What can we learn from Courtesans?
"How exactly, these women who were born ordinary women, became legendary? What abilities and qualities have they cultivated and amplified to really make a difference in the lives of those around them? What can each of us learn from courtesans? How do we learn to be beautiful?
It is known that women have written from the shadows/”behind the curtains” (most of the time, unfortunately) the history of civilization. Alongside every powerful man, be it king, emperor, great ruler of a country or his own life, there is a woman who supports him in his plans, who encourages him when he needs it, who loves him with much devotion and is affectionate like a mother and fascinating like a courtesan. Little gestures or wishes of such women have made palaces and empires rise or fall.
When you imagine such a woman, you see an innocent smile that charms you, a sharp and penetrating look, a wave of the body that awakens all the senses, a confident appearance, seductive power, voluptuousness, a feminine force that transforms qualities like elegance, candour, self-giving, arms that kneel men more than the edge of a sword.
Courtesans, unlike ordinary women who were denied access to higher education, had many specializations and were studying a lot. They were initiated into the art of massage, dance, music, plastic art, poetry, conversation, and they knew the lovemaking positions described in Kama Sutra.
The Courtesans, along with all the great fascinators of history, shared many aspects that were transmitted over the centuries and that remained unchanged in their essence, regardless of socio-cultural influences. And what characterizes them in a very profound way is the constant desire, intensely sustained through persevering exercise, self-refinement/perfection. They had very well-established codes of conduct and behaviour. There were women who knew their femininity and their power of seduction and fascination they exerted on others. They were very good at knowing the body language and the gestures, the ways in which they could best put themselves in value. In fact, it has also been demonstrated that women are more sensitive to non-verbal signals, even from childhood, which explains, to some extent, the female intuition.
Surprisingly or not, some of the famous seducers of history are neither the prettiest nor the youngest. Cleopatra did not even look like beautiful Liz Taylor who gave her life on the big screen.
Lou Andreas-Salome, who, along with Sigmund Freud, laid the foundations for psychoanalysis, is another example of a "courtesan" who didnt stand out through her beauty. On her long list of conquests were Nietzsche, Paul Ree - nihilist philosopher -, Sigmund Freud and the poet, Rainier Maria Rilke. It is said that one of her suitors committed suicide because she did not pay attention to him, and two others tried to commit suicide - one of whom was Nietzsche. It is said that she lived a beautiful menage a troiscu Nietzsche and Paul Ree. Slightly aged, never wore make up, never minded by the physical appearance, Andreas-Salome was characterized by charisma, independence, and intelligence. Feminine artifices and tricks - which many women abuse of - were unknown to her, yet she had a great deal of impact on the men who loved her.
In antiquity, voluptuousness was taught just as reading or writing is taught today; women learned to seduce by a method similar to those they used to learn to stitch or make sophisticated embroideries. Athens' courtesans (the goddess of wisdom) - the hetains - were women of noble families, and the rich representatives of the city did not miss the opportunity to send their daughters to practice this profession considered honorable.
In Renaissance Venice, there were two types of courtesans, the luxurious courtesans, who could easily be regarded as part of the nobility because of their luxurious clothes and jewels, and the courtesans in the lower classes who were often identified with prostitutes. In the mid-eighteenth century, there were more than 100,000 courtesans in Venice.
Luxurious courtesans were maintained by noblemen and various important men, who offered them houses and the most extravagant clothes. Courtesans had a lot of influence on the political life at the time, and it was often said that political decisions were taking place in the courtesans' bed. At one point, because no distinction was made between an ordinary woman and a courtesan, the kingdom gave a law by which they were no longer allowed to dress luxuriously, meaning that they were no longer allowed to wear jewellery, silk clothes and other precious accessories. The courtesans began to wear capes and masks, these being signs through which they could be recognized.
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By Loredana Pulpan - Vox Amoris
https://www.voxamoris.ro/ce-putem-invata-de-la-curtezane/
