On Being Naked at SweetWood Temenos

SweetWood Temenos believes that human beings have evolved from groups where being naked was part of the social intimacy. While clothing was a way to protect the body from the elements, enhance gender differentiation and mark status, kinship or membership, social nudity was part of the inherent intimacy, affiliation and trust of belonging to a given social or kinship group. There was a sense that being naked, either alone in Nature or socially, fostered a feeling of peace. This peace results from being in harmony with ones nature, and reminds us of an earlier paradisiacal time where all were naked and life was easy. Social nudity within kinship groups was a way of maintaining a connection to this paradisiacal time & being in harmony with humanity’s ancient gregarious nature.

SweetWood Temenos is a land consecrated to the mystery of Divinity as symbolized by the marriage of the Younger Deities. SweetWood Temenos holds that the act of being naked on its land is an act of wholeness or holiness. It holds that nakedness on this consecrated land is an essential freedom. This freedom is necessary to achieving human wholeness, and to communion with the mystery of Divinity, as symbolized by the marriage of the Younger Deities. This freedom is part of the spirit of the Younger Deities’ marriage and so is vouchsafed by this marriage. For SweetWood Temenos, being naked on its land and participation in its rituals & celebrations, is a symbolic act that reflects an individual’s affirmation of self worth, the beauty of sexuality, basic trust in others, & a peaceful heart. Being naked in this way is an expression of values and beliefs inherent in the marriage of the Younger Deities. These values and beliefs were in concord with those of the Church of All Worlds, when SweetWood Temenos was a subsidiary organization of this Church. Now as an independent church, Sweetwood Temenos continues this tradition of values and beliefs on being naked as a Church of All Worlds.

SweetWood Temenos believes in the immanency of Divinity in the evolution of the Universe, and so believes that nakedness and social nudity in human evolution are a part of Divine design. Further, SweetWood Temenos believes that this Divine design requires conscious and free choice when engaging in social nudity as an essential religious practice. Therefore SweetWood Temenos believes that the freedom to choose and to practice social nudity, as one’s conscience dictates, is essential to the religious and psychological wholeness of humanity. SweetWood Temenos is a religious center where the freedom to be naked in nature, or socially in celebration, leisure or ritual, is essential to its consecration. The members and friends of SweetWood Temenos uphold this freedom. For SweetWood Temenos, the freedom and the practice to be naked and engage in social nudity on its land is both a cultural expression of the value of positive sexuality, and a religious rite that connects its members and friends with an ancient paradisiacal time. We strive to invoke a future paradisiacal world of peace and love, now, at the beginning of the Age of Aquarius.

SweetWood Temenos encourages nudity where the landscape or darkness offers the privacy necessary so not to offend those whom cultural or religious sensibilities is contrary to nudity as a healthy and sacred practice. Those members, friends or guests of SweetWood Temenos who violate this privacy policy may receive a warning, and for repeated violations, denied access to SweetWood Temenos. The practice of engaging in social nudity and clothing is optional, is part of the freedom of SweetWood Temenos.