Showing posts with label number magic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label number magic. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Blessed Be Thy Feet, Part 5: Salvation for Your Sole-- Ceromancy, Falaqa, and Bastinado
He, sir, that must marry this woman. Therefore, you
clown, abandon,--which is in the vulgar leave,--the
society,--which in the boorish is company,--of this
female,--which in the common is woman; which
together is, abandon the society of this female, or,
clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better
understanding, diest; or, to wit I kill thee, make
thee away, translate thy life into death, thy
liberty into bondage: I will deal in poison with
thee, or in bastinado, or in steel; I will bandy
with thee in faction; I will o'errun thee with
policy; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways:
therefore tremble and depart. (As You Like It (1599); Act V, Scene 1, 45-56)
From Merriam Webster's online dictionary:
1bas·ti·na·do
There are several options for integrating bastinado into Pagan worship. Some ideas have been mentioned in the The Many Textures of Deity section and in the Cut Me a Switch, Bitch section that is under BDSM Rituals. Another idea is to have one person offer their feet up as a ritual object. In this case, the person's feet would be used for several different things. Their feet could be used as a drum, an incense holder for stick incense, a candle holder for small tapers, and if they're talented, a flat surface to hold a chalice or a bowl of water. If the person is really good at being still and completely zoning out, their whole body could be used as an altar.
Feet as a drum: Since most people don't regularly undergo bastinado, I would advise only using your hands, like with bongos. If you'd like to use drumsticks but want to play it safe, super thin plastic rulers are good implements for bastinado. They have a loud "slap" but a fleeting sharp sting that won't do any damage.
Feet as an incense holder: Unless the person has extremely calloused feet (which I'm not covering here), only use stick incense tucked in between the toes. For added sound effects that will make the "incense burner" squirm, you can periodically wet the foot down. As the ash drops, it will sizzle.
Feet as a candle holder: You can implement this idea in much the same way you would do with the incense, even down to the water. However, everybody involved should be aware that candle wax will get on the person's soles and aloe should be available for possible burns. After all the wax has dripped, ceromancy can be practiced on the images left on the person's sole. Ceromancy is traditionally the practice of divining meanings from the images of wax dripped into water, it can easily be applied to flesh as well. As with other types of divination that deal with formed images (like tea leaf reading), different shapes mean different things. After becoming familiar with the with the meaning of the shapes, use your own intuition to divine what they really mean to your situation or that of your sub's. This is a well honored method of divination among those of the kinkier sort. According to Jesterbear.com, the Italian courtesan Veronica Franco faced the Inquisition on charges related to ceromancy. I wonder if she underwent bastinado as part of the inquest?
As a nice way to wind down after circle, don't forget to tickle your "altar's" feet. According to Mistress Marmot, who started out as a sub, "When I was a sub, my Doms would tickle my feet, except I wasn't ticklish there. Instead, it would make me want to scratch my feet. It would bother me." So, tickling might not be the pleasure you intended!
clown, abandon,--which is in the vulgar leave,--the
society,--which in the boorish is company,--of this
female,--which in the common is woman; which
together is, abandon the society of this female, or,
clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better
understanding, diest; or, to wit I kill thee, make
thee away, translate thy life into death, thy
liberty into bondage: I will deal in poison with
thee, or in bastinado, or in steel; I will bandy
with thee in faction; I will o'errun thee with
policy; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways:
therefore tremble and depart. (As You Like It (1599); Act V, Scene 1, 45-56)
From Merriam Webster's online dictionary:
1bas·ti·na·do
a blow with a stick or cudgel; a beating especially with a stick; a punishment consisting of beating the soles of the feet with a stick; stick, cudgel
According to the entry, the word is Spanish, but originally from Latin, and it was first used in 1572. I suspect, however, that the date may not be entirely correct. The custom of punishing the soles of a person's feet has been around far longer than that, especially in the Middle East. If bastinado was not in Spain before the Moorish Invasion, it definitely was after 711 AD. The practice is also know as falanga and falaqa (the Persian word for it). Falaqa refers to the board, which looks like an English foot stock, that is often used to immobilize a person's feet for whipping.
Bastinado is a delicate subject, not only because it's administered on a part of the body that is both tough and delicate at the same time, but because most instances of bastinado aren't for "love and pleasure". It often falls into the dark side of the light and dark dichotomy. Historically and in modern times, it was used in religious schools as punishment, by the military as an interrogation and torture method, by governments as a sentence, and in seraglios as a way to keep order.
 |
| Bahá'u'lláh of the Baha'i' faith under went Falaqa in Iran. |
Political dissidents and religious minorities are often the ones to suffer bastinado. The insidious thing about bastinado is that it's a lot like being beaten by a phone book: it can inflict ungodly pain and physical damage but it doesn't usually leave marks. People tend to fold quicker under bastinado than they do with other types of torture.
So, if there is so much pain and horrid misery associated with bastinado, why am I covering it? For one thing, a reader requested that I cover it. I try to be a pleaser, when I can. For another thing, it's a perfectly valid thing to discuss within the context of this blog. Lots and lots of people have a bastinado fetish: giving, receiving, and watching. More than you might think. Type anything in this blog into You Tube and your mouth will drop and your eyes will bulge.
It has been awhile since I've been around any bastinado, and even then, it wasn't something I was around very much. In doing research for this blog, I came across a series of videos by Barefootcecilia on Youtube, which gave me a lot of ideas. However, just now when I went to link her channel to this blog, I received: "This account has been terminated due to repeated or severe violations of our Community Guidelines and/or claims of copyright infringement." Sorry, darling. Guess you were just too hot for You Tube (and she was hot!)
