taken in the member, clings to it and pushes itself forward upon it so closely that, if the thing were possible, it would enfold the two testicles.
El moudd (the accomodating ) – This name is applied to the vagina of a woman who has felt for a long time an ardent wish for coition. In rapture with the member it sees, it is glad to second its movements of come and go; it offers the matrix to the member by pressing it forward within reach, which is, after all, the best gift it can offer. Whatever place inside of it the member wants to explore, this vulva will make him welcome to, gracefully according to its wish; there is no corner it will not help the member to reach.
El mouaine (the assistant ) – This vulva is thus named because it assists the member to go in and out, to go up and down, in short, in all its movements, in such a way that if it desires to do such a thing, to enter or to retire, to move about, etc., the vulva hastens to give it all facilities, and answers to its appeal. By this aid the ejaculation is facilitated, and the enjoyment is heightened.
El meusboul (the long one ) – This name applies only to some vulvas; everyone knows that vulvas are far from being all of the same conformation and aspect. This vulva extends from the pubis to the anus. It lengthens out when the woman is lying down or standing, and contracts when she is sitting, differing in this respect from the vulva of a round shape. It looks like a splendid cucumber lying between the thighs. With some women it shows projecting under light clothing, or when they are bending back.
El molki (the duellist ) – This is the vulva which, on the introduction of a member, executes the movement of coming and going, pushes itself upon it for fear of its retiring before the pleasure arrives. There is no enjoyment for it but the shock given to its matrix by the member, and it is for this that it projects its matriz to grip and suck the member’s gland when the ejaculation takes place. Certain vulvas, wild with desire and lust, be it natural or a consequence of long abstention, throw themselevs upon the approaching member, opening the mouth like a faminished infant to whom the mother offers the breast. In the same way this vulva advances and retires upon the member to bring it face to face with the matrix, in fear that, unaided, it could not find the same.
The vulva and the member resemble thus two skillful duellists, each time that one of them rushes its antagonist, the latter opposes its shield to parry the blow and repulse the assault. the member represents the sword, and the matrix the shield. The one who first ejaculates the sperm is vanquished; while the one who is slowest is the victor; and assuredly, it is a fine fight! As the poet says,
I have let them see the effect of a subtle shadow
Spinning like an ever busy spider.
They said to me, ‘How long will you go on?’
I answered them, ‘I will work til I am dead.’
El harrah (the fugitive ) – The vagina which, being very tight and short, is hurt by the penetration of a very large and soft; it tries to escape to the right and left. It is thus, people say, like the vagina of most virgins, which not yet having made the acquaintance of the member and fearful of its approac, tries to get out of its way when it glides in between the thighs and wants to be admitted.
El sabeur (the resigned ) – This is the vulva which, having admitted the member, submits patiently to all its whims and movements. It is also said that this vulva is strong enough to suffer resignedly the most violent and prolonged coitus. If it were assaulted a hundred times it would not be vexed or annoyed. It will show the same patience if it has to do with several members who visit it successively.
This kind of vagina is found in women of a glowing temperament. If they only knew how to do it, they would not allow the man to dismount, nor his member to retire for a single moment.
El mouseuffah (the barred one ) – This kind of vagina is not often met with. The defect which distinguished it is sometimes natural, sometimes it is the result of an unskillfully executed operation of circumcision upon the woman. It can happen that the operator makes a false move with his instrument and injures the two lips, or even only one of them. In healing there forms a thick scar, which bars the passage, and in order to make the vagina accessible to the member, a surgical garden will have to be resorted to.
El merour (the deep one ) – The vagina which always has the mouth open, and the bottom of which is beyond sight. The longest members only can reach it.
El addad (the biter ) – The vulva which, when the member has got into it and is burning with passion, opens and shuts again upon the same fiercely. It is chiefly when the ejaculation is coming that the man feelts the head of his member being bitten by the mouth of the matrix. And certainly there is an attractive power in the same when it clings, yearning to sperm, to the gland, and draws it in as far as it can.
El meuass (the sucker ) – This is a vagina which in its amorous heat in consequence of voluptuous toyings, or of long abstinence, begins to suck the member which as entered it so forcibly as to deprive it of all its sperm, dealing with it as a child drawing on the breast of the mother.
El zeunbour (the wasp ) – This kind of vulva is known by the strength and roughness of its fur. When the member approaches and tries to enter, it gets stung by the hairs as if by a wasp.
El harr (the hot one ) – This is one of the most praiseworthy vulvas. Warmth is in fact very much esteemed in a vulva, and it may be said that the intensity of the enjoyment afforded by it is in proportaion to the heat it develops.
El ladid (the delicious ) – It has the reputation of procuring an unexampled pleasure, comparable only to the one felt by the beasts and birds of prey, and for which they fight sanguinary combats. And if such effects are produced upon animals, what must they be for man? And so it is that alll wars spring from the search for the voluptuous pleasure which the vagina procures, and which is the highest fortune of this world; it is a part of the delights of paradise.
