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I read about this for the first time in "La ultima bruja" (2017), a book about witches. In this book, there's a chapter in which a girl has to have sexual relationships with a Wolf God so He grants her power to become a witch.

I've seen this idea represented in the shows "The Magicians" and "American Gods" as well. In the first show, two characters get extra powers by drinking a God's "seed" and by having sex with another one.

Assuming that these works are based on the same "origin" or reference, is there some kind of "official" reference for this, some kind of "de facto" example in which a god/goddess grants power to another mortal or being by having sex with them?

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  • The Greek gods used to give favors (powers) to some of their beloved mortals as gifts, so I don't think there's a specific ur-myth where this started. Commented Jul 1, 2018 at 13:25
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    As far as I can tell, it's a conflation of the modern mythologies surrounding "sex magic" and ancient pagan fertility rituals. (I'll attempt a formal answer at some point. It's interesting to consider the extension of this concept to monotheistic religions--in the Catholic church, nuns are considered married to God, although there, it is the sacrifice of sex, abstinence, that confers spiritual power.) The modern attraction to this concept likely involves appeal of the idea and weaker modern taboos regarding sexuality.
    – DukeZhou
    Commented Jul 5, 2018 at 19:05
  • Don't depend on a Greek god for power - it was always even odds them if it was going to get you killed, turned into a monster, etc. Witchcraft mythology (not fact) suggested witches gained their powers from having orgies with Satan, devils, and the like. (google it, the references are all over the place; I'm not sure which you'll want) This is pretty generic britannica.com/topic/witchcraft
    – DWKraus
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 17:59

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