Though this might be seen by some to be a form of placebo effect—the last person that was pierced in front of the Bottom released energy and thus their mind constructs that this will happen for them as well—this is often not the case. Individuals who went in expecting to just have a good fun time, or who have never seen anyone else have emotional releases with piercing, have reported release or transformational responses from these sorts of scenes. These effects can transfer at times to the people around the piercee as well. Piercers can have emotional releases related to the work, and voyeurs have been known to get triggered as well. This can make chakra piercing an especially potent tool for public kink ritual work where a group to be put in a specific headspace or for setting a group intention.
Whether piercing as a form of intentional work or fun play, profound experiences can take place. We open up the flesh, and in doing so, open up the spirit. Whether pumping additional energy into the system by charging a needle with that intention, draining energy by letting blood flow, or the raw primal reactions that can leap up by seeing blood or having the skin penetrated, piercing work can be used a multitude of ways. We can cut past the rational mind directly into the emotional systems.
Just as with other sacred plant workings, we who are caring for the person who has been pierced are charged with taking care of our partner as the ride comes. Once you take a tab of acid, there is no true way to safeword for the initial systemic trigger. The body has opened up, and it is hard to stop the energy from flying. Remember that when engaging in any of the types of work that affect the body itself, from chemical inputs to profound piercing, that we are all signing on for the ride, even if we might be able to stop the extra layers of kink that were added.
Dr. Leary’s Circuits
The Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness is a system of examining the evolution of an individual’s mind and awareness. First proposed by psychologist Timothy Leary, it postulated that each of the eight levels or circuits exist within every person, and that what separates each of us is the degree each circuit is developed and expressed. These eight circuits are split into two categories: the first four “Terrestrial” or “Larval” circuits focus on survival on earth, and the second four “Extraterrestrial” or “Stellar” circuits that focus on future evolution of humanity.
Each of these levels can be activated using a variety of experiences, meditation and life journeys, but this system became associated with the Path of Sacred Plants when Dr. Leary theorized that they could also be activated using a variety of entheogens. Leary, whose work tried to bring together threads of the Kabbalah, the Law of Octaves, Yoga, I-Ching and other disciplines, was not the only individual who examined this eight circuit system and found it useful. Psychologist Jean Piaget stated that each of these circuits is activated and begins to function as one grows up from infancy. Eight basic loser/winner script associated with each circuit were written by physician and psychoanalyst Dr. John Lilly, who also developed the first isolation/sensory deprivation tank. Robert Anton Wilson explain these circuits further, and changed the names in his own work to represent his own theories on the eight circuits.
Terrestrial (Larval) Circuits
The Biosurvival Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Consciousness.
Properties: Concerned with nourishment, cuddling, and bio-security.
Sets up trust/suspicion, approach/accept and fight/flee responses in life.
Winner/Loser Scripts: “I will live forever, or die trying.” / “I don’t know how to defend myself.”
Activation Tools: Birth/infancy; Opiates.
The Emotional-Territorial Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Ego.
Properties: Concerned with territory, emotions, domination and submission. Sets up trigger reactions for cooperation, aggression and submission in life.
Winner/Loser Scripts: “I am free; you are free; we can have our separate trips or we can have the same trip.” / “They all intimidate me.”
Activation Tools: Toddler stage of life; Abundant quantities of alcohol.
The Symbolic (Semantic Dexterity) Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Rational Mind.
Properties: Concerned with invention, dexterity, calculations, planning. Sets up the ability to build a “map” of personal reality and handling the environment.
Winner/Loser Scripts: “I am learning more about everything, including how to learn more.” / “I can’t solve my problems.”
Activation Tools: Human artifacts and symbol systems; Caffeine, speed, cocaine, high protein diet.
The Domestic (Socio-Sexual) Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Adult Personality.
Properties: Concerned with sexual pleasure, sexual reproduction, nurturing young, and social morality. Sets up social network approaches and transmission of information and moral systems within groups.
Winner/Loser Scripts: “Love, and do what thou wilt.” / “Everything I like is illegal, immoral, or fattening.”
Activation Tools: Orgasm, mating and tribal morals; Oxytocin.
Extraterrestrial (Stellar) Circuits
The Neurosomatic Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Zen Mind.
Properties: Concerned with feeling high, faith healing and neurological-somatic feedback. Sets up rapturous amusement, detachment from the compulsions of the first four circuits
Winner/Loser Scripts: “How I feel depends on my neurological knowhow.” / “I can’t help the way I feel.”
Activation Tools: Gestalt reprogramming, somatic feedback, Zen meditation, Hatha Yoga, tantra, hedonic engineering, free fall; Marijuana, MDMA.
