The Bound Path: A Guide To Wiccan BDSM

By Abram

The Bound Path is a detailed guide that combines Wiccan tradition with BDSM activities. By synthesizing core Wiccan beliefs and practices as given by Gerald Gardner and the idea that consensual pain is a valid method of raising magical power The Bound Path gives a fresh new take on this idea. Fully detailed rituals and celebrations are provided to the reader that will let anyone from a new seeker to the most adept practitioner practice in a new way. Structure and suggestions are provided for working as a group, and for a BDSM relationship style that fits the ideas put forth in the book. Initiations for both group settings and solitary practitioners are provided to give those new to Wicca a method of developing their worship through action.

The Bound Path is not a scholarly look at the possibilities. The Bound Path is a users guide and how to manual that will let you explore a different type of Wicca.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abram
• Release date: Jan 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311661869

Abram

Abram is an ordained wiccan priest that has devoted himself to the study of religions, magical theory,as well as BDSM theory and practices. Throughout his life he has been involved in both the BDSM lifestyle and Wiccan Worship and has incorporated this into his work "The Bound Path". Abram was born in the midwest, transplanted into the south after retiring from the military and has been a practicing Wiccan priest for 25 years. He currently lives with his submissive tina in North Carolina. He holds degrees in various traditions, has trained in lifestyle organizations, and has a bachelors degree in religious studies.

Book preview

Chapter 1. Fundamentals

On Divinity

To start, we must lay a firm foundation for the magical practices that will follow. We must have an understanding of the beliefs that lay underneath all that is to come. The practice of Paganism/Wicca is one that has changed dramatically over the ages. Even in our own age it is different from place to place, and group to group. Paganism is commonly described as the worship of anything that is not in accordance with Judeo-Christianity. Wicca, a form of Paganism, is for our purposes the set of beliefs and practices set forth by Gerald Gardner and those traditions which are based upon his teachings.

This is an introduction to the theories and concepts of a Pagan/Wiccan belief system that underlies the rituals and practices of this work. . What is described here is the set of beliefs that are the underlying reasoning beneath the practices; it is not a proclamation of the One Truth. Neither is this introduction meant as in-depth study of these concepts. The curious seeker should look to the book list for additional avenues of study.

Let us first address what is the nature of God. The question of what is God has run through the minds of men and women since we first became self-aware beings. God, for want of a better name, is something that we see as beyond our comprehension. This concept says that It is not that man is incapable of picturing a form of divinity, it is that we lack a frame of reference. What we can imagine is so incredibly out of proportion to the vastness that is God. The result of this is that we have no ability to describe God adequately. It is much like asking an ant to describe the Pacific Ocean.

There is an old story that says three very wise men were blindfolded and led into a room to see an elephant. One of these men stood at the elephant's nose, another at its side, and the last near its tail. Each was asked to describe what they found. The first man felt the trunk and declared the creature must be a huge snake. The second touched the massive side and declared it must be some boulder like creature, and the last grabbed the tail and said it must be some form of huge monkey. As we can gather, they all failed due to a lack of proper perspective, not a lack of wisdom.

This same difficulty of perspective plagues mankind with respect to describing the divine. One man looks and sees one small aspect and declares it to be The Truth. Yet another man sees something completely different and declares that to be The Truth. This makes things difficult and confusing for mankind. Neither Truth is wrong, but neither Truth is sufficient to describe the divinity. For our purposes, we will say that God is an unknowable, unnamable entity or force that is described by mankind through the use of many different aspects that describe a valid part of the whole.

Since any belief system requires something a little less nebulous than well we just don't know for sure, we must create some description that we can use as we go forward. The basic belief of this path begins with asserting that a duality exists within the divine. That God exists as both male and female and can be represented as either. That God exists as a balance of both passive and active forces that affect the structure of the universe.

