• Saffron - This very expensive spice was widely used as an aphrodisiac in the ancient world. The Greeks believed that its effect was even stronger in women and that a diet rich in saffron made woman think of little but sex.
    The English herbalists make constant reference to saffron's ability to make people 'merry' and cheerful. Whether directly or by improving their sex lives is not made clear.
    An Arab aphrodisiac recipe consisted of saffron, orange blossom, dates, anise, carrot and egg yolk cooked with honey and a little water. The magnificent Spanish seafood dish paella may be more palatable for most people - but use real saffron and not turmeric which is often used and is a very poor substitute.
  • Sage - When the battle losses of the ancient Greeks had been particularly heavy, the women were encouraged to drink infusions of sage which was supposed to improve both their sexual appetite and their fertility. Hippocrates recommended the same method of increasing the population after the plgues which frequently afflicted cities.
  • Saint Johns Wort - (Hypericum Perforatum) - This perennial herb with its distinctive yellow flower has a long association with magic and witchcraft. Its reputation as a sexual stimulant may have less to do with the essential oils and hypericine which it contains than with the tradition that it must be picked naked at midnight.
    The freshly picked flowers of St. John's Wort, or the dried shoots, can be taken as an infusion (one teaspoon to a cup of water).
    (See also: Wild Plants for methods and precautions)
  • Saliva - Taoist texts, and to a lesser extent the Hindu and Arab erotic manuals, place considerable emphasis on the exchange ov saliva between partners. The saliva of a sexually-excited woman was thought to retard the ageing process in a man (modern research confirms that regular sexual exercise certainly will).
    Saliva exchange is practiced by other mammals. Its function is not properly understood but it may well be the origin of kissing.
    Saliva is also a natural and readily available sexual lubricant. Its advantage over creams and jellies is not only aesthetic, it is also the correct temperature and does not over-lubricate and reduce sensivity.
    (See also: Kissing)
  • Salvia
    (See Sage)
  • Same Sex Relationships - Although this book is aimed principally at heterosexuals, many of the practices, games and recipes can equally be enjoyed by homosexuals.

    PLATS FÖR BILD

    Human beings are essentially bisexual and are capable of responding sexually both to their own and the opposite sex. Various factors determine whether a man or woman will predominantly heterosexual or homosexual - whichever it is you should enjoy your sexuality. To retain some 'same-sex' response if you are heterosexual is perfectly normal. Guilt is not normal - and not necessary.
    If you are concerned about these issues see the section at the beginning of the website on Problems.
  • Sandalwood - The warm, rich aroma of sandalwood is found exciting and 'male' by some women. The essential oil of sandalwood is manufactured in the Indian province of Mysore and is an important ingredient in many soaps and toiletries.
  • Satyrion
    (See Iris)
  • Savory - The culinary uses of this perennial plant are a comparatively recent application - the Romans grew it specipically as an aphrodisiac. Satureia, as they called it, was sometimes added to food but more commonly sprinkled on wine or taken with honey.
  • Seafood - In all cultures at all times any encyclopedist, doctor, sexologist or quack writing about aphrodisiacs has included fish.
    Why is seafood the universal aphrodisiac?
    The answer is not hard to find after browsing through some of the aphrodisiac foods which people in different cultures have believed to be sexually stimulating. There are certain common features which emerge as the essential characteristics of aphrodisiac food. All seafood fulfills most of the requirements; with the addition of a spicy sauce some seafood fulfills all the requirements!
    Seafood is nutritious and healthy, containing little fat but excelent protein as well as valuable minerals associated with sex: zinc; iodine, phosphorus and other traces.
    Seafood is associated with fertility deity and with the worship of that god. In this case the goddess of love herself, whether as Greek Aphrodite, Roman Venus or Norse Freya - all sea-born.
    Seafood has a sensual texture. It feels much more interesting than meat in the mouth. Often there is additional tactile stimulation from holding seafood while we eat it. And of course the shapes are often strongly suggestive.
