Rope and purification
A short note and a poem on the concept of purification in ropes
Purification is a concept that has troubled me since I started doing Shibari.
From the beginning I never connected with the idea of rope as punishment. So at first I thought my practice was not about purification, since the person I tie has not done anything that needs cleansing. But still, I felt there was more to it.
Then I wondered if purification was about myself. This felt meaningful, because often I see Shibari done in ways that feel wrong to me, as if the people receiving the ropes were reduced to a tool, an object for a purpose and not a purpose themselves. Maybe the person being tied was not the criminal, maybe the criminal was me. Or maybe purification was about preventing a crime altogether. But over time I realized this was not true. Nothing dark was happening. And still, this idea of purification kept asking for my attention.
Only recently have I begun to understand what purification means to me. It has been one of the most rewarding contemplations in my journey, and I hope to share it when I can give it the clarity it deserves. For now, I keep reflecting on it while I tie, whether in performances or in private sessions. The other night I felt it strongly and I wrote a poem. Perhaps the poem can say better than myself what I am trying to express.
Have you been purified?
a drilling echo
with no source.
Have you been purified?
an image
dissolves in a mirror.
Have you been purified?
a hand
with no touch.
Have you been purified?
Note that in Japanese this discussion because a bit deeper because of the concept of 祓う. This is what I try to leave for later.
Thank you for giving me your attention,
Pablo
I see it as a difference between Shibari and Kinbaku.
Both use ropes.
Yet for me, shibari is like a Tantric spiritual practice. It’s about connection, authenticity, sensuality, a spiritual practice of lovemaking and using the ropes in intricate knots and ties as a part of the ceremony of preparing your loved one for sensual, at times primal, and tantric lovemaking. Again as a spiritual practice.
Kinbaku uses ropes, and it’s more of a BDSM kink. Where the goal is to restrain, sometimes possibly in very uncomfortable positions, to have erotic sex.
And I think the problem is these two different types of rope Tying have been confused in the western world.
Shibari is not Kinbaku.
Kinbaku, at least in my view, has this presumption of shame, degradation, that is common in BDSM circles, which means there’s a need to feel purified from that.
Shibari is pure. It transcends those things that may feel like shame through connection, authenticity, tantra
We all have shadows, we all have dark sides, and yes, bringing them out in a sexual experience can be very healing. It’s just how one wants to go about it, through a spiritual practice or a different way.