Notice
Personal responsibility is a basic tenet of adult activity. Like any adult activity, the information contained herein contains risk of both physical and emotional injury. Any information or safety guidelines provided in this book are simply ideas to weigh out for yourself. By deciding to engage in any adult activity, including those mentioned or detailed in this book, you are taking on physical and emotional responsibility for your own actions, and agree to hold harmless all individuals associated with the creation, publication, and sale of this book.
Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond
© 2016 – Second Edition – Lee Harrington and Mystic Productions Press
© 2009 – First Edition – Lee Harrington
All rights reserved. With the exception of brief excepts for reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, artist or their estates. Please contact us for permission.
Published in the United States by Mystic Productions Press, LLC
603 W. Tudor Rd. Anchorage, AK 99503 | www.MysticProductionsPress.com
All text by Lee Harrington, except where otherwise noted www.PassionAndSoul.com
“The Eightfold Path to Altered States of Consciousness”
by Raven Kaldera | www.RavenKaldera.org
Cover Art by Scott Stansbury | www.ScottStansburyPhotography.com
First Edition Cover Art by Leon Grossman | www.MonkeyFetish.com
Interior and Exterior Layout by Rob River | www.RobRiver.com
Pictures of Lee Harrington by Darrell Lynn www.KiltedPhotography.daportfolio.com
ISBN – 978-1-942733-90-4
Ebooks: MOBI – 978-1-942733-92-8
ePub – 978-1-942733-93-5
PDF – 978-1-942733-91-1
First Edition – ISBN 978-0-557-21176-0 – 2009
Spiral-bound edition available upon request from Mystic Productions.
For Bear.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Exploring The Eightfold Paths
Accident, Tool, Truth
How to Use This Book
Why Eight Paths?
Altered States of Consciousness
Why the Quest?
You, Too, Are a Psychonaut
Tales as Old as Time
Chapter 2: Crafting Your Journey
Sacred and Profane is in the Intent
Negotiation for Sacred Kink
Aftercare
Why Won’t It Always Work?
Eight Tales Begin
Chapter 3: The Path of Rhythm
Dancing Into the Infinite Rhythm
The Path of Rhythm
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
Catharsis on the Dance Floor
Cathartic Flogging
The System and Process
Dedicated Tools
Top Trance and Two-footing
Ending Rhythm Scenes
Brainwaves and Changing Your Mind
Bellydancing to Bliss?
Back to Hungry Mouths
Chapter 4: The Ordeal Path
Trials of Rope and Balance
The Ordeal Path
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
Witness to the Journey
Consensual Ordeals?
Ordeal Ethics
Initiations and Earned Leather
Power of the Ordeal Witness
Triggers and Being Squicked
Exercising or Exorcising Demons
Beatitudes as Christian Ordeal
Yes, You Can
Chapter 5: The Path of the Flesh
Embracing Flesh and Desire
The Path of the Flesh
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
For the Love of the Lash
Solitary Sensuality and Masturbation Magic
Divine Consort
Energetically Transmitted Diseases
What is your FEE?
Eight Components of Great Sex
Birthing Dreams Between Growls
Chapter 6: The Path of Ritual
Into the Rituals of Life
The Path of Ritual
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
Layering of Meaning
Creating Ritual Play Spaces
Rituals That Serve Us, or Serving Our Rituals
Protocol Power
Fetish as Fetish
Collaring, Cords, and Uncollaring
Becoming a Magus
Embracing Chaos
Strengthening the Bonds of Service
Chapter 7: The Path of Breath
Breathing in our Potential
The Path of Breath
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
Processing the Circuit
Chakras and Energy Movement
Blockages
Dialysis of Desire
Left Hand Breath, Right Hand Breath
Pain Processing
Sensory Meditation
Eight Limbs of Raja Yoga
Sweeping Out the Depths
Chapter 8: The Path of the Horse
Riding Into the Storm
The Path of the Horse
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
Confessions in the Temple
Role-playing and Role-being
Donning Archetypes
Conscious Shapeshifting
Astral Shapeshifting and Emotion Shifting
Working with Spirits and Deities
Horsing Tools and Techniques
Connections and Concerns
Objectification for Animists
I-Ching Inspirations
Back from the Abyss
Chapter 9: The Path of Asceticism
The Call to Erotic Monasticism
The Path of Asceticism
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
Release of Attachment
The Calling of Slavery and Mastery
Of Slavery and Service
Of Mastery and Service
Training, Punishment, and Atonement
Tribal Witness: The Sacred Voyeur
Noble Eightfold Path
Gift of the Journey
Chapter 10: The Path of Sacred Plants
Consuming Our Fate
The Path of Sacred Plants
Ecosexuality
Traditional Tools
Kink Tools
Unlocking the Gates
Kink and Chemistry Ethics
Spirit of the Smoke: A Journey
Profound Piercing
Dr. Leary’s Circuits
Dawn Breaks
Chapter 11: Your Path in Sacred Kink
More Paths than Eight
Tools for Finding Your Path
The Call to Awakening
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1 – The Terminology of Sacred Kink
Appendix 2 – The Eightfold Path to Altered States of Consciousness by Raven Kaldera
Appendix 3 – Sole/Soul: The Conscious Art of Leather by Lee Harrington
Appendix 4 – Additional Reading and Resources
Appendix 5 – Study Questions
About the Author
Chapter 1
Exploring the Eightfold Paths
Accident, Tool or Truth?
