Consensual Enslavement
Ritual Construction and Deconstruction
Apprentice
This description is the second part of the tool Rituals. It is both how to construct a ritual of your own and how to deconstruct another person's ritual to understand how it works. The process is the same as you use the same components when constructing a ritual as when deconstructing it. The list of components that I am including are not by any means definitive but it is a good start and it lays out what I believe are the basic categories to think about and use.
The key components to include or to think about when you create a ritual are intent, body, position, words, repetition, and setting. I train slaves not subs, but how you think about this is no different between sub and slave, only some of the details may change just as they will change for each individual even if other details are identical. Not all components need to be included in a ritual but decide not to use something rather than just arbitrarily ignoring it.
Intent: What is the intent of the ritual? Intent is the most important question when creating or understanding a ritual. What do you want it to do and for an existing ritual, what is its goal and what does it actually do? Is it just to remind the slave that one day they will be owned or that they will submit to a Master or Owner? Or is it to remind the slave that they wish to always be in a submissive position in life or to another person. Or is it something else entirely? The intent can be anything related to consensual slavery from reinforcing Submission to teaching Obedience.
Body: When a Ritual is performed, is the slave's body clothed, partially clothed, nude, or are they wearing specific clothing, jewelry, body modifications, restraints, hair style, etc? What is it about the adornment or the lack of adornment of the body that says they are submissive or are submitting to someone? How does the use of body decorations emphasize that submission? How do these ornaments, decorations, modifications show who has control of the performer's body? Think about how your choices for adorning the body emphasize your control. And keep in mind that even allowing the slave to make some choices themselves also reinforces your control and their submission. For instance, the requirement of Nudity shows power over the physical body by the Master while allowing the slave to choose jewelry shows that the Master has the power to grant that choice to the submissive.
Position: What position or positions someone will assume while doing a ritual can be very important to how potent and effective it is. Many rituals will start with the obvious kneeling, prostrate, standing at attention, parade rest, or a display position. How and in what order positions are changed can also be or become significant. For example, if the ritual starts by standing in display while reciting something, then kneeling while reciting something and finally going full forward into prostrate while reciting something, it can be much more meaningful and powerful than if it is just recited while sitting in a chair watching TV. There are positions which are considered psychologically, historically, sociologically and anthropologically more submissive than others. The tool Body Positioning describes this. You can also search out Slave Positions and Gorean Slave Positions for other takes on this.
Words: Words have power. This means both the standard meanings and the Cultural ones as well. If certain words, terms or phrases are important to the Master or the slave doing the ritual, use them. A few examples of such words are submit, surrender, yours, give, offer, release to and obedience. Obviously, there are many others. You are looking for ones which have meaning for the people involved and which indicate Submission, Status or intent.
Repetition: Something said or performed more than once is stronger and stays in memory longer than something said or done once. The optimum number seems to be three times which is known as the Rule of Threes. There is a lot of research which shows we remember something best if we practice, say or hear it at least three times. However, the effect starts dropping off rapidly after three times unless you are trying to memorize it. This means that when learning or practicing a ritual it is best to read and/or do it three times as a set until you have it memorized and ingrained into your mind, memory and behavior. Then do it three times as part of the ritual. I say best, but it is not required. There are many rituals which need some count or repetition at a number greater than three or are only done once. Do what is appropriate in each case.
Setting: Where are these Rituals going to be done and what will the environment be like? Will they be done anywhere and anytime or will there be specific settings and times? Will they only do them when doing something else such as dressing or undressing, getting ready for or getting up from bed, washing dishes or other cleaning or will it be just whenever it is thought of or something triggers you to say a ritual? Will it be done at fixed times of the day or night and will it matter where the person doing the ritual is at that time? Choose a setting that reinforces the intent and importance of the ritual.
All of the above are things I think about when creating a Ritual or ritualistic activity for someone. Not all of them are used. Some rituals can be silent and have no words at all. Some can be all words and nothing else. Some rituals have been accidental in that they happened at the spur of the moment with no intent to create something but it was good and therefore was reused and became ritualized. Such rituals can be carried over from one person to another and become a Master's choice of ritualized behavior with everyone they owns after it was created.
I will give you an example of one of my rituals and break out the component parts of it along with how I created it. It includes most of the elements above.
My slaves wear something around their neck at all times. It is either a metal or leather Slave Collar which is locked on or some sort of necklace or tag that can be worn in public without a lot of notice. There are times when they need to be swapped from one to another. The necklace is worn most of the time including at home and in private. But if the slave has the collar on and is getting ready to go out, she will usually come to me in the nude, kneel with knees spread and hands behind her back. If needed, she will bring and offer the necklace to me before putting her hands behind her back. I put the necklace on her before unlocking and removing the collar. If needed, her head goes into my lap or onto a thigh if I am sitting down when I fasten and unfasten the collar. She is not allowed to move until I give permission and then she verbally thanks me for exchanging the collar for the necklace. Usually it is just a "Thank you Master," and then she is released to finish getting dressed. The reverse is done when swapping the collar for the necklace.
Now for the deconstruction of the ritual: You have the body with the collar or necklace and usually Nude. You have Position which is kneeling with thighs spread and hands behind her back with head down. You have words which are thanking someone for doing something for and to you. You have repetition in that it happens every time the exchange between collar and necklace are made. You have a Transition setting which is almost always in home and either before going somewhere or coming home from somewhere. You have intent which is to switch between two symbols of Submission but with a symbol of that submission always being worn and to remind her that as a slave many things can be and are done to her rather than allowing her to do them herself. She is acted upon rather than being an actor and everything about the ritual reinforces submission to someone else, in this case, to me.
A ritual does something that is needed, but which is done in an obviously submissive fashion and has more Layers to it than most would see. All parts work together to reinforce her submissive nature and her surrender to someone else. That control is placed upon her from the outside and she obeys that control.
Most people perform similar actions knowing some of the symbolism but very few think about it to this depth and complexity. This ritual did start from the need to switch symbols but it has changed a bit over time with things like the hands behind the back added later. Most of it is done for practical reasons such as easily reaching a lock or clasp but I find that there is also beauty in the ritual and the submission that it shows.
28 September 2018