Recently I did some solitary spirit work where I interacted with my matron goddess on an extremely personal level.  During this work I saw sides of my matron that I had never experienced before:  the Lover and the Domme.  I am intimately acquainted with these facets of my patron god--perhaps too much so, and I know they exist in other goddesses, but it was exciting and refreshing to be treated this way by my matron.  I felt like I had finally been let in on a secret about her.
       The idea of worship being a submissive act is certainly not a new one.  Anyone who is a true worshipper and not just a part-time actor is being submissive to their deity.  This is clear in how many religions refer to "Lord" or "Lady".  People bow to pray, sometimes in extremely vulnerable and suggestive ways.



Blessed Be!


      

“The Goddess’ scourge is light—usually.”            A scourge by any other name is still a scourge.  A scourge is the name given to what is basically a many-tailed whip used in Wicca.  People in the scene often call it a flogger, or if it has knots, a cat, and to outsiders it’s a whip, but all these boil down to a scourge.  According to Merriam-Webster, the word first appears in its current form in the 13th century and is originally derived from the Latin word corrigia, which means “thong” or “whip”.    It’s a ritual tool that many Wiccans either don’t own, don’t use, don’t understand, or have purely for show.             Scourges and other whip like implements have been associated with religion forever.  In Ancient Egypt, Osiris was often depicted with a crook and a flail, symbols of authority but also symbols of agriculture.  These symbols of agriculture could sympathetically translate to virility symbols.  There is more about the flail (which looks an awful lot like a scourge) in the “Ritual” section of this blog. The Ancient Romans used scourges, whips, and switches sympathetically in their magic and rituals. These implements were seen as being phallic and were used in fertility rites, primarily Lupercalia.  According to a Hellenic expert, while Lupercalia is primarily a Roman festival, it has its origins in Ancient Greece. Originally male adolescents in Arkadia would reenact the feast of Lycaon every year. At the original feast, Lycaon prepared a feast for the Olympian gods that included some human flesh, perhaps from one of Lycaon's male relatives. This so enraged Zeus, that he struck Lycaon's house with a thunderbolt and Lycaon turned into a wolf. At the Arkadian reenactment, the teenagers would gather on a mountaintop and partake of a meal of animal entrails. However, among the animal guts was hidden one piece of human intestine. If a participant ate this juicy morsel, he would turn into a wolf and was only able to become human again if he refrained from eating human meat for nine years. Another way that the boys could achieve this lupine transformation was to swim across a special mountain pool. Once again, after nine years, they could regain their human form.

            As discussed in my previous blog, pain and the Sadomasochistic practices that bring it about can fall into many different categories.  Some of these fit categories that most folks are comfortable talking about in public and fit into the “safe” side of Wicca and Paganism, but some of the categories do not.  As was also discussed in a previous blog, while these practices represent the dark side of how things work that doesn’t make them evil.  It makes them real.

Aren't you glad it's the maiden and not the crone?

 When the idea for this blog originally came to me, I, of course like most folks, felt sure that my ideas were fresh and original.  Well, there are few fresh and original ideas out there.  As I come across other people’s take on my “fresh and original” ideas, I’ll post and review them.

            S&M and the pain that is its intended purpose and by product can be related to Pagan/Wiccan practices, ideas, and motifs in many different ways:

·        Sadomasochism as a mystery tradition

·        Pain as an initiatory ordeal

·        Pain as sacrifice

·        Pain as meditation

·        Pain as a drug

·        Sadomasochism as “all acts of love and pleasure”

·        Sadomasochism as ritual

·        Sadomasochism as a vehicle for enacting the drama of myths

·        Sadomasochism as a healing vehicle

·        Sadomasochism as sympathetic magic

·        Pain as a purifier

All of these things, of course, bring us closer to our deities and our understanding of them.  I believe that when we orgasm we may be the closest to the pure energy force of the divine that we can experience here on Earth.  Using S&M in conjunction with sex and magic can enhance that feeling.

 

 

While I practice with several different groups, I classify myself as Wiccan.  Wicca is a religion of balance, which often takes the form of opposites.  For every light, there is a dark, and so forth.  For some people, though, the light is all they want to see in Wicca and other Pagan religions.  They want to forget that many of the deities that they worship have light and dark sides to them.  And dark, by the way, doesn't equate to evil.  On the contrary, the dark is often very necessary for the light to exist and is simply a sterner side of a deity or the world.  The nature that so many Pagans profess to enjoy and love is very dark.  The Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" is a prime example of this.


With that being said, in this blog I will strive to explore some of the grittier (or perhaps dark) sides and practices of Wicca and Paganism.  Just because I write about something doesn't make it true; just because I write about something doesn't mean that a majority of believers practice it; just because I write about something doesn't mean that I necessarily practice or condone it.  This blog will be part editorial, part research project, and part informative site.

Over the course of the next several months I hope to delve into such subjects as S&M and Wicca/Paganism, blood sacrifice, the Great Rite (in its original form), hunting and the Wild Hunt, and avatars/deity possession.

Please note:  If you are at a ritual and any thing takes place that you are not comfortable with, you always have the option of leaving.  You should also tell somebody about your misgivings.  If anything vaguely sexual takes place in a ritual that involves someone under the age of 18, you should contact the police.