    Seafood often comes it those colours which we find erotically interesting, notably white and red. Lobster, Crab and other crustaceans are often both.
    Seafood can be rare and exotic. Perhaps to justify the expenditure to ourselves we often credit exotic foods with aphrodisiac qualities. The best example is caviar, but lobster or abalone can also be expensive.
    Seafood has an evocative smell. It often mimics our own sexual aroma.
    Seafood even has elements in its taste which are salty and reminiscent of human sexual fluids.
    The only element missing from seafood is the hot, peppery, diuretic element which is common to many supposed aphrodisiacs. This must make prawns with a horseradish dip (sea cucumber are too limp) the ultimate stimulant for women and oysters with tabasco the best for men. Mussels in a provencale sauce would be a good compromise, or lobster with capers.
    (See also: Anchovy, Bouillabaisse, Caviar, Lobster, Mussels, Oysters, Prawns)
  • Sea Holly
    (See Eryngo)
  • Semen - The aroma of semen - whether from one of more than thirty different elements it contains or by association - has an aphrodisiac effect on many people. There is no harm in swallowing semen providing there is no questions of AIDS: it contains useful trace elements and sugars and represents about thirty-five calories. It is literally a matter of taste.
    (See also: Fellatio)
  • Sense of Smell - Not only does our sense of smell take up a surprisingly large proportion of our brain, its situation is unusually privileged. There is immediate access of information: human beings react to smell even more quickly than to pain. The complex of which 'smell' is a part is also concerned with emotion and the memory function, sexuality and controlling hormone production.
    Although we are not usually aware of it, but only of its effects, we have a very sophisticated olfactory communication system with direct access to those parts of the brain where we can be said to 'live'.
    In some cultures more importance is placed on the sense of smell than in others. Among the southern Slavs a mother will ask her son if his lover smells good to him, in the way that mothers in other cultures may ask if she is pretty. The importance of scent in sexual attraction and compability is extremely important even if some human cultures find it 'impolite' or disturbingly animal.
    The unseen, unsuspected messengers who carry all the coded information about sex between us are pheromones. We live our lives in a ceaseless sexual crossfire of pheromones, unaware of what messages we are receiving or are ourselves transmitting.
    Perfume may imitate some pheromones and help to disperse others, but it cannot replace substances which are Nature's own aphrodisiacs. Pheromones may have a greater impact on our lives than we yet understand. Unknown to us they operate the biological machinery of attraction and repulsion, with a hot line straight to our endocrine system and the seat of our emotions.
    (See also: Cassolette, Perfume and Scent)
  • Sex Magic - This entry is not concerned with ritual magic where sex is merely a component or the nastier asprcts of medieval mumbo-jumbo, but with some of the simple folk spells which have been used as aphrodisiacs.
    Throughout Europe village 'wisewomen' would, for a suitable fee, bake spiced cakes which were used as aphrodisiacs. These were prepaired as near as possible to the naked body of the woman commissioned them so that she could feel the heat from the fire which was baking the cakes. The same heat would subsequently be transferred to the loins of the man who ate the cake. Presumably this ritual enabled the old women to see if there was any physical reason for the spouse's lack of passion which could be treated with folk medicine. The slow baking process was also an opportunity to pass on some useful sexual tips.
    Apples, and one or two other fruits, were used in love magic which involved sleeping with the fruit near to the skin, or in 'privvy places' and then persuading the object of your desires to eat it. This sounds like early experimentation with pheromones (See: Cassolette, Sense of Smell)
    Charms and amulets to bring sexual 'luck' or prowess were very common and usually phallic. The world's museums abound with examples from different cultures, often to the embarrassment of the more repressed keepers who keep them away from the public. What is involved here of course is imitative magic and the belief that an object has merit which can be transfreed. The amulet need not have come from a magician - art itself (and some of these phallic charms are beautifully made) is magical. Perhaps the greatest erotic art, such as shunga with its exaggerated penises, is in part a sophisticated version of the same idea.