We each come to Sacred Kink from different places on our journey.
Some of us have had a moment in the middle of delicious sexual exploration that led to connecting with the divine, o
r having had an epiphany about life that was far from expected. Others have been drawn to the possibilities of finding universal truths between the sheets or in the extremes of the dungeon for all of their lives. Some are aware that their bodies hold the key towards knowing their spirit, but don’t know which doors of desire to unlock. There are those that are drawn by the academic possibilities in the crossover between sex and spirit. Still others have glimpsed the limitlessness of existence where they have been told that only debauchery lives, and are looking to go back for more. This and more is Sacred Kink.
This term comes from two concepts that are often thought of as opposites in the culture-at-large. By “Sacred,” I am referring to the things we find holy, full of energy, spirit, passion or universal truth. It is the things our higher selves knows to be valid, true, useful or valuable. By “Kink” however, I am referring to the great big world of sexual adventure that lies outside of lights-off missionary-style sex. This includes voyeurism, exhibitionism, fetishism, fantasy role-playing, cross dressing, erotic power exchange, swinging, “naughty sex” and BDSM. In turn, BDSM (sometimes called S&M) refers to a series of partnered concepts: bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism, and erotic slavery and mastery.
This is a very broad list of concepts, and clearly, their intersections vary greatly. If these concepts are new to you, please find the glossary in Appendix 1 that will help guide you throughout this book. If these concepts had you nodding your head at every single one and recalled a happy memory with each—welcome home, my friend!
Wedding the concepts of Kink and the Sacred seems difficult for mainstream faith and sexuality, but Sacredness and Kink have been partners for much longer than most people are aware. The tools of Kink have roots that go back into Shamanism, Christian monasticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religious/spiritual paths of seeking wisdom and faith around the globe. In turn, explorations of the Sacred have been loaded with sexuality in a wide variety of spiritual traditions, even if it is only alluded to.
Sacred Kink is an awareness of long-used tools and techniques used in sacred exploration that have been taken on by oftentimes unaware erotic adventurers. It is using modern tools of sexuality for exploring the spirituality and energy. It is the moments of glimpsing something more when we only expected getting sexy and sweaty. It is finding sexual awareness between the breaths of the prophets. It is anywhere the Kinky and the Sacred intersect.
There are many other terms for this work. These include:
Deborah Addington, author of Fantasy Made Flesh, refers to this work as exploring Erotomancy.
Qadishti BDSM is the terminology used by sexuality educators and pagan clergy Dan & dawn for incorporating sacred sexuality and energy work into your BDSM scenes, and the dramatic effects possible therein.
Sado-Erotic Ecstasy was coined by Chris M. as a way to explore all that is spiritual and kinky.
Leatherman and Metropolitan Community Church theologian Master Skip Chasey refers to this journey in many ways in his work, including becoming artists in PsychoSpiritual Energy and the calling of being a Priest in Black Leather.
Shamanadom was the terminology developed by Sacred Marks Sanctuary for transforming sexual activity and BDSM into a practice that transcends the physical into the spiritual, and exploring the spaces in between.
Michelle Belanger, author of The Psychic Vampire Codex, speaks of this work as Sado-Shamanism, where the Top or Dominant can act as a conduit for the energetic journey of their Bottom or Submissive using the tools of BDSM.
Do not be fooled. Though it may come in the forms of play, sensual exploration, and bliss, this is the work of our souls. This journey has the potential for turning the flax, the straw, of our beings into the gold of our potential.
True, not all explorers of Kink are looking for profundity in their sex games. Some are quite happy tying their lovers down to a bed for a night of strawberries and whipped cream, and others are there because their body hungrily calls for connections that make their cunts wet and cocks hard. But even in those interactions sometimes things happen, things we cannot explain. Moments of depth and delight that become a key to things we’d locked away. Thus, even the most fun of kink games has the potential for becoming Sacred Kink. If this has happened to you—breathe. It’s okay. You are not alone.
Others are drawn towards Sacred Kink as a tool for personal exploration: a scheduled scene specifically built to dive into the self and come out changed or informed of something the universe has to offer. And then there are those who are called to this journey as a full path for their own life—those who have chosen Mastery as a way to serve the divine, those who have come to understand that channeling their archetypes in erotic exploration can empower them in their day-to-day lives, and use these tools as a full practice and for personal devotion.