We further represent this duality as a God and a Goddess that are primal archetypes for the other forms of divinity that are worshipped. For those with a more Christian background, it may help to consider this as similar to the concept of the holy trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each part of the Christian trinity is considered a separate entity, while being aspects of the same being. This is the same concept that underlies the idea that there is a duality of God and Goddess that are the same as the unknowable divinity.

Taking yet another step, we state that these primal archetypes are represented by the many names of Gods and Goddesses that have existed throughout the history of mankind. At first glance, it may seem strange to say that each God is real and each one is yet still part of the same singular divine presence. Think of yourself for a moment however. Taking the concept that each God is but a name of the same Divinity, a person is often called by, and responds differently to, the various names we are all addressed by.

At work you may be called Mr. or Mrs. and you respond in a professional manner. To your friends you may be called Bill or Margie, or even by a nickname, to which you respond in a completely different manner than at work. Your children call you Mom or Dad and your response is yet another aspect of who you are. This is what we assert is the same for how the Divine reacts to being called by any of the many names of God and Goddess.

Each form of address, or name of a God/Goddess, prompts a response that corresponds to that name. When we call upon the male aspect of a god in the name of Dionysus, we get a different response than if we call upon that divine presence in the name of Herne or Thor. The deity hasn't changed, only the voice in which it responds to us is different. Each time we call upon a different aspect of the divine by a name, we cause all the historical associations that mankind has built into the name to be brought into the invocation.

Keeping this concept in mind, we state that all gods are aspects of God. We state that no matter the name that is used to identify the divine, it is, at its essence, the same God. We believe that each name relates to a different aspect of the whole, and that by calling upon these aspects we approach the divine slightly differently. Broadly stated, this means yes, gods you may disagree with or find distasteful are also an aspect of the divine. The divine is not always nice, polite, or pleasant. Each aspect of the divine is there for you to approach and use in your works.

Another widespread belief is the idea and concept of spirits, or intermediaries. These are often seen as non-human intelligences that are not gods, but of lesser magnificence. They take many forms, from ghosts to angels, demons and natural spirits. These beings are also believed to exist in the forms described throughout history. Each living creature has an aspect of the divine.

The energy that makes us who we are can exist beyond our physical forms. Upon our death we sometimes become a disembodied intelligence that remains in the world. This energy is what modern day ghost hunters, and paranormal investigators search for. The instruments that they use detect the residual energies that we leave behind upon death.

Additionally, as will be described later, magical beliefs state that when there is enough thought energy guided into the higher realms, that intelligences are created. These thought forms are not true aspects of the divine, but creations of the human consciousness. They are as real and approachable as any God or Goddess however, and function and provide assistance from the vast reservoir of human energy that washes through the higher realms.

A note of caution must be included at this point. In accordance with the above beliefs there are those entities that it is both unwise and unsafe to approach. Look at them not in terms of good and evil but as safe and unsafe forces. Just as you may have a neighbor you avoid because of their disposition, some of the aspects of the Divine, and thought forms created by man are best left to their own devices. Always use proper magical protections when working, and if you are unsure, take the safest path and avoid them entirely.

Cosmogeny

All religions exist within a worldview. This is also known as the cosmology of a belief system. A cosmology describes the fundamental theology and its relation to the observable world. While the attempt of this work is to enable its practice regardless of theology, it is necessary and right to provide a theology for those who wish to practice this as a coherent whole.

At their heart, all religions are mythology. In the millennia to come, even our modern religions will be regarded as mythology. For those who have difficulty believing this, the religion of the Egyptians survived for thousands of years and is now only seen as a collection of stories without true religious meaning. This same is true of the religions of Rome, Northern Europe, the American Indian; all are eventually relegated to the status of myths and legends.

This unarguable fact draws attention to two important pieces of information. One of necessity and the other of commonality. Necessity dictates that man both needs and desires religion. Also that religion necessitates a set of beliefs that define its tenets. Commonality states that inherent in the growth of all religions is a dependence on the beliefs that it eventually supplants or grows out of as all religion is an attempt to define universal concepts.

