BGSQDBureau of General Services—Queer Division
BGSQD
EXPLORING QWEER EROS
This five week communal exploration of qweer erotic myths and mysteries will utilize the Heart Circle and Plato’s Symposium to explore the unique power of qweer erotic ethos and its importance in our world today.
The Symposium was chosen for this workshop because in its five speeches Athenian philosophers at a drinking party express in depth their thoughts concerning erotic love. Although specific to the time and place – eros between adult men and youth – The Symposium provides an excellent platform for contemporary discussion. Themes we will cover include the nature of eros, desire, attraction, loss, coupling, erotic friendship, fear, death and HIV/STIs. We will delve into the connection between eros and psyche, eros and thanatos, and eros as a community builder and binder. Using the Heart Circle approach will allow participants to explore these strong subjects in a safe, confidential and non-judgmental space.
These Heart Circles will be conducted every Wednesday evening, 7-10 p.m., beginning January 21, ending February 18, and will be facilitated by Rosie Delicious. All circles will be held at the Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, in the LGBT Community Center, 208 w. 13th St, NYC.
The weekly Heart Circles will integrate this classic text with contemporary practices that integrate mind, body and spirit in a rejuvenated erotic life for participants. We will be using Plato’s Erotic Dialogues, translated/edited by William C. Cobb, 1993, SUNY Press. You may read it online or purchase a hard copy, available through the Bureau of General Services – Queer Division at the LGBT Community Center.
It is advised that participants attend all five weeks as each week will cover different sections of the text. Pre-registration is encouraged via email to houseofdelicious@gmail.com. An additional text describing the Heart Circle process will be sent to all registrants. This series is free although we will pass a hat for donations to be shared by the Bureau and the facilitator.
Rosie Delicious, a Radical Faerie sex magician, has co-facilitating Sex Magick Workshops in the Radical Faerie tradition since 2000. This workshop was initiated by Harry Hay and John Burnside in 1990, and Rosie encountered this most efficacious work in 1996. Using the Heart Circle technique as a way of exploring these classic texts will enable participants their own unique experience of their qweer sexuality in a safe and confidential environment.
Interested participants can also register to attend a week-long sex magick retreat using this experience as a cornerstone.
Harry Hay asked 3 essential questions for qweer men to explore:
Who are we?
Why are we here?
What are we here for?
Hay argued that to answer these questions for ourselves, each of us needs to dig deep into our consciousness to find our unique narrative, both for our personal benefit as well as for the gifts that we bring to society at large. The best way to explore this was through sharing in the Heart Circle practice. Through the use of a talisman or talking stick, the Heart (or Talking) Circle is a process that allows each participant to share their experience and perspective in an uninterrupted flow. Harry gleaned this means of communing from his lifelong study and work with Native Americans. Heart Circle practice also grew out of the new consciousness movements of the 1960’s and 70’s and has become a hallmark of communing in Radical Faerie circles.