SIG SIG Sputnik!

Off for a weekend of roping with Pyrate Lass, including attending a new SIG.

I always get this feeling before going to a new class or SIG. Will they like me? Will I get to play with the cool kids? Will my Rope Slut shirt fit in, or be passe? There's a feeling about it -- a mix of excitement and slight intimidation -- that I've come to associate with most of the worthwhile and life-changing events in my life.

Besides which, I can't stay too nervous because the other thought in my mind is, mmmm, Pyrate Lass . . .

Severity and mercy, via ropes

Tight ropes feel safe and comforting. Ropes too loose feel . . . off somehow. Not very trustworthy.

The leg that shows the ligature marks an hour from now is the one that will make me feel happy and safe right now.

The other powers of the imagination

When I was younger, I didn't have a very powerful feel for the senses in trancework. Several years of practice (and some new conceptual models) later, I am able to see, hear and feel in trance fairly well, and smell and taste a little.

Which can sometimes lead to very interesting moments. Like last night, when I was practicing trance for a public ritual with a good friend and co-priestess. We were doing pairs trance, and when we created the anchor cord between ourselves for me to go back, she said to create a "cord . . . or a rope". Good call! Yes, great imagery for me. And I decided to very quickly imagine an energetic rope harness to use for the work.

"And you are falling back, into warm supportive water."

At which my first thought was, "Oh fuck! Hemp rope!" and I could actually feel the rope tightening for a moment, before I decided: "Nylon! It's nylon rope."

My friend must have seen the quick look of panic on my face; we had a great laugh about it later. "Next time, I'll watch for the water ahead," she said. Maybe, "It might be nylon rope . . . "

Speaking of Pentacles . . . !

Lovely rope witches, check out this lovely star tie in Graydancer's GloRoMo pics. Oh, oh, oh! I'd been thinking of trying ties like that, or a full rope dress tree of life. Inspiring.

(I'm bypassing the usual entry, so here's your initiation. Over 18? Ready for pics that aren't work safe? Okay, we trust you.)

Service

Sacred service is the path of honoring what the Other needs, in the form it appears to them. Yet it is doing so without losing the essence of Self that the Other called into service. It is never second guessing, but it is often looking ahead of and beyond what is asked.

It's a paradox.

(If you think by service I mean bottoming, or service topping, then you probably have never seen me go sideways yet. Hierodules and priestesses R us.)

A Rite of Unbinding

In the Reclaiming and Feri traditions (and probably others) rites of unbinding are used to free up life force that might be tied up with unnecessary neuroses, events or distractions.

For obvious reasons, I'm intrigued by the language here. What if the rite of unbinding involved literal rope?

I think there would be a number of ways to approach this. Hence this post is "a" rite of unbinding, not "the" rite. This rite uses the same basic tech as a chaos magick sigil, in which the explicit aim is to encode the will into the spell, forget its conscious construction, and then release it to allow the unconscious to do its work.

A rite of unbinding

First - formulate your Will and determination to perform the ritual.

It is very important (for reasons beyond the scope of this entry) to formulate your will in the positive. For example, if you are doing a spell to have a cleaner house, avoid: "I will not leave the messy dishes in the sink for two days," in favor of "I will live in a clean and pleasant house." There are a couple of very simple reasons for this - mostly one of focus. The magickal self latches onto images, and couldn't care less about qualifiers like "not." If the shiny image in your sentence is "messy house" that's where the energy goes. If the shiny image is "clean house," likewise. (In theory, one could do a different rite of unbinding that literaly binds one with the bad juju and creates a means for escape, but that seems a longer and much more dangerous spell.)

If you decide to proceed, be sure to get tools and some safety equipment to hand - EMT shears, rope, water. Like lighting candles for your rituals? Not unless you have a priestess around, my friend.

If a priest/top is facilitating the spell, she should be made aware of the intention and should set it actively when binding the ropes.

Then, do the binding, deliberately setting your Will into the ropes as they go on. A priest/top can made the bondage as straightforward or elaborate as desired. For solo rituals, I find that crossing the legs and binding them with a simple two-column (or even one-column) tie at the ankles works just fine.

A period of meditation may be desired, but I offer a cautionary note - don't try to figure out what actualizing your Will "looks like" right now. In our example about the clean house - sure, you might get better at cleaning. You might suddenly come into enough money to afford a regular maid service. You could find the perfect service submissive. You could win a contest for a new house. You just don't know. Try not to get attached to how things will actualize, and let the Universe surprise you.

Raise energy. Sensation play is good for this - pain and pleasure can both be used to feed the spell. If you are doing the spell on your own, masturbation is probably the best way to raise energy (and also is a good way to honor the chaos magick roots of the spell). When the energy peaks, send it off with a breath to actualize your Work.

Rest a moment.

As you remove the ropes or have them removed, imagine that the spell is literally lifting away from you to work in its own mysterious ways. Feel your energy unbind from what had previously concerned you, knowing that change is on the way.

Snarky thought of the day

Deliberate humiliation scenes? Fair enough, if that's what you're into.

Trying to diminish someone who didn't negotiate for it, just because they're bottoming and you are a Great and Almighty Top (tm)? Not on my watch, you don't.

After a while, that kind of thing makes you look like you have something to prove, and no means to do so. I'm not impressed.

Rope

I desperately needed some downtime and reflection last night. My mundane brain said: "Watch a movie!" But the temple called louder.

So, I took the rope I'd been magickally processing last week and decided to do more with it.

I ran it through the washer on hot, and hung it to dry for just a couple of hours, then re-burnished it. With the ropes still damp, I could spend much more time on each spot to singe it without risk of burning through. I spent a long, meditative time reburnishing each rope twice through. And then I crocheted the rope again, still damp but sooty, and ran it through the washer again on hot. And then I did something I almost never do and ran the rope through the dryer until it was nearly dry, hoping to soften the fibers a bit more.

And - it seems to have worked! The rope smells like cut grass, not soot. It hasn't been oiled yet, but already it's soft. And most importantly, I can run it along the tender skin along the inside of my arm and it doesn't make me itch at all.

I'll oil it this afternoon, but already I am pleased with it. Which is good. I have 175 more feet of rope ready to be next.

Things I've learned

Well, I learned a few things tonight in re-processing the hemp rope I've been working on.

1. This thing about hemp rope not playing nicely with water? True!

2. Knots in hemp subjected to water? I might as well forget about ever getting them out.

3. My EMT shears work, even on stubborn water-logged rope.

Learning these lessons experientially without a submissive in the ropes? Priceless.

I probably needed a couple of 15 foot lengths of the 6mm anyway. But next time I'll take the damned midpoint knots out and crochet the rope properly before running it through the washer. Sheesh.

In other news, tonight I did my burnishing with the rope still damp and that worked out nicely: I was able to burnish each section longer without risk of burning through. Good to know, now that I've bought another 65 feet of 4mm and 95 feet of 8mm that needs processing . . .

Yoga for Rope Enthusiasts: Gomukhasana

The upper part of Gomukhasana, or Cow Faced Pose, is excellent for creating more flexibility in the arms, and the range of the arms behind the back. See where I'm going with this?

This shot shows more of the back piece of the asana, and helpfully cautions to have a belt nearby if necessary. Indeed!

Seriously, though -- beginners can use straps as a stopgap until they can get their hands to touch behind the back. No yoga strap? Well, if you have some rope handy . . .