Carnal Magic

Carnal Alchemy: A Sado-Magical Exploration by Crystal Dawn and Stephen Flowers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the newest trends in the magical world is the practice of sado-magic or BDSM practices in magical operations. In theory it works rather well, for magic to be successful you must visualize you goal, raise the energy and direct it then let your spell go. Sexual and BDSM practices are just one way.

Of course BDSM is nothing really new. Ancient cultures had flogging rites both to purify the soul and raise energy levels . The Greek in their rites to Dionysus and Artwmis are two prime examples. The native Americans practiced piercing and suspension in order to achieve trances . Various Christian orders also practiced flagellation . Most recently it was brought into updated practice by Gerald Gardner and Alesister Crowley .

The author himself belonged to the Order of Triskellion. The order's main purpose was to bring BDSM practices into magical and mainstream acceptability. They have since folded and Robert North has opened up the New Flesh Palladium.

BDSM has extensive history in both Japan and Europe. Flogging or caning is sometimes called the English Vice. In Europe some famous people involved at various periods of time would include Marquise De Sade, Leon Sacher Masocher, Robert North and William Seabrook.

Marquise De Sade was a libertine who believed in developing his imagination. He was also into non consensual torture. Masocher who had a bad experience with an aunt discovered his love for pain. He was also into contracts and agreement. Seabrook practiced bondage and suspension techniques aimed at achieving the trance state. He wrote books about the Middle East and witchcraft.

The book next covers the two types of universes. The subjective is like our dream world and the objective is the physical universe. You can manipulate the objective in order to alter the subjective or manipulate the subjective in order to alter the subjective.

To those experienced in BDSM and magic the safety techniques and the creating of a sacred space will not be ground shaking but to the newbie may well be revolutionary .

Would have been nice to have a few sample rituals to serve as a guideline included. I wonder what deities beside Artemis and Dionysus work well with flagellation and bondage . Perhaps the book could be extended and this information included.

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