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The earliest reference to yoni tattva in Kaula tantra seems to be in the Kaula Jnana Nirnaya of Matsyendranath(English translation published by Prachya Prakashan, Benares, 1986):– One should always consume the physical blood and semen. (KJN, Patala 8)
Other Kaula tantras deal with the subject of menstrual blood in very plain terms. Matrikabheda Tantra (Englishtranslation Indological Book House 1990) describes the different types:– “Shri Shankara said: The firstmenses appearing in a woman who has lost her virginity is Svayambhu blood. In a maiden born of a marriedwoman and begotten by another man, that which arises is Kunda menses, the substance causing the grantingof any desire. Deveshi, a maiden begotten by a widow gives rise to Gola menses, which subdues gods. Themenses arising in the first period after a virgin becomes a married woman is the all bewildering Svapushpa.”(MT, Patala 8)
The very first chapter of the MT mentions a substance called sambal, described in the commentary as awoman’s menstrual discharge. This substance allows the tantrik adept to perform various sorts of alchemicaloperations.
The Kaulavali Nirnaya (Agamanusandhana Samiti, Calcutta nd), edited by Sir John Woodroffe, is a digest ofother Kaula tantras. Summarising chapter 18, Sir John paraphrases the tantra:– “there are people who regardsemen and menstrual fluid with disgust, but they forget that the body by which they hope to attain Liberation iscomposed of these two forms of matter, that the marrow, bone and tendons have come from the father and theskin, flesh and blood from the mother. It further says that there is no reason for man’s disgust for excreta orurine, for these are nothing but food or drink which has undergone some change and contains living creatures and the Brahman substance is not absent therefrom…All things are pure. It is one’s mentality which is evil.”(KN, introduction, pp19-20)
Reverence for Women
The Kaulas regarded female gurus very highly and there were many examples of yoginis or female tantriks. InYoni Tantra Patala 7 we find:–
“Women are divinity, women are life, women are truly jewels.” This sentiment is echoed in many other tantrassuch as Shakti Sangama Tantra, Devirahasya and elsewhere. A woman is the goddess:– “Worship carefully awoman or a maiden as she is Shakti, sheltered by the Kulas. One should never speak harshly to maidens orwomen.” (KJN, Patala 23)
“In Kaula every woman is thought of as a manifestation of the Goddess. No man may raise his hand, strike orthreaten a woman. When she is naked, men must kneel and worship her as the Goddess. She has equal rights with men on all levels.” (Occult World of a Tantrik Guru, Values Vol.IX)
“Women are heaven; women are dharma; and women are the highest penance. Women are Buddha; women are the Sangha; and women are the perfection of Wisdom.” (CT 8,30)
KamarupaThe Yoni Tantra hails from Cooch Bihar (Kocha), but many of the Kaula Tantras originate from Kamarupa. InPuranic legend, this is the place where the yoni of Devi fell to earth after the Goddess’ body was sliced into 50segments by the discus of Vishnu.
First Patala
O Lady Goddess!Worshipping in this manner, liberation is placed within a person’s reach.
A yoni worshipper should prepare the Shakti mantra. He gains wealth, poesy, wisdom and omniscience.If a person worships with menstrual flowers, he also has power over fate. Doing much puja inthis way, he may become liberated. The devotee should place a Shakti in a circle. She should be wanton,beautiful, devoid of shame and disgust, charming by nature, supremely alluring and beautiful. The devotee should worship her with utmost devotion. He should place her on his left, and shouldworship her hair-adorned yoni. At the edges of the yoni, the devotee should place sandal and beautifulblossoms. After smearing sandal on her forehead, the devotee should caress herbreasts.
After reciting the mantra for 108 times, while in her arms, the devotee should caress the breasts, havingpreviously kissed her on the cheek. The mantra should be recited 108 or 1008 times in the yoni circle.
After performing yoni puja using these methods, the devotee attains whatever is desired — there is no doubt ofit. The fruit of doing puja to the great yoni, deliverer from the ocean of misery, is life and enhanced vitality.
~Second Patala~
Which types of yoni should be worshipped and which bring good fortune?
The devotee should worship the mother’s yoni and have intercourse with all yonis. He may have intercoursewith any woman between the ages of t—–e and sixty.
He should worship the yoni daily, using the five tattvas. The forehead mark should be made from yoni tattva.
Firstly, in intercourse, the purified worshipper should draw the Shakti to himself by her hair and should placehis lingam into her hand. The lingam puja and the yoni puja should be performed according to the injunctions.Beloved One, red powder and sandal should be smeared on the lingam.
The lingam should be inserted into the yoni and there should be vigorous intercourse. He who uses thismethod attains the highest essence. A devotee should worship with the yoni tattva, of the form of yoni, thedeluder of the world, at night when it is full moon, at a crossroads.
