more
on the astrology of S&M...
By
John Townley
As a
fledgling New York astrologer and editor of The
Astrological Review in 1972, a
year
before my first book introducing the composite chart came out, my
general
inquisitiveness into the rising sexual lifestyle revolution led me to
what was
then one of the farthest corners of sexual expression, the hidden
S&M
scene. At the time, about the psychological opinions on the subject
hadn’t
progressed much past Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia
Sexualis
(a book my dad had given me), though as usual
fiction
(much of it only just unbanned in America) had more informative things
to say
about it, in the likes of The
Story of O and The
Image.
Astrological literature had virtually nothing to say
on the
subject, so it seemed the perfect untouched place to go hunting data
for what
might be a ground-breaking study.
The question
was, where to go to get the data? People who
embrace sexual sadomasochism and are willing to give personal details
including
their exact time of birth don’t grow on trees, even now.
Fortunately, the
sexual liberation movement was in its birth throes and with it early
support
groups for gay and lesbian lifestyles, and one such group for SM
enthusiasts
had just formed, calling itself The Eulenspiegel Society.
I lost no
time in signing up, attending meetings, and soon was doing the paste-up
for the
first issue of their newsletter (now a magazine) Prometheus.
This friendly band of brothers and sisters of all
sexual orientations (SM was their unifying theme) turned out to be
quite
astrology-friendly, so I was able to collect about fifty sets of data
with
accompanying questionnaires about particular preferences, and the
results were first
published in The
Astrological Review
and later as the appendix
in Planets
In Love.
[Click
here
to read the full
report, with details by signs, houses, and more.] They provided an
insightful
profile of the SM-inclined personality, along with more journalistic
efforts
for Sexology
Today. [Click
here for the full,
in-depth article "Loving SM"
about the SM experience and culture itself.]
Classical
myths abound in SM themes, like Andromeda (l), Persephone (c) and Leda
(r)
The study
– which revealed a preponderance of Scorpio and
Virgo, first and third houses, among other things (read it here first
for all the intriguing details,
then read on for updates below) – was enlightening, but in
the real world, the proof of the pudding is how individuals actually
behave,
and how subsequent years of astrological practice would prove,
disprove, or
elaborate upon it. Ultimately, is SM just another trendy way to make
sex more
interesting by indulging in kink, or does it address something deeper
inside, a
hunger for something higher?
Something
Higher?
The answer
is sometimes one, sometimes the other. Since SM
came out of the closet and rose to the heights of pop fashion with
Madonna in
the 1990s, for many it’s been just another form of sexual
variety, no more
meaningful than the latest garment from Victoria’s Secret.
But
for those who
really relate to the heights and depths of sexual domination and
submission it
suggests, it’s an all-consuming need and can be a
life-damaging
or life-saving
path to self-realization, depending on how well it’s handled.
Least understood
and yet most important: it requires establishing and maintaining a
truly equal
and stable friendship/partnership in daily life that safely allows both
to dip
into the extremely unequal and transformingly volatile sexual
experience that
is SM. As my original Loving
SM article
outlines in detail, it’s a lot more than a game.
Christian martyrdom
is depicted in thinly-sexualized versions of transcendence through pain
and death
So what is
it then? The essence of SM is about destroying
ego through pain, humiliation, or both until the individual loses
self-identity
(sometimes in a trance) and reaches a physically, psychologically, and
spiritually
altered state, with or without orgasm. In many respects it resembles
altered
states achieved by spiritual seekers across history through
self-torture (like
the flagellants), fasting, drugs, sensory deprivation or overload, and
extreme
physical exertion. Historically, the SM inclination suffuses our
culture, from
multiple classical mythologies to religious martyrdom and the
Inquisition. It resonates in
our
ever-conflicting themes
of power struggle between the sexes and between what we like to think
are our
higher and lower, spiritual and animal, natures. And, the less we deal
with it
and repress it sexually, the more it is perverted into real-life
cruelty and
hurtfulness, even mayhem and murder.
SM has referential
roots in manipulation of pain and sexuality in medieval roaming flagellants
(l&c) and the
Inquisition (r)
Often,
individual SM feelings (like much of sexual
orientation) hearken back to childhood, where seminal events or
experiences
help lock the individual into a path of deeply strong sexual feelings
aroused
by themes of dominance and/or submission. For most, it’s not
an
amusement, but
an often arduous path they must follow to achieve what, exactly, they
don’t
completely know – only that they are incomplete without it.
Depending on
whether you’re straight or gay, and lean toward S (dominant)
or M
(submissive)
feelings, it can be complicated, but there are some basic rules and
goals to
shoot for.
How
And Why
How
does, say, a straight couple where the man is an S/dominant and the
woman an M/submissive
(far and away the most common combination) go about exploring this
path? The
role of the S is to systematically and knowledgeably deconstruct the
M’s
defenses and even personality itself, using sensory deprivation and
overload to
confuse and overcome barriers and strip them away, leaving the M ever
more
naked and without defense, with ever less to call her own, define as
herself. As each blocking
layer is
sheared away, although she may fight it, it allows her inner sexual
life force
to rise another notch (which feels good), and further arouses. It
applies
physically as physical stimuli are applied and emotionally and mentally
as she
is forced to do, say, and admit to things she fears and even loathes,
thus
breaking the inner controls and barriers that also hold down the rising
self.