Mankind needs faith; it needs religion. It can be argued that even atheists who decry faith revere logic in a similar manner. Even atheists must at a certain level accept as truth the statements of physicists and scientists.

There has even been the assertion that mankind is genetically predisposed to worshipping something beyond themselves. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. It would go far to explain the fact that throughout the entire history of mankind he has sought to worship something greater than himself.

Religion in all its many forms springs from a common well of thoughts and beliefs. These common themes or concepts derive mainly from the world that surrounds us. These attempts to explain the natural world around us, and to somehow get help in dealing with it is at the heart of most religions. The same ideas held by our ancestors echo down through the ages and can be found in some form within our modern religious ideas.

Religion is therefore best described as Man’s attempt to explain the mysteries that surround him. These explanations become religions, and as mankind's understanding expands, religion changes. There is no need for a god to explain thunder when we have come up with a more scientific method of explaining this occurrence. As we have grown and changed over the ages, so our gods have grown and changed as well.

No judgment is implied of any other theology. Believe what you feel is right. The cosmogeny provided is largely Wiccan in orientation. This reflects the Gardnerian foundation upon which it was built. As stated earlier, the fundamental belief is that all religions are correct and valid at some level. All religious expression is a reflection of the one true Divine Truth that we are incapable of understanding.

Religion should address the eternal questions of Man. Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go upon death? These questions are what mankind seeks to answer with religion, science, even philosophy. Once more it must be stated that what follows is not the one true religion that must be followed, but a guiding principle for those who wish to combine everything presented into one combined method of spiritual expression.

In the beginning, there was nothing. This concept is held as a Truth by most belief systems, including modern science. From nothing came something. This something was the primal (first) light, the infinitely dense spark of mass and energy that contained all creation. This singular point is what we see as the first spark of divine thought. This something exploded into the set of objects and concepts that we call our entire universe.

Within this divine spark existed the potential for all time and space. At that first eternal instant, the Godhead created the entire universe. Subtle and beyond comprehension, the Godhead set forth the conditions that would result in all of creation from beginning to end. This is much the same as an artist who mixes the paints for painting, or a sculptor who sees the figure waiting within the stone. The infinite divine prepared the universe for the rest of eternity.

The unknowable infinite Godhead is the ultimate artist who painted Reality against the backdrop of infinity. However this infinite divine is not the sum of all creation any more than we are simply the sum of all the cells within our body. Reality is the creation of the infinite divine, it is not the totality of the infinite divinity. Thinking of it in another way, the universe is the Lego creation that is made, the Godhead would be the one who put the Lego creation together.

This being said, we reject any idea that all of infinite creation was grossly created in a short span of time. Neither the seven days of the Christians nor the coming forth from nothing of the Hopi suits the Wiccan view of the infinite divine. These stories must be seen as metaphors for a more scientific timeline where the infinite divine is the consummate artist who paints with small changes at basic levels of creation.

We see God as an artist who uses natural laws as paint and palette. Just as a painter paints in fine and broad strokes, the divine moves both subatomic particles and explodes suns to affect the masterwork that is being created. Occasionally, as an artist must take care to ensure a single point of color is exactly right, the divine must take notice of and ensure a single point of creation is on the right path, or respond to its requests. This is our explanation of miracles and divine guidance.

The infinite divine is an unknowable truth. Being a part of its creation we are unable to see beyond our own paradigm. There is no way we can comprehend what is beyond the reality that has been created for us to live within. In a more scientific way of describing it, we are three dimensional creatures who simply cannot comprehend a four dimensional world. However the infinite divine is at its essence a form of energy and all energy emanates from its source.

We observe the infinite divine through these emanations. The primary emanations are the active force and passive force. This is the yin and yang of Taoism, the Holy Spirit and Father of Christianity. As stated previously, we personify these forces as a forceful, dominate and male God, and a feminine, receptive and submissive Goddess. From these two archetypical forms descend all of mankind's gods and forms of spiritual expression.

