Here is a condensed version of a very interesting Homeground post... The Sensual World as an Occult Initiation Rite employing Tantric practice - the sensual, physical, and sexual - as a form of prayer, worship, magic, and gnosticism.
SEEDCAKE: interpreted as the alchemical elixir of "commingled fluids", the mixture of male and female. The ingesting of this "elixir"--as an act of power, a tonic for the life-force, and a bonding rite--is a practice common to many esoteric traditions, from ancient Hindu tantric practitioners, to Aleister Crowley's "sex magick". There is some speculation the SONG OF SOLOMON 7:2 refers to this practice.
SEEDCAKE also holds Pagan metaphors, referencing semen and the generative power of the God ("seed"), as well as a strong reference to the Goddess, in the word "cake", evoking baking, transformation, cauldrons and ovens, and by metaphoric extension, the Womb of the Goddess. "Seedcake" is therefore a clever and multi-layered metaphor for joining masculine and feminine, the combined co-creative forces in divine embrace of creation.
With a kiss
I'd pass the key
And feel your tongue
Teasing and receiving
With your spit
Still on my lip
You hit the water..."Then I'd taken the kiss of seedcake back from his mouth": The real key is the word "back", which implies that the singer has contributed something of herself to the "seedcake" in her lover's mouth, and it is being returned through the kiss, thereby reinforcing and reiterating the circle of "give and take", male AND female, physical and spiritual, symbolic in this act.
"Going deep south, go down" as referencing cunnilingus, once again reinforcing this song's metaphor for the consumption of the alchemical elixir of "commingled fluids".
"Took six big wheels...": This may be a reference to a "game of chance", as the large casino/carnival "wheel of fortune" game is sometimes called the "Big Six Wheel", due to it's traditional size of 6ft in diameter. Or it may reference the "Wheel of Fortune" tarot card, which indicates abundance, happiness, elevation, luck, great joy. This meaning again implies an initiation--a change in understanding, appreciation, and connectedness--and the attendant joy that such transformations promise.
"Off of Howth Head and into the flesh...": a reference to the location where Leopold proposes to Molly. However, Howth Hill is also the location of an ancient burial cairn. Such an important ancient site would be the perfect sort of place to begin an initiation ritual, especially considering the life-death-rebirth theme common to Wicca and Mystery traditions, and doubly so if said rite was to culminate in a sexual union. The fact that Howth is the terminus for one of Ireland's DART train lines also carries a rather humorous double-entendre--the ancient dart/arrow metaphor for the male organ, and the modern equation of trains (especially when going through tunnels) with sex.
"He said I was a flower of the mountain, yes": As a reference to the European mountain flower "Edelweiss". Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum) belongs to the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The name comes from German edel (meaning noble) and weiß (meaning white). Leontopodium means "lion's paw" (hearkening back to "Lionheart"!). The German etymology of Edelweiss (noble white) may be a veiled reference to the mythological Aryan or Atlantian race. These legendary races figure prominently in Mystery traditions [e.g. Blavatsky].
"But now Ive powers oer a womans body, yes": An affirmation of the initiate's understanding of her own Internalized Feminine Divinity. A connection to the universal Feminine has been made, and the initiate is beginning to understand just exactly how profound this connection is.
"Stepping out of the page into the sensual world": Is often identified with James Joyce's writings, but it can also have a deeper occult context. Beginners to the path of Mystery Traditions often launch their study by reading books on the subject. However, there comes a point where book-learning will no longer suffice--hence the term "mystery tradition". In the Wiccan tradition, this first major step in one's study is an initiation rite - in some traditions, a physical enactment of the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine, in the form of ritualized coitus. Such a journey would certainly culminate (or rather, begin...) with quite literally "Stepping out of the page into the sensual world."
"To where the water and the earth caress
And the down of a peach says mmh, yes,
Do I look for those millionaires
Like a machiavellian girl would
When I could wear a sunset? mmh, yes,"
These lines reference the feminine/masculine union (water/earth, "down of a peach"), and the [sex magickal] thoughts of how to harness and apply this new-found personal power of sensuality/sexuality, a common theme for new initiates in Mystery Traditions. Upon reaching a certain point in their study, many "initiates" begin to see the mundane world around them for the true "game" it has become--an interplay of control and power, and their new-found sense of personal power brings up conflicting feelings as to how they can, or should, use this newly-understood personal empowerment. "Like a machiavellian girl", in the context of this song, reveals the singer's thoughts of potentially ensnaring others for her own use. But in the last line of the stanza, she rejects this temptation, deciding instead to pursue further sensual exploration and communion with nature.
"...I could wear a sunset..."The next couplet, with it's modified "chorus" structure and wording, seems to be an "aside"--a bit of an interjection, or perhaps a gentle nudge from her partner:
"And how we'd wished to live in the sensual world
You dont need words--just one kiss, then another."
The phrase "just one kiss, then another" could reference the Wiccan "five-fold kiss", wherein one participant kisses another (usually priest and priestess) at five symbolic points on the body. This is a reverential rite, where the person receiving these kisses is seen as the very embodiment of the God or Goddess.
"And then our arrows of desire rewrite the speech, mmh, yes,
And then he whispered would i, mmh, yes,
Be safe, mmh, yes, from mountain flowers?"
"Arrows" references the phallus, but arrows are also symbolic of the Will, and therefore this line brings into play the newly-focused and sharpened Will of the initiate. The "desire" is both the sensual desire of the singer, and the spiritual desire of the initiate toward greater understanding and expansion. "Rewrite the speech" may be a commentary on Kate's inspiration to modify or amend the text of the ritual to suit her own needs. This is common among some traditions--that new initiates modify or personalize rituals for future individual use, and as a way to further explore their emerging conciousness. The "mountain flowers" [lion's paw] line is both backwardly-referential to the same phrase in a previous stanza, AND an initiatory charge. It is essentially meant to ask the initiate if she is safe from her self -- reminding her to temper her enthusiasm and reclaimed personal power with discretion and careful consideration.
"And at first with the charm around him, mmh, yes,
He loosened it so if it slipped between my breasts
He'd rescue it, mmh, yes,"
The charm around the partner's neck could reference the traditional pendant given to a new initiate, symbolic of their first steps on this path. It is, in some traditions, worn by the initiator, and then handed over to the initiate after the culmination of the rite, as both a symbol of their accomplishment, and as a physical representation of the metaphoric "passing of the tradition".
"And his spark took life in my hand and, mmh, yes": Symbolic of the partner's phallus, as well as the hyper-metaphor of Joyce's spirit guiding Kate's hand in penning the song. "Spark" is also an ancient metaphor for "spirit", "Life-force", ki, or pranja. In this light, the initiation is hereby completed--the initiate holds in her "hands" the very force of the Gods, as transmitted through the partner/priest/initiator.
"I said, mmh, yes,
But not yet, mmh, yes,
Mmh, yes."
The final lines betray the feelings of the initiate to not let go of this mind-expanding and overwhelming experience. The final "Mmm, Yes" is almost whispered, giving the sense that the initiation is complete, almost as an oblique reference to the final words uttered by history's most famous initiate, Yeshua ben-Joseph, when he spoke "It Is Finished..."
The Sensual World--an Initiatory Account?... thehomegroundandkatebushnewsandinfoforum.yuku.com/topic/15639/t/The-Sensual-World-an-Initiatory-Account.html