    (See also: Erotic Art, Japan, Phallus)
  • Sex Toys - Different cultures have produced a wide variety of sex toys but they are all permutations on the same themes. The most common, dildos, are dealt with separately. less common, presumably because they are less satisfactory, are merkins or artificial vaginas. ('Merkin' was also used to describe the charming pubic wigs of different colours worn by fashionable ladies in the eighteenth century, also called bowsers).
    Penis rings, whether made from ivory or rubber, are designed to help and maintain erection. They may additionally have raised parts intended to stimulate the clitoris. The hard rings were made to measure by oriental craftsmen - experimentation can damage the hydraulics. Soft rings, which work in the same way by stopping the return blood supply, may be successful but why experiment on your own when there is good counselling advice available (See Problems at the beginning of this website) and there may be a much simpler solution?
    Penis extentions, much favoured by the Japanese, are a waste of time and can be dangerous for the woman because they are hard. Every book about sexual technique says it, but perhaps it should be said again: size does not matter. If nature gave you a big penis be grateful, at a distance you will look stunning. You will still need to learn the techniques of lovemaking which are far more important for giving pleasure to your partner.
    Vaginal balls are an interesting masturbation device for women. They are called rinno-tama; Burmese bells; Chinese bells; Thai beads; Ben-Wa and other variants. Unfortunately the best quality rinno-tama are hard to find and the cheap plastic ones may not be successful. The idea is to walk or rock with the one, two or three linked hollow balls inside you. They are weighted to move erratically. Geishas and oiran spent many hours waiting for their clients in traditional Japanese society where rinno-tama were invented. Some wrote exquisite poems, some played with rinno-tam. Some did both:

    'The device of the two copper plums
    With silver in them
    Slowly and very slowly
    Satisfies.
    Just as all finishes
    Dew falls on my clenched hand'.

    'I would rather the bean flowered yellow
    And he were here...'

  • Shouting Monkey - The famous Chinese lovemaking position where the man lies on his back and his partner rides him with her legs drawn up. See the Hindu equivalent, Black Bee for a full description.
  • Skin - The whole surface of your body and your lover's body is there to be enjoyed. Some parts are more sensitive than others but in compensation they may look and feel more sensual to the toucher. The pleasure is both in touching and in being touched. If you make love only with the parts of you which protrude from pyamas or are accessible under nightdresses you are not using the largest sex organ you possess - your skin.
    If you live in a cold climate try to organize the bedroom so that it is warm because lovemaking should be conducted in the nude. If you both like frou-frou nightwear, start by wearing it and have him undress you slowly during foreplay. But always make love naked, or you are missing out on a great deal of secondary stimulation and pleasure.
    (See also: Massage, Pattes D'Araignee, Tongue Bath, Touch)
  • Sky-Foot - The couple in the painting are using a Yoga breath-control technique as part of their lovemaking. Tantric practices like this are only for adepts, but the purpose of many of them is male organ delay.
  • Snails - The edible snails which live in vineyards have been considered an aphrodisiac delicacy sinse Roman times. A sause containing parsley and garlic - both reputedly aphrodisiacs in their own right - can only serve to heighten the effect.
    The snail is a common metaphor for the clitoris in the Orient, perhaps because it tends to peep out in a similar way and then disappears again.
  • Shampoo - A term which appears in Sir Richard Burton's translation of Kama Sutra and elsewhere. Shampooing simply means massaging the whole body as you do the hair to wash it. The delightful though mysterious practice which always seemed to end in lovemaking in ancient India still can!
    (See also: Massage)
  • Soixante-Neuf - All the erotic traditions feature variations of this lovemaking position which is as old as mankind. Some of the most surprising and charming depictions are to be found carved high up in Gothic Cathedrals by craftsmen who must have relied on myopia - either real or feigned - on the part of the authorities.
  • Spanish Fly - Better described as Blister Fly this irritant poison causes ulceration of the entire alimentary canal and even perforation of the stomach. By the time the lower end of the urinary tract is inflamed to a point where it may cause a painful erection your kidneys will have been destroyed. (See Problems in the introduction of this website).
