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Cover. The cover image this month pays homage to the Asian body of beliefs and practices known as Tantra, which denotes continuity. Rather than a single coherent system, Tantra is an accumulation of practices and ideas that has among its characteristics rituals, energy work, transgressional acts, the use of the mundane to access the supramundane, and the identification of the microcosm with the macrocosm. As Tantra has become more popular in the West, it has undergone a major transformation, which has made Neotantra different from the authentic Tantric traditions of India. The difference between the Western (Neotantra) and Eastern (authentic Tantra) versions has been described as such: "Neotantra ritualizes sex. Authentic Tantra sexualizes ritual." In the cover photograph, a priest pays obeisance to an idol of the Hindu God Ganesha at Kamakhya Temple in Gauhati, India. The Kamakhya Temple honors the Mother Goddess Kamakhya, the essence of female energy. The temple of Hindu Goddess Kamakhya is believed to be the highest seat of authentic Tantra.

Printed with permission of AP Photo. Photograph by Anupam Nath. Cover concept and selection by Aleisha Kropf. Additional support for this issue was provided by the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch, Center for Population Research, National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, Department of Health and Human Services, via project funds from "Love, Marriage, and HIV: A Multi-site Study of Gender and HIV Risk" (R01 HD 041724, Jennifer S. Hirsch, PI).

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