BOOK REVIEW - Kink Magic: Sex Magic Beyond Vanilla
Michael Gleason
Megalithica Books (an imprint of Immanion Press
http://www.immanion-press.com) ISBN 978-1-905713-11-0 229 Pages including
Appendices, Bibliography and Index Paperback $21.99 (U.S.)
I am obligated to admit that my love life is decidedly vanilla, and hence I
have no personal familiarity with the kink scene. In a way, that makes me
an ideal individual to review this book. If the information can be conveyed
in a clear, non-threatening manner to a complete novice, that is the mark of
a well-written book. This is such a book.
There will be those individuals who will be put off by the mere title of
this book. Either the word "kink" or the phrase "sex magic" will convince
them that this is a pornographic book. It most assuredly is no. It is not
concerned with what goes where. It is concerned with how to use
non-traditional energy sources to achieve magical ends. If you want
pornography, graphic illustrations and that style of thing, fire up your web
browser and net surf your brains out. If you want to explore the potentials
in the use of sex for magical purposes, this is an important book for you.
Like all of the works I have seen from this publisher, this is a book aimed
at a specific audience with limited appeal to the general population. For
this reason their works often get overlooked, and that is too bad. They
produce thought-provoking, well-written books which deserve to be better
known.
If you have an interest in some of the more esoteric aspects of magick and
related topics (Og(h)am, Otherkin, etc.) you would be doing yourself a favor
by checking out their website and supporting this company by purchasing some
of their books. The quality is far superior to what I have come to expect
from small publishers; the topics are thought-provoking; and the prices are
reasonable. If you need more incentive to purchase their work I can't help
you, but those are more than enough for me.
A lot of time and space is dedicated to the safety aspects of both magic and
kink - a subject which is all too often neglected in books on either topic.
This is NOT a "101" book, in spites of its insistence on covering the
basics. This is simply a matter of making sure that everyone is on the same
page.
Although I, personally, am not a fan of the gender neutral pronoun "hir" I
can understand its use in this case to offset the common misperceptions
about dominance/submission in a kink setting. Every time I saw it, it
reminded me that all is not necessarily as my early cultural conditioning
may have led me to expect. It kept me on my toes, and that was a good
thing.
If either of these topics (magic or kink) interests you (especially if both
do) this book is a wonderful addition to your library. It accomplishes what
it sets out to do, which is to show how kink can be used to enhance magical
workings. Is it necessary to combine them? No, but for some individuals it
can enhance their experiences.
Baird Stafford
"Michael Gleason" <gleaso...@comcast.net> wrote:
<snip>
> Although I, personally, am not a fan of the gender neutral pronoun "hir" I
> can understand its use in this case to offset the common misperceptions
> about dominance/submission in a kink setting. Every time I saw it, it
> reminded me that all is not necessarily as my early cultural conditioning
> may have led me to expect. It kept me on my toes, and that was a good
> thing.
Yet "sie" and "hir" were the pronouns of choice on both asb and ap, back
in the day. I recall a certain snow leopard who was *very* careful not
to let hir sex be known nor guessed on the grounds that, since the
Goddess Worshippers were so *very* feminist and others on ap were so
*very* masculinist, the moment anyone found out what sie wore under hir
tail, hir opinions would automatically be discounted by at least half
the group. The argument made sense to me at the time.
Of course, it made sense that Ounce was one of the hottest flamers
around, too....
<snip>
Blessed be,
Baird
Gale
<snip>
>
> Yet "sie" and "hir" were the pronouns of choice on both asb and ap, back
> in the day. I recall a certain snow leopard who was *very* careful not
> to let hir sex be known nor guessed on the grounds that, since the
> Goddess Worshippers were so *very* feminist and others on ap were so
> *very* masculinist, the moment anyone found out what sie wore under hir
> tail, hir opinions would automatically be discounted by at least half
> the group. The argument made sense to me at the time.
