5

DOMINANT S-M

 

 

There is an intense feeling of power that rises in the soul of dominants at that moment when submissives willingly lie utterly vulnerable to their cruelties. To have another put that much trust in you is in and of itself empowering, and the symbolic quality of having absolute power over another human being is something that can be used to great magical effect.

In Carnal Alchemy the dominant magician is the actual alchemist or magician who works upon the complex substance of the submissive and coordinates the magical effects and aims. If the submissive actually embodies the substance of the magical work and the power with which the magic works, the dominant is the magician, the artist, the creator.

When you are just starting out as a dominant it is perhaps ideal to have as your submissive someone who is experienced, and who has high tolerances for pain. This gives latitude to make minor mistakes without having the psychological consequences be too dire. The flexibility of the submissive will allow him or her to balance from within those instances when you are too light or too heavy. Another desirable situation is one in which you can have a variety of submissives to work with. This can be the case if you become involved in a club or society for the practice of Sadean sexuality.

In the early stages of training as a dominant you should spend most of your efforts mastering physical techniques and the ability to forge an empathetic link between you and your partner. If these two fundamentals are solid, your continued development will be equally sound.

The role of the dominant is very much like that of the artist, and the creative pleasure felt by the dominant is very much akin to that felt by the artist working in his or her medium of choice. Here we are again reminded of the way in which the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo sought out pieces of marble he felt already contained the image he was looking for, and then, through the blows of his hammer and chisel he “liberated” the image from the stone. This is the feeling a good dominant should have when working with a submissive—that nothing is being forced, that everything is an act of liberation and transformation.

The true Sadean is a facilitator of the self-aware Masochist’s experience. In the relationship between the Sadist and the Masochist there is a true exchange of power in which both give something and both gain something they inherently need. There is also the recognition that the roots of the true Sadean impulse lie not in hatred or anger, but in jealousy or envy. In a way the Masochist can be viewed as a projection of the Sadist’s own inner—or “demonic”—self. The Sadist then proceeds to train, control, and even punish a symbol of his or her “demonic self” through the magical medium provided by the body and soul of the Masochist.

The Sadist is also the Artist. The insightful definition of Sadeanism offered by Gorer (“the pleasure felt from the observed modifications on the external world produced by the will of the observer”) is equally true of the Artist or Magician. In the work of all of these types something is imagined in the subjective universe and from there it is caused to come into being in the objective universe.

As an alchemist the dominant must focus awareness in the cognitive or intellective center. Dominants can never “lose their heads.” But emotional involvement is also crucial. The major use of the emotive center is in forging the empathetic link. Dominants should literally be able to “feel their way into” the self of their submissives. Without this link no magic can take place for the dominant—he or she will be just a prop in the magic of the submissive! In addition this link will be a great source of enjoyment and empowerment for the dominant, but only if the dominant understands what it is the submissive is feeling. Such understanding comes only through knowledge combined with actual personal experience in the flesh.

In using a particular instrument to inflict sweet suffering on your submissive, there come those moments in which you might sense that your self, the self of your submissive, and the essence of the instrument or technique begin to feel as if they all made up one great threefold wholeness. You, your submissive, and the whip become one. These moments are precious and should be sought out and encouraged.

Dominant Carnal Alchemists work their wills directly onto the objective universe through the symbolic medium of the submissive who has become a representative of the objective universe: the macrocosm. As we know the human body has long been used as a magical symbol of the world, of the greater universe. In Indo-European mythology the world order is said to have been shaped from the parts of the original cosmic man who was dissected and recombined (solve et coagula) by the great Gods of consciousness and magic to create a more perfect order.

In this there lies a great Mystery. If, through the use of the magical imagination and will, the symbolic link has been made strong between the essence of the submissive and that of the objective universe, alterations made in the experience and sensations of the submissive must inevitably reverberate in phenomena within the objective universe.

In a more complex way, dominant Sado-Magicians can also work upon their own subjective universes by projecting that part of their inner selves they wish to transform onto the image of the submissive and then by making the right adjustments in that image by training it to do your will. By magical empathetic linkage the outer alteration inevitably will be reflected in the soul of the active partner. In this way the submissive becomes a living magical substance, with empathetic links to the being of the dominant. Working with a living body has more potential for power than working with inert images.

This is the essence of the alchemical experience. The alchemists of the Middle Ages manipulated various natural elements in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, analogically identifying themselves and their own spiritual development with the manipulations they were carrying out. As they transmuted lead into gold, so too were their own base characteristics transformed into noble ones. As magical smiths forged perfect swords, so too were they perfecting themselves. The Carnal Alchemist, or Sado-Magician, has just taken this process to its most radical extreme—why work in the relatively inert masses of minerals and vegetables when the semidivine medium of an actual human being is available? For these techniques to be at all effective, the submissive must always be a part of the work in a completely willing way. If it’s not consensual, it’s not Carnal Alchemy or Sado-Magic.

It has long been recognized that often dominants, when they are torturing their submissives, are “really torturing themselves.” Or at least the good ones will be able to have this feeling. This reminds us of some lines from a poem by the French poet Charles Baudelaire, the title of which is “Heauton Timoroumenos”: Greek for “the Self-Tormentor.”

I am the knife and the wound it deals,
I am the slap and the cheek,
I am the wheel and the broken limbs,
hangman and victim both!

I am the vampire at my own veins,
one of the great lost horde
doomed for the rest of time, and beyond,
“to laugh—but smile no more.”^*3

Dominants must fulfill many roles. They may be part teacher, part actor, part caretaker, part taskmaster—and all magician. The ability to “put on a good show”—to mystify and amaze the submissive, to bring him or her into the alternate universe, which you have created—is no small accomplishment. Attention to detail must be great. Dominants are to create total experiences for their submissives, taking all of their senses and aspects of their beings into account.

A special word must be said about the role of the dominant as a caretaker. As a dominant you are responsible for the safety and experience of the submissive who has consented to put his or her body, heart, and psyche under your control. Submissives should always be given a “safe-word,” which, if they speak it, means you are obligated to stop whatever it is you are doing immediately. Another word might be given, which, if uttered, can end the session altogether. If the relationship between the dominant and submissive is strong and the empathetic link well developed, the submissive should never have to use this “safe-word.” Some also use “back-off ” words, which indicate to the dominant that the discomfort is getting close to being unbearable, and they need a break. In the Triskelion this is thought to let the dominants off too easy. They should be in empathetic link well enough so that the “back-off ” word becomes unnecessary. Also the internal tension in the submissive to hold out and overcome the pain thresholds is stronger if no “back-off ” word is possible. The “back-off ” option is most valuable in more playful situations.

There is no magical or emotional experience that quite compares to that of using the body of another (or your own body) as the ultimate symbol of the magical universe. While others may use cups and daggers for symbolic plays, the Carnal Alchemist goes to the ultimate source of power—physically, emotionally, as well as psychically—and works in the most radical way possible for human beings to work.