Aspects of Uleria (not so long)

From: Pam Carlson <carlsonp_at_wolfenet.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 02:01:50 -0800


 Frank Rafaelsen makes an elegant point (with lots of good examples - hooray!) about considering a wider POV about coutesans & Uleria.

Frank's point in short: "What one must realise is there are many kinds of

> prostitutes, some I think are very appropriate for Ulerian cultists and

> some I feel are not.... They could be like the Greek hetaes who were
highly educated
> and well mannered. ... Or the Uleria cultists could be like Indian temple
dancers."

My point is that these women mentioned above, whether steet walker or coutesan of the highest caliber, (the sort of which men write poems about), still exist ONLY to please men sexually. In a society where women are valued for their contibutions OTHER than pleasing men, (BTW ancient Greece and medieval India are not the best examples of such societies), I don't think you'd find many women leaping gleefully into the coutesan role, high class or not.

(This doesn't mean that there aren't women in Glorantha who use men to their own advantage - but I don't think that Uleria is the cult for them - Trickster, more like).

My idea of Uleria, the Great Goddess of Love and Life, is more far reaching. Ulerians might run hospices for the dying or aged, orphanages, even animal shelters. They might arrange & perform weddings, or oversee festivals for children (as in David Dunham's Ralios campaign), or even occasionally offer to be intimate with other people.

IMO, the best RW example of an Ulerian is the character "Maude" in the wonderful movie "Harald and Maude". Yes, Maude slept with Harald, but only to teach him how to live. She also taught him the difference between life and death, between beauty and banality, and between love and greed. (If you haven't seen this one, head on down to your local video store - it's a comedy w/ a great old Cat Stevens score.) Maude was not a coutesan - she was simply a fearless old lady who loved life and people.

I guess my question is, why should one of the greatest and most ancient deities of Glorantha define "love" as sexual pleasure? It's an aspect, certainly, but in the grand scheme of life, a small one.

Pam
(Whose mind is running with a Cat Steven's tune from Harald and Maude...)

"If you want to be me, be me!
 If you want to be you, be you!
"Cause there's a million things to be,
"You know that there are."


End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #358


WWW at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html

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