I guess I'm too old to learn new words (or at least some new words) --
while I say I'd love to see a gender neutral singular possessive pronoun
come into general use in the English language, I get a headache when I
attempt to read a piece laden with 'hir.' (Of course, to be honest, I
got that kind of headache 25 or 30 years ago when I tried to read a
piece done with 'feminist' spellings. Something in my wiring, I guess.)
--
Blessed Be,
Gale
original fiction, poetry, reviews http://www.capjewels.com
"Progress which pursues only the next invention, progress which pulls
thought out of the mind and replaces it with idle slogans, is not
progress at all. It is a beckoning mirage in a desert over which stagger
the generations of men." -- Loren Eisley, _The Firmament of Time_
Baird Stafford
Gale <gal...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Baird Stafford wrote:
> <snip>
> > Yet "sie" and "hir" were the pronouns of choice on both asb and ap, back
> > in the day. I recall a certain snow leopard who was *very* careful not
> > to let hir sex be known nor guessed on the grounds that, since the
> > Goddess Worshippers were so *very* feminist and others on ap were so
> > *very* masculinist, the moment anyone found out what sie wore under hir
> > tail, hir opinions would automatically be discounted by at least half
> > the group. The argument made sense to me at the time.
> <snip>
> I guess I'm too old to learn new words (or at least some new words) --
> while I say I'd love to see a gender neutral singular possessive pronoun
> come into general use in the English language, I get a headache when I
> attempt to read a piece laden with 'hir.' (Of course, to be honest, I
> got that kind of headache 25 or 30 years ago when I tried to read a
> piece done with 'feminist' spellings. Something in my wiring, I guess.)
<satisfied smirk> That explains it, then. Ounce posted regularly only
fifteen or twenty years ago, not twenty-five or thirty.
Blessed be,
Baird
Hampm...@gmail.com
> In article <V5adnUuELaiMy1nanZ2dnUVZ_sOrn...@comcast.com>,
Hir s.r.p. moderator bio said sie "consider[ed] gender irrelevant to
this forum". I recall I had a guess based on what I considered some
subtle nuances and unerring logic -- proven wrong of course, once I
had dinner with hir and hir partner... :)
Gale
Ounce was an original srp moderator? I guess my memory isn't perfect
(you may note the error in my response to Baird).
Gale
Yes, I remember Ounce from ap and arw -- but, IIRC, Ounce left the scene
before srp was chartered. (And I began reading newsgroups, I think, a
year or so before srp came into being.)
My first real exposure to the-whole-nine-yards worth of feminist
spelling was something I attempted to read in WIN magazine, from the War
Resister's League -- and my involvement with those folks was largely on
the heels of the Reagan election, when I became convinced (accurately)
that the U.S. was on its way to hell.
Baird Stafford
<9b403934-88ce-493e...@d62g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
"Hampm...@gmail.com" <Hampm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hir s.r.p. moderator bio said sie "consider[ed] gender irrelevant to
> this forum". I recall I had a guess based on what I considered some
> subtle nuances and unerring logic -- proven wrong of course, once I
> had dinner with hir and hir partner... :)
Ah, but I knew before that....
Blessed be,
Baird
smugly
Baird Stafford
Gale <gal...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Ounce was an original srp moderator? I guess my memory isn't perfect
> (you may note the error in my response to Baird).
Also one of the original proponents - a "cabalista," as one among us
chose to claim in response to the continued clamor to oust the "cabal"
that "ruled" ap.
Blessed be,
Baird
who didn't know he was a cabalista until later.
Doug Freyburger
>
> I guess I'm too old to learn new words (or at least some new words) --
> while I say I'd love to see a gender neutral singular possessive pronoun
> come into general use in the English language,
It and its are already in place.
> I get a headache when I
> attempt to read a piece laden with 'hir.' (Of course, to be honest, I
> got that kind of headache 25 or 30 years ago when I tried to read a
> piece done with 'feminist' spellings. Something in my wiring, I guess.)