Before I go further, the standard warning statement should be made: All things should be safe, sane, and consensual. As with any sort of S&M and/ or sex ritual, be responsible. Use safe words and condoms and respect boundaries. No under aged participants or spectators. Outdoor sex should be on private property. Bondage should allow for blood flow. If you break skin, use first aid to treat it and clean your equipment properly. And with foot whipping, don't over do it. The object is to lightly stimulate nerves, not break bones (and break bones you can very easily).
Before I go further, the standard warning statement should be made: All things should be safe, sane, and consensual. As with any sort of S&M and/ or sex ritual, be responsible. Use safe words and condoms and respect boundaries. No under aged participants or spectators. Outdoor sex should be on private property. Bondage should allow for blood flow. If you break skin, use first aid to treat it and clean your equipment properly. And with foot whipping, don't over do it. The object is to lightly stimulate nerves, not break bones (and break bones you can very easily).
There are several options for integrating bastinado into Pagan worship. Some ideas have been mentioned in the The Many Textures of Deity section and in the Cut Me a Switch, Bitch section that is under BDSM Rituals. Another idea is to have one person offer their feet up as a ritual object. In this case, the person's feet would be used for several different things. Their feet could be used as a drum, an incense holder for stick incense, a candle holder for small tapers, and if they're talented, a flat surface to hold a chalice or a bowl of water. If the person is really good at being still and completely zoning out, their whole body could be used as an altar.
Feet as a drum: Since most people don't regularly undergo bastinado, I would advise only using your hands, like with bongos. If you'd like to use drumsticks but want to play it safe, super thin plastic rulers are good implements for bastinado. They have a loud "slap" but a fleeting sharp sting that won't do any damage.
Feet as an incense holder: Unless the person has extremely calloused feet (which I'm not covering here), only use stick incense tucked in between the toes. For added sound effects that will make the "incense burner" squirm, you can periodically wet the foot down. As the ash drops, it will sizzle.
Feet as a candle holder: You can implement this idea in much the same way you would do with the incense, even down to the water. However, everybody involved should be aware that candle wax will get on the person's soles and aloe should be available for possible burns. After all the wax has dripped, ceromancy can be practiced on the images left on the person's sole. Ceromancy is traditionally the practice of divining meanings from the images of wax dripped into water, it can easily be applied to flesh as well. As with other types of divination that deal with formed images (like tea leaf reading), different shapes mean different things. After becoming familiar with the with the meaning of the shapes, use your own intuition to divine what they really mean to your situation or that of your sub's. This is a well honored method of divination among those of the kinkier sort. According to Jesterbear.com, the Italian courtesan Veronica Franco faced the Inquisition on charges related to ceromancy. I wonder if she underwent bastinado as part of the inquest?
As a nice way to wind down after circle, don't forget to tickle your "altar's" feet. According to Mistress Marmot, who started out as a sub, "When I was a sub, my Doms would tickle my feet, except I wasn't ticklish there. Instead, it would make me want to scratch my feet. It would bother me." So, tickling might not be the pleasure you intended!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Blessed Be Thy Feet, Supplement A: My sole is bound to you
Shibari (and all its bastardize, alternate spellings) is Japanese rope bondage. It is more properly know as kinbaku. The art form is a true discipline, every bit as much as karate, and people who master it are true masters, not just in the S&M sense. It can be done to any part of the body, including hair, and the designs range from simple to a level of complexity that takes hours to create. Most shibari designs appear to be knotted but really are not. That's the beauty of it.
I love having shibari ropes on me. It puts me in a most delicious head space, perfect for play or ritual. Shibari makes me feel special and cherished--one of the nicest feelings you can convey to a partner. While I love having the ropes on me, I, however, make a mess when I try to put the ropes on other people. At the end of this blog, I've included two simple tutorials for foot shibari. Also, if you decide to really get serious about the discipline, check out anything by Two Knotty Boys or try to see Nikki Nefarious.
Foot shibari is ideal in ritual situations because not only does it lend itself to several different uses, but it can be done in solitary, partner, or group ritual. It can be done to help you reach a meditative state. It can also be done to help with prayers in much the same way prayer beads are used. For every knot or special loop, a line from a prayer can be said or a specific deity remembered. The knots and loops can also be used in conjunction with number magic and knot magic. If using knot magic, you may want to cut the ropes off instead of untying them so that the magic is not undone (unless, of course, that's part of the ritual).
Probably the most intimate and meaningful way foot shibari can be used in circle is in binding rituals. Usually when folks say "binding rituals", they mean a ritual to bind someone, thing, or tendency up so that it/they can't do any harm. This isn't that type of ritual. What I mean by binding here is becoming bound to someone, a deity, or a group. Think of it this way, whoever controls your feet controls you. Feet are your mobility and free will. That's why it's worse to have a foot cut off than to have a hand cut off. However, many of us would gladly give up our freewill to a god or goddess, which is why foot shibari makes a good addition to group or self dedication ceremonies. If your deity has a sacred number, make sure to have that many knots or twists in your design. If your deity has a sacred color, get the right color of rope.
As with any bondage, make sure all participants are of age and do consent. Make sure that your bondage is not so tight that you lose blood flow. Numbness isn't really ideal. Also, make sure that safety scissors are handy in case the bondage needs to be cut quickly. Test cutting your rope with your scissors before you start. Have fun being all tied up!
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