Weekend madness

[featherynscale]

Pulled off the Flaunt with great success, if reduced numbers. We visited the Ameristar Casino, which turned out not to be a bad place to flaunt, especially given the general ickiness of the weather. Ate dinner at their entirely decent buffet restaurant, then caught the last set from Lonesome Hank and the Heartaches at Depot 9, which is a small bar inside a train car. Bonus points earned here because we ran into kittenpants' dad, who subsequently hit on me, and was embarrassed. Further bonus points for getting birthday spankings from said Hank, in front of the entire bar. Much fun, fair amount of mundane-freaking, hardly any drinking at all, which is a first for a flaunt. Could be the weather.

Relevant stats:
Costumed individuals: 11
Alcoholic beverages consumed during entire experience: 2
Feet from Depot 9 to the nearest restroom: 20
People who accosted kittenpants between Depot 9 and the restroom: 8
Flaunters that can fit in a phone booth: 7
Birthday spankings: significantly more than 27
Bruises on my bum from birthday spankings: 2

Pictures to come soon to flaunt_dev when I get them.

We didn't get to sleep until 2:30-3:00ish, which was pretty good for a Friday, and I slept till noon. Then triadruid came down, and I didn't get out of bed until 2. Then food, and then back home for a nap. After which, we went to kittenpants' and triadruid's wedding shower, which was weird. All of kittenpants' relatives look like they could be or perhaps have been extras on Friends or some similar thing, which is sort of scary. They're very nice though, and I hope I didn't offend anyone or weird anybody out. I don't know why I would have, but I don't really know how to deal with people like that.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I find that even though I've gotten pretty comfortable and passably extroverted in some circles, I can't really manage in more mainstream settings.

Came home late again Saturday, woke up later Sunday, dealt with personal crises, and barely made it to Gaia on time for ritual, which was bad, since saffronhare and the rest of the crew had spent so much time and energy telling people not to be late. Glad that we made it on time, though, because it was a really good ritual. Or at least I thought so. It was more like the way I like to do ecstatic ritual, which is to say that there was actually enough time given to allow me to get to an altered state, and there was enough freedom of movement given that I was able to do so by a method that works for me. Also, it was slightly less P.C., perhaps, than many of our rituals - actually cultivating some fear/awe responses, which I also find useful in altered-state work. I expect that there will be a lot of criticism of this one, because of the things that I liked about it, but there you go.

Went into the experience expecting to go out to dinner after, but was too nasty after to do any such thing. Missed the opportunity to meet niveus_tigris' friends, which was kind of a bummer. Ah well. Went home and had a bath instead, and got take-out chinese with breathofgold and iron_clad instead, which was good.

Comments

did a cat explode?

[pete3great.livejournal.com]

it's not really a good ritual unless a beloved pet explodes... or anything furry and cute really

Re: did a cat explode?

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

No, man. We don't blow up cats. We rent ritual space, and it's hell trying to get your deposit back once you've exploded something on the carpet.

Re: did a cat explode?

[pete3great.livejournal.com]

Hmm, thought you dudes and dudettes did your stuff outdoors. shows what i know.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I dunno. We had talked seriously about how to use real blood somewhere in the ritual, but finally backed off because BG might have exloded. We also managed to explode the "fluffy bunny" memories anyone may have had about the last ritual I did with the people on my team...

[pete3great.livejournal.com]

haha, last ritual a little to much unicorns and rainbows? i just finished a fourth month long working... and hour a night, for four months.

anywho, why not use real blood? you can get aminal blood from the local butcher usually.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I'll try to answer a couple of things in one post (watch this! only two hands!):

1. I'm a druid; Gaia Community is sort of non-denominational pagan, so not everybody there is a druid. Although we do a certain number of rituals outside, not all of them work that way.

2. The last ritual I did with these particular people was indeed All Fools Day, in which I portrayed Queen of Fluffy Bunnies (think parody of Charge of the Goddess).

3. We didn't let go of the idea of using actual blood for one of the purifications until late Saturday. GC is public ritual -- that means we have no idea who is going to be attending, how many of them and what level of experience they'll have. Nevermind health regulations and such. It's a bear just trying to anticipate who will be there and plan something meaningful for the hardened ritualist *and* the absolute beginner (fluffy or not) in the same time & space.

4. Letting go of the "blood is fun" idea was really hard, but we eventually let ourselves serve the intention. That third purification was supposed to help people go even deeper into their own altered state. That's really not the place to introduce something so very shocking. So we embraced the flogging as a second purification and left it at that. I will note, however, that I'd cut open my right index finger on Saturday and it continued to bleed all the way through ritual. My blood was pretty central to a lot of the supplementary shielding in the area. Just a little thing I do, which made my salt scrub purification Sunday morning Extra Fun.

[pete3great.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big fan o'blood. Sexual fluids are much more effective... Guess it's probably not *that* kind of group either ;)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Nah. They were doing good to get the flogging in. I mean, there might have been some sexual fluids involved on the part of some of the participants, but they didn't volunteer that information to the rest of the crowd.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

You definitely never get your deposit back if you blow up the person that negotiates the lease all over the carpet. All in all, she only made the horrified "I'm going to be held responsible for this" face a few times, so well-done there.

What was the last ritual you did? April Fools?

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

I forwarded the pictures I sent to saffronhare did you get them?

Sometimes, size does matter

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Not a one. But I bet they're too big for my inbox to handle right now. Do you have a minute to upload them today? I can send you the info for my photo hosting account and you can just dump them there if you have a moment.

Re: Sometimes, size does matter

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

I am willing to give it a shot.

Meeting me?

[erusumbros.livejournal.com]

Don't worry. You didn't miss a whole lot. I was gimping aroudn the ritual with my broken foot and Human Barcode T-shirt.

As for focusing to that ecstatic state...I saw the lash marks that Niveus put on himself with his own belt. He looked like he was a thousand miles away too...from what I gathered from him later, he said it was intense as all getout.

Re: Meeting me?

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I saw you doing such. As it turns out, I like niveus_tigris, so it stands to reason I'd also like his buds.

It looked like your other friend was having an interesting experience as well... but you know, nothing's fun like dancing, postures and self-flagellation.

Re: Meeting me?

[erusumbros.livejournal.com]

err well.

Two out of three I'll go with. I beat myself up enough internally so I don't really feel the need to thwack myself with leather.

Unless...there's some sort of good thing with that I'm missing somewhere.

Re: Beating me?

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

The thing with the self-flagellation is more about focus of attention and meditation - if you're smacking yourself on the back in a pretty regular rhythm, it gets a little difficult to focus on the internal monologue of monkey chatter, you know? Also, it's a method of blood/oxygen flow manipulation - again, attention away from the brain = altered state. Thirdly, I tend to enjoy it as a sensory experience, but that may just be me.

Re: Beating me?

[erusumbros.livejournal.com]

Well...whatever works.

I have a friend who's currently in the army who loves to be smacked, whipped and beaten in the happy fun way. *cough* And he says it's like being stoned...just with more sex.

I'll stick to the meditation part and save the flogging for those souls braver than me.

Some wise old guy said "Know yourself".

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

And he says it's like being stoned...just with more sex.

That's a pretty fair description, in my experience.

I'll stick to the meditation part and save the flogging for those souls braver than me.

Yup yup. Flogging for those who want flogging, no flogging for those who don't want flogging. All good.

Re: Meeting me?

[teross50.livejournal.com]

from your t-shirt to your energy you were admired Hoping you make it a regular occurance
occurrence
T

Lovely pics dahlink

[matchgirl42.livejournal.com]

Looks like you had a lovely fabu time, I am glad to see.