Andy spends the first part of the ritual training us in silence as a group of over fifty people to just approach each other slowly and feel into the process. How close do we want to come? When do we feel like we need to take a step back? When do we want to make eye contact? When do we want to walk among the crowd, just by ourselves? And he trains with us for maybe an hour, little exercises, very subtle. And after that, we all sit in a vast circle. And he puts this fantastic music on. And the show starts.
You can stand and walk in the circle slowly. And in absolute silence. And if someone feels like it, they may come, and they will lean forward, in a gesture… showing that they are… ready to be… sort of… a slave. And from that movement, still, all in silence, an agreement is made. And anything is allowed. There are no rules anymore for that couple. Except for a stopword.
A few other couples might also join in the circle separately. And everyone watches in absolute silence. People ravage each other. People give love to each other. No one really goes with sexual interactions. But there is a power play, beauty, and violence at once. Yet, there is immense love and trust in all those meetings. It is impossible if they don’t trust—human to human.
Watching this in complete silence for over an hour, my body feels many different sensations. Pleasure. A lot of emotions. It almost rockets my nervous system. A big part of me wants to cry. I feel so moved, so emotional. Yet, I feel incredibly relaxed as well.
One sentence comes to me about his work, and I tell him: You bring out the worst in human beings in the most beautiful way.
When people are in that circle, in that mastery and slavery play, even with their clothes on, they don’t practise the usual sex and penetration. What happens there is beyond words. This is the most brutal and animalistic of their core coming out. And at the same time, it’s so true. So real. The entire room is feeling it. There is so much release of deep desires. I wish everyone I know could experience this.