Why mankind exists is ultimately as unknowable as the infinite divine. However, each soul is a small emanation of that infinite godhead; that mankind exists as a means for the infinite Divine to both express some aspect of itself and to experience some portion of reality. Each soul must regain or learn certain lessons before they are reabsorbed into the infinite divinity. Mankind was created as a sort of crucible for souls to learn. This concept forms the basis for our existence. We are not here to passively be pushed or pulled, but to experience things both good and bad for the betterment of our eternal souls.

This period of learning for our eternal souls takes the span of many lives, and requires us to assume many different physical forms. Each life we live is but one of a succession of lives that our souls experience to attain some aspect of knowledge that is required for fulfillment. Each lifetime offers the opportunity to learn, to grow and to become closer to the perfect beings that are our true selves.

While similar in concept to the concept of reincarnation and karma, Wicca has several fundamental differences. Your current incarnation is not dependent upon your previous lives; nether as a punishment nor as a reward. Any negative or positive Karma that you might have accumulated have no impact on your ability to achieve true enlightenment. Your lifetime is your own and chosen by you for the experiences you had within that incarnation. You are not tied to your negative actions of a previous existence.

A soul chooses their life’s path in order to experience necessary lessons. The struggles that you have, the suffering that you endure, the pleasure that comes to you are all part of that lesson. Each struggle is not a punishment to endure for past mistakes, but an opportunity to learn and grow in some way. No matter how difficult life might be, you choose that life for the lessons it would teach you.

Death is not the end of the eternal you. Death is merely the closing of one chapter of your story. Death is a time of rest and reorientation, of strengthening yourself for a return for another lesson to be learned. After physical death, the soul works through that lifetime’s idea of an afterlife, for even in that there are lessons to be learned. Once the entirety of that existence has been plumbed for its lessons, the soul exists in a place apart, a different than what we experience on Earth. There we decide upon the next incarnation and await its proper time to begin.

The spiritual realms exist as differing levels of emanations from the infinite divine. The universe as we see it is but a part of Reality. Conceptually, think of this in the same manner as light is formed of many different colors coexisting and yet not interfering with each other. Each of the spiritual realms would be a different color of light when the pure white light they are part of is split by a prism. All of the spiritual realms discovered by man exist in the same physical space, yet are separated by differing levels of emanation. They coexist with minimal physical impact on each other in any direct manner.

Such is the Wiccan concept of the state of all Reality. The astral, etheric and spiritual realms described throughout history are simply different emanations of the same whole. All planes, as described throughout the span of magical thought, should be seen as complete realities that mankind has stumbled upon. Separated only by their different place in the rainbow of emanations that is the universe.

These different realities affect our own through a complex interrelation. All reality is one, if an archetype is changed in one realm, or the physical form changed in ours, it must be reflected on the different levels of emanation. Reality is a zero sum equation and all changes must balance out in the end. It is upon this that the concept of as above so below is based.

Physically, it is almost impossible to exist or interact with a different emanation of reality. However our thoughts are energy, and energy can change its state. Just as light may pass through a clear barrier and affect what lays beyond it, so our thoughts can pass through the different emanations and affect what lies within. This is our foundation for the concept of magic. That the power we raise through our rituals and rites is the fuel we use to empower our ability to create change in the spiritual realms.

All the spiritual world can be seen as manifestations of either thought, or existing at a different emanations of creation. The concept of accretion states that if enough people believe a thing exists, that their passive thoughts will cause this to exist on the realms that are of higher emanations. They become what we believe and if there is a resonation with the infinite divine, if they truly express some aspect of reality then they become embodied forms that are approachable in and of themselves.

This is the bedrock of our belief system. These concepts are more fully and subtly expressed in our divine mythology of God and Goddess. The Wheel of the Year and our mythology is how we connect to these concepts in a more concrete and material way. They take the grand concepts and express them in our everyday lives. By emulating the mystery of their relationship, we connect to all that which is greater than ourselves.

As you proceed and explore what follows, always remember that the intent is a connection to the divine spark you carry within your eternal soul. Your practices should make you feel more complete, more alive. They should at once make you more energetic and more peaceful, they should be fulfilling.

