All acts of Love and Pleasure are my rituals.

~Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente

Divided for the sake of union, the beginning and end of all that was, is, and must be, God Herself dances the dance of love and desire.

Cernunnos has sat, cross legged, for thousands of years. His antlers pierce the sky like his blade cuts into the hearts of the animals who give their lives to feed us. That which is used to protect can bring pain, and that which brings pain can bring nourishment. He knows both, this horned god, as he is both predator and prey, hunter and hunted.

Lilith refused to lay underneath Adam the way he said she was supposed to. Instead, she chose freedom, and pleasure on her terms. Some people say she birthed all the monsters of the world, perhaps they were just jealous that she did what they never could… accepted herself.

~ quotes from Crimson Craft

I love being pagan, my deities are vibrant, alive, and sensual. They desire and choose and love. Not every pagan dances with deities, but many do, and there is something precious in the gift of knowing that our gods live, love, and lose just as we do. They are part of this world, part of Nature (yes, including the human nature) and their stories and presence reminds me that the divine really is immanent.

And the gods are kinky.

Kink means anything consensual that arouses which is outside of the “mainstream”, or at least what people call mainstream. And arousal is an altered state of consciousness.

You know, that thing we do in magic.

The kink and magic communities have been learning from each other for a long time, not least because we’re both on the outskirts of the mainstream (however popular witchtok might get). Both deal in changing the mind through multiple techniques – such as endurance, repetition, performance, sensation – and both are exploring liminal realms.

Now, of course, not all kink is magic and not all magic is kink, but there are tools in the kink kit that magicians can use to support their magic.

And conversations – around consent, restitution, self-acceptance, ethics, community, safety, and navigating everyday life as an outsider – that the kinksters have been having for a long time and we can learn from.

We’re often taught that the spirit and body are separate, and bodily things such as pleasure, and desire are either seen as somehow lesser than the spiritual, dirty, and resigned to the hidden spaces, or given primacy, resigning the spiritual to the realm of fantasy. But this is an illusion, and we can find magic in the flesh, the sacred in the dungeon, and power in the hidden places. We are occultists, after all.

We talk about this connection between sex and magic in the Crimson Collective, and it is reflected in the mythology and deities that embody embodiment. From Inanna, to Aphrodite, to Freya, to Babalon, the goddesses of sex and love are also goddesses of magic and battle, seemingly paradoxically. Perhaps because they are present as their whole selves, and embodiment is key to powerful, transformative magic, and the changing of consciousness and raising of power that happens in magic is present in passion, desire, and arousal too.

So why, as magical folk, should we shy away from even talking about the connections between kink and magic, and what can be learned in this expression of desire?

The power of embodiment in ritual, and the connections between passion and magic, can be clearly seen in the realm of BDSM and Kink where activities are often ritualised, power flows, and consciousness is changed through the body, whether or not intercourse occurs. Just as Magickal Will is said to be best enacted under the auspices of Love, kinky practices must be held within the boundaries of consent and safety, and when we explore this, one way in which embracing our own shadow can be held as sacred emerges. (I share some of my journey in magical kink in my book, Twisted)

In The Enchanted Academy (TEA), September 2024, I offered a free online talk on the connections between kink and magic, a reprise of “Kink, Magic, and Embodiment” from the Glastonbury Occult Conference, and shone a light on the magic that is present in the Dungeon, and the kinkiness in the Temple, addressed some misconceptions about BDSM, and highlighted some ways in which kinky activities can not only parallel magical activities, but also, in many ways, be magical in themselves. All in the context of embodiment as a divine state and under the watchful eyes of the deities of love, passion, and magic.

This talk was recorded and you can access the replay in The Enchanted Academy!

Divine love, sacred sexuality, & embodied, sensual magic in the Crimson Coven.

You were made for pleasure, for play, for love.

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