Having seen the yoni full of menses, after bathing and reciting the mantra 108 times, a person becomes a Sivaon earth. One should recite the mantra after offering both one’s own semen and the yoni flowers.
By all means a sadhaka should haveintercourse in the yoni, previously caressing the Shakti’s breasts.One becomes instantlyregenerated and fully alive by using the water from washing yoni and lingam. After worshipping the great yoniaccording to injunction, one should make an offering. The water of the yoni is of three types and one shouldoffer it to the Shakti.
~Third Patala~
The miraculous Yoni Tattva Tantra is the best of all tantras.The only evil in sexual intercourse is disgust for blood and semen.
The yoni which hasbled is suitable for worship. Do not worship a yoni which has never bled.
Combining semen with menses and taking this in the hand, carefully offer itinto the Yoni.By worshipping the yoni one certainlyworships Shakti.
~Fourth Patala~
What knowledge in the three worlds can match the magnificence of the yoni tattva?
In this temperament there is exclusive devotion to the doctrine of the yoni. Onebecomes pure by making a forehead mark of yoni tattva.
~Fifth Patala~
One should always meditate on the pure yoni. One should always smear the yoni tattva on thebody. If one should place one’s lingam next to her vagina and then penetrate, one becomes liberated.
In the mutual friction of the lingam and yoni is great sadhana. The greatest thing in mantra recitation andsadhana is the outflow of semen and vaginal emission.
The powerful sadhaka, following the rule, should offer the augmented substance to the yoni region after mixing the semen and yoni tattva together.
The wise man should caress that yoni. After worshipping according to rule, one should not have intercourse. Oneshould only couple with the yoni that bleeds.
If one should worship a hair-adorned yoni, one becomes like a king. All acts become fruitful, no doubt of it. Onebecomes very wealthy if marking oneself with a forehead mark of yoni flowers.
A sadhaka wishing to worship a yoni,which is the form of the cosmos, should cause an erection and insert it into that thing which is Shakti Herself.Worshipping them, one becomes liberated while still alive, there is no doubt of it.
~Sixth Patala~
If a person should gaze at a yoni while ritually bathing, his life becomes fruitful. There is no doubt of this.
If a worshipper of the yoni tattva enters a dispute,after conquering all enemies he becomes ultimately victorious. What is the point of bathing in theGanges? What need is there to resort to sacred places? There is nothing equalling devotion to the yoni. Actingotherwise is useless. There is nothing praised in the world more worthy of praise than the yoni tattva.
One should bring together the yoni and the lingam and worship the tattva. One should place oneself inthis certain thing and give everything to Shakti. One should satisfy using the five tattvas in the shape of thevagina, which is the whole universe.
Liberation is achieved through enjoyment. Happiness is gained through enjoyment.Therefore, by every effort, a sadhaka should become an enjoyer. The wise man should always avoid blame, disgust or shame of the yoni.
If one should lick the elixir at the edge of the yoni, evil in one’s body or dwelling place is certainly destroyed.
The leftovers of both the Shakti and the Vira should be drunk.
If one should worship the yoni, bowing thrice with a flower, all karmas are destroyed and nothing in the threeworlds becomes unattainable.
~Seventh Patala~
After eating and drinking, one should then consume yoni tattva. Of all food, this is the food which should be worshipped fearlessly. Sexual intercourse in every kind of yoni is widely praised. Oneshould always smear a line of menstrual blood or sandal paste or semen on the forehead. This isthe core of true bliss.
There is no such thingas an inauspicious time. It makes no difference whether it be night or day, the 14th day of the waning moon orthe twilight time.
Women are divine, women are life, women are truly jewels. Always have intercourse with a woman andmeditate, whether she be one’s own woman or not. That which has been revealed to you is the whole essencehidden in all tantra.
At the time of consuming the substance, one should firstly offer it to one’s Shakti. Otherwise, one may first castwater into the vagina. The sadhaka should have sexual intercourse with his Shakti after enjoying food and reciting the mantra.
Now listen to the time when the semen-menses is emitted. If one should worship the yoni tattva,making a forehead mark with it, all defects and evils of a hundred births are immediately destroyed.
By yoni tattva oblation, the ancestors reside in paradise. One should always caress a nubile yoni. Ifone should divert oneself in the urgent dance after preparing the cavity of the great yoni, then one is freed fromall defects and stains of all births.
~Eighth Patala~
Without sexual union there is never liberation.Worship a nubile yoni in a highly ecstatic way.
Whosoever recites mantra in a supremely devoted way specifically to the yoni, the core of theuniverse, is within reach of liberation.
Meditate with yoni on the tongue, yoni in the mind, yoni in theears and yoni in the eyes. Mighty Lady, all sadhana is vain unless with the yoni. Therefore, reject other pujasand do Yoni Puja.