But English seems to want to make a distinction between animate
and inanimate with it referring to inanimate. So sie and hir get
proposed. Dealing with asexual animates like protozoans and
bacteria makes for a mess.
Gender of spirits has the same problem. If your tradition has the
sun as a spirit, why do some traditions have sie as Lady Sunna
and others as Lord Ra? For a living being who's natural form does
not have a material body, what does gender even mean?
Hampm...@gmail.com
>
> "Hampmeis...@gmail.com" <Hampmeis...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hir s.r.p. moderator bio said sie "consider[ed] gender irrelevant to
> > this forum". I recall I had a guess based on what I considered some
> > subtle nuances and unerring logic -- proven wrong of course, once I
> > had dinner with hir and hir partner... :)
>
> Ah, but I knew before that....
>
> Blessed be,
> Baird
> smugly
Whereas I didn't learn until I'd been inducted into the
alt.pagan.cabal, learned the secret handshake and been given the
secret decoder ring... :)
Hampm...@gmail.com
>
> >><snip>
> .. :)
>
> Ounce was an original srp moderator? I guess my memory isn't perfect
> (you may note the error in my response to Baird).
>
> --
> Blessed Be,
> Gale
>
> original fiction, poetry, reviewshttp://www.capjewels.com
>
> "Progress which pursues only the next invention, progress which pulls
> thought out of the mind and replaces it with idle slogans, is not
> progress at all. It is a beckoning mirage in a desert over which stagger
> the generations of men." -- Loren Eisley, _The Firmament of Time_
For we nostalgia freaks, here's a paste from the original RFD for
s.r.p:
The ModKin: (listed alphabetically)
Ailsa Murphy <an...@spdcc.com>
Donal <do...@brewich.com>
Hampster <jkh...@frii.com> <---Yours truly, back then
Lorrie Wood <lor...@mellers1.psych.berrkeley.edu>
Ounce (felis uncia) <ac...@netcom.com>
Before it's inception, Baird replaced Ailsa IIRC
James.remeniscent
Gale
> Gale <gale...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>>I guess I'm too old to learn new words (or at least some new words) --
>>while I say I'd love to see a gender neutral singular possessive pronoun
>>come into general use in the English language,
>
>
> It and its are already in place.
Sure is, but see how many times you can refer to a person as 'it' before
you get shot. ;-)
<snipped your passage explicating exactly that problem>
Tim Merrigan
<dfre...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Gale <gale...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>
>> I guess I'm too old to learn new words (or at least some new words) --
>> while I say I'd love to see a gender neutral singular possessive pronoun
>> come into general use in the English language,
>
>It and its are already in place.
Gail didn't go far enough in her observation of need. "I'd love to
see a gender neutral singular possessive [personal] pronoun[s] come
into general use in the English language." It and its are fine when
talking about inanimate objects, but inappropriate when talking about
people.
>> I get a headache when I
>> attempt to read a piece laden with 'hir.' (Of course, to be honest, I
>> got that kind of headache 25 or 30 years ago when I tried to read a
>> piece done with 'feminist' spellings. Something in my wiring, I guess.)
>
>But English seems to want to make a distinction between animate
>and inanimate with it referring to inanimate. So sie and hir get
>proposed. Dealing with asexual animates like protozoans and
>bacteria makes for a mess.
>
>Gender of spirits has the same problem. If your tradition has the
>sun as a spirit, why do some traditions have sie as Lady Sunna
>and others as Lord Ra? For a living being who's natural form does
>not have a material body, what does gender even mean?
--
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America,
and to the republic which it established, one nation, from many peoples,
promising liberty and justice for all.
Feel free to use the above variant pledge in your own postings.
Tim Merrigan
Baird Stafford
<0edb2a81-e277-417b...@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
"Hampm...@gmail.com" <Hampm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Before it's inception, Baird replaced Ailsa IIRC
Before it was newgrouped, yes, that's how I recall it, also. Still
can't say as how I wanted the job....
Blessed be,
Baird