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This is a five star book! ~ From Sadie
By Sensuous Sadie
SensuousSadie@aol.com
www.sensuoussadie.com
Buy a copy here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/357074
A while back Raven Kaldera asked me to contribute an article for his book:
Dark Moon Rising: Pagan BDSM and the Ordeal Path. Sadly I had to decline
because, as I said, "there's not an ounce of Pagan in me." So when I
received my review copy of it in the mail last week, I had to admit that I
wondered if there would be anything in it that would make sense to me.
Although I have a deep and abiding interest in spirituality and BDSM and I
have a deep and abiding interest in Raven himself, I have to admit that
400 pages about Pagan stuff seemed a bit over the top. I took it on
vacation with me to the White Mountains so that I could skim it over and
maybe think of something nice to say.
Here I am, three days into my vacation and not only have I read the book
but have devoured it. Yum Yum Raven! I've just finished writing my own
book on BDSM & spirituality and I'll admit I was a bit apprehensive that
somehow Raven might have stolen my thunder (guilty as charged!). My
approach is non-denominational, interviewing a wide variety of
practitioners (including Raven of course) about how they do what they do
in the context of God. You could say that I'm a General Practitioner.
Raven however, is a heart surgeon, specializing in the Pagan way of
spelunking in the dark world of BDSM.
Raven's book includes both his writing as well as a number of essays and
poems from other writers, including his slave Joshua. It's broken down
into several major sections including sacred pain, the journey into the
underworld, the path of service and mastery, and the gods and goddesses
and their relationship to BDSM.
While his book covers the basics of the spiritual journey into BDSM well,
it also goes deeply into several main areas that I have not seen explored
comprehensively in any other collection. One of these is that he includes
a large section on ritual as a conduit to spiritual experience. Not only
does he explain the importance of ritual and how it should be used, but he
includes an extensive number of actual rituals that can be utilized
directly by the reader - individually or with a group. Raven is a
practical guy and I like that.
Another area that he explores in depth is not just the importance of tools
and toys in the spiritual BDSM process, but how to imbue them with
spiritual properties. I don't believe that I've read anything about this
specifically before, which probably reflects my lack of Pagan background.
Regardless, this concept of preparing objects with a spiritual
consciousness (or extending their chi, as he says) is one that is only
touched on is most of the other spiritual writings. Here, Raven gives us
details on how to go about it.
The last thing I'd like to mention specifically is his discussion of the
spiritual journey of the Dominant, another area that is woefully ignored
in most of the "non-denominational" literature. The vast majority of
writings in this area focus on the path of the Submissive, leaving the Top
to do the job of getting them there. Raven instead helps us to understand
how the Dominant needs to attend to his own journey, and in fact how his
Submissive or Slave can to help him on that journey. His slave Joshua does
an excellent job of explaining this job in his article titled: Shaman's
Boy: Serving a Greater path.
I probably will never become a Pagan because I suspect it would require me
to wear peasant type clothing, but Raven's work and his mind have inspired
me in a thousand new ways. I would absolutely recommend his book to anyone
– Pagan or not - with an interest in BDSM and spirituality.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sensuous Sadie is the author of It's Not About the Whip: Love, Sex, and
Spirituality in the BDSM Scene. Read an excerpt at
http://www.trafford.com/robots/03-0551.html. She is the founder and
leader (1999 - 2001) of Rose & Thorn, Vermont's first BDSM group.
Comments, compliments and complaints, as well as requests for reprinting
can be addressed to her at
SensuousSadie@aol.com or visit her website at
www.sensuoussadie.com. Sadie
believes the universe is abundant, and that sharing information freely is
part of this abundance, so she allows reprints of her writing in most
venues.
Copyright 2006 Sadie Sez Publications
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