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 live. (more…)
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 of intimacy. The facilitator, inspired by Gestalt, was talking about intimacy as a cycle; as any of my clients who have listened to me bang on about how sexual arousal is a cycle (not a straight line!) over the years might anticipate, this made a lot of sense to me. (more…)
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, and emphasising the importance of closing a ritual by handing the desire or intention for which that ritual has been done over to the divine. “It’s not your job anymore; you’ve done your working in the present, your work is done. Now is the time to entrust it to the Universe; the future is her job, not yours.”
On the other side of the room, a face lit up, and said “I’d never considered that before, that it could be someone else’s job, that it’s not all just down to me.” (more…)
Photo by Barbara Nitke
[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 drug into a bunch of my favourite things about life.
What better way to begin blogging at greater length about the intersection between sex and spirit than an interview with this incredible pioneer of love, loins and liminality.
Luckily for me, I got in some quality time with her during her recent trip to the UK, and took the opportunity to ask her a bunch of entirely biased questions.
Enjoy.
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 when I was a child stood at around 3000 souls, and only half of that was actually Greek. Studded all over this wind-ravaged outcrop were little white churches, the majority of them an abandoned testament to a once larger and more fervent population. I encountered them on my travels through the landscape; unlike my contemporaries, I was discouraged from the trappings of modern life – which is to say, I wasn’t glued to the television – and so, when I wasn’t glued to a book instead, I set myself to becoming an intrepid explorer and conqueror of my environment. As I grew, and the first seeds of spirituality began to take root, I dreamed of owning, or, better yet, building from scratch, a little white church such as the ones on whose doorsteps I would rest and reflect. I imagined adorning the walls with the angelic beings I had begun to commune with, and creating a haven where people of all faiths would be welcome, and those of no faith might be inspired – or at the very least, comforted. (more…)
The crab apples on the tree outside my window are going over, the promise of an Indian Summer lasted all of a day, and I know I’m not the only one finding it just that bit harder to get out of bed. On a recent and particularly grey morning, when the fuzziness in my head seemed a perfect reflection of the sky outside the window, my brain helpfully supplied me with the term SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder. And I felt myself bristling at the implication in that term that to have a felt response – be it physical, emotional, or even spiritual – to the cycles of the natural world must be a “problem”. (more…)
A few nights ago myself, my beloved, and some rather brilliant friends were sat round the dinner table, discussing the concept of shame. The conversation flowed from the semantics of the word, through to the embodied experience, and touched upon everything from fear of being seen to be vulnerable, through to the challenge of asking for what one truly desires. The topic felt particularly poignant for me; the last month or so has been something of dive in the deep end of the shame pool. (more…)
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself enthusing with a regular client over a new analogy we had come up with for self care – one that utilised mathematical parabola to demonstrate the necessity of rest and reflection for expansion and well-being.
This got me thinking again on a topic that has been floating around in the old cerebrum for some time. I recalled what my teacher often says about how our “biases” – our personal and particular bugbears, passions, and rants – influence and shape our work.
For me, some biases have been there since I first started out in my field, and have grown increasingly stronger with time – such as a need to work towards inclusivity for all genders, bodies, and orientations. Some I have discovered and nurtured along the way – like a talent for supporting clients in sitting with what I call the “difficult questions”, and making peace with extremes of emotion.
And some… Some have just sort of appeared out of the corner of my eye, and come along for the ride whether I planned it or not.
One of these, which I have become more aware of in the last year, is the fact that I, apparently, teach tantra for geeks. (more…)
Conscious self-pleasuring is something I find myself recommending to clients and participants on a regular basis. With this post, I hope to create a resource on the subject, exploring why I believe it’s a vital part of the individual sexual journey, what gifts it holds for intimacy, and how one might go about it. So grab your lube of choice, and lets get started. (more…)
I was recently scouring the web in search of resources on the subject of energetic genitals for a client, and was rather disappointed to find good ol’ Google drawing a blank. In this post, I intend to take that blank, and run with it as the perfect excuse to lavish some wordy attention on one of my favourite kinks: Energy fucking. (more…)