To quote one aficionado, it becomes “like a maddening koan,
where there is no possible answer or resolution to an
impossibly rising demand, nowhere to turn, yet no place to hide, where
the only
way out is to break through, and thus free, into a higher
self-realization.
Where you find the answer for yourself, but only because you are placed
in a
situation where you have no choice, no escape within your grasp. It is
when
even a deceptively light touch utterly destroys you because you
are
never truly prepared for it, and so it shatters you, and you surrender
completely and fly…”
Themes
of sacrifice,
often sexual, range from the Bible (Isaac, l), to the Aztecs (c) and
modern fantasy art (r)
This
requires an S who knows his M well and can sense just
which aspect to shear off when (and in what order), so as to remove
them
gracefully, like layers of clothing. And as he does so, through his
close
identification with her (literally, his own mirror cells being
stimulated) he
goes along for the ride. Like a skilled rider and horse, he directs her
and she
takes them both there. It is a spiritual journey to undo all the
constrictive
clothing of both body and personality we have loaded ourselves with,
allowing
the soul inside for a moment to fly free. Then, when all that
psychological
clothing is re-donned for daily life, it’s looser fitting,
and
you know who’s
inside and what’s outside, are more in charge of your
necessary
daily
illusions, and have gained greater real inner control by giving up
false outer
control.
Planetary
Details
Over the
years, my contact (both personal and professional)
with SM people has pretty much confirmed the details of the original study
and my early journalistic
observations
on the phenomenon, so I won’t go into them
further here, since
you can read them in their entirety. Individually, however, I have seen
some
straying from the basics. In general, contacts of personal planets with
the
outers and Saturn are usually present, quite often by conjunction, and
Virgo
and Scorpio really do rank high, along with Pisces and Ares.
Occasionally,
adventurous Sagittarius creeps in, but Capricorn and Aquarius are rare
(despite
Saturn and Uranus rulerships), as are Taurus and Cancer. And, people
usually
relate deeply (it gives them an immediate twinge) or not at all (may
even find
SM laughable).
Modern
instruments of pain/pleasure
match their planets: restraints for Saturn (l), whips and paddles for
Uranus (r).
Planetary
Play, Tools
and Toys
Specific
planets are involved according to their function in
the personality. The inner, personal planets have the short cycles you
have
become familiar with by repetition and are about your layers of control
– they
are what have formed the layers which SM strives to cut away. The
outers are
bigger, longer ones that you don’t internalize and they are
used
to challenge
and deconstruct the inners. And, they
actually separate out in the aspects of SM which they cover, including
the
tools and toys of the trade:
Saturn
– by
suppression, bondage and imprisonment, the ropes and chains, the cage,
the
isolation chamber, the confinement place.
Uranus
– by sharp
awakening surprise, the slapper, the whip, the crop, the cane, the
prod, the
neuro wheel, needles, electricity, and other instruments of pain and
sudden sensory
overload in general.
Neptune
– by dissolution,
confusion, disorientation, the swirling
of fantasy that masks reality, alcohol and drugs, the blindfold,
sensory
deprivation.
Pluto
– by raw
force both physical and of the will, the unstoppable punishment until
the
object is broken. Humiliation is its specialty, the final destruction
of the
ego.
Interestingly,
the ubiquitous blindfold serves the purposes
of all four, increasing the effect of imprisonment, enabling surprise,
causing
disorientation, and shutting down the will.
Neptune's pleasures
include the likes of fantasy immolation, Pluto's are more about
forceful domination, and humiliation.
Although it
isn’t always the case, you can tell what both
partner’s preferred tools and methods may be by where their
outer
planets touch
their inners, and each other’s. Thus,
an
astrologically-savvy couple can know where these inner and outer
systems are
aligned within the nativity and play them against one another to
deconstruct
the M’s defenses, cut away entanglements, break resistance,
and
open the split
husks of body and personality to let the soul and its inner fire up and
out,
guiding and enabling the process, until both take flight. Akin to more
esoteric
brands of astrology, it can be thought as clearing the obstacles out of
the
upward path so the kundalini can rise – well, sort of.
A
Long And Winding
Road
However,
those who do
relate don’t get beyond the entertainment of first base
unless
they study it,
talk about it, experiment freely (and don’t get stopped by
disappointments),
because the path is unique to each and one size does not at all fit
all. And,
despite SM being out of the closet these days and a favorite of
Internet porn,
it’s still not generally well-understood, so there are lots
of
pitfalls, false
starts, and traps along the way that lead nowhere or even cause
frustration,
setbacks, and loneliness. Hopefully, the astrological viewpoint may be
of some
assistance on the journey.
But above
all, it requires a knowledgeable, patient, skillful,
and understanding partner to do it with, who can be hard to find and is
rarely
available in the meat markets of themed singles meeting organizations,
live or
online. Astrological matching can definitely help there as well, but
that’s
another article, for another time…
SM
lib organization The Eulenspiegel
Society took Prometheus, who suffered for sharing knowledge, for its
icon.
For
more information,
help, and understanding company (without having to take your clothes
off), The
Eulenspiegel Society is
still the place to go, after all these years, still largely true to its
sex-lib
political and
psychological roots.