The Neuroelectric (Metaprogramming) Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Psionic Mind.
Properties: Concerned with re-programming and re-imprinting all earlier circuits, where the nervous system becomes aware of itself. Sets up the ability to access relativity of “realities” with each other, PSI and magical powers.
Winner/Loser Scripts: “I make my own coincidences, synchronities, luck, and Destiny.” / “Why do I have such lousy luck?”
Activation Tools: Magical and psychic training; Peyote, psilocybin, mescaline.
The Neurogenetic (Morphogenetic) Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Buddha Mind.
Properties: Concerned with Jung’s “Collective Unconscious,” evolutionary consciousness (past and future) and DNA-RNA brain feedback. Sets up access to past life memory, understanding of reincarnation and immortality.
Winner/Loser Scripts: “Future evolution depends on my decisions now.” / “Evolution is blind and impersonal.”
Activation Tools: Advanced Raja Yoga techniques; LSD.
The Psychoatomic (Quantum Non-Local) Circuit
R.A.Wilson: Overmind.
Properties: Concerned with non-local awareness (beyond space-time), PSI and magic powers, out-of-body experiences, astral projection, contact with aliens, and quantum consciousness. Sets up the ability to interact with a galactic Overmind and access a meta-physiological communication system with all of reality.
Winner/Loser Scripts: “In the province of the mind, what is believed true is true, or becomes true within limits to be learned by experience and experiment.” / “I’m not psychic, and I doubt that anyone is.”
Activation Tools: Shock, kundalini awakening, near-death experiences; Ketamine, high dosage LSD (1,000+ mcg), DMT.
Dawn Breaks
Time passes. Time stands still. Somewhere in the middle, I realize I have been freed from my bonds, and hands are caressing me. Somewhere in the timeline, her eyes lock with mine again, her forehead bandaged and her lips on mine.
Time passes. I sink into myself and realize how foolish some of my past decisions have been. I start to sob, and as time passes, two strong sets of arms are holding me.
Time passes, and I start to ground again. I know it must be dawn, as the sky is lit up outside, peering in like a peeping tom to our proceedings. But twelve hours could not have passed—could it? Did I fall asleep at some point? Most of the coven is as
leep, but there is a man seated next to me, holding space. I watch them, and an hour or so later someone else rises from the pile of bodies and takes their place. I finally let them know I am back, and they ask if I need the whole coven to share my wisdom. I smile a weak smile and say, no, I just need orange juice and something to eat.
In the coming hours, I share what I saw on the other side, and inside of myself. The other woman who went journeying shares her tales as well, as one of our throng manifests scrambled eggs and bacon, whole wheat toast and homemade preserves. Others share their experiences from the outside, and together we weave a tale.
As the weeks pass, new truths simmer to the surface. Each person in the group lets me know they can be there for me, until in time, some say no, really, they can’t process with me anymore. I debate doing the work again sometime down the road, but I know it will not be any time soon. The work comes not with the journey, but in seeing who I am when I return. The work comes not in seeing all of the universe, but in seeing who I am when I actually live in it.
Chapter 11
Your Path in Sacred Kink
More Paths than Eight
The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond is a roadmap to Sacred Kink, a series of tools to consider. As with every part of life, not all of us are intended to explore every option available, while others are called to try out a technique once and then leave it behind. Some of us are called to a path for a reason, a season, or for a lifetime.
No single path is completely safe and no path works for everyone. If you try something and it doesn’t work for you, don’t feel bad about it. Some spirit-workers do wonders on the Path of Meditation, and some kinksters find huge revelations working with nothing but the Path of Rhythm. No path is better than another—they are all just different paths up the mountain. The view from the top is just as amazing no matter how you got there.
There are however some paths that may not be a good fit. Individuals who have a history with anorexia, for example may have special challenges staying healthy along the Path of Asceticism, in the same way that those who have a history with addiction might run into challenges with the Path of Sacred Plants. In these cases, it becomes tricky to differentiate sacred from profane. Obsessive-compulsive individuals may have challenges with the Path of Ritual, dissociative individuals with the Path of the Horse.
Some of us are numbed to certain paths. Others become hyper-obsessed with one path, becoming blind to the possibility that working with another path might be more useful. I have met individuals who develop not just dislike, but disdain or even hatred for another path, blocking themselves from an entire set of options. Even more see someone else have amazing revelations or experiences along one path and think that they need to follow in that person’s footsteps.