  • Spinach - This excellent vegetable which can be cooked or picked young and eaten in salads (which preserves its nutrients) contains vitamins A, B, C, E and K and many useful minerals. Spinach was brought into Europe by the Moors and probably originated in Persia. A wonderful Turkish hors d'oeuvres is chopped cooked spinach in thick yoghurt with garlic - ispanah.
    Although its iron cannot in fact be assimilated, spinach is nevertheless extremely nutritious and generations of children were not misled by Popeye. As spinach has long been regarded as an aphrodisac it is interesting to reflect on what the further adventures of Popeye and Olive Oyl may have been.
  • Split Bamboo - A famous lovemaking position where the woman sits on the man's lap, her back supported by pillows. See 'Cobra Hood' for the demanding Yogic equivalent.
  • Spontaneity - An important and much-neglected aphrodisiac. If you are all dressed up and ready to go out and the mood takes your partner to make love - get undressed. Or if you really cannot be late improvise something hasty. Forget 'later', the moment will have passed. Be pleased that someone desires you: few appointments are as important as preserving that.
    If you are more prone to having such whims than your partner, do not suppress them. Explain how important it is, persist. The same applies if you are in the open air, or travelling. Something can usually be organized. Life is much to short to miss opportunities - even if you have to replace all your buttons with velcro!
  • Spoon Fashion - A lovemaking position where the couple fit together like spoons lying down, the man entering the woman from the rear. See Mandarin Ducks for a full description.
  • Stallion - Known in Chinese sex manuals of the Ming Dynasty as 'Jumping Wild Horse'. A tiring posture for the man if it is sustained for too long.
  • Striptease - The professional version is dealt with under Dance and Performing Arts - this is your performance. Removing your clothes for your doctor and removing them for your lover should be two completely different operations (unless of course they are one and the same person).
    A race to get out of your clothes and into bed because you want each other so badly is the only excuse (and a good one) for not making a piece of theatre out of undressing. How can you expect your partner to desire your body if you unload it from your clothes like groceries from a shopping bag?
    The performance does not have to be the Dance of the Seven Veils to music (although it can be sometimes). Slowing down helps. Show him your breasts, show him your pubis: each new revelation should be preceded by a little tension, however brief, before it is made.
    A word for the audience: watching in either vest or socks is prohibited - a naked man in socks is a very effective anaphrodisiac for a woman, and vests are not much better. Audience participation is welcome, take over the undressing if you like. Interludes are also welcomed: kiss her nipples when they are revealed, before resuming your seat on the bed.
    Finally, and also for the man: Your clothes should not be removed slowly (unless you are playing striptease games too). Partially clothed med are not very exciting - naked ones are. Nor should you painstakingly arrange everything in the wardrobe like a valet. Pay attention to your lover not the crease in your trousers.
    Good lovers make appreciative audiences. And appreciation is a wonderful aphrodisiac for a woman.
  • Sucking a Mango - An oral technique described in Kama Sutra. It involves noisy, wet sucking as the name implies: the penis is treated like a luscious tropical fruit. Oral lovemaking became more popular in later Hindu love manuals.
  • Suspended Position - This position gives wonderful perineal stimulation for thewoman but should only be attempted in water unless your lover is a circus strong man. One slip in standing positions where the woman's weigth can suddenly bear on the penis can permanently damage its hydraulics.
  • Swastika - This asana takes its name from the ancient Hindu sun symbol which has come to have terrible associations it the twentieth century. It is a striding position in which she controls most of the movement and in doing so assumes the familiar shape.
  • Swings - If you and your lover have access to a gymnasium when no-one else is there, or are as wealthy as the Orissan prince in the painting and can have your own, there are all sorts of aphrodisiac games to be played. His equipment looks as if it could stand the shock, but the penis can be damaged when erect so take care.
    More generally available and private are garden seats. These were a favourite venue for the Chinese and offer a variety of pleasant sensations for relaxed al fresco lovemaking.



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