APPENDIX I

THE ORDER OF THE TRISKELION

The Order of the Triskelion was established for the realization of the fantasies of its members. We have a sophisticated understanding of the Sadean philosophy embedded in the myth of Roissy and the Story of O, and we seek to make that philosophy flesh in a safe and discreet environment.

Our main purpose is the continuing and deepening of the Sadean experiences and relationships of our members. We are interested in facilitating aesthetic experiences in the flesh and souls of those who participate with us. It can be a transforming experience. We are also concerned with the development of a social circle of those who understand this aspect of life and have the desire to share it with others. It is our intention to enhance the depth of experience of our members without exposing them to real physical or psychological dangers.

SADEANISM AND MASOCHISM

Often called by many other names—Sado-Masochism (S/M), bondage and discipline (B/D), or dominance and submission (D/S)—Sadeanism is the art and practice of deriving erotic pleasure from the infliction of bondage, discipline, humiliation, and/ or pain. Masochism is the erotic enjoyment of such suffering. This is always in a mutually consensual environment. Perhaps the most elegant definition of Sadeanism—from the dominant’s perspective—is “the pleasure felt from the observed modifications on the external world produced by the Will of the observer.” Here, the observer is the dominant who feels the submissive struggle in bondage, sees red welts rise on the flesh, or hears those faint whimpers as the submissive is ordered to perform some humiliating task.

Probably most important to the success of our philosophy is the development and maintenance of a special link between the emotions of the submissive and those of the dominant. This sympathy—or empathy—is essential to deep-level experience of Sadeanism. Deep-level experience is the reason the Order exists.

Many in the T felt that its activities cut to the very radical, root level of human life—to the psychoerotic nature of humanity and to the fundamental questions of the polarities between all extremes of human experience. Basic to this polarity are, of course, those between pleasure and pain and between the soul and the body. The Order takes this radical and pragmatic view of these models and seeks to open the pathways between these polarities in the most direct ways possible.

HISTORY OF THE ORDER

The ultimate origins of the O T lie shrouded in Mystery. Some say that it was founded in the late 1800s by a group of decadent French and expatriate English “Rosicrucians” in Paris who had discovered the secrets of a “carnal alchemy” and sought to preserve them in the form of a kind of sexual order. According to this version the author Pauline Réage revealed the essence of the O T in her book, Story of O. In that work there are thought to be several clues as to the reality behind the fiction. Three of the most obvious would be the references to the symbol used as the identifying mark of the slaves of Roissy: the triskelion, the name of the chateau itself; Roissy, which is said to be pun on the name of the parent order (Roissy-Croix); and the name of the central protagonist in Réage’s story—“O” which is said to be a pun on the magical element eau ( French for “water”) being transformed in the narrative. O is transformed into the essence of wisdom (sophia) as portrayed in her final apotheosis behind the mask of an owl—a symbol for the wisdom of Athena.

But another and perhaps to some more credible version has it that the Order was founded by a group of enthusiasts for the book in the late 1960s and that it only slowly evolved from what began as a “sex-club” in Holland and Germany into a more sophisticated organization and philosophy.

Neither of these historical scenarios is easy to prove, as the O T is made up of fairly small groups or cells of two to six couples and the select individuals they choose to initiate. But as it exists now the Order does have a comprehensive set of teachings, practices, and ceremonies.

In the 1980s the Order was reconstituted in the United States, and it worked magically in the underground throughout that decade to bring the S/M philosophy to wider acceptance in the general public. Its main manifesto, Carnal Alchemy, began to circulate privately in manuscript form in the early 1990s and was originally published in 1994. By the mid-1990s the Order again went underground given the newly widespread popularity of S/M.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF “O”

In the classic novel by Pauline Réage, Story of O, there lies concealed a great philosophical and virtually mystical message. It is a message of personal transformation and change of the path of the human soul on the road to empowerment and even transcendence.

The philosophy of O is a sensual/aesthetic one—based on strong sensual contrasts—and its purpose is the transformation of the personality through psychosensual experience. For O the experience of great dualities—pain/pleasure, bondage/liberation, dominance/submission, pride/humiliation leads to this ecstatic change.

O allows herself to be molded by artists of the craft of sexual domination, but she never loses the reality of the inner control of herself, nor do her Masters desire her to do so—her submission is always and continuously a conscious act of her own will. This is fundamental to the eternal path of O.

A keystone of the philosophy of O is her relationship to the other human beings around her. O’s philosophy is a decidedly sociosexual one, although this is not the case in all Sadean myths. She allows herself to be “given,” and since this is essentially an act of her own will, she succeeds in further objectifying her ego in yet another step toward self-realization.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ORDER

The inner essence of the O T can be summed up in the formula of “carnal alchemy.” This is a psychoerotic process by which 1) the contents of the imagination are stimulated, 2) transformed into volition, and then 3) made flesh—or actual carnal experience. This is the essence of the so-called Triskelion Process, which many of the Masters of the Order undertake with their Slaves.

Through this threefold process the inner alchemy, which turns pain into pleasure, bondage into liberation, and humiliation into pride, is stimulated. These pathways in the body/mind are so deeply rooted that it is found that once these pathways are opened in this context they begin to open in other areas of life as well.

The Order advocates a whole set of aesthetics and a way of behavioralizing a complete Sadean relationship. The basic unit of working within the Order is the couple in some kind of committed relationship. The dominant and the submissive subtly work together to arrive at a whole range of things (techniques, scenarios, personas, etc.) that go into creating an alternate universe that belongs to the Dominant and Submissive in partnership. It is the responsibility of the Master or Mistress to discover what their Slaves desire, fantasize about, and want (and fear) to be fulfilled in their experiences in the flesh. In this activity the Master can have no initial set of established techniques or anything else. The whole relationship develops as a complex dance between the two persons involved. It is the task of the Master to see that the Slaves are fulfilled and that their deepest fantasies are realized. This is the path of a true “dialog” between not only the essences of the Master and Slave, but on another level between the flesh and the spirit of the persons involved. This process is essential to the opening of the pathways between the polarities: between the world of dream and imagination and that of the reality of the flesh.

STRUCTURE OF THE ORDER

The O T was made up of independent cells chartered by the central lodge. These cells exercised the philosophy of the Order independently at their own discretion. The central lodge bore no responsibility for how the various cells were run, and they may vary in practices and rituals one from the other.

ENTRY INTO THE ORDER

For details on the possibilities of entry into the Order, or on receiving a Charter for the foundation of a cell of the Order, please write to the publisher of this book, or use the e-mail address runa@texas.net.