In this chapter I contrast different interpretations of the sacred and the profane, normative notions taken almost for granted in some Religious Studies as binary categories. I show how the religious interpretations by Mircea Eliade and other famous religious studies scholars are challenged by, say, Indigenous beliefs and non-binary notions of the sacred. I refer to Georges Bataille (among others) and a selection of feminist or Indigenous theorists as examples of widely divergent views on the key terms. Proponents of patriarchal beliefs often claim that the spiritual ecstasy or feeling of oneness is beyond sex which is why the gender of God should not be seen as a relevant issue. Such a view ignores asymmetrical power relations and the impact of the symbolic order, of images, as tools for reinforcing and transmitting gender roles that thereby are made to seem “natural” and “immutable.” I show how patriarchal scriptures and practices have included elements legitimating and even condoning violence against women, in the name of male empowerment and the most untenable and arbitrary gender hierarchies. The comparisons made in this chapter create the broader context for the book’s study of sauna rituals and the spiritual. Sauna, after all, is considered the very first church-like temple, although it has been used for a great variety of functions and purposes.