“If you can see the path clearly in front of you, you’re following someone else’s path”
- Master Skip Chasey
We are not supposed to all be the same. Each of us has our own unique journey to find. Within this adventure called life, there are many ways to enter altered states of consciousness, many ways to live our life. We have only touched on eight of these:
Path of Rhythm
Ordeal Path
Path of the Flesh
Path of Ritual
Path of Breath
Path of the Horse
Path of Asceticism
Path of Sacred Plants
This is not a complete list of all the choices out there! For some folks, this includes the Path of Laughter in the form of enlightenment, embracing beauty and joy in world where others might not. Some find enlightenment by dancing through the personal darkness of insanity and coming out the other side along the Path of Madness. Some follow in the footsteps of the Native American tale of Raven who stole the sun, finding personal revelation by borrowing from other cultures and sneaking away in the night with mystery hidden under their wing on the Path of the Thief.
For those who are called to chisel or brush, voice or guitar, the Path of the Artist might ring true, either to create from within the self, to find the ribbons of truth that run through the cosmos and knit them together, or to find truth in taking all one has once done, and turning away and finding the new art before us. Sacrificial Path workers go one step further, handing over all that they once were, time and again, to give up all, and in doing so, receive the greatest gifts.
Path of Denial. Path of Sensation. Path of Symbols. Path of the Warrior. Path of Meditation. Path of the Mystic. Path of Death. There are many options along the journey of Sacred Kink as well.
Tools for Finding Your Path
How do we figure out which path is ours?
Did you find yourself looking upon an idea presented in this book and feel a light shine out from within you? Examine this, for our higher self and subconscious mind is aware of so much that our active mind is not.
Did you find yourself deeply repulsed on a core level by an idea presented in this book and yet felt drawn to look deeper? Examine this, for within the dance of avoidance and attraction is potent wisdom.
Think on the times you have experienced altered states while engaging in kink. Journal about each of them, or meditate on them. What common threads do you find? Think about not just the tools that were used, but the emotions, settings, scenarios, or types of experiences that led to the altered states taking place.
In times when you have experienced altered states but then had some sort of rough re-entry or did not have all the success you had hoped for, what were the common points? What can you learn from your less-successful experiences that can give you information for the future?
Daydream or fantasize as you masturbate or hold sensual energy or imagery for yourself. While doing so, think of the questions you have concerning your own path. What wisdom can the sensual or sexual part of yourself impart?
Some of us block information from ourselves by self-editing. Find some soothing music or set a timer in a silent room and start writing for five minutes, minimum. Do not let your pen stop. Choose one of the topics below to use as your starting point. The point is not to have it make sense, but to write and not self-edit. Just keep writing, don’t look back, and don’t stop until the time is up. Even if what you write is “this is stupid and I don’t know” that is okay—start there, and keep writing. Once done, set it aside, and choose another topic, or leave it be for a minimum of half an hour, before examining what you wrote. Starting topics might include:
What calls to me in Sacred Kink?
What do I fear in Sacred Kink?
Why do I want to do this?
What tools will help me on my journey?
Who am I called to journey with?
What paths am I called to, and why?
What paths am I repulsed by, and why?
Where do I want to go in my journey of Sacred Kink?
When have I been the most successful in my journey?
What do I have to learn from my journey so far?
Who do I want to be at the end of this journey?
Who have I been along this journey so far?
How do I feel about my journey?
…or choose your own starting topic from within this text or from a discussion you have had!
If you are a kinesthetic learner, consider finding a way to engage your body. Try out the Path of Rhythm by dancing or consciously engaging in a flogging while being present in the moment. How does your body respond? What is your flesh sharing with you? Even swaying with no one else present can share knowledge if you let your skin guide the way without stories of how your form “should” move.
For visual learners, consider attending events that have public Sacred Kink workings. Hold space for the work of others by engaging as a tribal witness. An outsider, what draws you? What repulses you? What intrigues you but needs to be made your own? For those who cannot make it to an event, consider looking at imagery online, in books or watching movies that stir something within you, and learn there as well.
For those who love to read, pore through the resources section (Appendix 4) and look into work by other authors. Some may resonate more with you than others do, but keep your eyes open—we often learn more from what we do not agree with than when the preacher speaks to the choir. If you enjoy combining your reading with active discussion, there are a number of online forums of other Journeyers speaking their mind and discussing their own approaches, whose thoughts you can tap into.
These are all questions and tools I have used, but there are undoubtedly more to be found. You may be using them already. Perhaps in sharing your journey, you will learn about your journey. Maybe by engaging in Sacred Kink, one doorway to information after another will open, revealing your next step forward. Sometimes if we live the story, the story will write itself.
Whatever tools you use, make the journey your own. Every path we take will be different because we are all different. We are each unique individuals and deserve to have the unique journey waiting for us. By making Sacred Kink your own, you make it sacred.
The Call to Awakening
This journey is yours to have, if you want it.
The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond Page 39