Air, Water, Fire, Earth
When we first began, it seemed appropriate that an event based on the four elements should begin with their invocation. Or at least, it did to me, with my pagan witchy roots, and the same could be said of the…
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Making Love with Grief
“If I could only teach one thing for the rest of my life, this would be it.” These were Barbara Carrellas’s words about her favourite ecstatic breathing technique when I was assisting her in New York earlier this year. Not…
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Sex in a Time of Grief
Yesterday, my beloved and I had some long-overdue quality time together. In the late afternoon, as we made headway with two delightfully obscene slices of cake in the Rainbow’s End, I found myself apologising for how low I have been…
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Safe Sex, Sacred Sex
A few weeks ago, I stood in a well-fitted dungeon, catching my breath in wonder as the fourth chapter of Koinonia took off before my eyes, like champagne from a well-shaken bottle. The crowd was the largest we’ve had the…
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Being Seen
It was my first day of seminary. The group moved around the room, weaving betwixt and between itself. When two of us made eye contact, we would pause, stand before one another, and one of us would say: “I am…
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Fire Magic on Film
Sometime in the midst of last year's busy summer festival season, my beloved and I spent a day with some nice people from 4oD, filming a segment for the somewhat questionably entitled Bizarre Fetish Handbook. That segment has recently gone…
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Going Deeper – Reflections on Rekindling Intimacy
I spent the weekend before last at seminary for my Interfaith Ministry training. There was a lot to love about the two days (as well as plenty to feel challenged by!), including one particular structure we did on the subject…
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Handing it Over – the Art of Surrender
During a recent weekend intensive, I was talking a group of particularly intrepid explorers through the fundamental elements of magical ritual. On the morning in question, I was focusing on the final piece of the puzzle, the aspect of surrender,…
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Sex, Magic, and the Importance of Being Funny – an interview with Barbara Carrellas
[This interview was originally published on December the 1st 2013] Barbara Carrellas. Sex educator, author, theatre artist, and fire-eating extraordinaire. The irreverent inspiration for much of my own work and writing in sacred sexuality – and the all round gateway…
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A Dream Coming True
I spent the better part of my childhood clambering over the rocky, gorse-kissed landscape of a tiny Greek island called Kythera. Like so many of those islands, it had succumbed to mass migration early in the 20th century; the population…
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