At this year’s Pantheacon, Anna Pulley attended the BDSM workshop, and in Vocativ reflects on the mix of paganism and kink. She notes: “BDSM actually has a storied history within Paganism. Both BDSM and Paganism, in varied forms, have been around for eons. But as a movement, Paganism came to the public consciousness in the 1950s, mainly through one charismatic and somewhat controversial British man, Gerald Gardner, the godfather of Traditional Wicca. Gardnerian Wicca often employed mild BDSM techniques in rituals—scourging (flogging), skyclad (public nudity) and bondage. Another leading British figure, Aleister Crowley, leader of the occult fraternal order Ordo Templi Orientis, hosted magic experiments and drug-fueled sex parties, which were much sensationalized in the tabloids of the day.”
Inside The World Of Witches Who Practice BDSM.