All three—those who have found accidental sacredness in their kink, those who use the tools of Sacred Kink only on occasion, and those who are called to follow a specific path of sacred truth through their kink—will find information in this book that is of value to them. For those that are simply curious about what all the fuss is about, wish to examine the intersections from a theoretical framework, and are wondering, really, are people tapping into the universe and personal connections to spirit through erotic sex games…Welcome! You may be surprised at what you’ll find, and the tools used consciously and unconsciously that have existed since time immemorial.
How to Use this Book
In your hand is a tome. There is a lot of information in it, and it may not all match what you are looking for. It may seem overwhelming. Or you may be excited to read every last page. Either way, remember to pause, process, and absorb.
There are many choices on how to read this book. You can flip through the whole book and find everything in italics at the beginning of each chapter—the erotica. Each path features an erotic teaching tale in three parts to help those who learn through erotica understand how the technicalities of what we are discussing applies to actual scenes.
Perhaps you are an academic and have no interest in such things. Each Path has a “Traditional Tools” section as well as a “Kink Tools” section, exploring techniques that have been used by classical sacred explorers and modern erotic adventurers in turn.
If you just want information on your subsection of desire, flip back to the table of contents and see which titles catch your eye. If you do this, please also make sure to read the first two chapters, as the discussions around negotiation, desire, and the why of what we do are incredibly important.
And you can, of course, read the book cover-to-cover.
For consistency of voice, some stylistic choices have been made in this book. This includes but is not limited to capitalization of all appearances of Top, Bottom, Master, Slave, Dominant, Submissive, Journeyer and Guide whenever they appear to differentiate between these labels and the nouns, adjectives or descriptors they resemble. In some cases, Slave has been written in lower case at the request of the individuals whose quotes appear in the text. The stylistic choices and definitions within this book are my own, and are not necessarily representational of the Kink community-at-large.
At the end of the book you will find a series of Appendices. Appendix 1 is a terminology and definitions guide for many of the major concepts brought up in this text, to explain how I am using some of these concepts in the course of this book. Appendix 2 is the essay by Raven Kaldera that inspired this project. Appendix 3 is an essay that I felt needed to be in the book but did not fit well inside the chapters that explores leather as not only a material, but a spiritual concept. Appendix 4 is a collection of places to go from here—more books to read, events to attend, groups to join, online discussions to explore and more. Appendix 5 is for all those who are classical students at heart—a series of essay questions for each chapter, to use for truly diving deeply into the book or forming a study group with your friends.
Now that you know better how to use t
his book, let’s continue on the journey!
Why Eight Paths?
When exploring the multitude of routes that individuals use to find ways out of our day-to-day mind, it is easy to see why so many different systems have been created to understand the variety of experiences we have. “Sacred” means many things to many people, and in examining the Sacred, we are each striving to create a lexicon for that which is beyond words. It can be a very difficult task. How do we explain our experiences after we have come back from a place where words were no longer necessary?
In Hinduism, the experiences of the sacred are often broken down into the triadic approach of the Trimurti. We gaze into the eyes of Brahma and see creation manifest. We thank Vishnu in all his magnificence for maintaining the structures of our world. We praise Shiva, fearful lord of the Ganges, for being the power of destruction in the world that in turn allows creation to come anew. Triads can also be found by looking at the variety of experience with Christian tradition—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for example.
Some prefer exploring our sexuality in the number four—Earth, Air, Fire and Water play into Sacred Kink well—the Earth of boots and surrender, the Air of breath play and single tails, the Fire of wax and spanking, and Water of blood and piss. There are also the 4 S’s of sexual slavery to consider—Submission, Seduction, Service and Surrender.
In the Feri tradition, brought to modern light by Victor and Cora Anderson, the Iron Pentacle is an amazing tool for breaking down discussions of sacredness, and is easily adapted to kink and alternative sexuality as well. Sex, Pride, Self, Power and Passion light up our bodies, laid out as a pentacle running in the direction of the waters in our veins. However, my examination is not about Three, Four or Five. These powerful numbers hold great meaning, but in the exploration of the sacredness found within the desires at the edge of social normalcy, the number that kept recurring for me was Eight.
Raven Grimassi in Wiccan Magick speaks of the Eight-Fold Path representing the traditional aspects of magickal and religious training that must be mastered in order to become a Magus. The Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama, more commonly known as the (historical) Buddha. Dr. Timothy Leary’s Eight Circuits of Consciousness explore the ways we process the world through our nervous system, and how specific chemicals can affect our ability to access those circuits. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra from 200 C.E. explores an eight-limbed path that brings completeness to the individual as they find their connectivity to the divine.
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