On Magic

Magic is the ability of a person to accomplish a change through the direct application of will. Magic may be shamanistic, ritualistic, kitchen magic, high magic, low magic and any other form of man’s desire to bend the world to his will. Magic in our belief will not be some flashy stage effect but the subtle alteration of the physical world to align with our will and intent.

A common part of magic, as practiced within Paganism, is the concept of the elements as personified forces. These elements are normally categorized as Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. Over time, each element has been associated with various concepts, deities, and philosophical outlooks. The concept of correspondences, which elements correspond to specific concepts, will be covered shortly. For now, simply know that throughout most rituals and practices, the elements are seen as both primal forces, and embodied aspects of the divine.

There are two main forms of magic that we must address. The first type is called hermetic magic, which can be considered a ritualized and highly structured science of the application of will towards the world. In hermetic magic, a person constructs a magical form, relying on precise and intricate correspondences and exacting techniques to focus their will and gain energy from the higher realms to change the world in accordance with their intent. This form of magic is highly structured, and relies on a body of ancient knowledge to work. This form of magic is highly dependent on self-discipline.

The second form of magic is natural or spirit-based magic. This is the magic of the shaman or the kitchen witch. It is a much more organic and earthy form of magic. It is based on sympathetic associations and the recognition of the divine in nature’s many forms. In this form of magic, the basic belief is that by using the power that lies within nature, the Practitioner can cause change in accordance with his will. It is much more energetic than hermetic magic and usually involves forming associations with spirits. It is based on raising energy through movement.

Both forms of magical expression require a need for Creative Visualization. In order to create something, you must first recognize that it can exist. You must train yourself to see it with your mind’s eye, to visualize it before you. Only by visualizing it do you have any chance of creating it. Creative Visualization is one of the most difficult skills to develop. You must discard what you have been taught since childhood; that only physical objects can be built up or torn down to create new objects, new realities. Cast aside the admonition that strange things can't happen in the real world. To be an effective magic user, you must develop the ability to apply your imagination to a situation and you must learn to believe your imaginings can become the new reality. This is not a new or ground-breaking concept. Traces of this can be found in many different esoteric philosophies. (give examples)

To put it in a more technical terms, you must learn to formulate an imaginary construct of what you truly desire. Then you must empower this construct to breach the bounds of Reality where it slips into the astral plane. This construct will either take root and become part of Reality, or it will simply disband, evaporate as if in a puff of smoke, as not being clear enough or empowered enough to survive on its own.

Think of this as the loop of Reality; first you imagine, then you believe, you release the belief, it slips into the higher realms where Reality is created. It finds its niche, where it is then returned as the new Reality that you desired. This is a simplification of the technical aspects of magic, and there are a vast amount of esoteric texts that deal specifically with this concept. Those interested should consult the book list and study further on this topic. For our purposes, the main thing to remember is that you must believe something will happen for it to have a chance of happening.

In natural magic, we deal mostly with a concept called Sympathetic Association. A simple description would be to call this the magic of things. Over the ages, physical items have become associated with mental concepts. In much the same way a flag can be a symbol of an entire body of thought, and for many become much more than a colorful piece of cloth. The sympathetic concept of magic states that the concepts we have given to objects, is given their own power.

These associations permeate our reality and as such are useable in our practice of magic. Consider the concept covered earlier that says what we think can become reality. Within magical theory perception of something may indeed become the reality. The passive thoughts of mankind around the planet that, for instance, believe that a certain flower or mineral stands for something eventually brings that reality into existence.

This is the bedrock of most natural magic, and greatly impacts ritualistic magic. Herbs, rocks, crystals, have all become associated to different concepts and ideas, and have been endowed with their own meanings. These meanings, while seemingly unimportant, carry the weight of the world consciousness with them, and should be used in accordance with these historical associations. Doing otherwise is like trying to swim upstream. You are pushing against the flow of thousands of thoughts, and eons of those thoughts. Correspondences are the common name for these associations and are detailed further in the appendices.

