[1] Sometimes sexual rituals are highly formalized and/or part of religious activity, as in the cases of hieros gamos, the hierodule, and Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.).
[4] Freud was particularly interested in ethnological accounts of "the 'ceremonial' (purely formal, ritual, or official) coitus, which takes place" in connection with "the taboo of virginity".
[7] In such a view, "other examples of sacred or permitted public coitus of all women with all men do survive, in similarly modified 'kissing' form", as under the mistletoe "to revive the dying sun at the winter solstice, when the strongest human 'life-magic', namely ritual intercourse, is to be deployed".
[10] Erving Goffman has noted, however, "the considerable informational delicacy of this form of interaction", and how "individuals may use darkness to ensure strategic ambiguity".
The symbolism is associated with Anuttarayoga tantra where the male figure is usually linked to compassion (karuṇā) and skillful means (upāya-kauśalya), and the female partner to 'insight' (prajñā).
[30] Correspondingly, the Western adept may borrow, in the quest "to create a Sacred Space... names given to the vagina in the East, including Valley of Joy, Great Jewel, Pearl, Lotus Blossom, Moist Cave, Ripe Peach, Enchanted Garden, and Full Moon".