We further carry these correspondences over to ritual elements that are used in making magic. The ritual tools as described in Wicca carry with them correspondences to different elements and thoughts. For our purposes, we will associate the different tools of the BDSM lifestyle to their closest counterparts. For those tools not described, the Practitioner is encouraged to compare them to what is described and make a reasonable choice of what to associate that tool to.

Wicca is a religion based on the cycles of nature, which is called the Wheel of the Year. Wicca is, at its heart, based squarely on an agrarian model. The people of the world before the industrial revolution were much more in-tune with the seasons of the year, the life cycles of creatures great and small, the stars’ movement in the skies. This fact permeates the practice of Wicca in the modern day. The Wheel of the Year is a term for this unending cycle of nature and the celebrations that occur throughout the year.

The Wheel of the Year is composed of the two equinoxes, the two solstices, and the first days of the seasons. For those not used to these terms, an equinox is when the night and day periods’ are of equal length. This occurs mid-spring and mid-fall of every year. The solstices are the longest night of the year in the winter, and the longest day of the year in the summer. These celebrations are called Sabbats and are more fully explained later in this work.

In addition to the Wheel of the Year, each month’s full moon is seen as a time of celebration. These nights are termed Esbats and are the chief times for magical workings. Where the Sabbats are celebrations and holidays, the Esbats are working days where you perform rituals that usually have an goal in mind, something you wish to cause to happen.

Those who pay even the slightest attention to the calendar will notice that pagan holidays and the Christian holidays are around the same times each year. This is not a new realization. Neither calendar is more right or wrong than any other. What is important is honoring these holidays in the manner that speaks to you and your own beliefs. These holidays honor timeless concepts that existed before our modern names for these holidays, and will still exist when our civilization has vanished to dust.

All of the ideas we have discussed relate to the raising and directing of energy. Magic itself, as we have said, is merely the intentional raising and manipulation of energy to achieve our desired ends. Effective use of this energy demands that we examine what it is. Magical energy has had many different names throughout the ages. The forces we are talking about have been called the Chi, the Prana, the Force, Etheric Manifestation, the Astral Flow; but the name is not important.

There is a potential energy in all things within nature. From the tiniest subatomic particle to the most massive star, each has energy carried inside of it. Consider it a form of mystical physics, and yourself as a sort of meta-physicist, tapping into this cosmic energy and guiding it to your will.

The goal of magic is raising this energy into a form that the Practitioner can then direct to their own desires. The method of raising this energy is as varied as the names for this energy. We will focus on a few that fit our path, however there are many other methods that raise the same energy. Methods of raising energy vary from night long wild voodoo dances to the most solemn of Christian masses.

Raising energy is a process by which we both connect to the vast sea of energy within the world, and create it within our own bodies. The human body is an almost perfect generator of spiritual energy. Without belaboring the biological aspects, it is well to remember that your physical body is basically set up to take in a food source and convert it into energy.

We have all felt this personal energy rise and fall throughout the cycle of a day. We have times where we are almost bursting with vitality and excitement. At other times, we are tired and depressed, barely summoning the energy to get out of bed. This energy is tied into our spiritual energy. Both extremes, bursting with energy and extreme fatigue, also lend themselves to entering into states of altered consciousness.

It is within these states of altered consciousness that true magic begins. Once we have slipped outside of the confines of the normal world, we begin to touch those places that our ancestors were more intimately aware of. These are the places where the spirits dwell and gods whisper softly into our ears. These are the places where we come to approach beings much more vast than ourselves.

This altered state is difficult to achieve without much practice and discipline. Even greater discipline is necessary to be able to retain the ability to direct what occurs once you reach this state of consciousness. The true adept is the one who is able to raise the necessary energies, assume an altered state of consciousness, and yet retain the will to direct the energies towards their intended result. This is the goal that you are striving to reach.

The topic of magic cannot be raised without one very important point being raised